High Tide, High Salt: Six Powerful Mono Blue Commanders (Part 1)
When control meets the command zone: A deep dive into mono blue's most oppressive generals
The Blue Supremacy in Magic The Gathering
In Magic The Gathering, no color commands respect—and resentment—quite like blue. From the earliest days when Ancestral Recall could end games on turn one and Counterspell represented the ultimate answer, blue has embodied the purest expression of control. This philosophy becomes even more pronounced in Commander EDH, where the multiplayer environment amplifies blue's natural advantages exponentially.
Salt in Magic The Gathering EDH refers to the emotional impact of strategies that frustrate, delay, or outright prevent other players from participating meaningfully in games. When this salt originates from your commander—appearing consistently game after game—it creates lasting impressions and often leads to focused hate from experienced opponents who understand the threat these mono blue generals represent.
The longer games of Commander EDH make card selection more valuable, counterspells gain additional utility when you can choose your battles strategically, and control effects compound as the political landscape grows increasingly complex. When blue's comprehensive toolkit moves from the 99 to the command zone, these advantages transform from merely powerful to genuinely oppressive.
Understanding Salt Generation in Commander EDH
Before examining our comprehensive roster of mono blue commanders, understanding what creates "salt" in Magic The Gathering Commander proves essential for both pilots and opponents.
Interaction Denial Strategies
Strategies that prevent opponents from executing their game plans through systematic counterspells, removal, or resource denial create profound feelings of helplessness and frustration. Players invest time, mana, and cards into developing strategies only to watch them systematically dismantled by opponents who saw them coming multiple turns in advance.
Resource Lock Mechanisms
Effects that prevent opponents from accessing mana, cards, or other fundamental resources create asymmetrical games where only one player gets to participate meaningfully. These mechanisms transform multiplayer experiences into demonstrations of single-player dominance while others watch helplessly.
Inevitability Pressure Systems
Strategies that create overwhelming late-game advantages can make early and mid-game phases feel pointless, as opponents realize their efforts are ultimately futile against mounting control and advantage generation that compounds turn after turn.
Complexity Burden Creation
Commanders whose optimal play requires extensive stack management, priority manipulation, or advanced rules knowledge can slow games significantly while creating negative experiences for less experienced players who struggle to interact meaningfully with complex board states.
1. Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer represents perhaps the purest expression of blue's controlling nature in Magic The Gathering Commander. His unique ability to tap artifacts for mana while simultaneously having the option to tap down those same artifacts creates fundamental asymmetry that defines entire games from the moment he enters the battlefield.
The psychological impact of facing Urza extends far beyond simple power level concerns. Experienced players understand that once Urza reaches critical mass with his artifact support structure, opposing game plans become increasingly irrelevant as resources become locked away while Urza's controller operates with unprecedented freedom and efficiency.
Strategic Architecture for Urza EDH Decks
Urza decks in Magic The Gathering Commander operate on multiple strategic levels simultaneously, weaving together artifact acceleration, comprehensive control elements, and explosive combo potential into unified engines of systematic oppression.
Early Game Foundation Building
The opening turns focus entirely on deploying cheap artifacts that provide immediate value while building toward the critical mass necessary for Urza's optimal deployment. Essential pieces include Sol Ring for explosive mana acceleration, Mana Vault for additional fast mana despite the untap cost, Basalt Monolith for both acceleration and combo potential, and utility artifacts like Wayfarer's Bauble that appear innocuous while contributing to artifact count.
Seat of the Synod, Ancient Tomb, and other specialized lands ensure consistent turn 3-4 Urza deployment windows, creating the foundation for control establishment before opponents can mount effective resistance or develop their own threatening board states.
Mid-Game Control Implementation
Once Urza successfully hits the battlefield, the deck transitions into its control phase with devastating efficiency that often catches opponents unprepared. Winter Orb and Static Orb become completely one-sided effects, leaving opponents locked out of their mana resources while Urza's controller continues operating at full capacity through artifact-based mana generation.
Trinisphere becomes asymmetrical when you're generating additional mana from artifacts, creating tax effects that cripple opponents while barely affecting the Urza player's development. Sphere of Resistance effects compound these advantages significantly, establishing resource disparities that become nearly impossible to overcome through conventional means.
End-Game Combo Assembly
The final strategic phase involves assembling one of several game-ending combinations that leverage Urza's unique abilities. Isochron Scepter combined with Dramatic Reversal creates infinite mana loops when sufficient artifacts are in play, typically requiring only 3-4 mana-producing artifacts to generate unlimited resources.
Walking Ballista provides an immediate outlet for infinite mana, dealing lethal damage to all opponents simultaneously. Finale of Devastation offers alternative victory paths through creature tutoring and massive power boosts. Blue Sun's Zenith can draw entire libraries when backed by infinite mana, ensuring access to any needed effects.
Advanced Urza Techniques in Magic The Gathering Commander
Mana Efficiency Mastery
Successful Urza pilots develop intuitive understanding of mana efficiency curves, recognizing exactly when they control sufficient artifacts to support various strategic lines. This includes understanding critical breakpoints for different stax pieces and recognizing optimal moments to transition from setup phases to active control implementation.
Stack Manipulation Expertise
Urza's activated ability utilizes the stack, creating opportunities for complex interactions with triggered abilities and other instant-speed effects. Advanced players learn to sequence these activations for maximum value while maintaining defensive capabilities against opposing interaction attempts.
Political Invisibility Management
The most successful Urza players master the art of appearing non-threatening until reaching critical mass, then establishing overwhelming control before opponents can mount coordinated responses. This involves careful artifact selection during early turns, avoiding obvious stax pieces until board position can support them effectively.
Urza Threat Assessment and Response Patterns
Primary Vulnerability Windows
Urza's greatest weakness lies in the critical window between initial deployment and full optimization. Experienced opponents understand this timing and focus resources on preventing Urza from reaching the artifact density necessary for oppressive control establishment.
Artifact Hate Preparation
Cards like Vandalblast, Bane of Progress, and Collector Ouphe represent existential threats to Urza strategies, potentially undoing multiple turns of careful development in single spells. Successful pilots prepare for these threats through protection spells, recursion effects, and alternative win conditions that don't rely entirely on artifact permanents remaining in play.
Early Pressure Responses
Aggressive strategies that can establish lethal damage threats before Urza develops sufficient control represent significant challenges. The deck must balance early setup requirements with defensive capabilities, often requiring careful mulligan decisions and sophisticated threat assessment skills.
Budget Considerations for Urza Commander Decks
Budget Tier ($50-150)
Focus on affordable artifacts like Sky Diamond, Everflowing Chalice, Thought Vessel, and Wayfarer's Bauble for foundation building. Include budget stax pieces such as Dampening Sphere and Grafdigger's Cage that provide meaningful effects without premium costs. Win conditions center around Blue Sun's Zenith and artifact-based combat damage rather than infinite combo lines.
Competitive Tier ($150-500)
Add premium pieces like Unwinding Clock for additional synergy, Padeem, Consul of Innovation for protection, Mystic Forge for card advantage, and Sensei's Divining Top for consistency. Include Cyclonic Rift for board control, Force of Negation for protection, and essential tutors for consistency improvement.
Optimal Tier ($500+)
Complete mana base featuring Mana Crypt, Mox Opal, and premium lands for maximum speed. Full protection suite including Force of Will, Pact of Negation, and Mystical Tutor for consistency. Optimal stax pieces like Winter Orb, Static Orb, and comprehensive combo packages for multiple win conditions.
2. Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Teferi, Temporal Archmage represents one of the most mathematically elegant combo engines available in Magic The Gathering Commander. His ability to untap four permanents while simultaneously gaining loyalty counters creates positive feedback loops that, when properly supported with the right infrastructure, become genuinely infinite and virtually unbreakable once established.
The salt generated by Teferi comes not from flashy plays or dramatic board states, but from the slow, methodical, and utterly inexorable realization that the game has effectively ended even while technical play continues. Once Teferi achieves his optimal combo state, every subsequent turn becomes a calculated demonstration of inevitability rather than genuine interactive gameplay.
The Chain Veil Engine in Magic The Gathering
The interaction between Teferi and The Chain Veil creates one of the most reliable and consistent infinite engines in Commander EDH format. Understanding this interaction requires recognizing how planeswalker loyalty, untap effects, and mana generation create sustainable loops.
Basic Loop Mechanics
Deploy Teferi, Temporal Archmage with his starting 5 loyalty counters, then deploy The Chain Veil artifact for 4 mana investment. Activate Chain Veil for 4 mana, enabling additional planeswalker activations this turn. Activate Teferi's -1 loyalty ability to untap 4 target permanents, reducing him to 4 loyalty, then untap sufficient mana sources to generate 8+ mana total.
Activate Teferi's -1 ability again through Chain Veil to untap 4 permanents, reducing him to 3 loyalty. Use additional planeswalkers like Tezzeret the Seeker to add loyalty counters, then repeat the sequence indefinitely with proper mana management.
Advanced Loop Optimization
This sequence, once properly established with adequate mana infrastructure, generates infinite mana, infinite planeswalker activations, and access to any combination of effects contained within the deck construction. The mathematical elegance of this loop contributes significantly to its psychological impact—it feels inevitable rather than fortunate.
Teferi EDH Deck Construction Principles
Mana Infrastructure Requirements
The deck requires substantial mana acceleration to support both Teferi's initial deployment and subsequent combo activation windows. Gilded Lotus provides both the mana quantity and untap value necessary for combo turns. Thran Dynamo, Mana Vault, and Basalt Monolith offer the heavy mana acceleration required for explosive combo deployment.
High Tide effects enable explosive turns even without permanent acceleration pieces, creating alternative pathways to combo assembly that don't require extensive artifact investment.
Comprehensive Tutor Package
Consistency demands extensive search effects to reliably assemble combo pieces across multiple games. Mystical Tutor finds instant and sorcery components, Merchant Scroll searches for blue instants, Fabricate locates artifact pieces, and Reshape provides artifact tutoring with additional utility.
Intuition offers unique selection capabilities that provide value regardless of opponents' choices, often presenting multiple combo pieces or protection spells that advance the strategy regardless of what enters the graveyard.
Protection Suite Integration
The combo's inherent vulnerability to disruption requires comprehensive protection at multiple levels. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, and Fierce Guardianship protect critical combo turns from counterspells and other instant-speed interaction.
Advanced Teferi Techniques
Stack Sequencing Mastery
Teferi combo lines require precise stack management to avoid timing complications and maximize efficiency during critical turns. Understanding planeswalker timing restrictions, Chain Veil memory effects, and priority windows becomes essential for optimal play and avoiding strategic errors that could cost games.
Resource Management Excellence
Successful Teferi pilots learn to manage multiple resource types simultaneously—mana availability, card selection, loyalty counters, and permanent deployment—while maintaining constant awareness of opponents' interaction capabilities and potential disruption windows.
Win Condition Diversity
The infinite engine created by Teferi can support multiple different win conditions depending on deck construction and available resources. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon creates repeatable board wipe loops, Blue Sun's Zenith kills through massive card draw, and Walking Ballista provides immediate damage output for table elimination.
Budget Optimization for Teferi Commander
Budget Foundation ($50-150)
Focus on affordable mana acceleration like Mind Stone, Everflowing Chalice, and Commander's Sphere for basic infrastructure. Include budget planeswalkers and fundamental tutor effects. Win conditions center around Blue Sun's Zenith and planeswalker ultimate abilities rather than complex infinite loops.
Competitive Core ($150-400)
Add premium pieces like Gilded Lotus, Mana Vault, and essential tutors for consistency improvement. Include The Chain Veil, Tezzeret the Seeker, and basic protection suite for combo reliability. Multiple win conditions become available with increased consistency.
Optimal Build ($400+)
Complete mana base with premium acceleration options and comprehensive land base. Full protection suite including Force of Will and Mana Drain for maximum security. Multiple redundant combo lines and comprehensive win condition packages for ultimate flexibility.
3. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant represents the ultimate expression of game state domination in Magic The Gathering Commander. Unlike other commanders who achieve victory through intricate combo lines or incremental advantage accumulation, Jin simply prevents the game from proceeding normally for anyone except his controller, creating immediate and dramatic shifts in game dynamics.
The psychological impact proves immediate and devastating—opponents watch their carefully planned turns transform into exercises in futility as their spells get copied for the Jin player's benefit while their own strategic development gets systematically denied through triggered ability interactions.
Jin-Gitaxias Strategic Timing Windows
Jin's seven-mana casting cost creates natural timing challenges that define successful deployment strategies throughout games. The key insight recognizes that Jin isn't merely expensive—he represents a fundamental commitment that transforms him into the game's primary focal point, demanding immediate answers or effectively ending competitive play for all opponents.
Early Game Preparation Phase (Turns 1-4)
Focus entirely on ramp acceleration, card selection optimization, and comprehensive threat assessment. Sol Ring provides explosive mana acceleration, Mana Vault offers additional fast mana despite untap costs, High Tide creates explosive mana turns, and Extraplanar Lens doubles mana production from basic Islands.
Mystical Tutor, Brainstorm, and Ponder effects help locate missing pieces while providing crucial information about optimal timing windows for Jin's deployment and protection requirements.
Mid-Game Setup Phase (Turns 5-6)
Deploy protection pieces and carefully evaluate board states for optimal Jin timing windows. Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, and Alchemist's Refuge enable end-step deployment strategies that maximize surprise value while minimizing opponent response windows.
Counterspell effects and Force of Will protection become essential for ensuring Jin's successful deployment during critical timing windows when opponents are most likely to have answers available.
End-Game Domination Phase (Turn 7+)
Jin's deployment typically signals the beginning of systematic game ending sequences. His triggered abilities create immediate value through spell copying while his static ability provides ongoing oppression that compounds with each opponent's turn, creating insurmountable resource advantages.
The Copy Engine Maximization Strategy
Jin's copy ability transforms every meaningful spell into doubled effects, creating explosive turns that frequently end games immediately upon resolution.
Extra Turn Multiplication
Time Stretch becomes 4 extra turns total, effectively ending games through time resource domination. Expropriate becomes 2 copies, often resulting in multiple extra turns combined with stolen permanents that create overwhelming board state advantages.
Nexus of Fate creates potentially infinite turn loops when copied and shuffled back into library, establishing game locks that prevent opponents from ever taking meaningful turns again.
Win Condition Doubling
Blue Sun's Zenith for X becomes drawing 2X cards, often representing entire hand refills combined with deck manipulation. Torment of Hailfire becomes complete devastation for all opponents simultaneously. Insurrection copied can steal entire board states twice, creating overwhelming combat advantages.
Value Engine Amplification
Recurring Insight becomes massive card draw that refills hands while providing additional resources for continued domination. Bribery becomes two stolen creatures from opponents' libraries. Consecrated Sphinx triggers become completely overwhelming advantage generation that compounds rapidly.
Jin-Gitaxias Counter-Strategies
Mana Disruption Approaches
Mana Web, Back to Basics, and Blood Moon effects can prevent Jin's deployment entirely or significantly disrupt the supporting infrastructure required for optimal timing. Strip Mine and Wasteland target essential utility lands that provide the mana base necessary for seven-mana threats.
Early Pressure Tactics
Aggressive strategies that establish lethal damage clocks before turn 7 represent Jin's most significant vulnerability windows. Clock pressure forces suboptimal deployment timing and prevents the careful setup required for protected Jin deployment.
Instant-Speed Removal
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, and Rapid Hybridization at instant speed can eliminate Jin before he generates significant value. Counterspell effects prevent deployment entirely when timed correctly.
Budget Considerations for Jin-Gitaxias Commander
Foundation Level ($75-200)
Focus on affordable ramp packages like Worn Powerstone, Thran Dynamo, and Gilded Lotus for mana acceleration. Include budget protection like Dispel and Negate for basic combo protection. Win conditions center around value spells and incremental advantage rather than expensive game-ending effects.
Competitive Level ($200-500)
Add premium mana acceleration including Mana Vault and Grim Monolith for faster deployment. Include Leyline of Anticipation for timing flexibility and quality protection spells for combo security. Win condition packages expand to include extra turn spells and expensive threats.
Optimal Level ($500+)
Complete mana base featuring Mana Crypt and premium lands for maximum consistency. Full protection suite including Force of Will and Pact of Negation for comprehensive security. Complete win condition package including Time Stretch, Expropriate, and Nexus of Fate.
4. Emry, Lurker of the Loch
Emry, Lurker of the Loch might represent the most deceptive commander in this entire comprehensive list. At first glance, she appears completely innocuous—a small creature with a straightforward recursion ability that costs effectively nothing to deploy. This initial perception proves catastrophically incorrect for opponents who fail to recognize her true potential.
Emry represents one of the most explosive combo engines available in Magic The Gathering Commander, capable of generating infinite mana, infinite storm count, or infinite mill effects from seemingly innocent board states that appear completely harmless until they suddenly explode into game-ending combinations.
Understanding Emry's Recursive Power
Emry's ability to cast artifacts from the graveyard for their actual mana costs, rather than requiring additional premium payments, creates unique advantages in artifact-based strategies that become exponentially more powerful with proper support and understanding.
Unlike traditional recursion effects that require additional mana investments beyond normal casting costs, Emry's ability effectively treats the graveyard as a direct extension of the hand for artifact spells, creating resource access that opponents often fail to properly account for in their threat assessment calculations.
Core Emry Combo Lines in Magic The Gathering Commander
The Lotus Petal Engine
Lotus Petal combined with Mirran Spy or similar untap effects creates infinite mana loops through repeated casting and sacrifice sequences. Cast Lotus Petal from graveyard using Emry's ability, sacrifice it for mana, use untap effect to untap Emry, repeat the sequence indefinitely with proper mana management.
With sufficient setup pieces, this generates infinite colored mana that can be converted into any number of game-ending effects depending on available outlets and deck construction choices.
The Scrap Trawler Chain
Scrap Trawler combined with zero-cost artifacts creates sustainable value loops that can be converted to infinite resources through careful sequencing. Each artifact cast from graveyard triggers Trawler to return another artifact to hand, creating chains that build toward wins through Aetherflux Reservoir or storm-based effects.
The KCI Loop
Krark-Clan Ironworks converts artifacts directly to mana while enabling graveyard-based loops through sacrifice effects. Combined with Scrap Trawler and cost-reduction effects, this creates infinite mana and artifact casting sequences that translate to immediate victory through multiple available outlets.
Storm Kill Combinations
Repeatedly casting cheap artifacts builds storm count rapidly for Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens, or Tendrils of Agony finishes. Even without achieving true infinite loops, Emry can generate substantial storm counts through graveyard recursion that prove lethal in multiplayer games.
Advanced Emry Techniques
Graveyard Setup Optimization
Successful Emry pilots master the art of filling graveyards with relevant artifacts while maintaining hand resources for continued play. Faithless Looting, Cathartic Reunion, and Goblin Lore effects provide selection while enabling recursion, creating selection engines that improve hand quality while feeding Emry's ability.
Political Invisibility Management
Emry's innocuous appearance allows skilled pilots to develop threatening board states without attracting appropriate attention from opponents who underestimate her combo potential. Managing threat perception while assembling combo pieces requires careful play and strategic communication.
Emry Threat Recognition and Response
Graveyard Hate Strategies
Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, and Tormod's Crypt completely shut down Emry's recursion engine, making these effects among the most important answers for opponents to consider. Grafdigger's Cage prevents casting from graveyard while still allowing normal graveyard interaction.
Artifact Disruption
Vandalblast, Bane of Progress, and Null Rod effects can disrupt Emry's artifact infrastructure comprehensively. Collector Ouphe provides ongoing artifact suppression that prevents combo assembly.
Budget Optimization for Emry Commander
Budget Foundation ($50-150)
Focus on affordable artifacts like Chromatic Star, Welding Jar, and Scrabbling Claws for basic functionality. Include budget combo pieces like Retraction Helix and Banishing Knack for interaction. Win conditions center around incremental advantage rather than infinite combinations.
Competitive Core ($150-400)
Add essential pieces like Scrap Trawler, Sai, Master Thopterist, and Krark-Clan Ironworks for combo reliability. Include quality tutors and protection spells for consistency. Multiple combo lines become available with increased reliability.
Optimal Build ($400+)
Complete artifact package featuring Mox Opal, Lion's Eye Diamond, and premium acceleration for maximum speed. Full combo suite with multiple redundant lines and comprehensive protection packages for tournament-level consistency.
5. Baral, Chief of Compliance
Baral, Chief of Compliance represents the purest distillation of blue's controlling philosophy in Magic The Gathering Commander. His ability to reduce counterspell costs while providing card selection through looting effects creates permission-based control engines that can systematically deny opponents access to their own carefully planned game strategies.
The psychological impact proves profound and immediate—every spell cast becomes a negotiation rather than a certainty, fundamentally altering game flow in ways that many players find deeply frustrating and emotionally taxing over extended play sessions.
The Economics of Permission Magic
Baral's cost reduction ability fundamentally alters the economics of counter-magic in ways that create sustainable control strategies.
Mana Efficiency Transformation
Counterspell effectively becomes Mental Misstep in terms of mana cost requirements, creating efficiency that allows counter-heavy strategies to operate at significantly reduced resource costs. Force of Negation and Fierce Guardianship become even more efficient, creating situations where interaction becomes essentially free.
Negate costs zero mana with Baral in play, creating situations where his controller can counter opposing spells while simultaneously developing their own board state, creating significant tempo advantages that compound over multiple turns.
Card Advantage Engine Development
The looting ability attached to successful counterspells transforms typically card-neutral interactions into card-positive exchanges that provide long-term advantage. Even failed counter attempts provide valuable hand sculpting through card selection, making every counter attempt valuable regardless of ultimate success.
Tempo Advantage Creation
Reduced counter costs allow Baral controllers to maintain mana availability for interaction while deploying threats or developing board positions simultaneously. This creates significant tempo advantages that compound over multiple turns, eventually leading to overwhelming resource disparities.
Baral Win Conditions in Magic The Gathering EDH
Storm Route Development
High Tide combined with Turnabout effects creates explosive mana turns that can fuel storm victories through Aetherflux Reservoir, Grapeshot, or Brain Freeze effects. Baral's cost reduction makes these lines more achievable with reduced mana investment requirements.
Draw-Go Control Strategy
Traditional control strategies utilizing card advantage engines like Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, and Consecrated Sphinx generate overwhelming advantage while controlling games through systematic counter-magic deployment.
Thousand-Year Storm Integration
The enchantment creates copies of instants and sorceries based on previous spell count, turning Baral's cheap counterspells into actual win conditions when combined with appropriate setup and sufficient spell velocity.
Advanced Baral Strategies
Counter Selection Mastery
Successful Baral pilots develop sophisticated understanding of counter-magic selection based on meta considerations and board state evaluation. Swan Song handles non-creature spells with minimal downside, Dispel provides instant-speed interaction and combo disruption, Negate covers non-creature spells at zero mana cost, and Counterspell offers universal coverage and reliability.
Mana Management Excellence
Balancing counter mana with development mana requires careful planning and sophisticated threat assessment capabilities. Understanding when to counter versus when to develop becomes critical for optimal play patterns and long-term success.
Political Positioning
In multiplayer environments, choosing which spells to counter becomes complex political and strategic decisions. Baral pilots must balance immediate threats with long-term positioning while managing threat perception from multiple opponents.
Budget Optimization for Baral Commander
Budget Foundation ($50-150)
Focus on affordable counter-magic like Counterspell, Negate, and Swan Song for basic interaction. Include budget card draw like Brainstorm and Ponder for hand sculpting. Win conditions center around incremental advantage and eventual board presence rather than explosive combinations.
Competitive Core ($150-400)
Add premium counterspells like Force of Negation and Fierce Guardianship for comprehensive protection. Include quality card advantage engines like Mystic Remora for sustained advantage. Win condition packages expand to include storm elements and hybrid strategies.
Optimal Build ($400+)
Complete counter suite including Force of Will and Mana Drain for maximum control. Premium card advantage engines including Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Snapcaster Mage for sustained advantage. Multiple redundant win conditions with comprehensive protection packages.
6. Orvar, the All-Form
Orvar, the All-Form transforms targeting spells into exponential board development through his unique triggered ability. His capability to create token copies appears innocuous at first glance but enables overwhelming board states and infinite combinations that can emerge suddenly from seemingly harmless game states.
The salt generated by Orvar comes from dramatic shifts between apparent fairness and overwhelming dominance. Opponents often allow Orvar to develop supporting infrastructure, viewing targeted spells as harmless value generation, only to watch single explosive turns transform balanced games into demonstrations of exponential mathematics.
Understanding Orvar's Mechanics in Magic The Gathering EDH
Orvar's triggered ability creates token copies whenever permanents you control become targets of spells, creating exponential value through careful spell selection and timing.
Self-Targeting Spell Strategies
Whim of Volrath, Retraction Helix, and Banishing Knack can target your own permanents repeatedly, creating multiple Orvar triggers per turn cycle. These effects transform single permanents into multiple copies, creating value multiplication that scales dramatically with board state quality.
Bounce Loop Development
Peregrine Drake creates mana when entering the battlefield, and copying it through Orvar creates additional mana sources. When combined with bounce spells that target Drake, this creates infinite mana loops convertible to game-ending effects through various available outlets.
Creature Duplication Value
High-value creatures like Snapcaster Mage, Archaeomancer, and Eternal Witness become exponentially more powerful when copied, creating recursive loops that can overwhelm opponents through sustained value accumulation that compounds rapidly.
Core Orvar Combo Lines
The Peregrine Drake Loop
Control Orvar and Peregrine Drake with 5 lands untapped, then cast Ghostly Flicker targeting Drake and another permanent. Orvar triggers twice, creating two Drake tokens through copy effects. Original Drake and tokens each untap 2 lands for 6 total lands, resulting in +1 mana and +2 Drake tokens per iteration. Repeat with copied Ghostly Flicker for infinite mana and creatures.
This loop provides infinite mana that can be converted into any number of win conditions depending on available outlets and deck construction choices.
The Archaeomancer Engine
Control Orvar and Archaeomancer with Ghostly Flicker in graveyard, then cast cheap targeting spell, copying Archaeomancer with Orvar's ability. New Archaeomancer returns Ghostly Flicker to hand from graveyard. Cast Ghostly Flicker targeting Archaeomancer and another permanent, creating additional Archaeomancers and returning more spells for infinite loops.
The Whispers Loop
Whispers of the Muse with buyback creates repeatable targeting spells that generate infinite Orvar triggers with sufficient mana. Combined with mana-producing permanents, this creates sustainable infinite loops.
Advanced Orvar Strategies
Board State Multiplication
Successful Orvar pilots learn to identify high-value permanents for copying and create board states where every copied permanent contributes to exponential growth rather than merely linear advantage accumulation.
Protection Integration
Orvar's combo lines prove vulnerable to interaction, requiring comprehensive protection strategies including Dispel, Swan Song, and Force of Negation to protect critical combo turns while maintaining explosive potential.
Timing Optimization
Understanding when to deploy Orvar versus when to wait for optimal board states becomes critical for success. Premature deployment can lead to removal before establishing threatening positions.
Budget Optimization for Orvar Commander
Budget Foundation ($50-150)
Focus on affordable targeting spells like Slip Through Space, Distortion Strike, and Retraction Helix for basic functionality. Include budget creatures with ETB effects and fundamental protection. Win conditions center around value accumulation rather than infinite combinations.
Competitive Core ($150-400)
Add essential pieces like Peregrine Drake, Ghostly Flicker, and other combo enablers for reliability. Include quality tutors and protection spells for consistency improvement. Multiple combo lines become available with increased reliability.
Optimal Build ($400+)
Complete combo package with all essential pieces and comprehensive redundancy. Premium protection suite including Force of Will and Pact of Negation for maximum security. Multiple overlapping win conditions with comprehensive consistency packages.
