SOLVE /sälv/ verb find an answer to, explanation for, or means of effectively dealing with (a problem or mystery).

What are the pieces we need to add together to have a fun game of commander? On a base level we need cards and we need lands to play said cards. A little acceleration always helps and few answers for our opponents always helps too. My number one goal when playing group hug has been to solve for the basics and then some but as with any good game, strategies change!

At our local shop there used to be a constant problem of games going too long on league night. Some of this was due to new players who were learning the game and needed more time to read the cards and understand the board state but some of it was control players that kept wiping the board and resetting the game without a win condition in hand. So my tiny group hug mind churned into action coming up with ways to speed up the table by providing all the resources needed to accelerate the table!

I came up with what I refer to as ‘Turbo Hug’ a massively efficient deck type that showers the table with all the resources. Kodama/Sakashima Turbo Hug (Archidekt link here) flooded the board with card draw, ramp and mana doublers! All of this at a really quick rate due to Kodama of the East Tree and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. Can you imagine what must have went wrong? I didn’t really see it until I tried it. And I must admit it was fun to try! Giving the table as a whole this many resources just adds even more removal and control to the game! So now the board state was even more complicated and clogged up due in large part to the board wipes but also all the triggers that I had added to the board. Draw x cards a turn, play x lands a turn, discard a card to pay the mana cost for another card, etc. So in an attempt to fix the problem I made it worse! Welcome to planet earth.

So that’s when I decided to try a different approach…  

    In my Phelddagrif deck (Archidekt link here) I don’t bring card draw to the table at all. Just some free mana and A LOT of hippos and snakes. This declutters my deck list and allows it to function more consistently. It also leaves space for a few win cons and game enders in case the game goes too long. Not solving for card draw changes the way the game feels in a big way! In fact making the table draw cards is almost too powerful in certain pods. But as with any rule I set for myself I instantly started thinking of ways to break it…

In my Kwain deck (Archidekt link here) I give only card draw! So much so that my win cons all involve drawing cards. Solving card draw is the most powerful because in many ways you are solving everything for the table. It ensures that people find creatures and lands to play but it also populates the table with a ton of removal. Board wipes are very popular in commander so many times you end up slowing the game down and losing all your permanents every few turns. That’s why I consider the cards above a must in any heavy card draw deck. I’m still testing this deck so more to come on that soon!

All of these factors to consider continue to make group hug my favorite way to play commander! So much to consider and test. And then when I travel, each meta tends to be wildly different in the ways they respond to having a group hug player at the table! It’s such a fun journey to be on!