While board wipes are essential in Commander, they’re often only a temporary solution. Without a way to keep clearing the board, opponents can easily reassemble their win conditions in just a few turns. This is where cards like Dismiss into Dream come in clutch, as they can keep the board clear permanently while naturally disrupting opponents, too.
MTG Dismiss Into Dream
Turning any targeted spell or ability into sacrificial removal, Dismiss into Dream excels with Pinger Commanders like Ghyrson Starn, Kelemorph. Permanents that can repeatedly target your opponent’s creatures, like Prodigal Sorcerer, turn into consistent targeted removal. This becomes even stronger with non-tapping abilities, like Volrath, the Shapestealer‘s, knocking off all of your opponent’s creatures at once.
While it excels alongside creatures with targeted abilities, Dismiss into Dream can also clear the board with multi-targeting spells. Powerhouses like Magma Opus and Prismatic Boon can become wide-reaching removal, devastating your opponent’s boards. For maximum efficiency, Dismiss into Dream turns Sea Kings’ Blessing into a one-mana, one-sided board wipe.
If you decide to go the distance, Dismiss into Dream can even pull off some sacrificial synergies. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, for example, can turn each sacrificed creature into a +1/+1 counter buff for your board in a Sultai deck. Nazgul’s Battle Mace and Tergrid, God of Fright are much scarier, however, outright stealing any creature that gets sacrificed.
All of these synergies aside, Dismiss into Dream has a side-effect of rendering specific Commander decks completely useless. Voltron decks, for example, will cease to function since targeting creatures with equipment or Auras will cause them to be sacrificed. The same is true for Heroic strategies that require opponents to target their own creatures with spells. Hell, Dismiss into Dream can even get around indestructible Commanders like Kotis, the Fangkeeper.
Infinite Board Wipes
While Dismiss into Dream is already synergistic enough to see play in a variety of decks, you can take things further, essentially creating an infinite board wipe. Pulling this off is surprisingly easy, with Thornbite Staff making it possible with any Pinger like Prodigal Sorcerer. Since each ping will kill a creature, Thornbite Staff will untap your pinger each time. In addition to killing the entire board, this combo will also kill any creature that they cast.
If you’re running Dismiss into Dream in an Izzet or Grixis deck, you’ll even get two-card combos with this card. Deathbringer Thoctar and Goblin Sharpshooter can both ping your opponent’s creatures infinitely without the help of an untapper, accomplishing the same result.
While not every deck will want Dismiss into Dream, even the slightest synergies with this enchantment can make it absolutely devastating. Considering this, the enchantment could see far more play than just the 9,000 EDHREC decks it appears in.
On the plus side, this enchantment is a real budget gem, demanding only $1 despite its single printing as a rare in Magic 2014. With this in mind, if you have a deck that wants to target your opponent’s creatures a lot, Dismiss into Dream could be a great inclusion.
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