Rats in a maze...

If anything could convince me that mass land destruction has a legitimate place in EDH, it would be a table full of these:

I absolutely despise this card. It turns interesting tables into defensive logjams, as attacking becomes an exercise in futility. What makes the maze so much worse than say island sanctuary or wall of denial, is that its a land. The usual cast of EDH sweepers hit all sorts of permanents but almost never lands. In fact, the few cards that do sweep lands (jokulhaups, obliterate, catastrophe) are banned from my playgroups. Banning mass LD is a fairly common house-rule for EDH, as games are long enough as it is, and topdeck wars are not exactly fun.

Unfortunately this means that Maze of Ith gets a free pass from the sweepers that would most effectively deal with it. Luckily there are some versatile answers out there for the discerning planeswalker. My own cast of anti-maze-tech features cards such as decimate, saltblast, icy manipulator and tsabo’s web. When adding these to your deck though remember the golden rule - try to win without making anyone else miserable. Don’t use (waste even) your limited LD options just to mana screw someone who’s already down on their luck. Have patience and remember why you had to put those LD spells in the deck in the first place.

While preparation is the hallmark of a great EDH mage, it doesn’t hurt to also question the manhood of your opponent anytime he chooses to play, steal, or copy a maze of ith. And when you do finally get rid of the maze, drive home the point by sending everything you can at him. Who cares if you lose as long as he doesn’t win! With the right blend of versatile answers, shameful insults and reckless but principled attacks, together we can drive the scourge that is maze of ith from EDH decks everywhere.


Macaroni or Cheese?

Between creating massive game-stalls and forcing people to play land destruction in every deck, even people who play it agree: there is a pungent stench of Limburger wafting out of this labyrinth.