Funky MTG Imp Commander Wins By Giving Cards Away

For the most part, giving your opponents permanents of any kind is a major downside in Magic. Cards like Hunted Horror Hunted Horror Trample
When this creature enters, target opponent creates two 3/3 green Centaur creature tokens with protection from black. are balanced entirely around this principle, with massive stats to compensate for the gifts they give.

That said, some rare legends, such as Blim, Comedic Genius, can actually turn the act of giving out cards into a surprisingly powerful strategy in MTG Commander.

Blim, Comedic Genius MTG

Whenever Blim gets in for damage, you get to Donate[/tooltips a permanent of your choice, then wreak havoc on the table’s hands and life totals as well. Though this sounds like a bad deal for you, it gets a lot better when you start handing out cards like Steel Golem Steel Golem You can't cast creature spells. and Plague Reaver Plague Reaver At the beginning of your end step, sacrifice each other creature you control.
Discard two cards, Sacrifice this creature: Choose target opponent. Return this creature to the battlefield under that player's control at the beginning of their next upkeep. , which impose heavy downsides on their controllers.

Blim is particularly good with cards that provide advantage on entry then downsides after, like Greed’s Gambit Greed’s Gambit When this enchantment enters, you draw three cards, gain 6 life, and create three 2/1 black Bat creature tokens with flying.
At the beginning of your end step, you discard a card, lose 2 life, and sacrifice a creature.
When this enchantment leaves the battlefield, you discard three cards, lose 6 life, and sacrifice three creatures. and Demonic Lore Demonic Lore When this enchantment enters, draw three cards.
At the beginning of your end step, you lose 2 life for each card in your hand. . If you can saddle each opponent with one of these, and perhaps something like Oath of Lim-Dul Oath of Lim-Dul Whenever you lose life, for each 1 life you lost, sacrifice a permanent other than this enchantment unless you discard a card. (Damage dealt to you causes you to lose life.)
{B}{B}: Draw a card. that forces them to give up resources repeatedly, Blim can essentially lock multiple players out of the game.

To help reach this point, you’ll want to include cards that maximize Blim’s instances of combat damage, so you can give away as many problem permanents as possible. Cards like My Precious My Precious Equipped creature has hexproof and can't be blocked.
Equip—{2}, Pay 2 life. are great here to bypass blockers, and cards that grant Double Strike, such as Genji Glove Genji Glove Equipped creature has double strike.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, if it's the first combat phase of the turn, untap it. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Equip {3} , will get you two combat triggers per swing. To support this plan further, standalone Donate Donate Target player gains control of target permanent you control. effects, like Harmless Offering Harmless Offering Target opponent gains control of target permanent you control. and Bazaar Trader Bazaar Trader {T}: Target player gains control of target artifact, creature, or land you control. , are must-includes as well.

While you can get a lot of mileage out of Blim through Donate Donate Target player gains control of target permanent you control. effects alone, including cards that get passed around the table naturally will also help. Great picks here include creatures like Akroan Horse Akroan Horse Defender
When this creature enters, an opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent creates a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. , which enter under an opponent’s control, and Kain, Traitorous Dragoon Kain, Traitorous Dragoon Jump — During your turn, Kain has flying.
Whenever Kain deals combat damage to a player, that player gains control of Kain. If they do, you draw that many cards, create that many tapped Treasure tokens, then lose that much life. , which shift control during play. Powerful draw pieces like Humble Defector Humble Defector {T}: Draw two cards. Target opponent gains control of this creature. Activate only during your turn. and Pumpkin Bombs Pumpkin Bombs {T}, Discard two cards: Draw three cards, then put a fuse counter on this artifact. It deals damage equal to the number of fuse counters on it to target opponent. They gain control of this artifact. are also fantastic here, since they’re win/wins for you whether opponents keep them or not.

Present Tense

Blim, Comedic Genius is fantastic at winning grindy games of MTG Commander, but it also has a surprising combo edge to it as well. The cleanest lines here involve giving out a permanent with a “you lose the game” clause on it, like Demonic Pact Demonic Pact At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one that hasn't been chosen —
• This enchantment deals 4 damage to any target and you gain 4 life.
• Target opponent discards two cards.
• Draw two cards.
• You lose the game. or Archfiend of the Dross Archfiend of the Dross Flying
This creature enters with four oil counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove an oil counter from this creature. Then if it has no oil counters on it, you lose the game.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, its controller loses 2 life. , right before that clause takes effect. Unless your opponent can remove their gift at instant speed, both of these will kill them on their upkeep.

In a similar vein, you can give someone Phage the Untouchable Phage the Untouchable When Phage enters, if you didn't cast it from your hand, you lose the game.
Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature. It can't be regenerated.
Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game. and Avacyn, Angel of Horror Avacyn, Angel of Horror Flying, deathtouch
Whenever Avacyn or another nontoken creature you control dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step. with Blim, then remove Phage to wipe them out on the next end step. You can also give out Nefarious Lich Nefarious Lich If damage would be dealt to you, exile that many cards from your graveyard instead. If you can't, you lose the game.
If you would gain life, draw that many cards instead.
When this enchantment leaves the battlefield, you lose the game. and destroy it with something like Feed the Swarm Feed the Swarm Destroy target creature or enchantment an opponent controls. You lose life equal to that permanent's mana value. , or Immortal Coil Immortal Coil {T}, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Draw a card.
If damage would be dealt to you, prevent that damage. Exile a card from your graveyard for each 1 damage prevented this way.
When there are no cards in your graveyard, you lose the game. and exile their graveyard, to take care of an opponent that way.

Alternatively, you can force an opponent to draw their entire deck, and take a ton of damage, by giving them Vilis, Broker of Blood Vilis, Broker of Blood Flying
{B}, Pay 2 life: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Whenever you lose life, draw that many cards. (Damage causes loss of life.) . As long as you have a card that pings opponents whenever they draw, like Underworld Dreams Underworld Dreams Whenever an opponent draws a card, this enchantment deals 1 damage to that player. or Razorkin Needlehead Razorkin Needlehead This creature has first strike during your turn.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, this creature deals 1 damage to them. , this will force them to keep drawing until they lose next time they either draw or take damage. This is a pretty risky combo, since you’re feeding an opponent a ton of potential answers, so running something like Defense Grid Defense Grid Each spell costs {3} more to cast except during its controller's turn. to minimize responses is a good idea here.

These combos will only kill a single opponent each, but Blim also lets you wipe out the whole pod when paired with Blightbeetle Blightbeetle Protection from green (This creature can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped by anything green.)
Creatures your opponents control can't have +1/+1 counters put on them. , Geralf’s Messenger Geralf’s Messenger This creature enters tapped.
When this creature enters, target opponent loses 2 life.
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.) , and a free sacrifice outlet. Simply give an opponent Blightbeetle Blightbeetle Protection from green (This creature can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, enchanted, or equipped by anything green.)
Creatures your opponents control can't have +1/+1 counters put on them. , then when you sacrifice Messenger it’ll return with no counters and Shock Shock Shock deals 2 damage to any target. an opponent, ready to be sacrificed again to repeat the loop. This combo also works with any other Undying creature, letting you nab infinite mana with Phyrexian Altar Phyrexian Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add one mana of any color. or infinite drain with Blood Artist Blood Artist Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. and co.

Alternative Comedy

While Blim, Comedic Genius can certainly be a powerful deck in the right circumstances, its uniqueness is its big selling point. There are very few Donate Commanders in the game in general, and no others in Rakdos, making it essentially one-of-a-kind. As its deep suite of synergistic cards and combo lines attest, this is probably one of the best color combinations for this archetype, too.

Despite these many virtues, Blim doesn’t see quite as much play in the command zone as you’d expect. According to EDHREC data, in fact, just 6,053 players run it there, which feels fairly low. It actually sees even less play in the 99, appearing in a mere 3,720 decks overall. These are largely quite gimmicky lists, too, including offbeat builds of Deadpool, Trading Card Deadpool, Trading Card As Deadpool enters, you may exchange his text box and another creature's.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 3 life.
{3}, Sacrifice this creature: Each other player draws a card. and Kenrith, the Returned King Kenrith, the Returned King {R}: All creatures gain trample and haste until end of turn.
{1}{G}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
{2}{W}: Target player gains 5 life.
{3}{U}: Target player draws a card.
{4}{B}: Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under its owner's control. .

Though this low play rate is unfortunate for Blim, it’s great for those who want to pick up a copy and play with it. On TCGplayer right now, near-mint copies of Blim cost just $0.19 on the low end, with the fancy foil etched version not far ahead at $0.35. At these prices, Blim is a fantastic foundation for a funky budget deck, and a great way to catch your Commander pod unawares.

Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!