To save the general...

...we had to sacrifice the general

This week I'd like to talk about something which took a while for me to grasp in commander.

The query I pondered over was why a card like High Market was included in the commander pre-con decks. What purpose did it serve?

To answer that question we need to look first at ways of dealing with your opponent's commander.

A creature can be forced to leave the battlefield by dealing it enough damage to kill it, destroying it, exiling it, forcing it back to a players hand or forcing it to return to a players library.

All of these effects can be replaced with an effect that sends the commander to the Command Zone. From here the commander can be played again, but at an every increasing cost. 

However, there are a couple of ways of dealing with an opponent's commander that do not lead to it returning to the command zone.

1. You can take control of them, if you do it right you can make this permanent.

2. You can enchant them such that they can't attack, block or use their abilities.

Either way if this happens to you and your commander is a vital part of your game plan you're in trouble.

One way to get around this is to have ability to sacrifice your commander at instant speed. In this way you can return your commander to the Command Zone and cast it again when you next have the chance.

Sacrificing your commander as part of the cost is important as it doesn't go on the stack and can't be responded to.

In order to be able to do this the sacrifice ability really needs to have no mana cost and be unconditional.

What do I mean by unconditional and have no mana cost? Let's have a look at an example:

Necrosavant requires you to keep 5 mana available just in case someone tries to steal your commander. That's two much mana to leave unused. 

In addition to this it has the condition that it can only be played during your upkeep.

That was an extreme example but, hopefully, it makes my point.

Stronghold Assassin is a more subtle case-in-point. If he doesn't have a valid target you can't use his ability so there is always the possibility that there are no nonblack creatures on the battlefield. If you think you can engineer it otherwise then by all means play him. But, he doesn't make my list of options because of that condition.

So let's have a look at those cards, that I've picked, that you can play.

Here I've grouped the Altars together all of theses are perfect for sacrificing your commander. Getting mana can be more useful than milling your opponent, as that may be playing into their strategy, but they all work great.

Blasting Station and Culling Dias have to be tapped to be used but this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Again all three of these are perfect for avoiding that nasty Control Magic spell.

There are a small number of lands that can help you out. 

High Market, I mentioned at the start of this post, has been reprinted in commander specifically for this purpose. Neither of the other two have so Diamond Valley in particular has a fairly hefty price tag.

Black is the out and out champion when it comes to sacrificing your own creatures.

It's fairly typical of Black creatures, like Vampire, to be able to sacrifice another creature to gain a boost either temporary, like Bloodthrone Vampire, or permanent, like Bloodflow Connoisseur. Brine Shaman is nice because it gives the boost to any creature which can act in political ways during the game. His other ability isn't bad either.

Carrion Feeder is a cheaper version of Bloodflow Connoisseur. Ceteran Overlord and Dark Privilege sacrifice for a regenerate effect which can be useful to dodge destruction or to sac your commander.

I included Devouring Strossus because it allows you to sacrifice a creature at any time. I guess if you're playing a token generator then it's playable. The other two cards here are more of the same that we've seen previously.

These two let you sacrifice a creature to give themselves flying.

Fallen Ideal gives Fallen Angel's ability to the creature it enchants. It also returns to your hand if it hits the graveyard which makes it a very useful enchantment indeed. This is probably why it's also been printed in a commander deck. Flesh-Eater Imp is noting more than a temporary boost.

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that Nantuko Husk and Phyrexian Ghoul are functional reprints of each other. Shambler is just a regenerate.

For me Viscera Seer is one of the most interesting cards here. Being able to Scry is a great way to filter your library and can be so much more beneficial than giving a creature flying for example.  Vampire Aristocrat is another functional reprint of Husk and Ghoul.

So in black you have a plethora of options. In the other colours the picking are less abundant.

Red does something cool when it comes to sacrificing a creature. It damages your opponent. The Cyclops is cool because the amount of damage it deals. Golbin Bombardment is cool because it doesn't tap and is an Enchantment. Compare to those two Orcish Bloodpainter is merely functional.

White as you might expect is about preventing damage, Martyr's Cause, regenerating, Fanatical Devotion and gaining life, Animal Boneyard. All three are Enchantments which has it's bonuses and it's drawbacks.

Greater Good of all the cards I'm talking about today is my favorite. You need a sizeable body on your commander to make it work but it does net you the biggest benefit in my opinion. Plaguemaw Beast in the right deck can also be really beneficial. Even if you have nothing to proliferate you can still use it.

Blue has no cards that meet my requirements. In it's defence it will deal with this issue by returning a card to it's hand rather than sacrificing it.

There are three multicolour cards that meet my requirements. Two are Orzhov and one is Gruul. Vish Kal is the only legendary creature that makes this list and that makes him kind of unique and very powerful from a game play perspective.

Ghave, Guru of Spores can sacrifice himself, but there's a small cost to pay. This means you have to make sure you have a least 1 mana available at all times.

If you're willing to keep that single mana open then you do expand your options. The added bonus of doing this is that the effects tend to be more beneficial if you have to pay for them.

If you're willing to pay coloured mana as part of the cost then even Blue gets in on the act.

These aren't that powerful, being that they are a cheep to cast cycle of 1/1 creatures, but they can really help in a game of commander. Especially Drowned Rusalka.

While I've sought to show you all of the cards that sacrifice for free the cards I've shown you with a combined mana cost are just a selection to give you an idea of what's available.

I hope that's given you some food for thought about keeping your commander safe.

Until next may your commander always return to the zone.

Phil