Blue is often regarded as one of, if not, the strongest colours in all of Magic and for good reason. In Magic, it is very easy to identify what you need in order to win the game: draw cards and have resource to play said cards. The power of blue is that it functionally has part of this two part equation essentially solved in its built in colour identity.
Blue draws cards. That is not an understatement. That is a literal fact. Blue was designed to draw. Blue gets hand. Blue makes sure that your hand is constantly stock full of different plays to help you win the game or make your opponents miserable. However, there is one fatal flaw here. While blue is excellent at acquiring hand, it is not good at making the resource needed to cast these spells. Blue doesn’t really ramp. The only limit to blue is how many spells they can cast a turn based upon their available resource.
On top of it all, blue has access to one of the best forms of denial in the game: counterspells. Counterspells are extremely powerful because they get rid of the spell before it even touches the battlefield. And in the case of a permanent such as an artifact, creature, or enchantment, these lose their effects while also never leaving a body.
I do have a secret that I’m more than willing to share to help players beat blue. I mean, it’s commonly frowned upon in Commander, but if you want to win games, this is a very simple trick that will be sure to make it harder for the blue player to win. Are you ready? Just hit them. That’s right. Blue players hate aggression. While they have to save up mana on their opponent’s turns to deal with their spells, they aren’t really building up to much. So what should you do to capitalize on that? Hit them.
Blue players are extremely fragile in the early game. They are rather weak in terms of creatures and board, and that’s the perfect time to smack them in the face. And why is this not obvious or why is this strategy not employed much? Well, it’s because aggression is considered the antithesis to fun gameplay in Commander. Blue players often play and describe themselves like they’re some newborn chick that still needs time to grow. You wouldn’t hit a baby would you? But they aren’t babies. They’re just biding their time as they try to stay out of the spotlight. They’re just gathering resources in hand and on board for that single turn where they just drop their own miracle play to take over the game.
Like, if they’re playing blue, they deserve to get beaten in the face. You don’t resolve this problem now and in a few turns, you’ll be staring at a laughing mastermind with a full hand and resources while you’re sitting there completely out of gas and exhausted from beating and holding back your other two pod members.
Here’s another tip. Tired of your opponents constantly countering your spells? Why not just play cards that cannot be countered. Now your opponents sits sad in their corner as they can only watch as you rip apart their creatures and board while not being able to do anything about it. Blue’s specialty is ironically part of their weakness as well. Blue’s main forms of removal are either countering or stalling in one way or another form (bouncing). Blue is good at dealing with things on the stack, but otherwise, once they hit the board, the blue player is going to struggle to get rid of them.
The final way to really play against blue and their counterspells is to make them question whether or not they really want to use those cards of theirs in hand. You see, as much as everyone makes it out to be that blue has infinite hand, they don’t (at least not until they get an engine going). They can’t really be affording to waste their precious counters on every single one of your small threats.
Within the mind of a blue player, they need to prioritize what they counter. Not everything is worth a “just say no.” And that is how you really get to slip your cards past their barrier of protection. Blue players rely on a wealth of information to guide their choices based on the battlefield and predictions on what their opponents may have or be hiding. The most dangerous of which are cards that seem innocent and innocuous at first. It’s easy to look past a simple 1/1 dog that just draws a card on play, but a few turns later and an army of them swinging at you with pitchforks and that’s an entirely different story.
Don’t let that innocent island fool you. Blue is absolutely evil. Most people think of black, red, or a combination of both in Rakdos is the epitome of evil. But hear me out. You see, while Rakdos does contain literal demons and devils, at least Rakdos is completely honest about it. A blue player never truly reveals their hand until they are about to win the game. They try to trick you into leaving them alone, giving them their most important resource beyond mana: time. Don’t let them fool you.
In the words of a famous quote whose first sayer is debated, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”