To continue our adventures in the realm of depowering our Commander decks, we'll take a look at the Game Changers list. The Game Changers are powerful cards that have the ability to warp the games we play through overly efficient game play, resource development or card selection. Magic: The Gathering is a game of efficiency, getting to your powerhouse cards and finishers is what every format, including commander, wants to do. In the case of this article let's look at a few of these hyper efficient cards and tone them down to shift the power of our deck and even out the playing field for a more casual game.

1. Aetherize for Cyclonic Rift

Cyclonic Rift is easily one of the most salt-inducing cards on the Game Changers list. Its use has been hotly debated in Commander since its printing. The Rift can bounce a single nonland permanent but for its Overload cost it can bounce all nonland permanents under our opponents' control. There is nothing more frustrating than a person who jams an overloaded Rift and then doesn't immediately win on their turn as it typically means multiple turns of rebuilding for the rest of the table. There are so many great cards that we could replace Rift with that it could have an article all on its own, but Aetherize is the one we're going to highlight today. At instant speed, with a lower cost we can completely blank an opponent's alpha strike. This sets one player behind and if used tactically we can Aetherize the threat on the board leaving us open to clear them out of the game.

2. Temple of the False God for Ancient Tomb

Despite being zapped for 2 damage every time we tap Ancient Tomb, it still sees play in Commander. After all, life is a resource and we have plenty of it. While its power wanes in the later stages of the game it's mostly known for its explosiveness in the beginning of the game. If everyone plays fair, land go, Magic then the Ancient Tomb players are always 1 mana ahead of the rest of the table. While Temple of the False God is rarely good early game and slows down our tempo, it gives us extra mana mid game. In Commander it's very easy to say that it's better to be ahead at the mid or end game as opposed to the early game. Being an early game threat brings unwanted attention when developing your board matters most.

3. Dark Petition for Demonic Tutor

Demonic Tutor is a staple in any deck that runs Swamps. It has the potential to grab our finishers, snag a final combo piece or if we need it, fix our mana. The reason that Demonic Tutor is a Game Changer is because it gives us near perfect card selection directly to our hand. Most cheap tutors put cards directly on top of our deck and the more mana intensive ones will fill our hand. Dark Petition has the benefit of a more expensive tutor with the potential upside of giving us a Dark Ritual if we have two or more instants or sorceries in your graveyard. At its best, Dark Petition is a Demonic Tutor and at its worst, it still gives you perfect card selection.

4. Mana Geyser for Jeska's Will

Jeska's Will is a true commander powerhouse and it's almost always an auto include when building a deck with Red. Its true power comes from the fact that it can give you both its modes when your commander is in play. Mode one gives you mana equal to the greatest number of cards in an opponent's hand and mode two lets you exile the top 3 cards of your deck and you can cast them this turn. Either of these effects are innocuous on their own, combined it has the potential to jump you ahead. While we can't emulate both halves of this card, something like Mana Geyser can easily take us over the top on mana generation. Despite costing 5 mana, it does generate one Red for each tapped land our opponents control. At a multiplayer table we have the potential to generate disgusting amounts of mana.

5. Growing Rites of Itlimoc for Gaea's Cradle

Gaea's Cradle is easily the most expensive card on our list. It has a dead simple, but hyper efficient effect. It generates one Green for each creature we control. There is the potential downside of us not having any creatures in play and the Cradle not tapping for anything. Growing Rites of Itlimoc gives us a few added benefits over Gaea's Cradle. We get card selection from the enter the battlefield effect and at our end step, if we have four or more creatures, Growing Rites will transform into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun. Itlimoc will tap for Green equal to the number of creatures we control, but if we don't have any creatures it still has the ability to tap for one Green. Gaea's Cradle may be more efficient but Growing Rites gives us too many benefits to scoff at.

It's always nice to be able to trade tempo or mana efficiency for better effects. In the case of Aetherize, we're saving mana and only setting back one player instead of setting back three. Then there is Growing Rites that gives us card selection and efficiency for a tempo loss. Swapping Game Changers can effectively lower the power of our decks, but it also has the potential to swap play patterns for the better. Hopefully this list will give you a few ideas about swapping powerful staples for something a little more versatile.