One of the true pleasures of being a Magic: The Gathering player is combing through your collection and coming across a powerful card you never even knew existed. With how fast the game is growing at the moment, more and more gems are being buried with each passing year. On the other hand, the rise in Magic content creation also means there are more and more digital architects willing to dig them up. Just yesterday, for example, a bunch of MTG players were introduced to Arboria for the very first time.
This introduction came via The Tea Beard MTG. They shared a Facebook reel discussing the card, which has since garnered a lot of attention and over 560 likes. This isn’t surprising, considering how powerful Arboria is and how far it has fallen under the radar in recent years. If you love long games and unconventional playstyles, this is a retro throwback you’ll want to get in on.
Arboria MTG
Arboria reads a little weirdly at first, but once you get it you’ll quickly realize how potent it is. This is an enchantment that prevents a player from being attacked if they didn’t cast a spell or put a nontoken permanent in play on their last turn. There are plenty of other effects like this in Magic, from Moat to Ghostly Prison. Arboria, however, is perhaps the most comprehensive of them all. It makes no exceptions for Flying creatures, nor does it let players circumvent its attack prevention by paying.
Of course, in order to benefit from this, you need to play very passively and not take any major actions on your turn. It’s also worth noting that Arboria is a World Enchantment, which means it affects all four players at the table equally. That said, this is still an extremely potent protection piece. We’ve seen how effective cards like Glacial Chasm have been historically, and Arboria offers a similar option in an easier-to-use package.
What’s really surprising about Arboria is just how little play it sees in Commander these days. According to EDHRec stats, the card only shows up in 0.07% of decks that could play it. Even for a specific effect like this, that’s a low figure. It’s not like the card only has one printing, either. It showed up in Dominaria Remastered just a couple of years ago, with three new variants. Apparently, the first-ever reprint of a powerful enchantment from Legends wasn’t enough to get players’ attention. This is a crying shame, because there’s a ton that Arboria can do in Commander.
Finding A Workaround
One of the most interesting ways to build around Arboria in Commander is to design a deck that lets you play a “normal” game of MTG while still benefiting from its protection effect. To do this, you need to find cards that let you cast spells and drop permanents outside of your own turn.
The most obvious of these is to find a way to give your spells Flash, so you can play them on opponents’ turns. There are a few on-color cards that can do this, including Yeva, Nature’s Herald for creatures and Vedalken Orrery for everything. If you’re willing to branch out into blue, you unlock access to a lot more options. These include High Fae Trickster and Alchemist’s Refuge.
Arboria still drops its protection if you play lands on your turn, so you’ll also need a way to get those out on your opponents’ turns, too. You can achieve this through instant-speed ramp like Harrow and Growth Spiral. For a more sustainable solution, you can also run creatures that tap to put lands from your hand into play. Both Sakura-Tribe Scout and Walking Atlas are good options here.
With enough pieces like this in your deck, you can develop your mana and drop your threats on opponent’s turns, then play a normal beatdown strategy on your own. It’s also crucial to remember that activated abilities and token creation are both fair game. Cards like Rhys the Redeemed can let you develop your board if you haven’t landed a Flash granter quite yet.
Arboria still protects you even if you attack another player, which is questionable from a flavor perspective, but great news for this strategy. Against opponents who come prepared for a fair game, this will let you go on the offensive with no chance of a counterattack. That said, there’s more than one way to play Arboria unfairly.
Nose To The Grindstone
Playing the whole game at instant speed is one thing, but what about not really playing the game at all? If you like, you can run Arboria as more of a hardcore control tool. The attack protection it offers is so good that it can let you just sit back and rely on an alternative win-con.
Cyclone was a common card played alongside Arboria back in the day, and, as long as you have enough time, it’s still great in Commander. You do essentially need to pay a cumulative upkeep cost on it, but that doesn’t interfere with your Arboria protection. Provided you have nine total green mana available, this enchantment will deal 45 damage to every player over nine turns. You will need a way to passively gain life to win this way, of course. Make sure you throw in something like Sun Droplet to stay in the game.
If you’re moving outside of Mono-Green, you have a lot more options for win conditions here. Descent into Avernus is a great one that gives you extra mana to work with, for example. You could also go down the mill route, with something like The Water Crystal.
This strategy can be very effective, but it’s also a lot more vulnerable to removal. If you lose Arboria here, it’s unlikely you’ll survive to reach your drawn-out win. To that end, protection pieces like Sterling Grove are essential inclusions.
This game plan is tricky to pull off, but when you do your opponents’ exasperated faces will be well worth it. You can play Arboria to support a normal game plan, or to enable a more unique one. The card is a real hidden gem, and well worth considering for your next green Commander project.
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