Go for Gold !
… or: Winning the Game.
Well, we suppose all of you know the rule, have played hundreds (or hundred thousands) of games, and won a lot of them. So, theoretically, you know what it takes to win, right ? But let’s go once again through the rules, analyze them in regard of Team Commander play, and see what this means for Deck building, too.
At the moment, there are 6 different ways to win in Team Commander.
Huh ? Astonished ? Yes, we guess that most players just play 2 kind of winning strategies.
1.) The life of the enemy team is reduced to 0 or less.
A) About 94% of all games are decided by the life pool. There are several ways to reduce the life, while the most common is by attacking with creatures. So – we can simplify and reduce this – to pure damage. While there are numerous strategies (and sub-categories) to inflict damage with creatures (Evasion, Trample, Swarm,…) – too many to account here – the general concept is the same: you play of course creatures, and your deck would be accounted as a creature-based-deck.
B) There is of course another way to inflict damage: the burn or direct damage deck. Spells like the good old Fireball and thelike can reduce the lifepool directly. Such decks either play lots of these burn spells, or drain the enemy (inflict damage while gaining life at the same time – Kambal, Consul of Allocation is a great example for such a deck).
C) Some decks are focussed on a combo or an recurring effect to inflict damage, like sacrificing creatures while having a damageoutput in game – Blood Artist. Nevertheless, the goal is always to inflict damage (or life loss).
In rare cases the enemy causes himself life loss leading to a game loss.
2.) The enemy team is dealt 21 or more damage by a certain Commander.
Maybe 5% of all games are decided by Commander Damage. These Decks are centered around their Commanders, and search ways to let him deal damage. A typical theme is the Voltron Commander, which adds Equipments and Enchantments to him to make him an unstoppable threat – Rafiq of the Many is such a Commander. As a side Note: not a single player must be inflicted 21+ Damage by a commander but the Commander damage is applied to the team in Team play.
3.) You win the game.
The last 1% of game wins are really rare, and spread among type 3-6. There are cards which simply state: You win the game. Most of these cards have conditions to be met, though. Have you ever met a Darksteel Reactor ?While some of these cards are banned in Team Commander such as Test of Endurance due to the higher starting life, there are still several of these cards left and you could win a game by such an alternate win condition.
4.) The enemy loses the game.
Okay, you may argue that type 4 is the same as type 3…. and yes, they go hand in hand: in a team based format, if you win (and your team wins by this), the enemy team loses and vice versa. Technically though, (especially for non-team based games) it is another thing if you win or just a player loses, though. Wouldn’t it be just plain cool to win by a Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God ?
Sidenote: there are a few cards which may cause the enemy to lose the game, and which are played by the enemy player himself, like the popular Pact of Negation. A well timed land destruction effect can cause fun and a bit of malice here…
5.) The enemy is required to draw more cards than cards are left in his or her library.
Such is mostly accomplished by a deck type called „Mill Deck“. these decks are based on cards like the term-defining Millstone.
6.) The enemy team is inflicted 15 or more poison counters.
Another way to win are poison counters. There are cards wich distribute such counters next to the infect keyword mechanic – Ichor Rats. We advise you to read rules 810.8d and 810.10. So yes, we follow the official rules here, it’s 15 poison counters fore the team, which are faster applied than you might think.
Okay, fine… there are several ways to win. But why bother ? Why to sum up all these things, when 95% of all games are decided by damage ?
You might like to find out in our next article.
Have fun ! Your Team Commander Team.