Hey! Welcome back. Last week, we talked about how this being a multiplayer format encouraged different strategies, or archetypes. This week, we’ll be talking about how politics works at a four-player table.

Now, I’ll be the last one to tell you to not play cards because they’re “unfun.” If you’re going to play Sharuum On The Rocks (a deck that abuses mana-producing artifacts) and you’re not playing Armageddon, you’re playing it wrong. However, politics is an important aspect to this game, even in a competitive setting.

The basic rule of politics is to make sure your opponents don’t see your spell coming. A lot of people prefer a “slow buildup” to a combo to protect it - I think this is the wrong approach. While it’s nice to take a turn setting up, the best game-swinging spells come out of nowhere. In any game with an aggro player, let’s say a Krenko deck, you want to make sure that he’s not paying too much attention to you before you can protect yourself. A turn four Sylvan Tutor for Pestermite in a RUG deck means nobody’s going to tap their removal-spell mana. You’ll see people Fabricating up their Torpor Orb instead of the Sol Ring they were going for. Suddenly, you’re the center of attention.

Similarly, when I turn-three Buried Alive for a combo and pass turn, my playgroup is smart enough to leave up countermagic.Generally, I’ll try to wait until I can cast it and the Animate Dead or whatever in the same turn. That way, my opponents don’t have a chance to disrupt me on their turns, and don’t feel the need to make sure they have that counterspell mana up. If you’re lucky, they’ll even use their counterspell on each other, or my less-important Crypt Ghast or whatever.

And that’s the general principle I’m going to try to leave you with today. Both deckbuilding and in-game play need to consider what I call Resource Deflection. The idea is that every player has an amount of “resources.” These two resources break down into two types: Questions and Answers. A Question is any card whose purpose is to kill another player. An Answer is any card whose purpose is to prevent your death. Some cards can function as either one at a time, like Lightning Bolt (as burn or as removal). Some cards can function as both at the same time, like Sphinx’s Revelation (lifegain prevents death and draws you into a win condition).

If you’re well-versed in magic theory, you’ve heard all of that before. If you’re not, they’re pretty basic terms. One thing to remember is that in Commander or other multiplayer formats, your own Question is often by default also an Answer, because killing an opponent doesn’t win you the game outright - you have to kill them all. Exceptions to this are cards that win outright, like Laboratory Maniac or Felidar Sovereign. Through this thinking, a massive swarm of tokens big enough to kill just one player is a resource, and you’re most likely to be on the receiving end of it if it looks like you’ll win next turn. Resource Deflection just means trying to make your opponents use their resources on each other, rather than disrupting you.

We’ve talked about what this means in terms of piloting a deck, but how can we apply it to designing and building your list? Well, try to make your win-conditions something that you don’t build up. For example, if you want to combo out with Restoration Angel and Kiki-Jiki, try to include ways to get them both to your hand and cast them in one turn (like Survival of the Fittest or Tooth and Nail). Another way to do it is to use combo pieces that do work other than comboing. Besides the obvious advantage of not drawing cards that are often dead, it looks a lot less suspicious to tutor up a Karmic Guide, even if you’re going to use it to combo out.

This is why I personally don’t like decks like 5c Hermit Druid. For those unfamiliar with the deck, it’s a 5-color combo deck that focuses on activating Hermit Druid as early as possible with protection in hand. The deck plays no basics, so it mills itself out, them combos out of its graveyard - usually flashbacking Dread Return on Angel of Glory’s Rise, grabbing back Laboratory Maniac and Azami to insta-win. While I understand that the deck is very fast and consistent, coming to a competitive table with a five-color basicless deck raises quite a few eyebrows, and the majority of your opponents will hold up answers. Also, no matter how many ways to protect the combo your deck has, three opponents holding their answers will be able to stop you. I always advise Hermit Druid players to use something like Sliver Overlord, and play a single basic which you immediately fetch so they don’t look less suspicious.

Finally, a good combo is hard to disrupt, and is resilient once it is. If your combo needs a turn to cycle, like a Near-Death Experience or Hellkite Tyrant victory, it’s probably not the best. That gives players - remember, there are four here, not just one - a whole turn to find their answers. If you’re significantly behind / you lose if your combo is disrupted, like the aforementioned Hermit Druid or a Barren Glory victory, again, that’s a large problem. It gives players an additional incentive to try to take you out.

Hopefully you’ve learned something today about trying to protect yourself. Remember - if you’re smart, you can pit other players against each other and make them do their dirty work for you, simultaneously taking the pressure off your own position.

Until next time.