History, Restapled: Power Creep Before Dollar Creep

Welcome back to another History, Restapled, a Commander-focused column which attempts to validate a newer card’s status as a staple, therefore its potential to command a decent price, by looking at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially.

Since my first column was published two weeks ago, previews for March of the Machine have proliferated across the internet and introduced a flurry of speculation on what might emerge as a staple of the Commander format. Plenty of other sites engage in all manner of soothsaying on the matter, but I prefer to wait until the set has been out for a few weeks before sharing my own HOT TAKES. Prices are more likely to have settled by then, and new commanders will have taken hold and shaped the meta somewhat as players deckbuild and theorycraft around them. Prosper, Tome-Bound leaps to mind as an example of the latter.

I also realized it might be worth sharing a bit of my deckbuilding philosophy, since it would illuminate the lens through which I’m evaluating the cards in History, Restapled. In general, I tend to veer towards budgetless (within reason) decks that are strong but not overpowered or busted. To use a fundamentally flawed system for a moment, for the sake of at least a modicum of clarification, I’d say my decks are all the high end of power level 7. I largely eschew tutors and fast mana (rocks that net more mana than they cost, including Sol Ring ) in favor of synergy pieces and plenty of interaction - the meta among my playgroup is heavy on removal.

Ironically, I prefer not to run staples, when possible, unless it’s to power up a jankier, lower power strategy. For example, I removed Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Craterhoof Behemoth, and from my decks, but kept The Great Henge in my Kodama of the West Tree deck because the synergy is off-the-charts and I still know how to party. Many of the previous statements don’t apply to removal, though - still love me a Toxic Deluge or a Blasphemous Act. Interaction is the best part of the game, and what sets it so far ahead of all other games, so it’s worth sticking to the tried-and-true where that’s concerned.

With that, let’s look at a couple of goodies that are worth picking up. They’re currently priced quite low but hold the potential to attain the coveted “staple” status in the near future.

 

Gix's Command

 

The strategy of grinding your opponent out by trading resources one-for-one, or even two-for-one, is simply not viable in Commander in the long-term. Certainly, there’s value in casting Counterspell in response to a board wipe, but while you’re probably up a lot of tempo on that opponent, you have two more to worry about who haven’t spent any resources. Something like Reclamation Sage is a fine card, but without the ability to blink it, you’re really at a disadvantage and would do well to slot something like Druid of Purification (Extended Art) instead - it costs more but enables a possible three-for-one. (Then, if you blink it…valuetown, baby.)

 

Modal cards often enable blowouts in Commander because they can be tailored to hamstring your opponents specifically while leaving your board relatively intact. Look at something like Austere Command, which, since its printing in Lorwyn, has fluctuated between a few dollars and $12-$15, based largely on how many printings it had received. It’s only within the last year, with three reprints and another coming in Commander: March of the Machine, that the card has come under a buck.

Black is different, of course, as its board wipes are mostly creature-based and therefore offer less flexibility on types of permanents it can affect. And the color’s current modal cards are using a smaller scope. Profane Command mostly targets one thing at a time and requires a significant mana investment to make a meaningful impact on the board, and not surprisingly it’s decidedly a bulk rare at this point. Collective Brutality is more mana-efficient but equally as narrow, yet fetches a $4 price due to its inclusion in other formats and is, thus, out of reach for budget-conscious Commander players.

Gix’s Command operates on a grander scale and can be great when you’re ahead, behind, or at parity. It can wipe away your opponents’ biggest threats as well as their little chump blockers. It can pump your creature to avoid the wipe and attack on an empty board to kill one opponent and gain life to move out of kill range from another. It can undo two pieces of removal while acting as three pieces of removal itself. Each mix-and-match possibility represents a large swing in the game and a substantial tempo shift in your favor, and I expect the card to become more popular as word gets out. Buy one for each of your black creature-based decks now, while The Brothers' War is in heavy rotation.

STATUS: In the process of stapling

 

Gix's Command	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.50
Gix's Command (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $1.00
Profane Command	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.60
Collective Brutality	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $3.94

 

Brazen Cannonade

 

Jumpstart 2022 suffered from bad timing, dropping amid the deluge of sets we’ve experienced over the last few years, nestled after The Brothers’ War and just before Dominaria Remastered sucked the wind out of its sails. It’s a shame, because many of the cards in the set are fun, flavorful, and powerful, but also heavily priced.

 

Thankfully, Brazen Cannonade, one of the best of the bunch, is only at $3 at the moment and well worth the price. For four mana, you get essentially both halves of Outpost Siege with huge upgrades. Few red cards ping opponents directly for creatures dying, and this one deals two damage per creature dying to each opponent, representing a six point life swing. Hey, Blood Artist, more like aristo-can’t. The only restriction is that the creature has to be attacking, and while I’m no professional Magic-tician, I can safely speculate that creatures will be attacking not long after this hits the board, especially if a sac outlet is in tow (for maximum agonization, try Goblin Bombardment ).

Which brings me to the second half of the card, exiling something off the top of your library to play until combat on your next turn. As a Laelia, the Blade Reforged player, impulse draw that offers an extra turn to play, as Light Up the Stage and Reckless Impulse do, is harder to find and far superior to the usual “until end of turn” clause. None of the other once-a-turn impulse cards afford such flexibility, plus this one works on the turn you play it. I suppose there’s a case to be made that the card can’t help you recover from a board wipe, but it does allow you to win out of nowhere in a way the others can’t match.

Outpost Siege is obviously the closest approximation to this card, and it’s bulk, but you have to go all the way to Vicious Shadows to find anything even close to the damage output. And despite being a clunky seven mana enchantment that doesn’t draw you cards, it’s close to the same price as Brazen Cannonade. The other once-a-turn cards are all bulk, but as Wizards of the Coast continues to iterate on the effect, as we’ve seen recently with Visions of Phyrexia and Professional Face-Breaker, expect to find them slotted into more decks - some will be harder to track down than most.

STATUS: Currently in staple cocoon, soon to emerge as endangered staple butterfly

 

Goblin Bombardment	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $2.61
Outpost Siege	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.49
Professional Face-Breaker	CardKingdom $7.49	TCGPlayer $5.15
Visions of Phyrexia	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.49
Brazen Cannonade		TCGPlayer $3.61

 

Observation: Decks

In my free time away from obsessing over my MTGStocks columns, I like to really distance myself from that mental headspace and, instead, obsess over the minutiae of my Commander decks. Would love for folks to check out my Moxfield page if you so desire, and let me know your thoughts. Many are a work in progress at the moment, but I think you’ll get the gist.

 

Check out these other articles:  

History, Restapled: Under the Radar and Over the Top by Steve Heisler  

New Horizons: March of the Machine by Matt Grzechnik  

A Penny Saved, a Titan Earned by Ryan Cole