While Commander is undoubtedly a great way to play Magic, it can also be a bit repetitive at times. No matter what deck you run, you’ll usually close things out in a similar way: through combat or a combo. If you’re feeling the ennui setting in during your regular games, a great way to combat that is to mix things up with an alternative win condition. Mortal Combat, a forgotten MTG enchantment from way back in Torment, is an ideal candidate for this. While they’re a real challenge to pull off, wins with this card can be incredibly rewarding.
Mortal Combat MTG
With Mortal Combat in play, at the start of your upkeep, if you have 20 or more creatures in your graveyard, you win the game. Right off the bat, this brings a significant deckbuilding condition into play. If you want to end up with 20 creatures in your ‘yard regularly, you’ll need to run considerably more than that, likely somewhere around 30-50.
Mortal Combat can work quite effectively as an incidental addition to any black deck that meets this condition. It’s particularly good, however, in archetypes that put a lot of creatures into the graveyard in the normal course of play. Reanimator decks make great homes for it, for instance, since these lists want to be dumping creatures anyway. It’s also nice in grindy strategies like Control and Aristocrats that can stall out the game, reaching 20 creatures through sheer attrition.
If you want to make Mortal Combat more of a focus in your strategy, you can bring in some self-mill tools to speed things up. With cards like Hermit Druid and Traumatize, you can reach the 20 creature requirement in just a turn or two, allowing for some surprisingly quick wins. More gradual options, like Mesmeric Orb and Stinkweed Imp, can also be quite effective here.
If you opt for the slower path, however, you’ll need to be on guard against potential graveyard hate from opponents, since that can screw up your entire plan. Cards like Ground Seal can keep you safe from targeted hate, while Endurance is better against broader pieces like Tormod’s Crypt. You’ll also want to include some recursion pieces, like Eternal Witness, in case you accidentally mill Mortal Combat itself.
The Element Of Surprise
While Mortal Combat makes a great build-around in MTG Commander, the big problem with it is consistency. Since it can’t be your Commander, you’ll need to include some ways to tutor it up to fire it off reliably. Thankfully, black is blessed with some of the best tutors in all of Magic, like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. Even if you’re playing at a lower bracket, you can still grab it with cards like Grim Tutor or Diabolic Intent. Intent is particularly good here, since it also puts a creature into the graveyard to add to the count.
Once you’ve got it in hand, the other problem with Mortal Combat is its clunkiness. Its ability only triggers on your upkeep, so if you cast it normally, the rest of the table has a whole turn cycle to target you before you win. To get around this, you can run cards that let you cast Mortal Combat with Flash, like Vedalken Orrery and High Fae Trickster. If you’re feeling really fancy, you can even sacrifice an Academy Rector just before your turn to tutor it up and put it into play unexpectedly.
In terms of Commanders you can run at the helm of a Mortal Combat deck, Muldrotha, the Gravetide and Karador, Ghost Chieftain are ideal picks. These decks both make great use of stocked graveyards anyway, so the card slots right in. If you want to try something a bit more out there, Iname, Death Aspect makes a fascinating Mortal Combat Commander. With a full Spirit Typal focus, this is a one-card way to get 20 creatures in the ‘yard, and out of the command zone, no less.
Up For The Challenge?
While it’s a potential game-winner, Mortal Combat actually isn’t a very popular card in the MTG Commander format. According to EDHREC data, in fact, only around 6,300 Commander decks in total run the enchantment. This is likely down to the difficulty involved in pulling off a win with the card, since it needs so much investment.
Interestingly, despite this low play rate, Mortal Combat still holds a reasonable price tag. Near-mint copies of the Tempest original will run you around $4, and the Tenth Edition reprint is actually even pricier at around $5. This isn’t a huge value by any means, but it does put it out of range for decks on a tight budget.
Even if it’s not a budget card, Mortal Combat is still well worth trying out. It may be a little tricky to work with, but it also adds an element of surprise to your deck. Few opponents will be expecting you to drop an instant-win enchantment from 2002, after all. If you’re up for the challenge of building around it, Mortal Combat can reward you handsomely with swift, unexpected wins.
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