Monday MtG: Away Decks II

A new year means a new set of Away Decks to ship off to Ohio.  From reports, last year's decks perform well and have a high win rate, which only encourages me.  

The Ohio games are typically multiplayer 20 life, creature-heavy affairs with decks ranging from precons to piles and all points in between, to include a massive Battle of Wits deck.  In truth, some of the decks haven't been changed in 20+ years, so there is no telling what may appear.  That said, there are favorites among the various players, so at some point, Bob's elves, John's slivers, or Lisa's lifegain decks are going to make an appearance.

Other house rules to keep in mind are that mana burn often still exists (depending on whose house we play at), and all players have the option to substitute a draw to instead reveal cards off the top of the library until they hit a land.  The revealed cards get placed on the bottom of the library in random order and the revealed land goes into the hand.  

This last rule lets folks actually play their decks.

Like last year, I'll build three decks using Commander rules, knowing that they probably won't be used for Commander games, just casual multiplayer games of 3-8 players. Unlike last year, I want to keep costs low on these decks, while still keeping them viable.  

Luckily, a local store has boxes of poorly sorted cards at great prices: .10 a common, .25 an uncommon, and .40 a rare (although a few rares are in a binder at higher prices).  All I need do is invest the time to sift through several 5-row long boxes.

In fact, I have already been sifting, leaving me with solid removal for a GW deck: Generous Gift, Swords to Plowshares, and Beast Within.  The same box provided several other sweet uncommons for well under market value, as well.

This means that one of this year's Away Decks is GW.  As I am using all the colors again, I am opting for UR and B as the other two decks.  Now that color choices out of the way, all I need do is choose Commanders and start building.

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The Commander solution lies in all of the partial decks I have neatly stacked in my MtG closet. Yes, I have an MtG closet. There are other things in there, but the closet's main purpose is Magic.  It saddens me that my closet does not open into another dimension.  I guess we'll have Narnia that in this house!  

Looking at the various piles of partial decks, I see Niv-Mizzet, Parun, as well as Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn and Ayara, First of Lochthwain.  

These meet my color needs and promise variety, so it looks like these are my Commanders.  As I have partial decks, that will save money as I already own many of the cards that will be going into each deck.  Ideally, the sleeves will be the largest expenditure for each deck.  

I kid.  Cards will be - and have already been - purchased.  My goal is just not as much as last year.

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My thoughts are to make Niv-Mizzet a steal other players' stuff deck, utilizing Stolen Strategy, Etali, Spelltwine, Diluvian Primordial, and the like. This means that the deck won't overly rely on comboing out with Niv in play.  Yes, some of those cards will be in the 99, but they won't be my main path to victory.

The flaw to the 'play others' decks' strategy is that it relies heavily on the other decks in the game, which can be a dangerous reliance.  Still, it will be fun and, more importantly, different.

And that is really the whole point of the exercise.  

Just in case the stealing whiffs, the deck's backup plan will involve chaos and Dragons.  I'm tempted to lean into the UR spell-slinging archetype, but that makes me uncomfortable in regular Commander games, so my trepidation for the Ohio meta is even higher.

Regardless of how I go about it, I want this deck to draw and draw and draw some more, which means Teferi's Puzzle Box, Mindmoil, and Arjun; maybe Teferi's Ageless Insight as well.  Alongside this strategy are the myriad cards that expand my handsize and Elixir of Immortality, so I can draw everything again.

An expectation of blue is countermagic. Personally, I am a terrible countermagic player; I tend to put my hand down and visit or do other things when it's not my turn, so I've lost count of the times I could have countered a game-changing spell, but failed to do so, because I wasn't paying attention. Still, this is a deck for counterspells, especially if I lean into the UR cost reduction spells.

Enough counterspells makes Haughty Djinn a consideration.  There are lots of ways this deck can go, and I am excited to see what the final list looks like.

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Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn almost builds itself - creature beat down, supported with lifegain.  

As there is no guarantee that Lathiel will see play each game in Ohio - although if these were standard Commander games, she'd see play all the time - I need to make sure each card has an impact related to her, but not dependent on her.

Granted, all decks should be built with the thought that each individual card can stand on its own (sorry combo decks), but Lathiel really wants to see lots of counters and life gain, so this deck will feature more synergistic cards than normal - normal for an Ohio game, but about right for a Commander game.

To compensate, I am considering adding cards that are group hug or at least some form of politics.  After all, GW lends itself to hugs, with Selvala and Gluntch in its ranks. It's a shame that Primal Vigor is pushing $30ish, as it would be a perfect addition.

If nothing else, this is the perfect deck and meta for Capricopian.  It even plays nice with the +1/+1 counter synergies in the deck.

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Last, but not least, is Ayara, First of Locthwain.  In truth, this deck is already in draft form, and I am now in the 'choose 28 individual swamps with the same border but different art that I find appealing' stage - a part of deckbuilding that I spend far too much time on: selecting the right basic lands.

It makes me regret that I didn't buy up the APAC basic lands for $3-$5 each when I was stationed in Korea back in the late '90s.  I can still picture that table lined with the individual lands, particularly this mountain.  

My thoughts at the time were 'who would pay $5 for a basic land?'  Lots of folks, it turns out.  Now that same basic land will set you back close to $100.

Such is life.

Anyhow, my Ayara deck is currently sitting at 40+ creatures, with hints of reanimation, EtB, and aristocrat tricks. I am vacillating between adding several demons and Liliana's Contract or cutting those for other cards - this would free up nearly 10 slots in the deck.

Two cards not in the deck are Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos.  I own both cards, but won't be giving them up, as they are beyond the budget of replacing, at $28 and $15, respectively.  If this deck were for my use alone, both would be present, alongside other monoblack staples Cabal Coffers and Torment of Hailfire. 

How selfish of me.

I'm on the fence about adding Skullclamp.  This equipment lives for token decks, which Ayara basically is.  That said, Skullclamp is closer to $10 than not, and I've already spent a bit on Cabal Stronghold, Nirkana Revenant, Magus of the Coffers, and Bubbling Muck (it IS monoblack) for the deck, so this may not make the cut to keep costs down.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is here though, as are other EtB all-stars and the means to continually recast or replay them.  This is a black deck, after all, so such should be expected. 

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Cards not found in any of these decks, nor in the first set of Away Decks, are the expected mana rocks (beyond Thought Vessel and Decanter of Endless Water - both included for the no hand size limit).  The meta these decks are intended for is not one where folks are racing to combo or racing to do anything, and the houserule about lands means mana-fixing is minimized (and also that MLD is easily remedied).

Sol Ring.  

Cutting out rocks (and keeping decks to one or two colors) frees up lots of space in the 99, and frankly, I find it refreshing.  Nonland tutors are not present either.  I appreciate the power of a Demonic Tutor, but when decks are played a few times per year, likely by folks who didn't build the deck, a nonland tutor means every card in the deck is read.

While that does allow everyone time to pee, grab food, or have a smoke, tutoring unnecessarily extends an already long game.  To compensate, all the decks I build have strong draw power, be it through green's burst draw, black's life-for-cards and creature-for-cards, blue's cantrips, or red's wheels. 

The last reminds me, I should pick up a Reforge the Soul for Niv-Mizzet, it is such a lovely card.  

Then again, it is close to $10, so it may not make the 99, after all.

MtG Monday: Away Decks

It has been some time since my last MtG post, and for good reason: I play and think about this game far less than I do DnD and fantasy roleplaying games in general.

Still, I got to play a few games with the Ohio group over Christmas Break.  It was fun, mostly because old friends were there, from my college days of gaming.  We shared lots of laughter, but only four games: a 4-player, a 4-player, a 6-player, and an 8-player game; three with an 'Ohio' deck, and one with a borrowed and untampered with Dragon Commander precon.  I died at the helm of the dragons, but took some players with me.

Finding fitting MtG art can be difficult, so this will have to do.

I leave decks in Ohio: several 60-ish cards at my brothers, and a pair of larger decks at G's house.  This makes flying home a bit lighter, and lets my decks see play, even if I am not there (to include a monoblack bit of nastiness that has migrated to Columbus and reportedly dominates multiplayer games down there among the Buckeyes).  These deck collections take up little space and provide me something to play with when I visit at home.

As a group, the Ohio players have no set format beyond 'no more than 4 of a kind' in a deck.  This often results in tribal decks or trick decks. Games are won on the backs of creatures or the occasional mass-damage spell (or B's Battle of Wits), as anything else requires more effort at deckbuilding than most of the Ohio group is interested in. For those in the group still buying cards, this often translates to untampered-with preconstructed decks of one stripe or another, with several of the group members keeping between 10 and 60 decks of various sorts available.  All told, winning is nice, but it is more about gathering together over a mutual hobby. 

That said, I managed to win a game, with a Black-Green pseudo-commander deck I had cobbled together a few years back from an Ohio pawnshop.  It is not quite commander because despite being at least 100 cards, it features a few playsets, notably Rampant Growth and Read the Bones - fuel for an otherwise weaker goodstuff deck. 

The box with the BG deck also holds a Blue-Red deck, built along the same lines and at the same time - pawnshop scroungings for a meh counterburnish flying pile of a deck.  I didn't even consider playing it; looking it over at the house, I am convinced this was the proper choice.

Both decks include lots of instants, because the Ohio group likes to interfere with one another's combats, and I know that I wanted to embrace that aspect of Magic, because it is something I rarely do in Alabama. (Anymore, playing Magic is something I rarely do in Alabama).

Now the decks are home to edit (and sleeve).  When complete, I'll return them to Ohio, to dwell at G's house forevermore. 

Writing this out and looking the decks over, I realize two things: one is that I prefer to build Commander decks and two is that the box I'm using will hold three decks, so one more is on the plate.

With three decks, I can use all five colors.  The decision point is how to go about it.  I know the BG deck is staying because it works.  I am torn between keeping the UR deck, but rebuilding it from the ground up and adding a monowhite deck, or going Blue-White and a monored deck.  

Frankly, I'm leaning towards the latter, because I happen to have most of a monored Commander deck set aside that will never be finished, otherwise.  Also, UW decks build themselves, especially decks involving flying.  None will be reliant on the Commander being in play, so each of the decks are just thematic goodstuff.

Which is helpful, because I know I will be buying singles as well as sleeves.  Hopefully, I won't spend too much between the three decks (beyond Dragonshield sleeves at nearly $12 for 100).

Some singles I know I'll need involve Monarch.  The games up north are only duels at the end, so Monarch will be fun.  

One thing for certain is that all three decks will be heavy on evasion and support, and light on tricks and rules abuses. I'm actually excited to build. 

As for the game I won, Wormwood Dryad (with Loxodon Warhammer equipped) served admirably, keeping me in play and eventually winning the game.  So both cards are staying.

Why no one killed it is beyond me.

 

Monday MtG: Away Decks Playtest

Situations resulted in my getting most of Saturday to game, so I joined some friends (mostly former students from a decade ago) and traded and played Magic until I left with a mild headache.  It has been more than a decade since I gamed to a headache.

Regardless, we played numerous games, to include several runs of the Away Decks, both against traditional decks, and then one 4-way game against one another and my Sygg deck.  This latter game took nearly two hours to finish due to how evenly matched the decks were.  

It ended to Approach of the Second Sun being cast twice.  The BG deck controlled the game throughout, constantly recurring all sorts of nonsense (often Gray Merchant) with Sepulchral Primordial and Beacon of Unrest.   Along the way, lots of sweepers were played, to include a Blasphemous Act for 8R. Sadly, no Brash Taunter shenanigans played out, and poor Torbran ended up with a handful of 5 and 6 cmc cards in hand.

Favorite play of the day: Torbran vs Marrow-Gnawer vs Sefris of the Hidden Ways

The Marrow-Gnawer deck started as mine, and then I sold it to its current pilot, who has been tinkering ever since.  It worked this game, with an early Thrumming Stone followed by solid ripples into 25 Relentless Rats by turn six.  Once the rippling had finished resolving, Torbran used Brash Taunter on a rat to halve Marrow-Gnawer's life total.  Torbran followed up with Disrupt Decorum to buy a turn (sorry, Sefris), then Taunted Brashly again for the win.

Overall, I got some solid feedback on the various decks.  

UW should use Shabraz, the Skyshark as Commander, not Brago, because Shabraz gets scary quick and Brago takes some set up.  Otherwise, it does its thing (UW flyers) and does it well enough.  Sticking slavishly to a theme means missing out on otherwise good cards, and it hurts.

The BG deck needs finishers, and Exsanguinate and Torment of Hailfire were both specifically mentioned.  Torment is out of budget, but Exsanguinate is possible.  Given how often the deck had an army of critters on its field, Overrun or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa could work as well.  In this vein, Triumph of the Hordes is ideal, but like Torment, is out of budget.  Chevill's Bounty Hunting did some amazing work, making him worth paying 12 to cast at one point.  

Then again, I can lean into the creatures by adding Kamahl, Heart of Krosa and a suitable black partner - maybe Sengir, the Dark Baron.  

Everyone wants to see Sol Ring and the usual suspects of rocks in the decks, but I had to remind them that these are unlikely to actually be played as full commander decks, anyhow, which mollified them a bit.  

Overall, I consider this project about done, and look forward to the August-September timeframe, when these decks should migrate to their new home in Ohio.

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I also got in several Commander duels, most of which were dictated by who dropped turn 1 Sol Rings.  I can understand the arguments as to why it (and other cheap rocks) are banned in some Commander formats, notably Duel Commander (sometimes called French Commander).  It is too large an advantage to fight against, especially if your deck is not designed for dueling: average cmc of 3 or lower, all the rocks, tuned for efficiency, not interesting or bizarre plays.

Mostly, I am not a fan of duels, because I like the interactions of lots of people in a game, instead of one.  Plus, a dueling deck is its own animal and in Commander, needs to be of cEDH quality to be worth it.  By this, I mean lots of interaction via instants and more importantly, all the mana rocks, because speed is king in a duel.

Speaking of other Commander formats, I just discovered this - Dungeon EDH.  If nothing else, its worth a read.  

Other Magic-related discoveries from this game day: a decent Rogue tribal deck under Anowan, the Ruin-Thief is a strong deck; Traverse the Outlands is even more ridiculous than reading it suggests - if you own one, play it.  

 

MtG Monday: Away Decks Redux

A few weeks back, I wrote about the decks I plan to leave in Ohio and why.

Since then, I have settled on commanders and determined decklists.  The decks themselves are currently in a state of sleeved, cards in the mail, or a decklist scribbled on paper. The final cards will be ordered in March, as a birthday present of sorts for me.

As for the Commanders chosen, I went with a favorite, a classic, and a brand new (for me) options.

First up is an old favorite, Heartless Hidetsugu.  I've written about this Commander before, and this deck uses that decklist as a start point, but subbing in far cheaper cards than some of the Commander gems in the decklist at the link.  The deck's strategy is burn, supported by Dragons and Goblins.  It was tough to NOT add Goblin Welder and his favorite toys, Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring, to the deck.  Maybe I will include some possible 'sideboard' cards to the deckbox, after all, Welder can muck about in any graveyard, not just my own.

Second is the classic Brago, King Eternal.  The deck's focus is on flying, not blinking, although some of that is going on, as well.  What blinking there is shouldn't be too gross, and without lots of mass-blinking support, like Eerie Interlude or Ghostway, triggers shouldn't get too out of hand.  On the whole, I have played against tuned, efficient Brago decks, so know what degenerate tricks to avoid.  

Third is Chevill, Bane of Monsters.  Yes, Ikoria is several years old at this point, but is still new to me.  The deck is mostly goodstuff, but only affordable goodstuff (most cards under $1, some between $3 and $8), so no Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire, or Ohran Frostfang.  Of the three decks, this one contains the most new cards (for me), notably Harness Infinity.

Looking at all three decklists as a whole, there are similarities.  Each deck is designed to be played with the Commander shuffled into the deck, as the Ohio group may use Commander decks, but only rarely actually play Commander.  In addition, there are no planeswalkers in the three decks, although each deck has some means to get rid of them.  Also in each deck are Monarch and other cards/mechanics aimed at multiplayer games.  Lastly, there are few mana rocks among the decks - not even Sol Rings!  The Ohio group never focuses all their ramp into one deck, so I can build decks that move at normal speed.  

That said, the BG deck has land-fetching sorceries (I avoided Sylvan Primordial, despite its low cost - just in case a true Commander game breaks out), the R deck has some burst mana, and the UW deck can fetch Plains.  All three decks feature lots of draw power, and frankly, the Ohio group uses the 'mill for land' houserule - in lieu of a draw, you can announce you're milling for land and reveal cards from the library top until you get a land.  The revealed cards aren't even technically milled, just maybe shuffled and certainly put on the bottom of the library.  

Yes, a serious group could abuse this houserule in several ways (by stacking the bottom of the deck or running an otherwise inadequate amount of lands), but that isn't an issue with the Ohio group.

Lastly, I am aware that Star City Games has higher prices, but on the whole, they have ALL the cards I want - if not now, then they will later. The Dragonshield Matte Sleeves all came from the local game store, Gamers n Geeks.

With luck, I'll get to playtest these decks before taking them back to Ohio next winter.

MtG Monday: Away Decks Completed

It's been a few months, but the Away Decks are built and sleeved, courtesy of birthday gift money.  Decklists are posted on deckstats, and the decks are ready to play. I even picked up the appropriate tokens (2 per creature, Treasure, Monarch, City's Blessing). The only missing ingredient is ready access to Ohio to play them with the group (we don't do the digital meetup very well).

The three decks: Brago, King Eternal; Heartless Hidetsugu; Chevill, Bane of Monsters.

Back in January, I got together with K and dueled, using proper Commander rules.  Chevill did well, and Heartless either won well or lost to land floods. I did get in a first-turn Winds of Change, however, which never fails to make me smile, even when it backfires (like this time).  K did learn the lesson of never letting Heartless stick around for multiple turns, a good lesson in some play groups. Brago was still incomplete, so wasn't played.  Overall, having ready access to the Commander changes a game.

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Brago, King Eternal.   Decklist.

This deck runs several common Brago tricks, but is limited due to my sticking solely to creatures that fly, so Stonehorn Dignitary and Sun Titan are automatically disqualified.  In addition, I've limited the backup blinking cards.  Given the amount of card draw, Approach of the Second Sun should be a viable win.

I'm most excited to see how this deck plays out, because the Ohio group is a fan of large life totals, and I am certain this deck will meet or exceed that expectation.

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Heartless Hidetsugu.  Decklist.

I'm dissatisfied with this build but am torn on what needs to come and go. I am leaning towards more goblin support and changing out some of the other creatures.  

What really bugs me is lack of conditionless draw.  On paper, the draw will either be explosive with Skullclamp and tokens, or sporadic - at best - with the various discard and draw spells.  Looting is a thing, but I dislike that mechanic, unless I can break it.  Maybe Squee, Goblin Nabob is the way to go.

Going Goblin means looting the 'Goblin Horde' deck which I built for a format called Horde that dies when everyone busts out Mind Grind and Mind Funeral.  To be honest, I sleeved my Horde almost a decade ago, and tried it twice before it became a permanent fixture in my storage closet.

Wow! I even posted the decklist! There are certainly a handful of cards I can either port to this deck or to my Commander box or trade binder, all of which are better uses for these cards.

Knowing that the deck won't often be used as a Commander deck means I have pulled many of the haste-making cards I typically run alongside HH.  I guess time will tell how many need to return.  If nothing else, this deck DOES burn.  

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Chevill, Bane of Monsters. Decklist.

Writing up the decklist revealed something interesting - I am running not nearly enough lands in the deck.  There are nine ramp spells (mostly sorceries) and a ridiculous amount of draw - maybe more than Brago. My limited play with this deck hasn't shown this to be an issue, but I know it could be.

With that in mind, I am eyeballing the list for cards that can become lands.  The problem with this is that I then see several other cards I can replace.  A peril of becoming active on one of the FB MtG pages - Budget Magic - is that I have Magic on the brain and new (to me) cards to consider.  I realize that I haven't even added Bounty Hunter to the deck, which is just wrong for me to not run the one other card that truly synergizes with Chevill.

This is all just speculation until I get to actually play these decks in a multiplayer game.  Hopefully, this is sooner than later.

 

Gaming 2022 Reflections

Reflecting on the past year is a regular habit of mine.  In addition to the notable life events, though, I added some hard numerical data to the mix this year, and this post is the result.  

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2022 was an eventful year for me and my family, but not so much for my gaming.  Over the course of 12 months (or 365 days), I ran two DnD sessions, and played maybe a dozen MtG sessions.  Compared to how much I have spent on DnD and MtG, I don't know that it was worth it, beyond sating my desire for new things.

First on my image search.

The one New Year's resolution I kept from last year was to maintain a 'hobby budget'.  The Games category is by far the largest chunk of my hobbies (other headings include Books, Stuff for Kids, Alcohol, and Eating Out).  Since I began intermittent fasting, Eating Out has declined (yay!), but I also started a YouTube channel (Ben Buys Beverages) in October, so the alcohol category has been on the uptick, but that is not the purpose of this post.  

The purpose of this post is to accept that RPGs (a mix of DnD and OSR and both-adjacent) ate lots of money, spent almost entirely on Kickstarters and Drivethrurpg purchases.  To be specific, $972 US dollars on these items - with several Kickstarters still awaiting delivery.  I have faith they'll arrive, but not this year.  

Which is different from the money spent on Magic card packs, sleeves, and singles for current or future decks; that rings up to $876 for the year.  About half of this went towards my Away Decks project (for the record, the R and BG decks have won each time played, and the UW deck came in second, so I consider the whole thing a success), and while I have a temptation to do another round of Away Decks (GW, UR, B), that project will definitely sit on the backburner.

Don't misunderstand, I know that I am fortunate to be able to have a hobby budget like this, but overall, nearly $2000 on games that I don't get to play all that much is not the best use of my money.  Looking at the numbers, if I keep away from Kickstarters and only buy Magic singles I have an immediate need for, the costs should be more than halved.

All that said, I did get in some writing in on the blog, both in published posts and partial posts awaiting completion.  Quite a bit of writing, actually, and next year promises much more, as I am planning to participate in the #Dungeon23 challenge.  

Perhaps next year will see more gaming - I certainly hope so!

And I hope your year sees more gaming, too.  

Happy Holidays!

Monday MtG: Away Decks Reprise

I've written about these away decks before.  Of the three decks, the UW and BG decks have only seen small changes, but the R deck has been torn down to the lands and rebuilt almost entirely.  This rebuild is due to both my continual dissatisfaction with it and the great card discussions in the FB Group Budget Magic.

The premise is still the same: A monored burn deck for a creature-heavy meta, where most games have 4-6+ players.  In a pinch, the deck needs to function as a true Commander deck, so the deck's construction follows the Commander rules of 100 cards, no off-color mana, and one (or more) Legendary creatures to feature as the actual commander.  Lastly, the deck will never be tinkered with again once sent off to Ohio.  Here is the final(ish) decklist.

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My first major reworking involves the anticipated commander.  Originally, the plan was Heartless Hidetsugu, with the deck kinda-sorta built around him.  Unfortunately, to run that commander properly, the deck needs at least a dozen ways to make haste, as well as a few ways to avoid the life loss, and doing so prevented other things I wanted to include.  So, while Heartless Hidetsugu is still in the 99, I now have other options.

Better options.  Far better options.

Krenko, Mob Boss is technically one of them, but to be a Commander, the deck would need far more Goblin support than I want to run, so instead Krenko is here to make tokens for blocking and Skullclamping, not swarming and winning. Besides, for Krenko to work, I would need to cast him every game, which would only happen IF playing Commander, and that is not a guarantee.

That said, Torbran and Toralf are both in the deck, with Torbran edging out the God of Fury by just a bit.  Both like burn, but Torbran supports it better.  Etali, Primal Dawn isn't under consideration, because, like Heartless Hidetsugu, it demands haste to work.  Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded is sweet, being an indestructible bruiser, but I simply prefer Torbran more.

Supporting Torbran are Toralf and Gratuitous Violence, which plays extra nice with Heartless Hidetsugu, popping any player with an even life total - even myself.  If this deck was still focused on Heartless, I would add more damage doublers, but as it isn't, I have more space for other nonsense instead, and am enjoying that freedom.

Loxodon Warhammer and Basilisk Collar can keep me alive and are plain silly on Heartless Hidetsugu.  Still, the bane of burn is excessive lifegain, and while there are several red ways to stop it, I am sticking to just Quakebringer, because he also deals upkeep damage AND hits for at least 5.  

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Being intended for multiplayer games, there are several cards in the 99 geared for that in the deck:  Court of Ire, Frenzied Saddlebrute, Disrupt Decorum, Emberwilde Captain, War's Toll, and Insurrection.  The last is there to win the game if nothing else does, and from experience, Insurrection does win games.  

Initially, I disregarded Court of Ire, but now that Torbran is the Commander, it seems a must, burning for 4 or 9 while Torbran is in play.  Drawing cards off Monarch is a bonus.

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The only thing better than burning folks with sorceries and instants, is doing so multiple times.  At 5 cmc, Pyromancer's Goggles is too expensive to consider ramp, but is just dandy for copying spells.  

I have other means to reuse/copy spells in the deck, but the Goggles promises to be the most reliable - or the most reliably killed, depending on how the game goes.  Increasing Vengeance, Wild Ricochet, Dualcaster Mage, and Radiant Performer all provide alternate means to copy spells.  Backdraft Hellkite is in the deck to provide a hint of recursion, for even more copies.  

(My dream play is flashing in Radiant Performer in response to the Chaos Warp that is also in the 99).   

There are other spells in the deck that I look forward to copying, notably Volcanic Offering, Mana Geyser, Seething Song, and Beacon of Destruction.  

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Drawing cards is difficult for monored, yet it is crucial for a burn deck.   My most reliable source of draw is Skullclamp.  To support it, the deck includes Kher Keep, Krenko, and both Squees.  Skullclamp is backed up by Reforge the Soul, Knollspine Dragon, Electric Revelation, and Monarch. 

Some indirect support lies in Etali, Hoarding Dragon, and Sunbird's Invocation.  In theory, an opposing draw spell can be copied or redirected, as well.

There are no other draw spells in the deck for two reasons. First, I am simply not a fan of red's 'exile and cast this turn' nor 'discarding to draw'.  Second, the Ohio group uses a houserule where a player can eschew a draw to reveal cards from the library top until a land is revealed, with the nonlands randomly shuffled and moved to the bottom of the deck.   So fewer support spells for more business spells.

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The biggest change to the deck has been the addition of Brash Taunter, Stuffy Doll, and a host of support cards for them: Fatal Attraction, Basilisk Collar, Blazing Sunsteel, Fiendlash.  The last two turning more of my creatures into death machines when I inevitably cast one of my mass damage spells. The Collar on Taunter means a free murder machine.  In truth, this might be my favorite use of the Collar, even moreso than on Hidetsugu.

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A card I am on the fence about is Repercussion. It is in the 99, because so much in this deck supports it, yet I only have one card in the deck that might keep me from losing to it, as well: Glacial Chasm.  

There are also two life-gaining equipment, but they're a more unreliable 'defense' than Glacial Chasm.   

Reprint this, WotC! Then make a creature version (with Flash!) and an instant version, as well.

One casting of Hour of Devastation or Storm's Wrath can end games with Repercussion in play, and combat math changes drastically while it is on the battlefield.  All things considered, I can see myself getting burned by this more often than not - which is fine.  I am good with a draw and occasionally being hoisted on my own petard.

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Red answers most problems with direct damage.  What damage cannot remove, is probably an artifact or land.  Enchantments escape scott-free.  Vandalblast and Structural Assault are for the artifacts that bother me, while Volcanic Offering and Ghost Quarter handle problematic lands.  Frankly, all red decks should run Vandalblast and Volcanic Offering - they are THAT useful.  Chaos Warp, Steel Hellkite, and Silverclad Ferocidons (kind of) handle everything else.

Ideally, Silverclad Ferocidons is run alongside Pyrohemia, but Brash Taunter works well, too!

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I'll close with the creatures that are mostly likely to carry the day to victory.  Being Red, there are several dragons and a few armies-in-a-can, backed up by support creatures mentioned earlier.  

Spawn of Thraxes, Hunted Dragon, Stormbreath Dragon, Inferno Titan, Siege-Gang Commander, Beetleback Chief, and Etali, Primal Storm.  This is in addition to the Steel Hellkite, Quakebringer, Silverclad Ferocidons, Backdraft Hellkite, Hoarding Dragon, and Knollspine Dragon mentioned earlier in the post.

I know what you're thinking - "wow, there's a lot of dragons in this deck!" and you wouldn't be wrong.  It turns out flying creatures are solid additions in a creature-heavy meta.  There's enough dragons that I'm tempted to add some Dragon-specific cards to the deck: Dragon's Fire, Spit Flame, Sarkhan's Triumph, Draconic Intervention, Sarkhan's Dragonfire, and Sarkhan, Dragonsoul.  I won't add them, but am sorely tempted.  

A remnant of my original deck's plan of Haste-for-all is Ogre Battledriver and Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, both of which provide my team the haste needed to ensure they connect.  I believe that the more players in a game, the more useful Haste becomes, as more players means more opportunities for an unfortunate sorcery to remove the critters before they can swing.  

When there's a whip, there's a way!

As an aside, Purphoros is a bruiser himself, once there is enough devotion in play. Speaking of devotion, Fanatic of Mogis is also in the deck, as it plays nicely in a red permanent-heavy deck, especially when damage-doubling enchantments are involved.  Before Fanatic of Mogis was printed, I used Deathforge Shaman in this role - but that can be too mana-intensive and doesn't blink well.  

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Overall, I've made substantial changes, but I am now happy with the deck, especially the internal synergies it contains.  Average cmc is 4ish, which means I'm unlikely to do much during the early game, which isn't always an issue in games with lots of players, as early threats eat up the early answers.

By no means is this is the perfect Torbran deck, because odds are good it won't be used for traditional Commander games.  Being modeled on such decks, though, takes the deck an important extra step.  If this deck were guaranteed to be used in Commander games, it would include Manabarbs and Pyrohemia, as well as a variety of rocks.  

But, I cannot make that guarantee, so the deck goes without.

There are numerous other cards that could work in the deck, but the good-idea window is closed, both due to cost and due to it getting more difficult to make the cuts.  If interested in what I think those, follow the link to the decklist up near the top, and check out the maybeboard.

Lastly, I will at some point convert my Heartless Hidetsugu to a Torbran deck, using this decklist as a base, so when I write about that, we can compare notes, as that deck will lack budgetary restraints.

Monday MtG: Artisan Commander

To meet my goal of three posts per month, I've decided to resurrect an older feature of mine, Monday MtG.  As before, it will focus almost entirely on the Commander format and today is no exception.

It seems there is a format called Artisan Commander, where only cards that were printed at common or uncommon at some point may be used.  In theory, building these decks ties in with my desire to reduce spending on MtG, but we shall see.

Happily, much of the best removal and card draw show up in these rarities, so that shouldn't impact my deckbuilding too much.

The big change is that most of the combo-related wins and all of the alternate win cards are no longer options, leaving damage and mill as the main threats, perhaps the only threats.  Frankly, this is a wonderful thing for me, at least.

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Honestly, I suspect it's the limited commander choices that will stymie me.  Then again, Scryfall kicked back just under 400 Common and Uncommon legends.  Subtracting the Universes Beyond (I refuse to run such cards - if I want those IPs, I will play those games/watch those shows), I end up with 300ish options that are mostly one or two colors, with very few three-color outliers.  30 of these have Partner, and 20 allow for Backgrounds, opening up more options.

Still, that is too many options for me to absorb, so I will break it down by color and theme. 

Hearkening back to my Away Decks, I will go with two color pairs and a monocolor deck, to keep things interesting.

I think I want GW, BR, and U for my decks. I know that RW allows for several strong equipment-based commanders, as well as usable equipment and Boros Charm, but that seems too easy.  

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Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar is draw in the command zone, which is always welcome.  Yes, it is conditional, but that condition is easily met with cards that add +1/+1 counters, Giant Growth and Anthem variants, and equipment.  While I doubt I can go all-in on cat tribal, that won't stop me from trying.

I'm wondering how many hatebears I can find in these rarities.  Hopefully more than I can call to mind.

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Tor Wauki the Younger is a deck I have tried in the past, but it didn't gel.  With Firebrand Archer, Guttersnipe, Thermo-Alchemist, and Josh Lee Kwai's decklist as a start, this should be a playable spellslinger deck, quickly built out of what I have lying about.

That said, my favorite B and R (and BR) instants and sorceries tend towards rare, so maybe not.

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Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea effectively gives my critters Ward while encouraging me to go heavy on the devotion.  While I love the devotion mechanic, this deck will force the most research as my go-to heavy Blue devotion cards are all rares and mythics.  

To be honest, though, I am looking forward to it, if only because it gives me the best reason to run Thassa's Rebuff, as well as all the U enchantments that render opposing creatures harmless. 

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All that said, I don't know how these will fare against non-Artisan decks.  I guess only time will tell.

To the card boxes and binders!

Unicorns, the MtG Way

I have a confession.

I really like unicorns.

After all, I have sampled several unicorn-branded beers, own two unicorn t-shirts, and use a Squatty Potty every morning.

Mostly, though, I enjoy playing Commander with Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn Commander decks.

Because unicorns, man.

Such a beautiful card in both forms.

Note that if you only want images, jump to EDHRec. For decklists, scroll to the end of this post.

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Lathiel is a wonderful commander for several reasons.  First is colors - GW are allied colors and this card showcases what they do. A 2/2 for 4 cmc may not seem like much, even with lifelink, but its ability is what pushes it over the top.

At the beginning of each end step, if you gained life this turn, distribute up to that many +1/+1 counters among any number of other target creatures. (Emphasis mine).

Each end step means your opponents' end steps as well as your own.  So, if you've a means to gain life when it isn't your turn, you profit while Lathiel is in play.  

Note that Lathiel cannot place those +1/+1 counters on itself, but can place them on any other creatures, to include your opponents' critters.  

All of this means that Lathiel is a great commander for those wanting to play politics, in addition to being a great commander for steamrolling people with massive creatures.

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Having lots of life - even infinite life - won't win the game on its own.  

Even if you have infinite life, there are still ways around it: 21 Commander damage, 10 Poison Counters, running out of cards, a variety of 'if this, then victory' cards, and all of the combos that result in an opponent just winning the game.

Despite this, Lathiel has several routes to victory based on life totals.  Chief among them is smashing face with giant creatures, but there is also the time-honored option to use life as a shield until you can cast Approach of the Second Sun twice. Instead of defense, life can also be used in the offense with Aetherflux Reservoir. In addition to these methods are Test of Endurance and Felidar Sovereign.  With these, Lathiel has its own 'if this, then victory' cards.  

So whichever route you choose (and you have 100 cards, so choosing some or all is an option), Lathiel can win games.

But how to gain the life we need to fuel the counters?  Ideally, we are doing so every turn, passively.

By passive life gain, I mean not having to cast any spells or attack.  Just sit back, let the card trigger, and giggle.  Giggling is the important part.  Venser's Journal is my favorite, but not the only option.  The Soul Sisters gain life for each creature that enters play, regardless of who plays said creature.  

Lifegift provides a life for each land that enters play on any battlefield, while Courser of Kruphix, Druid Class, and Retreat to Kazandu only trigger when your lands enter play - note that even at 100 cards, you fast run out of room, so choose wisely. Crazy Shattered Angel triggers solely when opponents play land - ideal with Lathiel triggering on any turn.

Glorious Sunrise and Primeval Bounty are special, because they provide several options that work well with a Lathiel deck.  Hence this separate sentence.  If you've only room for one, though, Bounty does more and more often.

Do not forget the spells that provide a one-shot boost of life, often as an add-on to something else, but not always.  Three of my favorites are Momentous Fall, Lifeblood Hydra, and Pelakka Wurm.  While Lifeblood Hydra is pricey, the other two easily slip into a budget deck - and should.

More important are the evasive creatures with Lifelink.  If they aren't evasive, that's okay, but not as preferable.  White gives us flyers with Lifelink, but any deck can run Rogue's Passage, and Lathiel is no exception.

Related to the evasive lifelinkers are the cards that let you win the way Richard Garfield intended (maybe) - glorious combat.  

Bond of Discipline may be my favorite white sorcery.  A well-timed BoD can result in game over, be it by your creatures or someone else's.  True Conviction and Predatory Focus are two more cards to seal the win - I would even argue that Focus is even better than Overrun, at least in this deck.

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This being an article about Commander, the Magic format of over-the-top plays, I want to talk about how we gain MOAR life, which leads to MOAR counters, and therefore ridiculous amounts of damage.

Boon Reflection isn't the only life-doubler.  Rhox Faithmender and Alhammaret's Archive do so as well, and being permanents do it all the time.  Beacon of Immortality is an instant that can target any player, so it saves you or lets you politic.  Either way, it's a solid inclusion.  

Best of all is that this doubling counts as gaining life in the rules.

A second way to push lifegain over the top is with cards that add 'life plus 1 instead', like Cleric Class.

Angel of Vitality, Heron of Hope, Honor Troll, and Knight of Dawn's Light are other options here, but to be honest, I pulled most of these creatures from my budget list and didn't consider them for the nonbudget list.  Cleric Class made both because it provides life and counters. 

Other than that, you have a mix of spells that change life totals or add X life, which all can be considered based on budget or your whims.  One interesting card is Eternity Vessel, because all of its life changes count as life gain and it is a may effect, so it should never reduce your life total.  Note that Eternity Vessel looks at the counters on the card, so proliferating and other tricks (like Doubling Season, Vorinclex, or Quarry Hauler) means more life gain is possible with every Landfall trigger. 

Note that in many of these cases, Nykthos Paragon can be your creatures' best friend, but is only truly ridiculous in a go-wide build.  Speaking of go-wide, Congregate loves such a deck, especially when Storm Herd (with Soul Warden and/or Archon of Sun's Grace on the battlefield) is involved.  

Because stacking dice upon dice is fun!

Infinite or near-infinite combos fall into this category.  Adding Kitchen Finks, Archangel of Thune, and Spike Feeder to your Lathiel deck allows for this.  That said, depending on your final build, there are MANY ways to go infinite in Selesnya colors.  Many more than I realized!  Kitchen Finks is combo-licious, as I suspect most of the creatures with Persist are.

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In addition to lifegain, Lathiel is a +1/+1 counter deck.  Which means we want to capitalize on gaining ever more counters.

Hardened Scales, Conclave Mentor, Wildwood Scourge, Lae'zel, Solidarity of Heroes, Hydra's Growth, Vastwood Hydra, and Invigorating Surge are easily afforded and acquired.  For those with deeper collections or pockets, there is also Benevolent Hydra, Kalonian Hydra, Primal Vigor, Vorinclex, Doubling Season, and my favorite, Branching Evolution.

I likely missed some, but these are my go-to options. 

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Doubling Season, Vorinclex, and Lae'zel not only affect +1/+1 counters, but also loyalty counters on Planeswalkers, which makes it tempting to add Planeswalkers to the deck.  

Or at least to the nonbudget deck.  After all, doubling loyalty counters is why Doubling Season and Vorinclex cost so much. 

The standout planeswalker is Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, because 100 life in one shot is too fun to pass up, and his +1 plays well with the rest of the deck.

Other synergistic options are Basri Ket; Gideon, Champion of Justice (even without shenanigans, he can ult quickly); Ajani, Steadfast; Ajani, Strength of the Pride; ... really, any G, W, or GW planeswalker that can ultimate immediately with Doubling Season in play is a consideration.

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Synergies are important to a Commander deck. Well, most Commander decks.  Those built to race to combo are a different animal.

Sunscorch Regent and Managorger Hydra play into Lathiel's strengths, even when Lathiel isn't in play.  Add both to any Lathiel deck you build, because both are around $1 each. 

Authority of the Consuls slows opponents down while providing life. For W.  

This deck craves proliferation.  Even without running Planeswalkers, there are all the +1/+1 counters that want to grow.  Evolution Sage is my favorite method, but Karn's Bastion shouldn't be overlooked. 

Titania's Command plays into a few strengths of Lathiel, and is worth its 6 cmc.  Especially against a mill deck.

My last recommendation on strong synergies is Children of Korlis, who even passes the Sun Titan test.  Maybe it falls under lifegain, but it matters not.

Add it to your Lathiel deck.

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Lathiel typically wins via permanents, be they creatures or enchantments.  Both of which are easy to remove.

So what's a poor Unicorn to do?

Asceticism provides blanket protection for creatures from targeted attacks, with Boots and Greaves being the standard choices for individual protection.  Darksteel Plate and the various Swords of X and Y help creatures out, as well.

These work, but show our hand, so we need instants to save us.   Luckily, GW provides some of the best protective instants in the game: Teferi's Protection and Heroic Intervention.  GW doesn't stop there, though.  Wrap in Vigor, Akroma's Will, Flawless Maneuver, Make a Stand, and Unbreakable Formation all save the team, with the last playing nice with Lathiel's +1/+1 counter theme.

In addition, there is a plethora of G and W cards that render individual creatures indestructible or hexproof until end of turn (or both, in the case of Loran's Escape). Sheltering Word, Snakeskin Veil, and Tamiyo's Safekeeping synergize well with Lathiel's goals.

Given that this deck relies on creatures, Vigor works to keep your team around if you cannot make them indestructible.  

So we have lots of options to help our permanents survive, but eventually they will get destroyed.  It's how the game is played.

Luckily, returning cards to play or to hand is something that both White and Green do well.  

Faith's Reward, Sun Titan, Eternal Witness, and Pulse of Murasa are just a few options that Lathiel has access too.  Best of all is that most of your options can be added to budget decks - especially Sun Titan.

With our permanents safe, we need to look to saving ourselves.

Purity saves us from direct damage and Blunt the Assault from combat (for a turn).  Spike Weaver can save us from lots of attacks, presuming it survives.

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While your opponents are gunning for you, you are gunning for them.  After all, in Commander, there can be only one.  Happily, GW decks have access to some of the best removal in the game, both targeted and mass - and you will want both.

Fracturing Gust is arguably the ideal choice for Lathiel decks, right next to Damning Verdict.  That said, there several other solid sweepers, and if your decklist ends up enchantment-heavy, Fracturing Gust can be more dangerous to yourself than others, as can Wave of Vitriol, Austere Command, and Day of Judgment.  Still, sometimes the inconvenience is worth it.

StP, PtE, K-Grip, Beast Within, and Generous Gift are the go-tos for targeted removal in most GW Commander decks, but this being about Lathiel, I want to point out that Scryfall shows several options that destroy a permanent AND gain life.  Of note is Heliod's Intervention - double X lifegain can be tempting.

GW provides a strong suite of creature-based removal, as well.  Froghemoth, Scavenging Ooze, Haywire Mite, Whiptongue Hydra (can be dangerous to self), Bane of Progress (also potentially dangerous), all provide answers while improving your boardstate.  

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Many Magic players enjoy running obscure cards in their decks, and sometimes, such cards are so niche that they don't fit anywhere else.  Or perhaps these cards do fit, but are soon removed for more efficient cards that do similar things.

Take Celestial Force.  A 7/7 8-cmc elemental that gains you life every turn.  It doesn't even have vigilance like most other large White creatures.  Most decks won't and shouldn't consider this card.

But Lathiel decks can, because Lathiel hands out +1/+1 counters at the end of each turn, just like Celestial Force gives you life each upkeep.  

From experience, Lathiel decks really needs Lathiel in play to shine.  So in addition to protection, consider two more niche cards: Sunbond and Light of Promise.  Light of Promise even passes the Sun Titan test.

Rounding out the niche cards is Scale the Heights, doing a little bit of everything, including gain life.

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Way up in the beginning, I mentioned that Lathiel is a great commander for politicking games.  GW provides several other cards in this vein, from the synergistic Primal Vigor to Gluntch, the Bestower.  

Sometimes these politicking cards fall under niche cards, like Healing Technique.  Other times, they number among the regular suspects in group hug and politicking decks.

While there are many options, a few choice cards stand out: Nils, Discipline Enforcer; Evolutionary Escalation; Oath of Lieges; Secret Rendezvous; Selvala, Explorer Returned; Fertilid; and Tempt with Discovery.  Yes, gud players won't go for land, but I don't play with gud players, I play with good players.  There is a difference.

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Lands are a crucial part of any Magic the Gathering deck, because without them, the deck doesn't play.  

While Lathiel decks can get by on Plains and Forests, there are a handful of nonbasic lands that all Lathiel decks should include: Rogue's Passage for beats, Gavony Township for more +1/+1 counters, Karn's Bastion for proliferating all kinds of counters, and Glacial Chasm for protection - if the deck is working correctly, you should be able to pay (and maybe recover from the graveyard to play and pay again) the cumulative upkeep for multiple turns.

Krosan Verge, Myriad Landscape, and your other favorite fetchlands are worth considering (because they all pass the Sun Titan test), but aren't necessary.  That said, Krosan Verge is arguably the best of these because it can fetch nonbasic Forests and Plains. Riftstone Portal is interesting, because it helps GW decks immensely, but only from the graveyard.

Given that most Lathiel decks rely on Green's burst draw spells of Hunter's Insight, Rishkar's Expertise, Momentous Fall, and/or a dying Lifeblood Hydra, Reliquary Tower is nice, but not a necessity.

A type of land is the land that blows up other lands, such as Strip Mine, Ghost Quarter, or the huggy Field of Ruin.  This is not only because sometimes lands need to be destroyed, but because the best response to a Tempt with Discovery is to search up one of these land destroyers.  The fact that these lands pass the Sun Titan test is bonus.

Lands provide other types of answers as well, so if you need graveyards exiled, creatures to be targetable, boards to be cleared, cards to be drawn, spells to be not countered, artifacts to be returned, creatures to have haste, stolen creatures to be returned, or several other game mechanics, look to lands to help you out.

Oh, and Command Tower should probably be in here because Lathiel is two colors.

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The biggest problem with Lathiel decks is that they require life gain to work well.  Yes, creatures can still swing, but it is far more efficient to do so when those creatures are VAST in size.  So if  lifegain is regularly played in your meta, some folks may start running the anti-lifegain cards.

These cards are predominately Red and/or Black.  In addition to Rain of Gore (and its cousins False Cure and Tainted Remedy), are the cards that merely prevent lifegain: Archfiend of Despair; Erebos, God of the Dead; Everlasting Torment; Forsaken Wastes; Giant Cindermaw; Havoc Festival; Knight of Dusk's Shadow; Leyline of Punishment; Quakebringer; Rampaging Ferocidon; Roiling Vortex; Sulfuric Vortex; Tibalt, Rakish Instigator; and Witch Hunt.

Note there are also a handful of instants the prevent life gain for one turn, but I have never seen them played in Commander.

I hadn't realized that there were so many options to hate on lifegain.  Luckily, most are enchantments, which are easily handled by a well-made GW deck.  The rest being creatures and a lone planeswalker, which are also easily handled with GW.  

One Red card stands out as the bane to any deck wanting to gain life, and that card is Stigma Lasher.  

Stigma Lasher is dangerous because its anti-lifegain is permanent, even if Stigma Lasher leaves play.  At least it lacks haste - but most Red-based decks add haste-making, so watch yourself.  

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Wow, but I can blather on and on and on.  Thanks for reaching this part - we're almost done.

Yes, much of the above can be found by looking at cards on EDHRec or a dedicated Scryfall search (also Commander's Spellbook), but words are more my style.

Low Power Decklist - this is for a meta that doesn't do fast mana. It plays politics and is an away deck.

Budget ($100ish) Decklist - putting my words into practice.

Nonbudget Decklist - nonbudget, built with cards I own, hence no rocks that cost more than a few dollars and a preponderance of basic lands.

There you have it, way too many words on Lathiel.  Not quite a primer, but leaning towards one.

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Note that I drafted most of this before the whole Phyrexian Invasion or LotR sets were printed, so they aren't mentioned.