Red is the New Blue in Commander

Red is the New Blue in Commander, or; Red Redirects are better than Blue Counterspells. You can see why I went with the former, right? Way snappier, and definitely going to draw you in to ask what the hell I’m proposing with such an SEO-worthy title. 

To get at the heart of what I’m suggesting here, it’s necessary to understand Tempo in Commander.

What is Tempo?

Tempo is the act of making a play that leaves you further ahead – on board, in your gameplan – than an opponent. Tempo decks tend to stick smaller threats that can snowball over time, while spending the rest of their resources on stopping another deck getting enough momentum to seize the tempo advantage for themselves.

Tempo in 1v1 Magic is best represented by decks that involve blue for disruptive spells, like countermagic or bounce, that slow an opponent’s roll, all the while cementing a snow snowball of value that can overwhelm the opponent. Rather than play an objectively better piece of removal that hits 60% of the field, like Lightning Bolt, they might play a less good removal spell that can deal with more threats, like an Unsummon. As long as these spells allow them to push damage through, they are dictating the pace of the game.

Classic Delver decks do this by filtering the top of the library for interaction, and then swinging in with a 3/2 Flyer each turn until the opponent is dead. They counter anything that can stop this plan, or otherwise remove roadblocks for their 3/2. It might take them a number of turns, but eventually they win.

Tempo is a musical term, and is the beats-per-minute, the speed of a piece of music. Tempo decks dictate the game to be played at their speed. 

TEMPO IN COMMANDER

Tempo in Commander is another story. It could be argued that all decks vie for Tempo in Casual, battlecruiser Commander; you’re seeking to disrupt – and not necessarily completely kneecap – three other players. You can’t play Tempo like in 1v1, as it doesn’t tend to work out the same. I’d go as far as to suggest that Voltron backed up with control magic is one of the more classic Tempo variants, if you’re looking for something analogous to Tempo. 

A good example of what I think constitutes a tempo deck in Commander is Jund. Jund, in 1v1 Magic, is a Midrange deck. While it combines some Aggro and some Control, like a Tempo deck, it has lower overall synergy, and way more redundancy. It plays hand disruption to get rid of interaction so it can land sizable threats, but doesn’t care as much about losing them, because it can just play more.

I would argue that in Commander, Jund is closer to a Tempo deck.

Take a Henzie “Toolbox” Torre deck. Henzie decks play out creatures ahead of curve, with haste, to push through damage. Those creatures then replace themselves when they die. The way Henzie decks can win using this strategy is by making a majority of the creatures they blitz a 2-for-1, or better. 

The perfect example of a 2-for-1 in Commander is Ravenous Chupacabra.

It exchanges one card for two things: destroying an opponent’s blocker, and giving you a 2/2 to block or attack with. This is a tempo-gaining play, and it is the bread and butter of how we win games of Commander. We don’t just wish to untap, play a spell, and pass. We want to play spells that are greater than a 1-for-1, or permanents that generate value over time, or combo. We want to disrupt an opponent’s plays in a way that negatively affects them, if possible. 

When you combine that with blitzing, you end up in a situation that is, for all intents and purposes, one of tempo. You’re dictating that the game is played at your speed (fast) and you’re removing whatever blocks your damage, or whatever engine piece looks to gain value. 

Because it’s so hard to do that for 3 opponents at once, Tempo decks in Commander look much more like Henzie. They play at a fast pace, at a discount, and they have backup in the form of combos, mass reanimation, or burn, in order to close a game. That’s why I said that the majority of decks in Commander are constantly vying for Tempo; they do this while searching for a way to win. 

COUNTERSPELLS ARE CARD DISADVANTAGE

Counterspells in Commander are usually card disadvantage. You’re going one card down to stop another card, with two other opponents who lose nothing from that exchange. 

Some popular counterspells like Swan Song, An Offer You Can’t Refuse, and Arcane Denial even give an advantage to the opponent. 

It’s not until you start over-paying on counterspells like Three Steps Ahead or Spell Swindle that you start to actually gain anything from casting them.

Of course, counters have their place, and I still like using them as catch-all ways to stop shenanigans. Those shenanigans get more frequent the higher power you go, too, and as soon as you’re at a table where everyone has a combo or early win con, a counterspell’s flexibility at protecting your combo and stopping someone else’s is key. 

At more casual tables, though? They ain’t all that. There are other cards I’d rather take first.

RED REDIRECTS ARE THE ULTIMATE TEMPO PLAY

There’s a reason Deflecting Swat is so expensive. There’s a reason why Bolt Bend is such a widely played budget version. They’re extremely powerful Tempo plays.

Whenever you get something aimed at your stuff, it’s costing an opponent a card and mana (usually). By spending very little (or even zero) mana on redirecting that effect, you’re not only protecting your threat (which can help you win the game), but also fucking with someone else’s. Just on mana efficiency alone, this kind of play is leagues ahead of most other plays you can make in a game, short of trying to win. 

By redirecting the removal spell, you’re keeping your progress, and halting an opponent’s. And hell, you might not even just be redirecting removal. Some card draw and extra turn spells target a player. Some effects like Sorin Markov’s downtick try to set a player to 10 life. If you can redirect those? You’re gaining such a massive Tempo advantage that it goes beyond the rudimentary Tempo-measurement scale we have to measure Tempo. 

Because all of that value is in the context of a multiplayer game. You’re not only wrestling Tempo from one player, but from three. 

Sure, you can play a protection spell. But is it worth the same amount of mana as a Bolt Bend (reduced due to Ferocious)? No, no it isn’t. It’s usually less good than an Ephemerate, another card I pick over single-target protection a good amount of the time, too. That extra tempo gain is too damned good. 

For single target protection to come close to a redirect these days, it has to be modal. It has to be as powerful as a Collective Resistance. Sure, it’s more expensive than a one-mana play – so is Return the Favor – but honestly? Worth it, especially in a metagame where we’re all ramping and making a billion treasure. It’s affordable. 

I snapped off a Return the Favor into an opponent’s Empty the Warrens the other day, getting even more Goblins because I raised the storm count. It felt amazing. I loved having that option in my back pocket. I’ve been killed before by someone’s Dualcaster Mage on my Torment of Hailfire, and getting the best part of Dualcaster on a spell that can also copy your triggers and do a redirect? Sign me up. 

RED IS THE NEW BLUE IN COMMANDER

In 1v1 Magic, blue is the most common Tempo color. When you end up in multiplayer, though? At Casual tables? It’s so obviously red. Red is the new blue. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Red is the color of haste, the most Tempo-breaking mechanic in a format where you potentially have to wait twenty minutes to untap, and that’s if you untap at all due to the higher chance of removal, boardwipes, or someone just winning the game. 

Haste breaks that symmetry, allowing you to do stuff now. It literally seizes the Tempo. And what do red redirects do? Well, they sustain that Tempo. 

Perhaps the most excited I’ve been for any card previewed in Duskmourn so far was seeing Untimely Malfunction. 

What a little heater!

For two mana, you get an unconditional Bolt Bend. But that’s not all. You can also blow up an artifact, or you can just say “nah, no blockers”. What?!

Untimely Malfunction is a card that gets me excited. It’s such a Tempo card. It doesn’t just wrestle to control Tempo, it claims it as its own. The modality makes it super-impressive, and ensures that you’re always going to have a use for it. It’s never a dead card. 

END STEP

When I see someone leveraging red in casual Commander, I see someone that understands one of the core underpinnings of Magic strategy. I see someone that likely excels in Limited and in other 1v1 formats, and someone that understands intrinsically the limitations and pitfalls of a multiplayer format. 

Red is the Tempo color in Casual Commander, and gives way more bang for your buck than a simple Counterspell. Sure, run Counters too. But don’t ignore the Tempo-gains from playing redirects. They win so. many. games.