Discussion Forum

[QUOTE=Bonzai820]If I hinder my opponent's General in EDH will it go back to the command zone or can I have it put on the bottom/top of his/her library?

I was told it goes back to the command zone, if he chooses for it to, but I thought that was only a choice if it was exiled or went to the graveyard.

This comes from a friend who claims to be a level 1 judge, so I'm hesitant to dismiss his ruling.[/QUOTE]

As you said, the rules mention graveyard and exile -

903.10. If a general would be put into its owner’s graveyard from anywhere, that player may put it into the command zone instead.

903.11. If a general would be put into the exile zone from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead.

- but not library.

I can find nothing in the rules to support the notion that a Hindered general could be put back into the command zone.

That said, -

900.1. This section contains additional optional rules that can be used for certain casual game variants.

- you are playing casually, so there's room for negotiation among you. By the rules as written, I don't think your friend has an argument, but his "ruling" does seem like a reasonable extension of 903.10 and 903.11, so just decide among yourselves if you want to play it that way.

In our group it is allowed to exile a general instead of putting it on the bottom of the library. I don't know if this is a houserule or not. EDH tends more towards houseruling then other formats because of the way the banned cards list is suggested rather then enforced. We have a longer banned cards list then the official list as well for instance.

Also, when wizards first announced the commander format for MTGO it was not the same format as EDH. There were slight differences. I'm not sure if the two are concidered one by now but I'm just bringing it up because I suspect Aneximines is refering to rulings from commander. If you need to know for tournament play you should ask the judge present at the tournament to be sure.

What WotC has done is made a new zone, the "command zone," to house strange objects.

In MtG proper, the only thing that can be in the command zone are emblems (as from Koth of the Hammer, or, by her updated wording, Elspeth, Knight-Errant). In the "planar magic" variant, the command zone is were those big "plane" cards exist. In the Vanguard variant, the command zone is where the vanguard cards exist. And so on.

In the EDH rules, the command zone is were the generals rest. It's were they start the game; you can cast them from the command zone but at an additional cost of :mana2: for each time you have done so previously that game.

The rules I quoted let you put your general in the command zone if it would be exiled or put into your graveyard. No such rule exists for when your general would be put into your library, but it kind of feels like there should be such a rule.

Such feelings won't get you anywhere in a tournament, of course, but they are a perfectly reasonable motivation for a house rule.

thank you both very much.

As far as I'm concerned, either can happen because we only play to play test against each other for tournament play. The reason I ask though is because I hindered his general in order to use Bribery to search for it.

[QUOTE=Bonzai820]thank you both very much.

As far as I'm concerned, either can happen because we only play to play test against each other for tournament play. The reason I ask though is because I hindered his general in order to use Bribery to search for it.[/QUOTE]

Usually you can get better things with bribery then a general. A general that gets shuffled in is an advantage, it's the place where it is most likely to be harmless. If you want to steal generals play treachery/control magic and the likes of that (you have tons) or Clone/Shapesharer/Vesusvan Shapeshifter to kill it.

Empress Galina is an interesting card as well. Some of the guys in my group dislike it in EDH so I stopped playing it but I'm pretty sure it's still legal. Merieke Ri Berit is simular and a great general. It gets pretty insane with Minamo, School at Water's Edge

Merieke Ri Berit was my original general, but I decided to focus on Ertai, the Corrupted for his counter spell ability. Should I switch back to Merieke and just add Ertai as a creature?

[QUOTE=Bonzai820]Merieke Ri Berit was my original general, but I decided to focus on Ertai, the Corrupted for his counter spell ability. Should I switch back to Merieke and just add Ertai as a creature?[/QUOTE]

Both are great generals and you usually build your deck to support them so switching generals is not just that easy. For Ertai you really want a deck that can generate tokens or something while Merieke is good in any deck. Also it's really the esper colors you want when choosing these generals, esper combines the best control colors in the game.

My deck basically does just that. I try to have as much control over the game as possible.

I use my general, Ertai, the Corrupted, and Ertai, Wizard Adept as my counter spells and my tutors are my way of getting the latter out faster. I usually have Ertai, Wizard Adept out on turn 3 and am able to use him to counter on turn 4, given I have the right mana at my disposal.

I use Soul Foundry in 2 ways. First, if I have Clone I use it as a way to get rid of my opponent's general. Second, I attach Grave Titan as a token producer.

I have the basic spot removal in Path to Exile, Condemn, Swords to Plowshares and I even have Exile which I really like.

I have multiple board wipes with Damnation, Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, and Scourglass which is awesome in my deck because I run alot of artifacts, and I want to get an Oblivion Stone now, lol.

I also play Contamination late game, with Hanna, Ship's Navigator to allow myself the ability to sac Contamination instead of a creature in order to bring it back and replay it if I need to. I also use oversold cemetary to bring back creatures to sac to my general if I don't have token producers out.

But my main combo, at least the one I like the most, is playing Buried Alive to put Sharuum the Hegemon, Magister Sphinx, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind into my graveyard. I then use Victimize to sac a token and bring back Sharuum and Magister and use Sharuum's ability to bring Steel Wind back into play.

I was considering using Karn, Silver Golem and Mycosynth Lattice to destroy my opponents' lands, but like you said if the card doesn't combo with multiple cards than it isn't worth playing. Though Mycosynth lattice would work great with Cranial Plating, Master of Etherium, and Memnarch.