Do you have a moment to talk about your mage and savior, Blue Magic?

Blue Staples for Commander

Win, Lose, AND Draw

In Commander, Blue can provide the setup, if not the spark, to do it all. It is a slice of the color pie associated with fish, flyers, and telling your opponent, "nope." Alone it is a formidable slice of the color pie. Pair it with another color or colors, and the flavor potential borders on the infinite.

Oops, did we leave out the card draw?

Wizards of the...

Are you ready to unleash your inner prestidigitator? Blue Mages have a reputation going back to the days of the first mage in Magic: Prodigal Sorcerer. Alpha showed what was to come. Blue's true power revolved around manipulation through knowledge of the elements, critically of time and space. Blue magic users could turn your spells (Feedback) and resources (Psychic Venom) against you, copy (Clone) or counter (Counterspell), remove agency (Stasis or Mana Short). They skirted the ethics of mana through knowledge, deceit, caution, deliberation, and the pursuit of perfection.

The mages sought control time itself. (Timetwister)

Counter-Culture

"No." is a complete sentence. It's not a te10-cent word, even. The original Counterspell puts a stop to even the largest of threats - even another Counterspell as the biggest threat in all of Magic is two untapped Islands

"Go Home" is another appropriate statement to be made in Blue, be it whispered or shouted for all to hear against the screaming Cyclonic Rift oOverloaded that sends one (or more) nonland permanents to their owner's hand. It's an Unsummon for everything.

But why not get something for your hard work of repelling potentially dangerous Magic? Drain the spell while you are at it, and use that power on your next turn (well in the form of colorless mana) against your opponent with Mana Drain.

The options for counterspells in Commander are near limitless allowing you to fill up with Negate, Arcane Denial, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Fierce Guardianship, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Cancel, or even Pact of Negation. Each offers a variation on the theme from cost to target. There are even Creatures including Glen Elendra Archmage who can be sacrificed to counter target noncreature spell, and Mausoleum Wanderer that requires the controller of targeted Instant or Sorcery to pay X to prevent the counter.

The variety of casts, costs, and exchanges flavorfully depicts the balance Blue Mages seek.

But Do You Want To...

...pay the one? It's a simple question asked again and again by Commander players - from Rhystic Study to Mystic Remora. These are two great vehicles for card draw in Blue, and in general for Magic. Borderline iconic.

Blue tends to corner the market for card advantage in Magic with numerous means to comb through your spellbook... err, deck... to dig deep for what you need to win. Or to just survive. At the very least, asking the payment questions associated with these cards in a pod could be akin to psychological warfare - a strong tool of which is the use of Propaganda.

Now Hold Up

Blue is more than a stack of spells. It's...

A Cavalcade of Characters

Blue provides a collection of trading cards showcasing the most powerful mages from across the planes. Some live in infamy such as Urza, Lord High Artificer (yes, technically not a Mage) who bridges magic and science to create an army of Construct creature tokens capable of generating resources.

Others are simply TIME-less - thinking of Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir or Sage of Hours. Both manipulate the time stream in unique ways through speeding up your creatures at the cost of slowing your opponents - maybe just a cost for them. Sage of Hours turns +1/+1 buffs into extra turns for each five removed. It's dangerous to play with time, especially when threat assessments and friendships are on the line. If you want to be democratic about the process, there's always Expropriate.

If you prefer more traditional spell slinging, Snapcaster Mage gives Flashback to spells in your graveyard until end of turn, allowing you to dig deep into the mana for one last blast at your opponent.

Honorable mentions in the Blue Mage Pantheon to consider with various builds: Glen Elendra Archmage for emergency non-creature counterspell; Laboratory Maniac if you want to mill yourself to the win; Beguiler of Wills if you need to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor; and Minn Wily Illusionist to help you use your Illusion (vol 1 AND 2, that is) rock the board state in your favor.

The Battle of Wits has Begun

Similar to mono-White, Blue has a handful of Win-, Lose-, or Draw-cons. More winning by drawing to be honest. While Pact of Negation is a nice zero cost counter target spell card, if you are unable to pay the mana on your next upkeep it becomes a lose condition. Good news though, it's the only one. Definitely have on hand as a "break glass in case of emergency spell" though.

But with Blue you must dream bigger when it comes to upkeep triggers. Think 200 or more cards in your library on your upkeep with Battle of Wits. If that number is a bit daunting, requiring ACTUAL magic to pull off try smaller lucky numbers like 13. With Triskaidekaphile if you hold exactly 13 cards in your hand on your upkeep, you win (triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13). Similar to Laboratory Maniac, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries grants the same, "if you would draw a card while your library has no cards in it, you win the game instead." Nothing like a backup win-con in a singleton format.

Win cons are almost a mini-game in Blue. Have fun with them as you build the engine to get you exactly where you need to be. Speaking of engines, with Urza and other artifact-synergy cards, Mechanized Production offers a fun way to bulk your board towards victory. Enchant target artifact, create a token that is a copy on your upkeep, if you control eight with the same name you win. Try it with Bloodforged Battleaxe on the board as a backup since the win is based on eight artifacts of the same name, NOT eight of the enchanted artifact.

A Slice of a Slice

The above is only a slice of life for mono-Blue in Magic that might fit your playstyle for Commander. Really a slice of a slice of a sliver or a morsel given the options available. This is only a fraction.

There is truly something for everyone, including more common archetypes in this color: artifacts, flyers, merfolk, wizards, spellslinger (with a splash of Red), superfriends (invite your favs from the color pie to join). Alone mono-Blue can give pause to a commander pod when it hits the table, combined the flavors are even wilder - spicy spells (Izzet), mysterious (Dimir), monstrous (Simic), stunning (Azorius). Splash across shards or clans to leverage some tried and true spells from the beginning of Magic.

And remember: You can lead a horse to water, and make it unblockable. (Sorry, Obligatory Horsemanship Joke)