Ramp

Continuing my look at card types when building a Commander deck, today I look at ramp.

In Magic, 'ramp' is something that accelerates your access to mana. This could be:

- a creature that taps to generate mana

- a spell that lets you play more than one land on a given turn

- a spell or effect that results in mana generation (which includes creating treasure tokens)

MTGWiki has more information.

In Magic, green is the color that specializes in ramp, but it is not the only one. Below are some example cards, separated into four categories.

1) There are a bunch of cards that allow you to add mana, either directly (tap to add) or indirectly (enabling other creatures to tap for mana or conditional triggers).

2) Some cards allow you to search your library for a land (also called 'fetching a land') and put it into play tapped. (Note: some cards returned in this search aren't technically ramp, if the land you fetch goes into your hand and not onto the battlefield.)

3) Some cards allow you to play an additional land, either on one turn or any:

4) Some cards allow you to create one or more treasure tokens:

Ramp not only allows you to get out land faster, it can let you to find specific lands. This is especially powerful and important when you play multi-colored decks; having the right kind of mana is as important as having the right amount.

Don't overlook ramp when building a deck.

Board Wipes

As promised in the previous post, today I look at board wipes.

Every commander deck should have board wipes—cards that clear the board of most (if not all) non-land permanents. (That means your own, too.) Board wipes are a way to 'reset' the game and level the playing field if things get out of hand. Sometimes, board wipes are the only way you have a shot a winning (like if your opponent amasses a goblin army . . . this may be based on recent experience).

Reminder: the major card types are land, creature, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, battle, sorcery, and instant (there are a few others that show up situationally, but I won't cover those today). Board wipes apply to permanents, and almost always focus on non-land permanents: creature, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, and battle. The most common type of board wipe focuses on creatures, as they are the primary means of doing damage.

In a prior post on [targeted] removal, I noted that each color has a 'specialty' or way of removing things; board wipes are the same. Below I go color by color and explain typical board wipes for each.

White has a ton of "destroy all creatures" spells (or variants of them); below are a few, and you can find more here. (If your commander deck has white as a color, include one or more of the below in it.)

Blue doesn't destroy things, but returns them to their owners' hands (some below, more here):

Black, like white, specializes in destroying creatures. But there is a nuance: some black spells do so by giving all creatures -X/-X until end of turn (recall that if a creature's toughness drops to 0 or below, it is destroyed). Some below, more here and here.

Red is all about damage, so most board wipes are damage-based. But it is good at destroying artifacts and lands, too. Some below, more here and here.

Green focuses on destroying enchantments, artifacts, and creatures with flying. Some below; more here and here.

Of course, there are multi-colored ones, too. Some below, more here.

And colorless artifacts:

The above is just a sample, but hopefully enough to convey the range of options available to you. I recommend 3 board wipes per commander deck; many of them are quite inexpensive (to purchase) and can make all the difference.