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Laurine, the Diversion: Common Misplays and Commander Tactics

In the wild, raucous world of Commander, Laurine, the Diversion stepped onto the stage with a bold promise: redirect the action, twist the table, and do it with red-hot efficiency. A Legendary Creature — Human Rogue with a crisp {2}{R} price tag, Laurine brings first strike, a partner link to Kamber, the Plunderer, and a goad engine that can turn a single sacrifice into a table-wide game of tag. That design is delicious for fans who love mischief, tempo, and the kind of political dynamic that only a five-player game can provide 🧙‍♂️🔥. But like any spicy two-step in a tempo-heavy shell, there are easy misplays that can derail your plan before you even get to the cool tricks.

Laurine’s most notable draw is not simply dealing damage but shaping how the table fights around it. The card’s text—First strike, a goad ability powered by sacrificing artifacts or creatures, and a partner with Kamber, the Plunderer clause—gives you permission to pivot from straight beatdown into a calculated control-or-chaos plan. The pairing with Kamber is especially juicy in a Commander sandbox where manipulating who draws what can tilt the social contract in your favor. The set may be quirky (Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander), but Laurine’s toolkit is brutally practical: pressure, distraction, and a nudge toward more strategic combat choices. And yes, the art by Andrey Kuzinskiy often earns a second look in every deck-building journal 🎨🎲.

Common misplays you’ll want to sidestep

• Misreading the enter-the-battlefield Kamber tutor: Laurine’s text says, “Partner with Kamber, the Plunderer (When this creature enters, target player may put Kamber into their hand from their library, then shuffle.).” It’s tempting to queue Kamber into your own hand, but the target is a chosen player. In a crowded Commander table, you can dump Kamber onto an opponent who is about to run away with the game, or onto a player who might actually help keep a competing plan in check. The misplay here is assuming you always want Kamber in your own hand or treating the trigger as a free fetch. The smarter move is to read the room: use Kamber as a political instrument or a strategic twist that reshapes the board state when you need it most 🧙‍♂️💎.
• Underutilizing the goad capability: Goad on a single target is cute, but the real value comes from choosing the right target and the right sacrifice. If you pay {2} and sacrifice a small artifact just to pressure a single creature, you might miss a bigger swing later. The misplay is paying the tax and ending the turn without forcing a table-wide tension that shifts pressure onto a player who can disrupt your bigger plan. Lean into multi-creature boards and strategic sac outlets—artifacts or tokens you don’t mind losing—to turn a temporary bump into long-term advantage ⚔️🔥.
• Forgetting the dynamic of First Strike in red tempo games: Laurine is a 3/3 with First Strike, which is an important edge in a world of often clunky blockers and fragile boards. The mistake is assuming you’ll win every combat purely on raw damage; instead, use First Strike to trade up, clear blockers, and open lines for Kamber’s own plunder or further pressure. In other words, don’t waste the tempo—protect it, and use it to shape combat that favors your plan rather than simply smashing face 💥🎯.
• Overloading the board without a clear endgame: Red staples, chaos, and goad are all well and good, but Laurine shines brightest when you have a plan for the aftermath. If you flood the board with threats without a way to leverage Kamber’s presence or Laurine’s redirection, you’ll give opponents the chance to unify, stabilize, and punish the lack of direction. Don’t be afraid to prune a plan back for clarity: you want a clear path to a win condition that hinges on a composed tempo rather than a flashy spectacle 🎲.
• Neglecting protection and recourse: A recurring misplay is ignoring the target on Laurine’s own vulnerability. Laurine is a valuable, high-profile creature; removal-heavy tables will happily snap her off the battlefield. If you don’t have a robust plan for recasting her, or you aren’t running a few backup threats that share the same pressure curve, you’ll find the table turns on you far too quickly. Red’s strength here is acceleration and removal—plan with that in mind and don’t commit to a single axis of attack without redundancies 🧨.

Commander tactics that actually sing

To unlock Laurine’s true potential, couple her with Kamber and a thoughtful artifact ecosystem. A few practical anchors to guide you:

• Skillful Kamber management: Frame Kamber’s entrance as a pivot point. If you can place Kamber into a hand that belongs to a player you trust to keep a balanced table, you can open opportunities for stable trading, or you can trigger Kamber’s own synergy when the moment is right. It’s not a magic trick; it’s social chess with a splash of red heat 🔥.
• Artifact density and sacrifice value: Build a shell that naturally produces artifacts you’re happy to sac. Maybe you lean into Treasure effects, artifact ramp, or a subset of utility artifacts that multi-functionally advance your board state. The payoff is that goad becomes a reliable control lever rather than a one-off value spell. The more you lean in, the more your opponents feel the pressure to react, not just survive 🧙‍♂️.
• Protective redundancy: Don’t rely on Laurine alone. A couple of cheap, protective layers—counterspells, removal backup, or a few evasive threats—can derail a targeted removal plan and keep your engine running. In a five-player game, redundancy is not optional; it’s how you stay in the game past turn four or five ⚔️.
• Stratified combat plans: Use Laurine’s goad to push opponents into subgames you understand well. If one player is leaning into a heavy tribal or combo plan, channel goad strategically to force early combat decisions that slow their surge, while you keep the threat level up on a separate axis. It’s a balance of tempo and inevitability—the classic red dance 🔥🎶.
• Deckbuilding notes: If you’re assembling a Laurine deck, lean into curve management, value from artifacts, and a few targeted haymakers that benefit from goading. Kamber’s presence adds table dynamics you can lean into, so design around the idea that sometimes giving Kamber to an opponent is a price you’re willing to pay to shape the table’s outcome. Red decks thrive on momentum—keep it rolling and don’t get cute with your endgame plan ⚡.

“Sometimes the best diversion isn’t a spell—it’s a calculated moment of social play that reshapes the table’s decisions.” 🧙‍♂️

Laurine, the Diversion offers a refreshing blend of tempo and political play that’s well-suited to real-time card-chess in Commander. The card’s rarity (rare), its color identity (Red), and its partner dynamic with Kamber give you a toolkit that can swing a game in dramatic fashion when used with care and pace. The real magic is in reading the table, choosing your targets, and knowing when to sacrifice for a bigger payoff 🔥💎.

As you test Laurine at the table, you’ll discover that misplays are often mismatches between intent and execution. With practice, your moments of diversion become deliberate strategies that keep opponents guessing and your path to victory a little clearer—one well-timed goad at a time 🎲.

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