Welcome back dear readers! (No pun intended…) 

I hope you enjoyed the last few weeks that Sean and I spent throwing a centennial celebration for our little column here. We each took a look back in our own special ways to really try to appreciate the roots of this thing we’ve worked together to build, and while we both have markedly different methods for doing what it is that we do, it’s pretty clear that we both love what we put in here. We certainly hope that you enjoy reading it just as much.

Anyway, today we’re all going back to school. Class is in session. And no, you can’t go to the bathroom.

Hey! Who threw that?

Back To Basics (No, Not The Card…)

I was up late the other night focused intently on my computer screen and wracking my brain to come up with the best way to transition into the next era of this series. (And by that, I probably mean falling asleep on my couch to The Running Man on cable.) I knew very well that I needed a solid angle—some sort of pitch that would be a little bit extra-special for this piece. Number 101 is kind of a big deal, after all; not to take anything away from the last two weeks, but this is affirmation that Sean and I have made it over the hump. We’re the real deal! We dodged the sophomore slump! We’re an institution! (It’s possible that at least one of us needs to be institutionalized in reality. If you haven’t figured it out, here’s a clue: who has two thumbs and overuses terrible catchphrases?)

That’s about when it hit me. Number 101.

A new class is in session.

Intro to Dear Azami! Clearly a stroke of genius, am I right?

It’s also equally possible that I may have slacked off until the last minute and needed to pull something completely out of thin air to get Cedric the article I owed him.

(Strangely, this actually fits my theme this week pretty well too since it describes perfectly how I handled my entire college career. Great example—I once sped-read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in four hours flat because I had a test in my film theory class on it that day. I got a B+. My roommate spent a week reading, highlighting, and taking notes. He got a C-.)

In all seriousness, my intention here is to go back to the basics in several ways. As I go through the deck this week, I’ll walk through it on this page in the same way that I do when I usually work on it so that you can understand the basic methods that I use to take a reader submission and turn it into a final product. I’ll also be going back to basics in that the deck I’ve chosen to work on prominently features a mechanic that has very likely never seen the light of day at a Commander table before due entirely to the upcoming M14 rules changes. It even features one of the first legendary creatures to see print.

It also lets me drop in a few Dear Azami 101 "how to" guidelines. Speaking of which…

Dear Azami 101: Write About Your Deck

Most of you do this now, but I think it bears repeating; if you don’t spend some time telling us what’s going on with your deck, we probably won’t spend time trying to figure it out either. We like to have an idea of what you want to do with your deck, what it doesn’t do quite right, and what cards you really like and don’t want cut (which we’ll probably end up cutting on you anyway…)

With some good detail, we’ll know exactly where to go with the list. Either that or I’ll possibly just make good on my ongoing threat and turn it into a Minotaur tribal list. Consider yourself warned!

Now about that submission:

First off, for those of you that missed the announcement last week, don’t have a Twitter account, don’t read any Magic forums, and likely don’t have electricity or running water either, take a few minutes and head over to DailyMTG to read up on the news.

Are both of you done? Great!

There are a few closet-case effects that were designed over the years that simply aren’t very compatible with Commander. The various Judgment Wishes come to mind, as does Mishra, Artificer Prodigy. There are those of you, however, that will find a way to make these work one way or another, and I’m all for this. Commander is nothing if not a format that encourages rules changes with the goal of making the game more enjoyable.

However, there have traditionally been some dead-ends that just don’t have a good workaround, and the grandeur mechanic is front and center here. In a true singleton format, it’s simply impossible to hold a copy of Baru, Fist of Krosa in your hand and have one in play at the same time barring some bizarre chain of events involving Mimic Vat, Riftsweeper, a tutor effect, and a truckload of mana.

With the new M14 rules change, it’s now a whole new ballgame. Now, your clone hits play, copies your legend of choice, and you have some choices to make, but the end result is that you’ll keep one or the other in play while the other heads off to the graveyard. Kudos go to Brian this week for quickly seeing through the message (and all of the subsequent calls for a boycott of Wizards of the Coast products and dozens upon dozens of threats from people on forums to quit the game outright in protest) to figure out a good solid upside to this change.

Now you can play Baru, drop your clone for a second copy, and let the original be the one to get sacrificed. With the simple addition of a recursion effect that brings him into your hand somehow, you’re a discard away from a giant Wurm token. Profit!

As Brian pointed out, the Dark Depths / Thespian’s Stage thing works too, as the Stage just becomes a copy of the land it targets so it sidesteps entering play with all of those ice counters. This interaction is out of the bag and looking to be a potential player in other competitive formats, so you’re late to the party at this point and are probably going to already have to pay a premium if you want to get in on this.

Dear Azami 101: Play The Percentages

It’s a fact—send in a decklist that doesn’t include Winding Canyons or In the Web of War and you’ll have a 40% greater chance of being chosen for the week. It’s a scientific fact.

As said earlier, this deck is built around Dakkon Blackblade and his extended family. Dakkon has the distinction of being card number 265 from the Legendsexpansion, which makes him part of the first wave of legendary creatures to ever be created.

(He also has the single-best artwork ever created for a legendary creature. This is an uncontestable fact. Please move along.)

I really like this list. There’s a decent amount of attention to synergy, and it is refreshingly light on format staples, which really makes it a unique breath of fresh air. There are some holes to be filled, however, so there’s some good room to play around. Since I want to show you all the process as much as possible, I’ll save my thoughts for the walkthrough.

Let’s dig right in!

Prelude

The first thing I do when I finally decide on a decklist to use for my article is to immediately take a break to get some coffee. Nothing helps the writing process like a nice french vanilla with a good cream/sugar blend. (That and it is also really hard to type while you’re asleep.)

Seriously, I bet Shakespeare would have been easily twice as prolific as he actually was if there was a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts down the street from the Globe Theater. But I digress…

Anyway, once I’m properly caffeinated, the list gets a basic functionality check. Do I fully understand what the deck is trying to do? Does it cover necessary bases, such as an adequate number of lands and a good combination of removal? Are there too many (or too little) cards in the list? Are there any cards that are out of place or that overdo specific effects unnecessarily? Are there any egregious combos or good stuff inclusions I can cut out of pure spite?

You know, the basic things.

In this case, Brian’s deck has some identifiable room for improvement. One of the first things I noted was that the land count rings in at a subpar count of 35, and one of these is Dark Depths. I don’t want to always count on having Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth around to help in this area, so some slots will need to be freed up to fit some more real estate in. Looking at the rest of the deck, there aren’t many mana fixers in the list as it is, and since we’re not in green, I’m going to shoot for a rough target of 38 to 39 lands total.

This list does have a good chunk of spot removal and some bounce, but mass removal seems limited to just the copy of Supreme Verdict. Being in black and white and skimping on mass removal is like hitting up a fancy seafood restaurant for a burger and fries—you’re missing out, and you’ll be hungry for king crab legs later on. Or something like that.

I’ll be adding in a bit more in that area for sure. (The board wipes, not the crab legs.)

The card count is spot-on at 99 plus Dakkon, so that’s good. I’ll likely give a little love to the draw as well, as it seems a little light. Otherwise, I’m ready to do some damage.

Dear Azami 101: RTFC!

By "C" I mean "column." If there’s a quicker way to get ripped apart in the comments section by fellow readers than to skip straight to the final decklist and start suggesting cards that were either pulled out to begin with or specifically noted as not being good additions in the article, I don’t know what it is.

The Lands

I usually start with the lands section. I like a good solid mana base before anything else, so I want to start with the foundation and work my way up. It is worth it to note that I like to scale things to the overall list so that I’m not making suggestions that have no chance of being actually used. In this case, I’m talking about Revised dual lands and the Onslaught fetches. The unfortunate side effect of the Esper color combination is that it can support Tundra and Underground Sea, the two most expensive duals out there. Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta aren’t being funded by the loose change found in grandma’s couch cushions either.

In this case, Brian has a decent selection of cards in the deck, but it’s pretty clear that I’d be overstepping by suggesting three or four hundred dollars’ worth of lands to fill four slots. With a complement of Ravnica bouncelands, shocklands, and core set duals, I feel like all that needs to happen here is to add in some extra lands to up the count later on. No cuts in the land category.

Creatures

This is usually the area where I can really make some solid changes. Sometimes it’s very apparent what is missing, while other times it’s a bit of a trial-and-error process. The type of deck has a huge effect here; if I know that I’m working towards a specific theme or mechanic, it makes it that much easier to do what needs to be done.

In this case, Brian is going primarily for the ability to abuse the grandeur mechanic through clone effects, so I know that I’m going to look to free up slots to fit in any key additions in that area that he may not have included. I’ll likely pull cards that seem narrow in application or are misplaced and don’t really help the deck out all that much in order to make space. (Remember that I’m also trying to find some space for a few more lands too.)

Starting at the top, Academy Rector is coming out. Rector is a powerful card, but with a very small and narrow selection of enchantments, there are better uses of that space.

Next, I suspect that Brian has a case of "ooh…shiny!" going on here because there’s a healthy grouping of very recent cards in the deck and I don’t really see a purpose for some of them. Blood Baron of Vizkopa; Pontiff of Blight; Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts; and Vizkopa Confessor are pulled as a result.

While I understand that there needs to be a focus on strategy involving graveyard recursion, I feel like there are better options than Golgari Thug and Undertaker, which make you jump through some serious hoops or pay more than necessary to get the job done.

Finally, Mother of Runes comes out simply because this deck needs to be aggressively going after the primary strategy, not sitting back and playing the protection angle.

I’ve decided that there should be an added focus on legends with enters- or leaves-the-battlefield triggers. The new rules will enable another set of ways to capitalize on clone effects and creatures dying in many ways not related strictly to grandeur, and this deck is already headed in that direction to begin with. Going in are Keiga, the Tide Star and Kokusho, the Evening Star, who both possess strong exit strategies. (I could include Yosei, the Morning Star here as well, but I find that people don’t particularly like being shut out of games, so I’m moving on instead.)

There are a bunch of shapeshifters that need to be here as well. The O.G. Vesuvan Doppelganger makes a solid appearance, along with newer options in Phantasmal Image and Sakashima’s Student. For a little extra body, Quicksilver Gargantuan is also along for the ride.

Last but not least, I’m adding a bit of extra draw with Bloodgift Demon. Since this deck (or at least Dakkon and Korlash) is all about how many lands are in play, Thawing Glaciers is a great addition that will guarantee a solid stream of land drops.

Dear Azami 101: Diversity Is Important

We like to keep things new and fresh, so we try to spread out and take on decks that are different than the last ones. A good way to get noticed is to watch the trends and act accordingly by standing out from the pack. If Sean does a mono-red commander this week, I’m probably going to try to do something different next week. The same goes for strategies and themes; no one wants to see back-to-back tokens decks from week to week. Switch it up! Keep it fresh! Help us stay sane!

… Er, did I say that last part out loud?

Artifacts

Moving into this section, Amulet of Vigor is a bit of a head-scratcher. I’m sure there’s a great reason that it’s in this deck, but I don’t see it, so I’m taking the slot for Temple of the False God—another land drop and acceleration all in one. I think I can do better in these colors than settling for Cloudstone Curio as well, so I’m replacing it with Crystal Shard. It’s perhaps not as flexible but hits opposing creatures in a pinch, and I’ll bet that creatures are what will get bounced most of the time anyway.

I’m not a fan of mana rocks for the most part; all it takes is one good board sweeper and you can be effectively knocked out of a game. In these colors, though, it’s a bit harder to manage to find lands, so rocks can be a necessary evil. In goes the indestructible (and now keyworded!) Darksteel Ingot in the place of Dimir Signet.

The Dark Depths / Thespian’s Stage line of play is important here, and Expedition Map not only finds them but also fits into the Trinket Mage package nicely. Map takes the place of Orzhov Signet.

Last but not least, the oft-hated and oft-blown-up-before-it-even-gets-used Mimic Vat is getting pulled for Nihil Spellbomb. There may be a few interesting things that can happen with it under the new rules, but I think a little extra graveyard hate will help tremendously once we get a little further down the list, so out it goes. (Another addition to the Trinks package as well.)   

Enchantments

At this point, things are settling in pretty well, and I have a really strong idea of what I need to do to continue to build on the theme chosen as well as what space there is to do so with.

Now seems about as good of a time as anything to address the idea of "gut feel" changes. If I’ve recently seen something happen that makes me feel strongly about a specific card in a list, I’ll tend to be a little less forgiving than if it has had a chance to fade from my memory. In this case, the card in question is Detention Sphere; while I’ve never been a big fan of Oblivion Ring style removal in Commander (unless it occurs in an Enchantress style deck), the point was drilled home—by me—in a game last week.

I was playing my Prime Speaker Zegana deck, and through a bit of a grudge match against another player, most of my deck had been milled and exiled. I was literally down to the last eleven or twelve cards and running out of options fast.

Fortunately, another player had recently answered my Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre with Detention Sphere. Thankfully, I was able to pull an Oblivion Stone, conveniently taking out the rest of the board and returning to me with my giant indestructible win condition to take the game home with in a few short turns.

Needless to say, out goes Detention Sphere in this case; this is helped by already having removed Academy Rector anyway. I’m also not particularly crazy about effects like Oath of Ghouls, which packs a double-edged sword of problems in that it is mostly symmetrical and in this case totally screws over one player who will probably want to take it out on you for not sharing the love.

The two replacements are Sigil of the New Dawn, which fills in another solid recursion slot with no real downside (save timing), and Oversold Cemetery, which is decidedly not symmetrical and screws over each opponent equally.

Instants

Instants and sorceries tend to be the heaviest areas of replacement, and this deck is no different. This should come as no surprise, as sorceries are among the most powerful effects in the game and instants are among the most flexible.

Right off the bat, I’m switching out Aetherize for Evacuation. This deck actually presents a strategy that supports bouncing your own creatures, so the extra mana is worth the investment to get back a few clone effects or one of the grandeur-packing legends to start the chain over with—in addition to totally ruining the life of the token player that just attacked into you.

Speaking of tokens, this deck doesn’t really run enough for Rootborn Defenses to be good, so instead I’m running Martyr’s Bond in that slot; this gives the deck a little extra boost in the removal category and has a little extra card-type flexibility that Grave Pact lacks.

Punish Ignorance becomes Soul Manipulation. Again, having the counterspell effect stapled to something that can bounce a creature back to hand from the graveyard seems much better than a marginal life swing, even at the expense of the limited scope of targets for the counter itself.

Far // Away becomes a victim of bringing too little to the table, and I’ll use the slot to add in Day of Judgment to gain back some needed mass removal. (No Wrath? Not in this case; as narrow as it seems, Korlash is a regenerator, so this might be able to play the role of Plague Wind and leave you with a clear board and a huge win condition intact.)

Azorius Charm is coming out because I feel the effect is a bit weak in this build. This is a spot that will go to a land, so in comes Arcane Sanctum to clean up the mana fixing and land count.

Rounding out the section is Living Death in the place of Riot Control. A little over-used in this format, it has the interesting potential to have some strange interactions due to the legendary rules change driving this deck that weren’t possible before. I’m interested to see what can happen with a ‘yard full of clones; Gravedigger; Linessa, Zephyr Mage; and the Kamigawa Dragons when this goes off.

Dear Azami 101: We Don’t Do Bribes. Honest.

Although I would like to point out that StarCityGames.com hasn’t had a foil Trickbind in stock for a very, very long time and my Prime Speaker deck is really aching for one. It’s a good thing that I’m of a very high moral caliber. If anyone would like to test this, email me for my mailing address and send me one. I promise it’ll get sent back quicker than you can say "weird…it must have been lost in the mail."

Planeswalkers

These seem fine today. Moving on!

Sorceries

There are three final changes to make before this deck is done. The first is easy for me. Out comes Debt to the Deathless because honestly Exsanguinate was boring enough to begin with without twice the potency. I want to enjoy playing the games I’m a part of, not pull a single card off the top that brings them to a screeching end. I recognize that some people love this type of card, but I’d rather fill a needed hole by adding Austere Command so that I have another flexible way to deal with a board full of threats instead.

Similarly, Death Grasp is cool and techy, but I also need to address the card draw a bit and haven’t done that well enough yet. Decree of Pain is another card that isn’t unheard of in the format, but here it draws the cards, clears the threats, and loads your graveyard to get the recursion going. It’s the right call.

Finally, I like to go out with a bang when I do these lists, so instead I’ll pull Wake the Reflections for Bojuka Bog. Confused? Me too. Even with Mimic Vat to join Minion Reflector, this is not worth taking up a slot for how often it will actually come up. Graveyard hate is just better.

Pulling It All Together

This is the part where I usually say something like "here’s the finished list!" while praying that I didn’t forget to add in something that I discussed in the article above:

Dakkon Blackblade

Cassidy McAuliffe

Test deck on 05-26-2013

Commander

Creatures (23)

• 1 Clone
• 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
• 1 Dakkon Blackblade
• 1 Gravedigger
• 1 Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1 Trinket Mage
• 1 Angel of Despair
• 1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
• 1 Linessa, Zephyr Mage
• 1 Oriss, Samite Guardian
• 1 Quicksilver Gargantuan
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 1 Bloodgift Demon
• 1 Evil Twin
• 1 Vela the Night-Clad
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Sakashima's Student
• 1 Treasury Thrull
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 1 Lavinia of the Tenth

Planeswalkers (3)

• 1 Venser, the Sojourner
• 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
• 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Lands (39)

• 6 Plains
• 1 Thawing Glaciers
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold
• 7 Swamp
• 7 Island
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Dark Depths
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Thespian's Stage

Spells (35)

• 1 Living Death
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Oversold Cemetery
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Dance of Many
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Evacuation
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Sigil of the New Dawn
• 1 Disturbed Burial
• 1 Tortured Existence
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Brilliant Ultimatum
• 1 Minion Reflector
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Soul Manipulation
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Rite of Replication
• 1 Elixir of Immortality
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Martyr's Bond
• 1 Cackling Counterpart
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Stolen Identity
• 1 Render Silent
• 1 Obzedat's Aid

This is the section where I usually start by complementing the deck and chatting about how I think the changes really make the deck better while secretly being scared out of my mind that I’ve offended the player by cutting his or her pet cards or that I’ve somehow totally missed an important interaction or addition that makes or breaks the deck.

No pressure, folks. Smile big. Lots of teeth.

And this is the section where I point out that $89 is really a small price to pay for perfection. Right?

Right?

Okay, I also note that for taking part in today’s Dear Azami, Brian will be receiving a $20 credit to StarCityGames.com, which will go a long way towards knocking quite a few items off of the list above. Or the Kokusho at the end of it anyway…

Closing Time

 Again, and in all seriousness, I have an absolute blast writing these articles. I’m a naturally silly person, and it’s always a joy to be able to put together a list that I truly think is cool while loading on liberal helpings of humor. Sean pointed out last week that I really like to bring a personal element to what I do, and that’s completely true—I’m an entertainer as much as I am a deck doctor. I want everyone who reads these articles to have fun and enjoy a good laugh or two (likely at my expense!) even if they don’t have the deck being worked on and don’t plan on building it. That’s my goal above all else.

So with that said, this is the part where I say thanks for reading and that I’ll see you all in two.

-Cass

Oh, and by the way:

Dear Azami 101: Have Fun!

Above all else. This game is a blast, so enjoy it. Send in your submissions; we read and appreciate every last one, and we honestly can’t thank you all enough for helping us to do what we do.

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article, like Kristjan’s Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck or Evan’s Jolrael, Empress of Beasts deck. Only one deck submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to StarCityGames.com!

Email us a deck submission using this link here!

Like what you’ve seen? Feel free to explore more of “Dear Azami” here! Feel free to follow Sean on Facebook…sometimes there are extra surprises and bonus content to be found over on his Facebook Fan Page, as well as previews of the next week’s column at the end of the week! Follow Cassidy on his Facebook page here or check out his Commander blog!