Deflecting Blame In Commander | Magic The Gathering Tricks

[@liamlarson7644]

Do you like commander? Are you tired of always being blamed for your own actions at the table? Have you ever tried… gaslighting your opponents? “I only attacked you because the deck I built to play against your specific deck made me attack every combat. This is really your fault”

[@filipfrondelius3644]

I wanted to like. But at 66 it will stay

[@clarkX100]

That first line just got pinned in my discord channel lol

[@liamlarson7644]

@@clarkX100 you looking for another player?

[@hankhill5616]

I've always enjoyed playing spells or using effects that would normally be used on my own creatures to screw over my opponents, but I never thought about building a deck around it. Pretty funny, gives me a bunch of ideas

[@antoniomarino9444]

Any idea for a "propane and propane accessories" edh deck?

[@guyinthecorner0]

@@antoniomarino9444 Mono red artifacts or something? I kinda want a Hank Hill deck now

[@thekingcoltonious]

I run a couple temur battle rages and one of my favorite things to do is force one of my opponents to kill the other one accidentally with it

[@HexproofAnarchist]

I hear the witch's oven runs on propane! Thanks Hank!

[@TheGameWard78]

Build a Zada deck where you can pump up all your creatures and screw your opponents attack

[@kellyng5278]

Deflecting blame and using your opponents against one another sounds like something The Instructor does. This class needs to be offered at Tolaria State University

[@austinnihsen6067]

In my play group, Tahngarth is kill on sight. He's a vicious commander, especially when you give him menace.

[@WarhoundHobbies]

My favorite card that turns my opponents against each other is Rhystic study because instead of working together to destroy it, they start attacking each other if someone doesn't pay the 1.

[@firedrake110]

There's always one degenerate that puts their own board state above the health of the table (the guy not paying one, who insists on casting 3+ spells per turn)

[@reelbigsoadfan]

Yeah no kidding 😂

[@andremedaglia350]

I have a Breena Deck with this "look over there" theme. Some of my favorite cards for this are: - Crown of Doom - Duelist Heritage

[@ericdevey7520]

I used Sunhome to double another player's commander damage and take out an opponent. Let's just say I was VERY blamed for that move.

[@Kazz1187]

Oh no! The table caught on

[@avidreader8521]

We had a Xantcha player at my LGS. He tried these excuses and the table was having none of it.

[@MaximumTrav]

Loved the editing on this video, the arena like icons that dictate which part of the game we are in do a lot to illustrate where in the imaginary spectrum of time you are going to eradicate/obliterate your opponent

[@leaf_lorien679]

Berserk is probably my favorite. You not only take out a player but the player who attacked loses their creature.

[@m1gr3nA]

berserk is great. great when used on oponents commander attacking someone else and great when used on your own beater. boros charm have similar functionality. double strike can be used in offense and indestructibility in defense.

[@irreleverent]

Berserk is one of my favorites in my Tana (and Kydele) deck. It's a weird removal spell that also domes a different opponent, and sometimes just enables your most explosive turns as well.

[@brendans1983]

It's not as good as Berserk, but red has Blood Frenzy for a similar effect. Still really fun

[@thomaskunz8553]

I feel like this video needs a pinned post saying it was filmed before the professor had a heart attack from the growth of his kickstarter.

[@badaryman7139]

What??

[@thomaskunz8553]

@@badaryman7139 He did not literally have a heart attack but I am waiting for the video where he sits in stunned disbelief drinking tea at a loss for words for hitting $1,000,000 in 12 hours.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

I enjoy playing Siren's Call to have someone suddenly go ballistic against a common enemy for just 1 mana. The fact that nobody expects that kind of play from blue is so satisfying.

[@cameronalexander9404]

Thanks for this

[@Lightningspiner]

Very cool and unexpected for a blue deck. But why wouldn't they just attack you for playing Siren's Call?

[@mikotagayuna8494]

@@Lightningspiner If you already have some defenses then it's a cheap way to break a stalemate. At best, the opponent will either lose his creatures to good blockers or alpha strike a defenseless player. At worst he ends up vulnerable to someone else.

[@Lightningspiner]

@@mikotagayuna8494 Sounds good! I might try it out in the Arcades Defender Deck I want to build 😁

[@Lightningspiner]

@@mikotagayuna8494 Sounds good! I might try it out in the Arcades Defender Deck I want to build 😁

[@dylanfarley8136]

I have Tahngarth, Xantcha, and Rite of the raging storm in my Thantis, the warweaver deck. That deck is fun to play because it really shakes up everybody board once Thantis comes out. You can see the gears turning in their head while they try to figure out what to do now that their weaker support creatures need to attack.

[@jakewampler932]

Can we talk about the editing in this video? The visuals, effects, and transitions are fantastic. I feel as though the quality of these has been increased recently, and for that I say excellent work Professor, the MTG Community thanks you.

[@tomsullivan2176]

Kardur, Doomscourge is fun to throw out there when both opponents are ramped up with a bunch of creatures and tokens

[@jb87rell]

Oh tainted strike is so fun! I've even used it defensively to save myself from lethal by taking poison counters instead of damage.

[@sirpumpyshits]

I have a tainted strike in my Greven deck. Let's say the first game with him left an impression.

[@Bl4eberry]

Was a long time I used it myself, but I really like the effect on Assault Suit

[@sunlocked5838]

One of the classics to make some hard decisions and bad feelings is Disrupt Decorum. While that one is a bit harder to completely pass off as your opponents' fault instead of your own, it does start some arguments. As an added bonus, it tends to clear away most blockers who either die in combat or are at least tapped for the turn. I also love Wild Ricochet as a splashier version of Rebound, since it let's me highjack removal and buffs while I'm at it.

[@vgleo43]

the music at the end was perfect with the sendoff line

[@ianshurtleff806]

A personal favorite of mine is Wild Ricochet. For 2RR, you can not only redirect the target of a spell somewhere else, but you can also copy it and nab one for yourself. Turn their Time Walk into a Time Stretch for yourself, or just turn a huge blowout spell into your own deadly weapon.

[@ColorwaveCraftsCo]

I love strategies that force my opponents to chip away at one another while ignoring me. Also I’m really digging that color combo you’re wearing, Prof!

[@54m0h7]

I have a Tahngarth voltron-ish deck, it's a ton of fun! My last game I had Quitus Spike and Shadowspear equipped to him, got my attack and the next players attack in before it got dealt with. Just one example of the fun!

[@zxionrhynn]

I love how you're wearing green in the video when you released it on March 17th - Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thank you for the video and for being such a great person! Looking forward to getting The Academic!

[@mjvane46]

I built a super high powered xantcha deck that i used to run against cedh decks. You are making me want to rebuild it with all the goad stuff that has been printed lately

[@tetrisgoat]

I play many of these cards in my Saskia Politics/Goad/Legendary mash. Just a bunch of leggos that care about attacking and having opponents attack each other. Works surprisingly well for being such a haphazard build originally. Now I give out favours with the offering-cycle, rewarding people for attacking, playing Humble Defector, Secret Rendezvous, a bunch of legends-matter cards, oh and Tainted Strike. Great fun.

[@qwerty55353]

This is kind of my favorite strategy. I have a varchild deck that capitalizes on it pretty well. The impetus and vow cycles of auras is good, Angels trumpet, edric, gahiji, Gisela are all good ways to keep opponent's swinging other ways

[@nateo5940]

As soon as he started talking about the first card I immediately thought of Rite of the Raging Storm. It’s my favorite card in my Thantis deck, big fan.

[@mattiavenier3898]

Druid of Purification has always been a great one to play for me and in my Meren deck it can come back as many time as needed.

[@itamarafshari8787]

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil is a very cool commander that make your oppents attack themselves and nobody will blame you

[@FrankFrankly711]

But who do we blame for me missing out on the Limited Edition Professor Box?! I clicked Pledge 1000 times! 😭 On a video-related note, I loves me some Tahngarth! He's the leader in my Minotaur Combat Control Commander Deck! 🐮

[@Darth_Zuko]

;-; sameee

[@EEE_MMM]

Illusionist's Gambit would have been a great fit for this list!

[@RPGRelicHunter]

6:58 There's nothing more satisfying... except for THE ACADEMIC DECK BOX!

[@nateszigeti3653]

one of my friends has a Xantcha commander deck and its always makes for some of the most interesting games of edh

[@kirstierandall6708]

That tainted strike idea is amazing lol

[@maybeisuckatlife]

If you like that then Berserk is sweet for this as well because after the alpha strike you kill your other opponent's creature as well.

[@TeeHomer]

Great Editing Job, nicely done!

[@Aguila1138]

I love that artifact griffin from Commander Legends that lets someone blow up anything when they let me hit them with it.

[@kingslayer2239]

Love this idea so much! But, in case someone somehow thinks it's your fault, and decides to swing a big creature at you, you could use cards like delirium and mirror strike to show them it's really their fault!

[@emiliorubione837]

mirror strikee + the one tthat gives infect would be pretty funny

[@lordmeep5803]

Tainted strike has always been a personal favorite of mine!

[@jackrussel6546]

I think Breena is kind of an obvious addition to this List. The card draw is so attractive for the other players. From time to time they make even deal like "you can attack me with your 1/1 if i can attack you with mine". This is kind of crazy, because Breena gets so fast so big and swings for lethal. 😅

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

I don’t even run any voltronish support pieces for Breena, only political/pillowfort cards and Breena still kills.

[@samb123078]

I have both a Tahngarth and Xantcha deck. Of course there’s hatred as well. I just love turning to the guy who killed another player and saying “damn John, what did Matt do to you make you kill him like that?”

[@kidspyfer3018]

It's wired when I first got on KZbin I got this notification and looked at your videos and it wasn't out yet and I had to wait like 30 minutes before I could watch it

[@mikki429]

My favorite is Explosion of Riches. Can't blame me for that damage, he's the one who chose to draw a card!

[@Slothery]

Captivating Glance is a very cool political card. It's a creature aura that says "At the beginning of your end step, clash with an opponent. If you win, gain control of enchanted creature. Otherwise, that player gains control of enchanted creature." The beauty is, you don't have to choose the creature's owner. It guarantees someone will steal it, just not necessarily you. Used on a synergistic support creature or commander, it will always be a good thing it will not be on it's owner's board. Once it does go to your side though, you can destroy the enchantment somehow and it will be yours forever.

[@rontrezbeaugard8212]

This lime green brown combo is very spiffy professor I appreciate the drip

[@marcusmyers4822]

I’m currently building a kardur commander deck that’s designed to cause opponents to go after each other and it uses rite of the raging storm. It’s set up around making disposable copies of him or recurring him from the grave each turn in order to trigger his ETB to goad everyone into attacking each other. I’m also running things like no mercy and the enchantments with the blood reckoning effect in order to dissuade opponents from attacking me if other opponents become illegal to attack or i miss getting the ETB off one turn. The secondary part of the deck are the vow auras to strengthen opponents creatures already strong creatures while protecting me from them, and things like endbringer’s revel which helps me recur kardur, and while on the surface opponents will think benefits them too, especially since I’m running sheoldred, except they’re paying 4 mana to return the creature to hand along with casting cost, causing them to exhaust a lot of resources every time they do.

[@tapedeccard]

Prof… love the tweed and lime green. Stylin’.

[@bloodblade487]

Kardur, Doomscourge is my go to commander for making my opponents fight amongst themselves. Although it draws all the ire of the table immediately. I built it to be able to sacrifice kardur for value, then replay him every turn to get that trigger off indefinitely

[@TubbyBubbleLove42]

How very Instructor of you, Professor.

[@cai42069]

I haven't laughed this hard in a good while. Thank you so much.

[@francesca3386]

I am tripping over the Prof's shirt. What an icon!

[@elvenskyarcher7874]

Rite of the Raging Storm has been my favourite commander card for years

[@dtopa7524]

I find giving my opponents proactive combat resources often results in them restraining from combat, or even banding together against the player not given them a choice. Tahngarth and Raging Storm are great, if you can also force them to attack. Otherwise you just open yourself to being trolled by your opponents. Instead, better to reward your opponents for their aggression with cards like Combat Calligrapher, Frontier Warmonger and Frenzied Saddlebrute. Give your opponents the olive branch of choice and you'll never need to point a finger.

[@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena]

Just buff the monsters at declare blockers stage not giving them a chance of trolling you. Mono white can be fun like that

[@danielgoldberg2129]

I was playing Commander last night and I got mana flooded and was no threat at the table. The only viable card in my hand was a counter spell. About turn 5 one of my opponents was casting their Commander and another opponent put a counter spell on the stack which was going bring their plans to a screeching halt. I offered to counter the counter if they didn’t swing at me with it. Sure enough those two slugged it out the rest of the match. (In the end, two opponents were out and the third was at 4 life when my turn came around and I attacked with my 6/6 Trample, and a 5/4 Flyer and they didn’t have enough blockers to prevent lethal. I won. 🤣)

[@TheKawasaki250]

I have a Xantcha equipment/enchantment deck. It's fun to play or let a friend play

[@Quelandoris]

perfect additions for group hug decks.

[@arcanearcher13]

Goad. A well timed goad is priceless

[@ruttokyrpa3472]

Congratulations on the Kickstarter!

[@mjshaft]

That shirt is fantastic, I have never seen lime that lime before.

[@grinreaperoftrolls7528]

The thumbnail is such a great meme format

[@joelnormal4876]

Telepathy is a 1 mana blue enchantment that makes your opponents play with their hands revealed. It's a fantastic way to make opponents ignore you for risk assessment!

[@thisiskindabadass212]

It also makes the whole board hate you for not having your hand revealed as well.....

[@jaywinner328]

Not in my experience. Having perfect information on all players except one makes you fear that last player all the more. This is why I prefer Glasses of Urza. I get much of the information but it isn't shared with the whole table.

[@lescobrandon8443]

I personally liked my ultimate turtle deck. It was GWU and would make everything ab enchantment, make all enchantments have hexproof and indestructible, as well as myselfbeing hexproof. What made it fun was Sierra's Sanctum, with Heliod (to make 2/1 enchantment clerics), and Battletide alchemist. Anyone could swing in as much as they wanted, but I decided if and how much damage they took. Very few cards could get around it. Those, I would use removal on just to keep me in control.

[@ignaciojaramarin3363]

Chef's kiss ! they can't blame you since the targets are choose randomly. The only one to blame is the player who targets you in first place XD

[@TheComelyLads]

I am loving these tactics!

[@Fausto_4841]

i love the head game meta. i wish more creators would talk about mind tricks.

[@TheLK641]

The other day I used both the curse that doubles damage and the curse that gives trample on the same player to let the table kill him. Can confirm, it is fun, maybe not for the receiving player, but for me at least. Karma hits hard though, as I had Lynde on the battlefield and therefore... I died of my own curse just after.

[@shellbullet37]

Lynde is my fav new one. Controlling combat through curses is a lot of fun :3

[@Crowned_Goblin]

Tainted strike does wonders in my Politics Breena deck. I would also say Inkshield is a HOUSE. Make a deal that looks seemingly against you favor and hit the uno-reverse lethal back to your opponent.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

I love the idea of inkshield... I've just never been able to justify putting it in a deck since it requires you to hold up 5 mana every turn just in case.

[@902496]

Berserk is another card in the same vein as Tainted Strike. It doesn't give infect, but it does double the power of whatever creature you cast it on, and has the added benefit of killing the creature at the end of combat, so next turn, that big scary thing can't come at you. And all for just one green mana!

[@alterreb4775]

Maralen of the mornsong is a funny one since it turns everyone's draw phase into a tutor at the cost of 3 life. Even if someone got their combo faster because of it, everyone had equal opportunity to search whatever their heart's desire including me as I summon opposition agent and stage a hostile takeover of everyone's deck

[@augmentedlinguist4674]

Omg that's genius and so frigging evil I love it😁😁😁

[@InsanoRider777]

Evil and kind of douchey. In the event that goes off, you've basically created a "nobody else gets to play the game" situation, and nobody wants to be on the receiving end of that.

[@alterreb4775]

@@InsanoRider777 it's a one trick pony. If you ever see a maralen deck, immediately use the free tutor to search any monster removal you own and pop it on whatever combo piece it runs. Deck kinda crumbles

[@toof987]

ooh that's evil..

[@atomicsquirrel6457]

I’m always reminded of the Illuminati TCG, which had a card called “Let’s you and him fight.”

[@Db-je4kd]

I love this episode. This is my favorite style of deck. How about a blame deflection edh deck tech?

[@nicholascruz5062]

One of the ways I got my friends to argue was use Varragoth's boast tutor and just bring chaos to the table. Everyone was searching for their best cards while I chipped away at people's life leaving the people who I allowed to tutor alone

[@LaBlueSkuld]

One of my friends has used Berserk as double removal: getting rid of an opponent's creature and getting rid of the opponent that creature is attacking.

[@captainqwark4863]

I have an entire deck based around stimulating my opponents to attacks one and other. I'm pleased to say it works like a charm :D

[@AndiRCR]

Tell me more. This is a diplomatic way! Do you habe a decklist?

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Some of the recent sets have had really fun cards for this type of player (it's me. I'm that player) Bladegriff Prototype lets the person it hits destroy any nonland permanent the owner of Bladegriff Prototype doesn't control. Combat Calligrapher gives your opponent a 2/1 flying attacker if they attack someone who isn't you. Frenzied Saddlebrute lets your opponents attack each other as though their creatures had haste, and Frontier Warmonger gives creatures menace if they're not attacking you. Karazikar gives your opponents cards for attacking each other. Also think special note for Duelist's Heritage where you have to decide to give an attacking creature double strike, but you didn't choose to have your opponent's creature attack in the first place fits into this.

[@RowanHeartwood]

BUT HOW DO MAGNETS WORK? YOU PROMISED! Seriously congrats on all those goals! Prof, you earned those goals over years of high quality content. Never change.

[@NickHodge001]

Enjoyed the video, as I usually do! More importantly...that shirt...I need details on where to acquire that shirt!

[@ErikTheRedd1]

I like the mtg arena phases indicating talking points

[@ianleggett8429]

My Karazikar goad deck is based off this very idea. “I may have goaded their commander but they’re choosing to attack you! Here have a colourless mana from Victory Chimes. Oh I goaded their 6/6 flyer? But they attacked you specifically because you don’t have any flyers. Here why doesn’t every draw a card from Temple Bell, maybe you’ll draw into removal.”

[@anthonydelfino6171]

I tried building Karazikar, and loaded it up with all the prickly "you really don't want to attack me" effects I could find while also including cards that forced combat every turn for everyone. Also Bedlam was one I really loved since I can just say you can't hold up blockers anyway, might as well attack and get a card.

[@colbystoner1046]

Nothings more fun then playing with the guy that threatens the board and if you stop him he screams and looks like he’s holding back punching you

[@bodaciouschad]

I like playing 7+ drops and watching the game devolve into a "who can steal/copy the biggest creature from my deck" match. So far, the record is everybody having a copy of Sheoldred and 2 players with unrelated Vorinclexes.

[@clarkX100]

I had that happen once when people started copying my Brash Taunter and then somebody used a blasphemous act and everyone targeted me :[

[@katyahiltz-schoenfeld3507]

Just finished a 9am uni class, and tbh I’d rather be lectured by THIS professor.

[@heademptyonlybun881]

Plays like these really lean into my love for causing a bit of chaos at the table at the cost of the pod's collective moral compass~

[@mercerchandler8160]

I love my Eric Spymaster of Trest deck because of that. "It wasn't me that attacked you, they were just trying to get cards"

[@exmastermind9262]

"I am not at liberty to reveal my sources, but I can assure you, the price on your head is high."

[@kadafwer]

Will there be more pauper vids? You have a Great channel. Tolarian tutor is Great

[@Tazzer88]

I played a game a few days ago where i knew a couple of players were ganging up on me, so I used Reins of Power to attack one of the two with the other's more impressive board of creatures. "Hey it's not my guys! I barely have anything on board for attacking you!"

[@firedrake110]

Huh, neat. Just looked into what "Semper eme singular" means, and it turns out it's cool. Semper translates to "always" Eme is a modifier on the previous word, applying a strong contrasting meaning Singular is pretty obvious. In a string together, from what I can tell, it would translate to something along the lines of "never alone"

[@otopugpug]

Every time i cast Rite of the Raging Storm my group just makes a deal to never use the tokens, which unfortunately renders it useless

[@Cybermaul]

Have you tried using Goad?

[@tubenewsintern6446]

Same with my playgroup, I just took it out of my decks lol. Every time it gets played they just blow it up and hit me with the token

[@MajorS0UL]

I cant help but slip a curse of opulence into my red decks. Just adding mayhem to the board for extra treasures is a a jolly time.

[@FrozenMopars]

Just stopped by to say sweet lime green dress shirt you got there Professor!

[@piralos1329]

One of my favourite cards for this effect is Skullwinder. It reads like a worse E-Wit, except it has deathtouch, and an easier casting cost! The 'downside'? An opponent also gets back a card! Except, why must this be a downside? After all, you don't always have the answer to the huge threat on the board, but an opponent might! And with just a hint of politicing, it's not hard to get to use Skullwinder to get back that swords to plowshares, or imprison in the moon, or even Oubliette, to help deal with the mutual threat just across the table! Not to mention, you're not even the one who blew up the threat! Don't be mad at me, be mad at the person who cast that spell.

[@SgtMoo]

I got Tainted Strike in my Horobi deck for when Horobi has been hated off the board too many times for me to recast it to take a player out, also works as a 1 Black mana murder with Horobi out.

[@cookies23z]

damn, that rite of the raging storm looks like a fun card to have

[@superfunforce8052]

We’ve got that artsy fashion!

[@kurtischick9419]

Breena is one of my fave commanders at the moment.

[@clintontaylor2535]

I actually have been told my biggest issue is I build high threat decks. Where no matter the deck I play I'm public enemy number one. Its definitely a sign I should build xantha. I been wanting to build a rakdos deck and I think this will help me build a strong deck that hides behind everyone else

[@irreleverent]

I have an Ardenn and Sengir commander deck that tutors up Assault Suit. It's especially fun when you can put it on Sengir, and encourage players to kill each other for scraps of life. Hey, did you know that Swords of X and Y, Mask of Memory, Explorer's Scope, Jitte, Infiltration Lens, and just about every equipment with a triggered ability still gives those benefits to you and not the creature's owner if its under someone else's control? Neat, huh? Also if you're feeling snippy you can assault suit and voltron up someone else's creature with Ardenn.

[@parc_]

Prof out here telling the secrets

[@NekoSauce]

I play a gold foil strixhaven time warp. It's wonderfully watching people's faces when I play it. Pure hatred

[@patrickfoltz232]

Lol. Love the electric green on St.Patrick’s day

[@brokenmandable]

I was once playing a +1/+1 counters deck, I was starting to pop off by doubling up my counters at the end of everyone's turns. It was getting pretty hot for me until I used forgotten ancient to give one of my opponent's animar eldrasi 15 +1/+1 counters. Basically he could cast almost all his creatures for nothing. Everyone aimed at him and in two turns I won.