It’s become clear that Earthbending is one of the more powerful things to come out of MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender. Turning lands into creatures can make them multipurpose value machines, acting as creatures that advance go-wide plans, and mana amplifiers with cards like Badgermole Cub. The built-in protection Earthbending provides gets rid of the usual downsides of turning lands into creatures and, occasionally, can even create infinite combos.
Fortunately, a bizarre red MTG Stax piece is beginning to gain popularity that can make things very difficult for Earthbending decks. Thanks to a YouTube short from TapForMe MTG, players are becoming aware of the forgotten enchantment War’s Toll.
War’s Toll MTG
For four mana, War’s Toll gives your opponent some awkward restrictions that can, in turn, enable some specific game plans. The first clause may not read like it’s a big problem, but it’s an absolute nightmare for interactive decks. Forcing a control opponent to decide between progressing their board state or holding up interaction can outright shut some decks down. Additionally, if your opponent uses their lands to cast a counterspell, they’ll have to completely tap out.
Additionally, if your game plan involves connecting with your Commander, War’s Toll’s second ability can also help. By forcing opponents to swing out with their entire team, you should be able to pave a way for your Commander to get its relevant triggers off. Of course, your opponents can choose to keep all their creatures back to block, but this will hinder the majority of MTG Commander decks since attacking is commonly needed to win the game.
While most players may use War’s Toll as a way to force their opponent to put their shields down one way or another, the card lines up very well against Earthbending strategies. Attacking with creatures will force you to attack with your Earthbended lands, which can screw your mana. Alternatively, if you tap any of your lands for mana, your Earthbended lands will be forced to tap with it.
This makes War’s Toll an extremely nasty card against strategies that want to make their other card types count as lands. Toph, the First Metalbender, for example, makes all of her artifacts count as lands. Holding up mana rocks for interaction is one of the few ways for opponents to get around War’s Toll, but if you’re playing Toph, you’ll have to tap everything at once. This has a similar effect on Ashaya, Soul of the Wild decks that want to make all their creatures count as lands. The moment you tap a land for mana, all of your creatures will also be forced to tap.
Notably, attacking with lands won’t force your other lands to tap since you’re not tapping that land for mana. The same is true for activating non-mana abilities that your lands have. That said, this War’s Toll remains a really annoying card for Earthbending decks to play against.
Igniting Extreme Synergy
While War’s Toll is already a decent hate piece against Earthbending, as well as other strategies that turn lands into creatures, there are a few prison-based Commanders that turn War’s Toll into an even bigger problem. Yurlock of Scorch Thrash, for example, is very good at maximizing the enchantment.
Yurlock wants to give your opponents extra mana to burn them for damage later. Essentially bringing back the concept of Mana Burn, Yurlock and War’s Toll can team up to cause a lot of hurt. Unless your opponent can effectively use all their mana, Yurlock will turn any leftovers into direct damage.
Outside of Yurlock, War’s Toll excels in Goad-style decks that force specific creatures to attack. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, for example, sneaks onto your opponent’s battlefield before starting to attack everyone else. Since Xancha needs to attack, your opponent’s entire team will be forced to march out with her. Alternatively, Goad Commanders like Firkraag, Cunning Instigator can also use this synergy to force entire teams to attack. Alexios Deimos of Kosmos and Slicer, Hired Muscle, also work wonders with War’s Toll, since they’re passed around the table.
That said, a few other Commanders seem to rise above the rest with War’s Toll. Forcing an opponent to swing into Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs, for example, creates a bunch of 3/3 Red Ogres that can block your opponent’s creatures. Worse yet, they’ll have to tap all their mana at once, making the tax effect harder to avoid. In a similar vein, Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor can use War’s Toll to both tap an opponent out of blockers, as well as force them to send their Survivors out at other people.
A Bizarrely Applicable Enchantment
While there are certainly some places where War’s Toll overperforms, it’s ultimately interesting as a general interaction hoser. Earthbending being so popular right now allows you to catch some strays when playing the enchantment. That said, you shouldn’t just be playing this just to screw over Earthbending, unless there’s a Toph Commander deck that you really want to topple over.
Unfortunately, War’s Toll isn’t the cheapest Commander card out there by any means. Most copies of this card go for around the $6 range, while beat-up copies seem to go for about $4. This is partially due to the card only being printed in Dissension and Battlebond, meaning supply for the card is rather low.
All of that said, in the right Commander decks, War’s Toll can win games on its own. If you’re looking for a neat way to make your opponents stop countering your spells, this could be the enchantment you’ve been looking for.
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