Hello everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and today we are back with another top ten list. Last time we went over things that I wish I knew before getting into Commander. Now I want to talk about some tips and tricks to get your game to the next level. This is hardly a comprehensive list of tips to improve in Commander, as I could write a top ten list every week for the rest of the year and still not get to them all. Instead, I feel these are ten of the most important things that can really boost a player's ability in-game. Let's begin!

1. Just because it's an annoying card doesn't mean it deserves our removal spell.

In Commander, especially in the recent era, the threats are a lot more terrifying than they used to be. Power creep has definitely affected Commander in a big way. Because of this, we're seeing a lot more "answer this or die" cards that we 100% need to have an answer for. Unless you're playing a control deck with twenty-plus pieces of interaction, it's probably more important to save your removal to deal with a true game-ending threat later. Most games of Commander I lost this year were because I either didn't draw enough removal, or when a game-ending threat came out I couldn't deal with it.

2. The player in second place is often scarier than the player in first.

Commander usually plays like a rotating three-versus-one. One player at a time will take control of the game and try to push their advantage toward a win. The rest of the table will do everything in their power to stop them. What often happens, though, is that in trying to stop the lead player, opponents have to overextend and use up their resources and removal. That leaves the second-place player with far less resistance, which significantly increases their odds of winning.

3. Add synergy wherever you can.

In Commander, we only get ninety-nine cards in a deck to work with. This means we need to pack in our ramp, card draw, removal, board wipes, lands, and synergy all at once. If there are cards that can add synergy while also filling one of those essential slots, they're worth their weight in gold. A great example is Broken Bond in a landfall deck. Sure, it's not at instant speed like you might want, but being able to play an extra land in a deck with a commander like Tatyova makes it an excellent synergy piece. The more synergy we can blend into the essentials, the more room we free up for cards that focus solely on our deck's theme.

4. The threat to the table and the threat to you can be different things.

This one is a bit harder for newer players to grasp. If there's a scary creature on the board, it's certainly a threat, but if you have enough blockers to trade with it, or a fog effect in hand, then it's more of a problem for everyone else. Yes, the table will call it a threat, but until it actively starts becoming a problem for us, it should be on the other players to find a way to deal with it.

5. If you're trying to improve the effectiveness of a deck, you need to eat your vegetables.

This tip counters number three. If everything in your deck relies on synergy, you could wind up with dead cards in hand that only work when other parts of the engine are in play. Cards like Harmonize and Beast Within are great because, no matter the situation, they always do the same thing reliably.

6. Playing more cards at instant speed lets you collect as much information as possible before making decisions.

In a multiplayer game, we're always at a disadvantage. When we draw one card, the rest of the table collectively draws three. That means we need to make our cards count. When it comes to deploying creatures or using removal, casting them as late as possible is usually best. There could always be a board wipe waiting to undo your creature, or a bigger threat about to appear that your removal would be better spent on.

7. Know your commander's reputation.

A lot of newer players stumble into ridiculously powerful commanders like Jodah, the Unifier. Sometimes this happens because these cards are tied to Universes Beyond characters, so to them, they're not playing "Jodah," they're playing "SpongeBob." Regardless of what you call it, that commander is a destroy-on-sight threat, which means new players often wonder why their commander dies so quickly or why they're constantly attacked. In contrast, playing a less well-known commander can sometimes work to your advantage, since it draws far less attention in the early game.

8. The best removal is someone else's removal.

Removal isn't nearly as common in Commander as it needs to be. With three opponents all playing threats, it's impossible to answer everything yourself. By politicking or letting something else become the obvious danger, you can often get opponents to use their removal for you. This does two things: one, you save your own removal for later, and two, your opponent now has one less answer for your threats.

9. If you're in a comfortable winning position, sandbag cards.

I've seen way too many games where a player in the lead dumps their entire hand onto the board, only to get wiped out by a single board wipe. With no cards left in hand, it's nearly impossible to recover. Unless you feel the only way to win is to push right then and there, it's usually better to keep some cards in reserve so you can rebuild if things go south.

10. Always have a plan B.

If a deck only wins through combat or has a single combo it's trying to assemble, that's a big problem. These win conditions can be shut down quickly. All it takes is a Spore Frog loop to shut combat down forever, or one counterspell to stop a combo cold. In all of my decks, I try to include at least one alternate way to win. Sometimes it's a three- or four-card combo, and sometimes it's an alternate win condition like Approach of the Second Sun. No matter what it is, it's always worth having a backup way to close out the game--even if it's far-fetched.

Wrapping Up

And there you have it. These are ten of the most important tips and tricks for Commander. There are plenty of other tips out there, and the best way to learn them is simply by playing the game. Until next time, happy gaming!