Turning Legends into Myths

One of the cruelest things you can do in a game of EDH is deny someone access to their general. The option of putting your general in the command zone only triggers if he would go to the graveyard or exile zones - you don’t get a choice if it goes to your hand or library. This means all generals are vulnerable to “tuck-spells”, the gold standard of which is spin into myth:

I find spin has the fewest drawbacks or restrictions of the usual tuck spells, but you can basically consider hinder, spell crumple, condemn, oblation, hallowed burial, and bant charm in the same class. There are also tuck combos using cards like rishidan pawnshop (steal), excommunicate (shuffle), and teferi’s puzzle box (bounce). Ultimately its the effect that matters here, not so much the specific card.

I actually had one of my most memorable EDH moments playing rishidan pawnshop. I had finally drawn a threaten to get rid of an extremely annoying reaper king that just kept coming back and stomping the table. I pawnshop the reaper into the other players deck, to high fives around the table... only to see the reaper king player cast demonic tutor on his next turn... such sadness.

Anyways, back to spin into myth and pals: sending a general to the library is usually a move of utter douchery, as the vast majority of decks are designed to synergize with the general. Even for decks that don’t need their general, its a pretty big disadvantage to lose the option of casting a free spell from the command zone.

That being said, tuck spells give outs to some truly brutal commanders who will just decimate the table otherwise. While it always depends on the competitiveness of the decks and the situation, below is a list of generals that almost always deserve a tuck spell (e.g. people shouldnt be playing them in the first place if they’re following the golden rule):

1. Zur the Enchanter. Its not fun knowing if this player untaps you lose.

2. Jhoira of the Ghitu. Its not fun knowing if this player untaps you lose.

3. Reaper King. Its not fun knowing that anything worth playing will be vindicated.

4. Merike Ri Berit. Its not fun knowing that anything worth playing will just be stolen/killed.

5. Gaddock Teeg. Its not fun not playing cards.

6. Eight and a Half Tails. Its not fun facing a board of nonstop hexproof / indestructible / unblockable.

7. The Mimeoplasm. Its too hard to repeatedly clean the graveyards out to keep this card in check.

In the same vein there are cards like arcum daggson, captain sisay, and teneb the harvester that usually deserve to be tucked; but this is a good base list of shithead generals that legitimize (even require) playing tuck spells in your deck when you can.

Macaroni or Cheese?

Its the cheese you’re sometimes very glad to see played... cheese that deals with other cheese. Played improperly though, it can definitely be the worst of the worst.