What are your Commander hot takes?

[CleanBelwas]

As anyone who has played commander for a little while will tell you, there is an established set of advice that most decks will stick to. Play this amount of lands, that amount of draw spells, this card is bad, that card is good etc. etc.

While these unspoken rules are generally pretty good, I feel that the format is more diverse than that and that there is still room for "viable obscurity".

So, knowing that people are VERY passionate about their Magic the Gathering and that I am potentially opening myself up for a whole load of "what are you talking about, idiot", I thought it would be cool to have a place to discuss these viable obscurities.

I'll start with an opinion I hold. If you choose to share your own, know that some people may disagree, and that's fine as long as we're all courteous about it.

So, my hot take:

Lightning Bolt is good in EDH.

I actually mean this more broadly as "playing unexpected cards can be good", but Lightning Bolt is the hill I'm choosing to die on.

I'm sure no one needs telling that Lightning Bolt is one of the best, most iconic and most efficient Magic cards ever printed. It's place in eternal formats is never in doubt. However, most people think it's not worth it in EDH. Multiple opponents at 40 life mean 3 damage for 1 mana isn't worth taking up a card slot. I understand and appreciate this argument.

In my opinion though, it is exactly this opinion that makes it so good. Bolt is the Spanish Inquisition of EDH. No one ever suspects it. I started putting bolt in every deck I have that runs red and I gotta say, it has been excellent. It kills SO MANY ubiquitous utility creatures. Drannith Magistrate, dead. Thrasios, dead. Tymna, dead. Notion Thief, dead. Blood Artist, dead. Krenko, dead. The other Krenko, dead. Tatyova, dead. Deathrite Shaman, dead. Basically every dork, dead. The list goes on and on. And the best part is, people will play these guys into your 1 untapped mountain because what idiot plays bolt in EDH? Me. I am that idiot.

Outside of stuff that it doesn't outright kill, it lets your creatures trade up ENORMOUSLY. Your 1/1 now kills a 4/4. It can hit planeswalkers. It can hit face. It's the best burn spell ever printed, and only part of that is lost in EDH.

So there we have it. My hot and no doubt "incorrect" take. Play bolt in EDH. The satisfaction it will give you is better than any optimisation you could make. Same goes for Mana Tithe, but that's a conversation for another day.

I'd love to hear your hot takes too. What do you do with your decks or play patterns that other people might consider "incorrect", and what makes you love it so much?

[WizardSpartan]

Gift of Doom.

I made a post advocating it in decks that are dedicated to Aristocrats, but any black deck that isn't necessarily an Aristocrats deck that loves sacrificing creatures should still run it. That is, assuming you have creatures you like to keep around.

Deathtouch and indestructible not only make the creature impossible to block, but indestructible also gets around a lot of removal and boardwipes.

Also, it's 3 mana, can be done as a special action, which means it doesn't use the stack (can't be responded to, can be done in response to a Split Second card, etc.), and only needs you to sac a creature.

Very few cards can be used at instant speed to save a creature of yours and/or surprise kill another creature in combat, then stick around to make your creature difficult to interact with & your choice of difficult to block or difficult to attack into at the price of Gift of Doom.

Run it, I'm begging you.

[CleanBelwas]

Gift of Doom.

I made a post advocating it in decks that are dedicated to Aristocrats, but any black deck that isn't necessarily an Aristocrats deck that loves sacrificing creatures should still run it. That is, assuming you have creatures you like to keep around.

Deathtouch and indestructible not only make the creature impossible to block, but indestructible also gets around a lot of removal and boardwipes.

Also, it's 3 mana, can be done as a special action, which means it doesn't use the stack (can't be responded to, can be done in response to a Split Second card, etc.), and only needs you to sac a creature.

Very few cards can be used at instant speed to save a creature of yours and/or surprise kill another creature in combat, then stick around to make your creature difficult to interact with & your choice of difficult to block or difficult to attack into at the price of Gift of Doom.

Run it, I'm begging you.

I gotta say, I picked up a copy after you praised at and it's real good. My buddy bought the precon it was in it's always been good for him too.

In 1% of eligible decks according to EDHRec. That makes it a Scotch Bonnet level of hot take.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Painful Truths seems to be one. I don't think I've ever been stuck with it in my hand wishing I had that final colour I'm missing. I build my manabases so that I can always hit my colours and it's been fantastic and the draw rate - three for three - is just hard to compete with. I don't play it in my cEDH deck (well, it's also Simic but still) because it's a little slow there but in more casual decks it has performed pretty darn well.

[WizardSpartan]

I gotta say, I picked up a copy after you praised at and it's real good. My buddy bought the precon it was in it's always been good for him too.

In 1% of eligible decks according to EDHRec. That makes it a Scotch Bonnet level of hot take.

Good to hear!

In terms of Lightning Bolt, I definitely see what you're saying, but it definitely depends on the playgroup. I don't really have decks with red outside of Alesha, and the combination of Anguished Unmaking, Chaos Warp, Generous Gift, and Ravenous Chupacabra & similar creatures means I just don't need it. In mono red and even in R/G, though, I can see it being a good option.

[Slyvester12]

Combos, if scaled down, are appropriate in lower power games.

I don't care how many people try to tell me that combos aren't acceptable in super casual games. If I put together a 5+ card combo to win the game without tutors, then I deserve the win.

[CleanBelwas]

MustaKotka, I think you've touched upon what I think makes all these cards viable. If you build your deck right, then having access to these kinds of cards is great. Bolt and Gift of Doom are pretty bad top decks with an empty hand, but if you've built your deck right, you should rarely have an empty hand, and when they are one of many options, they are great. Painful truths is just good in top deck mode or normally, but like you say, it's effectiveness relies upon being able to ensure your mana is consistent which comes from good deck building.

Sylvester12, I could not agree more. I love to combo off, and I run exactly 0 tutors in any of my decks that can combo off to get me there. All my combos have to be assembled the hard way, and when I get there, it's great. It's very rarely early game (although I did recently get a time sieve lock in place on turn 4 in my Breya deck, but that was as a result of a near god hand) so my group have plenty of time do their thing first. But games have to end. I'm not one for big dumb green stompers, so I die or I combo off. Then we shuffle up and play again. I'd much rather three games like that a night than one 5 hour stalemate of board wipes and no attacking.

[CleanBelwas]

Sylvester12, I could not agree more. I love to combo off, and I run exactly 0 tutors in any of my decks that can combo off to get me there. All my combos have to be assembled the hard way, and when I get there, it's great. It's very rarely early game (although I did recently get a time sieve lock in place on turn 4 in my Breya deck, but that was as a result of a near god hand) so my group have plenty of time do their thing first. But games have to end. I'm not one for big dumb green stompers, so I die or I combo off. Then we shuffle up and play again. I'd much rather three games like that a night than one 5 hour stalemate of board wipes and no attacking.

Am I confused? Isn't this a continuation of the discussion in this thread?

I don't think so?

My interpretation was that Sylvester12 was saying that their hot take was that combo wins are fine at lower, more casual power levels (something that some people don't like) and I was agreeing with him. We aren't necessarily saying what that combo is or the power level of cards within that combo, just that combo in general is a perfectly fine win con at all power levels. I personally like the stations combo. 6 cards, none are great outside of the combo and a pain in the ass to put together, but wins the game if you assemble it.

Edit:

I've just read the other thread and this totally would be at home their too so I see what you are saying. I don't want to speak for Sylvester12, but to me, their point made sense within the context of this thread and I hadn't read the other one previously.

[WizardSpartan]

Oh, I automatically only thought of specific cards when you started the discussion on hot takes. I did miss something.

[Slyvester12]

For the record, yes, that was my hot take for this thread. However, it does have a lot of similarities to what was going on in the other thread, so I can understand the confusion.

[Marshstepper78]

Gift of Doom is indeed a great, under-appreciated card. I currently have it in my Grismold, the Dreadsower deck and I am never disappointed when I draw it.

[WizardSpartan]

Gift of Doom is indeed a great, under-appreciated card. I currently have it in my Grismold, the Dreadsower deck and I am never disappointed when I draw it.

Definitely seems nasty in there. Keep Grismold alive and hard to block. Nice.

[CleanBelwas]

Another hot take that I've been thinking about.

People should attack more, especially in the early game.

There is often a discourse in games about not attacking to avoid singling someone out if they aren't a threat or to not draw the ire of the person who has been attacked. I get the logic and used to play very much like this, but I gave myself a new rule a while back:

There are precisely two scenrios where I won't attack.
1) if my attacks are legitimately pointless. For example, they have enough blockers and their blockers are bigger than my attackers. If all I'm doing is throwing my creatures away for nothing, I won't attack (unless I have blood artist effects, then you better believe I'm coming in regardless).
2) I'm dead on the crackback.

That's it. If none of those are true, we're going to punch club. None of this political pacifism.

Since playing this way, I've noticed that games are a) much more fun and b) much faster.

Attacking early and often gets things moving. You attack someone early, they develop a grudge and come back at you, leaving themselves open to other attacks and so on. The multiplayer nature of the game means that it generally balances out, but games are just way faster and way more exciting.

Not only that, but people block way less than you think. Even when they should block, they often don't. Starting at 40 makes them think they can afford to take more hits, but damn it adds up fast.

If you find yourself sat around a lot of the time, scared to attack in case you get attacked back, just go for it. I promise you, it's way more fun. You kill people or you die, but you get so much more scope to shuffle up and play again.

Edit: I realise that this might just be something I've noticed within my own experiences. Might be that folk on here are like me and like to rumble. I hope so. Rumbling is super fun.

[WizardSpartan]

I've been trying to do stuff like this, but online when you don't know people, it gets really annoying when you attack someone for 2 on turn 3 and they manage to convince the table to take you out for that transgression. I'm sure it's a coincidence that I'm playing Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Right, guys?

I also have another hot take: Shenanigans. It's not quite as good as my previous hot take, but I think it's criminally underplayed in the decks where it's good. It only shows up in 11% of Daretti, Scrap Savant decks, 13% of Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger decks, and 21% of Feldon of the Third Path decks, but I think it should be played a lot more. Even decks like Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner, Etali, Primal Storm, and Chainer, Nightmare Adept can make indirect use of it. Red is pretty good at removing artifacts, but there isn't exactly a wealth of options, so Shenanigans doesn't have to meet too high of a bar.

Daretti can draw lots of cards, so it's easy to constantly cast and Dredge it, which in turn fills up your graveyard for better -2 options. I honestly think that Shenanigans is absolutely perfect here.

Kroxa can't draw cards as well, but likes the Dredge even more than Daretti does.

Feldon of the Third Path is in a similar boat to Kroxa but can be very hit or miss with the Dredge. Same for Chainer.

Subira can discard this card with her last ability and then replace one of the many draws with getting this card back, or she can just cast it and when activating her last ability at a later point can get Shenanigans back.

Certain Etali, Primal Storm that run topdeck manipulation can get rid of cards they don't want on the top of their deck with this dredge, which can be cool.

[WWolfe]

People should attack more, especially in the early game.

One of my hot takes is this, this so much!

It's amazing how much that incidental chip damage can add up and make the game go faster.