An Offer You Can't RefuseAn Offer You Can't Refuse | Art by Dallas Williams

Games of cEDH are frequently won or lost at the margin. Of course, sometimes there are clear blowouts (especially in the early turns if there's a turbo deck in the pod), but most of cEDH rests on the knife's edge of skilled play and often nasty stack battles. To that end, cEDH decks are full of cards with extra use cases (and sometimes, limitations) that players ought to be aware of. With that in mind, let's take a look.

An Offer You Can't RefuseAn Offer You Can't Refuse Can Be a Ritual

Starting off with one of the simplest — but also most sneaky — lessons from this article, let's talk about An Offer You Can't Refuse.

For , An Offer You Can't Refuse is an instant that counters target noncreature spell, then grants that spell's controller two Treasure tokens in exchange. Most of the time, this is a pretty straightforward counterspell that hits basically everything that matters in cEDH: Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, Ad NauseamAd Nauseam, you name it. However, careful readers will notice that there's no requirement that the spell countered by An Offer You Can't Refuse belong to another player, which is what allows for it to also serve as a ritual in times of need. Simply cast any Mox (or Lotus PetalLotus Petal or the like — just something that doesn't cost any mana), then counter it with An Offer You Can't Refuse. Spend two cards and a total of , and end up with two Treasures.

Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven Can Find Fewer Than Four Cards

On to our other blue card with something to teach (or, nowadays, more like something to remind us of), let's look at Gifts Ungiven. For , this instant reads "Search your library for up to four cards with different names and reveal them. Target opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the chosen cards into your graveyard and the rest into your hand. Then shuffle." (Older printings of the card simply read "Search your library for four cards..." and omit the "up to" language.) Most of the time, players cast Gifts Ungiven and grab the full four cards off of it, usually including the likes of Sevinne's ReclamationSevinne's Reclamation and/or Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach so as to guarantee access to all cards tutored this way, regardless of which zone they wind up in.

The reason Gifts Ungiven's "up to" language matters, however, is that it can be a deterministic EntombEntomb whereas IntuitionIntuition — which only ever grabs exactly three cards — is probabilistic. With Intuition, you can't guarantee that your opponent will pick the cards to go to your graveyard that you want to go there. If you grab only one or two cards with Gifts Ungiven, meanwhile, those cards will go straight to the graveyard, guaranteed. This matters for any deck trying to run reanimator shenanigans, such as The Master of KeysThe Master of Keys.

PyroblastPyroblast Can Target Nonblue Things

Pyroblast is basically Blue Elemental BlastBlue Elemental Blast dressed up in some slightly more convoluted language. It lets you choose between countering target spell (if it's blue) and destroying target permanent (if it's blue). Note that it doesn't say "counter target blue spell" or "destroy target blue permanent." This means that Pyroblast can readily be added to the stack in case you need the storm count or the like. So, while casting Pyroblast on a green spell won't do anything to that spell, it is a guaranteed way to increase your FlusterstormFlusterstorm's efficacy.

NecropotenceNecropotence Can Lead to Priority in the Cleanup Step

Necropotence is a card with a whole lot going on, but key to this lesson is the triggered ability "Whenever you discard a card, exile that card from your graveyard." This matters for two crucial reasons.

First, players normally don't have priority during the discard phase. However, if a triggered ability gets put onto the stack because of something happening during the discard phase (or any part of the cleanup step, for that matter), players get a round of priority, followed by another cleanup step. So, if you have more than seven cards in hand during the cleanup step and then discard down to hand size, the Necropotence's exile-trigger will cause a new round of priority to be available during the discard phase — after until-end-of-turn effects have worn off, etc., which can allow for a clever player to escape an early-turn SilenceSilence effect.

Second, since the discard trigger is a triggered ability and not a replacement effect, this means that players can interact with the discarded cards before they get exiled (i.e. you can cast NecromancyNecromancy to reanimate a discarded creature card before it gets exiled by Necropotence).

Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat Can't Change the Number of Targets

Last but not least, the one card we need to talk about with a lesson on what it can't do.

For , Deflecting Swat is an instant which you can cast without paying its mana cost, provided you control a commander. It has the effect "You may choose new targets for target spell or ability." What it doesn't say, however, is that you get to change how many targets a spell or ability with multiple targets selects.

Take the classic example of Mindbreak TrapMindbreak Trap. There are three spells on the stack — two spells that Mindbreak Trap is trying to exile (we'll just call them Spell A and Spell B), and Mindbreak Trap itself. An opponent responds with Deflecting Swat, choosing to reselect Mindbreak Trap's targets. Deflecting Swat's controller can move one of Mindbreak Trap's targets from either Spell A or Spell B over to Deflecting Swat itself, but it can't move both of Mindbreak Trap's targets to Deflecting Swat and effectively double-up the targets.

Wrap Up

That's a wrap on the five cEDH staples and their key lessons. Keep these in mind when you play your next game of cEDH — not just so you can make some more mana off of An Offer You Can't RefuseAn Offer You Can't Refuse, but so you can keep your eyes open for more cards with extra potential.