(Phyrexian Dragon EnginePhyrexian Dragon Engine | Art by Chris Rahn)

Do You Have Fun Playing Commander?

I know far too many people who play commander only to complain before, during, and after each match about how the game is "unplayable" due to whatever card shut down their infinite combo.

Everything about Magic is oriented towards hyper-optimization, from the commander you choose to the tutors you use to the engine you mulligan three times to set up.

And if you’re anything like the folks I’m playing against, you probably forfeit once you realize you didn’t draw the perfect starting hand. Which is unfortunate for everyone!

Some of the best and most exciting games of Magic come from those times when your plans fall apart. At that point, you have to rely on your backup strategies and your own skills as a player.

Call it casual, call it unoptimized, or just say it's noncompetitive. But it doesn't matter what name you call it. Building a deck around synergies as opposed to a specific engine leads to more flexible play.

And despite the fact that every card in your deck isn't a gear under your commander's engine, it lets you respond to your opponents' strategies much more effectively.

So let’s talk flexibility.

These effects are useful even if not your commander!

Robustness Is Not Flexibility

The common wisdom in deck-building is to keep it lean. Cut out anything that isn’t essential. If you’ve got the room for it, build in redundancies.

This is your tutors and graveyard retrieval and all the nonsense that solely exists to ensure the game goes exactly how you want it to.

But that doesn’t make your deck more flexible, that just makes it more robust. Which, don’t get me wrong, is a wonderful trait for a deck to have!

But it doesn’t matter how many counters you put on Heliod, Sun-CrownedHeliod, Sun-Crowned when he gets flickered or how many cards I draw when I exile all your copies of Sheoldred, the ApocalypseSheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Being able to turn-two your commander with the perfect opening hand is great in a vacuum, but being able to adapt to the strategies of your opponents is even better.

Get Weird With It!

I’m a green player at heart, so if you catch me reading a card that says anything other than “+1/+1 counter” or “trample,” you know I’ve been replaced by a Shapeshifter.

But even green, whether Stompy or Landfall or Voltron, has options. You have good artifact and enchantment removal.

Cards that force fights or deal damage based on your power. And of course its mana production is second to none.

Your Stompy deck might be able to go toe-to-toe with a mono-red Aggro, but what about a Control deck? What did you include in your deck to deal with your commander getting hit with CounterspellCounterspell or MurderMurder?

What if your opponent uses Render InertRender Inert on Dark DepthsDark Depths to get a 20/20 by turn three, or you just don’t have the perfect card to respond at the perfect moment?

That’s why you should build in at least two contingencies that synergize with—but aren’t reliant on—your commander.

That way, you always have the option of tackling things from a different angle. Not to mention that's just far more interesting of a game to play!

Green cards are more than "big power and mana."

Even Lifegain Has Options

For the Heliod, Sun-CrownedHeliod, Sun-Crowned example from earlier, it’s a staple in mono-white Lifegain decks. Oftentimes, these decks are built to be a tough nut to crack.

Life triggers whenever a creature enters the battlefield, plenty of lifelink, and a few cheeky exiling cards to ensure you can’t effectively block them.

So how can you add to that?

You can use Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope to create a platoon of Angels with flying, vigilance, and lifelink. This benefits from having Heliod on the field but is still useful without him!

You can use Elesh Norn, Mother of MachinesElesh Norn, Mother of Machines to build upon the enter the battlefield (ETB) effects to double Heliod’s effectiveness while simultaneously opening the door for more broad ETB effects.

You can even build your chaff with something like the Horn of GondorHorn of Gondor which has no direct relevance to Heliod.

It covers a completely different niche that your deck was unable to address previously. And if you add all three, you can have a subset of your deck devoted to Angels and Humans with ETB effects that then can be buffed by Heliod! Completely independent of your main strategy if the strike team fails.

You haven’t removed anything core to your strategy or limited your commander. But now it doesn’t hurt you nearly as bad if your commander gets targeted or your life gain gets prevented.

For instance, what do you do if they Aether SnapAether Snap after you fully invested in making your commander a 25/25? Or just block Heliod with 1/1 counters?

Maximize your life-gain and keep your creatures safe!

That Doesn't Support My Commander!

But that’s exactly the point. It lets you fall back on contingencies if your commander’s strategy isn’t working.

It’s easier to implement this style of deckbuilding into multi-color decks, since that doubles or even triples your options. Let’s stick with Heliod but jump over to Heliod, the Radiant DawnHeliod, the Radiant Dawn.

If you’re building a deck where you force your opponent to draw tons of cards so you can flash your cards for cheap, you might include cards like Errant and GiadaErrant and Giada or Kwain, Itinerant MeddlerKwain, Itinerant Meddler.

But that doesn’t preclude you from investing in something like Ephara, God of the PolisEphara, God of the Polis or Oji, the Exquisite BladeOji, the Exquisite Blade.

Ephara’s an enchantment so she benefits from Heliod’s ETB. Oji is useful if you get out the Warped Eclipse and can spam multiple cards every turn.

But neither of them are directly reliant on the core strategy of playing cards on opponents’ turns, meaning that if you add a little bit of token creation with something like Darien, King of KjeldorDarien, King of Kjeldor or even just a Leonin WarleaderLeonin Warleader, you can get additional benefits from Ephara every turn.

Blue has tons of ETB card draw and tapping on its creatures, so flickering those with Oji gives you additional space to play around in.

But these aren’t the sorts of cards that come to mind when you think of Heliod, the Radiant DawnHeliod, the Radiant Dawn. They aren’t something your opponents are going to plan around or even expect.

Capitalize off of your card-draw and action economy.

Play The Players, Not The Game

Commander is fundamentally a social game, where you’re playing the pod as much as you’re playing the cards themselves. The least mechanically-relevant—but arguably the most skill-based—aspect of flexibly building your decks is to keep your intentions hidden.

Your deck might be 70-80% exactly what the opponents are thinking it’ll be. Maybe your early game “proves them right.”

But then you play Solphim, Mayhem DominusSolphim, Mayhem Dominus in a Muxus, Goblin GrandeeMuxus, Goblin Grandee deck and the whole table looks at you funny.

No one expected a Phyrexian Horror in a Goblin deck, so no one was focused on shutting down your Roiling VortexRoiling Vortex or Dragonspark ReactorDragonspark Reactor with 10 power counters on it. They focused on removing your tokens and minimizing the amount of Goblins you had.

Because you played them like fools.

There are always more ways to deal damage.

Keep Up The Pressure

Now you deal double damage with Lightning BoltLightning Bolt and all the other damaging spells you have. Normally, they get used to clear the field for your Goblins. But now they can be pivoted into for direct damage if the situation calls for it.

All the while, you’re still churning out Goblins and using Muxus as a beatstick. Your horde of Goblins protects you from attacks while applying pressure.

Your opponents have to choose between dealing with the non-combat damage bolstered by Solphim or the direct damage from your Goblins.

And then you throw out Etali, Primal StormEtali, Primal Storm.

You’re keeping your opponents’ attention divided between multiple avenues of threats, but every Goblin you have triggers Raid BombardmentRaid Bombardment.

Raid Bombardment doubles from Solphim. Solphim is a big creature alongside Muxus and Etali. Etali gets you more Goblins while burning cards from the opponents’ decks.

And there are always more creatures to spam!

Force Tough Decisions

No choice the opponents make is the “right” choice, which means you’re winning the mental game. Then it’s a matter of skill in play as well as in card selection to ensure you win the match.

Maybe they exile Solphim and take out Etali, thinking that your Goblins aren't a big deal. So you whip out Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss and Muxus is superpowered.

If they focus on the Goblins, you have a solid defender in Solphim and nonstop doubled damage from all the cards you get from Etali. Not to mention, you’ll always have more Goblins!

If you play flexibly and you aren’t afraid to pivot when your core strategy isn’t working, you will be in a much better position than the players struggling to get their engines to work.

Not to mention, flying by the seat of your pants while desperately cobbling together ad hoc solutions is some of the most fun you can have in magic.

Though, I am a green player, so maybe this “thinking” stuff is just too hard for me. I’ll get back to you on that in the next article.

Bear + Colossification = Roaring Profit

Sikora

Sikora's a writer, game developer, and game master for TTRPGs with a love of storytelling. Generic as that might be for someone writing articles about Magic: the Gathering, they make sure to put their passion behind their words and can talk ad nauseum. Truly, letting them write articles was a mistake.