Salty Commander Cards that are Healthy for the Format

It’s easy to get salty when playing Commander if you let yourself. While there are plenty of cards that everyone can agree are hyper salt-inducing, Kristen argues that some cards that make opponents salty aren’t actually that bad – and may even be good for the format. 

In Commander in 2024, the format has never been faster. Still, playing hatebears and other roadblocks can often feel like a tempo loss, as it doesn’t develop your board while other players are still trying to forward a gameplan. 

The feeling of being told “no” by a piece of stax-lite, or having a game-altering card played, can often feel pretty tilting, especially given that other players at the table might still be able to pop off through that stax piece, or not care about the undercosted threat.

What salt-inducing cards are actually good for the format?

SALTY CARDS THAT ARE GOOD FOR THE FORMAT

First up, let’s talk about Torpor Orb variants. While playing singular variants of this can be pretty underwhelming at some tables, a card like Hushbringer can give you more than just a road block. It flies, and it has lifelink, making it great for getting in for attack or damage triggers, and a way to shore up the life total in the early game.

While some players might be devastated by what this card can accomplish, it is only a 1/2 creature at base. Not only does it die to every good boardwipe and single-target removal spell in the format, it also dies to a number of the criminally underplayed early game sweepers like Brotherhood’s End. 

In addition, Hushbringer only stops EtBs. It doesn’t stop people curving out and attacking the controller of the Hushbringer, prompting them to decide if they want to throw it under the bus with a chump block.

Hushbringer is a good litmus test for if players play enough wraths and removal spells, and for whether players are too greedy with deckbuilding to not spread key effects over different spell types (instant, sorcery, on-cast,  as well as EtB). 

There was quite a bit of discussion around Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines when she came out, too. Again, I really don’t see an issue with this effect at five mana, especially as it’s so easy to remove (plus she makes opponents’s bouncelands better).

If people’s decks brick against cards like this, then it’s a learning moment about how to threat assess, how much removal to run, and how to develop a gameplan. 

SAYONARA TO YOUR FRIENDS

Board states can get overwhelmingly complicated in Commander, and it’s in no small part due to the sheer quantity of token permanents that can be generated by each deck. And, when players are generating extra mana, playing free spells, and curving out with ever cheaper cards, things can feel out of control pretty quick. Doubly so if someone had a Sol Ring start.

That’s where Farewell comes in, and I think this card gets a bad rap. The bad rap it gets is entirely down to the prevailing attitude – well, peer pressure – to not wrath once a game goes a certain length. By and large? I agree. If a game has been long, and the wrath resets things and doesn’t allow a win, then it’s probably best to just shuffle up for game two.

However, using that and a leap of logic to argue that Farewell has no place in the format is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If your deck is so lean that it doesn’t have counterspells or phasing to deal with a wrath, or you’re that averse to getting your engine wiped clean, then you probably need to reconsider your approach to a multiplayer, interactive game, where tools are useful and the best and most interesting games are ones with peaks and troughs, power struggles, and rising from the ashes.

Farewell has earned its place in the format due to how much bullshit there is to deal with. When everything is a “must answer threat,” Farewell is a great answer. 

TREASURE THE MOMENT

Treasure is an ever present scourge on “gift” to the Commander format. It’s stapled to numerous spells and effects, and some of the most efficient creatures played right now also generate treasure too.

Collector Ouphe is another “litmus test” card. Like Hushbringer, it shuts off some decks completely, and while I am a little more lenient with Hushbringer, I do find that this can sometimes screw an equipment deck hard, which I might be biassed at not loving.

More to the point, Ouphe stands out as a great “roadblock”. It slows games down and presents a puzzle. It can stop treasure, yes, but it can also stop numerous combo pieces and value engines.

Again, it’s just a 2/2 guy. It dies to removal. It dies to wraths. Play more of both, be happy.

If you are conscious of how this card can be horrid for casual decks that aren’t breaking the game quite so hard, then consider Manglehorn or Dauntless Dismantler. Slow people down, remove stuff. Great effects. 

CONTROL NEEDS AN ENDGAME

With bounce wraths (and wraths in general) frowned upon as games go long, it kinda leaves Control decks in a hard spot. How do they shut down a game without looping unfun cards?

Well, Toxrill, horrid as it is to play against sometimes, is a perfect curve topper for Control. It slowly picks away at a board, accrues you card draw, and can be downright toxic with cards that proliferate.

The salt from Toxrill mainly comes from an early Reanimate. Toxrill as a Commander is extremely telegraphed, and if you run any removal at all, you can kneecap their mana rocks or just remove it when it comes down. 

Toxrill has a place as a way to give Control an endgame in Commander.

PLAY YOUR BOARDWIPES

I’ve written about playing more wraths more times than I care to admit, and they’re good for a reason: they answer multiple problems, all at once.

Scute Swarm is a litmus test card too, this time asking if players are running enough wraths. Once the first token copy of Scute Swarm appears, it’s very hard to contain the outbreak, as removing the original doesn’t really do anything. 

This is where a wrath comes in, and nukes this little bug into oblivion. Scute Swarm is healthy for the format in that it encourages wraths and also more generally cool cards like Gruesome Realization to be played. 

END STEP

Many of the saltiest cards in Commander induce salt for a good reason: Vorinclex basically grinds the game to a halt, Stasis and Winter Orb do the same, and mass land destruction requires a level of finesse to play that most players can’t quite attain. 

Some cards, though, are more fair than you think. Commander is a lot of fun when there are boardstates to unravel, and as long as decks are built for the right table? It can be a great game, even with the salt in full flow.