And that, my friends, is politics.
 |
| I mean, so is this, but... ah, hell. They'll both win you the game. |
Whether you know it or not, if you've played Magic, you've likely employed at least one of the tactics I'll touch on today. If I had to guess, I'd say that at some point, you've either bluffed or attempted to bluff. Some examples of bluffing would include "sandbagging," which is to say, holding a land or something in hand to convince your opponent you have a counterspell, or a combat trick. In relatively low stakes Magic, this might not always have the results you'd expect. There's no real penalty for calling your bluff if I'm just there to play.
At higher stakes Magic, however...
Now, casual Commander is about as low as one can go, stakes-wise. Please consider, however, that games tend to go on a lot longer in 5-6 person Commander games. After more than an hour, you might hit a point at which you're emotionally invested in the outcome. People are competitive, after all, and some derive fun from winning, from success.
This isn't wrong, but I have observed people approach bluffs with more caution late in a given game. Swinging into a Rout feels bad, and barring some blue shenanigans, I might not know what you've got.
So bluffing has a place. Body language (confidence, good posture, a slight smile, fingers close to untapped lands as they move to combat) will help sell any bluff you're making, as can some good, old-fashioned trash-talking.
As an aside, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this.
Right way: "Are you sure you want to attack me?" (raises eyebrow)
Usually wrong way: "Do it motherfucker, I dare you! 1v1 me IRL!" (foams at mouth)
This will, of course, vary from playgroup to playgroup. As a rule of thumb, consider the above guidelines when playing in public, or with a new group.
Negotiation
As important and intuitive as bluffing is, I'd argue that negotiation comes up far, far more frequently in a given game of Commander.
Everyone's been there- someone has a planeswalker ready to ultimate next turn, has resolved a Doubling Season, or has Nekusar out and you know your group's about to see more wheels than Vanna White.
You or someone seated nearby invariably says something like:
"I can deal with that... if you guys can keep me alive/help me to draw a card/pick me with Spectral Searchlight."
 |
| "Anyone got a light?" |
What do you do?
 |
| This, more or less. |
Naturally, barring some circumstances (you've just hit the two hour mark and need to get dinner soon, etc.), a hasty alliance is formed until Public Enemy #1 is dealt with.
Easy, right?
Here are some other tactics, with a few examples.
The Auction:
 |
| "So... are we bidding on the thief, or are we the thieves?" "Yes." |
This approach creates competition via an auction of sorts. When multiple parties want the same thing, you want to divide them, to pit them against one another. Often, when people know that they may lose out on something, they will want it even more. Not only do they want the thing that is being bid on, they also want to win, just to win. Taking advantage of someone's competitive nature can get you everything you want, and more.
Brinksmanship:
 |
| Hooded Dude does not screw around. The stick is for playing hardball, motherfuckers! |
This is the "all or nothing" approach. One party aggressively pursues a set of terms to the point at which the other negotiating party must either agree or walk away. Successful brinksmanship convinces the other party they have no choice but to accept the offer and there is no acceptable alternative to the proposed agreement. Will you Wrath if you don't get the life from a Grove of the Burnwillows? Maybe. But they don't have to know the truth.
The Red Herring:
Negotiators use this tactic to pretend that an issue of little or no importance to him or her is very important. Then, later in the negotiation, the issue can be traded for a major concession of actual importance.
A game of "chicken":
We've touched on this one already. Players propose extreme measures, often bluffs, to force the other party to chicken out and give them what they want. This tactic can be dangerous when parties are unwilling to back down and go through with the extreme measure. But there's no fun in playing it safe all the time.
Flinch:
 |
| Seriously. If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this flavour text. |
Back to the body language I mentioned above. Flinching is showing a strong negative physical reaction to a proposal, like gasping for air, or a visible expression of surprise or shock. You can manipulate your opponents by overemphasizing, or by carefully controlling your reaction to their threat. Seeing a physical reaction is more believable than hearing someone saying, "I'm shocked."
Cards
Okay, so we've gone over ways in which you can hide your intentions, and manipulate your opponents.
But when it comes to card selection, cards exist that are decidedly political in nature. Most of these are cards Neville Chamberlain would play. If he played Magic.
And, you know, if he were still alive.
 |
| "Are you lads up for some Vintage?" |
From popular Commanders like Phelddagrif, Nekusar, the Mindrazer and Zedruu the Greathearted to cards like Jace Beleren, Spectral Searchlight, and Weird Harvest, many political cards seem geared toward appeasement.
History time!
For those unaware, appeasement is basically making concessions in the name of peace. The Commander riff on appeasement is that you often concede resources not for "peace," but for favours. Neville Chamberlain, onetime Prime Minister of Great Britain, employed this policy when dealing with Hitler's Germany. Chamberlain's acknowledgement of the Reich's new borders did not, as it turned out, secure "peace for our time" as he'd hoped, but it does follow logically that offering incentives for your opponents to do as you want them to should produce some results.
So, yes, you can use your cards in addition to your brain and body language to convince your opponents to do you small favours. Like not attacking, targeting someone else's permanents, and killing one another.
How to buy an opponent, however? No one way will work 100% of the time, and you should be acutely aware that if you are dominating the game, it's unlikely resources will help in buying cooperation. That's where threats/ offering to allow them to live come in. Other than those circumstances, there are two main categories of bribes: tangible and intangible.
Tangible incentives include cards drawn, life, mana, and even creatures. Jace Beleren can allow all of your opponents, or even just one opponent, draw a card. Grove of the Burnwillows offers a small amount of life that you can bargain with. Spectral Searchlight can help you make friends. And a favourite of mine, Forbidden Orchard, allows you to give another player a colourless 1/1 with flash. All of these, with the right request can be all the manoeuvering you need to work your way ahead.
 |
| You're in for a tree-t! |
Intangible incentives are basically promises. They can be promises of tangible incentives, or an exchange of favours (an attack, a well-timed combat trick, a targeted removal spell). Now, a warning. If you never honour your word, you begin to build a reputation for yourself as That Guy. You don't always have to honour your word to the letter, but I recommend keeping yourself "in the black," so to speak. People will trust you, and it can be fun to watch people be bound by the language they used in their request. Not attacking someone, for example, often doesn't cover nuking them from orbit. Walk the line between letter and spirit, but I'd suggest keeping things sporting. It can go both ways, too- if you promise to wipe someone out, follow through. See the negotiation section above.
 |
| "Impractical blades- forehead blades." |
Gearing One's Deck Toward Politics
You don't need to be running a group hug or group slug deck to make friends. Yes, purple hippos and liches can influence the course of a game on their own, but you don't have to leave your comfort zone if politics is something that's new to you.
How do you make a deck more political? You choose a few key interactive cards. Removal, card draw, combat tricks; whatever best suits your style and taste. Consider running cards that offer some flexibility in how they're used. Modal cards are good for this. I've talked about Austere Command and Primal Command before; their strength lay in their versatility. Not only are they fine cards to run in a vacuum, but choosing to spare a player's permanents with Austere Command or shuffling a problematic graveyard back into its owner's library with Primal Command are perfectly valid plays that you can use as leverage. Back when tuck was still legal, Bant Charm saw a lot of play for its ability to destroy artifacts or tuck a problematic creature (not so much to counter instants). This helps to ensure that the card is seldom dead in your head; you can use it to make a friend.
Planeswalkers are another useful tool. It may not be a secret at this point that I love planeswalkers. They can be hard to remove, and in many cases offer up a huge amount of value for a very reasonable mana cost. Incidentally, many loyalty abilities are tools you can employ to curry favour with your opponents. Untap one of their creatures with Kiora, Master of the Depths. Have Dack Fayden help them loot. Sorin Markov can help a bullied opponent take revenge on his oppressor. Teferi can untap, well, damn near anything, and in large quantities. All of these are useful ways to convince your opponents they should be listening to you. By all means, plan to run them for your own benefit. I'm simply suggesting that while they're there anyway, maybe they can help you increase an opponent's loyalty, too.
 |
| Another reference to thieves in this politics article... hmm... |
Lastly, if they can't be bought, I'd consider running a few rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes are cards that should intimidate people into not antagonizing you. One of my favourites is this:
Dropping this sends a clear message to you opponents- play a third creature, and see what happens. Cards like this warrant an immediate answer, or people will back down until they have an answer. Doing little more than buying you time can still be worthwhile in certain circumstances. The fact that this only might put you on someone's radar is valuable, as well. It needs an answer, but how much more urgently than the Jhoira player suspending an Obliterate? Unless your group knows you and your deck well, someone might just trigger this trap. And then you can play the blame game! After all, is it really your fault someone played a third creature? And is it really your fault that Elesh Norn and Avacyn were the first creatures you saw? You only want the game to carry on quickly, after all! And it was So-and-So that forced you to sacrifice Defense of the Heart...
Really, you're blameless in this.
That's it for this week! The new website is coming soon!
Thanks for reading! As always, your feedback is both welcome and appreciated!
No comments:
Post a Comment