Commander is often known as a “wild west” format; as long as you’re playing within the confines of the Rule 0 talk, anything goes. Games are full of unique interactions that leave you with fond memories. This, to me, is the essence of Commander: celebrating the depth of possibilities in one of the best gaming sandboxes ever made.
I’m here to talk about how to create more exciting Commander experiences, and to show off some of the best cards I’ve found for the job. Whether you’re looking for more opportunities to blow out opponents, beat them at their own game, or just create more memorable games, there’s something here to spice up your decks.
Punishing Hubris
Everyone loves an underdog. Think of any anime protagonist, when faced with what seems like an unbeatable opponent: when the enemy gets too confident that they’ve won, that’s when the heart of the cards proves them wrong. The protagonist somehow pulls it out of the bag, and they unleash a new secret move that completely turns the tide of battle.
You’ve seen this before in games of Magic: a player has made infinite tokens and is about to swing for lethal, when suddenly, another player who’s been out of the running pulls out a Rakdos Charm. The dynamic of the game completely shifts, and the table will never be the same again! Rakdos Charm is one of the more popular cards that punish hubris, because it doesn’t take up a full card slot for the task (you’ll find plenty of uses for the other modes!).
If you want to ensure your opponents get their comeuppance, you can always run, er, Comeuppance. This functions as a part-sweeper, part-fog, and part-Deflecting Palm, depending on the situation. Its utility leads to it being a very flexible choice that can fit easily into many decks. Batwing Brume is another great pick, albeit much more niche. It can function as a fog, a huge damage swing, or both, depending on how you cast it. This is best for when opponents are attacking you, but you can also pay only black mana to cast it when an opponent is being attacked!
Fogs are generally pretty useful in Commander: they’re a way to buy some time against a threat, or deny benefits from combat damage (Reconnaissance Mission, for example). There are some fogs that are better than simply preventing damage though, and they can really punish players that get too aggressive. Illusionist’s Gambit prevents an opponent from attacking you, while forcing them into combat with someone else that could be better equipped to deal with them. Tangle is a great choice for more aggressive decks, giving you (and the table) plenty of time to punish an opponent that overextends.
Getting Players Involved
Commander is a multiplayer format, and some of the best moments are those that get others involved in your plays. When the decisions and discussions are put to the table, you’re exposed to new insights and opportunities for wild moments. The other players at the table have different information and resources than you, so incorporating their input can result in a much more exciting outcome.
The classic example of a card that gets other players involved is Fact or Fiction. You can use it to maximize value by pointing it at a player that owes you a favor, or you can give another player an opportunity to do something for you. If you’d rather something a little more involved, you can play Manifold Insights to let your opponents work together to your benefit. This one is particularly useful for when you need to dig hard for an answer to a problem.
Wheels are extremely popular, but they can often be kind of boring. Sure, drawing seven cards is great, but its impact is lessened when everyone else is doing the same. Wheel of Misfortune is one of my personal favorites to play, as all players become involved in a sort of social deduction minigame. Occasionally, a player will want to keep their hand, so they’ll choose “0” as their number. Otherwise, it’s a tricky little exercise to choose a high enough number to get a new hand, but not so high as to be the sucker to take a hit on the chin for it.
If you’re looking for something a little more wild, Dubious Challenge could be great in a politics or creature-heavy value deck. Cards that equally benefit you and one opponent are often underrated or controversial in terms of competitive viability (see Secret Rendezvous), but they can inject some excitement into more casual games.
Surprise Stack Nonsense
Blue is known for its mastery of the stack, thanks to its near endless suite of counterspells. They shouldn’t be the only ones to have a say when it comes to the resolution of spells, right?
When it comes to stack interaction, you can’t be much more dramatic than the (in)famous Mana Tithe. This is a spell with a low floor, but an incredibly high ceiling; sometimes it won’t do much, but the times that it’ll instantly crumble an opponent’s plans make it worth the inclusion. As Tom Anderson mentioned recently in our countdown of Magic’s best counterspells, nobody expects a mono-white counterspell, so it’s often a memorable treat!
Red has a reputation for being the most chaotic color, and when the most popular card is Chaos Warp, it’s easy to see why. Nothing is ever fully anticipated with red, which is part of its allure. Cards like Bolt Bend and Deflecting Swat are usually used to protect your commander, but they have much more utility than that. For example, you can Bolt Bend a Dovin’s Veto to stop it, which is a feat most counterspells can only dream of! This unpredictable and unexpected energy is exactly the kind of element that can liven up any game.
Perhaps even more unexpected is Imp’s Mischief. Black is known for the ways it can manipulate creatures, not for its ability to manipulate the stack. So when you redirect a removal spell to the caster’s commander with this, you can guarantee a reaction from the table!
“Call An Ambulance, But Not For Me”
This section is somewhat similar to Punishing Hubris, but in a more proactive sense. While those cards tend to be used reactively, the following are more proactive in their applications. They’re the kind of card that completely turns a game on its head once cast, and often have narrow windows of opportunity. Applying patience to their use and waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger will reward you with many exciting games, and that’s not even counting the surprise wins you’ll get!
There’s nothing worse than being hit with a board wipe, especially when you’re piloting a combat-focused deck. Needless to say, reversing the effects of the board wipe – but only for your corner of the battlefield – is invaluable. When your opponents dig hard and finally find that sweeper, they think they’ve stabilized, and there’s nothing more satisfying than wiping that look off their face.
Cosmic Intervention and Thrilling Encore are two cards that do just that. They will ensure that your opponents’ attempts to keep you in check simply aren’t enough. Cosmic Intervention’s foretell ability can really help to spread the cost over two turns, reducing the burden of holding up mana in proactive decks. If Thrilling Encore proves to be a bit too much mana to keep up, you can always go for Rise of the Dread Marn instead for an emergency makeshift army!
Sometimes, your opponent’s best defense is your greatest offense. Players often feel secure when hiding behind a line of beefy creatures, but what if they were to stop being so protective? All you need to do is cast a Disrupt Decorum and watch as your opponents scramble to work out the least damaging way to punch each other. Similarly, Reins of Power can wreak havoc on the board. If an opponent is attacking you, you can steal a different player’s board and trade off a bunch of creatures on both sides. If it’s your turn, you can nab the best board for the turn and do some real damage!
If you want to be the living embodiment of the goose from Untitled Goose Game, then you owe it to yourself to add more Tainted Strikes, Berserks, and Temur Battle Rages to your decks. Tricks like these are obviously best in combat-heavy decks, but they can fit in almost anywhere as a way to kill an opponent out of nowhere.
One important thing that a lot of players forget is that these spells don’t have to target your own creatures. If your opponent is swinging at a player with their commander and they don’t block, why not cast Berserk? Not only could it kill them through commander damage, but it’ll kill the attacking creature at the end of the turn.
You don’t have to use these spells to eliminate opponents or end the game, either. You can use Temur Battle Rage on a blocking creature to take out a threat as well. These spells cause some pretty big blowouts, and if that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is!
There are few games that leave players with fond memories and wild moments that they’ll cherish forever, but Magic is one of them. The sheer number of cards creates endless possibilities, and Commander is the best format to experience them all.
Do you have any wild, dramatic or exciting cards that you like to play? I’d love to hear yours (so I can add them to my own arsenal). Show me over on Twitter; I look forward to seeing them, especially if I don’t see them coming!
Scott is an Irish content creator and the Head of Budget Magic for the Izzet League. He focuses on affordable decks in Pioneer, Modern, and Pauper, particularly ones that stray from the mainstream. When he’s not writing about his favorite decks, he can be found talking incessantly about them on Twitter and on The Budget Magic Cast.