Competitive Commander, to many, has been known as the format where one turn cycle can take an eternity. Every player holds up a mountain of counterspells in an attempt to stop various early game win attempts, slowing down games to a snail’s pace.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this is, generally, when players do eventually run out of interaction, and win attempts start to push through, politics have a nasty habit of closing games as a draw. Players have enough resources to stop one opponent from winning, but not the other. So, it’s in many people’s best interest to just draw the game out instead of relying on the counterspell holder to kingmake a player.
In a shocking twist, a new archetype from the Japanese cEDH community has just turned the format’s entire concept on its head. Instead of trying to play the interaction game that everyone else is playing, they are instead just playing threats that are difficult, if not impossible, to interact with. Despite the deck being blue, zero counterspells or any interaction at all are played. Highlighted recently by Distraction Makers, this cEDH deck could be a really interesting entry point into the format.
Forcing Spells Without a Care in the World
This new take on a Rograkh, Son of Rogahh and Thrasios, Triton Hero Partner Commander deck, part of the larger Semi-Blue archetype, is turning a lot of heads after having an appearance in the top 12 of the 152-player ‘God of Commander’ tournament.
This is a big mana deck that focuses on generating mana and winning the game in ways that are difficult for traditional cEDH decks to interact with. Even the engine of this deck focuses on using cards that are hard for traditional cEDH interaction to stop. Tapping and untapping lands can mostly be accomplished using both creature spells, something that isn’t easy to interact with in cEDH, and using other niche ritual-esque cards that generally don’t get counterspelled.
Gaea’s Cradle is the star of the show. Capable of generating ludicrous amounts of mana, thanks to the 40+ creatures played in this archetype, it’s easy to ramp out massive spells extremely fast. Untap the Cradle with cards like Palinchron, Cloud of Faeries, and Great Whale, and it’s easy to present win attempts that can’t be dealt with countermagic as early as turn two. This deck combines this with lots of Clone effects to copy untapping effects, continually generating mana, and, ultimately, allowing you to cast a majority of your deck.
As far as win condition threats go, anything that gets around traditional interaction is fair game. Many of the threats in this deck use abilities that trigger on cast to get around countermagic. Cascade cards like Apex Devastator and Storm win conditions like Mind’s Desire demand that your opponents counter triggers instead of abilities to stop your threats. Otherwise, some cards like Last March of the Ents are just straight-up uncounterable.
Like any cEDH deck, there are some infinite combos nestled within the details, as well. Thanks to the unique nature of this cEDH deck’s untapping shenanigans, it’s easy to weave in some infinite combos that work with cards that already further the deck’s game plan.
Semi-Blue Combos
This archetype’s combos are as unusual as the deck itself. You won’t find any Underworld Breach or Thassa’s Oracle shenanigans here. All of the infinites in this deck involve abusing all of the untap cards to their maximum potential.
Last March of the Ents and Eternal Witness can generally end games. This can create a loop where you draw a bunch of cards and dump a legion of land untappers into play. Untap your Gaea’s Cradle, and pick up your Last March of the Ents. Recast it, refill your hand, and use your Clone effects to copy Witness to bring back Last March of the Ents. Rinse and repeat.
You can do a similar thing with Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy. Kinnan can find Clone effects to copy your untappers, net more mana, and allow you to activate Kinnan multiple times.
The surplus of land untappers also works wonders with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. This card can generally function as an additional ritual at worst, but with some specific inclusions, this turns into a win condition. If you add Minamo, School at Water’s Edge, that card can untap Kiki-Jiki, allowing it to make infinite copies of any creature that untaps lands. Minamo is not found in every Semi-Blue deck, but it is a viable inclusion. Some lists just play Zealous Conscripts as a two-card option that you can find with your various other infinites.
The Uniqueness of No Interaction
At the moment, there are some serious concerns that Semi-Blue is going to warp the cEDH format. Having a deck that not only beats but also utilizes the current state of the metagame in this way is practically unheard of. Thanks to the increasing number of overpowered threats and combo lines Wizards is printing, there’s a real concern that this game plan could become a new normal.
Thankfully, we doubt this is going to be the case, not anytime soon, at least. While counterspells aren’t perfect in four-player formats due to resource distribution, they’re a vital part of the game. If each opponent ditches interaction like Semi-Blue, games will end ludicrously quickly. In fact, they could even end up decided by turn order, which is a very scary thought.
Should we get to this point, however, decks with tuned interaction would undoubtedly appear again to ensure they pop off first. This, in turn, will encourage more counterspells to stop those decks, which will bring us back to the days of yore. From here, something that plays the same role as Sub-Blue might just make another appearance, starting the cycle all over again. Even this circular meta rotation, however, is ultimately rather unlikely.
As more cEDH events take place, we’ll be able to see if Sub-Blue is the real deal or not. Until that happens, it’s unlikely this rogue deck is going to completely warp the metagame, in case it’s a flash in the pan. Ultimately, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but this deck is definitely one to watch.
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