(Disclaimer: Hey there, Planeswalkers! Welcome to the Top Down Commander Blog Dojo (?). I’m your Sensei. Today is going to be the first in a series of blog posts/articles I’m thinking of writing about Commander and Magic the Gathering in general. Let me know what you think. Without further ado, here you go!)
There are two topics you never discuss in polite conversation: religion and politics. But as all Magic the Gathering players know, the Commander table isn’t always a hub for polite conversation. Unlike competitive Magic, in the world of casual, multiplayer EDH, politics is an important and unavoidable part of the game. I liken playing politics to playing combo, there are a ton of moving parts that need to be managed carefully. If not, the whole house of cards falls apart.
I like to consider myself fairly well versed in the tactical use of trickery and politics. For me, the most enjoyable aspect of Commander is engaging with my opponents, forcing conversation and interaction. I respect that for some people, especially those who come from a competitive background, this concept can be foreign and uncomfortable. So in today’s article, I’m going to walk you through my top five tips for successful commander politics.
The first rule of Commander politics is: Be Honest.
You can manipulate the truth, you can leave details out, but never ever flat out lie. The first time you out right lie to your opponents, especially with a consistent playgroup, is the last time anyone will ever trust you and trust is key to politics. Let’s look an example of what happens when you lie.
Ex. 1: You’re in a game with at least two opponents, we’ll call them Opponents A and B. Opponent B is about to combo off and win the game. Opponent A realizes they can kill Opponent B if they swing everything at Opponent B but doing so will leave them wide open. They offer a deal to you: they’ll kill opponent B if you promise not to swing at them for one turn. You take the deal. Opponent A swings everything at Opponent B, Opponent B dies. On your turn, you decide to betray your deal, swing at Opponent A anyway, and kill them. Congratulation, you’ve won the game! But at what cost?
You’ve won the game, but you’ve lost all trust of Opponent A and probably the rest of the table as well. It won’t take long for you to develop a reputation for being dishonest. And this means when you need to make other political deals, people will be less likely to agree to them. You might also be “unfairly” targeted by opponents just because they don’t trust you and want you out of the game as quickly as possible. None of these are scenarios you want to find yourself in. So how do you navigate the murky waters of truth without flat out lying? Let’s go back to the previous example, but this time we’ll add a wrinkle.
Ex. 2 The situation with our opponents remains the same: Opponent A can kill Opponent B with an alpha strike but doing so will leave them wide open to you. Opponent A offers a deal, they will kill Opponent B, provided you don’t attack them on your next turn. In your hand, you’re holding a two-card combo as well that will win the game (without combat damage). You agree to the deal, you won’t attack opponent A on your next turn. Deal agreed to, Opponent A swings at Opponent B, taking them out of the game, and on your next turn, you draw your whole deck and win the game with a laboratory maniac. You may have won the game on your turn, but you didn’t attack opponent A and you didn’t lie.
Now in this situation, you may draw the ire of opponent A who gets defensive that you “betrayed” them. But remind them, you just promised not to attack them. You said nothing about drawing your whole deck. Is it cheeky? Yeah. Is it lying? No.
The second tip I have for you is this: Be precise.
In everything you do, and more importantly everything you say, be precise. Choose your words and your actions carefully. You want to leave as little room as possible for your opponents to call you a liar. Think like a genie from a fantasy story. When the hero wishes for a million bucks, the genie agrees but then rewards the hero with a million male deer or bucks. The genie didn’t lie, the genie delivered exactly what was requested. Be like genies, my friends.
Let’s look at some examples.
Ex. 3: You are playing a blue-white control deck. An opponent begs you not to counter the enchantment they’re about to cast. You’re not even holding a counter spell, but you are holding a disenchant. You agree “I won’t counter your enchantment.” Then before your untap step, you disenchant their enchantment. You agreed not to counter it, you never agreed to let them keep it.
Ex. 4: You have a board full of tokens, enough to kill Opponents A, B, and C. But opponent C has a ghostly prison that’s stopping you from attacking them. You notice opponent B has a thrashing brontodon on board and open mana. Even though Opponent B’s life total is the lowest, you offer a deal to Opponent B, “I won’t attack you this turn if you blow up the ghostly prison.” Opponent B agrees, you swing and kill opponents A and C. Then on your second main phase, you play Throne of the God Pharaoh, killing opponent B on your end step. You promised not to attack them, you never promised they’d survive the turn.
Ex. 5: An opponent has a board full of creatures and is planning to swing at everyone next turn. They try to bait you out saying “you’ve got a board wipe, don’t you? You’re going to board wipe.” You respond “I don’t have a board wipe.” It goes past your turn, no board wipe. They swing out, you cast fog. It wasn’t a board wipe, but all the same it does mean they probably die without any blockers to protect them. You tried to tell them you didn’t have a board wipe.
Playing politically isn’t about lying, it’s about manipulating information to gain an advantage. Some players might feel that you’re being scummy and that’s where it becomes so important that you’ve maintained your integrity. If you can honestly say that you don’t lie (bonus points if other players can corroborate this, even begrudgingly) this will go a long way toward cementing your validity as a political player rather than a cheat.
Tip number three, be patient.
Don’t allow yourself to become the threat until you’re ready. And then, when you’re ready to turn the corner and go from non-threatening to threatening, be ready to commit. Before that, don’t draw too much attention to yourself. If your plan involves reanimating a massive threat and winning in one combat step, don’t go for it too early. And don’t make it too obvious when you’re setting up.
Ex. 7: Let’s say the plan involves discarding a Jin-gitaxias early and then reanimating it later. When you do discard it, casually mention, “go to discard, pitch a jin-gitaxias.” Maybe even throw in a dejected, “Not like I’m ever gonna get that much mana anyway.” If you wheel your hand and Jin is in it, put it on the bottom of the pile you discard and keep moving. If anyone asks what’s in your graveyard, DON’T LIE but you don’t necessarily need to be totally forthcoming about every detail unprompted. We’re not going to lie, but we’re also not going to give everything away up front.
Ex. 8: Another great political win condition is a card like Insurrection. If you use it to early, you run the risk of not being able to kill your enemies and painting a huge target on your back (which we said in tip three we don’t want to do). So what do you do? Be patient. Hold back playing creatures or making threatening plays, use your opponents sympathies to bait them into attacking each other and then when they’ve overcommitted, cast your insurrection and steal the game out from underneath them.
The point is be patient and realize that as the political player, you don’t need to be ahead at any point until the end. In fact, sometimes being behind is more beneficial. Allowing yourself to appear less intimidating is a useful tactic. We’re not playing the aggressive role in this game, we’re playing the long game. We don’t need to be in the lead from the start, so long as we end up there when all is said and done.
The fourth tip I have for you is to be non-threatening.
As political players, we’re looking to throw off our opponents, lower their defenses, and convince them that other opponents are far bigger threats than we are. The first trick to this is actively avoiding cards that look threatening or shut down opposing strategies. Some of these cards are traditional stax/tax cards like Winter Orb, Thalia, Guardian of Traben, or Stasis. Others can include lighter lock pieces like Aura of Silence or Uphill Battle.
If you start off the game by playing Authority of the Consuls on turn one and then Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on turn two, you’re going to have a very difficult time convincing opponents that you’re not a threat. While you may not be dealing damage to them, that sort of early disruption can easily turn your opponents toward removing you in response. Turn down the heat by playing cards that impact your own board rather than your opponents’. Instead of playing cards that make your opponents creatures enter tapped, focus on cards like Propaganda or Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs that discourage opponents from attacking you. Let your opponents play their game of magic, just make sure they leave you out of it.
This isn’t to say that you can’t or shouldn’t play taxing cards or cards that slow down your opponents. Just pay attention to how you sequence/time those cards. Play your threatening cards after someone else has deployed scary threats.
Ex. 6: Wait to play that Thalia, Heretic Cathar until Opponent B has played their Fires of Yavimaya. Then apologize to to Opponents A and C saying, “Sorry I have to play this, but we can’t afford their creatures coming out with haste. If you deal with the Fires, I’ll sacrifice Thalia or you can kill it.” Now you’ve turned your typically threatening card into a mutually beneficial tool for your opponents. They don’t need to know it was all a part of your plan.
All of these political tips lead to the final and most important tip: Be aware.
Playing politically means we aren’t just playing cards, we’re playing people. We’re making decisions based on information we can glean from our opponents more than the cards in their decks. In this way, it almost feels more like poker than a traditional game of Magic. We’re watching how our opponents react to each other, looking for their tells, forcing them to waste their resources and make mistakes they don’t even see coming.
When an opponent plays a card you recognize could be threatening to another player, acknowledge it. “Whoa, is that an aura shards? Aren’t you playing an artifact deck? That could get out of hand.” Never mind the fact that your deck is primarily enchantments. This isn’t about you, it’s about them. Now the other players at the table are going to be drawn to that aura shards and hopefully will focus less on your enchantments, or even better will waste their enchantment removal on that instead.
Be judicious with your answers. If you have a counter spell, pay attention to the impact of certain spells. If you need a player to be an ally consider countering a spell that could threaten them. Counter the wrath of god that could ruin the token player, but use it as a bargaining chip, “I’ll counter that wrath if you promise not to attack me for at least two turns” or “Hey remember when I countered that wrath of god for you?” And if a spell doesn’t affect you, let it resolve/stick. If you’re holding a fog, or a disenchant, let the beast master ascension resolve. But remember, if you’re good at something, never do it for free. “I’ll let that resolve if you don’t attack me.” “Sure, you can have that. I wouldn’t attack me, though.”
Finally, watch out for those players who refuse to negotiate or fall for your web of deceit. These players will target you indiscriminately if they think you’re playing politics, understanding (correctly) that the only way to win is not to play the game. The thing is, if we maneuver ourselves successfully, they’ll have to turn their attention to more real threats eventually. During these times, lay low and just take the assault. Don’t get angry, because we’re playing the long game. “I get it. You don’t trust me. But, look at the board. I don’t have anything. They, on the other hand… but whatever.” Try to draw attention away from yourself and if you can’t, try to draw the sympathy of other players. “Are you all seeing this? What did I do? Anybody want to help me out?” And then forge an alliance against this mutual aggressor, should the need arise. If it doesn’t work out, oh well. You can’t win them all.
And those are my top five tips for playing politically in commander. Be honest, be precise, be patient, be non-threatening, and be aware. Playing politically can be a fun, engaging way of interacting with your opponents. It adds a dynamic to your games that you don’t get when you only focus on the cards. It becomes less about playing better cards than your opponents and more about playing “smarter” than them. A win with a more political deck feels earned in a way that more straightforward strategies don’t. This play style also leads to more interesting games that tend to play out differently every time.
And that’s all I wrote, folks! I hope you enjoyed these tips for playing more politically in commander. If this strategy seems like fun, give it a try. Maybe my next article will focus on the basics of building a political commander deck, or my top political cards. Anyway, if you like what you read here, let me know. Find me on twitter @magusofthesalt or youtube or facebook at Top Down Commander. Let me know if you like this article, if you want more articles like this, or any other sort of content you’d appreciate.
Until next time, Keep Kicking Ass!
