Double Main
- bonzaientertainmen
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
Commander damage gets a bad wrap in the game. People find any reason to confuse themselves with this mechanic. Non combat damage? Cumulative across all commanders? I've been asked it all. People even complain about having to track it (have you ever seen someone try to storm off? It's a recap of everything in the last round to figure out the spell count). The real problem is that people don't use commander damage appropriately.
People envision just putting all of your resources into your commander and recklessly attacking across 3 turns to knock out each opponent one by one. That is a way to do it, sure. It's not uncommon to have to attack the same opponent more than once to get to 21 commander damage. The idea for commander damage comes from the original Elder Dragons having 7 power, and the thought that if one of those hit you 3 times, you would be as good as dead. To win the game this way you could be looking at 9 combats. That's a lot and its easy to see why it would be a turn off for players. What you really want to be doing is conditionally increasing the Commander's power, focus on one opponent with the Commander, and devote the other resources to defeating the other opponents.
Think about a card like Yeva's Forcemage. It hits the battlefield and pumps up a creature for a turn. I use the buff on my commander and attack. What happens after that? I can still point my commander at that same opponent to increase the commander damage count. Equally important, I get to throw Yeva's Forcemage at another opponent to knock down some life points. A 20 turn clock is bad, but another creature with an ETB like that, followed by another, will bring that clock way down.
If that was all that was going on, even I would have walked away from making this idea an article. Then I saw Eshki Dragonclaw at my Tarkir Dragonstorm prerelease. It looked a little unassuming, but if it popped off more than once, it would take over the board. How could that be possible, and could it port over to EDH? For 4 mana this card brings 4 power and 3 key words. Trample makes it a great attacker, and Ward provides it some protection. Eshki gets powerful by putting 2 +1/+1 counters on itself if I cast a creature and non creature spell in my first main phase. It even lets me draw a card in addition to the counters, so it fuels future use of its own ability. The card gets big fast and pushes damage through. It's a perfect commander damage contender. I just need to cast those 2 spells reliably. That's where the fun came in.
There were lots of directions to go to get 2 spells in my first main phase. Blue gives me bounce, so I can Unsummon my own creature then recast it (or in reverse order). I can tutor up an artifact creature with Red, and then if I don't discard it somehow, cast that creature. With green, I can cast a deathtouch creature and have it Pounce a potential blocker. You'll see a sprinkling of this through the deck, but my default move was Adventure spells. If you're familiar with my content, you'll already know my fondnest for these 2 in 1 spells. Look at fan favorite Embreth Shieldbreaker. A 2/1 Human Knight for 2 mana is not a great rate. When paired with a 1 mana artifact destruction spell, things get more interesting. For mana, I can fulfill both conditions of Eshki Dragonclaw and have a chump blocker to deter an opportunistic or jilted opponent.
I gravitated toward adventures that acted as removal. I can clear a blocker or a ramp piece so I can slow down an opponent who may run away with the game in a few turns. My threat assessment isn't always perfect, and I may start the Eshki train bearing down on someone else first. Steam Clean can bounce a problematic blocker or troublesome permanent. That's great for 2 mana, and the 2 mana follow up, Scalding Viper, is solid. This 2 power Elemental Snake punches above its weight class. It might not attack well, but it will spit out damage as people play their early cheap spells. 4 or 5 years ago, people were playing more high mana haymakers. Today, people gravitate toward cheaper spells for efficiency and speed. The Viper just so happens to punish that. Stormkeld Vanguard, on the other hand, is a very expensive creature. I never expect to play it and the Adventure, Bear Down, in the same turn. But I do use the Sorcery to, you guessed it, clear a Sol Ring or Bolas's Citadel. There are always good targets; they just change depending on the turn this shows up.
There are other good functions for Adventures; any other function the deck needs. Fertile Footsteps is good early ramp, and Beanstalk Giant is a good scaleable threat for the deck. Tail the Suspect provides draw potential and ramp potential. Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy is an evasive threat that provides reusable removal. I like Kellan here because it can reliably be cast on curve. Once I have 4 mana, I can cast my Commander. Next turn, I play a land and cast Tail the Suspect to play another land so I can cast Kellan right away. It's a powerful statement to the board. Bubble Up and Aquatic Alchemist is another combo that can play out the same way. I play Esika once I get 4 mana, and the next turn Bubble Up a spell back to my hand. Aquatic Alchemist is an immediate follow up for a total of 5 mana that turn. On my next turn, I get to cast the spell I returned to hand and give my Blue Elemental a power boost to attack.
My Adventure plan is great, but limited. There are only so many available in the card pool. Luckily, there is a way to cheat on that plan. Erratic Portal and Crystal Shard are repeatable ways to bounce my creatures back to my hand. I had used this strategy in other decks to great success, so it was easy to port over here. Crystal Shard can even be used to bounce opponents' creatures. I just have to make sure that player is tapped out to make it worthwhile. I use these 2 Artifacts to return a creature that has adventure back to my hand, and I can get a second chance at that Instant/Sorcery. It makes a card like Brightcap Badger way better. I don't have other Saporling support, so this bounce plan lets me double the number of tokens Fungus Frolic produces. Once I recast the badger, those tokens become mana dorks. 4 dorks are better than 2 any day. I also like Roaring Primadox here. There's no cost associated with his bounce effect. When I no longer need it, I just bounce him back and recast it later when I need the effect.
Eshki demands I cast 2 spells per turn to maximize her potential. If I'm reliably doing that, I should find a way to profit from it. Jori En, Ruin Diver is a great way to profit off of doubling up my spells as the Merfolk rewards me with a card drawn. Taigam, Master Opportunist has Flurry and doubles my second spell, creating a copy and suspending the original. 4 turns is a far future to predict out, but I do my best to sequence my spells to get a second chance at what will be the best one. What's good now might not be the best in the future. Cori-Steel Cutter is another option with Flurry. It got baned in standard and is poweful here in EDH. 2 spells means I make a Token with Prowess. It's an army in a can, and one that is powered up by my strategy of casting a noncreature spell every turn. Fae Offering is great because it's an enchantment. It's also great because it turns my double spelling into a ton of tokens, very relevant tokens.
Let's step away from Adventures for a moment and talk more about a Voltron plan. I've identified 3 critical components to making Eshki a knockout: Evasion, protection, and doubling up. Evasion is pretty clear: make my commander unblockable or very difficult to block. Distortion Strike is great because I get to be unblockable now and next turn. The small power bump is welcome, but not game ending. Enter the Enigma is more straightforward. Even as a one time effect, it has added utility thanks to the card it lets me draw. Sword of Light and Shadow goes a step further than most. The protection allows me to dodge many creatures, specifically black and white ones. It also allows me to dodge a lot of the most popular removal spells in the game. The fact that it gets me back a small Adventure creature from my graveyard is an even greater bonus. I want those creatures to be focused on an opponent, and if some of them happen to die for the cause, oh well. Bow of Nylea, when paired with Eshki, means most of my damage will move through any chump blockers to my opponent. It almost makes blocking useless.
When it comes to protection, I have permanent effects and surprise effects. When I say permanent, I mean a card like Hammer of Nazahn. It comes in, auto equips, and provides a meaningful power boost. When I say surprise effect, I mean cards like Heroic Intervention, where I can cast an instant and save my creature after I draw out a piece of removal.
Doubling up sounds silly and vague when in reality it's very serious. Turn cycles are long and leave a lot of uncertainty until my next turn. I can avoid that by not moving forward with the turn cycle. If I play a blue extra turns spell, I get bumped into Bracket 4, and this deck is not a 4 (it's a 7). My next best option happened to be extra combat spells. Seize the Day is great because I can cast it twice thanks to Flashback. The fact that it only untaps one creature is negligible since I care most about my commander attacking. Agravated Assault is a bit pricier to get going, but the repeatability balances it out. Since it untaps all of my creatures, I get to send the rest of my army at an opponent over and over. Both of those cards are expensive. Hexplate Wallbreaker is a little more economical. It untaps everyone and provides a nice stat boost. These effects cut the number of turns in half to "commander damage" my way to victory.
Eshki's power can get high quick. Even if it is smacking one opponent I need to be doing more. Sometimes my incidental army isn't enough to break down another opponent. In the spirit of using Eshki to knock out opponents, I added Soul's Fire. For 3 mana I can burn through an opponent's life total in one hit. Even better, I have access to Chandra's Ignition. This is notorious when paired with Infect. I even did it in my Red Infect deck. In this deck, I'm just looking to do a great deal of damage and clear most of the board, even if its at the expense of most of my own creatures. It's happened, where I will cast this and I'm left with a choice; Push an opponent's commander damage to 21+, or switch gears and attack an opponent that happens to have a low enough life total I can just swing in a knock out that player.
Here's the deck.
Terrasymbiosis | Two-Headed Hunter | |
Adaptive Sporesinger | Rishkar's Expertise | |
Cunning Coyote | Herd Heirloom | Elusive Otter |
Inner Flame Acolyte | Hunter's Talent | |
Pollenbright Druid | Bow of Nylea | |
Inspiring Bard | Songcrafter Mage | |
Jadecraft Artisan | Passionate Archeologist | |
Aetherchanneler | ||
Garruk's Uprising | Tlincalli Hunter | |
Hypnotic Sprite | ||
Slip Through Space | Sea Hag | |
Distortion Strike | Merchant of the Veil | |
Kraum, Violent Cacophony | ||
Soul's Fire | Fae Offering | |
Lucky Clover | ||
Darksteel Plate | ||
Hexplate Wallbreaker | Racecourse Fury | |
Collective Resistance | Rhythm of the Wilds | |
Gaea's Gift | Blasphemous Act | Fires of Yavimaya |
Temur Battlerage | Abrade | Frostcliff Siege |
Beast Within | Turn//Burn | Pest Infestation |
Blast Zone | Rogue's Passage | Kessig Wolf Run |
Bonder's Enclave | Edgewall Inn | Teetering Peaks |
Turntimber Grove | Scavenger Grounds | Command Tower |
Island x6 | Forest x6 | Mountain x6 |
Tyrite Sanctum | Terrain Generator | Tranquil Thicket |
Desolate Lighthouse | Myriad Landscape | Strip Mine |
Blighted Woodland | Arid Archway | Ghost Quarter |
I like this deck because it can be played very simply. I can increase the trickiness of the deck, but straightforward is often enough to make an impact. Whichever way I go with it, Eshki Dragonclaw is the centerpiece of the deck and needs to be cared for.
I skipped over some general Adventure support, but it's all here. Lucky Clover is here to double up my Adventures, and Edgewall Inn can help recur one of those spells. Sentinel of Lost Lore pairs well with my bounce effects and allows me to get back a key Adventure spell each time. The only other useful mode happens to be exiling graveyards. It's interesting.
Thanks for reading and all the support to date. I have affiliate links with Mana Pool and TCG Player to help fund these off the wall strategies. It's what makes all this possible.
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