The best way of dealing with the drawback of exert is done by plenty of playknowing how your decks plays out and how other decks play against yoursto generate experience asking and answering questions like those above
Some of them are relatively simple, while others are incredibly stringent and hard to build around
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben An extremely efficient creature, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a two-mana 2/1 that comes down early and blocks all your opponent's early plays
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However, right now demand is outstripping supply, and it can be quite hard to get hold of them
Kozilek, the Broken Reality Kozilek, the Broken Reality is an interesting Eldrazi