Playing in an imbalanced pod can be a nightmare for a group hug deck. And more and more often that is the case. An example of a common pod I get into lately goes like this: an upgraded precon, a mid tier home brew jank deck and an optimized casual deck. Optimized is a word we came up with in our local shop to talk about decks that aren’t cEDH level but they are just below it. Usually these are decks that someone has tuned for a long time. I’m sure you have encountered some on your magic adventures! 

When a pod is set up like that a group hug deck can very easily make the power imbalance worse. Feed the table resources at the same rate and the optimized deck will win most of the time or become the arch enemy and win very quickly. Or sometimes they will get ganged up on and the home brew deck will squeeze in a win. I do love that due to it’s multiplayer nature that the second scenario is possible in commander! It’s one of the many reasons why I love commander and why 1v1 magic just doesn’t hold any appeal to me. Anyway what can be done about playing in massively imbalanced pods?

It is very easy to build a group hug deck that helps the whole table but if this is getting out of control in your games it might be time to try some targeted help.

Secret Rendezvous is a great one time use draw spell that helps you and whoever you want! Wedding Ring has very interesting design and it can really net you and one other player a lot of cards. There are a few downsides since you can’t really turn it back off if the player you choose gets way ahead and it is also a visible reminder to the table that you chose one player to side with!

Scheming Symmetry is another great single use tutor that allows you and a player of your choice to search. I find this to be very powerful if there is a problem permanent in play. I simply ay I don’t really have an answer in my deck but I can let you search yours if you agree to take care of the problem permanent. Then I get to search up something and the problem gets handled too!

The next card, Heartwood Storyteller is great if you have a storm or a spellslinger deck in your meta! It does enable massive card draw for the table but it usually allows the table to stop the storm player from winning the game on the spot.

This next card is very relevant in my hometown meta. There are a lot of Tatyova decks ramping away at our shop! Scholarship Sponsor is such a powerful tool against those decks! It catches the whole table up on lands in a single trigger! Oath of Lieges is one of my favorite Magic cards! It speeds up a game naturally without adding too much extra power to a game but if there is a ramp player at the table it doesn’t help them at all.

Never underestimate the power of good old fashioned removal! Damn is a great card to run because it can be a reset button or it can get rid of a single problem creature. Does someone have a synergistic creature that is gonna take over the game with their current board state? Wrong Turn is a very disruptive card! In the case of Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile and Arcane Denial they even give something back to the player which is a flavor win for a group hug deck! As always make sure you are solving card draw or tutors for yourself so you can get the right answers at the right time!

There are times when playing group hug that we look around the table and realize that we have caused the game to be unbalanced. In fact this happens a lot and is one of the fun things about piloting these decks. Unbalanced doesn’t always mean not fun but when it does here are some cards to consider running to balance out what we are giving the table.

Does your deck give away card draw like one of my favorite decks? (Kwain Group Hug Moxfield link) Do players argue about who gets to sit next to you in turn order? Standstill is one and of my favorite cards for balancing that problem out! The person next in line can either play a spell and watch as everyone else draws three cards or they can take their turn off! Or if you are feeling generous you can just play a spell right after you play standstill and let everyone else draw three! Very versatile!

Another thing that can happen when a lot of cards are being drawn is an overabundance of removal or board wipes are introduced into the game. Teferi’s Protection can help you dodge some of that removal! Second Sunrise just resets everything for everyone and is a really funny group hug get around for board wipes.

Is your deck giving away mana? This one is hard to balance out because unless your deck can also solve card draw for yourself it is very easy to run out of answers for all the early game things your opponents are playing. Sometimes you just have to be the bad guy and play a board wipe to clean up the mess you made when giving away free mana!

The only deck that I’ve built so far that can give away free mana and have any chance of winning is my Chulane Crater Hug deck! (Moxfield link) It draws enough cards to stay ahead of the table and then Craterhoofs for the win! I’m such a Timmy sometimes!