Bounce. It doesn’t have an official keyword meaning, but it has a simple concept: return a permanent from the battlefield to your hand. When someone else
makes you do it, you generally don’t like it. When you do it to yourself, it’s part of a plan. Today I’d like to take a look into why and how this has been
such an enduring and powerful tool in Commander decks (not to mention Magic from the beginning). When we’re discussing bounce, it applies to any permanent,
but a significant part of it involves creatures. Offensively, it means getting other players’ stuff out of the way so that you can successfully attack.
Defensively, it means saving your things from either a combat death, mass board wipes, or targeted destruction, plus having an option if you don’t want
them stolen or copied.
It all started with Unsummon, which was printed on and off from Alpha through Magic 2013. There are now 43 spells and abilities that use the same exact
words: return target creature to its owner’s hand (and another 32 which replace creature with permanent). That doesn’t count the
scores of others which use variants on them, returning multiples or all of them, or returning them conditionally. From the beginning, what made Unsummon
valuable was tempo. The answer to the question “why bounce something when you can just kill it?” has two answers.
The first is “it’s cheaper.” Compared to its contemporary, Terror, Unsummon cost one less. Although some kill spells, like Deathmark, have gotten less
expensive, they’re conditional and not as flexible. The second part of the answer is “Because I don’t need it gone forever, just right now.” It’s also not
part of the color pie. Blue (the color with most of the bounce) isn’t particularly good at killing creatures (although we got Psionic Blast back in the
day) anyway.
Tempo decks are more common in Standard or Limited, but the lessons definitely apply to Commander. They don’t require long-term solutions. When you’re on
the verge of dealing those last points of damage, it doesn’t matter how the creature (or other thing that’s preventing the attack you want to make, like
Crawlspace) goes away for now, just that it goes away. You never give the person the opportunity to cast it again, since they’re either dead or close
enough to where that one creature or permanent doesn’t matter.
In the age of the indestructible permanent, bounce serves as one of the only ways to deal with something you can’t destroy (requiring sacrifice and giving
creatures 0 toughness being the others). Since you can’t Clone away Avacyn, Angel of Hope any more, bounce is getting even more valuable.
Individual Bounce Spells
Things have gotten lots more complex and interesting since the advent of Unsummon. Other colors have gotten tacked on for additional effects consistent
with their place in the color pie, conditions have been added, and keywords slipped in to bolster the quality of individual bounce spells. Here are some of
my favorites:
Aether Mutation:
The only downside is that it’s a sorcery, so you won’t be able to engage in combat tricks with it. Given the size of some of the creatures in Commander,
there will always be plenty of targets for Aether Mutation which will give you a big pile of saprolings. I suggest you check out the whole Mutation cycle
from Apocalypse.
Boomerang:
The original spell (from Legends) which bounces any permanent, it will always have a special place in my heart.
Capsize:
But then they added one mana and buyback and got Capsize. Capsize being so popular early on (since it was also pretty popular in other Constructed formats)
was what drove me to include a large number of sacrifice effects in my decks. I wanted the Capsize player to either focus fire elsewhere or risk getting it
countered. I’m pretty sure it’s what led me to playing Read the Runes for the first time.
Consign to Dream:
The replacement of having a red or green permanent going to the top of the library has two potential effects. First, it can simply cost someone a draw.
Second, if you do it in response to an effect that’s going to shuffle their library, you’ve effectively killed the creature (and not let it be around for
graveyard tricks).
Cryptic Command:
It may be a little bit of a stretch to call Cryptic Command a bounce spell since I’m pretty sure that of the four modes it’s the least used-but it’s
certainly the best spell that has bounce in it, hands down.
Echoing Truth:
When it came out in Modern Masters, I thought that everyone would find the value in this hidden gem. I still have yet to see it played. It qualifies as an
individual bounce spell which can turn into a large scale one when bunches of tokens are involved. Just be careful about bouncing someone else’s plant
tokens when you some of your own.
Far // Away:
People frequently keep around a creature that’s less important than their big hitter in case of something like Chainer’s Edict. Far // Away wrecks that plan.
Alternately, if they two giant monsters, you get to choose which one to kill and which one to make them recast.
Jilt:
With the kicker, you get to hit something for two damage. It doesn’t even need to belong to the same player. You can bounce something of your own and kill
something of theirs. Jilt is a card that saw a good deal of play in the early days of the format but has fallen off the radar in the last several years.
Reality Strobe:
I doubt that I’ve ever paid full cost for this. Even on turn 3, just suspend it and wait for something to come around. It may prove a good delaying tactic
so that people wait until after it’s gone off to drop their big, important thing. Be careful with your targets so that you don’t get it countered by the
target leaving the battlefield.
Recoil:
In other Constructed formats, especially any in which discard is common, players often keep lands in their hand to protect against discard. That happens
less in Commander, as people try to get their lands out to cast big stuff. Recoil might not make them discard the thing you bounced, but it’s still likely
to make them get rid of something good.
Repulse:
It’s simply Unsummon with some card draw added for two mana. I think we all agree if there were an enchantment that said “Whenever you cast a spell, you
may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card,” we wouldn’t have to think about playing it.
Wipe Away:
Adding one mana to Boomerang to give it split second is well worth it.
Withdraw:
Cards from Prophecy don’t often get much consideration these days. This one is worth it because it gives you the chance to catch someone tapped out and
bounce two things, or bounce one of theirs and choose your own Draining Whelk (then decline to pay).
Bouncy Creatures and Permanents
Some have enters-the-battlefield triggers, some activated abilities, but whichever way you go with them, creatures form a powerful backbone to your bounce
arsenal, since they can also do battle when you need them to.
Aether Adept, Man-o’-War, Mist Raven, Voidwielder:
Basically the same card with different costs and slightly different abilities. One of the great things about bounce creatures is that they reset counters
on things-whether that’s someone else’s Kresh, the Bloodbraided that’s about to get out of hand or your own Glen Elendra Archmage that’s already persisted
back once. Creatures that bounce things also love blink (like Conjurer’s Closet) in order to be able to bounce more things.
Cloud Cover:
A techy little number, Cloud Cover gives you the option to bounce the permanent if you want to. In Commander, it’s more likely that someone tries to steal
your creatures than hit things with targeted removal, but it’s nice having the option. It will also let you counter that Capsize.
Cloudstone Curio:
The only thing that keeps Cloudstone Curio from being completely bonkers is the “nonartifact” part. You can, however, cast two different morphs infinitely
if you have Animar with three counters on it.
Crystal Shard:
The double threat of being able to Time Walk someone who has been foolish enough to tap out to cast something huge and reuse/save your own creatures makes
Crystal Shard the banner bearer of bounce. Don’t discount the idea of helping out an opponent against a stronger, more threatening opponent by putting
something like Sunblast Angel back in their hand.
Equilibrium:
In a deck where you’re playing lots of inexpensive creature spells, you can keep opponents’ boards relatively clear for small amounts of mana. Again, you
can use it on your own things as well in order to reset them or reuse their triggered abilities. I play it in my Animar, Soul of Elements deck because
getting the extra counter on Animar effectively pays for the cost of the trigger (although it’s no Cloudstone Curio).
Erratic Portal:
What’s better than one Crystal Shard? Two. Costs one more to cast but only requires colorless to activate.
Glen Elendra Pranksters:
You know the creature getting bounced is either Spellstutter Sprite or Vendilion Clique. Faeries are the gnats of the Magic world-they’re super-annoying
and you can’t get rid of them.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor:
Okay, sure. See Cryptic Command.
Keeper of the Nine Gales:
Who doesn’t love bird tribal? Kangee, Aerie Keeper is the general, and you have Commander Eesha, Major Teroh and Lieutenant Kirtar as the high-ranking
officers.
Nightscape Battlemage:
It requires playing Grixis colors because of all the kicker costs, but it can do everything you need to. It can’t bounce itself, since it specifies
nonblack.
Seal of Removal:
I like the Seals in general because you can just cast them early and use them as rattlesnakes. It’s highly unlikely that someone is going to Disenchant one
of them, instead saving their removal for something way scarier.
Sunken Hope:
This one and its cousin Umbilicus might get a little tricky because opponents often want to return their own creatures. Considering Solemn Simulacrum,
Karmic Guide, and Eternal Witness are format staples, I’d have a strong plan before playing Sunken Hope/Umbilicus, but I think that they can be a cog in a
powerful machine.
Sunscape Master:
An old favorite that got outclassed creature-wise, I think it still bears some consideration because it can play both the control and aggression games.
Tidespout Tyrant:
Tidespout Tyrant can without doubt take over a game pretty quickly, especially if you have lots of cheap spells to cast, since you can bounce your own
things as well-especially if you have cheap things with cool enters the battlefield triggers. One of my favorite things to bounce with Tidespout Tyrant is
an already-activated hideaway land like Mosswort Bridge in order to get another use out of it.
Tradewind Rider:
Super old-school lockdown stuff. Maybe I should consider putting it into last week’s Ruhan deck. Another
old-school desperation move trick is to activate Nevinyrral’s Disk, then bounce it with Tradewind Rider. Sure, you lose your stuff as well, but you get the
Disk back.
Gating Creatures
Planeshift introduced the gating creatures, aggressively-costed multicolored creatures that required you to bounce one of your own creatures (of one of
their colors) when they entered the battlefield. While Cavern Harpy fueled some combos, Fleetfoot Panther having Flash lets you save one of your creatures,
perhaps even bravely sacrificing itself to a mass destruction effect in order for you to get something better back into your hand. My favorite of them all
is Shivan Wurm because it delivers the tramply beats.
Mass Bounce
Upheaval is banned (for very good reason), but there are other mass bounce cards that are valuable to the format.
Aetherize:
A token killer as well as a big combat blowout, it’s only for one player, but it still qualifies to me as mass.
Devastation Tide:
A “fixed” Upheaval since it doesn’t hit lands, I’m surprised we don’t see it played more often. Especially with the miracle cost, you’d think that the
caster could recover reasonably quickly.
Dromar, the Banisher:
One of the lesser-played Invasion dragons, it’s probably because at three colors, it’s only safe to bounce red and green. Might be worth it just for the
green.
Evacuation:
I was very happy to see this come out in Eighth and Ninth Edition to be able to get it in foil, and in Tenth Edition with the much cooler art.
Hibernation:
Sure, it only hits one color, so it doesn’t completely qualify as mass, but I swear every time I cast it, it’s worth the three mana and much, much more.
Inundate:
I think we don’t see this played more because the mono-blue decks tend to not like six-mana spells.
Kederekt Leviathan:
I once completely blew out myself by activating Liliana Vess’s ultimate, not paying attention to the Leviathan in someone’s graveyard.
Soulquake:
For lots of decks in this format, I think I’d rather people have their creature cards in hand instead of the graveyard. It’s a seven-mana sorcery, so we’re
not really going to see it as often, but there’s a niche use here to slow down the recursion decks. Of course, it’s black, so you might be engaging in some
of that recursion yourself.
Sunder:
Friends don’t Sunder friends.
Waterspout Elemental:
If you’re playing a deck that doesn’t do much on its own turn, this could be okay, although you still have to solve the untapping lands problem.
Worldpurge:
The only thing that keeps this unbanned is the emptying of mana pools. There’s no way to float, bounce everything, and recast stuff like there is with
Upheaval. It’s basically a game-restarter (except for life totals).
Bouncy Commanders
Barrin, Master Wizard:
Fellow RC member Toby Elliott has a Barrin deck that I keep threatening to feature. I guess I’ll need to threaten him into sending it to me.
Heidar, Rimewind Master:
Playing it with Snow-Covered lands means you’ll have snow permanents. It certainly doesn’t need to be your commander to be worthwhile (again, the lands).
Llawan, Cephalid Empress:
Llanwan makes the statement “I want to be the only person with blue creatures.” You’d be surprised how many multicolored creatures this will also shut off.
Sun Ce, Young Conquerer:
Man-o’-War with horsemanship, this would be a cool Voltron commander.
Venser, Shaper Savant:
Fitting that the last card we cover is the king of all bouncers, since it can also get a spell off the stack. This is useful in giving everyone a chance to
deal with the Insurrection or Titanic Ultimatum that’s about to happen.
Bounce, in all its forms, is a powerful tool in your Commander arsenal. Use it to temporarily (or for long enough) get rid of things which are causing you
trouble, reset the board, or reuse your own awesome tools. Especially when it’s well-timed, it can provide just the blowout you’re looking for. This week’s
Deck Without Comment is my bounciest, Animar’s Swarm.
Here is the latest database version of all my decks:
ADUN’S TOOLBOX; ANIMAR’S SWARM; AURELIA GOES TO WAR; CHILDREN of a LESSER GOD; DEMONS OF KAALIA; EREBOS and the HALLS OF THE DEAD; GLISSA, GLISSA; HELIOD, GOD OF ENCHANTMENTS; DREAMING OF INTET; FORGE OF PURPHOROS; KARN, BEATDOWN GOLEM; HALLOWEEN WITH KARADOR; KARRTHUS, WHO RAINS FIRE FROM THE SKY; KRESH INTO THE RED ZONE; LAVINIA BLINKS; LAZAV, SHAPESHIFTING MASTERMIND; ZOMBIES OF TRESSERHORN; MELEK’S MOLTEN MIND GRIND; MERIEKE’S ESPER CONTROL; THE MILL-MEOPLASM; NATH of the VALUE LEAF; NYLEA OF THE WOODLAND REALM; OBZEDAT, GHOST KILLER; PURPLE HIPPOS and MARO SORCERERS; ZEGANA and a DICE BAG; RAKDOS: LIFE IS SHORT; RITH’S TOKENS; YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF; RURIC THAR AND HIS BEASTLY FIGHT CLUB; THASSA, GOD OF MERFOLK; THE ALTAR of THRAXIMUNDAR; TROSTANI and HER ANGELS
If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a campaign that’s been alive since 1987 and is just now getting started with a new
saga called “The Lost Cities of Nevinor”), ask for an invitation to the Facebook group ” Sheldon Menery’s Monday Night Gamers.”