You may have heard that Coalition Victory and several other cards got unbanned in Commander last week. This is a big deal, since the card had been illegal in the format for almost two decades, originally getting banned in 2007.

More than two years ago, I wrote an article titled “Why is Coalition Victory Banned in Commander?” and in it I discussed what led to this 5-color alternate win condition getting banned, but I also concluded by saying that I thought it should be unbanned.

So, I’m pretty happy that we can now sleeve up this goofy old card in Magic’s most popular format. And in this article, I’m going to break down the way to get the most out of Coalition Victory.

WHY IT WAS OKAY TO UNBAN COALITION VICTORY

Coalition Victory originally got banned because they thought it was too easy for you to win the game with it. After all, if you’re just playing a 5-color Commander, generally all you have to do is get that Commander into play and then cast Victory to win. This is because the Commander fulfills the requirement for controlling a creature of each color, and it’s likely your lands can fulfill the requirement too.

While it’s true this is a win condition that can end the game out of nowhere and that can be pretty unfun for people, it’s also true that Coalition Victory is super expensive, hard to cast, and very easy to disrupt. If anyone gets rid of one of your permanents or lands in response, it just doesn’t do anything.  Overall, that makes it a fairly balanced card.

BEST COALITION VICTORY COMMANDERS

If you want to win with Coalition Victory, it’s important to start by selecting a Commander that is all five colors – and not just a Commander with a 5-color identity. This helps streamline your win condition, as it means just getting your Commander in play can fulfill Coalition Victory’s first requirement. So, this means you can’t be using someone like Kenrith or Morophon, no matter how cool they are. This means there are only 27 Commanders that can reliably win the game with Coalition Victory.

If you’re already playing a powerful 5-color Commander – like The Ur-Dragon or Jodah the Unifier, you should seriously consider adding Coalition Victory to your deck. Having this alternate win condition is great, and the Ur-Dragon even already comes with a built-in way to draw a whole bunch of cards, making it easier to find Victory.

However, Coalition Victory gets even better if you use a Commander that is also really focused on multicolored cards. That way, you have a deck that is more capable of winning the game even without the Commander in play, and the rest of your deck will already naturally synergize with Coalition Victory’s demands. While it’s definitely a strong card in The Ur-Dragon and Jodah decks, those are Dragon and Legendary decks respectively that just happen to be 5 colors. Not decks with a multicolor focus.

So, with all that in mind, I think Niv-Mizzet Reborn is the best Coalition Victory Commander. He fulfills the 5-color creature requirement while also paying you off for running lots of colors in the first place. His “enters” trigger can never draw you Coalition Victory, but it can draw you a whole bunch of cards – including more card draw and tutors that can grab Coalition Victory – like Ringsight and Invert // Invent.

THE BEST LANDS FOR COALITION VICTORY

So, by running one of the powerful 5-color Commanders I mentioned above, it can be pretty easy to fulfill Coalition Victory’s “creature of each color” requirement. However, fulfilling the “land of each basic land type” part of the card is trickier. 

If you’re playing a 5-color Commander you often run many lands with no basic land types since many such lands are capable of producing multiple colors of mana. But if you’re using Coalition Victory, it’s better to be running lands that do have those types. And running too many basic lands is a pretty bad idea if you want your mana to be consistent.

The good news is, these days we have many such lands to choose from – including the original dual lands, the shock lands, the Amonkhet cycling lands, the Streets of New Capenna tri-lands, the Dominaria tap lands and the Murders at Karlov Manor Surveil lands. Throw in some fetch lands that can grab lands with these types, and you’re in business.

COALITION VICTORY COMBOS

In addition to winning the game more honestly with Coalition Victory by running a 5-color Commander and a whole bunch of lands with multiple basic land types, there are also a few cards that can enable you to streamline the process. 

The best way to do this is with Leyline of the Guildpact, which single handedly allows you to fulfill Victory’s requirements because it makes all your creatures 5 colors and all of your lands all 5 types. You can even put it into play before the game even starts – although, there’s a pretty good chance it won’t be there anymore by the time you can actually cast Coalition Victory.

While Leyline of the Guildpact is the only card that makes virtually any board into one that wins the game with Victory, there are several other cards that can make it easier to control a land with every basic land type.

Overlord of the Hauntwoods makes a land token that is every basic land type, Nylea’s Presence makes one of your lands have all five types, and Prismatic Omen and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove make all of your lands have all types. The great thing about all of these is that they also happen to make your mana much better to cast your Commander too, which is also going to be important for you to win with Coalition Victory.

PROTECTING YOUR WIN CON

One of the main weaknesses of Coalition Victory is that your opponent having any form of interaction can result in the card doing absolutely nothing. Spending a turn that way is likely to lose you the game.

However, one of the benefits of playing a 5-color deck is that you have access to all the best ways to prevent this type of interaction. Most notably, you can use Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat, and Flawless Maneuver. These are all free if you control your Commander, and they are pretty effective at letting you say “No” to whatever your opponent might try even when you’re tapped out.

The list doesn’t end there though, as you also have access to Commander all-stars like Teferi’s Protection and Heroic Intervention.

If there’s any problem with Coalition Victory being legal in the format, it may come as a result of the fact that 5-color decks inherently have access to all the best protection spells in the game, which could make this win condition even more consistent than expected.

END STEP

That’s my take on Coalition Victory’s unbanning, and the best ways you can use this cool card. What do you think? Should this 5-color Sorcery have stayed on the banlist? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.