Across the breadth of Magic history, one card has struck more fear into the hearts of players than any other. That card is the infamous Black Lotus, and it’s just as broken now as it was back in 1993. In fact, it remains banned in Commander, and most other Magic formats, to this day. That said, with the power of Garth One-Eye on your side, you can cast this rightfully-banned MTG relic regardless. You also get access to a ton of other classic tools and some wacky combo lines, making this a Commander well worth building around.
Garth One-Eye In MTG Commander
Look up ‘versatility’ in the dictionary, and chances are you’ll see a picture of Garth One-Eye smiling out at you. This five-color legend is essentially six cards in one, letting you pick the exact tool you need for a given situation. Obviously, Black Lotus is the headliner here, providing a huge burst of ramp, but the other options are valuable in their own right.
Between Terror and Disenchant, you have cheap answers to the majority of problematic permanents in Commander. Whether you need to take out a key creature or a Rhystic Study, Garth’s got you covered. There are proactive plays here, too, with Shivan Dragon and Braingeyser letting you pull ahead when the window presents itself. Regrowth rounds things out nicely, still representing one of the most efficient and flexible recursion pieces in the game, even 33 years on.
To make the best possible use of Garth’s arsenal, you’ll want to lean into synergies that maximize their use. Cards that can untap Garth cheaply, like Freed from the Real and Kiora’s Follower, will let you cast multiple spells from his book per turn. Since Garth’s spells aren’t cast from your hand, you can also leverage cards like Fortune Teller’s Talent and Kellan, the Kid for extra synergy.
The best thing to do with Garth One-Eye in MTG Commander, however, is to blink it. Doing so resets the options available, letting you re-cast the spells you’ve cast before. With just a single Ephemerate, you can essentially ‘draw’ yourself up to six cards with Garth. If you save Regrowth for last, you can use it to recur your blink spell and repeat the whole process again, for a continuous grindy value loop.
The Blink Of An Eye
If you really lean into the blink idea, then you can actually pull off some interesting infinite combos with Garth One-Eye as well. With Emiel the Blessed, for example, you can blink Garth for three, thus resetting his available spells. With a Haste granter active, like Anger or Concordant Crossroads, you can then immediately tap Garth to cast Black Lotus. Crack the Lotus for three mana, and you can repeat the loop for infinite enters and leaves triggers, as well as infinite ‘cast a spell’ triggers for something like Aetherflux Reservoir.
Using Displacer Kitten as your repeatable blink source opens things up even further. Since this blinks Garth for free whenever you cast Black Lotus, you can generate infinite mana by casting it over and over. You can then sink this mana into casting infinitely large Braingeysers to mill the table out, or use a different infinite mana outlet like Walking Ballista. This combo also requires a Haste granter, like Lightning Greaves, to function. If you do go for Greaves, you can use Monk Gyatso as a stand-in for Kitten, providing an alternative route to the same end.
Garth One-eye even enables some infinite turn combos, too. With enough mana available, you can cast an extra turn spell like Time Warp, then tap Garth and cast Regrowth to get it back. With a card like Conjurer’s Closet or Teleportation Circle in play, you can blink Garth at the end of your turn, then repeat the process during your extra turn to keep the loop going. While this combo doesn’t win on the spot like the others above, it does give you ample time to watch the light die in your opponents’ eyes.
Power Nine On A Budget
The best thing about Garth One-Eye as a Commander is just how many options you have for building him. If you like the look of those combo lines, you can go all-in on blink and build around that. Alternatively, it also serves as a great offbeat Dragon Typal Commander, since it can create Shivan Dragons while also filling a bunch of other roles as needed. However you choose to build Garth, having access to all five colors means you’ll always have the best tools available for your chosen archetype.
Despite this massive flexibility, Garth One-Eye actually doesn’t see much play in MTG Commander. According to EDHREC data, only 4,863 players run it at the head of their deck. It sees a bit more play in the 99, with around 5,770 players running it, but that’s still a very low figure. This is particularly strange since, among Magic’s five-color Commander options, Garth is one of the least generic and boring available.
Garth’s underappreciated nature is actually a blessing in disguise, mind you, as it means the card is super cheap right now. Near-mint copies can be had for as low as $0.27 currently, if you’re happy with The List printing. There’s little increase if you want a fancier version, either, with the Retro Frame printing going for $0.54, and the Sketch version just $0.42. This makes Garth a fantastic card to pick up for the MTG player on a budget.
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