Author: zach

Commander Deck Review – “Mirror Mastery”

To check out the full decklist for “Mirror Mastery” look here.

Overview – “Mirror Mastery” is an intriguing deck. It’s U/R/G which means you can expect some trickery, some chaos, and some big creatures. Combine the three of those and you have a rough idea of what “Mirror Mastery” is up to. This deck has tons of creatures with “comes into play” abilities, quick card access via land-cycling, and a few other ways to speed up your mana base.

“Mirror Mastery” is also the only commander deck to contain a planeswalker. Garruk Wildspeaker is a great fit in “Mirror Mastery” – he speeds up your game by untapping lands, throws some chump-blockers onto the field, and, when you’re ready, casts “Overrun
Overrun” so that you can swing for the win. I’m a little bothered by the fact that only one of the new Commander decks received a planeswalker, it seems like it should have been an all-or-nothing R&D decision, but I can’t disagree with the appropriateness of Garruk in “Mirror Mastery”.

The killer green trio of Cultivate
Cultivate(and its twin, Kodama’s Reach
Kodama’s Reach), Explosive VegetationExplosive Vegetation, and the all-new, Join-Forces sorcery, Collective Voyage
Collective Voyage, will thin your deck while assuring that you are able to generate two mana for every one your opponent is able to produce. Sol Ring
Sol Ring, along with the Gruul
Gruul Signet, Simic
Simic Signet, and Izzet
Izzet Signet Signets, will continue to speed you along until you are able to play fatties like Simic Sky Swallower and Magmatic Force
Magmatic Force.

Commanders – Intet, the Dreamer
Intet, the Dreamer has always been my favorite of the Invasion dragons. His “combat damage conditional” ability is to pay 2U to exile the top card of your library, which you can later play without paying its mana cost. This ability, aided by the fact that a significant number of cards in “Mirror Mastery” thin your lands from your deck, is very likely to produce favorable results i.e. otherwise expensive creatures with “comes into play” abilities hitting the board for free.

Riku of Two Reflections, however, is the primary commander in “Mirror Mastery”. Riku is a Human Wizard with an ability powerful enough to draw some serious hate from your opponents. He’ll be the most likely target for your opponent’s kill spells because he has the potential, like Intet, to allow you to get something from nothing (or close to it). Riku, for UR copies and instant or sorcery, and for GU copies a creature. This means that spells like Kodama’s Reach will fetch twice as many lands, Invigorate
Invigoratewill provide twice the pump, and Hunting Pack
Hunting Pack (with its storm ability) will bring an INSANE number of beast tokens into play.

Also, Riku will be doubling the triggers of all your cards with “comes into play” abilities like Deadwood Treefolk, and better yet he’ll will produce a “legitmate” copy of any creature you evoke into play, allowing you to get two Spitebellows or Faultgrinder triggers for the evoke cost plus Riku’s fee, plus the copy will stick around while the original is sacrificed.
Animar, Soul of Elements is also a fine addition to “Mirror Mastery”. His protection from white and black, strangely enough, will work against every one of your opponents, as Mirror Mastery is the only Commander deck in which white or black is not a component color. He’ll work doubly well against “Counterpunch” and “Heavenly Inferno”. Animar also has the secondary ability to make your creature spells cost one generic mana less for every +1/+1 counter on him, counters which accumulate every time you play a creature. Animar will also, if I’m interpreting this correctly, reduce the cost of bringing Riku back from the command zone.

There is great flavor consistency about the commanders in “Mirror Mastery”, all of them will speed up your assault by making it easier for your to put creatures into play. I like that the requisite dragon-commander fits so well in this deck as that has been a source of tension for me in the past.

Old Favorites – One of my favorite old-timey cards in “Mirror Mastery” is Ruination
Ruination, a sorcery which destroys all non-basic lands. This card is generally an asset in multiplayer games, but in a setting like Saturday’s Commander Event where people will be playing with these decks straight out of the box, you are almost garunteed to be destroying ten or more lands with this spell.

There are also a number of multicolor spells that return in “Mirror” that are worth mentioning: Electrolyze
Cool Cardallows you to draw a card in addition to dealing damage, Firespout
Firespout is a great board-clearer than can hit fliers, ground-dwellers, or both depending on how your choose to cast it, and Prophetic Bolt
Prophetic Bolt packs a serious punch and also allows you to draw your choice of the top four cards of your library.

In addition to classic creatures with cycling like Krosan Tusker
Krosan Tusker, Chartooth Cougar
Chartooth Cougar, and Valley Rannet
Valley Rannet, there are a host of heavy-hitting creatures that you’ll love to sneak into play via Intet’s ability. An old favorite in our playgroup is Simic Sky Swallower, a flying, trample 6/6 with shroud. Conundrum Sphinx
Conundrum Sphinx is also a great way to sneak things into play and as improbably as it would normally be to predict what card is on top of your library in a commander deck, Brainstorm
Brainstorm will be able to take the guesswork out of it for you. Artisan of Kozilek
Artisan of Kozilek is another great creature that hates to be lonely. He’ll bring a creature from your graveyard out onto the battlefield into order to have some company.

Finally, there are a couple creatures that will be early-game bombs if you draw them in your opening hand. Avatar of Fury
Avatar of Fury only costs RR if any of your opponents have seven or more lands in play (something that’s pretty likely if you’ve taken everyone on a Collective Voyage). You’ll also be surprised how quickly you’ll be playing Baloth Woodcrasher
Baloth Woodcrasher and how enormous he’ll end up being on account of his landfall ability.

New Hotness – “Mirror”‘s two-color legend is Edric, Spymaster of Trest. He makes all of your creatures act as “spies”, drawing you cards whenever they make it into your opponent’s red zone. His ability is a universal one, but the word “opponents” limits his benefit in such a way as to incentivize everyone to attack everyone but you.

Hydra Omnivore
Hydra Omnivore similarly causes problems for all of your opponents because every time he successfully deals damage that damage is dittoed to every one of your opponents. The fact that he’s missing any sort of evasion (where he really should have trample, look at the size of the thing) is going to make connecting with him difficult. However, slap a Vow of Wildness
Vow of Wildness on him and he’ll be an 11/11 trample that is sure to cause a ruckus.

One more way to ensure that your Intet is consistently finding creatures on the top of your library is the brand-new leviathan, Trench Gorger
Trench Gorger, who allows you to search through your library for any number of land cards and exile them. Not only can he seriously thin your library, but if you choose to search for lands this way, Trench Gorger has power and toughness equal to the number of lands you find.

Tribute to the Wild
Tribute to the Wild is a handy new instant that, for the same casting cost as Naturalize
Naturalize, causes each of your opponents to sacrifice and artifact or enchantment. Another new instant that appears in “Mirror Mastery” is Spell Crumple
Spell Crumple which presents a fun twist on Counterspell in that it doesn’t put the countered spell into the graveyard but onto the bottom of your opponent’s library.

Finally, Magmatic Force
Magmatic Force is a 7/7 that Lightning Bolts a creature or player during each upkeep.

Suggested Alterations – “Mirror Mastery” seems to me to have one of the most interesting strategies of the five Commander decks. I think that substituting counterspells for some of the mana-accelerators like the Signets might work well. I also think that the biggest danger in “Mirror Mastery” is getting stalled out by board-wipers and permission.

Also, additional creature-sneakers like… Sneak Attack
Sneak Attack and Birthing Pod
Birthing Pod, as well as copy-cats like Echo Mage might also do well in this deck. As always, I’d implore players to make it their own. If there’s too much mana-acceleration, or too many creatures lacking evasion, use your best judgment and some Gatherer searches to fill in the gaps.

Verdict – With “Mirror Mastery” the goal is to hit hard and hit fast. I think that it will have a speed advantage over the other Commander decks initially, but its late game may rely too heavily on top-decking the necessary threats/destruction to keep your opponents in check. However, because of all the land-cycling and other deck thinners in “Mirror Mastery”, top-decking becomes a much more reliable practice than it usually is.

Each of the Commander decks deals with card-shortage in the late game in different ways and I like the way “Mirror Mastery”‘s overall strategy jives with its component color flavors. While at first glance the component parts of this pre-con seem diverse, the deck has an internal synergy that will make it a lot of fun to play.

June 16, 2011
Commander Deck Review – “Heavenly Inferno”

To check out the full decklist for “Heavenly Inferno” look here.

Overview – Of all of the Commander decks that we’ve been previewing over the past few weeks, none are generating more buzz (or Google traffic) than “Heavenly Inferno”. Angels, dragons, and demons are three of the most beloved creature types, especially among casual players. “Heavenly Inferno” is a W/B/R deck that focuses on heavy-hitting aerial assaults with many creatures whose abilities will increase the strength of your assault or destroy your opponents defenses.

There are few players who won’t be excited about “Heavenly Inferno”, and it’s a great option for players who are more or less new to the game. The strategy is straightforward – no counters or tokens – just destruction to clear the way and gigantic creatures to deal the killing blow. Many creatures, such as Malfegor and Angel of Despair
Angel of Despair, will both clear the way and be able to deal some serious damage, especially if Anger
Anger, Boros Guildmage
Boros Guildmage, or Lightning Greaves
Lightning Greaves is available to give them haste.

Shattered Angel
Shattered Angel, Congregate
Congregate, and Lightkeep of Emeria
Lightkeep of Emeria provide a bit of life gain if you’re in a fix, but in general you should be able to eliminate threats before they become dangerous with a plentiful removal suite including Terminate
Terminate, Mortify
Mortify, Path to Exile
Path to Exile and board-wipers like Akroma’s Vengeance
Akroma’s Vengeance, or the more advantageous Earthquake
Earthquake and Cleansing Beam
Cleansing Beam.

Commanders – “Heavenly Inferno’s” representative dragon is Oros, the Avenger, whose conditional combat ability deals 3 damage to each non-white creature. Unlike some of the other dragons, his ability jives really well with the overall focus of “Heavenly Inferno” which is basically “Go big or go home”. Oros is one of several ways to clear the battlefield of your opponents creatures, but he’s also heavy damage in the air and a dragon and therefore works well with Kaalia of the Vast and Bladewing the Risen
Bladewing the Risen.

Kaalia, the primary commander of “Heavenly Inferno”, is cheap enough to hit the board early in the game and her ability, like Preeminent Captain
Preeminent Captain, brings one of her friends out to play every time she attacks. This means that as early as turn four or five you can swing with Kaalia and Malfegor, or another fatty of your choosing. The problem with Kaalia is two-fold. First of all, she isn’t an angel (or demon). Secondly, she’s only a 2/2 which makes her vulnerable to almost every elimination spell your opponent might have, as well as a few of your board-clearers.

While Kaalia’s ability is pretty straightforward, Tariel, the secondary commander, is a little more interesting. Tariel, Reckoner of Souls has a significantly larger body (4/7) and his vigilance allows him to swing and still use his ability during your second main phase, or even during your opponents turn to bring out a surprise blocker. I think I prefer Tariel to Kaalia on account of the flavor of the card. Tariel has a traditional angel name (Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel), though I’ll need someone to help me with the Hebrew. He also combines his component colors really well. From white he takes flying and vigilance (and of course his subtype), from black he takes a reanimator ability, and red throws in the chaos factor by making his reanimation of a creature random.

I think that, in the end, Kaalia is the best choice for a commander on account of her casting cost and ability, but if you’re going to search out a companion for her using Diabolic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor, I recommend finding Tariel.

Old Favorites – Where to begin? “Heavenly Inferno” has a lot of oldies but goodies. I think the creature that most people will be excited about is Akroma, Angel of Fury. Her catalog of abilities is almost laughable, though not nearly so much so as Akroma, Angel of Wrath, which is a card that I will say right now NEEDS to be in your first “souped up” version of “Heavenly Inferno”. Of course, we would have liked to see her in the stock version, but you can’t have everything…

Bladewing the Risen
Bladewing the Risen is another blast from the past that is guaranteed to please. No only does he bring a dragon from the graveyard back into play when he enters the battlefield, but his secondary ability will give you the ability to use mana in the late game to pump up every dragon you have on the field.

While the dragons, angels, and demons are fun they also have some great support from their more mundane companions. Duergar Hedge-Mage
Duergar Hedge-Mage eliminates an artifact, enchantment, or both when he enters play. Mother of Runes
Mother of Runes hands out protection to keep your threats on the board, forcing your opponent to use two spells to eliminate one fatty. Orzhov Guildmage
Orzhov Guildmage, which probably warrants replacement, provides a way to chip away at your opponents’ life totals if your creatures have somehow been locked down and is a decent mana-outlet in the late game.

Boros
Boros Signet, Orzhov
Orzhov Signet, and Rakdos
Rakdos Signet Signets will provide you with a bit of mana acceleration, as will Darksteel Ingot
Darksteel Ingot, Sol Ring
Sol Ring, and Armillary Sphere
Armillary Sphere, and if your creatures still aren’t hitting the board fast enough there is plenty of creature elimination in this deck as well.

New Hotness – In addition to the Commander standards (Vow of Malice
Vow of Malice, Vow of Lightning
Vow of Lightning, Vow of Duty
Vow of Duty), there are a couple of powerful new spells that appear in “Heavenly Inferno”. Soul Snare
Soul Snare is Swords to Plowshares
Swords to Plowshares in enchantment form, with no additional drawback beyond the fact that your opponent can see it coming. Stranglehold is a red enchantment that curtails your opponents from taking part in the funny business that “Heavenly Inferno” shuns, that is, it prevents them from searching their libraries or taking extra turns.

Of course where “Heavenly Inferno” really shines is in its high-power creatures and the new additions are no exception. Archangel of Strife forces players to choose between “war or peace”, meaning they must choose to receive the angel’s universal offensive or defensive bonus. While this may not seem like a great aid to give your opponents, it is easily nullified by the fact that the greater part of your forces are airborne. Another good way to mitigate your opponents use of Archangel of Strife’s ability is to hardcast a Dread Cacodemon
Dread Cacodemon which will destroy all of your opponents creatures. Alternatively, an Avatar of Slaughter, which gives all creatures double strike, will greatly benefit any player aggressive enough to choose war over peace.

Finally, the new two-color legend in “Heavenly Inferno” is Basandra, Battle Seraph
Basandra, Battle Seraph, who prevents all players from playing spells during combat. This ability will ensure that your opponent “play it honest” and cast any instants during their first main phase if they want to pump their creatures in preparation for combat. For one red mana Basandra can also provoke one of your opponents creatures into attacking.

Suggested Alterations – “Heavenly Inferno” is built to please, but will allow you to switch up any angels, dragons, or demons for your personal favorites. Since Worldgorger Dragon is newly legal, he might be a fun one to experiment with. Also, there are certainly cheaper or more effective ways to clear a board than the options you’re given in “Inferno”, such as… Inferno
Inferno… Adding a Wrath
Wrath of God or Day of Judgment
Day of Judgment plus a reanimator spell or two wouldn’t hurt either.

Verdict – This has probably been the most popular Commander deck during the spoiler season and for good reason. It’s a great deck for a beginner to play and it’s got a great nostalgia factor for the veteran players. To me it seems like “Heavenly Inferno” might have some problems if games go long and you are unable to topdeck a threat. However, the odds of a game going long with such an aggressive bunch of creatures is unlikely.

I’ll be interested to see how “Heavenly Inferno”‘s speed compares with the other decks and how well cards like Pyrohemia
Pyrohemia will be able to stop token-driven assaults from “Counterpunch”.

Even if this deck doesn’t quite live up to its hype, it’s surely going to be a lot of fun to play, and it’ll provide new players with a lot of fun cards they may never have been able to experience before.

**Update**

Enjoy a great review of this deck from the MTG Commander Anthology Series by Heroes & Legends:

June 15, 2011
Killer Combo – “Lather, Lash, Repeat”

Spellskite is one of the most exciting cards to enter Standard with the release of New Phyrexia. You’ll see it included in plenty of competitive maindecks and even more sideboards.

What’s great about Spellskite is that he acts as a spell-absorbing wall around you and your creatures. The fact that his ability can be activated not only by paying one blue mana, but by paying two life gives him the flexibility necessary to be a truly powerful card.

By attaching a Livewire Lash to your Spellskite, you’ll be able to add injury to insult when your opponents spells bounce off you and stick to Spellskite. Remember though, Spellskite must be a legal target of any spells you send his way.

If you really want this combo to be lethal, get a couple of Spellskites on the battlefield and use their ability to switch the target of a spell back and forth between the two, every time a Spellskite equipped with Livewire Lash becomes the target, the Lash will deal the two damage.

If your opponent doesn’t have an answer, you’ll be able to spend blue mana and your own life to switch the target as many times as you need to. Keep in mind also that you could be the one to initially target the Spellskite which is carying the Lash, you don’t need to wait around for your opponent to cast the right spell.

Let me know how this one works out for you! Have fun, and keep it casual.

June 15, 2011
Commander Deck Review – “Counterpunch”

To check out the full decklist for “Counterpunch” look here.

Overview – “Counterpunch” is B/G/W deck that has lots of answers to your opponents big threats including creatures that don’t care if they bite the dust, along with several ways to bring them back when they do. Obviously the “Counter” here doesn’t indicate blue spell-denial, but instead the plentiful +1/+1 counters produced by everything from Aquastrand Spider and his graft ability, to Ghave’s spore-changing powers and Chorus of the Conclave’s game-ending “pay as you go” option.

This going to be the deck of choice for those of you who loved the “Spike” theme way back in the Tempest block. “Counterpunch” packs a lot of token generators along with some of the best removal in any of the Commander decks. Also, there is a great sub-theme here of creatures with deathtouch, like Hornet Queen
Hornet Queen and Deadly Recluse
Deadly Recluse, and a number of others that will eliminate a threat based on a comes-into-play ability, like Shriekmaw
Shriekmaw, Monk Realist
Monk Realist, and Dark Hatchling
Dark Hatchling.

“Counterpunch also has just a bit of mana acceleration in Cultivate
Cultivate, Sakura-Tribe Elder
Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Yavimaya Elder
Yavimaya Elder, which will let you fill your side of the board quickly, while also providing fuel for expensive, but powerful spells like Storm Herd
Storm Herd, Hour of Reckoning
Hour of Reckoning, and Nemesis Trap
Nemesis Trap.

Commanders – It’s really a shame that Rith, the Awakener
Rith, the Awakener is the dragon that puts saprolings into play – flavor-wise he would fit into this deck much better than Teneb
Teneb, The Harvester, whose conditional ability brings a creature from a graveyard into play under your control.

Both Teneb and Karador
Karador, Ghost Chieftain bring a bit of black reanimator flavor to this deck, which, to me at least, seems to conflict with the much more central theme of using the graveyard to produce counters and tokens with cards like Scavenging Ooze
Scavenging Ooze and Necrogenesis
Necrogenesis. Hex
Hexand Hour of Reckoning, however, will ensure that there is plenty of graveyard fodder for all.

Aside from the slight flavor/consistency issues Karador is a decent commander, though the fact that he was the first one spoiled has made me become less enthusiastic about him as I’ve shifted my excitement to the other commanders as they’ve come out in turn. Karador is expensive, but his casting cost is reduced by 1 for every creature in your graveyard – something that seems to me to again conflict with the token theme, but what do I know?

Ghave, Guru of Spores, the third possible commander for “Counterpunch” is a lot more exciting to me. I think he’ll be the chosen commander of this deck by many players at Saturday’s event and that he’ll be a staple of future commander builds. Your opponents will have to think twice before wasting a card to destroy him as you’ll have ample opportunity to use all his counters before he returns to the command zone. Each time he comes into play he’ll be restocked with five counters and ready to enlarge your army or buff up a critical creature.

Old Favorites – One of the biggest surprise returns in “Counterpunch” is Skullclamp
Skullclamp, a card that was banned in its own block, and Standard, along with being restricted in Legacy. It’s an incredibly powerful card, especially when you have a lot of throwaway 1/1’s lying around. If you haven’t seen Skullclamp in operation before, you should know that in a situation where you have a board full of saproling tokens, Skullclamp’s text is effectively: “(1), Sacrifice a creature: Draw two cards”. If that seems insane to you, then you’re sane.

Nantuko Husk will also give you a great way to use any spare hornets, saprolings, or pegasi you find. He’s a great early game creature, one that your opponents will always be afraid to leave unblocked. His comrades in black, Shriekmaw and Dark Hatchling will help clear the way for him by destroying creatures when they come into play.

Sigil Captain
Sigil Captain is another great creature that plays well with tokens. His ability allows you to put two +1/+1 counters on any 1/1 that comes into play under your control. These counters in turn can be manipulated by Ghave (to create as many 3/3’s as you have spare mana). Sigil Captain is also a great pairing with Symbiotic Wurm
Symbiotic Wurm, a 7/7 that puts seven 1/1’s into play when he hits the graveyard. It’s worth Doom Blading
Doom Blade your own Symbiotic Wurm if the Captain is in play in order to produce an army of 3/3 insects.

New Hotness – There are several new non-legend creatures in “Counterpunch” that are worth noting. Celestial Force
Celestial Force, a 7/7 for five generic and 3 white mana allows you to gain 3 life during every upkeep. Unless your opponents are able to deal with the elemental within a turn or two, you’ll have a sizeable life-advantage that will allow you the buffer you need for an alpha strike.

Scavenging Ooze is an early game creature that has the potential to be as powerful as a Nantuko Shade, or even more so. The ooze is a 2/2 for 1G and his pump ability exiles cards from a graveyard in return for +1/+1 counters and life gain. If you can find a way to give this bad boy some sort of evasion, he can be a game-ender all by himself.

Hornet Queen
Hornet Queen and Acorn Catapault
Acorn Catapault are two new cards that continue the token theme. The Queen brings with her four 1/1 tokens with flying and deathtouch, while the Catapault deals one damage to target creature or player, then puts a 1/1 squirrel into play under that player’s control.

“Counterpunch”‘s new bi-color legend is Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter, a 5/5 flying, lifelink vampire who eats tokens for breakfast, and, of course, metabolizes them into +1/+1 counters. He’s got the same flexibility as Nantuko Husk, but also has built-in evasion, lifelink, and the ability to use his counters for another creature’s detriment as well as his own benefit.

Suggested Alterations – This deck is pretty darn solid as it is. There are only a couple additions that I’ll suggest to you, and after that you can let your imagination run wild. The first is to try out cards like Contagion Clasp
Contagion Clasp with a repeatable Proliferate ability. These could dramatically increase the number of 1/1 counters that you have in play. Also, token deck standards like Doubling Season
Doubling Season, Sprout Swarm
Sprout Swarm, and Verdeloth the Ancient
Verdeloth the Ancient would provide some great support as well.

Finally, it wouldn’t hurt to throw an Overrun and/or a Triumph of the Hordes into this deck in order to ensure that your token army will crush any opposition it meets as you swing for the kill.

Verdict – One of the things I like most about this deck is the fact that moving counters around gives you a great way to spend your mana in the late game. Harmonize
Harmonizeand Skullclamp will allow you to draw a few cards, but for the most part this deck will do well after its initial surge on account of the fact that counter manipulation gives you a huge advantage over your opponents when it comes to combat flexibility.

As with “Devour for Power” this deck has some great synergy and, perhaps even more than the other Commander decks, the flexible needed to ensure a victory regardless of what cards you’re drawing – and that’s really where an EDH deck shows its worth.

“Counterpunch” has the potential to be a ton of fun, but be sure to bring a big bag of counters, dice, tokens, etc. You’ll need them.

June 14, 2011
Commander Deck Review – “Devour for Power”

To check out the full decklist for “Devour for Power”, look here.

Overview – “Devour for Power” is a G/U/B deck with a theme of cards that become more powerful by consuming creatures, cards, even parts of your turn. It has some really exciting fatties, and lot of creatures with abilities pertaining to your graveyard, and two of our favorite commanders in the entire deck series.

“Devour for Power” also has some great traditional Reanimator cards. Buried Alive
Buried Alive allows you to search your library to find up to three creatures to stock your graveyard. Nezumi Graverobber
Nezumi Graverobber, Stitch Together
Stitch Together, Living Death
Living Death, Gravedigger
Gravedigger, and others can bring creatures from your graveyard to your hand or even the battlefield. Or, you can use Mimeoplasm and his friends Lhurgoyf
Lhurgoyf and Mortivore
Mortivore to benefit from those of your creatures that are pushing up daisies.

Like many EDH decks, “Devour for Power” has a number of different strategies – Memory Erosion
Memory Erosion and Szadek do some milling, Scythe Specter
Scythe Specter is useful for some discard, there are plenty of creatures with flying and other sorts of evasion. You don’t need to use the reanimate strategy to win, especially because you’ll have plenty of mana with which to hard-cast your biggest creatures.

Commanders – Every one of the Commander decks has three Legends of the appropriate colors that could be used as your commander. In every case, two of the commanders are brand new cards and the third is one of the series of dragons from Planeshift. “Devour for Power” has sports what many players feels is the best line-up of commanders.

Vorosh, the Hunter
Vorosh, the Hunter is the token dragon, a 6/6 with the ability to gain six +1/+1 if he deals combat damage to an opponent for only 2G. Vorosh isn’t the most exciting of the dragons, but he does have the potential to quickly be the beefiest. While the opposing Commander decks have plenty of flying to get in his way, if you can use Vorosh’s ability just once, he’s not likely to be out-fought in the air.

The Mimeoplasm is one of the cheaper commanders out there. There are a lot of Clones out there, but Mimeoplasm really kicks things up a notch by not only copying a creature (in any graveyard) but getting a power/toughness boost equal to the power of another. This ensures that Mimeoplasm will not only be stealing any convenient abilities your opponents creatures may have, but he’s also likely to be one of the biggest creatures on the board. Even if you don’t want him to come back as your opponent’s Akroma, or your own Nezumi Graverobber, you can always find a creature with the evasion or haste necessary to swing for lethal damage.

Finally, Damia, Sage of Stone is the commander we’re most excited to try out in “Devour for Power”. She’s basically Medusa, which is pretty awesome, and not only does she have the signature “turn to stone” ability known as deathtouch, she is going to ensure that in the later stages of the game you’ll have a handful of responses to anything your opponent can throw at you. Damia’s ability to fill up your hand every turn is pretty incredible, but the fact that she does it on your upkeep is even more incredible. She’s one card that I could see becoming a staple of animator decks, perhaps in conjunction with Jin Gitaxias
Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur.

Old Favorites – Besides the old graveyard favorites like Grave Pact
Grave Pact, “Devour for Power” brings back some great black and B/U creatures. Avatar of Woe
Avatar of Woe, a perennial favorite returns here to give you one more way to empty your opponents side of the board, or to pick out your favorite graveyard-fodder in order to power up your own ghouls.

Nezumi Graverobber and Patron of the Nezumi
Patron of the Nezumi recall the days of rat ninjas and provide the fantastic combo of punishing your opponent when creatures hit his graveyard and then resurrecting them as your own. Also, how did the ability “Rat Offering” get by me that first time. That is one of the funniest things I have ever read on a card.

Damia’s hand-filling ability isn’t the only way to restock the shelves in “Devour for Power. Fact or Fiction
Fact or Fiction and Windfall
Windfall are both back and both are great additions in a setting where games take a while to get going and often leave players empty handed and waiting to top deck an answer.

Gravedigger and Eternal Witness
Eternal Witness bring creatures from your graveyard to your hand,which will help keep things moving, but Artisan of Kozilek
Artisan of Kozilek does you one better by bringing a dead guy back onto the battlefield as he comes into play.

There are also some fun old dinos like Wrexial, who allows you to play an instant or sorcery from your opponents graveyard if he successfully deals combat damage, and Szadek who mills (and grows bigger) every time he would deal combat damage to your opponent. Luckily both of them have some pretty solid evasion built in.

New Hotness – “Devour for Power”, as I’ve said already, has some great commanders, but it also has some other new cards that might interest you. Shared Trauma, a Join-Forces (anyone may pay) sorcery that allows you to put the top X cards from the top of your library into the graveyard, will not likely be helping out your opponents at all and can ensure that you have the best possible selection for your Gravedigger/Eternal Witness.

Minds Aglow, another Join Forces sorcery, allows each players to pay to draw X cards, which might seem like too much of a benefit to give to your opponents, but when you are milling with cards like Szadek and the new Riddlekeeper (your opponent mills two for every creature he chooses to attack you with) and making him discard with Scythe Scepter, perhaps refilling his hand won’t be nearly as appealing.

“Devour” also has some pretty powerful new creatures. Sewer Nemesis
Sewer Nemesis, like Mortivore, derives his power and toughness from the size of target player’s graveyard, but he also mills that same player for one every time they cast a spell.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is a great early-game creature. He has haste, which hopefully will earn him one free attack, but he also grows every time he successfully damages a player. Skullbriar’s also has a special ability which (as far as I know) is completely unique: He keeps his counters in the graveyard and command zone. With as much reanimation as this deck has, he’s likely to make several return appearances, and, unless your opponent can manage to bounce him back to your hard, he’ll continue to be a threat.

Suggested Alterations – Because so many creatures in “Devour for Power” have abilities that are contingent on dealing combat damage to an opponent, it may be a good idea to add cards like Whispersilk Cloak
Whispersilk Cloak which give some extra evasion to ensure that your fatties actually make contact.

As I said above, “Devour” has several strategies going at once. If you wanted to take this deck apart both Szadek and Skullbriar would make good commanders of mill or reanimator deck, respectively. By the same token, you could switch out some of the less powerful commons and uncommons in this deck for stronger mill and reanimator cards like Exhume
Exhume or Traumatize
Traumatize.

Also, take out Desecrator Hag, she (?) is just creepy.

Verdict – This deck has great synergy and is bound to be a lot of fun. The cards complement each other well and the plentiful graveyard manipulation will ensure that you don’t get stalled out after you lose a commander or empty your hand.

Wizards has done a great job designing these decks and I don’t think there are any of them that will ultimately disappoint. That said, I think “Devour for Power” is going to have some very devoted fans as its component strategies are some that casual players have always loved.

June 13, 2011
Killer Combo – “Hide and Seek”

We spent Game Day at Hall of Heroes – a great little shop in Mt. Pleasant, MI, and we had a lot of fun despite the fact that we were rather poorly equipped. Having just got in from Colorado all I had was a Pre-Con combined with cards from a couple drafts. Brad, my TCP compatriot, decided to play with the “Rot From Within” Event Deck.

While I did win a few games, Brad actually made it to the final four with “Rot From Within” which is a testament to that deck’s out-of-the-box power.

Today’s combo is one we came up against a couple times at Game Day. Using Gitaxian Probe to prepare the ground for Inquisition/Duress is something that came to our minds when we first started looking over the New Phyrexia spoilers, but we yesterday was the first time we really saw the power of this combo.

Not only does a first-turn Gitaxian Probe allow you to prepare for everything your opponent has in store in the coming turns, but it allows you to most effectively play a discard spell, and when followed by Inquisition of Kozilek in particular, can ensure that your opponent’s start is slow.

Gitaxian Probe’s second effect of drawing a card to replace itself leaves you with a card advantage where you would have otherwise had to do a one-to-one card trade.

This combo, which we like to call “Hide and Seek”, is one of the best first turns in Standard, in my opinion. It gives you much-needed data about your opponents hand and the often-crucial card advantage at the outset of the game.

June 13, 2011

Deck Library – “Montoya’s B/R Vampires”: A Victory for Casual Play

This may seem counterintuitive, even paradoxical, but I’m going to take a moment on this blog to praise the decklist of the winning player at this weekend’s SCG Open Series in Denver. This isn’t unusual at all for a Magic blog, but we’re more of a kitchen-table crowd here and we like our Magic like we like our Fridays – casual.

Because this site is geared toward casual players, we’ve got a lot to say to and about those of you who don’t spend hundreds of dollars on a single deck. Obviously, there are a lot of casual players who are willing to wheel and deal (and spend big) for their playset of Jace, The Mind Sculptor, but if you’ve played in a competitive setting recently you’re probably more than sick of Jace, of Stoneforge Mystic, of Lotus Cobra, and the rest of the standard fare out there.

To fully “suit up” with all the best mythic rares can cost hundreds of dollars, which isn’t exactly an option for a lot of us, that’s why I want to highlight Bradon Montoya’s deck from this weekend’s competition.

B/R Vampires

Creatures:
Manic Vandal

Manic Vandal X3
Pulse Tracker

Pulse Tracker X4
Kalastria Highborn

Kalastria Highborn X4
Bloodghast

Bloodghast X4
Gatekeeper of Malakir

Gatekeeper of Malakir X4
Vampire Lacerator

Vampire Lacerator X4
Viscera Seer

Viscera Seer X3

Instants:
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt X4
Dismember
DismemberX3
Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat X4

Land:
Swamp
Swamp X6
Marsh Flats
Marsh Flats X1
Dragonskull Summit
Dragonskull Summit X4
Verdant Catacombs
Verdant Catacombs X4
Lavaclaw Reaches
Lavaclaw Reaches X4
Blackcleave Cliffs
Blackcleave Cliffs X4

Sideboard:
Skinrender
SkinrenderX2
Dark Tutelage
Dark Tutelage X3
Crush
Crush X2
Doom Blade
Doom Blade X1
Arc Trail
Arc Trail X4
Mark of Mutiny
Mark of Mutiny X3

Why I like it:

It’s got great flavor: One of my favorite aspects of deck building is putting together a deck with a cohesive flavor. This deck is not only tribal, centering on vampires, but the splash of Red is consistent with the aggressive nature of the Black core.
It’s cheap: The most expensive aspect of this deck is the lands, and even they’re not bad. There are no mythic rares here, and much of this deck’s core consists of commons and uncommons. Most players, even if they’re reasonably new to the game would have little trouble doing some small-time trading with friends and assembling this deck, though perhaps with some modification to account for a limited supply of the rare lands.
It beat Caw-Blade: Most people have had it up to Squardron Hawk cruising-height with Caw-Blade. This deck does a great job answering Caw-Blade with minimal artifact and creature hate without going way out of its way to be the anti-Caw. Any deck right now that is not Planeswalker-Pals w/ Titan Support or Caw-Blade has my vote, and this deck has done that exceptionally well.
It’s creative: Okay, so maybe liking vampires isn’t the most cultural innovative thing a person can do right now, but at least it’s not the by-the-book “Competitive Magic” deck. It resists the temptation of Stoneforge, Planeswalkers, Tempered Steel, the titans, and even Infect. Not even a Phyrexian mana symbol in sight.

So, kudos to you, Brandon, from The Casual Planeswalker. Congrats on your win this weekend and thank you for doing your part to shake up competitive play in Standard just a little bit.

June 12, 2011

Commander Decklist – “Mirror Mastery”

Keep in mind that this is a Commander deck and so there is one of each card with the exception of basic lands.

Mirror Mastery Decklist

Commanders:

Riku of Two Reflections
Riku of Two Reflections*

Creatures:

Magus of the Vineyard

Veteran Explorer

Fierce Empath

Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Edric, Spymaster of Trest*

Animar, Soul of Elements
Animar, Soul of Elements*, **

Conundrum Sphinx

AEthersnipe

Chartooth Cougar

Rapacious One

Spitebellows

Deadwood Treefolk

Elvish Aberration

Baloth Woodcrasher

Hydra Omnivore<
Hydra Omnivore*

Nucklavee

Valley Rannet

Intet, the Dreamer
Intet, the Dreamer**

Faultgrinder

Krosan Tusker

Simic Sky Swallower

Trench Gorger
Trench Gorger*

Avatar of Fury

Magmatic Force
Magmatic Force*

Artisan of Kozilek

Planeswalkers:

Garruk Wildspeaker

Artifacts:

Sol Ring
Sol Ring

Armillary Sphere

Gruul Signet

Izzet Signet

Lightning Greaves

Prophetic Prism

Simic Signet

Enchantments:

Vow of Flight
Vow of Flight*

Vow of Lightning*

Vow of Wildness
Vow of Wildness*

Instants:

Brainstorm

Fire/Ice

Tribute to the Wild*

Colossal Might

Invigorate

Spell Crumple
Spell Crumple*

Electrolyze

Ray of Command

Prophetic Bolt

Hunting Pack

Sorceries:

Collective Voyage
Collective Voyage*

Hull Breach

Cultivate

Kodama’s Reach

Firespout

Ruination

Explosive Vegetation

Chain Reaction

Death by Dragons
Death by Dragons*

Vengeful Rebirth

Disaster Radius

Call the Skybreaker

Savage Twister

Lands:

Command Tower
Command Tower*

Evolving Wilds

Fungal Reaches

Gruul Turf

Homeward Path

Izzet Boilerworks

Kazandu Refuge

Rupture Spire

Simic Growth Chamber

Temple of the False God

Vivid Crag

Vivid Creek

Vivid Grove

Island (7)

Mountain (8)

Forest (13)

*This is a never-before-printed card

**This creature could also serve as your commander

Check back during the next week to find full reviews of each Commander deck!

June 10, 2011
Commander Decklist! – “Heavenly Inferno”

Keep in mind that this is a Commander deck and so there is one of each card with the exception of basic lands.

Heavenly Inferno Decklist

Commander:

Kaalia of the Vast
Kaalia of the Vast*

Creatures:

Mother of Runes

Orzhov Guildmage

Boros Guildmage

Gwyllion Hedge-Mage

Duergar Hedge-Mage

Lightkeeper of Emeria

Razorjaw Oni

Anger

Voice of All

Dragon Whelp

Furnace Whelp

Serra Angel

Shattered Angel

Fallen Angel

Basandra, Battle Seraph
Basandra, Battle Seraph*

Oni of Wild Places

Mana-Charged Dragon
Mana-Charged Dragon*

Oros, the Avenger
Oros, the Avenger**

Malfegor

Angelic Arbiter

Archangel of Strife
Archangel of Strife*

Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls*,**

Angel of Despair

Bladewing the Risen

Avatar of Slaughter
Avatar of Slaughter*

Akroma, Angel of Fury

Reiver Demon

Dread Cacodemon
Dread Cacodemon*

Artifacts:

Sol Ring
Sol Ring

Armillary Sphere

Boros Signet

Lightning Greaves

Orzhov Signet

Rakdos Signet

Darksteel Ingot

Enchantments:

Soul Snare

Vow of Duty
Vow of Duty*

Vow of Malice*

Vow of Lightning*

Stranglehold
Stranglehold*

Pyrohemia

Righteous Cause

Instants:

Path to Exile

Bathe in Light

Terminate

Orim’s Thunder

Mortify

Congregate

Return to Dust

Sulfurous Blast

Wrecking Ball

Master Warcraft

Cleansing Beam

Comet Storm

Sorceries:

Syphon Mind

Diabolic Tutor

Evincar’s Justice

Syphon Flesh
Syphon Flesh*

Akroma’s Vengeance

Death by Dragons
Death by Dragons*

Earthquake

Lands:

Akoum Refuge

Barren Moor

Bojuka Bog

Boros Garrison

Command Tower
Command Tower*

Evolving Wilds

Forgotten Cave

Molten Slagheap

Orzhov Basilica

Rakdos Carnarium

Rupture Spire

Secluded Steppe

Vivid Meadow

Zoetic Cavern

Plains (8)

Swamp (8)

Mountain (8)

*This is a never-before-printed card

**This creature could also serve as your commander

Check back during the next week to find full reviews of each Commander deck!

June 10, 2011
Commander Decklist – “Counterpunch”

Keep in mind that this is a Commander deck and so there is one of each card with the exception of basic lands.

Counterpunch Decklist

Commander:

Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Karador, Ghost Chieftain*

Creatures:

Aquastrand Spider

Deadly Recluse

Sakura-Tribe Elder

Scavenging Ooze*

Monk Realist

Selesnya Evangel

Golgari Guildmage

Selesnya Guildmage

Nantuko Husk

Fertilid

Spawnwrithe

Vampire Nighthawk

Spike Feeder

Yavimaya Elder

Squallmonger

Penumbra Spider

Sigil Captain

Shriekmaw

Dark Hatchling

Hornet Queen
Hornet Queen*

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter*

Symbiotic Wurm

Spectral Force

Teneb, the Harvester

Chorus of the Conclave

Ghave, Guru of Spores
Ghave, Guru of Spores*,**

Artifacts:

Skullclamp

Sol Ring
Sol Ring

Golgari Signet

Lightning Greaves

Orzhov Signet

Selesnya Signet

Darksteel Ingot

Acorn Catapult
Acorn Catapult*

Enchantments:

Soul Snare*

Fists of Ironwood

Necrogenesis

Vow of Malice*

Awakening Zone

Vow of Wildness
Vow of Wildness*

Oblivion Ring

Vow of Duty
Vow of Duty*

Instants:

Attrition

Aura Shards

Doom Blade

Tribute to the Wild*

Footbottom Feast

Afterlife

Mortify

Nemesis Trap

Cobra Trap

Sorceries:

Alliance of Arms
Alliance of Arms*

Cultivate

Harmonize

Syphon Flesh
Syphon Flesh*

Bestial Menace

Hex

Hour of Reckoning

Death Mutation

Storm Herd

Lands:

Barren Moor

Command Tower
Command Tower*

Evolving Wilds

Golgari Rot Farm

Orzhov Basilica

Rupture Spire

Secluded Steppe

Selesnya Sanctuary

Temple of the False God

Tranquil Thicket

Vivid Grove

Vivid Marsh

Vivid Meadow

Swamp (8)

Forest (10)

Plains (8)

*This is a never-before-printed card

**This creature could also serve as your commander

Check back during the next week to find full reviews of each Commander deck!

June 10, 2011