Fog

by Jaime Jones

Welcome to this installment of Good Grief, the series about powerful commander strategies that make us say good grief, and ways to combat them. I’m Andy Floury and you may know me from the Guardian Project podcast or from Commander steams throughout the community. This month I’m writing about Commander decks focused on preventing combat damage by utilizing Fog

I’m Feeling Foggy 

In commander, Fog decks get their namesake from Fog

These decks negate combat-focused Commander strategies from making a meaningful impact throughout the game. They’re also inherently political. They lend themselves to creating an environment based on alliances until they get to a point where they can recycle and reuse their spells to prevent anyone from dealing combat damage for the remainder of the game. They often win through alternate win conditions rather than by combat damage themselves.

Let’s look at some of the most commonly played cards when it comes to Fog in Commander.

Constant Mists

Spike Weaver

Let's discuss some commanders that take advantage of these cards.

Constant Mists

Some commanders that commonly emerge from the mists are Angus Mackenzie

Angus Mackenzie having access to white, blue, and green is able to utilize the top options for Fog in Commander and gains access to countermagic to back them up. Many Angus decks focus on controlling combat for the remainder of the game after setting up a board state with cards like Seedborn Muse

Meren and Muldrotha are able to reanimate Spore Frog

Lets Fog Them Up

We’ve got a plenty of options to stop a Fog deck. We’re going to start with the cards that say damage can’t be prevented.

Can’t stop this

Malignus

At instant speed we’ve got Skullcrack

These are important because they can be cast in response to a damage prevention spell. Cards that say something *can’t* be prevented will take precedence. In other words, if your opponents prevents combat damage and you play one of these spells, your combat damage will go through. There is no stack to worry about.

I'm looking at the insult side of Insult//Injury

Loss of Life

The backup plan here is to cause loss of life as it won’t be negated by Fog cards. I’m going to focus on an aristocrat strategy where you sacrifice creatures to your own benefit.

Running cards like Blood Artist

There are a few commanders that can take advantage of this strategy but since I’m going to try to force combat through, I’d like to have a commander that can take my opponents down a notch.

Clearing the Air

We’re venturing into Fog in Commander with partners Trynn, Champion of Freedom

Mardu colors give us access to red for our spells that say damage can't be prevented and white and black for the aristocrat subtheme. Silvar is large enough that it triggers Ferocious for Wild Slash

Here is where I landed with this build. I hope you enjoyed this article and I'd like to hear from you. How would you combat a Fog strategy?