With the noble pursuit of pushing MTG’s design space to its utmost, Unfinity had given birth to some of Magic’s most bizarre, and disliked cards and mechanics. Sadly, the dislike for Stickers and Attractions hangs over this set like a dark cloud, overshadowing a lot of the more interesting cards it brought to Commander. Exchange of Words, for example, seems extremely underplayed for what it can do.
MTG Exchange of Words
Without putting your opponent’s Commander back into the command zone, Exchange of Words can render it useless by stealing its text box. You don’t even need a creature of your own to do this, as Exchange of Words can mess with two of your opponent’s Commanders by swapping them instead.
While this alone is appealing enough to consider Exchange of Words, Blink decks can take advantage of it further. By using cards like Cosmic Intervention and Teferi’s Time Twist, you can both dodge kill spells targeting Exchange of Words, while changing its targets. Enchantment copying effects like Mirrormade and Estrid’s Invocation can push things further, exchanging the text boxes of multiple creatures.
Outside of messing with your opponents, Exchange of Words can also get rid of the problematic card text of your own creatures, burdening your opponents instead. This is particularly strong in High-Power matters decks that run a lot of creatures with downsides, like Lupine Prototype and Cosmic Larva. You can even make an opponent lose the game outright with a well-timed Archfiend of the Dross.
While less efficient, Exchange of Words can also be used to set up some game-ending sequences. Giving a Blightsteel Colossus Myriad, or putting Living laser‘s copy effect onto something like Terror of the Peaks, can end games quickly.
Exchanging Into Infinite Lands
If Exchange of Words’ function as pseudo-removal wasn’t enough, the enchantment can even set up some infinite combos with rather popular Commander cards. If you animate a land, like Mutavault, exchanging the text of that card and Scute Swarm will create infinite lands. If you do this, you’ll need a landfall card in play that can end the game, like Sabotender, since the game will otherwise end in a draw.
Notably, these changes will stay even after your animated lands stop being creatures, letting you pull off some shenanigans with Devoted Druid. In this case, your Mutavault will be able to untap itself infinitely, adding infinite generic mana. Winning the game with Walking Ballista from here is trivial, but you can also exchange the text of lands like Lair of the Hydra to access infinite colored mana.
Outside of messing with lands, Exchange of Words can also create infinite turns with Medomai, the Ageless and Mistmeadow Vanisher. After exchanging the two creatures’ text, attack with Medomai, using Vanisher’s effect to blink Exchange of Words. This will revert the text of your two creatures, allowing Medomai to get its extra turn trigger without it being restricted by its attack trigger.
A Hidden Gem
Even without a ton of synergy attached, Exchange of Words can be a fantastic piece of interaction that catches opponents unaware. Cards that can disable Commanders without removing them are extremely valuable in the format, making Exchange of Words’ low play rate rather shocking. According to EDHREC, this card only sees play in about 9,620 decks, which seems low for a card like this.
On the plus side, as usual, this does mean that picking up Exchange of Words is extremely budget-friendly. Available for just $0.75, this is an absolutely incredible card to pick up for your budget Commander decks. For its price point, you’ll be hard-pressed to find too many cards that can mess with your opponent as much as Exchange of Words.
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