"Branding EDH: Controlling what you own"

"Summoning technique...Poof..."

"Controlling what you own"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

     When the card "Death by Dragons" first came out there was initially a lot of buzz around it being a card that was akin to opening a pandoras box.A spell that you have no control over and could potentially bite you in the butt.

     You would give a 5/5 Red Flying dragon to each player except the target of the spell. It was a perfect spell for EDH politics since it allowed you to have a creature of your own while the opponent that you wanted to eliminate the most would get none.

"I don't know about you guys but I am hungry , said the first dragon..."

Control Planeswalkers would not counter this spell and since everyone had a dragon to potentially counter any dragon attack (except your hapless victim) some of the players might hold on to their mass removal spells or waste them all the same.

As for the spell being uncontrollable well you just need to have the correct pieces in order to take advantage of it. Brand is the first card that comes into mind and the Land card Homeward path.

"All your creatures are mine or wait...they were mine...oh wait...Oh  never mind..."

"Going home seems like serving another master..."

To put it simply there is a rule in magic that tokens or creatures you create are creatures you own regardless of who is controlling them. Brand and Homeward Path merely lets you put all of the creatures you "own" on your side of the battlefield. Imagine a giant sweeping hand that puts all of these creatures under your control. Some of your opponents may be ready for it though so timing is everything while playing with a strategy such as this. A little subterfuge is needed and a lot of patience. For one thing not dropping your Homeward path right off the bat even though you badly need mana.

The point is to distract your opponents with the creatures that you are giving them with cards like Forbidden Orchard or Hunted Dragon or any of the Hunted Card cycle. You protect yourself and when they least expect it Sweep the board in your favor.

"When giving means harvesting later..."

At least that is the plan. So keep on giving and coerce your opponents into attacking others until you have the chance to take care of them in the late game.

______________________________________________________


Writers note:

Thank you to Janji Naling for pointing out the rule changes regarding token ownership and control.
110.5a - A token is both owned and controlled by the player under whose control it entered the battlefield. [CompRules 2009/07/08]
So in essence the current combo would not be feasible in EDH.

This was an article I put in the back burner and recently tried to revive without getting the updates. Like all great theories it can either be supported or disproved as is the case this time. I appreciate my readers inputs and suggestions and once again thank you for reading.