Winning at Instant Speed in cEDH
Winning in cEDH is hard. Not only are you playing against the increased variance that comes with a singleton format, but you're also facing the uphill battle of fighting against three times as many opponents, compared to a typical competitive game. All this to say, the question of agency in cEDH is a pretty distinct one. In cEDH, you just aren't going to be playing as much Magic as the sum-total as your opponents. So, how can we eke out more opportunities during our games, not just to play the game, but to win?
A long-since banned answer to our question.
The Value of Instant Speed
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of instant speed victories, it's important to first take a look at the broader cEDH victory landscape, one which - to put it bluntly - is almost entirely sorcery speed.
When you think of winning in cEDH, what cards come to mind? Underworld Breach? Thassa's Oracle? Protean Hulk? All potent options to be sure - some of which even contain instants as part of their respective combo packages - but these are all restricted in one way or another to their controller's turns. Sure, you can cast a Tainted Pact whenever you'd like to, but odds are you won't be using it as part of a game-winning combo on any player's turn but your own.
This sorcery-speed dependency of cEDH win conditions means that, in a typical game, there is already background pressure in place constricting the actions of a player going for the win. During your turn, you will be the center of attention. The range of possible actions you can take is greater than that of any individual opponent, so focus shifts to you as the active player. As such, the odds of you surprising the table with a win on your own turn are necessarily lower than it would be otherwise. Wins can be more or less surprising based off of how much information you have already shared with the table in the lead up to your turn (i.e. casting an endstep Vampiric Tutor), but - from the moment you untap - responsible opponents will operate cautiously and attentively.
This is where the value of instant speed win conditions comes into play - it's all about surprise. Outside of the usual tutors and counterspells, your opponents won't be considering you the principal threat while another person is the active player. Even in cases where you have over-extended yourself, building too strong a board presence or obviously dominating resource allotment, your opponents will be thinking about your next turn - mistakenly believing that the sorcery-speed window is what you'll be waiting for.
The next best thing about instant speed wins is the ability to win on-top of another person's win attempt. cEDH may be a four-player game, but I've seen my fair share of wins attempted with no interaction from the rest of the pod in order to stop it. An instant speed win is the ultimate version of interaction. It's risky, as too many threats on the stack at any given point can result in kingmaking scenarios, but this isn't always the case. Think smart, wait to see if any other player can interact with the win already on the stack, and if no one can, then go for it.
How It's Done - Key Cards
So, we've established why instant speed win conditions are valuable, but how are they actually done? The format's best combo packages are all sorcery speed, so how can we get around this without compromising the quality of our victory attempts? For that, we need enablers - cards that directly support a win attempt, rather than seek to augment some piece of it.
Valley Floodcaller
First up is Valley Floodcaller, cEDH's newest and most questionable flash-enabler. First, the positives.
Valley Floodcaller is a creature spell, meaning that it is much harder to interact with on the stack than other options. Countering creautre spells is pretty rare in cEDH, so odds are that your Valley Floodcaller is going to resolve.
The second positive aspect about Valley Floodcaller is its ability to untap a select roster of creature types, most notably Birds and Otters. As far as Birds are concerned, the most important is Birds of Paradise. So if you control one of those, then you'll be making a mana whenever you cast a noncreature spell. Alternatively, if you control a Paradise Mantle, then your own Valley Floodcaller can make mana too. Build a Birgi, anyone?
As for the negatives, there's no escaping Valley Floodcaller's mana cost; is a lot of mana in cEDH. This often leads to players casting Valley Floodcaller but not fully utilizing it until another turn, diminishing the surprise value of flashing it in on another player's turn.
The other downside of Valley Floodcaller is that it doesn't grant flash to creature spells. You can still win with noncreature combos enabled by the likes of Underworld Breach, but you won't be slamming a Thassa's Oracle anytime soon.
Emergence Zone
Our next option for enabling instant speed wins is Emergence Zone, one of the most widely available cards in cEDH thanks to it being a untapped, mana-producing land with no color identity.
Since Emergence Zone is a land, evaluating its cost is a bit trickier. Rather than looking just at the actual activation cost for its activated ability - , , Sacrifice Emergence Zone - we also need to think about the land most likely being cut in order to include Emergence Zone in the first place.
Being an untapped, colorless-mana producing land is great, but in high-color lists (your Sisay, Weatherlight Captains and Blue Farm decks) this cost is just too high most of the time. Sol lands like Ancient Tomb get a pass because they provide acceleration, but Emergence Zone will likely spend most of the game doing little to advance your overall strategy. As such, despite being incredibly efficient to activate, the real cost comes in the deckbuilding consequences.
For low color lists, however, Emergence Zone becomes much more appealing. Without the concern of being pulled between three-or-more colors, you'll likely have a higher percentage of your overall mana spent on generic costs. Emergence Zone does a fine job here, one which is more than compensated for by the ability to - at a moment's notice - be sacrificed in order give all of your spells flash until end of turn. Valley Floodcaller might not let you jam a Thassa's Oracle, but Emergence Zone sure will.
Borne Upon a Wind
Last up on our list of support pieces is cEDH's current best flash-enabler, and that's Borne Upon a Wind. Coming in at two mana - - this instant lets you cast all of your spells as if they had flash until end of turn and draws you a card. Now, I'm a massive fan of cantrips whenever I can justify playing them, but make no mistake - drawing a card is not what makes Borne Upon a Wind so much better than the rest.
The key to Borne Upon a Wind's success is the combination of efficiency and surprise. Sure, two mana isn't cheap, but it is as cost efficient as its closest peers (Emergence Zone may cost only to activate, but keep in mind that doing so also denies you access to the which tapping it for mana would otherwise produce). As for the surprise factor, Borne Upon a Wind is the only flash-enabler which can be completely hidden until the turn it is deployed. Each other card on our list is a permanent, meaning that your opponents will likely have some amount of information ahead of time. Borne Upon a Wind grants no such heads up, giving you the most advantage possible.
How It's Done - Key Commanders
Enablers aren't the end-all be-all of instant-speed victories, however. Looking to commanders, we can see that there are currently a plethora of options that enable far more interesting shenanigans, provided you warp the deck around them. For every standard Underworld Breach package backed up by a cracked Emergence Zone, there's an Elsha player somewhere digging for their cost reducer. So, what are some of the most notable decks with instant-speed victory potential? Let's take a look.
Elsha of the Infinite
First off is the commander I spoiled in the intro, Elsha of the Infinite. Breaking down the card, we can see that - unlike the rest of our list - Elsha has a baked-in flash enabler attached, meaning that the whole deck operates at instant speed, not just our victory package. The cost of this game-warping effect, however, is that Elsha of the Infinite forgoes much of cEDH's classic creature staples in order to maximize the ability to cast noncreature spells from the top of the library. The worst thing an Elsha player can see is a creature on top of the deck, even if that creature is Dockside Extortionist, as that stops the cascading card advantage that Elsha of the Infinite offers.
So, how does Elsha win? Typically, a card that reduces the cost of artifact spells (usually Helm of Awakening) and Sensei's Divining Top. Provided that our commander is in play (a line of text equally applicable to all commanders in this section), this combo allows you to draw your deck at instant speed. From their, since your storm count will be incredibly high due to all of your casts of Sensei's Divining Top, Brain Freeze will just about always get the job done.
Stella Lee, Wild Card
Next up on our list is a much newer commander, and that's Stella Lee, Wild Card. Stella here doesn't have anything close to Elsha's direct flash-enabling line, but don't let that fool you. This deck is absolutely chock full of instants and can win in the blink of an eye - on any player's turn - if it isn't defended against properly. How, you ask? Simple: cast any two spells first, and then cast your choice from among Stella's three one-card combo pieces (Cerulean Wisps, Refocus, and Twitch). After that, you will have unlocked the activation restriction on Stella's activated ability, enabling you to copy the combo card. This lets you draw your deck, tapping and untapping Stella an arbitrary number of times. From there, pick your Izzet combo of choice (many lists use Borne Upon a Wind as well once you've drawn your deck in order to win with traditional sorcery-speed cards, like Thassa's Oracle).
The real appeal of Stella comes in the deck's flexibility and redundancy. Having four one-card win conditions (the fourth being the sorcery Twisted Fealty) backed up by the all-powerful Izzet suite with very little deckbuilding restrictions means that Stella Lee, Wild Card is an incredibly potent deck. Sit back and play the control game, grinding out incidental value behind your Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study, then jam a one-card win on an opponent's endstep and shuffle up for the next game.
Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Our last card on the list is Magda, Brazen Outlaw, a commander that can be a bit tricky to understand at first but terrifying once you really start to wrap your head around it. Let me explain.
Despite being a mono-red deck, Magda, Brazen Outlaw packs a lot of power thanks to its built in and self-synergistic tutor ability, which is fueled by the Treasures which Magda so readily creates. Whenever a Dwarf you control becomes tapped - Magda included - you'll make a Treasure, and once you hit five Treasures you can sacrifice them to tutor and artifact or Dragon directly to the field (this is where instant-speed comes into play).
The combo for Magda revolves around controlling an artifact creature that is also a Dwarf (the likes of Universal Automaton) and five Treasures. Once you've gotten there, sacrifice the Treasures to activate Magda, searching for Clock of Omens. Tap Clock of Omens and Universal Automaton to untap the Universal Automaton, creating a Treasure in the process thanks to Magda's triggered ability. Now, you've reached a loop where each you'll tap a Treasure and the now-untapped Universal Automaton to again untap the Automaton, making another Treasure, until you have infinite Treasure to sacrifice to Magda's activated ability, filtering your deck for artifacts and Dragons. All of this, of course, at instant speed.
Wrap Up
Despite cEDH's most popular combos being locked in the realm of sorcery-speed, the format is slowly growing to include more and more opportunities for instant-speed victories. Wether it's through an enabler like Borne Upon a Wind or a dedicated commander the likes of Stella Lee, Wild Card, it's important to keep your eyes open - you never know when the non-active player will go for the win.
