MTG Salvation

Hey all,

I am frequently running into the following problem:
- I run a commander that needs to be on the table in order for my deck to function as expected (Mizzix, Wort, etc).
- Because other people also play things that need to be removed in mass, I often need to play sweepers like Toxic Deluge, Starstorm, Rout, etc.
- The commander in question has no means of protecting itself, so it dies to all of its own spells, and the cost of replaying it quickly grows to an unreasonable number.

So, I'm wondering what you all use as a means of protecting your fragile little commander bodies from harm.

The commander I use that is most integral to the deck it leads is Bruna, Light of Alabaster, and in that case, I really just don't even cast her until I'm pretty sure I've got a line to finish the game.

I recognize that's not how all commanders like this work, and I also think you're asking for more than Lightning Greaves or Soul of New Phyrexia or whatever, right?

I honestly think it's just knowing your deck, and knowing when it's safe to get them out, at least until someone tutors up some removal.

This doesn't feel super helpful, now that I've typed it all up.

It depends on how central having them live is and also how much threat they project and also how much the deck ramps. Most of the time I don't bother any more and will just wait to cast them until the situation is right.

Darksteel Plate saves you from most wraths. It's not the sexiest card in the world, but the equip cost is cheap, and it hangs around for a while given its ability.

Tawnos's coffin is my secret tech to protect my Jhoira

Typically I run redundancy when it is possible. Cards that do things that are similar to what my commander does so that my deck can still function if they are too expensive to cast.

In the deck that is most reliant on my commander I go very hard on the ramp so that I can repeatedly recast them and/or cast them only if I can get immediate value out of them. But I also have lightning greaves and other protection cards.

If you are building around a commander, part of the job is finding asymmetrical answers. In Mizzix, if you are playing Starstorm, you should maybe play Sword of Fire and Ice.

I have 16 decks and I have not encountered the issues you describe. I know board wipes are a good answer to a lot of problems, but if your deck relies on having creatures, you have to be very selective with your boardwipes.

In Wort, instead of playing Hour of Devastation, play Chandra's Ignition

I don't play Wrath of God in every white deck. If I am playing a proactive deck, I usually want to focus on winning quickly and play answers that do not harm that strategy.

1-sided Wraths or hosers are often better than full-table sweepers for my decks for not only the commander but also my tempo and board position as a whole. For me Sliver Queen dies as easily as any other creature in my token deck, so while I have a couple mass sweepers like Planar Cleansing and Damnation, I also run Hex, Tsabo’s Decree, Lavalanche, and Sudden Spoiling, and various targeted artifact/enchantment mass-destroyers. I also try not to rely solely on that commander for a lone win condition.

Depends on the specific commander. I used to run into the same issues with Mizzix. The obvious every deck answer is Lightning Greaves, but there's other fun stuff too. Vanishing is good if you can manage a turn cycle without your commander on the field. The other repeatable mechanic that can pull a ton of weight is blinking. Color dependent obviously, but Eldrazi Displacer, Cloudshift, Eerie Interlude, Restoration Angel and so on are pretty decent.

Seconding one-sided or scalable hosers too. Most colors have them. Cyclonic Rift, Tragic Arrogance or Divine Reckoning, Toxic Deluge or In Garruk's Wake, Chandra's Ignition, Ezuri's Predation (sort of).

Depends on the starting cost of your commander, but I also like Crystal Shard or that colorless one I can't remember. Bouncing it to hand in response to something enables you to cast it again for its usual cost, and if someone is tapped out it also can bounce an opponent's creature.

Maybe its the type of deck you are trying to build. Relying heavily on your commander while also playing many boardwipes is a recipe for disaster. If you want to continue playing wraths, I would suggest either, using your commander as a combo piece/kill condition, have a commander that recurs for cheap/free, or play a deck that is just faster so you don't have to rely on wraths to stay alive.

Gift of Immortality is great for white deck commanders.