No matter how refined your MTG deck is, you’re always still at the mercy of the luck of the draw. Getting mana flooded, or screwed, is an incredibly common issue, no matter the format. Fortunately, there are some bizarre old MTG cards that can help you sculpt your deck to perfection. Taking the luck out of the draw, these MTG cards can set you up for long-term success in a game of Commander.
Mana Severance MTG
For one and a blue, Mana Severance offers an extremely unique effect that many MTG Commander decks can take advantage of. Once you’ve filled up on all the mana you need for a game, Mana Severance can get rid of the rest. This will prevent you from flooding the board if the game goes long, which can be extremely valuable in a deck that doesn’t have a lot of natural card advantage. This can otherwise grease the wheels of Commanders like Flubs, the Fool, and The Reality Chip who want to play a flurry of nonland spells off the top of your deck.
That said, Mana Severance doesn’t have to exile every land in your deck. If you’re trying to find a specific land that’s easily abusable, like Gaea’s Cradle or Dark Depths, Mana Severance can clear the way for cards like Abundant Harvest or Recross the Paths to function as dedicated tutors. If you exile all the lands in your deck, Recross the Paths will allow you to stack your deck in any order you want, setting up some extremely ridiculous sequences.
Of course, exiling all of your lands also sets up opportunities to win the game out of nowhere. Balustrade Spy can mill your entire deck, setting up a Thassa’s Oracle win. Goblin Charbelcher can similarly blast an opponent into space since you’ll be dealing damage equal to your deck size.
Selective Memory MTG
Selective Memory isn’t quite as good as Mana Severance in Commander, but it can play a similar role. Getting rid of all your smaller mana rocks and redundant ramp in the late game gives you a much higher chance of hitting your bombs. Pair this card with a draw fixer like Abundance, and your draws will be consistent haymakers for the rest of the game.
Similar to Mana Severance, the absence of nonland cards can allow Selective Memory to set up some nasty combos. Cards like Illuna, Apex of Wishes and Cultivator Colossus will be able to go through your entire deck in one trigger, setting up an empty deck win. If you can organize the bottom of your library, you can even use Illuna to exile your entire library and cast Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for free for an instant win.
Outside of empty deck shenanigans, Selective Memory can wreak a lot of havoc with the Game Changer Opposition Agent. Using cards that allow you to force opponents to use your spells, like Sudden Substitution, Opposition Agent can force your opponent to exile every single nonland card in their library, leaving them with lands for the rest of the game.
Paradigm Shift MTG
Paradigm Shift is an all-or-nothing version of the previous two cards. While you won’t be able to select what cards leave your library, Paradigm Shift essentially creates a Doomsday-esque scenario by turning your graveyard into your remaining cards.
This leads the card to set up a lot of obvious empty deck wins, but there are some more interesting things you can pull off with Paradigm Shift. Forcing your opponents to copy Shift with Hive Mind, for example, can make all of their decks really small. You can either use a graveyard exile effect like Sentinel Totem or copy Paradigm Shift again with Strionic Resonator to ensure that your opponents have no cards left.
Interacting With Exile
While a majority of the combos and uses for these cards involve emptying you or your opponent’s decks, there are also some powerful strategies you can pull off by sending a ton of cards into exile. Laelia, the Blade Reforged and Cosmogoyf, for example, will turn into giant creatures out of nowhere when casting any of these spells.
Similarly, when exiling nonland cards, Paradigm Shift and Selective Memory can turn into pseudo tutors for Food Chain decks. Exiling Misthollow Griffon or Eternal Scourge can set up infinite combos with the enchantment, letting you win the game with whatever cards still remain in your library. A similar strategy can be pulled off in Slime Against Humanity decks, making every Slime you create absolutely massive.
Regardless of your intent, these long-lost MTG cards go a long way in making your game plan more consistent. Just make sure that, if you do exile your entire deck, whatever follow-up you have won’t get countered. Otherwise, you might be more surprised than your opponents!
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