Big Life and Big Spells in Commander with Will, Scion of Peace

Posted on October 12, 2023

Flash back to the early days of Commander, and you'll find a format where 7-, 8-, and 9-drops got their chance to shine. Higher life totals and 3 opponents allowed plenty of time to ramp into behemoths who usually only saw the light of day in Limited. Now that Wizards of the Coast designs new sets with Commander in mind, for better or worse, the format has sped up significantly. Even at casual tables, it can feel like an arms race as newer and more efficient cards roll off the printers. For those of us who still yearn to embrace our inner Timmy, we need ways to deploy such dramatic threats at a faster clip. Options abound, from 'free-spell' outlets (Defense of the Heart), stowing monsters in the graveyard for later (Living Death, Unfinished Business), or in the case of today's Commander, reducing otherwise-ridiculous mana costs.

Omniscience by Jason Chan

Just a casual stroll through infinity

Will, Scion of Peace opens the door to all kinds of 8+ mana fun, provided we can keep life totals climbing. At Magic: The Gathering's inception, gaining life was considered equal to drawing cards, illustrated by the mind-blowing difference in power between Healing Salve and Ancestral Recall. As the game progressed, White was often stuck with the 'gain life' member of various card cycles, and consequently was often the weakest therein. It's not that gaining additional life can't be powerful, but rather than it has no impact on the board. With an excellent board state and/or hand full of gas, winning at 1 life versus 100 life is of little difference. On the flip, if you've got 100 life but only a single card in hand or no protective elements on the board, the only thing that extra vitality will net you is time to (hopefully) draw into salvation. It won't win you anything on its own. Wizards would eventually realize this and course-correct in two ways: tacking on life gain as an extra bonus (White Sun's Twilight, Sphinx's Revelation), or providing more life at a lower cost (Chaplain's Blessing). There have also been a myriad of lifegain payoffs, providing everything from card advantage (Dawn of Hope) to stat-boosts (Archangel of Thune) to even combo engines (Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Walking Balista). Will, Scion of Peace is the latest in this vein, reducing cost on par with life gained. The addition of Blue is key, allowing for a much greater degree of card advantage to help impact said board while we dig for health, then gigantic spells (Time Stretch) to slash the costs off of.

Like any assortment of payoffs-to-enablers, balance is key. Too many enablers with no payoff, and all the progress will have no outlet to pour into. On the other side, having a hand full of expensive payoffs with no means to enable them leaves us with a grip full of blanks. In both cases, we're in trouble, especially because Will, Scion of Peace isn't subtle in his tactics. Opponents will easily discern our plan, and likely aim to remove Will (or us) before we begin casting haymakers at a discount. From a thematic perspective, it's the green diplomacy of a new king. He's new to the politics game, having only recently declared himself high king of Eldraine. And it wasn't a pleasant road getting there, so let's cut him some slack if his strategies aren't the most cunning. He had to lose a leg, family, and half a spark to get where he is. That's gotta bring baggage along with it.

Alas, it's nothing Will's not already used to. The Kenrith Twins can trace this sort of hardship all the way back to their conception.

The catalyst to igniting Will and Rowan Kenrith's shared spark came with the revelation of their birth. Years ago, Kenrith, the Returned King, Eldraine's King Arthur parallel, was bewitched into a grim relationship. We've yet to learn the name of his beguiler, but we know she was the sister of Agatha of the Vile Cauldron, Eriette of the Charmed Apple, and Hylda of the Icy Crown, making the Kenrith Twins their nephew and niece. That's gotta be an awkward Thanksgiving. We also know the ghastly-purpose of their mother's enchanting of the King. Will and Rowan's royal blood was intended as a literal feast, meant to give the scheming witch restored vitality. They were literally conceived to be as magical cattle, a fate as dark and twisted as any Brothers Grimm tale. Linden, the Steadfast Queen was able to revive the fallen twins, and Kenrith awoke in time to slay the witch before her ritual was complete. The Royal Scions were adopted into the family, unaware of their origin until the events of Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest, where the traumatic revelation caused their spark to ignite. Their journeys would carry them from the arenas of Kylem (Battlebond) to a magical school adventure on Strixhaven, where a battle with Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar and his Blood Avatar cost Will his leg.

Jump back to the present, and times at home are troubled. In the aftermath of the Phyrexian invasion, Eldraine is a mess. Will and Rowan are no longer planeswalkers, having lost their shared spark (Spark Rupture). Kenrith, the Returned King and Linden, the Steadfast Queen fell valiantly defending the realm (Kenrith's Royal Funeral). A mass-sleeping spell designed to slow the invasion has spread, leaving much of the population asleep. Castle Ardenvale is in ruins, with its knights either out of commission or gone renegade. Such bedlam births conflict between the twins, who seek different approaches to uniting the realm. Rowan, Scion of War looks toward aggressive action, while Will, Scion of Peace favors for diplomacy and takes up his father's crown.

Shift the lens back to cardboard, and that statecraft can come in handy, as we'll be looking to fend off opponents while 'ramping' into big spells. It won't take many to turn the game in our favor, as once you grow past a 9-mana CMC, a single card's effect can take over (Say hello, Expropriate!). Keeping Will alive and drawing into enough life gain will be the tricky part.

Live Well for Big Spells | Commander | Matthew Lotti

Commander (1)
1 Will, Scion of Peace

Sorceries (14)
1 Aminatou's Augury
1 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Chaplain's Blessing
1 Expropriate
1 Farewell
1 Finale of Revelation
1 Mnemonic Deluge
1 Ondu Inversion
1 Peach Garden Oath
1 Personal Tutor
1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
1 Storm Herd
1 Time Stretch

1. Enablers: Our life gain comes in two flavors: single shot and repeatable. The first offers the biggest bang for our buck, but only once. The latter comes in smaller increments, but is active more often. I tend to favor more incidental or repeatable sources of life over one-time bursts, but the ceiling on Chaplain's Blessing, Peach Garden Oath, Martyr of Sands, or Rest for the Weary is tempting. Will, Scion of Peace turns these cards into better Dark Rituals, allowing for absurdity on turn four. Other sources of single-shot life gain aren't as flashy, but provide flexibility (Azorius Charm), Light of Hope). Heck, even our spot-removal can be aimed at one of our own creatures for a 'mana burst' if needed (Solitude, Swords to Plowshares).

On the repeatable side, a large portion of our army packs Lifelink, with Vitality Hunter, Gilraen, Dunedain Protector, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Steel Seraph, and Angel of Destiny even spreading it out to other troops. Augury Adept, Senate Guildmage, Daxos of Meletis, Drogskol Reaver, and Archivist of Oghma provide bonus card advantage atop their life bonuses. Extra cards will be especially important to ensure we hit ample payoffs and protective cards. All the while, Rhox Faithmender will be double all life gained, and with it, our 'ramp'. Gift one of these soldiers a Sword of a War and Peace, Staggering Insight or Steel of the Godhead to reap even further rewards. Will can even join the cause himself after a visit to the Witch's Clinic.

Live the dream

If you're lucky enough to drop a Turn-1 Serra Ascendant, know that all that extra life will come in handy against the mountain of scorn the rest of the table is about to send your way.

2. Payoffs: If we're going to all this effort and cardboard to gain life without impacting the board, the reward better we worth it. So, let's make it worth it. Will, Scion of Peace allows normally late-game spells to arrive much earlier, prompting opponents to either deal with them or lose. For example, Storm Herd will need a full turn to spin around before all the 1/1 Pegasus tokens lose summoning sickness, but once you untap, the herd can end opponents in one swoop. It's 'wrath or bust. Casting Approach of the Second Sun early makes it much more difficult for opponents to kill you before you redraw it, especially considering you're already going to keep gaining life as a buffer. Other big spells are even more punishing, with Expropriate, Time Stretch, and Blatant Thievery providing extra turns (for more big spells) or theft of your opponents' best creatures. Make something like Omniscience or One with the Multiverse your first big spell, and subsequent spells won't even require the discount. Or you could simply overwhelm opponents with resources via Animatou's Augury, Finale of Revelation, or Mnemonic Deluge, the latter of which is happy to thrice-copy and other big spell waiting in the graveyard, perhaps pitched from an early Senate Guildmage activation.

3. Life Insurance - Card Advantage and Protection: Build enough Commander decks, and you begin to grow weary of the most popular format staples. They're insanely powerful, no question, but can get tiresome. Cards like Cyclonic Rift and Rhystic Study are near auto-includes in Blue, so I often seek creative replacements to keep things fresh. But seeing as Will, Scion of Peace runs the risk of having two varieties of cards with little impact on their own - life gain spells with no payoffs to ramp into, or big spells with no life gain to discount their cost - and that it's all contingent on keeping our Commander alive, this situation calls for the big guns. We'll want access to the most efficient card draw (The One Ring, Esper Sentinel, Mystic Remora, the aforementioned Rhystic Study, etc.) possible to ensure we don't hit a wall or stall out. Smothering Tithe and Land Tax are also brought for added mana, so even if Will's ramp doesn't get us there, we can cast our big spells the old fashioned way. We also bring in Personal Tutor and Enlightened Tutor to directly fetch a win condition at the key moment. Most of these cards are budget-breakers, so if you find yourself looking for replacements, I'd recommend other forms of repeatable card advantage like Loran of the Third Path, Well of Lost Dreams, Dawn of Hope, Horn of the Mark, or Ever-Watching Threshold.

In addition to card draw, our deck also devotes extra slots to keeping Will, Scion of Peace safe from removal. Opponents will know what we're up to before Will even hits the table, and you can bet they'll save removal for him. To combat this, our deck includes a variety of powerful defensive spells. Fierce Guardianship and Teferi's Protection are two of the most popular, and for good reason, as they bypass the majority of whatever opponents can throw at you. Other cards like Mithril Coat, Niambi, Esteemed Speaker, Akroma's Will, and Surge of Salvation offer instant-speed defense with a bonus effect. The equipment will stick around for continual protection, Niambi provides another source of lifegain, Akroma's Will turns game-winningly offensive with enough of an army, and Surge of Salvation can wreck combat for an opponent playing Black or Red. It's also very funny when played in response to a Blasphemous Act.

4. Back-Up Win Conditions: Remember how I mentioned Wizards looking for ways to power-up life gain since the early days of Magic? It's resulted in a surprising number of alternate win conditions directly tied to having a high life total. If Will, Scion of Peace's plan to cast us big spells doesn't pay off, there's a whole bunch of backup win conditions that can steal the game out of nowhere. For starters, simply gaining enough sheer life, which is our plan already, allows Aetherflux Reservoir, Test of Endurance, Felidar Sovereign, and Angel of Destiny to nix opponents or outright win. Even if our life total is in ruins, the Modern combo of Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista, both of which can be grabbed via Enlightened Tutor, cleans up with but a single instance of Lifelink. Our high-degree of card advantage also speeds into the second instance of Approach of the Second Sun.

Felidar Sovereign by Zoltan Boros and Gabor Szikszai

"We're all part of the great circle of life, Simba."

Next time you shuffle up at the Commander table, try not to stress. Simply sit back, gain some life, and let the big spells roll on through. Like Commander was meant to be played; with crazy casting costs and even crazier effects. Even if Will, Scion of Peace's attempts at diplomacy aren't enough to get there, you'll have plenty of alternatives. Life gain is good at keeping one alive, and with enough lands drawn, you may just find yourself hard-casting those absurd spells via real estate alone.

Probably best to give Will a breather, anyhow. Guy's got a lot on his plate. 'Sibling rivalry' doesn't even begin to cover it.

Thanks for reading, and may you always live your best life.

-Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog