Chaos

The 'chaos' deck archetype is somewhat unique to multiplayer games of Magic. These decks are built with the goal not to necessarily win as quickly as possible, but to create as confusing or complex of a board state as possible. This archetype may be used by the pilot specifically to disrupt powerful opponents by adding elements of chance and unpredictability to the game, which their own deck is better able to navigate, or may simply seek to create unexpected and unique board states that rarely exist in other games of Magic.

Chaos cards are found most commonly in the color red.

## **Popular Cards & Commanders**

**Notable Chaos cards include:**

* Eye of the Storm
* Scrambleverse
* Warp World
* Timesifter
* Planar Chaos

**Commanders that may commonly use Chaos cards include:**

* Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
* Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
* Norin, the Wary
* Ruhan of the Fomori

## **Levels of Chaos**

"Chaos" means different things to different deck builders, in general though, the philosophy tends to run a gamete where different ends of the spectrum encourage/discourage different card types.

**1/5 - I'll try something new**
Decks at this level of Chaos are just intended to give unpredictable results for the pilot. This can include cards like 'Polymorph' and 'Throes of Chaos', which in smaller numbers might not be enough for some players call a deck a Chaos deck.

**2/5 - YOU try something new**
Decks at this level seek unpredictable results for all players, but not necessarily to undermine their intended playstyle. This can be achieved with cards like 'Share the Trove' to give people access to different cards, or 'Braids, Conjurer Adept' to give permanents at a time earlier than they normally would, allowing for more unusual games of Magic but generally in a way that supplement their game plan.

**3/5 - Fight Through It**
Decks at this level acknowledge that some of the best victories in magic, or even amusing stories of defeat come from struggling against adversity. These decks seek to make it difficult for other decks to enact their game plan with cards such as Impulsive Manuevers, Disrupt Decorum & Hive Mind. Decks in this category bear a striking philosophical similarity to the categories below, with the exception of eschewing effects that may be difficult to resolve or untangle, such as Scrambleverse or Grip of Chaos.

**4/5 - Can't stop the Fire**
Decks at this level commit wholeheartedly to the theme of making the entire game difficult to predict, and demonstrate it through use of cards that induce chaos while ALSO undermining the level of order required to easily undo them, making them difficult to remove. This includes cards like Grip of Chaos & Psychic Battle (*Grip of Chaos is almost impossible to destroy with targeted removal, because it will change the target of the removal spell*) or Possibility Storm & Void Winnower (*These can make it impossible to cast certain spells reliably*).

**5/5 - Let's watch the world burn**
Decks at this level may appear functionally identical to the category above, except that a concentrated effort has been put into ensuring that the deck has options to induce chaos that can survive their permanents being removed, or even themselves being removed from the game. Examples can be as simple as cards like Scrambleverse which is a permanent exchange of control, or as complicated as casting Fractured Identity on Timetwister (*Who takes each turn is still random, but there is a now a growing backlog of extra random turns to resolve even if all Timetwisters are destroyed*) or on Psychic Battle (*Multiple permanents mean multiple contests are made to see who controls the spell and multiple enchantment must be destroyed before targetting reverts to normal*)

## **Attitudes & Perception**

Though multiplayer games of Commander will often place an emphasis on resonant, mutually enjoyable games instead of prioritizing victory, Chaos decks can be controversial in EDH and can even be seen by some as a violation of Commander's social contract. Cards that force chance and randomness into the game may be at odds with the ways that many players wish to experience games of Magic, especially if those players wish to showcase a unique aspect of their deck's strategy that chaos cards render inaccessible, or if they wish for the game to be won on the merits of skill, rather than chance. Importantly, chaos cards frequently remove a player's control over their own gameplay actions, which is often not seen as a mutually enjoyable play experience.

It is strongly encouraged that players using chaos decks provide that information to their opponents as part of a pre-game discussion, so that those opponents may prepare or determine their comfort level with this style of play.

## **Common Deck Categories**

* Chaos Cards
* Card Draw / Mass Card Draw
* Ramp / Mass Ramp / Sneak into Play Spells
* Removal
* Board Wipe Cards / Pillowfort Effects / Stax Effects / Chaos Cards
* Protection Cards / Spell Redirection / Stax Effects / Chaos Cards
* Political Cards
* Alternate Win Cards / Aikido Cards

**10 cards** will probably give you **2 cards in a given game** from that category, and a good chance to **start with 1** in your opening hand. Critical categories for your deck may require a similar or larger number than this, depending on expected levels of Counterspells or Removal.
**5 cards** will probably give you **1 card per game** of that category. Cards you don't want to overload on but still want access to (*board wipes in a tokens deck for instance*) may want a similar figure to this... Going smaller than this number makes receiving a card of this category very unlikely without Tutors or some other Toolbox approach.

## **Strengths and Weaknesses**

### Strengths

* Chaos decks have extremely high variance, and create fairly unique experiences from game to game. This can be ideal for players who do not enjoy decks with homogenous or too-consistent strategies.

* Chaos decks can significantly disrupt the plans of their opposition. Because chaos cards may cause spells not to resolve, may switch control of cards in play, or may produce unpredictable consequences from even small actions, chaos cards may level the playing field and reduce an opponent's ability to take meaningful or game-ending actions.

* Chaos decks can be built with chance in mind, making them better prepared to handle unpredictable board states and allowing the pilot to break the parity of random effects to produce an advantage over their opponents. As an example, Mishra, Artificer Prodigy may use cards such as Possibility Storm to create random game states, but Mishra's triggered ability will allow the player to circumvent that randomness by retrieving any artifact spells that might have been lost to that randomness. This provides extra value that their opponents may struggle to keep up with.

### Weaknesses

* Though some chaos decks may seek to gain advantage over their opponents by being more prepared for random game elements, it is almost impossible for any player to wholly manipulate those random elements. Chaos games can easily slip out of the control of any player and create game states where no player is able to take meaningful action. Some chaos cards may even change the manner in which players take turns, such as the card Timesifter, which may cause some players to be unable to take any turns at all, and not be able to participate in the game properly.

* Because chaos cards disrupt players' ability to take meaningful game actions and naturally advance their own strategy, this can prevent any player from actually ending the game. Games with chaos cards can therefore take a significantly longer amount of time than other archetypes, which can cause players to become frustrated by the play experience, rather than enjoying it. Chaos effects will also cause victory to be decided by chance, rather than by skill, which many players may also find less enjoyable.

* Chaos cards, especially when combined with other chaos cards, can create incredibly tricky and complicated rules interactions. Players may find it difficult or frustrating to keep up with the complex consequences that result from even casting a single spell.

#### **Polymorph**

If your goal is merely to have an unpredictable fun time, Polymorph can potentially make your deck play out differently each time.

#### **Stax**

Chaos decks are normally trying to keep their opponents unable to fulfill their goals by being unable to plan ahead… Stax can cut out the middle step and just prevent them fulfilling their goals

#### **Land Destruction**

Chaos decks often seek to prevent it’s opponents casting spells… You know what else stops people casting spells? Having no lands.

#### **Pillowfort**

If your deck is leveraging the chaos theme to have the game go long and prevent people attacking you, but isn’t consistent enough… You can accomplish that goal more directly by adding more protective cards

**Related EDHREC Resources**

* EDHREC Chaos theme page
* EDHREC Chaos tagged articles