CommanderCast Ep 388 – ESCAPE!!
February 3, 2020
Hello everyone and welcome to CommanderCast Episode 388! This week Mark and Adam are planning on a way out of Theros by escaping. The new Escape mechanic has caught our eye and we’re taking a good look at it for ways to use it in Commander. We also go over a new Commander Nights event starting soon and how it could play out in the community.
And all you have to do is Click the IB!!!
CommanderCast Episode 388
Posted: February 3, 2020
Intros:
Adam
Mark
Keep up with the conversation on Facebook & Twitter.
Community
WPN’s post about “Commander Night”
Interstitial fodder:
Strategy
Escape as a mechanic & its viability in Commander
702.137. Escape
702.137a
Escape represents a static ability that functions while the card with escape is in a player’s graveyard. “Escape [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost.” Casting a spell using its escape ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.
702.137b
A spell or permanent “escaped” if that spell or the spell that became that permanent as it resolved was cast from a graveyard with an escape ability.
702.137c
An ability that reads “[This permanent] escapes with . . .” means “If this permanent escaped, it enters the battlefield with . . .” That ability may have a triggered ability linked to it that triggers “When it enters the battlefield this way.” (See rule 603.11.) Such a triggered ability triggers when that permanent enters the battlefield after its replacement effect was applied, even if that replacement effect had no effect.
Rulings:
- Escape’s permission doesn’t change when you may cast the spell from your graveyard.
- To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The converted mana cost of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.
- After an escaped spell resolves, it returns to its owner’s graveyard if it’s not a permanent spell. If it is a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield and will return to its owner’s graveyard if it dies later.
- If a card has multiple abilities giving you permission to cast it, such as two escape abilities or an escape ability and a flashback ability, you choose which one to apply. The others have no effect.
- If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.
- If a card with escape is put into your graveyard during your turn, you’ll be able to cast it right away if it’s legal to do so, before an opponent can take any actions.
- Once you begin casting a spell with escape, it immediately moves to the stack. Players can’t take any other actions until you’re done casting the spell.
Pros:
- Recursion without exile
- Works with all cards types
Cons:
- A little slow
- # of cards in graveyard is a limiting factor
- Needs to lean on self-mill to be truly viable
Technology
Escape cards worth running in EDH
- Chainweb Aracnir
- Cling to Dust
- Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
- Escape Velocity
- Fruit of Tizerus
- Glimpse of Freedom
- Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
- Loathsome Chimera
- Mogis’s Favor
- Ox of Agonas
- Pharika’s Spawn
- Phoenix of Ash
- Polukranos, Unchained
- Satyr’s Cunning
- Sentinel’s Eyes
- Sleep of the Dead
- Sweet Oblivion
- Underworld Breach
- Underworld Charger
- Underworld Rage-Hound
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Voracious Typhon
- Woe Strider
Outtro/Contacts:
CommanderCast – Email: commandercast(at)gmail(dot)com // twitter: (at)CommanderCast
Calvin – Email: captainredzone(at)gmail(dot)com // twitter: (at)CaptainRedZone
Mark – Email: mahlerma(at)gmail(dot)com
Adam – (at)squire9999
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And a big thanks to everyone here at the CommanderCast Network. We’ll see you next week with more community, strategy, and technology. Until then, LET’S GET IT!