In Commander, mana denial can be one of the most devastating forms of interaction out there. If you can put yourself in an advantageous position, messing with your opponent’s ability to cast spells will sometimes be the nail in the coffin. Rising Waters is certainly a great example of a Stax piece that can completely take over a game, and is thus worthy of more respect.
MTG Rising Waters
The initial line of text on Rising Waters is not for the faint of heart. If your opponents ever tap out for any reason, slamming this enchantment can take them right out of the game. The obvious downside, though, is that Rising Waters is a symmetrical effect, so you’ll need to break parity.
The easiest way to do this is by pairing Rising Waters with a card that reliably untaps your lands. Commanders like Jorn, God of Winter, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, and Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood, all help you work around Rising Waters’ brutal static ability. This enchantment has similar value in Urza, Lord High Artificer and Vivi Ornitier decks that are designed to produce lots of mana without requiring you to tap your lands.
Outside of Commander-centric synergies, simply playing out a bunch of mana dorks will also ensure that you can continue to jam spells through Rising Waters. With the help of a land that taps for multiple mana individually like Gaea’s Cradle, cementing your advantage is trivial. Alternatively, sticking As Foretold or another card that enables free spells helps sidestep the downsides of Rising Waters.
Another way to use Rising Waters is to just get ahead on board before slamming it. Without resources to cast a board wipe or fend off your board, you can end the game before your opponents stabilize.
Abusing the Upkeep Trigger
While Rising Waters has much in common with Winter Orb‘s applications, one major difference lies in its triggered ability. This opens the door for trigger copy effects like Fractured Realm to enable multiple land untaps per turn. Because the trigger happens during your upkeep, both Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, and The Ninth Doctor support the cause, too.
On the flip side, you can pair Rising Waters with Eon Hub to prevent lands from ever untapping. By then adding Kismet or Frozen Aether into the mix, you can completely shut down each opponent’s mana. So long as you aren’t too far behind on board, this should easily be a winning maneuver.
Underplayed Hidden Gem
Despite its ability to warp games in your favor, Rising Waters remains quite an underrated Commander card. Appearing in only 3,130 decks according to EDHREC, this enchantment is worthy of more recognition. Yet, this lack of play moreso signals that players are unfamiliar with the old tool rather than being a knock on its power level. With no non-gold bordered reprints to speak of since its debut back in Nemesis, it makes sense why the card has fallen under the radar.
The good news is that because Rising Waters has minimal demand, the old rare’s price tag still sits below $2. So, if you’re tired of your opponents sticking game-breaking bombs in the late game, there’s never been a better time to pick up a copy of Rising Waters and punish them.
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