In Commander, tutors do an unbelievable job keeping your game plan as consistent and resilient as possible. Whether you’re using them to search for a missing combo piece or grab a board wipe, finding the perfect card in a singleton format is huge.
Well, if tutoring for one card wasn’t enough, there’s an enchantment from Champions of Kamigawa that can repeatedly search for cards turn after turn. On top of that, it also enables a two-card combo with itself! The card’s name is Night Dealings, and while it takes some work to maximize the enchantment, the payoff is certainly there.
MTG Night Dealings
Unlike most tutors, Night Dealings is an enchantment that sits in play and can accumulate counters. Thanks to accumulating counters via damage, this card essentially lets you trade damage for tutors. The more damage dealt, the higher mana value cards you can find.
With this in mind, the first step to maximizing Night Dealings is to have plenty of ways to damage your opponents. While big creatures can work, dealing non-combat damage with Commanders like Mogis, God of Slaughter and Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed is often more effective. Once you’ve filled your deck with effects that damage all opponents at once, Proliferate cards like Contagion Engine can keep your Theft counters topped up.
While racking damage can become pretty easy, Night Dealings also costs a lot of mana to use repetitively. Sneak Attack, Kaalia of the Vast, can help, putting whatever you tutor directly into play. Alternatively, reducing the activation cost of Night Dealings with cards like Zirda, the Dawnwaker can help your mana go a lot further.
If you end up with more Theft Counters than you’ll ever need, Night’s Dealings can also become an enabler for other cards. Eventide’s Shadow, for example, can convert excess counters into card advantage. Additionally, Mutated Cultist can remove a bunch of theft counters to help you cast a big X spell or Eldrazi spell at a massive discount.
Lethal Combo
While there’s only one two-card combo centered around Night Dealings, it’s quite easy to pull off. All you need to do is get Night Dealings and All Will be One into play at the same time. Then, any method of dealing damage to an opponent will start a chain reaction.
Once an opponent takes damage, Night Dealings will trigger and gain some counters. This, in turn, triggers All Will be One, dealing that much damage to an opponent. Since the All Will Be One damage will trigger Night Dealings again, you’ll get an infinite damage loop until your opponents are dead.
Perhaps the best part about this combo is that you really only need Night Dealings to get started. After all, once you get five counters on Night Dealings, you’re able to use it to tutor up All Will be One.
Cheap and Underplayed
Despite all of this upside, Night Dealings remains very underrated in Commander. Appearing in only 1,670 decks according to EDHREC, this enchantment is certainly deserving of more recognition. Part of the reason the card sees minimal play likely stems from its 22-year-old reprint. As such, there should be a good number of players who are unfamiliar with the design.
The good news, however, is that this card’s lack of demand has helped keep it cheap. Even with its lack of reprints, this Champions of Kamigawa enchantment is worth less than $1. So, if you’re looking to surprise your friends with a sweet tutor-themed combo kill, you can pick up a copy on a budget.
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