The Best Ways to Lose in Commander | EDH | Alternative Loss Cards | Magic the Gathering | Commander

[@Adam-sl6tq]

i saw a guy lose to glorious end. the locust god player was storming off so he played glorious end. it came to his turn and he cast armageddon. yep. he killed himself and took all of our lands with him.

[@ketchupthatechos6323]

You could say is was a glorious end for them.

[@bobby45825]

I'd be upset for a second and then laugh really hard lol

[@nickbalmes6640]

@@ketchupthatechos6323 hard to top that one off indeed 😆

[@kingfuzzy2]

@@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299 me too I play Zhou Yu Chief commander and would like to see more of this reprinted.

[@kingfuzzy2]

@Servbot 40 i see you found the player archetype of dave glgl

[@kalebadams1463]

There’s been a lot of spare change lately, guess Mitch was cleaning his couch or something

[@billcypher564]

what else are you supposed to do when you can't leave the house? :D

[@501Hasie]

Listen : Cleaning out my closet

[@sammysammyson]

Player 1: "I cast One With Death." Player 2: "I counter it with Pact of Negation." Player 1: "..." Player 2 on upkeep: "I choose not to pay for the trigger. Good game!" Player 1: "..."

[@thebirdwizard5947]

Nah you cast one with death with hive mind out, it triggers and everyone else's copy will resolve before yours so you actually would win ironically

[@sammysammyson]

@Nuffin You're not obligated to pay. You have the choice to pay or to lose the game because you can't be forced to pay mana costs by any abilities or anything; only if you choose to move a spell to the stack, activate an ability, etc. Other cards say "You may pay [cost]" because they don't have an alternative. The alternative with the pacts is losing. The game can't force you to tap mana and pay; you just lose if you don't.

[@jodypschaeffer]

"I cast One With Death" "I cast Redirect"

[@sammysammyson]

@@jodypschaeffer If only that worked. Narset's Reversal will, though.

[@sammysammyson]

@Nuffin It's really not necessary. I think they're only worded that way because of their unique effect (losing if you don't pay, so the wording implies that paying it is obligatory or else you essentially die; it's sort of a flavor thing I think). And once again, nothing can force you to pay costs. As another example, you can just not pay them if you have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield.

[@lostmarble540]

huh I just realized Chance for Glory makes your creatures indestructible permanently. So if you survive, you get some real good value.

[@calemr]

Hmm... Makes my platinum angel indestructible you say?

[@ave_maria323]

Yup

[@films-n-stuff]

Imagine losing to Triskaidekaphobia while you actually are afraid of the number 13

[@CharlesB147]

This is basically the MTG equivalent of that one in a million outfield catch in baseball -- where the guy jumps out to catch it and lands in the grass, and the difference between whether he ends up on the highlight reel or the blooper reel ... is if the ball pops out of his glove.

[@bigmookie27]

I have knocked someone out with a Phage + Endless Whispers combo...it was funny.

[@mattd3978]

That's awesome, sad thing is if they want they just give it back to you. Mutually assured destruction

[@bigmookie27]

@@mattd3978 Oh, don't get me wrong, same deck, I have died to someone using Krosan Grip on my Torpor Orb as I cast Phage, and also to someone Emrakuling me, casting Phage for me out of my command zone....I just enjoy it, because its great when it works, but when it goes down it is in glorious flames.

[@mattd3978]

@@bigmookie27 sounds like the way to live life my brotha

[@perrinjulien4195]

Best way to loose : "Hey guys, next turn I winning !"

[@basicpigeonbee]

Turn one: Island, pay one for Sol Ring, pass the turn.

[@godspeedhero3671]

@@basicpigeonbee Tap Soul Ring, play Felwar Stone, Cast Mana Crypt, Suspend Mox Tantalite. Tap Felwar Stone for a black and cast Entomb.

[@petersimone3759]

Going out in my own terms Jimmy Wong style

[@fudgemanfui]

Fun deck idea: lose the game tribal

[@abitofsupport601]

turn 1: cast a cantrip self response: pact of negation rest of the table: why did you do that? Did i mention this deck is loss condition tribal?

[@fudgemanfui]

Austin Hale when u want to go home but the table begs to play one more game

[@crovax1375]

Be sure to include Abyssal Persecutor in the deck!

[@davidmitchell621]

You could also build a high gambit deck using a bunch of these cards with some combo finishes and if anyone messes it up, you suddenly lose

[@kingfuzzy2]

Sign me up : D

[@gerardochavez1528]

All those extra turn spells can be abused with sundial of the infinite. If you use it to end your extra turn with chance for glory, your creatures stay indestructible for the rest of the game (the ones that were on the field when it was cast)

[@gerardochavez1528]

If you wanna get real nasty you can imprint a spell like Final Fortune with Isochron Scepter and just make it infinite turns. I had that setup in my Kaalia deck for like a day before taking it out since she’s already gross enough without any extra shenanigans lol

[@LucianDevine]

Actually, Sundial would work against all of the effects, with the exception of Lich. You could just respond to all the lose game triggers with Sundial, exiling them. No way around Lich though, except of course effects that prevent you from losing the game.

[@gerardochavez1528]

I was specifically talking about the extra turn spells in regards to sundial

[@itschiron4479]

I run final fortune in my Krenko deck to try and pull off a win out of nowhere. It's happened a few times, and now my playgroup always seems to counter it if at all possible at this point. It's a good way for me to get out someone's counterspell so I can play something better now

[@jellicledry1380]

I have Chance for Glory in my Skeleton Commander, very fun to just go all in. Sometimes it doesn't work, but you bet your bottom dollar Im at least making an impact if Im losing I also have Lich's Mastery in my Seizan deck. I love a combo I have of enchanting myself with Curse of Fools wisdom, which makes me draw my entire deck, then I just play the game with my deck in my hand. Super fun and can be very risky

[@danielbretado7660]

I use chance for glory in my Kalemne deck. It's mostly there as a counterspell. Yeah, I will probably lose but one upping combo players is worth it.

[@LucianDevine]

Just gotta slot Platinum Angel into those decks and you still have a chance!

[@onyren8194]

Around 8 months ago i got lich's mastery and loved it, so i placed it in my mono black ob nixilis/demon deck. Fast forward 3 weeks after i was playing with my friends in our LGS - a 6 commander games. I let other people take out themselves out cuz am new and not a threat (apparently), i slowly build my board safely and without making any significant impact to the game. 6 hours pass and the last 3 players remain, an angel tribal, a voltron (forgot what it is exactly), and lowly ol' me. I watch them use counter spells upon counter spells to a stale mate, and then politics started, i help 1 and secure 2nd place deals. Then , erebos god of black luck, i drew lich's mastery and the board is a solid army stand off against an untouchable monster. Both players all but exhausted their counters and plays, my board is solid in itself but what's important was i have a shit ton of cards in the grave. I played lich's mastery and in an instant im the biggest target. Another hour pass and the tron player loss. They angel smiled and ready to smite my entire board - i dashed his hopes, we're both too low for the cost to pay life. The shop roared, for my turn i drew liliana's contract. Last ditch effort all creatures attacked a total of 47 damage, i didn't defend and low behold i lived. I won.

[@fredriknyqvist7720]

Love the new episodes! Alot of niche topics covered in a fun way. Keep up the great work! Oh.... and my playgroup hates my Teysa deck, cheers for that decktech 👍

[@BluePanda25]

These alternate win/loss cards videos gave me a lot of ideas for future decks!! Would also be nice to see a win/loss prevention video! :D

[@spenserwood4518]

Thanks for keeping our quarantine lives packed with good EDH content!

[@ronmarshall1566]

Yea man spanks

[@apple2awesome697]

You missed one, “ in response, I concede”

[@Nikkeloodeon]

Conceding is sorcery speed, mate.

[@apple2awesome697]

Nikkeloodeon isn’t it the opposite? I thought it was like flipping over a morph - even “faster” than instants.

[@unbanrofellos5786]

@@apple2awesome697 yeah you are allowed to concede at instant speed

[@d.l.7416]

I counter your concession!

[@maxjm8880]

This is my favorite episode. Im that one player that thinks going out in style and helping others win is the best way to play. Love the videos keep it up Mitch!

[@dant5641]

this video is just naming my friends krenko deck

[@ashleyfernandes3094]

1 Sundial of the infinite is my favored way to avoid the lose of the first cards. 2 Mana Short in the in response to the pact upkeep trigger is a funny way to kill them. 3 great vid Love silly card and love silly ways to play with or against them!

[@tzarl]

My favorite is Havoc Festival. Not guaranteed to lose you the game, but a fantastic "race to the bottom" that can end up with you knocked out instead.

[@dmgengar]

There's also a demonic pact, very fun card to loose to, but also very nice present if you're able to give it to someone :)

[@sammysammyson]

Demonic Pact is such a fun build-around card!

[@oddjob4212]

I remember using Dramoka's Command on my opponent when his Dark Pact was on its last tick as he played Harmless Offer. Fun times.

[@RedOphiuchus]

The obvious combo from what you mentioned is One With Death + Hive Mind. Everyone gets a copy, which goes on the stack above yours, and unless they can counter them somehow you win as a state based effect before yours actually resolves.

[@jadethethief]

I was playing a Two Headed Giant game and my partner and I agreed that if loss seemed imminent, we'd take ourselves out with a Price of Progress. Don't think it knocked out any opponents, but it was a fun way to lose.

[@arlopaden9794]

Once chaos warped somebody and the card they reveled was Phage

[@michaelwilson3418]

So, my favorite ending of any edh game I've ever played was at a Cedh table.i passed my turn and the two players ended up using and resolving pact of negation to stop the guy before me from going off. He fizzled and passed to me and i resolved an Armageddon. The look on the two player's faces was amazing when they realized they they just lose om their upkeep.

[@Eastside97]

Seeing this video this early isn’t an alternative loss condition I’ll tell you that

[@ironichoneybadger5066]

Glorious End won me a game once, i was a mono red, illharg deck, vs a monoblack vampire deck. he had a single turn that he had to attack me where we were both having to recover from a boardwipe scoop. It was awesome, I had a cosmic larva out and was actively sacrificing lands to keep him alive, after he tapped all of his creatures to kill me, I played glorious end, and he had no defenders. one of the most memorable wins that I have ever had

[@florisvenselaar6543]

'Game of chance' is also a fun one. Basically you target an opponent and you flip coins until either one of you loses the game, or the last person who won the flip decides to stop flipping.

[@canismajor1186]

In modern I lost to my own slaughter pact twice. First time they played bloodmoon. Then in some other game they stole my land.

[@matthewpfaff1884]

Someone should make a mtg version where first person to lose wins

[@plussytrivia9478]

I would be really good at that.

[@busTedOaS]

Play all the pacts

[@supernoodles908]

Necro p

[@WaveyZRL]

Just Concede...

[@ognotapussyslayer5917]

@@WaveyZRL Actually conceding means you leave the game, meaning all game effects end, then your opponent wins. That's why Platinum Angel lets you concede

[@destituodaemonis]

Funny thing with the lich cards, is that some of them are "When" effects. Technically speaking, you can use a counterspell that targets a triggered ability and prevent yourself from losing the game. So if you make a deck around the concept of negating bad "When" effects it might work.

[@NecroAsphyxia]

Hive Mind + pacts is fun ^^

[@AngelStickman]

Oh! I may use that. I have a Hivemind.

[@abitofsupport601]

I now want to build hive-mind loss tribal

[@Drow1342]

I've purposely lost in commander with pact of Negation... I had Four mana available... one of ore players were going to combo out... I countered it with a Pact of Negation... worth it, watching his bubble pop brought me joy. Then watching the others gang up and take him out was better 😁

[@johnat856]

My wife was playing a game where the other person had Liliana Vess about to go off. He picked her for the last discard counter… With a giant smile, she discarded Phage. 🤣

[@LucianDevine]

Lol, no ult for them!

[@colemanholth3740]

Never seen "One with Death" before, but as a Hive Mind EDH player I was familiar with a lot of these.

[@Gortexman]

so much great content to get us through these trying times, thanks mitch for all you do

[@kraakatoa4494]

forbidden crypt would combo very well with something like demonic consultation, you can basically just put your entire library into your graveyard and then play the forbidden crypt and then any time you would draw you just pick whatever card you'd like from your graveyard instead (which would be your entire deck)

[@billcypher564]

QUESTION: if i control hive mind and cast one with death, do i win or does everybody lose? because the copies stack on top of my one with death cast, don't they?

[@abitofsupport601]

You would win. Your copy>next player>next player>next player resolve backwards. You resolve last, so you win!

[@HimeDelia]

Glorious End is my favorite counterspell.

[@egpimp]

You forgot the ultimate one with nothing self-mill ultra combo :(

[@kartzzy6101]

Glad this got some shine. 8ish years ago I made a blue red edh chaos deck who's only win condition was give mind it final fortune with sundial of the infinite out to exile my end of turn trigger off the stack. I wasn't too sure how my playgroup would feel about it since it was technically combo win (frowned upon in my playgroup) but luckily everyone took it well and thought it was pretty funny

[@p1k4nurxp13sr]

A friend in my playgroup once won a game by casting Fractured Identity targeting his own Phage. It was epic.

[@xenomethean9304]

I love Chance for Glory, I won every game I ever played mind you I had a complete board state and Aurelia warleader on the field but man was it a hell of win when your opponent does not see it coming.

[@JSalamonTutoring]

Last time I was this early fetch lands were in standard

[@kenzo8096]

rip my man

[@ec-pc3122]

There are still fetch lands in standard

[@TheMelaniemay]

@@ec-pc3122 No there are not

[@ec-pc3122]

@@TheMelaniemay Fabled Passage is a fetchland my friend

[@unbanrofellos5786]

@@ec-pc3122 now that's epic

[@MajraMangetsu]

I do like Final Fortune.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Here before captions woo ( : my fave way to lose is sky swallower I've lost with it twice one of the times there was two in play because my opponent also included one in his deck.

[@VirgilAllenMoore]

Hive Mind, cast One With Death. Then hold priority, counterspell your own One With Death. As far as I understand, the copies aren't countered, only your original casting of the card. That would be a very fun fake out for the end of a game night;)

[@TeeShirtMatt]

I have a kamikaze deck lead by Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. The goal is somewhat similar to a storm strategy. I play all my artifacts and bounce them to play more. The end state is to basically draw my deck and let it all go to my graveyard when i have to discard at the end of my turn. on my next turn i play one spell at one player. That spell being Scrapyard Salvo. For just 1RR you deal damage to target player equal to the number of artifacts in your graveyard. So i take 1-2 super turns and knock one other person out of the game and mil myself. Its pretty fun. I only ever play my Jhoira deck, ESP before making it a meme deck, once a night.

[@duo317]

Bojuka bog + immortal coil + bazaar trader was a pet combo of mine back when I first started

[@georgeboyes864]

I've won with Triskaidekaphobia and I've lost with Triskaidekaphobia, both times it produced alot of laughs, it goes in all of my mono-black decks just because its such a fun alt-win/loss card

[@gandalf9138]

One of the best commander stories from my college club was when someone used a pact of negation and one of their opponents flashed out Emrakul, the Promised End and didn't pay for the pact.

[@carboncuber3147]

One of my favorite ways to loose the game is to yeet myself with Doors to Nothingness.

[@oddjob4212]

That's epic.

[@mikki429]

I had an opponent Bolas' Citadel themself to death rather than let me combo off. The digging he had to do to grab exactly the right CMC was impressive.

[@yuyu63]

i love setting up icocron scepter with final fortune on it and a sundial of the infinite

[@mystikx2205]

Back when I was still learning, a friend of mine and I were having a fun 1vs1. We always have absolute slugfests in whatever TCG we play. Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, you name it. I was playing my "random assortment of cards that have no theme because I'm new and have no idea what I'm doing" Jund deck and I forget what my friend was playing (this was a couple years ago). I'm at 2 life, and he's at 4. I knew I couldn't win with what I have available to me, so I decided to go with a suicide play. I drop Sign in Blood, targeting him to get him down to 2 life, then drop Rakdos Charm and choose the "1 damage for each creature" mode. We both had 2 creatures, so I was forcing a draw. He drops Teferi's Protection. That he admitted to have drawn from Sign in Blood.

[@Necroskull388]

Phage is also a hilarious way to counter Bribery if your deck has no other creatures.

[@sg94599876]

Not really. Opponent can search but "fail" to find any creature. But not everybody knows this.

[@TravirusTheKing]

Casting Arcbond on a tiny creature as it blocks a creature with a mass amount of power is a fun way to go out with.

[@flareinc7413]

I remember years back when my gf at the time bought me a booster and I decided to make a deck for whatever rare that booster had. It was a Pact of the Titan so had to think for a while. :D Then it clicked: ramp to 8 mana w 2 Red/Blue and 1 Red (I used Seething Songs and for a while Rite of Flames). Play Mass Hysteria, play Djinn Illuminatus and play Pact of the Titan and replicate it over 9000 times :D

[@aawwproductions9603]

"You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime."

[@maxwellbrowning7340]

I’ve done a Tree of Perdition and Triskaidekaphobia combo and they were not happy😂one of my favorite combos ever

[@SwingRipper]

Just stifle the glorious end trigger, no one will expect it [[Tale's End]] is a pretty solid stifle effect in commander if you want it to also be able to do other things.

[@CrOSpacE1]

I had a guy playing Doomsday while I had Mindcranck on field. That was glorius laugh at store

[@Fishcrab]

In my play group we started off with playing precon and whoever's has the domri deck was killed first. I also have a habit 9f committing sepuku so now I have a domri brawl deck on arena where I try to lose the game but buring myself.

[@peteypgc]

My group allows un cards and play test cards and we cast one with death all the time

[@SuperSkylar2000]

I’m gonna have to pull a Danny and play Pact of Negation and not pay.

[@dustinfisher6508]

I was playing an inalla deck and my opponent played this massive sylvan offering, I flashed in dualcaster mage and copied him to get two of the spells and made everyone's board huge, my next turn I played a decree of pain and decked out

[@mcintyre0591]

My favorite was casting stasis. No combo or lock, it was just the turn before my opponent had to pay for a pact of negation

[@TheCamoruneGaming]

If One With Death was legal I think you could pull some strings by using cards like Narset's Reversal. Maybe it doesn't work the same way but I know that at least with card draw spells you can use Narset's Reversal to either steal or make it target another player even if it's not supposed to be able to be a spell that you can target.

[@matthewhenson4566]

I once used a Prime Speaker Zegana when I had a creature out with over 80 power(due to +1+1 counter doubling with vorel). I drew my deck and lost the game.

[@KeithChapman-hr5kx]

My little cousin new to the game never had beat me, I let him play with one of the championship tourney decks it was like a 1998 red deck so super fast and powerful. He had me beat next turn so I played a card that killed myself just to take the legit win away from him, a lesson was learned that day lol

[@brandons1411]

i had a guy pull out his cedh deck at a gp once. he tried going off turn 3, giggled a little, and looked him dead in the eye. Dropped pact of negation, killed both of us. Friend in the same pod dropped ancestral statue and 1 shot the last guy 2 turns later.

[@runcmd1419]

Boros with all the extra turn ones, Sundial of the infinite, angel's grace, platinum angel.

[@gilliganallmighty3]

I countered a turn zero win with my Pact of negation. I was 4th to go in the pod. The player I stopped scopped immediately because he was now top decking with no board state, and out of respect for self my sacrifice. I normally use Pact of Negation to protect my winning combo.

[@kylemckiernan1445]

I have a friend in my playgroup who has on multiple occasions countered a turn one sol ring with a pact of negation just out of spite. We call it an honorable death

[@thelunaist2014]

There's also Hellcarver Demon which just let's you gamble all on your top six cards and Kaervek's Spite if the math aligns you'll just be left with nothing if the math aligns or just combo with Second Sunrise.

[@captainhalfbeard3038]

Yep. My buddy runs most of these in his favorite deck.

[@KevinSchleich]

Isn't Final Fortune the answer to a lot of the problems with alternate win conditions in your previous video? That way you don't have to wait for everyone else's turns for the upkeep trigger.

[@iamajediirl6444]

I have lost to my own Triskaidekaphobia before i was at 15 no fliers and i get two 1/1 thopters to the dome when they had lethal on me i realized about two seconds later why they only hit me for 2

[@Baatosanabe]

I didn't see Demonic Pact. That's the one that combos the best with Harmless Offering

[@AidanWR]

My favorite way of losing the game was in one game where I couldn't win through combat damage, because of constant mists, so I instead drew about 50 cards from my library and milled myself out in one turn

[@lindleya]

Transcendence actually goes really well with Lich, cos Lich replaces the lifegain with card draw, so you never get to 20 life to lose from it

[@elliottgaal9774]

I lost to Glorious End a few times. It was the ultimate move by goading all of my opponents critters into fighting then going out with a bang. Took someone down with me though.

[@sandwichboy1268]

Pact of Negation is a lot better at protecting combos than disrupting them, considering Pact of Negation is literally free if you win before your next upkeep.

[@Mentir42]

I play a phage EDH deck where I included some amount of those cards so I can end the game on a moments notice. There is a 1 CMC black creature that filters black mana and one life into any color mana. That is the easiest to make yourself lose, with wall of blood and necropotence also being good options. also turn 1 spoils of the vault for mana crypt is always a laught

[@wikidclowne6891]

On whether someone can prevent you from paying for a pact: Off the top of my head, Mana Short would do the trick. If you cast it in response to the pact trigger all their land is tapped and they lose all floating mana.

[@bwahchannel9746]

won't work, you don't have priority to do so. the player just pays the cost and that's that. Only way is something like mindslaver effect, change mana costs or change what mana gets made, or some sort of lands don't untap next untap step.

[@wikidclowne6891]

@@bwahchannel9746 actually you do. When the trigger hits the stack, active player gets priority then the other players do then the trigger resolves. If you cast Mana Short, he could tap all his lands and float his mana if he wants but he can't use the mana to pay for the Pact until the trigger resolves. When Mana Short resolves it empties his mana pool so the floated mana is removed leaving him with no mana to pay for the pact when it resolves (unless he pays for it with nonland sources). To reiterate, it's the second ability of Mana Short that prevents him, not the tapping of the lands.

[@bwahchannel9746]

@@wikidclowne6891 Ahhh, I gotch now, I forgot about the delay trigger part. I was under the impression with upkeep costs you paid the mana into it but the trigger stays on the stack in the even a player can cast a turn ender or copy the trigger to force the player to have to pay a second cost when they had priority.

[@wemz2782]

one with death would be insanely good with hivemind, since the copys resolve before the spell you casted

[@hinglemckringlebury4335]

My flashy way of choice is tapping my mana wrong and getting nuked by like 26 zombie tokens

[@GamePodify]

You don't get priority when players play land, so any card that makes you loose the game when your graveyard is empty is not possible to bounce the enchantment or do anything in response. You just straight up loose the game if you do not already have hexproof.

[@catoticneutral]

lich's mastery + transcendence when anyone attacks me i draw at least 2 cards Add triskaidekaphobia: Each turn I draw two cards and everyone else loses 1 life OR: Play transcendence Play a tainted remedy and give it to an opponent you don't die to damage

[@jasonw3479]

I accidentally killed my friend who had cast pact of negation by playing Lavinia and detaining all his mana rocks. Didn't realize until his turn. Laughs were had. Teach him to counter my stuff!

[@TheVisconator4700]

I like using cards like Hivemind and World Effects in game. It's not controlled or can be targeted by any player. There has to be some kind of Twincast card for One with Death I could use to retarget my opponent first...

[@thrash208]

High risk high reward is the only way I play.

[@raphaeltungpalan1390]

Hive Mind works great with the Pacts. Cast it right before passing your turn and watch the entire board struggle to pay. I've won a good amount of times with pact of the titan. Kills pretty much any player not running red

[@kateanon8791]

Because of how the stack works, wouldn't Hive Mind + One With Death mean you instantly win the game, unless someone has a counter? Since the copies would go on the stack on top of the original, before your copy resolved you'd have zero opponents left

[@TheArcSet]

Imprinting Glorious End and comboing it with Sundial of the Infinite would have to be the most trollish deck ever; "you can't just do nothing on your turn, nobody but me gets turns!".

[@joshuaperkins8246]

Are we gonna get deck techs of new C20 commanders and Ikoria Commanders?

[@Giga-lemesh]

This was a lot of fun!

[@leantje]

Hive mind + one with death + pact of negation on your own one with death sounds fun

[@eicha41624]

What about Phyrexian Unlife? It's a weird lich-like card in white