On Monday, when I sat in for Sean and Cassidy on Dear Azami, I promised both a play-by-play and a quick look into my own Lavinia of the Tenth deck. You’ll be getting both today, along with a view into another epic moment in the game that followed that happened to involve that same Lavinia deck.

I crowd-sourced on Facebook to determine which commander to do the play-by-play with. Animar, Soul of Elements narrowly beat out Kresh the Bloodbraided, with The Mimeoplasm coming in a strong third. I decided to do the play-by-play for a pre-League game. Recording the game is sometimes time-consuming, and I’d prefer to do it when we have the luxury of not being on a clock for the game (which is two hours in the Armada Games EDH League). Regulars Apple, Melvin, Kyle, and I were ready to start one when also regular Jesse came in the door, so we decided to do a five-player "star" format game.

If you’re not familiar with the star variant, the rules are pretty simple. The two players beside you are your allies. The other two are your enemies. You may only attack your enemies. You win when both your enemies are eliminated. Your allies aren’t your opponents, so things that would affect opponents don’t affect them. For example, if you have Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in play, your two enemies have to pay one extra for their spells, but your allies don’t. This plays tricks with some popular cards in the format—like Grave Pact, which says "each other player."

The allies/enemies setup provides some strategic choices since your two allies are enemies of each other. The real test comes when one player gets eliminated. You might have to end up saving an enemy so that someone else doesn’t win the game. All in all, we’ve found it the best way to play five-player games, making them play a little more smoothly, definitely more strategically interesting, and slightly less time-consuming.

We don’t pick sides; we just sit randomly. I end up allies with Apple (Oros, the Avenger) and Melvin (Melek, Izzet Paragon) and enemies with Jesse (The Mimeoplasm) and Kyle (Ghave, Guru of Spores). I also win the roll.

Turn 1

Me: I keep a kind of greedy hand, with three lands, Scroll Rack, and Oracle of Mul Daya. Ok, that’s not greedy; that’s a nice little start. I drop an Island.

Apple: Marsh Flats, which he cracks for Blood Crypt into play untapped (37), Sol Ring, Armillary Sphere. That’s a start. Unfortunately for my ally, he doesn’t have any gas to go with it.

Jesse: Forest.

Kyle: Vivid Meadow.

Melvin: Island.

Turn 2

Me: Exotic Orchard, Scroll Rack.

Apple: Terramorphic Expanse, Meekstone. The Meekstone will define play of the game for many turns.

Jesse: Woodland Cemetery.

Kyle: Forest.

Melvin: Mountain.

Turn 3

Me: Forest, Animar. I almost always run out Animar on turn 3 because the deck can’t really be silly without it. The deck will still function, especially once it gets to seven or eight lands, but it’s clearly way better with the commander in charge.

Apple: Mountain, Dingus Staff. You read it right, Dingus Staff.

Jesse: Twilight Mire, Fertilid.

Kyle: Swamp, Necrogenesis.

Melvin: Reliquary Tower, Darksteel Ingot.

Turn 4

Me: Volcanic Island, Oracle of Mul Daya (Animar +1), then drop Kessig Wolf Run.

Apple: Plains.

Jesse: Cabal Coffers, activate Fertilid once. At EOT, Kyle kills my Oracle with Mortify. Dingus Staff triggers, and I go to (38).

Kyle: Plains then Jarad’s Orders, putting Reassembling Skeleton into the graveyard and getting Corpsejack Menace in hand.

Melvin: Island. At EOT, I Rack for four since nothing in my hand is all that saucy except for the Cloudstone Curio that I put on top.

Turn 5

Me: Shivan Reef. Cloudstone Curio, Civic Wayfinder, getting an Island (Animar +2). Battle Jesse with Animar (37). Animar now won’t untap, but at the moment I’m more interested in getting my creatures cheaper.

Apple: Mountain.

Jesse: Island.

Kyle: Corpsejack Menace, Orzhov Basilica, bouncing a Plains.

Melvin: Mystifying Maze, Melek.

Turn 6

Me: Island, Spearbreaker Behemoth, bouncing Civic Wayfinder with Cloudstone Curio. Play it to get an Island and cast Nevermaker, a new addition to the deck. Animar now +5.

Apple: Nothing. At EOT, Jesse activates Fertilid and takes two from Dingus Staff (35).

Jesse: Phyrexian Metamorph, copying Scroll Rack. Racks for six just to find a land to drop. Gets an Island in the mix.

Kyle: Attacks Apple with Corpsejack Menace (33). Casts Merciless Eviction for creatures. Just when I was getting started, too. It’s a good play, even with Meekstone keeping stuff tapped down, because that Nevermaker / Cloudstone Curio combo was probably going to make some lives uncomfortable. Nevermaker puts Necrogenesis back on top of Kyle’s library.

Melvin: Izzet Guildgate.

Turn 7

Me: Island, Animar, and Civic Wayfinder. Time to get things rolling again.

Apple: No land, has to discard.

Jesse: Racks for four and then casts Undercity Informer. Casts Deep Reconnaissance, thinking it’s Sprouting Vines. Facepalms. Apple decides to Reverberate it so he can get a land too. They both get a Swamp.

Kyle: Necrogenesis.

Melvin: Boseiju, Who Shelters All.

Turn 8

Me: I Rack for three. I cast Acidic Slime, taking out Jesse’s Scroll Rack, bouncing Civic Wayfinder (Animar now +3), which I then recast to bounce the Slime. I then cast Domri Rade, another recent addition to the deck. It has 47 creatures plus a little library control, so I should get hits on it most of the time.

Apple: Bojuka Bog targeting Kyle, who responds by regrowing his Reassembling Skeleton. Apple then drops Balefire Dragon.

Jesse: Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, a nice addition to any mill deck. I’ve seen Jesse’s solid build before, and it’s what you might expect: mill to both find cool stuff for The Mimeoplasm to copy and as a win condition. At EOT, Kyle uses Necrogenesis to eat Oracle of Mul Daya.

Kyle: Sacrifices the Saproling to cast Ritual of the Machine, stealing Balefire Dragon. Dingus Staff takes him to (36).

Melvin: Mountain. His new Melek deck isn’t running as he had hoped, it seems.

Turn 9

Me: I plus up Domri Rade and respond by Racking for two. I intend to put the Acidic Slime on top. Jesse lets the Rack resolve and then sacrifices Undercity Informer (33) to mill me for four. My bad for not paying attention to on-board tricks. My reveal is Man-o’-War, which I cast to put Balefire Dragon back in Apple’s hand (since he’s my ally and Kyle is my enemy). I bounce Civic Wayfinder and then recast it to bounce Man-o’-War. I recast that, bouncing Kyle’s other token and my own Civic Wayfinder. I repeat this one more time. I attack Kyle with Animar, now +9. He blocks, and I give it Trample and +1 with Kessig Wolf Run, dropping him to (26).

Apple: Transmutes Netherborn Phalanx into Cauldron Dance and then drops a bounceland.

Jesse: Jace, Memory Adept. He mills me for ten with great anticipation of what he might get to turn Lazav into—and then I mill eight lands, Skyshroud Claim, and Goblin Welder. He decides to not copy it. He casts Mimic Vat.

Kyle: Hour of Reckoning. Dingus Staff takes me to 36 and Jesse to 31. Jesse puts Civic Wayfinder under Mimic Vat.

Melvin: Casts Epic Experiment with Boseiju mana (38) for eight, and the only thing he gets out of it is Reality Strobe, which he uses on Mimic Vat. Two epic failures within a minute of each other!

Turn 10

Me: I turn up the nonsense meter by casting Sylvan Ranger, Species Gorger, and Equilibrium and then plussing up Domri.

Apple: Finally with mana to do stuff, he casts Debt to the Deathless for six, taking Melvin to (26), Kyle to (14), and himself to (57).

Jesse: Casts The Mimeoplasm to copy Lazav and get counters from Netherborn Phalanx. He then activates Adolescent Jace again, this time hitting pay dirt. Of the six creatures he sees, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is the clear winner. He also mills away my Primal Surge, which makes me a little sad.

Kyle: Renegade Krasis and then evokes Shriekmaw to kill my Species Gorger (34).

Melvin: Removes suspend counter from Reality Strobe. Casts Melek again, reveals a land on top.

Turn 11

Me: Cast Animar and then Man-o’-War, bouncing Renegade Krasis and using Cloudstone Curio to return Sylvan Ranger and then recast it. Animar +2.

Apple: Temple of the False God. At EOT, flashes in Necrotic Ooze.

Jesse: Mills me for ten more. Casts Sepulchral Primordial, which gets the Inferno Titan that was in the mill, killing my smaller creatures (34). Attacks Domri with Lazav and Necrotic Ooze. I shrug and block Ooze with Animar. He has no tricks. At EOT, Kyle reassembles the Skeleton.

Kyle: Recasts Renegade Krasis and then adds Grave Pact. Melvin wonders aloud if he’s ever going to get to keep Melek in play.

Melvin: Removes suspend counter from Reality Strobe. Draws, revealing Pongify on the top. Drops a land. Using Boseiju mana, he casts Capsize with Buyback on Inferno Titan (yay allies!). Apple decides to Reiterate that with buyback, also targeting the Inferno Titan, in order to counter the Capsize. He then casts Pongify on both of Kyle’s creatures, taking him to (8) but also triggering Grave Pact twice. At EOT, I Scroll Rack for six, having kept some of those lands in my hand that I’d been getting off of Sylvan Ranger. I put Flametongue Kavu second from the top, knowing that’s what I’ll reveal with Domri. I then put Inferno Titan and Keiga, the Tide Star below that because one of the cards I’ve put in my hand is Maelstrom Wanderer. If no one stops me, I’m killing Kyle and might be able to take down Jesse as well.

Turn 12

Me: I Domri and get FTK. Cast Maelstrom Wanderer into Titan and Keiga. Inferno Titan pings Kyle for two (6) and Jesse for one, redirecting it to Jace. I then attack, pinging Jace for the rest, battling Jesse with Keiga and Maelstrom Wanderer. There’s no hope for Kyle, but when I bloodrush Rubblehulk onto Maelstrom Wanderer, Apple steps in to save his ally, casting Nemesis Trap to exile the Wanderer. Jesse drops to (22). I make a mental note that protecting Maelstrom Wanderer by bloodrushing Keiga instead would have been better. Maelstrom Wanderer is better to use repeatedly, or at least this deck it is better suited to take more advantage of it.

Apple: Casts Balefire Dragon again.

Jesse: The Mimeoplasm, copying Sepulchral Primordial and getting counters off of my Artisan of Kozilek. The Primordial takes Phyrexian Metamorph from me and copies Keiga. We’re not playing with M14 rules yet, so both go away. Jesse targets his own Mimeoplasm-turned-Primordial so that he can keep it even if I target it. I thank Apple for the Balefire Dragon. I go to (28) and Jesse to (20) from Dingus Staff.

Melvin: Removes last counter from Reality Strobe. Uses it to bounce The Mimeoplasm—saving me the trouble of spending an extra mana with whatever I cast to bounce it with Equilibrium. Casts Melek again, revealing Past in Flames.

Turn 13

Me: Attack Jesse with Balefire Dragon (14). Cast Animar for a fourth time, bouncing Inferno Titan. Cast Wall of Roots.

Apple: Massacre Wurm. It doesn’t kill anything, but it looks like he might be setting up something.

Jesse: Recross the Paths, with the land being Bojuka Bog. We all know what’s coming as he targets Melvin. Melvin says, "Nice Past in Flames." Jesse clashes with Apple, getting back Recross the Paths by revealing Reap and Sow to Apple’s Evolving Wilds, which Apple ships to the bottom. Casts The Mimeoplasm again, copying Keiga and getting counters from Rubblehulk. In case you’re wondering, it got counters equal to my lands because its power and toughness in all zones is equal to the number of my lands.

Melvin: Removes suspend counter from Reality Strobe. Reveals Body Double on the top after he draws. Apple needles him with, "You obviously play too many creatures." Melvin looks at his hand, looks at the board for a minute, and then casts Mogg Salvage, taking out Meekstone. He makes Melek bigger and gives it flying with Dragonshift and attacks Apple. Apple, suspecting some kind of additional trick, casts Safe Passage. Suspecting that Apple now doesn’t have anything to help Jesse, I make my move.

Turn 14

Me: Cast Inferno Titan, bouncing Jesse’s last blocker, attack and pump with Kessig Wolf Run. Apple indeed has no help. My two opponents are out, so I win!

You can see that after Kyle was eliminated things got a little rough for both Jesse and Melvin since they both only had one ally left. I have to watch out in that situation because if Melvin kills Apple before I get Jesse, then Melvin wins. I think you can see why I much prefer star style with five people instead of everyone for themselves. That added layer of strategy simply makes it more interesting. I suggest you give it a try the next chance you get.

We had time to do runbacks, and the game got crazy. I played Lavinia; Apple played Maelstrom Wanderer; Jesse played his new Melek; Kyle played Crosis, the Purger; and Melvin played Jesse’s Animar. Lavinia and her detain shenanigans kept things in check for a while until Portcullis could take over. Jesse, with some mana rocks and creatures detained and Portcullis in play, cast and copied a Time Stretch in the hopes of getting out from under the oppression—to no avail. Because Lavinina detains them until my turn, the mana rocks and creatures that had been in play when Lavinia’s trigger resolved were useless. His extra turns became little more than getting lands into play and creatures on the other side of the gate for Portcullis’ eventual departure.

Although Portcullis dominated a good portion of it, this game came down to Jesse’s Hive Mind, which he just ran out to see what would happen. We were having such a wild time with Hive Mind, and knowing that Jesse isn’t the type to play Hive Mind / Pact of X, we let it stay around—to our doom. Delirium, Wrath of God, Capsize, Reclaim, Azorius Charm, Stolen Identity, Naturalize, and Krosan Grip all got copied by everyone. Stacks took a while to work out. No one (including me) had the good sense to use one of their many opportunities to get rid of Hive Mind.

It turned lethal when Kyle cast Windfall. After the fourth copy of Windfall resolved, Kyle targeted me with Cerebral Vortex. Melvin targeted Apple with his copy, I targeted Kyle, Apple targeted Melvin, and Jesse realized he could win by targeting Melvin. Jesse’s copy resolved first, dealing 30 to Melvin, and then Apple’s resolved, dealing Melvin lethal. Mine resolved, not quite killing Kyle, and then Kyle’s resolved, killing me—winning Jesse the game. Absolutely epic.

The look into Lavinia is indeed going to be quick and not a full-blown primer (which I’ll probably do eventually as I play the deck more and get a better feel for how it works as well as make the odd tweak). It’s an update from my Geist of Saint Traft, which while having some fun moments just wasn’t getting there like I had hoped.

I took out the elements that were designed to try to get commander damage kills with Geist of Saint Traft (like Sword of Fire and Ice), putting in more pieces of control and keeping the blink/bounce theme. I added more things that detain as well. Lavinia only takes care of so much by herself, so she needs some help. The idea is to keep opponents from being able to fully marshal their creatures and then get in damage with some of the big flying creatures.

It doesn’t seek to be all-in; it attempts to gain small advantages here and there. The deck is not going to overwhelm anyone. It’s a deck that seeks to have an impact on the game, win or lose. Having cards like Portcullis, which completely changes how people play their creatures (and completely nerfs tokens), is important because it makes the game look radically different. There are a few hidden gems, like Vanish into Memory and Slithermuse, to go along with a full suite of the bounce and blink cards you love. Mistmeadow Witch has been an absolute MVP.

Here’s the list. Feel free to question or comment. As I play it over the next few weeks, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Embracing the Chaos,

Sheldon

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Lavinia Blinks

Sheldon Menery

0th Place at Test deck on 06-09-2013

Commander

Creatures (33)

Planeswalkers (2)

Lands (38)

You Asked For It: Animar Play-By-Play