Wheel of Misfortune

Hi folx! My name is Andy Floury and you may know me from the Guardian Project podcast. I’m very active on social media so it's possible you've run into me on Twitter too. I’m a tinkerer at heart constantly making updates to my decks and looking for ways to reduce their weaknesses against specific strategies.

In the past few years, I’ve started gravitating towards combo decks with the mindset that games always need to end. I usually build decks that focus primarily on the commander but can win out of the blue if I draw the right cards. Some argue that these consistently powerful strategies involving combo elements aren’t always fun to play against and may not be in the “spirit” of Commander, but I think setting clear expectations with your playgroup will help curb frustrations.

Throughout this series, I’d like to explore strategies that have make us say “Good Grief” and ways to combat them. Many of us have had experiences playing a game against a specific archetype and feeling as though we’d fought an uphill battle that was nearly impossible to overcome. I’ve played a majority of these strategies myself *for science* so I speak from experience. For this first installment, I want to talk about ways to combat a consistently powerful strategy involving wheels.

The Wheel

In Commander, wheel effects, aptly named after Wheel of Fortune

You’ve likely benefitted from new hand of seven cards at some point. Sometimes that change comes ala Windfall

I regularly see cards like; Whirlpool Rider

Each of these cards is great to get a fresh hand of cards, when that actually happens. The issue is when you lose your hand to some arguably problematic cards. Let's take a look at the problem.

Who's Causing the Problems?

Although there aren’t a ton of cards attributed to the problem, these are likely the culprits. I want to note that Hullbreacher

Lots of wheel decks attempt to win on that same turn they start chaining their mass draw effects. The Locust God

The Plan of Attack

Let's look at a few ways we can stop a wheel deck in its tracks. Let's start by looking at counter spells. Preventing their spells from resolving is solid when you see the writing on the wall. They’re a great way to stop the problem but the issue is they’re not inherently fun to play with. We're trying to combat a consistent strategy so let’s hit them where it counts.

We’ve got a way to counter something in each color but we’re not going to achieve our desired outcome each time. Green isn’t looking so hot on the counter front but it’s likely your opponent is playing other cards we can hit. So let’s include include all of these anyway.

We could also just slow our opponents down a bit. Cards like Eidolon of Rhetoric

Spot removal is great but isn’t the solution. We won’t always have it but a 1-2 punch with Path to Exile

The last strategy I’d like to dip into is graveyard hate. Lots of these strategies look to fill up the graveyard to cast cards down the road. I’m looking at you Nekusar, the Mindrazer

Now let’s put a parking boot on those wheels. I want to hear about what you think here. How do you combat wheel strategies? What would you do differently? Happy gaming!