(Tempt with Mayhem | Art by Deruchenko Alexander)

Just to Piggyback Off of That...

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Narset's Reversal is the only copy spell you can copy to put your copy spell back in your hand, if you have another copy of it?)

There's a new Tempting Offer card, and I think people are evaluating it all wrong.

When Tempt with Mayhem was spoiled, I saw an immediate cavalcade of takes talking about it being boring, how--like every other Tempting Offer card--the answer was to just say no. Well, when it comes to copying your own spells, I think that's exactly the right evaluation. Your opponents should absolutely not let you do whatever shenanigans you're planning on doing.

When it comes to more spontaneous uses of Tempt with Mayhem, though? I think things get a little cloudier.

Top 10 Instants and Sorceries of Each "Type"

When it comes to the most popular instants and sorceries in the game, it's likely that you'll see some at the average table, whether you're playing them or not. What's even more likely is that you'll see spells like them, that fit into the same kind of category or strategy. Let's take a look at a few to explain what I'm talking about.

All of these are spells that are not quite the pinnacle of MtG, but nonetheless see quite a bit of play. Put simply, they are spells that you are likely to see in a game of commander. The question is, if an opponent did happen to cast them, how likely would it be for others to let you make more than one copy with Tempt with Mayhem? My hypothesis? More likely than you think. Let's not put the cart before the horse, however: Let's get right into it and I'll explain why.

Criteria: Instants and sorceries, with only one of each "type" of spell permitted to be on the list. In this case, type is unfortunately rather subjective, but the general gist is creature spot removal, permanent spot removal, ramp, counterspells, board wipes, etc. We'll define those definitions more as we move through the list, but as is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

10. Reanimate - Reanimation

(304,651 Inclusions, 15% of 2,084,851 Decks)

If there's an argument for the fact that a lot of folks are just going to reflexively say no to Tempt with Mayhem, it's that figuring out what happens can be complicated. With that being the case, your best weapon in convincing folks will be knowing the answers to questions to make them seem easy. With that in mind, let's go over how the average casting and copying of a Reanimate goes, legally speaking.

Step 1: Play Tempt with Mayhem, targeting Reanimate, which was targeting Avenger of Zendikar.
Step 2: Ask each player in turn order if they would like to copy. Copies are created and targets are chosen as those players make the decision.
Step 3: You create a copy and choose a target for each other player who chose to copy.
Step 4: Resolve those copies, with the last copies put on the stack going first (i.e. yours, then player three in turn order, then two, then one.)
Step 5: The original Reanimate resolves.

So, here's the fun: You get stuff first, which more or less guarantees that if you want something specific (say, an Avenger of Zendikar), then you'll be the one to get it. Here's the rub, though. Leaning into that aggressive stance is sure to make people say no to the copy, if not in the short run, then definitely in the long run. Take our above scenario. If a player tries to grab their Avenger of Zendikar, then you make a copy immediately trying to grab the same Avenger of Zendikar, no one is going to say yes to the copy question unless they think they're also pulling a fast one. When you advise them that they're not, and you could just also target Avenger again? Instant "No" from the table.

If, however, you were to pick that Sun Titan across the way instead? Well now you might have a willing audience.

Overall, however, I think that Reanimate and its ilk are far from a slam dunk when it comes to Tempt with Mayhem. There will be times that the table will let you go nuts, but the end result of that is a huge board presence for you, and a smaller one for your opponents. As such, unless there's a bunch of spicy things in graveyards that folks feel they can get their hands on (and they don't understand that you could just steal them out from under them with your copies that resolve first), I would expect most people to say no to letting you copy reanimation spells, and I think that they would be right to do so.

The big exception? Not all reanimation spells let you target any graveyard. In fact, most don't.

You only being able to bring your own things back changes the calculus entirely. Now the choice for players becomes whether or not they feel like their graveyard is scarier than yours, and a lot of times, they're going to let you bring back half your graveyard because they feel like their big bads are better for them than your utility creatures are for you. The question is... are they right?

9. Dark Ritual - Ritual

(449,425 Inclusions, 22% of 2,048,851 Decks)

Whether or not folks will let you copy rituals, I think, has everything to do with whether or not they can use the mana right then. For the player who cast it, then, it's almost a guaranteed copy, as the likelihood is high that we're in their main phase. In the case of Dark Ritual, with Tempt with Mayhem costing three mana, you getting an extra copy is just you getting three mana, likely at instant speed. There will no doubt be many questions about what you're going to do with it, but I think it's likely that if the player you cast it against could also use an extra three mana, that you'll get the go-ahead.

That said, as the rituals get better, I think it's less likely that it's a good idea for you to copy them, and less likely that the original caster will think it's a good idea to let you do so. Three black mana is all well and good, but when we're talking the six to seven of Jeska's Will alongside three cards, or the 25 of Mana Geyser, the questions about what you're going to do with it are going to get more pointed. Not only that, but giving the Storm player extra mana is likely to just... hand them the game.

8. Brainstorm - Card Draw

(458,473 Inclusions, 23% of 1,998,487 Decks)

Let's be honest: Multiple copies of Brainstorm isn't going to do you much good if you don't have instant speed shuffle effects. So instead, let's look at the other available draw spells.

Top 10 Draw Spells

Sadly, I think most of these are a "no" from either you or your opponents as well. You might get the odd opponent who lets you Faithless Looting or Windfall repeatedly, but that would only be because they are a newer player who hasn't learned how good filling the graveyard is, or an experienced player who doesn't consider you a threat. Tack on some lands to untap with Frantic Search, and it'd be even more foolhardy to let you do it. The big caveat here, however? If you don't have a huge creature on board, then I think that tables will be happy to let everyone at the table draw some cards with Return of the Wildspeaker. If two players have a 6/6, and all you have is a 3/3, then there is real incentive to let you draw nine so they can each draw six. The same goes for pretty much all of the conditional mass card draw, from Shamanic Revelation to Sea Gate Restoration.

7. Demonic Tutor - Tutor

(493,246 Inclusions, 24% of 2,084,851 Decks)

This one isn't hard. Don't let anyone get multiple Demonic Tutors, ever. Right?

But wait, if you cast Tempt with Mayhem on the active player's Demonic Tutor, then they get to make a second copy too, don't they? That's the line of reasoning that might get you two tutors, is if another player is looking for both halves of a combo that they can cast that turn. Whether or not you should be allowing that is a good question, but then again, you could just go fetch some interaction instead of your own win-con.

I think the more interesting discussion is with more limited tutors.

Top 10 Tutor Spells

The one-mana tutors that go put a card on top of your library are maybe the most interesting and dull, all at once, when you make multiple copies of them. If a player gets to Vampiric or Mystical Tutor three times, they will search, shuffle, put a card on top, and then search, shuffle away the card they just put on top, and put the new one on top, and then do the same one more time. What this means is, is if the table is fairly confident that you don't have instant speed card draw, they have pretty much every incentive to all get a free tutor. What can I say? It's a party!

6. Heroic Intervention - Protection

(555,547 Inclusions, 29% of 1,887,636 Decks)

With all the complex calculus, it's nice to have a simple one. Protection spells like Heroic Intervention and Teferi's Protection that get copied just make the whole table ignore whatever the threat is. In other words, there's really not much reason not for everyone to copy, as you most likely don't get any benefit in multiples, and the rest of the table benefits from having protection of their own. It's not what you'd call a slam dunk for what we're trying to do here, but at least it's likely not to backfire if it's your best option, either.

5. Blasphemous Act - Board Wipe

(665,793 Inclusions, 34% of 1,971,709 Decks)

There is a little incentive to have multiple copies of Blasphemous Act, as we've all been in the situation where you have it and there's a green player across the table with a bunch of 20/20s. With that said, it's not exactly what I'd call interesting. There are a few popular board wipes that are, however.

First off, all of the board wipes that say "opponent" on them are worth copying, even though multiples is unlikely to do anything for you. Making that Cyclonic Rift believe in equality will benefit the whole table, but copying it seven times isn't doing anything unless there's a lot of Magecraft at the table. What is more interesting is one of the "opponent" spells that scales, like Torment of Hailfire. Your opponent that cast it is unlikely to copy it, obviously, but I think you have a high likelihood that the rest of the spiteful table might, even if it ultimately kills them. Even better, your copies resolve first, so it's even more likely that you'll win, or that the original player's copy will never resolve as they are removed from the game with their spell still on the stack. Other X spells feel similar, with Curse of the Swine most likely making the entire table into Pigs by the time it's all said and done. Finally, Living Death might just seem like an amusing rigmarole to put the table through, but it actually always ends up reversing itself and putting the creatures that are currently on the battlefield back on the battlefield, no matter if players choose to copy or not. The only question is how many enter the battlefield effects the table gets along the way.

4. Beast Within - Permanent Removal

(770,739 Inclusions, 41% of 1,887,636 Decks)

Spot removal is both the most likely thing you're going to have available to copy with Tempt with Mayhem, and also the most likely to be copied, in my opinion. Why? Because it's rare that there's ever a table with just one problem at it. Most times, the table as a whole is just trying to keep up with all the various threats, and kind of failing miserably. Enter a Beast Within on the stack. You copy it with Tempt with Mayhem, and ask the player that cast it if there's anything else they'd like to get rid of, as well. The next player then removes that player's stuff, as they're now the problem once all the dust settles, and the final player doesn't want to feel left out, and so hits a middling enchantment. It may sound a bit magical Christmas-land, but honestly, I really do think this is how this interaction goes, most of the time: Maximum copies.

And if you think everyone now having Beasts or Elephants is humorous, just wait till the table gets to roll the dice repeatedly with seven copies of Chaos Warp resolving. That's the kind of chaos that folks will do just to see what happens!

3. Counterspell - Counterspells

(862,121 Inclusions, 43% of 1,993,360 Decks)

Counterspells are the most situational of cases when it comes to Tempt with Mayhem. Most times, it will be a boring case study: You'll copy a Counterspell, pointing it at the Counterspell you copied. No one else cares, if anyone else copies, they do so just for entertainment's sake and the same result occurs. Where things get interesting is in a Flusterstorm situation. If there is a full stack of spells going on in the middle of a Storm player's turn, or an active counter war going on, then suddenly targets abound, and most likely the table is willing to help out with one side or the other. Best of all, in this situation, you get the advantage, as your copies are created last in order, meaning you get to know what everyone else has countered before you choose your targets, and also letting you counter those copies if they didn't go the way you wanted. While I don't think that this opportunity will raise its head very often, there is a reason that high-powered tables like Flusterstorm so much, and this does a reasonable impression.

2. Cultivate - Land Ramp

(907,107 Inclusions, 48% of 1,887,636 Decks)

Ramp is another simple, yet straightforward situation. Most times, the right move from the table is to say no. There will almost always be a player who desperately needs mana for one reason or another, however, and so they will say yes. Another pretty-much-guaranteed yes will be from lands decks that are still establishing their nonsense, so I think players will actually be surprised how often the table gives them a clear mana advantage for selfish reasons... The same as has been happening with Tempt with Discovery for a decade now.

1. Swords to Plowshares - Creature Removal

(1,157,472 Inclusions, 62% of 1,853,531 Decks)

Swords to Plowshares plays out in fairly similar fashion to the permanent-based spot removal we already discussed, likely just becoming a board wipe that exiles every relevant creature on the board. It's cousin, Path to Exile, is a bit more of a choice for the table, however.

As much as it's going to be a major advantage that full copies of Swords to Plowshares probably ends with someone having an insane life total, it's nothing compared to the eight lands full copies of Path would result in. While I still think that people's excitement will get away from them, it's worth noting here that folks should say no to Path more often than not, unless they have tokens they want to make into lands for themselves. With that said, if you do get full copies of Path, it's worth considering pointing all of them at your own creatures, now that the board is mostly empty, just to get the mana advantage on the table.

Honorable Mentions

If you're asking just how many spell types there can be, the answer is a lot. With that said, there are just a few other types that bear mentioning.

Copying Wheels might not seem like that big a deal at first, but a ton of decks that play them are looking to fill the graveyard. That might just mean, if you're looking for the same, that the original player will take you up on the offer to copy. Just keep in mind that may mean immediately losing to an Underworld Breach. As for Lightning Bolt and other burn, it will most likely operate as yet another piece of spot removal that turns into a board wipe. The main difference is, if all the relevant creatures have been targeted, or someone is at a lower life total, you may just be able to dome a player for a significant chunk of damage. Lastly, copy spells have always been nuts when it comes to other copy spells, but Narset's Reversal most likely ends with every spell on the table (including Narset's Reversal) back in player's hands, and who knows what else. Could be fun!

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

There's no doubt that a few of these categories dig a little too deep to find the silver lining, but the main takeaway I wanted when it came to Tempt with Mayhem was that in an average turn at an average table, you could probably find targets that would be beneficial to you and that opponents would be likely to at least consider copying. With that said, holding up three red can be asking a lot, so I'm not actually convinced that any of this is a good gameplan. But what do you think?

And finally, what do you think the type of spell is that folks are most likely to copy with Tempt with Mayhem? Are you putting it in any of your decks, now that we've gone over just how many relevant targets there can be?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the ongoing folding table arms race between the rival convention centers.

Top 10 Copy Spells for Red Instants and Sorceries

Singleton Shmingleton - Tormenting Voice

tempt with mayhem

Top 10 Instants and Sorceries of Each "Type" To Copy