Bolt Bend is a supremely fun Magic card in the Commander format. Red redirect spells are some of the most potent tools of interaction when you’re not playing blue. Kristen shares her anecdotes about what Bolt Bend can do for you.
If you’ve been reading our articles lately, you might have come across “Red is the New Blue In Commander”. It’s an article I think is well worth a read, but in short, the general gist was that of the interaction available in Commander, the tempo-shifting power of red redirects, coupled with their potential to be a massive blowout, makes them some of the best interaction in the format.
BOLT BEND
Bolt Bend is basically the less expensive version of Deflecting Swat, and was around first. A lot of the time it will cost only a single red mana, which I think is perfectly fine for the effect. It’s not quite as flexible, but it’s also not an expensive free spell, so that’s to be expected.
Bolt Bend is a card I’ve played for a long time, and today I want to share the hilarious and wacky ways it has saved me so far.
10. A VOLTRON MAINSTAY
First up, it’s a Voltron mainstay. Whenever I’ve played a Voltron deck with red in, Bolt Bend goes in. It makes it much safer to start piling equipment onto my Commander, and it means that any stray removal will instead hit a potential blocker, paving the way for my Commander to connect. Everyone waits for you to move to Equip the Swiftfoot Boots, so holding a redirect makes me feel so much safer.
In particular, getting to remove a blocker with Bolt Bend when my Commander has Menace or Flying feels great.
9. STOPPING AN ENGINE IN ITS TRACKS
One thing cards like Bolt Bend are great for is stopping a potential problem engine from getting going in the first place. I’ve managed to redirect a damage trigger from Terror of the Peaks to itself on more than one occasion, halting the potential for it to shred my board or my life total. Hell, I’ve also redirected five or six damage from a trigger like Terror at another player’s or the controller’s face, in order to soften them up, ready to kill them when I untap.
8. PROTECTING MY GRAVEYARD
When playing a graveyard deck, your yard is prime pickings for some of the most efficient removal in the format. One such removal piece is Bojuka Bog, and Bolt Bend and its analogues have saved my ass many times from this powerful land.
Getting to protect your yard when you want to use and abuse it when you untap – or indeed, mid “big turn” – is invaluable, and Bolt Bend is one of the few ways to interrupt a Bojuka Bog. Most protection spells that can protect the player are big, wide spells like Teferi’s Protection, meaning you might save your yard – but you will have to skip the rest of your turn.
7. I DON’T WANT TO BE ON 10 LIFE, THANKS
I once had an opponent curve out into an early Sorin Markov, and knowing their gameplan had them firmly in my sights, they opted to set me to 10 life, in the hopes it would halt my aggressive start, forcing me to pivot to a more defensive plan.
Unknown to them, I had a Bolt Bend in hand. Sorin was redirected to another one of my opponents – one who was decently likely to have the removal to stop my deck going off. I got to untap and end that other player’s set up by swinging a few creatures in to finish them early, and then went on to win the game, thanks to the tempo shifting in my favor.
Much salt flowed. It was delicious.
6. KARN’S TEMPORAL SUNDERING
What’s better than taking an extra turn?
Well, taking an extra turn you didn’t pay for, or put in your deck, or were even in the right colors to cast. Quite a few of the extra turn spells target a player to take an extra turn (which is a neat little use-case for having some lose to decking, in a pinch). If you have players trying to take extra turns in your local meta, then packing a Bolt Bend can be a great way to laugh in their faces.
And believe me… I laughed.
5. STOPPING A VALUE TRAIN
Rionya, Fire Dancer can be quite the threatening Commander. She can turn what looks like a fairly chilled turn of playing draw spells and rituals into an instant board. Combat isn’t the thing to be scared of here, though – it’s her potential to make a bunch of mana, or try and end the game.
Back when it was still Legal, I’ve Bolt Bended Rionya targeting Dockside to make her choose something way less scary. Damage was still done, and value was still gained, but stopping that Dockside helped us not lose the game.
4. NEUTERING A WIN CONDITION
What’s scarier than an Etali, Primal Storm deck? Well, an Etali deck that just free-casted a Surge to Victory and wants to target an Extra Combat spell when it’s still barely the mid-game.
Thankfully, a Bolt Bend in hand ensured the table didn’t just lose to that (genuinely cool) play. I redirected the Surge to Victory to something way less scary (maybe a draw spell?) and then we got to live to see the rest of the game.
To rub salt in the wound, I then used Dire Fleet Daredevil to combo off with Surge to Victory, targeting my Ephemerate when I had Aurelia in play…
Ouphe!
3. STOPPING A HIGH-POWER WIN
Playing at higher-power levels, not having access to blue can feel really punishing. When you’re trying to curve out and present your own win conditions, other players can naturally go for the win at a faster speed – particularly if they go first, have a Sol Ring, or play a Dark Ritual.
In one game I played, the Marrow-Gnawer player was ready to amass infinite Rat tokens using the Thornbite Staff combo. Thankfully, I had a Bolt Bend in hand. I redirected the equip trigger, which at a hefty cost of {4}, was something that couldn’t be repeated again that turn.
This bought the table enough time to find removal, allowing us to keep playing.
2. STOPPING A LAST-DITCH EFFORT
When the writing is on the wall, it’s often very difficult to come back from. Down to the last two players in a pod, I was set up to try and take the win when I untapped. I had Bolt Bend ready for the inevitable removal my Commander might get hit with, and was praying that was all that would happen – I was stone cold to a board wipe.
Instead, my opponent went for the jugular. Dictate of the Twin Gods was in play, and they tapped out for a Comet Storm that could kill me straight up.
My casual Bolt Bend was enough to send the table into fits of laughter – redirecting the damage was enough to kill my opponent before I even needed to untap.
Gottem!
1. SURVIVING ON THE EDGE OF DEATH ITSELF
The reason for this article – and another rip-roaring good time – was a game I played this weekend. It was down to two of us, and my Descent into Avernus was going to pop for 8 damage on my upkeep.
Knowing this, my remaining opponent Stormed off to hit me with a Tendrils of Agony, which would have put me to 7. Knowing this, I had to deploy my Bolt Bend, putting me at 9 before my upkeep.
So, I untapped with an empty board, and a Wound Reflection in play. Incidentally, this meant that my tapped out opponent – on 17 life – was also effectively on 1 life, leaving us both at 1 life when I untapped.
I managed to sneak victory from the jaws of defeat, using Hanweir Battlements for a hasty Valgavoth, knowing the Ward 2 Life was enough to save me even from a free removal spell.
That’s the stuff dreams are made of.
END STEP
Bolt Bend is an immensely fun Magic card, and one that time and time again leaves me with great stories when I play Commander. I really think you should be playing it – you’ll have some really fun stories to tell too.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.