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Exile Zoning Laws (How many exiles can we make?)

Commander / EDH*

99LandOTK


Hi there! Is just one exile zone not enough? Is "removed from the 'removed from the game entirely' entirely' zone insufficient? Well, rejoice friend! Here are all the UNIQUE exile zones I could find. Since this is quite subjective, I have tried to explain my reasonings below. I qualify an exile zone as an exile zone if, in a game, I would need to set the exiled card(s) aside in a pile separate from any other zone (including other exile zones). If I would just ignore the uniqueness of the exile clause, for example in cards like Brilliant Ultimatum where I would either cast them or put them into normal exile, or would just flip the card face-down for a second, for example in cards like Long Road Home, then I disqualified those. This typically stops "Until end of turn" exile abilities, no matter how interestingly they're worded ( Planeswalker's Mischief ).

Necropotence also sadly gets hit with this restriction. The exiling ability is just until end of turn, and the exile clause refers to the boring exile zone. I was inspired to make this list after a CEDH gameplay channel released a video wherein they commented that there were a few exile zones piling up (one player was running Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, the normal exile zone was being used, and a Necropotence was in play as well when the comment was made.

Also, for the keywords that do qualify, I have just chosen one card with that keyword to represent all of them. Hideaway, Imprint, Cipher, and Suspend are such examples.

What are the different primary zones?

  • UntilXLeavesTheBattlefield: All of these cards have a unique exile zone which refers to the cards they exiled. The exiled cards return after ~ leaves the battlefield.
  • WithAbility: A catch-all group which refers to cards that care about just the cards exiled with their ability.
  • WithCounter: Card is exiled with some kind of counter on it.

Why not:

  • Ashiok, Nightmare Muse? Well, all of their abilities just refer to the "boring exile", which is the exile zone where most things ought to go. They isn't special.
  • Soulflayer While the abilities are checked, the cards go to the normal exile zone and cannot be interacted with afterwards.

Mechanics purposely not included:

  • Madness: Madness, on its own, just refers to the normal exile zone. I saw it more as an alternative form of casting, not really a zone the card enters for any length of time.
  • Cascade: Same reasoning as madness
  • Rebound: Uses the normal exile zone, just can be cast from it for free next upkeep. Cards like Long Road Home also use the normal exile zone in a unique way, but that is still not a 'new' exile zone per say.
  • CastUntilEOT: These cards exile cards which can be cast from exile until the end of the turn. An example would be Brilliant Ultimatum or Aminatou's Augury. On their own, these cards use the normal exile zone. Nothing special. If the card can be cast at any later time, that is a separate exile zone and would qualify.

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99% Casual

Competitive

Date added 4 years
Last updated 4 years
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

13 - 0 Mythic Rares

62 - 0 Rares

12 - 0 Uncommons

2 - 0 Commons

Cards 89
Avg. CMC 3.73
Tokens Angel of Sanctions 3/4 W, Bat 1/1 B, Construct 0/0 C, Dragon 5/5 R, Food, Horror 1/1 UB, Morph 2/2 C, On an Adventure
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