In General: Dinner for Two

A few months back I made a post talking about the things you can do with your turn one. The good, the bad, the best cards, and some other things that aren't that great. As always, I am overflowing with ideas on things to write about and am in the middle of several concurrent series, but it has been a while since I actually talked about cards. Today, I will be doing just that. It is time to talk about turn two and the best things that you can do with yours.

I will start with the stipulation that most of what I am going to say is for a more average/fair game. If you do something broken like open up Sol Ring into Braids Cabal Minion or Jace TMS that is awesome and you are highly favored to win, but I am going to try and restrict this discussion to two drops that you want on turn two...but by all means, use that Mana Vault to power out a T2 Bribery, I won't stop you. This means that things like Diabolic Tutor, Regrowth, or Balance, while extremely powerful two CMC cards, won't be mentioned in this post.

Speaking of ramp, I favor the kind of accelerators that actually put lands into play. They are a much safer investment in a format where the passage of time is tracked in board sweeps. Creatures and even mana rocks can be vulnerable and savvy players will have ways to interact with these cards early. It is important to get ahead on resources and out of the available options, Rampant Growth and his band of merry mana rampers are the top of the line. I am currently very impressed with how Restore, the new Commander 2013 card has impacted the format.

Ramp is certainly the most common turn two play that I see in Commander, but after that is has to be Greaves or Stoneforge for Greaves. These cards are just so powerful and so unique that they have become ubiquitous. There are substitutes for both, but they pale in comparison to these gems. The biggest difference is cost. Swiftfoot Boots has its advantages, but the price increase is just a little too much for inclusion in serious decks.

If I don't have a ramp spell of my own, of my own I want to be holding up countermagic. Early plays are very significant, even in this format where 8 and 9 cost cards are commonplace. The simple fact is that the best cards aren't the 'swingiest' or flashiest, but instead they are the cards that are most undercosted. Because of this the cards you see cast early on in Commander are often some of the scariest and the most important to answer. Counterspell is just a powerful flexible answer that allows you to get up on tempo and doesn't require you to leave up a ton of mana every turn. I am not always happy about the fact that I need to use good answers so early in the game, but I feel much better with a Counterspell in hand to start the game.



It has been noted here on TGZ that I am a huge fan of disruption. I like to see my opponents Hellbent and mana screwed. It just flat out wins games. Often the key to victory isn't achieving some grand end game, but just putting a stop to your opponents scheming. The right wrench in the wrong gear goes a long way toward victory. Hymn has been around forever and it is here to stay. It is pretty much the best at what it does. Targeted discard is great, but pinpoint cards like Duress, while very strong in their own right, rarely provide card advantage. Getting up a card for just two mana with no drawback is pretty absurd and the random discard effect can end games on its own. Opponent kept a land heavy hand? If Hymn hits their only action they are in for a few turns of frown-go Magic.

The last thing that I see, and by far the least common play on two, is a threat. It seems strange to many players. Two-drops are the defining threats in many archetypes and the strength of a format's two mana creatures often dictates who has the upper hand in the battle between aggro and control. Fact is, with a 99 card deck, it is tough to achieve a critical mass of quality two's. If you want to draw them on time, you need a bunch of them, but they are often outclassed later in the game. The threat cards that make the cut in EDH are truly fearsome indeed though. There are dozens if not hundreds; far too many to mention them all, but here are a few of my favorites. Till next week my faithful Zoners!

-GG