Thanks to the presence of fast mana in MTG Commander, you can do some absolutely devastating things right out of the gate. Whether you’re accelerating early with ramp, or playing a one mana Game Changer, there are tons you can do to set yourself up for success. These cards, however, are just the tip of the iceberg, as with enough support, even turn one wins are possible in Commander.
While Commander has plenty of infamous turn-one plays, it seems one underrated oddity might be a surprisingly strong option. After being pointed out by MTG content creator goblin_grounds, players are now more interested in inciting chaos with a turn-one Winds of Change.
MTG Winds of Change
Recently reprinted in the MTG Spider Man Bonus Sheet, Winds of Change is the cheapest Wheel effect that the game has to offer. Thanks to forcing players to draw a fresh hand, Winds of Change can be a particularly chaotic turn one play. Depending on the luck of the draw, this could take some of your opponents out immediately, leaving them stranded with unplayable hands.
Realistically, this strategy is only truly powerful if you get the first turn in the game. Otherwise, other players get an opportunity to get their lands down before you whisk their hand away. Due to this, if you want to use Winds of Change as disruption, it’s better to exploit its forced shuffle later in the game. If played at the right time, this can easily hose a Vampiric Tutor or Sensei’s Divining Top play.
That said, Winds of Change is far from just a quirky gotcha card. Seeing play in over 50,000 different decks according to EDHREC, this card sees healthy play in card draw archetypes. In particular, it’s great with Wheel Commanders like Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Xyris, Writhing Storm, and Niv-Mizzet, Parun, thanks to causing a cascade of triggers. With loaded hands, Xyris is particularly nasty with Winds of Change, creating 21 Snake tokens for just one mana.
Thanks to synergizing with card draw punishers in the 99, Winds of Change also tends to appear in decks that care about dealing lots of instances of damage. Commanders like Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin and Valgavoth Harrower of Souls use Orcish Bowmasters and Kederekt Parasite to generate tons of triggers, something that Winds of Change helps with.
While a bit less common, Winds of Change is also a powerful consistency booster for Spellslinger strategies. Commanders like Vivi Ornitier and Stella Lee, Wild Card thrive off of casting tons of smaller spells to build towards larger effects. Winds of Change is both a cheap way to trigger Vivi and Stella, while shuffling away extra lands for more cards to cast.
A Moderately Cheap Upgrade
Thanks to being a popular card in multiple strategies, as well as being a general consistency booster in Mono-Red decks Winds of Change sees a lot of Commander play. This creates consistent demand for the card, which understandably reflects on Winds of Change’s price tag.
Despite multiple reprints, the cheapest variant of Winds of Change on the market is its recent Spider Man reprint, retailing at a $4.20 market average. This isn’t breaking the bank, by any means, but Winds of Change is far from a budget option. Fortunately, if you don’t want the Universes Beyond Winds of Change reprint, you can get in-universe copies for about $5. For those who want the best that MTG has to offer, there are multiple foil and Secret Lair reprints of the card available for $20.
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