<h6 style="text-align: right;">(Hypnotic Grifter | Art by <a href="https://www.josuhernaiz.com/">Josu Hernaiz</a>)</h6>
<h1>Let that sink in</h1>
<p>There’s a saying in <em>Magic: The Gathering</em> that the person who spends the most mana usually wins the game. There are a couple of ways to interpret this adage.</p>
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<p>The first is evident if one player ramps consistently, putting the most lands into play, which they can then use to cast huge spells, haymakers and finishers. This is something you’ll witness often in decks including green. The second interpretation is that our mana is valuable, and we should be using it wisely. We shouldn’t ideally be letting mana empty from our pool unspent. This, more deliberate use of mana is a lesson we’ve to learn and we can learn this through having mana sinks in our decks.</p>
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<p>Mana sinks can come in many forms, and I’m going to share with you some options for that spare mana you’ll inevitably have. Follow these tips and hopefully, you’ll be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. This article is going to be a multi-part one because there’s just too much nuance to delve into in one piece without making your head spin and your mind <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Go Blank" href="#" target="_blank">go</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. So join me in this Preview Review, where we’re going to look at mana sinks. How to use them, when to use them and which ones to use. You might be surprised what your favorite color can do.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>White</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>First, we’re looking at white. As you’re probably aware, white usually has the hardest time generating card advantage in Commander. White isn’t lacking options for us to dump our mana though, so let's consider our options.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lion Sash"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Apostle of Purifying Light"></div></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>White allows you to use your mana to control the graveyard, ensuring your opponents' creatures rest in peace. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lion Sash" href="#" target="_blank">Lion Sash</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and its less popular cousin, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Apostle of Purifying Light" href="#" target="_blank">Apostle of Purifying Light</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will deal with the most problematic permanent you believe could come back to bite you. Graveyard decks are often prepared against one-off graveyard hate. Golgari decks often pack a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Veil of Summer" href="#" target="_blank">Veil of Summer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to get around a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Go Blank" href="#" target="_blank">Go Blank</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for example, but it’s far harder for them to deal with a little bit of targeted exile here or there.</p>
<p>Preview Review is all about putting sleeper hits on your radar and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Apostle of Purifying Light" href="#" target="_blank">Apostle of Purifying Light</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is definitely one of them. While it costs more to activate than <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lion Sash" href="#" target="_blank">Lion Sash</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, it comes with protection from the color you’re most trying to interact with. Letting it be persistent pressure on your opponent’s graveyard. It’s also worth noting, for the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Quintorius, Field Historian" href="#" target="_blank">Quintorius, Field Historian</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> players, that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Apostle of Purifying Light" href="#" target="_blank">Apostle of Purifying Light</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and cards like it can just as easily turn your cards into spirits and they can turn your opponents into feel bads!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Quintorius, Field Historian"></div></div>
<p>The first of multiple in the Class Enchantment subtype is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Paladin Class" href="#" target="_blank">Paladin Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Now these cards from <em>Adventures in the Forgotten Realms</em> are absolute slam dunks when it comes to mana sinks. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cleric Class" href="#" target="_blank">Cleric Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does tie into specific strategies, like in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heliod, Sun-Crowned" href="#" target="_blank">Heliod, Sun-Crowned</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. However, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Paladin Class" href="#" target="_blank">Paladin Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> may be one of the easiest to utilize. It taxes your opponents, making their spells cost one more generic mana. This can either act as Ward 1 for your creatures or it can make the blue player play off tempo. If they’d usually be casting spells in your end step, they may have to cast their spells in the preceding player's turn, which gives you helpful information. Aside from that, providing all your creatures with +1/+1 can be a helpful way to break through your opponent's defenses. If you can get this class all the way to its final level, you’ll find that even the weakest token creature becomes devastating as part of a decisive combat step.</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Surprising no one, white is also great at making tokens with your spare mana. While you might think there’s nothing spectacular about using three or four mana to make random 1/1s, using spare mana to make a blocker at the last moment or a spare body in response to an edict can save your most precious creature in a pinch. Try <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Prava of the Steel Legion" href="#" target="_blank">Prava of the Steel Legion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for tokens that can also function as reasonable attackers on your turn or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mobilization" href="#" target="_blank">Mobilization</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for a cheaper rate with vigilant bodies. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Castle Ardenvale" href="#" target="_blank">Castle Ardenvale</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is what you’ll find in most decks with its frequent printing in preconstructed commander decks, and I’d recommend including that in your white deck too. But this is Preview Review, so we like to give you alternatives to cards you might already own.</p>
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<h2>Blue</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now blue is known for its overwhelming access to card draw. But we’re going to take this one in a little bit of a different direction and show you just what else you can do with your mana in blue. Now, I could just talk about <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Floodhound" href="#" target="_blank">Floodhound</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, for being a very good boy, but blue is great at drawing cards! What else can we do with our mana?</p>
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<p>We’re going to look at <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Maeve, Insidious Singer" href="#" target="_blank">Maeve, Insidious Singer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but before we do, a note on removal in commander. Every deck brings removal to the table. We should want to remove our opponents' game pieces, and we should expect them to want to remove ours. You see a threat your opponent has played that could threaten to deal a lot of damage and your instinct is to remove it. What if you didn’t have to? Maeve brings instant speed goad to the table. This is one of the most valuable abilities I will mention in this article series. Rather than killing your opponent’s <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon" href="#" target="_blank">Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, simply ensure it never hits you, knocking out each of your opponents instead paying three mana each time and wasting no cards while putting off a threat for multiple combat steps. By the time it comes around to you and the remaining opponent, your hand will be full of answers to take apart your opponent's board state. Maeve also helps you draw into these answers if you haven’t found that valuable removal spell you’ve been digging for. Maeve is a valuable commander in her own right but in mono blue decks, she subverts the board state and draws you cards, all with mana you were going to let empty from your pool.</p>
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<p>If you were looking for additional ways to manipulate combat, you can run <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cephalid Retainer" href="#" target="_blank">Cephalid Retainer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in your decks. This card is considerably older than Maeve, the ability costs one less (although it can’t target fliers and frankly, I’d take the Siren over the Cephalid if I had the choice) and you’ve got the option of interacting with tap abilities on your opponents' battlefield. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cephalid Retainer" href="#" target="_blank">Cephalid Retainer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is great for redundancy. If you know you have a deck that’s not going to get a lot of creatures out on the field, then you may wish to run multiple of these tap-down or goad effects. It’s times like this when <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cephalid Retainer" href="#" target="_blank">Cephalid Retainer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> becomes all the more appetizing. Redundancy in decks is never a bad thing in a 100-card singleton format like Commander. If you run both, you’re twice as likely to draw a card you need to interact with your opponents creatures, and if you’re on the backfoot I’m sure you’ll take every chance you can get.</p>
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<p>We’re going to go to class for this next lesson, specifically <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This is a card that at first glance you might mistake for a card to include in a deck that cares about artifacts. So let’s evaluate this card on its floor. You’re not in an artifact deck, you run only <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>g is not in your hand or in play when you play <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Artificer Class"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sol Ring"></div></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>You play <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is now free.</li>
<li>You level up <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, you put your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> into your hand and play it for free.</li>
<li>You level up <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, at the beginning our your end step and for each subsequent end step, you make another <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sol Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Sol Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This is because <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer Class" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> acts as cost reduction, replaces itself and then provides a benefit each turn until removed. All welcome abilities in blue. The card gets better of course with the more artifacts you play, but for this lesson, you can see how well it shines in isolation.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hypnotic Grifter"></div></div>
<p>Finally, I’d like to look at <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hypnotic Grifter" href="#" target="_blank">Hypnotic Grifter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, from <em>Streets of New Capenna</em>. While there are plenty of options to draw cards in blue, I see this one as slightly unique due to the connive mechanic. connive isn’t card advantage, because you don’t end up with any more cards in hand. Instead connive is card selection, allowing you to draw and discard. This keeps what you want, and gets rid of what you don’t. Depending on what you put in your graveyard you end up affecting the board by placing a +1/+1 counter on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hypnotic Grifter" href="#" target="_blank">Hypnotic Grifter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> making it a better attacker or blocker. If you’re really lucky you can take advantage of this discard and put some powerful flashback cards in your graveyard like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Echo of Eons" href="#" target="_blank">Echo of Eons</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or simply a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wonder" href="#" target="_blank">Wonder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to make your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hypnotic Grifter" href="#" target="_blank">Hypnotic Grifter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> an even more competent attacker.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Echo of Eons"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wonder"></div></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>On your end step</h2>
<p>You’d be surprised what mana sinks are available in each color, and are available to each color in the form of colorless cards. We’re going to cover all that and more in the next part of this article. For now, however, which mana sinks do you utilize in your decks? Which have you found the most valuable in a pinch? What’s that card you wish everyone else knew about? Let us know in the comments below. You can catch up with me over on <a href="https://twitter.com/PrinceofBielTan">Twitter</a> to chat cards!</p>
<p>So long as your rate limit hasn’t been exceeded, but I promise you I’m worth one of your 600 tweets a day.</p>
<p>See you in the next one!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


hypnotic grifter

Preview Review - Mana Sinks (Part One)