There are few things more fun in MTG Commander than ‘doing the thing.’ Whether it’s pulling off some crazy combo, setting up an intricate engine, or reaching critical mass with a creature type, every deck is trying to do something. If your opponents manage to get their engine online ahead of yours, you may lose the game before you can even get things going. To stop this, it’s generally best practice to pack some removal to slow down whoever receives a head start.
That said, thanks to the command zone, permanently removing an opponent’s Commander is extremely difficult. Rules changes as Commander evolved exacerbated this, allowing a player to put their Commander back into the command zone whenever it changes zones. This means that, in order to shut down a Commander for an extended period of time, you’ll need some fairly atypical removal.
Permanent Commander Removal
So many MTG Commander decks are all-in on their Commanders that, if you can find a way around the command zone mechanic, they’ll fall far behind the rest of the table. Because of this, the best cards to use on opposing Commanders are generally enchantments that cause them to lose their ability. These may seem like a rare card type, but there’s a surprising amount of choice across colors.
Oubliette is certainly the most well-known of these cards and represents your black option for this type of removal. Unlike the other options, Oubliette will Phase Out an opponent’s Commander. This means that, unless they can deal with the enchantment, your opponent won’t have access to their Commander for the rest of the game.
Blue, white, and green all offer similar choices that essentially accomplish the same thing. White’s enchantment is probably the best of the bunch since Darksteel Mutation will make your opponent’s Commander indestructible. This prevents your opponent from using non-exile removal to deal with it, and will generally allow it to survive board wipes. Blue has all kinds of options for an effect like this, but Unable to Scream is probably the most efficient, as well as being the easiest to solve. Green has a similar option in Kenrith’s Transformation, but, in this case, the enchantment will replace itself.
Of course, the best permanent Commander answers are all Game Changers, with two options being far better than the rest. Oko, Thief of Crowns hardly needs an introduction, and demands that your opponent both remove their own Commander and the Planeswalker before resuming their game plan. Otherwise, Oko can just Elkify Commanders over and over again. Drannith Magistrate, while not directly removing a Commander, prevents your opponents from playing them from the Command Zone. Meddling Mage is also capable of delaying a Commander heavily by naming it, essentially functioning as a Drannith Magistrate for one player.
Notably, while all of these cards can deal with a problem Commander, they’re not exactly fun to play against. Shutting down Commanders can often be seen as bad manners, potentially painting you as the villain. If you’re not concerned about this, however, there are some other effective options to shut down Commanders.
Naming Commanders
If your opponents use Commanders with activated abilities, naming them with a Pithing Needle-esque effect can slow them down significantly. No matter how many times they play their Commander from the command zone, if one of these cards is on the board, they won’t get anywhere.
Some options go even further, implementing further restrictions on your opponents. Disruptor Flute, for example, will make any Commander harder to cast on top of shutting their abilities off. Phyrexian Revoker, on the other hand, has the unique effect of shutting down mana abilities of the named card, something that other Pithing Needle effects are not capable of.
While these cards will be a very effective way to turn off activated ability Commanders, Planeswalkers specifically, they can also be a bit hateful at a given table. While the transformation enchantment-based removal is a semi-common sight, coming across cards like Pithing Needle in Commander is not. This is partially because a majority of Commanders won’t get stopped by cards like this, which makes it feel even more targeted when they do stop a Commander in its tracks.
All of that said, even if you can’t stop any Commanders with your Pithing Needle effects, there are plenty of common Commander cards you can target. These cards are pretty adept at stopping infinite combos, specifically, which can make them highly appreciated safety valves. Either way, while the command zone is an extremely difficult mechanic to overcome, these are all some cards you can use to greatly delay your opponent’s progress.
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