Kenrith, the Returned KingKenrith, the Returned King | Art by Kieran Yanner

It's Commander night, your one time to relax and take a crack at all of the weird and new decks you've just built and are ready to experiment with.

You're deep in the game, everyone's throwing everything they've got at the table, when it's your turn and you're left with an uneasy decision.

No matter what you do, you can't win this game. Luck wasn't on your side and now you're just an untap, upkeep and draw away from defeat.

So do you pass? Do you allow your opponent to take the win, quickly shuffling up to play another game? Or do you fight with everything you can, ensuring they aren't the one to knock you out, but guaranteeing your other opponents the chance to win on their turns?

A lot can be said about kingmaking, so today we're diving right into the deep end of the topic and talking about what kingmaking can say about a player.

King of the Hill, Except You Choose Who’s King

Kingmaking is when one or more players intentionally end the game in someone else's favor. For example, if I were to attempt to swing lethal at my opponent but forgot to account for their creatures' death triggers that would cause them to win the game, that's normal Commander. However, if I did know that swinging lethal at said opponent would cause them to win and still swung out hoping the game will end in their victory, that's kingmaking.

Typically, this is portrayed as something to avoid. It's one thing to end the game suddenly through winning with your own deck, but it's a bit different when you end the game by forcing two other players to accept defeat for seemingly no reason.

It's admittedly lame for a game to unceremoniously end with one player resolving, say, a Mycosynth LatticeMycosynth Lattice when an opponent controls a Karn, the Great CreatorKarn, the Great Creator just because they decided the game is over.

And, honestly, that's often the end of many kingmaking discussions. What more needs to be said? Don't be lame, don't kingmake.

Because of that, this discussion is going to exclude the edge scenarios in which, say, it's the end of the night and after one final game that's gone on too long someone decides to kingmake in some fashion so that people can go home.

Specifically, the issue we're focusing on is whether it's possible, if not preferable, to kingmake in your average Commander environment without falling into the objective pitfall that is being lame.

Commander is traditionally played in a battlecruiser style where all players slowly build their board state to be comedically strong at which point they start throwing enormous creatures and spells at each other until only one player remains.

With this in mind, there is often a time in the game where everyone has built their boards and their decks have done their thing but no one is willing to throw the first punch. Once someone starts swinging, they need to be sure they can survive two, if not three other players' swings coming back at them.

There's plenty of deck building advice and stellar tech pieces to talk about which would serve as the material solution to this hypothetical, but that's not what we're here to discuss. What about the political or philosophical aspect to this kingmaking problem?

Allow Me To Shed Some Light on This Subject

Here's a small anecdote to further describe what I'm getting at.

Once during a typical Commander game night, I found myself piloting a Urza, Chief ArtificerUrza, Chief Artificer deck that had built up a nice board of ConstructsConstructs and Gnome SoldiersGnome Soldiers itching to punch hard.

My opponent directly across from me, however, was piloting Teval, the Balanced ScaleTeval, the Balanced Scale and had generated tens and tens of Zombie DruidsZombie Druids and PlantsPlants from an Avenger of ZendikarAvenger of Zendikar, all of which had flying thanks to Wonder'sWonder's presence in his graveyard.

I had an Akroma's WillAkroma's Will in hand that would've been lethal to everyone, but this opponent landed a Glen Elendra ArchmageGlen Elendra Archmage the prior turn and wasn't about to let me end the game. My only other card in hand was Krang, Utrom WarlordKrang, Utrom Warlord, which would've allowed me to remove the current threat on the table by forcing him to block lest he's dealt lethal, but then I'd be the next threat to deal with and nothing to stop people from punching back.

In that moment, I decided that I'd rather go out swinging and doing as much as I could to stop the most immediate threat from knocking me out. Krang resolves, I swing out, the opponent blocks all that he can and trades most of his board and 10 life to stay in the game. On his turn, he can't do much other than rebuild and swing lethal at me in the air.

After that, the game continued for a bit until the next opponent (piloting Alela, Cunning ConquerorAlela, Cunning Conqueror) eventually had enough Faeries to swing for lethal against the remaining board.

I was satisfied with the game knowing I did everything I could despite the lack of options during my last turn, but it got me thinking about kingmaking at large.

On one hand, I'd make the same decision again and again given the same choice. I'll always try everything I can before wasting a turn and listlessly accepting defeat.

On the other, since either outcome would've resulted in a game loss for me regardless of my input, what's the harm in just passing and allowing the Teval player to swing out for lethal?

I may know which choice I'll make every time, but not everyone will be as convinced as I to make the same decision. What does this choice say about a player?

What To Do When Between a Rock and a Hard Place

To some, maybe something as functionally pointless as screaming into the void is less about its tangible effect and more about what one does in the face of an unstoppable force. Others may simply accept a quick knockout instead of prolonging the inevitable.

While each particular situation is unique and circumstances may influence a decision one way or another, the choice remains. Can there be something said about everyone that makes one choice over another?

Well, it's a bit of both. In the competitive scene, there's a lot of politics that often either determines a winner after a lengthy stack of CounterspellsCounterspells or the table agrees to a draw, in which case everybody technically wins something.

There's a lot of talk about when it's ok or not to pause the game and talk things out in order to determine the most beneficial outcome possible for everyone versus playing the game faithfully and accepting defeat as the game intends. It's difficult to come to a solution when many cEDH tournaments effectively reward players who play to not lose rather than play to win.

Coming back to casual Commander where such incentives aren't found, kingmaking and adjacent scenarios are less desirable and so aren't discussed as much. Perhaps that's for the better, but these situations still arise and players are still expected to make these decisions.

Where tournament players make a decision based off on their tournament standing and where they'll place, what are casual players to reference when deciding who gets to win?

Ultimately, there never will be a unifying solution to these questions other than saying "results may vary." However, that's not to say that a lack of a single solution renders the question pointless.

However you justify which choice you make demonstrates what kind of player you are. There isn't a right or wrong answer outright, rather it's the rationale you use to defend your choice that contains your answer to this kingmaking problem.

Opponents will rightfully argue with or against the choice we make, but that's a bit of the glamour with there being no one solution. Our answer to the kingmaking problem represents how we intend to engage with Commander at large, and as time passes and more opponents bring new counters to our original answer, it'll adapt to reflect these experiences and thus improve the overall outcome of what generally is an undesirable game state.

But what do you think? How do you feel about kingmaking and similar situations? What are your thoughts on quickly accepting defeat or fighting on? Do you think there's more to be said about what someone chooses?

I hope this article was an interesting discussion about kingmaking at large. Find me on BlueSky at @ajwicker4.bsky.social, I'd love to hear from you and what your thoughts are.

Tune in next time to continue this deep dive in the Bracket system and more Commander Philosophy!

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