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InMagic: The Gathering’sCommander format, players start off with a generous 40 life, allowing you to take more hits and last longer during the format’s generally grindy, drawn-out games. Of course, there are plenty of ways to win a game that essentially ignore players' life totals, whether that’smill, commander damage,poison countersor an infinite combo.
Among these alternate wincons are the one-shot cards that shrug off life totals entirely. Power like that is usually locked behind several hurdles, but in many cases, those are obstacles worth overcoming for the chance to take an opponent from 40 to dead in one game action.
10Frodo, Sauron’s Bane
Just Like In The Movies
The basic idea of “The Ring” is that you want to be “tempted by the ring” as much as possible, adding extra abilities to your ring-bearer each time. It all boils down to making one of your creatures a better attacker in combat, but some cards getadditional advantages from The Ring.
Frodo, Sauron’s Bane needs to be ‘leveled up’ a few times, as does The Ring, after which the triple-black ability will turn Frodo into a player-killing machine. It takes time. effort, and commitment to the gameplan, ingredients that make for the most satisfying wins.
9Angel Of Destiny
Not As Charitable As It Seems
Angel of Destiny is a strange alternate win con, as it effectively negates all combat damage your creatures deal to a player by having them gain the life right back. However, you also gain life off it as well, and with that you’re able to win the game.
In order to one-shot players, you have to reach 55 life or greater, attack a player with theAngel, and have it survive until the end step of that turn. That’s quite a few hoops to jump through, though you’re able to use other sources of lifegain to reach that goal before attacking.
8Assassin Tokens
Vraska’s Deadly Entourage
The planeswalker Vraska specializes in one-hit kills, with five out of the seven Vraska cards sporting abilities that either take players out immediately, or put them close to death. This characteristic was present on the Assassin tokens created by the very first version, Vraska the Unseen.
Interestingly, this Vraska was designed before Magic R&D really focused on Commander, and yet it seems tailor-made for the format. One Assassin per opponent is the perfect number to win the game in one combat step, with some help to push them past blockers of course.
7The Millennium Calendar
Oh Look, It’s A Leap Year!
The numeral 1,000 should raise some eyebrows. The Millennium Calendar actually says it twice, so perhaps raise both eyebrows? The catch is how much time it takes to stockpile that many counters. Almost like it takes a millennium.
The trick is getting the first few counters on the Calendar, then using the doubling ability to get you the rest of the way. For reference, ten counters takes seven activations to exceed 1,000, though the Calendar picks up extra counters on each untap step too. Plenty of time for your opponents to get 1,001 life and out of harm’s way.
6Phage The Untouchable
Can’t Touch This
Phage the Untouchable is a one-shot card in every sense of the phrase. Hit your opponent, they lose the game. attempt to take any shortcuts and it’s you who ends up losing. That’s supposed to be a deterrent from cheating Phage into play, but, as usual, players know the workarounds.
One tech option is trying to manifest Phage with something like Scroll of Fate. This way, you circumvent Phage entering the battlefield and turn it face-up at the best possible moment. You could also weaponize Phage by giving it to your opponent with something like The Beamtown Bullies.
5Blightsteel Colossus
Blightsteel Colossus is almost exclusively responsible for the disgust many players feel when playing against infect cards. Infect is a perfectly reasonable, possibly even underpowered strategy, but Blightsteel’s one-and-done approach to infect has soured many players on poison as an alternate win con.
To push the well-meaning Blightsteel’s name through the mud even further, it’s virtually never cast for the full amount. It’s a common pairing with cards like Sneak Attack and Through the Breach, which let it come out swinging long enough to eliminate at least one opponent via poison.
4Hatred
Appropriately Hated
Aptly named, given that hatred’s the emotion your opponent most likely feels after dying to it. It’s rare that acombat trickmakes its way to Commander tables, but Hatred’s ability to convert life into damage pushes it over the edge.
There are some caveats to making Hatred work. One, you usually need an unblockable creature, or at least somethingwith evasion like trampleorflying. You’ll also likely need more life than the player you’re trying to eliminate, recognizing that sinking too much life into Hatred leaves you vulnerable to any remaining opponents.
3Master Of Cruelties
Close Enough
Master of Cruelties stretches the definition of a one-hit card slightly, since it leaves an opponent hanging on by a thread. It’s not the card that actually seals the deal, but puts someone in a position where a crisp breeze is enough to finish them off.
This Demon is often paired with Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, which canbring the Master back from the graveyardtapped and attacking. With these two attackers, an opponent who’s unable to block will drop to one life from Master’s trigger, leaving Alesha to wrap things up duringthe Damage Step.
2Aetherflux Reservoir
Ready… Aim…
Aetherflux is the honorary Death Star of Magic. At least until the inevitable Star Wars x MTGSecret Lair crossover. It demands set-up and a life total buffer to work, but 50 damage is almost always enough to zap a player out of the game.
Reservoir frequently pops up as the win con in various infinite life combos. You could also use it ‘the fair’ way by just rattling off spells and reaching above 50 life, but you’ll often be left in dire straits after the first activation.
1Etali, Primal Sickness
Doesn’t Technically Have Infect
The egregious part about Etali, Primal Sickness isn’t the fact that this Blightsteel Colossus rip-off can take players out in one hit, it’s that it’s the bonus back half of the already impressive Etali, Primal Conqueror. This rendition of Etali is wildly popular in Commander, mostly because of its valuable front face.
If casting four extra cards with your 7/7 trampler wasn’t enough, you can sink a large amount of mana into Etali to unlock the Primal Sickness, which is not onlyindestructible, but also one-shots players who can’t effectively fend it off in combat.
