<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scute Swarm" href="#" target="_blank">Scute Swarm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="http://www.alexkonstad.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Konstad</a></em></p>
<p>We need more than just our decks when we sit down for a game of <em>Magic</em>. We need dice, tokens, deck boxes, and more. Particularly because there are so many things in the game we have to keep track of: How many times you've descended this turn in a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Mycotyrant" href="#" target="_blank">The Mycotyrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck could be very difficult to track. With things going in and out of the graveyard, you might lose count.</p>
<p>Similarly, in an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urabrask" href="#" target="_blank">Urabrask</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Spellslinger deck, tracking Storm count, you might miss a spell your opponent cast. Don't get me started on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Betor, Ancestor&#039;s Voice" href="#" target="_blank">Betor, Ancestor&#039;s Voice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and life gain and life loss.</p>
<p>It's a game of many triggers and abilities that are tough to follow. I want to explore the top five most annoying things to track in the game, whether it's tokens, mechanics without a good tracking system, or dice hell. What grinds our gears the most?</p>
<p>This is anecdotal and based on what the community has shared with me. It's not an exact science, but I'm fairly sure we'll agree with the mentions, whether or not the order applies.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Mycotyrant"></div></div>
<h2>Honorable Mention: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heliod, the Radiant Dawn" href="#" target="_blank">Heliod, the Radiant Dawn</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<p>The reason this hasn't made the main list is because it's a commander that isn't fairly common. I will say, however, it is honestly so annoying to track, and it's ranked #405 on EDHREC: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heliod, the Radiant Dawn" href="#" target="_blank">Heliod, the Radiant Dawn</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>His back side says, "You may cast spells as though they had flash. Spells you cast cost <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> less to cast for each card your opponents have drawn this turn." Not only are you playing on other players' turns, but you have to keep track of the number of cards drawn by all players, but not yourself. You have to keep track of the stack as you put different abilities on top of or above things, while keeping track of cards drawn to discount other spells.</p>
<p>It becomes this nightmare of triggers and tracking. I know, because I play this deck and it's been banned by my partner in our play pod because of how annoying it is to deal with.</p>
<p>I don't include it in the main list because it's somewhat niche. Most players who have experienced it would agree with me, but not many players have experienced it.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Heliod, the Radiant Dawn"></div></div>
<h2>5. Floating Mana</h2>
<p>We've all had a big turn with tons of mana involved. Whether it's <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lotus Cobra" href="#" target="_blank">Lotus Cobra</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nissa, Resurgent Animist" href="#" target="_blank">Nissa, Resurgent Animist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Selvala, Heart of the Wilds" href="#" target="_blank">Selvala, Heart of the Wilds</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, we've had to float a ton of mana.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lotus Cobra"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nissa, Resurgent Animist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Selvala, Heart of the Wilds"></div></div>
<p>Getting mana of any color is relevant. Keeping track of five colors, or even the two or three colors of typical commanders, is tough. Having to know to float two of red and three of blue is annoying. There are so many products that attempt to solve this problem, but it is definitely a problem.</p>
<p>A lot of players usually opt for magical fairy mana, that we've always picked the right colors for ourselves to avoid the trouble, but this isn't how this game actually works. Sequencing matters so much; phase changes matter; filtering mana through an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Izzet Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Izzet Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, for example, matters.</p>
<p>It's not the most egregious thing, but players are often scrambling for dice to keep track of various colors in complex sequencing.</p>
<h2>4. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cathars&#039; Crusade" href="#" target="_blank">Cathars&#039; Crusade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and +1/+1 Counters</h2>
<p>This is a card that lives in infamy as dice hell. It's the sort of thing that if you're running the card in your Commander deck, you're abusing it. +1/+1 counters are annoying in general, with evolve or replacement effects. Imagine 10 tokens enter the battlefield with a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cathars&#039; Crusade" href="#" target="_blank">Cathars&#039; Crusade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Branching Evolution" href="#" target="_blank">Branching Evolution</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> on board and a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower" href="#" target="_blank">Bristly Bill, Spine Sower</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. The sheer amount of dice required would melt someone's face.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cathars&#039; Crusade"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Branching Evolution"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower"></div></div>
<p>And the main reason this is so egregious is because <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cathars&#039; Crusade" href="#" target="_blank">Cathars&#039; Crusade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> puts a counter on a creature for every one that enters the battlefield. How the heck are there enough dice in a bag to demonstrate this? Some creatures are going to have more counters than others. You can't use a flat number for everything. It's insanity.</p>
<p>Some players just end up using <a href="https://www.infinitokens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InfiniTokens</a> to track the numbers, or just giving up after 20+ counters. It's relevant if I have an [/el]Inkshield[/el], and that's the rub. You <em>have</em> to track every little piece of damage.</p>
<p>It's so tedious and annoying that I know players who don't even run Cathars' Crusade because of how annoying it is to track.</p>
<h2>3. Day/Night</h2>
<p>I'm not kidding when I say that to write this article, I had to look up the comprehensive rules about day and night. "If it’s day and the previous turn’s active player didn’t cast any spells during that turn, it becomes night. Multiplayer games using the shared team turns option (see rule 805) use a modified rule: if it’s day and no player from the previous turn’s active team cast a spell during that turn, it becomes night... If it’s night, and previous turn’s active player cast two or more spells during the previous turn, it becomes day."</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Prosper, Tome-Bound"></div></div>
<p>How locked in to a game do you have to be to remember after the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Prosper, Tome-Bound" href="#" target="_blank">Prosper, Tome-Bound</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> player's non-deterministic Spellslinger turn to trigger Day if it's Night? I can barely remember to draw a second card for turn if someone's playing a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rites of Flourishing" href="#" target="_blank">Rites of Flourishing</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. And WOTC wants me to remember this?</p>
<p>This usually takes a huge toll on the player who is probably a Werewolf deck. It's annoying to track Day/Night after it triggers. It's a mechanic that doesn't really mechanically work too well either, in my humble opinion. It's not that common either.</p>
<p>Players often opt out of the mechanically interesting decks to avoid the maintenance needed to play it.</p>
<h2>2. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scute Swarm" href="#" target="_blank">Scute Swarm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<p>This is the mac-daddy of all token maintenance cards. I've heard so many people say they opt out of playing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Scute Swarm" href="#" target="_blank">Scute Swarm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> because they hate math. The way double triggers of a card like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yarok, the Desecrated" href="#" target="_blank">Yarok, the Desecrated</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> work with multiple lands entering the battlefield at the same time instead of one at a time will have your head spinning.</p>
<p>Each trigger is exponential normally. The amount of times I've seen players bust out a calculator to track them is baffling.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scute Swarm"></div></div>
<p>The problem here is that I haven't seen a real solution to this. Calculators and InfiniTokens are still not enough to make everyone understand how much you make and when. It's like actually a requirement to understand math to play. Don't get me wrong, math isn't always hard, but it's always annoying. Having to stop in the middle of a game to do some quick calculations that aren't basic adding and subtracting is crazy.</p>
<p>It was originally the number one on my list because of how annoying <em>everyone</em> finds it to play or watch someone else play, but the final one is actually truly annoying.</p>
<h2>1. Venture Into the Dungeon/ Take the Initiative</h2>
<p>The problem with this mechanic is mainly that it's not that common; not everyone is playing dungeons or initiative. Maybe an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Acererak the Archlich" href="#" target="_blank">Acererak the Archlich</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sefris of the Hidden Ways" href="#" target="_blank">Sefris of the Hidden Ways</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is playing these cards, but most people don't have a copy of the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dungeon of the Mad Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Dungeon of the Mad Mage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tomb of Annihilation" href="#" target="_blank">Tomb of Annihilation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lost Mine of Phandelver" href="#" target="_blank">Lost Mine of Phandelver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>If it was just a triggered ability and a token that people had, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's so much more. If you play the deck, you might have a copy of it, but you still have to track going through the dungeon whenever it triggers. Side note: Did you know that dungeons are in the command zone? "309.2a"If a player is instructed to venture into the dungeon while they don’t own a dungeon card in the command zone, they choose a dungeon card they own from outside the game and put it into the command zone. They put their venture marker on the topmost room." Anyway!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dungeon of the Mad Mage"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tomb of Annihilation"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lost Mine of Phandelver"></div></div>
<p>This is <em>NOT</em> to be mixed up with take the initiative. "725.2... The full text of these abilities are 'At the beginning of the upkeep of the player who has the initiative, that player ventures into Undercity,' 'Whenever one or more creatures a player controls deal combat damage to the player who has the initiative, the controller of those creatures takes the initiative,' and 'Whenever a player takes the initiative, that player ventures into Undercity.'" One is triggered on "venture into the dungeon," the other is triggered by combat damage and upkeep.</p>
<p>This is confusing all by itself. And the fact that anyone can take the initiative and tracks their Undercity separately, brings in a nightmare scenario for tracking. Everyone is scrambling for their dusty copy of a dungeon. Everyone is checking at upkeep, but still forgetting it.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Well, that's what my experience has been. Tell me yours! What kind of things are niche but annoying enough to have a reputation over these things? What are things that are annoying and common? Anything that I missed? I'm <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/strixhavendropout.bsky.social" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@strixhavendropout on Bluesky</a>.</p>


dungeon

The Top 5 Most Annoying Cards/Mechanics to Track in Commander