(Bitter Reunion | Art by Jake Murray)

Let's Call it a Draw

Welcome back to Preview Review, the series where we go over cards you might have missed in the eternal preview season! These cards have been performing at my table, so maybe with a bit of luck, they can perform at yours. Let's dive in!

For some time now, Wizards of the Coast has been on a mission to ensure that good card draw can be found in each color. White is typically on everyone's minds when we think of colors that need card draw support. Recently, white has been getting plenty of exciting card draw options, and I feel like it's taking attention away from some great options in other colors. Namely, red.

In this article, we'll cover some of red's new hits. It should go without saying that card draw and card advantage are some of the most important parts of the deckbuilding process. It doesn't matter how impactful your game-winning combo or haymaker is if you don’t draw it, after all. Today we’re going to look at two types of card draw: impulse and discard, and how to choose the right one for your deck.

Act on Impulse

Let’s begin by looking at impulse draw. Impulse draw refers to cards similar to Reckless Impulse. Typically, this involves exiling cards from the top of your library and giving you a limited time to play them. It’s this limited timeframe that gives impulse draw its name. Red mages, like Chandra, Torch of Defiance, embody impulse draw. In fact, multiple Chandra planeswalker cards actually feature impulse draw as one of their loyalty abilities. All of these abilities represent red's ferocity in pulling spells from the raw elements themselves and making the best of them whilst it's able to.

Wrenn's Resolve is the newest in this suite of impulse draw spells. It offers your choice of two cards for one generic and one red mana until your next end step. This means from the turn you cast it, you have until the end of your following turn to make use of the cards it exiles. After that, they’re gone forever. Unless you’re running Karn, the Great Creator, of course. Two mana for your choice of two cards for nearly two entire turns is a pretty good rate. However, some deckbuilders shy away from impulse draw, especially those who are newer to Commander. At some of these tables, criticism of impulse draw goes a little something like this:

What if I exile something I really need?

I run a combo. I don’t want to exile half of my combo.

Well, here’s the thing:

Live in the Moment

Your entire deck is full of the cards you need. In fact, if your deck contains cards you don’t need, then why are they even in your deck at all? Now, of course there’s the valid point of having some redundancy. If a theme or strategy is integral to your deck’s ability to function, wouldn’t it be a good idea to include those cards in multiples? This way, if you do accidentally exile something you need, you’re more likely to have similar cards in your deck that have an identical function. After all, if you only run one of these cards and your opponent resolves a Counterspell against it, you’ve lost it anyway. Redundancies are key to good deckbuilding.

Of course, combos are how a good deal of Commander decks are able to close out the game. Cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Gravecrawler can go infinite with more cards than you can shake a stick at. But what if you accidentally exile one half of your combo away with impulse draw?

While it’s clever and sometimes sensible to include a combo in your deck, if those cards do nothing without each other, they become dead cards in your hand. Thus, it’s good practice to include either:

• Multiple combo pieces that you’re able to go infinite with. In the case of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, why not include Corridor Monitor as well as Zealous Conscripts? You’re twice as likely to find that game-winning card, and you’re also twice as likely not to accidentally exile the other half of your combo.
• Cards that fulfill a role outside of your combo. If we flip the scenario and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker gets exiled, what use are Zealous Conscripts and Corridor Monitor in your deck? Are they still worth running if their complementary card is exiled? Can you use Corridor Monitor's untap ability in another way? Maybe, if your deck runs a lot of blink or enter-the-battlefield abilities. Zealous Conscripts's ability to gain control of any permanent on the battlefield can become pseudo-removal when paired with Ashnod's Altar in a sacrifice deck. My key point is that each card can't be dead in your hand if you ensure that those cards have a purpose whenever you draw them.

Impulse draw can be found on namesake cards, like Reckless Impulse, newer ones, like Wrenn's Resolve, and as the hallmark abilities of planeswalkers, like Chandra, Fire Artisan. But this wouldn’t be a preview review article without me pointing you in the direction of underrated sleeper cards, would it?

Be sure to include Mishra's Research Desk as your third pseudo-copy of Reckless Impulse. Aside from being relevant for artifact strategies, it’s impulse draw for two colorless mana. No need to worry about which color pips you have, and if you’re missing one, this card can help you find it. The Unearth ability is where this card really shines, though, and for three mana we can activate it late game to add more fuel to the fire!

Don’t forget that Unearth goes really well with commanders who care about cards leaving your graveyard, too (looking at you, Quintorius, Field Historian).

What a Thrill...

There's also discard draw, known as rummaging. This includes cards like Thrill of Possibility, Tormenting Voice, or Cathartic Reunion. Discard draw has been solid for a long time, and for years was the only real kind of card draw in red. The benefits of discard draw are less focused on whether you should include it rather than how to make the best of it. It's also important to note that discard draw has been getting some stealthy upgrades in recent sets.

While the classics are still very playable, the overall quality of discard draw has increased over the years. If you’re looking for a replacement for Tormenting Voice, I encourage you to run Bitter Reunion instead, or simply run both of them. Their enchantment card type is relevant for enchantress strategies, and the enter-the-battlefield ability can be reused when paired with Flicker of Fate. Finally, the ability to give haste can help you keep the pressure on your opponents by consistently attacking, or it can allow your combo piece to go off that turn rather than having to protect it for a table-wide turn rotation.

But If It Ain't Broke...

What can we include to ensure that we’re getting the most out of the card we discard? Simple: let’s make better use of our graveyard.

When we think about colors that can make use of the graveyard, we usually think of black, but red is no slouch, let me assure you! Classic cards like Feldon of the Third Path can create token copies of the creature cards in your graveyard, allowing you to consistently reuse your best enter-the-battlefield ability and keep the pressure on by attacking with disposable tokens. Past in Flames can take care of the instants and sorceries you may have discarded in the early-game, allowing you access to those cards in the late-game. Past in Flames itself has Flashback, making itself a great card to pitch to Mishra's Research Desk in the first place.

Finally, a card that needs no introduction: Underworld Breach wins games, period. Your early-game discard spells can be the subtle way you fill your graveyard with targets for Underworld Breach, allowing you to win seemingly out of nowhere.

For a much humbler way of utilizing your graveyard in red, opt for Magmatic Sinkhole in your deck’s removal package. Five points of damage are enough to kill some of the format’s key threats and most of its value engines. A mana value of six is a lot, but that cost could come down considerably if we’ve been strategically discarding in the early stages of the game. A potential one-mana spell turned into an instant-speed five damage out of nowhere can destabilize even the most certain of your opponents' turns.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this theory article. It’s a little bit different from the usual Preview Review, as we’ve discussed a lot more "why" and a lot less "what". That being said, why we’re putting these cards in our decks can be just as important as what these cards are in the first place.

Do you have any pet draw cards you like to include in your decks? Let me know in the comments below. Or you can chat with me on Twitter, where we’re always finding new inclusions for our decks. I’ll see you in the next one!

Joshua Clough

Joshua is a Medical Researcher from the UK. He's played Magic since Dragons of Tarkir and loves all things Commander, the more colours the better! When not playing Commander, he can be found insisting Jund is still a viable deck in Modern and painting tiny plastic miniatures on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan