There are a lot of cards from Magic’s past that, in a modern light, look extremely strange. Occasionally, these cards end up being extremely broken from today’s standards. In others, however, you get some oddities that had aspects that didn’t pan out in Magic’s current design.
That’s the case with Bosium’s Strip, a forgotten Reserved List card from Weatherlight that demands players keep their graveyards organized to use it. Despite being a part of many powerful effects from the past, this ‘graveyard order matters’ mechanic left Magic: The Gathering quite some time ago. While that may be the case, the forgotten cards that used this as a restriction are extremely powerful even now.
Bosium Strip MTG
For three mana, Bosium Strip offers an extremely powerful and concerning ability. Many MTG players know that effects like Underworld Breach and Yawgmoth’s Will are broken nowadays, and Bosium’s Strip offers something similar, albeit with some restrictions. Not only can Strip only play the top card of your graveyard, but that card needs to be an instant or sorcery. If this weren’t enough, in an effort to avoid infinite loops, Bosium Strip exiles the card that its ability casts. Otherwise, you could just recast something like Desperate Ritual over and over to make infinite mana.
Even when compared to other underplayed cards, Bosium Strip sees extremely low levels of play, which is surprising for a card this powerful. Only 524 decks on EDHREC are recorded to use it.
Despite all this, in a spellslinger deck, it’s easy to get lots of value with Bosium Strip. Unlike Yawgmoth’s Will effects, cards you cast from your hand still go to the graveyard. Getting double value out of cantrips like Opt and Consider can add cards up quickly. This gives Bosium Strip a lot of play in a variety of Commander decks.
Neerdiv, Devious Diver, for example, gets additional benefits when you cast spells from the graveyard. Bosium Strip can enable Neerdiv’s card draw, as well as add more value to her milling potential. In a similar vein, Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius can get a lot of mileage out of Bosium Strip since the cards you re-cast with it will get a generous discount.
The decks that might want this card the most, however, are spellslinger decks that don’t have blue in their identity. It’s very difficult to find ways to recur value for spellslinger decks outside of that color, making this a strong inclusion in decks like Judith, Carnage Conoisseur and Firja, Judge of Valor.
Otherwise, Bosium Strip plays a unique role in Adventure decks, making Gorion, Wise Mentor a strong Commander for it. There aren’t a lot of cards that can cast Adventure spells from the graveyard, meaning Bosium Strip is quite valuable in that archetype. Gorion is also extremely easy to build with a mill subtheme to take maximum advantage of your artifact.
In fact, when utilizing spells with the Adventure and Buyback mechanics, the biggest restriction of Bosium Strip gets overturned. In the instance that a card has two effects that would put it in a different zone than normal, the player decides which one applies. This allows Bosium Strip to go infinite with cards that have Buyback, which puts cards in your hand, as well as Adventure spells, which can come back as creatures. This reveals the true best Commander for Bosium Strip.
Going Infinite
While Bosium Strip does have a series of cheeky infinites it can pull off, they aren’t the easiest to assemble. One infinite combo using Mind Games, for example, requires a four-card setup. Using Orvar, the All-Form, which is likely the best Commander for Bosium Strip, and Gilded Lotus, you can essentially create infinite mana, as well as infinite copies of any permanent you control.
- Have Bosium Strip activated with Gilded Lotus and Orvar in play. Cast Mind Games for one mana targeting your Gilded Lotus. You need to have tapped it for mana already, floating two mana.
- This triggers Orvar, creating another Gilded Lotus. Once tapped, you should have five mana floating.
- You can then use Bosium Strip’s ability to cast Mind Games with its Buyback cost, targeting one of your tapped Gilded Lotus. You should have one mana left.
- Orvar’s ability will create another Gilded Lotus, and Mind Games will go back to your hand, where it can be cast once again for one mana. This should create infinite mana, which can then be used to copy other permanents with Orvar and Mind Games. You can also tap your opponent’s board down, setting up a lethal attack.
There are also a series of infinite combos that you can do with an Adventure spell setup. These all involve the card Curious Pair with some assortment of token or spell-doubling cards and a sacrifice outlet for creatures. For the sake of explaining the combo, we’re going to use Academy Manufactor for mana, Ashiok’s Altar for sacrificing cards, and Lucky Clover for Food token doubling:
- Have Bosium Strip activated and Lucky Clover, Academy Manufactor, and Ashiok’s Altar in play.
- Cast Treats to Share, the Adventure spell on Curious Pair. Lucky Clover will copy it, making two Food tokens. This will be modified by Academy Manufactor, making two Clues, Foods, and Treasures.
- Cast Curious Pair from exile using one of your treasure tokens and another mana.
- Sacrifice Curious Pair with Ashiok’s Altar. You should have one green and two generic floating.
- Use Bosium Strip’s ability to cast Treats to Share, starting the loop again.
This loop, regardless of what cards you use, creates infinite colorless mana, allowing you to draw your deck with Clue Tokens. Gorion, Wise Mentor can notably replace Lucky Clover in the Command Zone if you so choose.
The Drawback Might be Too Much
For many Commanders, Bosium Strip offers a unique effect that can’t really be found anywhere else, making it an enticing inclusion. Throw in that you can find damaged copies of the card for under a dollar, and this artifact can easily outperform its price tag in a massive way. This isn’t just a good addition to the Commanders mentioned above, but a powerful budget option in all kinds of decks that can take advantage of its abilities.
The big drawback to using this, however, is that you won’t be able to reorganize your graveyard at all during the games where Bosium Strip is in your deck. The same becomes true for your opponents as well, which can be really annoying in a game of casual Commander.
Regardless, considering how strong Bosium Strip is as a budget option, the minor headaches will likely be worth it.
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