Top 10 ways to Immobilize Problematic Commanders 

Rhino comes up with some really great video ideas. I've been playing for over 5 years and he still teaches me.

Awesome thank you! Glad we could expand your knowledge even just a bit.

Haven't played in in a few months. Probably ought to take a look at it and see if I want to keep it together. I made it to be a more competitive deck over just casual decks but not a cEDH level deck.

There is always the possibility of counter spells and enchantment removal. But it is something they have to have in hand and ready to use. If they have to use it on their own Commander, they can't use it on one of your permanents.

​@@MtGYoungMage Just like it is something for you to have your removal in hand and ready to use. And they're not using it on their commander - they're still using it on your enchantments. If they blow up the enchantment, the commander is back to being their awesome self again. MTG is a game about deckbuilding and finding answers to problems. This also goes for your opponents with these problematic commanders: they (should) know if they would run a commander deck with a 'problematic' commander that they need to be smart about when to cast their commander. You know, don't cast it if you don't think it'll live until you untap again, keep an eye on on their mana pool, remember public information like top cards that were shown at some point, etc etc. Let's say I want to cast Ulamog from the command zone. Right there and then you already have to deal with the cast trigger before anything - which by the way can target every single one of those enchantments if those would be used on other creatures. I ask you, why not just exile the creature using Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile or whatever? Removing the threat from the board is almost always better than transmogrifying it temporarily into something else imo.

@@tholzak I don't know about you, but I see this video as alternate ways of dealing with an opponent's commander. Rhino and Papa talked about destroying, exiling and counter spelling the commander. It just goes back to the Command Zone where they can easily cast it again. If you immobilize it, not only do they have to deal with the enchantment, but may have to cast the commander again.

You certainly can, but not all of those commanders had blue in their color identity.

@@MtGYoungMage very true lol. Good video by the way!

That's just a counterspell. Then they can cast it again from the command zone. I understand the value in temporarily immobilizing a commander.

How is this turning off someone's commander? It's not like Iona, Shield of Emeria... fortunately now banned. Looks like it's just a problem that an opponent needs to overcome. No different than a counterspell or a destroy effect. If you have a well constructed deck, you should have several ways of removing enchantments. Even the precons have those as well as Swiftfoot Boots. Can't cast an enchantment on a hexproof commander.

You can also say that anyone that's been playing a while would obviously work toward a fun and balanced game play. But if you want to get to know new people and grow your player base, you need to play these games with less-than-optimal commanders for a casual game. I've run into the players that Rhino is talking about. Often they come from a competitive background and need a game or two of casual play to get the super competitiveness out of their system.

There are A LOT of softies out there trying to make themselves look big by stomping unsuspecting players

Not exaggerated at all. The person I was playing against was a netdecker and only played the "top" deck in Standard. He paid a lot to create the decks and got upset every time he lost, even a single game. He would complain constantly and when he won he would exert his "superiority" by laughing at the newbies or people that couldn't afford the best cards. He was just a pain to be around.

@@MtGYoungMage I know the type. They are very anti-social. Buy the most expensive deck and expect to win all the time. When you present them with a deck that's not in the meta, they collapse.

When a competitive play loses and know they are going to lose, they concede. It's a waste of time to play a losing game. You see it all the time with the pros.