Because Commander is a four-player format, mastering the art of politics can go quite a long way. Making good deals with opponents can let your cards stick around for longer. Players are less likely to remove cards if they’re getting something out of it, after all.
This is a big reason why some Commanders, like Ms. Bumbleflower end up being so powerful. Despite generating disgusting amounts of card advantage, players ignore it since they get some stray rewards from it. If you like this idea, but want to take a road less traveled, Vazi, Keen Negotiator is both one of the most fun and deceptively powerful Commanders you can build. Players will be more than happy to take your Treasure-related handouts until it’s too late for them to come back.
MTG Vazi, Keen Negotiator
Vazi, Keen Negotiator is one of the most bizarre Commanders out there. Giving your opponents resources is an extremely risky proposition, even with the incremental card draw and buffs Vazi provides. That said, with some strong politicking, it’s not difficult to make deals that are deeply in your advantage.
That said, in order to give your opponents Treasures to use, you first need to create them yourself. Fortunately, there are a lot of powerful creatures, like Knuckles, the Echidna, Professional Face-Breaker, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer that get on the board fast and start creating lots of extra mana. Later in the game, massive haymakers like Brass’s Bounty, Old Gnawbone, and Rain of Riches can both create lots of card advantage and flood the board with Treasures.
Since Vazi basically forces you to be a Treasure-centric deck, replacement effects will accelerate you and your opponent’s Treasure creation immensely. This makes Xorn and Academy Manufactor some of the best cards in your deck. Jolene, the Plunder Queen goes above and beyond here, creating you extra Treasures while offering your opponents opportunities to join in by attacking oneanother.
Once you’ve set up your Treasure production and you’re able to give your opponents tokens to work with, you need ways to profit from their use. This essentially makes Viridian Revel and Party Dude endless draw engines, while Fangren Marauder can make you nigh-unkillable. Once you refill your hand and can create a massive board, combining Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest with Stridehanger Automaton will create a massive board of fliers to close the game.
Since you want your opponents to create Treasures anyway, there are a series of cards that can both give opponents Treasures and punish them for using them. Following up Bloodroot Apothecary, Descent into Avernus, or Pain Distributor with mass punisher effects like Generous Plunderer or Hellkite Tyrant can put your opponents in game-losing binds. You can also elect to use mass-destruction effects like Vandalblast to force the issue if an opponent is hoarding your gifts.
Draining Your Opponents to Victory
Occasionally, due to the board state, you won’t really be able to give your opponents Treasures without allowing them to run away with the game. Fortunately, there are some win conditions that Vazi can use that are completely independant of your opponents. Once your token-making engine is entirely online, playing Mirkwood Bats, Reckless Fireweaver, or Nadir’s Nightblade is commonly enough to close out the game. If draining the opponent is too boring for you, Displaced Dinosaurs will turn all of your created Treasures into 7/7 beaters.
That said, using these win conditions generally means you need to have a lot of tokens at the ready. Jaheira, Friend of the Forest and Goldspan Dragon can help you keep your Treasures around longer to build towards bigger turns later.
Once you have all this in place, Vazi, Keen Negotiator is able to truly shine. Granting opponents Treasures at opportune moments should keep anyone from getting ahead, all while you set up for an explosive turn to close out the game. Perhaps the best thing about Vazi, however, is that you’ll naturally generate a ton of advantage off other artifact token Commanders that use Treasures, Clues, or Food themselves. These are extremely common at Bracket 3 Commander tables, allowing Vazi to overperform.
Understandably, giving your opponents free resources isn’t everyone’s favorite way of playing Commander, meaning that Vazi has a rather low play rate according to EDHREC. On the plus side, this has kept the card at about $0.50, even though it’s only available in Streets of New Capenna Set and Collector Booster packs.
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