Thanks to Commander’s wide variety of strategies, some of the most efficient cards in the format hate everything equally. Whether you’re taxing everyone’s spells or shutting down something universal, like card draw, you can slow the entire table to a crawl.
The only downside to these cards is that they often affect everyone, including you. Thanks to this, many decks won’t be able to run these cards without getting screwed over themselves. Still, if you can build around cards like MTG Dovescape, you can easily shut down a majority of the strategies your opponents are using.
MTG Dovescape
Originally printed back in Dissension, Dovescape counters each and every noncreature spell cast after it. In their place, players get an army of 1/1 Bird tokens equal to the countered spell’s mana value, something that can easily be exploited.
Since this card counters every noncreature spell after entering play, Dovescape naturally protects itself. Most of the common removal spells for enchantments in Commander, like Aura Shards, get countered by Dovescape. Since the card counters the majority of board wipes, it also means that players will have a hard time dealing with the Birds on board. This can easily go right or wrong, depending on who has the biggest army.
Silent Arbiter, something that Dovescape can’t counter, can help here by only allowing one Dove to attack each combat. If you’re in black, you can access some disgusting tools, like Kaervek, the Spiteful or Ascendant Evinkar, to just kill all the tokens that Dovescape makes.
Instead of trying to get rid of the Birds, you can also just outvalue them with your own. Bird Typal Commanders like Kastral, the Windcrested can help your Doves outsize everyone else’s. Alternatively, Choco, Seeker of Paradise can turn your Birds into massive card advantage and ramp.
The best way to break parity with Dovescape, however, is just to make your spells uncounterable. Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Bevolent Geist are great ways to cast your noncreature spells through Dovescape. Regardless of whether the spell gets countered or not, you’ll still get Dove tokens equal to your spell size.
Making Infinite Birds
Generally, just using Dovescape as a lock piece will be enough to win a lot of your Commander games, but there is an infinite combo you can pull off. Thanks to Guile‘s replacement effect, you can create infinite Birds just by casting one noncreature spell.
Instead of letting a countered spell fall to the wayside, Guile exiles it and gives you an opportunity to cast it again for free. If you do this, Dovescape will counter it again, allowing Guile to queue it up back in exile. You can create infinite tokens this way, recasting your free spell until you’re satisfied with your flock of tokens. You can even follow this up with a Brain Freeze, milling everyone’s libraries.
Surprisingly Affordable
Considering that Dovescape can single-handedly shut down a wide variety of different Commander strategies, it’s surprising that the card doesn’t see more widespread play in Commander. At the time of writing, only about 7420 decks use the card according to EDHREC. While some Commander pods may find the card oppressive, turning off board wipes and clogging the board with Birds does make for an interesting game… in moderation.
Fortunately, Dovescape’s secondary market value shouldn’t be a major detractor, either. While the card isn’t a budget pickup, it’s easily worth the $3.70 entry fee. Partner the card with some ramp, and Dovescape can transform your Commander games consistently.
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