Yesterday in Part 1, we covered some of the basics of Commander strategy and setting up playgroup structure. Today, we're going to talk about an important aspect of strategy—tempo.

The Tempo Game in Commander

First, we're going to talk about a common tempo mistake:

Jumping Ahead Too Fast

Imagine a Spike-ish player building his very first Commander deck. He might throw in a Tarmogoyf, some huge 1-cost creatures that become a 6/6 when your life total is 40 or more, and flank these creatures with lots of other early-game beaters. The army is poised for war and begins flooding the board on turns one, two, three, and four. He begins quickly chipping away at the 120 life of the collective three opposing players. A little damage here, a lot there, maybe someone puts down a blocker on turn three, so the swinging army changes focus.

Many times, the other players in the game are doing two things. They are playing out utility early drops like Sakura-Tribe Elder or Wood Elves. These cards not only prevent some early damage, but also serve to ramp up the deck. The second thing that those players are doing is the more important thing. They are adjusting their sights and honing in on the biggest threat. They are watching the growing army, stockpiling board wipe and reinforcements, all the while making note of each transgression committed by the proverbial "first player out of the gate."

If you begin pumping out tokens and playing your cheaply priced Commander, you are essentially painting a giant target on your head. Players make big moves early in the game and become the center of attention. Most of the time, I would prefer not to have this attention. Think about what all of this attention earns these players. Often, the threat strengthens the bond and resolve of the other players at the table. The guy that speeds off of the starting blocks will generally promote an "all-versus-one" attitude in the early turns.

A few weeks ago, I was playing in a multiplayer Commander game with some good buddies outside of the league. One of the players ramped up his deck with a Sol Ring and jumped right into a turn-four Bribery. He targeted my deck containing Blightsteel Colossus. The turn-four Blightsteel threatened to end any of the other players on the next turn, and the collective group of "threatened" players banded together to beat the early threat. In fact, they killed the Bribery player first. It could be argued that this player did not understand the tempo or timing of the multiplayer game.

Politics and Threat Levels

Less scrutiny and concern aims at players who sleepily play through the early stage of a Commander game. If I had a turn-four or turn-five bomb, that card is staying in my hand. I am more likely sitting back, searching for a board wipe or counter, while gently building my mana base and preserving cards in my hand. I am not going to counter my opponent's Sol Ring with my Force of Will on the first turn. I am not looking to start an early war. I might gently play Solemn Simulacrum or run out a Coalition Relic. Occasionally, I might drop a wonky threat like Vendilion Clique or Rhystic Study, but I tend to want to hang back. Multiplayer games are complex systems. You do not want to raise the alarms or garner too much attention. A higher threat level results in a tougher political battle. It is hard to make multiplayer friends when you are threatening an early game combo or have the board stacked with infinite Slivers.

Playing for the End Game

Rather than rocking the boat on those first casual turns, try to lay low. Tempo in Commander comes down to two main aspects:

1. Understand the amount of time that games tend to run.

I imagine that if you attempted to scientifically study the tempo of the typical Commander game, you would find that games tend to run longer rather than shorter. I would guess that most four-plus-player games take an hour. If you are trying to win in ten to fifteen minutes, you might be "that guy." Don't be that guy.

Since multiplayer games run long, players don't tend to mind if a player combos off for the win on turn thirty after ninety minutes. In fact, it seems appropriate. Beat me with your 14CC creatures and cast those 12-cost spells. Just don't do it on turn two. My decks tend to do some powerful and playful things. However, my win conditions tend to be expensive and risky to cast. I am not a fan of lockdowns, lockouts, or recurring nightmare cards, and most other players might agree. If you understand the socially acceptable ways to win and the timing of those wins, you can build decks to achieve potent win conditions. In fact, people will continue to play with you and will allow you to attempt those powerful interactions with very little grief.

2. Save your big, important cards for much later in the game.

You might be able to do something on turn four, but tempo in a long game makes players ask if you should do something on turn four. In general, you might consider saving the fireworks for the end of the match. Save your removal, your counter, and your big tricks for as long as possible. Not only is this typically good advice in games, but it also helps you survive to be a power player in the later turns of a match.

I have seen players "blow" all of their relevant cards in the first and middle stages of the game. In the final turns, they are either pawns or observers of the real action. That can be boring and a little frustrating. If you are in top-deck mode while other players have a full grip, this might apply to you. Save your big plays for later.

How to Play the Tempo Game

We have established that you don't want to become the first, big threat. You don't even want to pretend that you are the first, big threat. Sometimes, your Commander will send this message, whether it is intentional or not. Most players assume they already know the interactions and cards in a deck commanded by Zur the Enchanter, Braids, Cabal Minion, and Phelddagrif. You send a message with your Commander. Maybe you are the "nice" Niv-Mizzet player, but players will assume you're playing what they historically have experienced. Deck-builders send a message with the Commander.

If you want to survive the assumption war, choose a neutral or unknown Commander. The court of public opinion will be kinder. In addition, you might consider alternative cards for the early stages of your Commander game. Next week, we will explore the types of cards that might help support your strategy, could keep that target off of your head, and will still allow you to do some stuff with your early-game mana.

Tempo Manipulation

At this point, you should realize that tempo in a multiplayer Commander game is very different than tempo in a one-on-one game of Magic. Let's discuss this briefly. Imagine that you are involved in a two-player game. Each player has a sixty-card deck consisting of twenty creatures. Every creature is a three-drop (3/2) without the ability to block. The remaining forty lands tap for the color of those vanilla creatures.

Assume that each player hits a reasonable number of lands and both players drop an equal number of creatures. The player who goes first will win. His three-drop will swing on turn four. His opponent will swing back. On turn five, both three-drops will hit, bringing the opponent down to 11, and the player who went second will take and deliver 9 more damage on the following turn. The player who went first will swing for the final point of damage on turn seven and will win the game.

The first player won because he went first, dealt damage first, and had a tempo advantage in terms of mana and life total throughout the game. In this scenario, tempo boiled down to those two factors: use of mana and maintaining more life. Mana. Life total.

In a multiplayer game, tempo would work in a similar fashion, but three players could choose to gang up on one player. They could each attack random opponents, could choose not to attack to buy favor from other players, or might all attack in counterclockwise order. If they were playing Commander, the game would also last a bit longer, because the life totals are higher.

This spin-off example shows how introducing the complexity of more than one opponent completely alters some key assumptions of tempo. The player who went first won't necessarily win. If Player 1 swings his three-drop, nonblocking creature at Player 3, maybe Players 2, 3, and 4 will all swing back at Player 1? There are more variables to monitor.

Gaining and Losing Tempo

If you want to gain tempo in Commander, there are several options.

1. Ramp your mana base and acquire access to more mana than your opponents can access.

This gives you the ability to do more expensive (read: mostly better) things. You can cast giant spells and drop gargantuan creatures. You can also flood the board with smaller spells and sources of card or further tempo advantage. Another more nefarious option is to control your opponents' access to mana by destroying land or removing their ramp artifacts, for example.

2. Manage your life total or your opponents' life totals.

This can be done through blocking attacking creatures, gaining life, or using removal. In some cases, I have seen folks use cards that redistribute life totals, resulting in huge tempo swings.

A couple of weeks ago in league play, a Black/Green player ramped up into Exsanguinate. That player drained opposing players of hundreds of life and killed all but one player. The Black/Green player gained a tremendous amount of tempo by depleting the opposing resources and increasing his own. The last surviving player cast Reverse the Sands. This resulted in a second incredible tempo swing. The White player took the Black/Green player's 200+ life and gave him her single life point right before killing him off with a small attack.

3. Sit back and do nothing.

This is less of a card-dependent strategy and more of a political move. If you do not attack, present threats, or improve/decrease your access to mana in a way that is inequitable to the opponents, they might simply ignore you. This can be a solid move and is often overlooked.

In Search of Card Advantage

The best way to generate card advantage in Commander is to play tons and tons of two-for-one creatures. My first Commander decks consisted of land and two-for-one creatures. If you ask most people which cards are best, or Commander staples, they will report any number of creatures that generate such an advantage. Whether you are plucking cards back from the graveyard or ripping extra cards from the top of your deck, you will want to build a deck's foundation on the back of this source of card advantage.

Drawing cards can offer you consistency and a satisfying play experience, and will aid your win condition and/or deck-construction goals. Without it, you can be left sitting idly by as your opponents build their positions and slug away at your life total. You have to have ammunition to wage a war, and cards are your ammunition in Magic. Here is an example of how to leverage card advantage and a nonexample to avoid when building a deck or employing certain strategies.

The Example

It is almost counterintuitive. You build a deck of one hundred different cards and still search for some degree of consistency. Over the years, I have constructed Commander decks that seemingly finish the game in the same way time after time. While it makes "the most hated Commander" list and is incredibly "broken," the Azami (mono-Blue, Wizards tribal) deck is a prime example of consistency through card draw.

Essentially, the deck seeks to ramp up the mana count via artifacts (e.g., Sol Ring, Gauntlet of Power, or Gilded Lotus), abuses untap effects (à la Tezzeret the Seeker or Voltaic Key), and uses untapping land multiple times (using Rewind, Turnabout, etc.), all in an attempt to play out tons of spells in a single turn to set up a giant Storm count. There are only two cards that have the Storm mechanic in the deck: Brain Freeze and Mind's Desire. However, the deck always wins with one or two of these cards.

Sure, there are a couple of tutors to set up the win condition, but the real devil is in the card draw. Azami turns her Wizard tribe into card-drawing machines. If Azami is on the field, I can tap all-star cards like Venser, Shaper Savant, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, or even Hapless Researcher for a free card. The deck moves through a tremendous number of cards and typically sees eighteen to twenty-five cards by the fifth turn. This helps the deck drop land in a timely fashion, and eventually gives the driver access to each tool needed to secure a smashing victory.

Essentially, each creature in the deck replaces itself the first time it is played and offers a +1 on consecutive turns. On average, most of the Wizards are two-for-ones. At best, they can be a six-for-one or better. That is both incredible and somewhat sickening. Most decks cannot compete with that type of card advantage. You simply play way above the opponents in terms of consistency and capacity to compete. Often, the deck can beat two medium-powered decks with little trouble. Not only does the deck generate a great deal of tempo, but also you have more options, threats, and answers each turn.

The Nonexample

When I first began playing Commander, I tried a deck-building exercise in which I created a mono-colored deck for each of the five colors in Magic. Azami was my mono-Blue, Braids was mono-Black, Rofellos was mono-Green, Raksha (cats) was mono-White, and Kiki-Jiki was mono-Red. I tried my best to make each deck as consistent and equal as possible. The end goal was pentagram Commander in which five pilots could steer their favorite-color Commander deck into some epic battles.

After working on a number of iterations, the Blue, Black, and Green decks seemed to be dominant. The Commanders were strong, and the synergies and card quality in the decks could not be matched by White and Red. Sure, White stole a game on occasion, but Red almost never won. Rarely, there were instances of threatening the win with Insurrection or Obliterate with a suspended Greater Gargadon. It almost never worked out in the Red mage's favor.

Ultimately, the culprit for Red's struggle was card advantage. Blue and Black had a ton of straightforward card advantage. Many cards in these colors were netting consistent two-for-one benefits. Green had to do some tricks to generate card advantage. There are a number of cards that require you to sac or lose a creature (or many creatures) to acquire cards. However, the general tempo strength offered by Green cards allows you to play larger, "sloppy" creatures with restrictions to generate card advantage. Regal Force comes to mind.

However, Red does not offer many draw/advantage effects. Anarchist, the $200 Imperial Recruiter, Viashino Heretic, and—in a slanted sort of way—Kiki-Jiki are among the thin sources for card advantage in Red. The games tended to play out in a stereotypical fashion. The Red player was forced to do less, had less access to cards, and generally struggled to finish the game in a strong fashion. There was, simply, not enough gas to finish out the longer games of Commander unless you wanted to sit and wait to be relevant.

Conclusion

I have written over two hundred gaming articles. I have earned a little bit of change as a pro card player and have had the opportunity to interact with some of the best players in the world. However, those days are likely behind me, and I have drifted from hypercompetitive play into a slower-paced world of casual play. Instead of washed-up, I feel excited. I owe that excitement and my continued gaming satisfaction to Commander. I hope that some of my experiences can inform your future decision-making, deck construction, and even formation of your own Commander leagues. It seems that a great number of new players have the opportunity to flock to the format. Wizards of the Coast has steadily increased support for Commander, and will release special Commander products this summer. Find your favorite Commander, and sling some cards. As a community, I hope we can build upon some of the ideas or challenge the theories that have been discussed in this article. When you are playing Commander, you are winning. I hope that this guide will give you some great ideas that will help you win!