Speak softly and carry a big stick.
Theodore Roosevelt
Ignoring what you may think of his politics, the sentiment is powerful. And it is something very few players implement when building EDH political decks.
That said, the Big Stick idealogy is one of the best mindsets to have for EDH political cards. After all, rather than forcing people to do something with mechanics like Goad. It’s better to make them choose it on their own. This is exactly what makes these cards the best political cards in commander no one uses.
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What Makes a Political Card in EDH Good?
Just like politicians, a political card is best when your opponents think it’s in their best interest. Doing so means they are more likely to not worry about you and be incentivized to attack the other person you are wanting dead. After all, we are much more likely to protect someone that gives us stuff rather than those who take the stuff away. And EDH political cards in commander do the same thing.
In fact, I would consider political cards to be the best kind of group hug cards out there. The best EDH political cards do at least one of the following:
- Distract opponents
- Incentivize combat
- Make people protect you.
If a political card in commander can do one of these things, then your deck becomes unassuming until it is too late. Leading to the other 3 players’ demise as you win by politicking your way to victory. Let’s go over 12 EDH political cards in commander that do this.
1. Breena, the Demagogue
The first on the list and one of the most famous. Breena incentivizes people to not hit you, but your opponents. All the while, your creatures can get bigger and can even draw you cards as well. Making this a great one for having your opponents hit each other until it is too late.
2. Humble Defector
Humble defector is better known as the king of bribes. Play this card and watch as people do what they can to get 2 extra cards on their turn. This is one card that has some serious shenanigan potential and can drastically change games when played.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Edric, aka draw daddy, is a favorite commander political card of mine. Play this, and it doesn’t matter if others are goaded or not, a bloodbath will ensue as people fight it out to get as many cards drawn as possible. After all, who doesn’t like getting more cards in hand for beating up your opponents, it’s a win-win.
Fulminator Mage
I mentioned this card before in my budget staples for under a dollar, but I love this card. It doesn’t necessarily bribe others to attack someone else, but it does make people not mess with you. Especially when you declare “anyone who messes with my board loses a land”. Most people don’t like losing lands and fulminator mage makes it to where no one wants to mess with your board. Keep him around long enough and eventually, it will be too late for your opponents to do anything to stop you.
Curse of Bounty
Bear Totem, Sword of Feast and famine, and Curse of Bounty. Curse of Bounty is a really good but really dangerous political card for commander. While it allows you to be able to swing in at an opponent and give all your creatures pseudo vigilance, it also does the same for everyone else. Basically inciting a standstill as everyone will have blocks. Stalling the game until it is your moment to shine.
Kaervek the Merciless
This is actually a really fun political card that I saw on game nights. The trick with this one is to cast the spell and say “as long as none of the damage is coming at me or my cards, you get to choose the targets for the spell cast.” But be sure to retain rights to control who gets hit if it looks like they are running away with the game. No one will want to mess with you because they will also have access to this card. Making this a really cool political card for commander.
Nevinhyralls Disk
Hostage situations like Nevinhyralls Disk are a great way to make people not commit pieces to a board. As talked about in my article on best boardwipes, having a nuclear button that you can use at instant speed makes a great deterrent for anyone trying to mess with your board. Meaning people won’t mess with you as you continue to make more and more deals in your favor.
Curse of Opulence
Early form ramp, that allows for that early damage to be targeted at someone else instead of you. Just make sure to be careful though, as this one often gets the person cursed hostile at you, meaning why you have 2 people willing to help you out, you have 1 who wants to kill you. That said this early form of ramp is something that anyone would love to have and is definitely a card to consider for decks trying to be political.
Curse of Verbosity
While the curse of opulence is a great form of ramp, the curse of verbosity is a great form of card draw. While letting other people draw cards, also helps you draw cards. And in the spirit of group hug, this does the trick. With this, you can expect all players to love your new political card for commander as everyone gets to draw and accelerate their board. Meanwhile, you will always pull out just slightly more ahead which is all you need to win.
Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant
Much like Breena, Karazikar the eye tyrant is a great card option for players looking for EDH political cards in commnader. With this, you can tap down a blocker and ensure your creatures connect, and in exchange, everyone will get the chance to draw cards and make for a much more impactful and fun game.
Monarch
Any card that gives you monarch. This adds such a cool and fun mechanic to the game that everyone will be wanting to make deals such as “let me hit you with this one creature so I can be monarch and I will help you destroy that deafening silence” This mechanic is a great way to ensure combat damage is happening all the while helping people not focus on you until it is too late.
Coveted Jewel
A personal favorite, Coveted Jewel is like the monarch mechanic, upon casting you will get to draw 3 and tap for 3 mana of any one color, but after that, you can help others by letting them take it only to make a deal to let you take it back. This works much like a humble defector in that players will love to make deals with you to get it. Just be sure to be careful about it as sometimes people might covet it too much and try to take it from you by force.
EDH Political Cards Conclusion
There you go! 12 EDH political cards for commander to spice up your games! Be sure to enjoy them to the fullest and see what unique deals you can make to try and come out ahead and win the game. If you enjoyed this article and are wanting to start using these in a deck, check out my article going over effective deck building. It does a great job at explaining the functions of cards as well as their deck uses to make your deck do what you want every time. Have a great day and remember to speak softly and carry a big nevinhyrals disk.