Top 10 Rule of Law Effects for cEDH
If you’ve been following cEDH for a while, you’re probably aware of the spell-restricting effect that takes its name from an enchantment named Rule of Law. The hallmark of these cards is restricting players to casting a single spell per turn, although some of them are conditional. This effect typically appears on white cards. Rule of Law effects are typically played in cEDH decks revolving around stax or hatebears that include ways to win without needing to cast multiple spells in the same turn.
The two most well-known cEDH decks in recent memory that heavily featured Rule of Law effects are Winota, Joiner of Forces and Tayam, Luminous Enigma. Both of these commanders offer ways to keep playing a lot of Magic without needing to cast many spells, making them a natural fit for playing these types of effects. While it can be said that both of these decks have become less favorable over time, each of them put up an impressive string of results in large cEDH tournaments in their respective heydays.
My personal favorite commander to play in a Rule of Law deck is Heliod, Sun-Crowned. He offers a different angle of attack where very few of your cards actually require your commander in order to impact the game and he comes with a compact combo that can often be attempted proactively in early turns. While I wouldn’t claim that he’s the best deck out there, he has been a pretty effective commander in a shell including Rule of Law effects and other relevant stax pieces and hatebears.
Many of the best cEDH win conditions typically involve casting multiple spells in the same turn, including the ubiquitous Thassa’s Oracle and Underworld Breach combos. This means that a Rule of Law effect represents a serious obstacle to a lot of the most common decks in the game, although that doesn’t mean that you should expect to just rest on your laurels. You should be using the time that you have to try to work towards your own win condition that can be achieved under a Rule of Law.
I wanted to take a moment to mention one of the most important things for any stax card: resilience. This came up specifically with the subject of counterspells and removal. After all, a Rule of Law creature can’t be countered by Fierce Guardianship or several other commonly played counterspells and a number of these cards are vulnerable to multiple different types of removal, including Boseiju, Who Endures.
Thanks for sticking with me so far. It’s finally time for the list!
10. Moderation
Being able to draw a card whenever you cast a spell is great on its own. That said, it’s definitely not worth playing a multicolor card that puts a Rule of Law effect on only yourself in order to get it. My experience with this card is that it can be pretty cool in Limited, but this is an example of an interesting design space that simply does not translate well to a multiplayer environment such as cEDH.
09. Curse of Exhaustion
This is another asymmetrical Rule of Law effect in the form of an Aura, but at least this one works on an opponent. It might seem enticing to cast this on one of your opponents and stop them in their tracks, but four mana for a card that only hurts one person is not where I want to be with Rule of Law effects in cEDH. I prefer to build decks that can slow down everyone while still advancing their own gameplan with one spell per turn.
08. Arcane Laboratory
Before we had Rule of Law, we had Arcane Laboratory. While this is functionally identical to its white successor, this card loses a few points for me because decks including blue are less likely to benefit from a hard Rule of Law effect because they have access to better stack interaction and combos that don't play nicely with these effects. That said, it is interesting that this was originally part of blue’s color pie.
07. Rule of Law
This effect definitely feels more at home in white than blue. While this is the card that defined an archetype, it does lack the bells and whistles that some newer versions of this effect include. I’d generally consider this to be the first Rule of Law that I’d cut from most decks if I needed to find slots for other cards in my stax suite, which is something that I expect to happen quite often due to power creep and the high volume of new cards.
06. Eidolon of Rhetoric
This card is exactly the same as the previous one, except it's also on a 1/4 Spirit body. While it’s not one of the most resilient Rule of Law effects out there, it can dodge the high density of noncreature counterspells that see play in cEDH. It just won’t escape from Swan Song or creature removal. The vulnerability to multiple types of interaction means that every color will be able to deal with it if they’re given enough time.
05. Phyrexian Censor
This card is usually a hard Rule of Law in practice, because there isn't a big density of Phyrexian spells in cEDH. It also comes with the upside of making non-Phyrexian creatures enter the battlefield tapped. This can hinder game-winning combos involving cards like Godo, Bandit Warlord or Dualcaster Mage and make it easier for attackers to get through since non-Phyrexian creatures won’t be available to block right away.
04. Ethersworn Canonist
At just two mana, this is one of my favorite Rule of Law effects because it's so easy to reliably play it on your first turn. This card will stop players from doing too much outside of casting artifact spells. While that won't stop every combo that you're likely to see in cEDH, but it does deal with common win conditions such as Underworld Breach. I enjoy this card in decks where one half of a two-card combo is an artifact.
03. Deafening Silence
It's hard to argue with the efficiency of this card because you should pretty much always be able to cast it on your first turn, perhaps even after casting something else. This is one of the best Rule of Law effects for creature-heavy decks because you aren’t bound by any restrictions when casting creature spells, but it’s devastating against decks that rely heavily on combos requiring multiple noncreature spells in the same turn.
02. High Noon
The real crime in Outlaws at Thunder Junction is that I’m not allowed to play a card called High Noon in my cEDH deck where the commander is literally the sun. That said, I’m excited at the prospect of a straight-up Rule of Law for just two mana, especially one that can sacrifice itself to kill most creatures in cEDH or as a way to deal with someone who gets too greedy with their Ad Nauseam. Barkeep, I’ll have another!
01. Archon of Emeria
This card does it all. You’re usually in for the long haul after this hits the battlefield, but you’ll be the one playing at an advantage because your deck will be designed to function under a Rule of Law and only your opponents’ nonbasic lands enter the battlefield tapped. There aren’t many stax pieces that are as brutal as Archon of Emeria when played early, especially if your opponents were banking on fetchlands to fix their mana.
While Rule of Law decks aren’t as favored as they once were, I still enjoy playing this type of strategy and I have had a lot of success playing against a variety of opponents. I’m looking forward to seeing more great Rule of Law effects in future sets after seeing the powerful design of High Noon in the most recent set. Until then, I’ll keep playing my Heliod, Sun-Crowned deck and honing my own gameplay with one spell per turn.
The PlayEDH team recently entered into a partnership with the CompetitiveEDH Discord server, including new cross-server play with SpellBot, ranked cEDH play, tournaments, and more. We look forward to sharing more news about upcoming tournaments, merchandise, and exciting new features very soon!
Articles like these are made possible and kept ad-free due to the support of all of our Patreon, Twitch, and Discord subscribers. Come check us out on Discord to chat about all things Commander and play curated games with people from all over the world! We’d also love to hear from you on Twitter where you can find all of our latest news!
“This article is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards.
Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.”
