(Leyline of the Void | Art by Sergey Glushakov)

The Game is Just Beginning

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 Leyline of Mutation is the only Leyline that falls within a five-color color identity that isn't five colors?)

Duskmourn brought us four new Leylines, which had me wanting to take a snapshot of things before the new arrivals started climbing the ranks.

Top 10 Leylines

The original Leylines were printed in Guildpact, in 2006. They were a cycle of four mana enchantments that could enter the battlefield if they were in your opening hand, one for each color.

That recipe has more or less stuck through the lifespan of new Leylines, as well, with follow-ups from Magic 2011, Magic 2020, and now Duskmourn also sticking with the four-mana-with-two-pips mantra. There has been one exception in Murders at Karlov Manor's Leyline of the Guildpact, but even there they went out of their way to keep the cost at four mana, just with a hybrid green pip for each other color.

It turns out, however, that Leylines aren't the only cards to have used this "if [this] is in your opening hand, do [this]" mechanic. New Phyrexia also wanted in, with the Chancellors.

More expensive, at seven mana with three pips, the Chancellors all provide an effect when you reveal them from your opening hand, and then of course have what passed for seven-mana-large bodies in 2011. Even these minor side prizes for starting the game off with a seven-mana creature in hand weren't the only meanderings into the opening hand space, however, with a lot of one-offs as well.

Suffice it to say, there is a lot of space to play with in this mechanic, so I would imagine that we haven't seen the end of it. With 25 cards currently sporting the words, you can already build a full quarter of a commander deck that can do things before the game starts, and that number is probably only going to grow. For now, though, let's go see where we stand before the newest Duskmourn variants start really climbing the ladder, shall we?

Criteria: Cards which enter the battlefield or trigger upon being in your opening hand. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

10. Leyline of Punishment

(5,937 Inclusions, 0% of 2,229,769 Decks)

As the long-time pilot of a Sapling of Colfenor deck, I can tell you that there are entire decks that just shut down when the phrase "players can't gain life" enters the chat, but most folks playing Leyline of Punishment aren't trying to shut you down so much as just keep things on an even playing field for their Group Slug shenanigans. For those unfamiliar with the archetype, Group Slug decks are trying to just throw out huge amounts of damage to the table, themselves included. Most often Rakdos, the mantra of Group Slug is being there for a good time, not a long time. In short, whether these decks win or lose, the game will be short for the player helming the Group Slug deck, which can be a nice thing to have for the end of the night. The only issue? When you run into a pesky life-gain deck, or a pillow fort deck that will prevent all this damage you're doing to everyone, your entire strategy folds as the rest of the table dies and the lone damage holdout remains at a high life total. This is why Leyline of Punishment is seeing the play it is, to even things out so that your Group Slug shenanigans affect everyone equally.

9. Chancellor of the Annex

(6,366 Inclusions, 0% of 2,090,051 Decks)

As for Chancellor of the Annex, I don't know what decks want this. Well, I take that back. Common sense or even a casual perusal of its EDHREC page will tell you that the decks playing this are Stax decks. I just disagree with that decision. Don't get me wrong, when you pull Chancellor of the Annex in your opening hand, you're going to set the table back a turn, which is exactly what Stax decks want to do. My issue is that like all of the Chancellors, the juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Even in that best case scenario, you've given up a card in hand to be a turn ahead of the table, but this isn't Chrome Mox. You've given up a card in hand without said card building your board state at all, meaning that it's entirely likely that you'll delay everyone's first spell only to miss a land drop in three turns and end up behind anyhow.

What's worse, though? Drawing Chancellor of the Annex anytime after your opening hand. At seven mana, it should be worth three and a half Thalias or Thorn of Amethysts, two Grand Arbiter Augustins, or two Dovin, Hand of Controls, and it barely adds up to being better than one of any of them. In short, you don't want to pay this seven mana, even if you have it, which makes this a bad card to include, no matter what it does on the opening turn of the game. Throw a Tax Collector in your deck instead, and move on.

8. Leyline of Combustion

(6,853 Inclusions, 0% of 2,229,769 Decks)

Leyline of Combustion doesn't wow me, but it is still better than a lot of folks give it credit for. Two damage every time you or something you control is targeted adds up over time, which is why I'm for this card if you do open with it in your opening hand. When you draw this on turn six, however, the feels don't get much worse than that.

7. Sphinx of Foresight

(7,815 Inclusions, 0% of 2,246,887 Decks)

Unlike Leyline of Combustion, you're happy to draw Sphinx of Foresight in the late game. With an efficient, relevant flying body and an upkeep scry trigger, there's lots to like here, especially for Sphinx decks. The scry 3 if you draw it in your opening hand is just gravy!

6. Leyline of Sanctity

(10,158 Inclusions, 0% of 2,090,051 Decks)

So here's a strange thing: I like Leyline of Combustion more than I do Leyline of Sanctity. Ivory Mask effects always seem good on paper, but in practice there really aren't very many things in a game of commander that target you, with the majority of effects either not targeting or targeting your things instead. Which is not to say this is useless against the right deck, I've just never been a fan of modifying my decks for my local meta.

5. Leyline of the Void

(21,717 Inclusions, 1% of 2,334,092 Decks)

I don't know about you, but I expected this one to be number one! Leyline of the Void has a long history of being the most playable Leyline, ever since it was printed. It has become less popular in Commander as time has gone on, not because it's not good, but because it's too good. In short, plopping down a Leyline of the Void, no matter the turn, is sure to turn one deck at the table completely off until they find some enchantment removal. For a lot of folks, that's just not a good feeling, to have their former friend sit across the table turn after turn as they sarcastically draw the top card of their deck, stare them dead in the eyes, and say go.

4. Leyline of the Guildpact

(22,245 Inclusions, 16% of 142,434 Decks)

While I do love Leyline of the Guildpact, it feels like it's most often just an expensive Prismatic Omen, Leyline situation excluded, of course. Looking through its EDHREC page, it's clear that the vast majority of the play it's seeing is for its "lands can tap for any color" effect, rather than its "everything is every color" effect. Worse, there are several commanders there on the page that don't appear to work at all with it, which is usually a red flag that folks are playing the card wrong.

While Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile's namesake, Jared Carthalion, does work quite well with Leyline of the Guildpact, it is the only five-color commander I can find that does. Jensen, meanwhile, doesn't care about five-color permanents, it cares about five-color spells. And unfortunately, despite what your local player may have told you, Leyline of the Guildpact doesn't affect spells on the stack, with permanents not becoming five colors until they hit the battlefield. This likewise means that you don't get extra counters on your Ramos, Dragon Engine. All of that pales in comparison to the 269 folks playing Leyline of the Guildpact in their Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact decks, however, which entirely turns off their commander who specifically looks for two-color cards. Whoops!

3. Leyline of Abundance

(29,915 Inclusions, 1% of 2,135,759 Decks)

Besides Leyline of the Void, Leyline of Abundance is the only Leyline to have seen some (extremely limited) cEDH play, prior to Orcish Bowmasters ensuring that any deck playing mana dorks would be blasted back to the stone age on a regular basis. Even at more casual tables, however, this card has always been a complete game changer when it comes to Elfball decks.

For the uninitiated, Elfball is a strategy that's existed since the very beginnings of the game. In short, the idea is "play a whole bunch of cheap Elves that tap for mana, then play a huge, game-ending spell with them". So why is Leyline of Abundance so good for that strategy? Well, plop this down for free on turn zero, then start your turn with a land and a mana dork, and you begin to get the picture. The complete picture is three turns later, however, when you start tapping the eight to start making all of those 1/1 mana dorks into 2/2's, then 3/3's, then 5/5's... You get the idea.

2. Leyline of Anticipation

(103,819 Inclusions, 5% of 2,246,887 Decks)

Widely seen as the best of the various Vedalken Orreries, Leyline of Anticipation has the exact same rules text outside of the namesake Leyline effect. Which is pretty huge. Plopping it down on turn zero and then never having to do anything on your turn except play a land and attack is pretty huge. Throw in the fact that folks don't really ever want to attack into a surprise, and there's no question that Leyline of Anticipation deserves this spot.

1. Gemstone Caverns

(223,362 Inclusions, 5% of 4,573,055 Decks)

If we want to talk about the divide between casual and competitive EDH, a great place to start is with Gemstone Caverns. Largely panned on the casual side of things, Gemstone Caverns is only good when it's in your opening hand. Of course, if you're in a monocolor deck, then the price you're paying for drawing it late is pretty small. In a multicolor deck, however, it can often mean not having access to one of your colors. That price is more than worth paying in competitive, where Gemstone Caverns might not even be the only card you have in your opening hand that requires you to pitch a card to get ahead a mana. After all, if you aren't ramping on turn one, that very well might mean that you never meaningfully contribute to a cEDH game.

In casual, however, not only is Gemstone Caverns cost seen as prohibitive, so is it's swingy nature. It's great early, but you're having to get rid of a card that might impact your ability to get to the late game, and you may not have all the colors you need in the mid-game if you don't have it in your opening hand. In short, it just doesn't translate outside of high-powered play.

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Honorable Mentions

The pickings get a little slim even inside of our top ten, so there's not a whole list worth talking about after it. So instead, why don't we talk about the new additions from Duskmourn?

When Leyline of Transformation was spoiled, I commented that it seemed like "the only good Leyline since the originals". Having more recently gone over the list, I'm not sure that I can stand by that opinion, but suffice it to say, it's good. Only one more mana than the go-to card for this effect, Arcane Adaptation, Leyline of Transformation isn't breaking the bank even if you don't get it for free. And if you do, well then what are we even talking about?

With that said, I may have been sleeping on the best of the bunch. I initially dismissed Leyline of Hope as "just another life gain card", which isn't even really fair, considering that life gain is the third-most popular strategy in Commander. On second read, though, it gets even better. Getting to 47 is not a difficult thing to do, even in a non-dedicated life gain deck, and +2/+2 is a more than reasonable buff. Put another way, there are 105 commanders that can play white and have some sort of life gain attached to them. Not all of them should be playing this card, obviously, but for those that are also going to be playing a lot of creatures, it should definitely be considered.

"Leyline of Jodah" or "Leyline of the Fist", whichever nickname you decide on, Leyline of Mutation is going to see play. Now, will it see any play outside of Jodah, Morophon, and Jegantha decks? That's debatable, but it's also not a bad list, either.

Finally, I want to like Leyline of Resonance, I really do. And it will absolutely see play as a backup commander in Zada, Hedron Grinder and Feather, the Redeemed decks, along with maybe a Heroic brew or two. That's pretty much it, though. For what at first glance appears to be such a broad effect, in reality it's just an incredibly narrow niche. Still, if you're in that niche, then here you go!

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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.

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What Do You Think?

Gemstone Caverns is really the most clear example of the inherent tradeoff of Leylines: Either you win the dice roll and get a great effect early, or you get a much worse effect much later in the game. The question is, is that a good chance to be taking?

And finally, what's your favorite Leyline? Which one sees the most play in your decks? Are you planning on using any of the new ones?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the table already in progress.

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