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Decimate

OTC · rare · Released 2024-04-19

Power

brawl
tier-2Niche payoff
commander
tier-2Niche payoff

Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell).

Derived from the 7 atoms below.

over

above rate

dead

does nothing alone

build around

needs a shell

caps

fixed effect

rigid

one mode

broad

broadly useful

n/a

n/a

Commander Bracket

1Precon2Core3Upgraded4Optimized5cEDH

Archetypes

positive:
midrangecontrol
negative:
aggrocombostax-prison

Roles

removal-destroyremoval-artifactremoval-enchantmentremoval-landremoval-permanent

Risks

opp-board-requiredconditional-triggersorcery-speed-only

Mechanics

Typal

synergy:

anti:

Structural

Rationale

4cmc Gruul sorcery that destroys one artifact, one creature, one enchantment, and one land simultaneously — extraordinary value when all four targets are available, but the hard requirement that ALL four legal targets exist makes it a dead card against decks with few artifacts or enchantments, and is notably worse in Brawl where a single opponent is less likely to have all four permanent types on board. A signature "catch-all" removal spell in multiplayer Commander midrange and control, but its castability restriction keeps it out of tier-1.

Learnings (3)

  • Decimate requires legal choices for ALL four target types simultaneously — it cannot be cast if any of the four (artifact, creature, enchantment, land) has no valid target, including your own permanents, which can sometimes be used to meet a missing target requirement.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

  • In multiplayer Commander the four-target requirement is much easier to meet across three opponents' boards, which is why it's significantly better there than in 1v1 Brawl where a single opponent's board may lack artifacts or enchantments.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

  • Decimate can hit your own permanents to satisfy a missing target type — for example, sacrificing a land you control to enable the spell when an opponent has no land-destroying vulnerability is a legitimate line, but it represents real card-disadvantage.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

Popularity

  • EDHREC rank: #895