Recently, my Gathering Magic colleague Daryl Bockett wrote a great article arguing for the long game, at least in Commander. He lays out several reasons why he prefers a long game, lasting more than an hour. Among other things, he points out a long game reduces the importance of high-powered, high-cost cards. His example, early Mana Crypt, or even just a $400 mana base, means a fast start; if that fast start leads to a game-ending combo, those of us without Bayous and Candelabra of Tawnoses are left behind. In a long game, though, those fast starts matter a lot less, because everything gets smoothed out over time and the game is more fair, and probably more fun, for everyone.

So as long as we’re working with a budget, what can we do to make sure we’ve got a long game to play? There are control decks we can build which frustrate everyone else at the table, or we could just run a suite of counterspells, but maybe there’s another way to go about it.

This capable lady does a pretty good job of slowing the game down. Not being able to use most mana rocks or go crazy with a bunch of tokens will cause many players looking to win quickly to stumble. She’s not going to stop a big angel by herself, though, so it’s not like we’re just locking down the whole board, even if we manage to figure out a way to get her to enter the battlefield every turn. Honestly, detain may be too weak for EDH, but it also might be a great middle ground between “destroy everything at the table” and “let everyone do exactly what they want”. Let’s take a look at what a deck led by her could look like.

Lavinia of the Tenth ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Lavinia of the Tenth

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Aetherstorm Roc
• 1 Azor's Elocutors
• 1 Azorius Arrester
• 1 Azorius Justiciar
• 1 Brago, King Eternal
• 1 Chancellor of the Spires
• 1 Cloudblazer
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Deputy of Acquittals
• 1 Diluvian Primordial
• 1 Dragonlord Ojutai
• 1 Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1 Frost Titan
• 1 Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
• 1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
• 1 Luminate Primordial
• 1 Lyev Skyknight
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stonecloaker
• 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1 Subjugator Angel
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Dovin Baan
• 1 Venser, the Sojourner

• Instants (9)
• 1 Acrobatic Maneuver
• 1 Azorius Charm
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Condemn
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Long Road Home
• 1 Ojutai's Command
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Lyev Decree
• 1 Revoke Existence
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Voidwalk

• Enchantments (9)
• 1 Arrest
• 1 Banishing Light
• 1 Blind Obedience
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 1 Mind Unbound
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Quarantine Field

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Azorius Keyrune
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Tamiyo's Journal

• Lands (40)
• 10 Plains
• 9 Island
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Blighted Cataract
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Meandering River
• 1 Mystifying Maze
• 1 New Benalia
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sejiri Refuge
• 1 Skyline Cascade
• 1 Soaring Seacliff
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Cove

Buy This Deck

I know I’m a broken record on this, but we’ve got our 40 lands. Seriously, if you’re not running 40 lands, just try it once. You’ll see how much smoother it makes your deck work — you can actually cast your spells on time, and you have few games where you’re mana or color hosed. Of course some decks work on less, and a few need more, but 40 is a good baseline. A bunch of our lands tap for two colors, some of them hunt for a basic, and a few have some useful effect, like Homeward Path for getting back something stolen with Yasova Dragonclaw or whatever. A few mana rocks make the cut as well — we’ll want stuff to do in the early game, and making some extra mana is worthwhile. Sol Ring is specifically useful, because it plays nicely with a couple of other cards in the deck.

There are some killer creatures in here which draw cards when they enter the battlefield. This is perfect for a deck which wants to flicker its cards. Mulldrifter entering the battlefield every turn is great for card advantage. We’ve also got stuff like Mind Unbound and Tamiyo's Journal, which sort of quietly give us cards until we’ve suddenly overwhelmed the table with our hand size. Windreader Sphinx works well since a good number of our creatures fly, and we’ve got some small ones, plus we’ll be flicking, so Ephara, God of the Polis does work too. Bident of Thassa even helps, since we’ll often have something to crack with.

We’ve also got a ton of answers, but they’re the kind designed to make a long game, not make everyone sad. Sure, we can cast the occasional Day of Judgment, but we don’t have Mana Drain on an Isochron Scepter or anything similar. We’re a little fragile — we may be one Conjurer's Closet being destroyed away from letting our opponent launch his token army at the table. But we can Oblivion Ring or Detention Sphere something. We can Arrest a creature, or use Azorius Arrester. Lots of detain, lots of slowing things down, with the occasional Swords to Plowshares to handle something seriously nasty.

Of course, we’re convertible commander, so how do we convert this one? We change only the commander. We’ve got a few options. Brago, King Eternal is a reasonable choice, but so is Isperia, Supreme Judge or Dragonlord Ojutai. Each of them will offer a brand new experience, because they offer different approaches. Brago is going to be a bit more combo-rific, and Isperia would be a great choice for lower-powered decks. The Dragonlord, meanwhile, is an option when we feel a bit more like attacking earlier on. Frankly, switching out the commander of any deck can be a good way to breathe some new life into it without a whole lot of work.

The nice thing is this makes the budget even less painful — this one comes in at just under $100, which is pretty reasonable for an entire deck which can play with various commanders in different styles.

How do you slow the game down and make it, as Daryl puts it, more like a full length movie and less like a sitcom? What would you do to make this deck work? Have you ever used detain in a Commander deck? And what else would you like to see get the Convertible Commander treatment? Please let me know in the comments. I really pay attention to them, just like all the authors here!

In the meantime, get comfortable, shuffle up, and grab a drink, because this is going to be a long, fun game.

Total cost: $97.16