Or rather Frozen Aether. I’m not really sure how I missed it considering the things I have said in defense of Manglehorn as a viable card in Commander (I have taken a lot of flak from people who think it’s super unreasonable to play it in a universe where Reclamation Sage exists. K.) because Manglehorn makes a lot of mana rocks a lot worse, especially early-to-midgame. I personally think making my opponents’ artifacts come into play tapped forever is significantly different enough for me to suggest Manglehorn in my set review. I would argue the flexibility to kill an enchantment isn’t better at all. Have you ever made someone’s stuff come into play tapped? They do not. Like. That.

Frozen Aether kept me from getting the table for lethal by sacrificing Prossh, Skyraider of Kher to Goblin Bombardment, replaying him and swinging out with a Xengaos, God of Revels boost and the next turn it kept another player from going off with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts. I always knew cards like this were and option and that decks played them but I’ve never seen a Frozen Aether shut down a whole table like that. Maybe I’m naive but I’ve played a lot of games of Commander and I don’t often see cards do that much work and still end up overlooked. Not only that, thinking about how cards like that fit into the 75% framework made me think there is a happy medium between “Leave their mana alone” and “Play Armageddon with Avacyn, Angel of Hope in play” which is a good thing. Let’s look at one of the eight simple rules of 75% Commander that I think is misunderstood a bit and which I think applies here.

Every color but Black (Unless I’m missing something and this whole article is about something I missed so I am sure I have) seems to have at least a few cards that do this. Root Maze and Manglehorn, War's Toll and Tectonic Instability, Kismet and Imposing Sovereign, Frozen Aether and Blue’s raft of cards that keep their lands from untapping. We don’t even have to keep their lands from untapping to get an advantage, though, and I’d argue that Frozen Aether plus Rising Waters is not the most 75% plan ever devised. What if we’re just focusing on making their stuff come into play tapped but letting them untap as normal. How else do we keep buying ourselves time to make our plans work? Simple. We tax them into the poorhouse. I know I have avoided doing a GA5 deck until now, but with our new devotion to making their lives miserable with a raft of minor inconveniences, we should take another look at him. What would a deck look like if we decided to ruin their plans by making their stuff come into play tapped and charged them extra mana for everything? When they do manage to summon something, you know we’re going to swipe it.

Taxation Without Representation ? Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Archangel of Tithes
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1 Blazing Archon
• 1 Clever Impersonator
• 1 Fatespinner
• 1 Frost Titan
• 1 Grand Abolisher
• 1 Imposing Sovereign
• 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1 Silent Arbiter
• 1 Spelltithe Enforcer
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Wall of Denial
• 1 Windborn Muse

• Instants (7)
• 1 Aetherspouts
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Disallow
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Sphinx's Revelation

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Wrath of God

• Enchantments (17)
• 1 Arcane Laboratory
• 1 As Foretold
• 1 Aura of Silence
• 1 Blind Obedience
• 1 Control Magic
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Frozen Aether
• 1 Kismet
• 1 Luminarch Ascension
• 1 Monastery Siege
• 1 Overburden
• 1 Pendrell Mists
• 1 Propaganda
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Rule of Law
• 1 Sphere of Safety
• 1 War Tax

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Crawlspace
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mana Web
• 1 Norn's Annex
• 1 Oracle's Vault
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sphere of Resistance
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Vedalken Shackles

• Lands (39)
• 14 Island
• 13 Plains
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Tranquil Cove

Buy This Deck

Overburden is fantastic in this deck. If they have a creature come into play, they have to bounce a land, and that land will come back into play tapped meaning they lose the land for a while. When they do untap it, they’ll likely need to pay for something or bounce it again. We’re not preventing them from doing anything at all, but we’re preventing them from doing as much as they want to do, as often, and that’s how you win. We’re not Vorinclex, but we’re not far off once we get rolling.

Pendrell Mists is another card I wasn’t super aware of before I delved into this build but which I think is great. Keeping creatures around can get expensive and potentially rob them of mana they need to swing at you through a pile of Propaganda clones. Their creatures will be limited, and that makes our Control Magic spells even better. Aetherspouts and Cyclonic Rift can help mop up any creatures that got under your wall of permission and when they’re back in their hand, they’re going to be in there a while.

All in all this looks like a fun deck and while GA5 is not the first name you think of when you think 75%, ultimately we’re built around doing something specific and it’s going to punish durdly creature decks and combo decks alike. Buying us turns to disrupt their strategy is important and if we find we’re not getting there quite quickly enough, we can always change up our removal suite.

Did I step in it? Any inclusions you think are unwarranted? Did I cut something obvious you think I should jam? Are there any cards like Kismet I might not be aware of and you have stories about running them or losing to them? Leave in the comments section. Thanks so much for reading, and let me know what you think about Frozen Aether as a 75% alternative to Armageddon and Winter Orb. Until next time!