Dear Azami: Upgrade Complete!

This week I wanted to tackle some of the new cards that Khans of Tarkir added to the mix. If the Pro Tour is anything to go by (and it usually is!), Khans
is going to be a solid set for Constructed, even with the massive dud mechanic that is morph added into the mix.

I dislike morph.

But you know what I don’t dislike? The Abzan wedge! I’m a huge fan of the decks in that wedge, and I’ve been hankering to throw a copy of Hardened Scales
into a Ghave, Guru of Spores deck and see how it turns out. And to really give myself some room to play with this update, I’ve gone back to snag a
submission from the dark ages of October 13, 2013 for this week’s column. Take it away, Mark!

Mark’s deck offers a solid start on an Abzan counters deck. It’s a great first deck, but it’s a little reactive for my tastes. I think it could stand to
have a little more synergy, but the printings of the last year make it easy for me to say that. The fact is, Ghave, Guru of Spores has really done well
since Return to Ravnica Block, gaining a lot of tools that shore up some vulnerabilities the archetype used to have.

So that’s this week’s gimmick: only adding in cards that have been printed within the last year.

Now, that proved to be less of a solid boundary line than I had hoped, since there have been five premium products within that time period (two Duel Decks,
the Modern Event Deck, the Commander 2013 decks, and FtV: Annihilation), each which included some reprints. I decided to keep reprinted cards from those
sets out of the mix but did include new cards printed in Commander 2013; Opal Palace is such an important card to this archetype, and it wasn’t available
last year. Reprints from the five normal sets and Conspiracy, on the other hand, seemed like they should be fair game.

I know this might not be super helpful to Mark specifically, as there’s a solid chance he’s updated or taken apart his deck since submitting it, but I
think it will be a fun exercise. If you’re like me, updating decks is a common thing to do, and every once in a while I find one that’s fallen to the back
of the queue and needs a more thorough update. This is that update.

(Oh, and since I doubt Mark’s going to take me up on all these changes, I’m blowing out the budget on this one. Prepare for Windswept Heath and friends.)

All in all I changed 41 cards. I make no claim that this will be the best version of the deck that a person could craft from tools within the last year,
but these are the cards I am most excited to play with and that I think best fit the Ghave, Guru of Spores synergy theme. Part of this meant leaning into
the counter theme a bit more than the token theme; for example, I cut most of the populate in favor of new cards like Abzan Ascendancy. Populate works best
with huge tokens, some of which did stay in. But in general, I tried to bring the deck more towards a broad board to maximize the power of the counter
lords with cards like Abzan Ascendancy and Ajani Steadfast.

What I’ve always loved about Ghave, Guru of Spores over Marath, Will of the Wild, is that while Marath scales in size over the course of the game, Ghave
gets more powerful in the endgame when he starts pulling counters off the other creatures you control. Between that and his cheap sacrifice ability, he
does well in situations where you have a lot of interchangeable and cheap tokens on the field. Marath tends to be the better commander for individually
large tokens and populate effects.

The Changes

Lands

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I don’t think every deck needs a sweet manabase, but Ghave, Guru of Spores needs it a little more than most. While the deck doesn’t get crippled if Ghave
gets tucked, he’s still very important to the gameplan, and it’s good to get him out on turn 4 or 5. But Opal Palace is the headliner here. Opal Palace is
solid with any commander that gets replayed during the course of a game (i.e. not Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, which both got
packaged with one for distribution reasons). It is absolutely amazing with any commander who cares about +1/+1 counters.

As for the rest of the changes, I’m okay with having a bunch of slow lands in most of my decks. This new refuge/guildgate cycle of common fixing is pretty
awesome, and I like that they printed them with names generic enough to see them reprinted on a different plane. I was never a huge fan of the original
cycle since they left you unable to run a full cycle and incomplete cycles drive me mad. That’s the real reason behind the inclusion of Windswept Heath; it
balances out the enemy cycle of painlands that were reprinted in M15.

I’m sure that’s by design.

Ramp

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Some of these changes were just upgrades, in the specific context of this deck. Abzan Banner is better than Darksteel Ingot, in my opinion. Exile sees more
play these days, and being able to cycle in response to removal or in a pinch is worth more than surviving removal. I like Nissa’s Expedition over Growth
Spasm. The extra land is worth more than an Eldrazi Spawn token, and the “go wide” theme means there will be games where you’re casting Nissa’s Expedition
for free. And Ordeal of Nylea is particularly great in a Ghave deck, comparing favorably against Armillary Sphere. Most of the time it’s a two-mana ramp
sorcery that you cast on your commander and immediately crack it as soon as you swing. In a pinch, it’s a repeatable counter generator, offering a +1/+1
counter up to Ghave every time the enchanted creature attacks.

Pilgrim’s Eye is off theme, Awakening Zone is slow, and Wayfarer’s Bauble and Journeyer’s Kite tend to be more useful in decks that aren’t running green.
Plus, the Kite relies on having a bunch of basic lands in the deck, and I cut nine of them. Instead, let’s get that effect from Realm Seekers, which offers
a way to turn counters into land draws at a faster rate. Most games that won’t be relevant, but I’d rather put a beefy counter well in that slot than a
three-mana land tutor that doesn’t otherwise contribute to the gameplan.

My favorite two inclusions are Dictate of Karametra and Mirari’s Wake. As Ghave’s base loop costs two mana, mana-doubling effects seem like a strong way to
ramp. Dictate of Karametra is universal, but you can cast it to benefit you first, and the deck is full of mana sinks to help you get better advantage from
the effect. And Mirari’s Wake pairs a personal doubling with a Glorious Anthem effect, helping the sacrificial and swarm sides of the deck equally well.

Removal

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See! There’s that artifact exile I mentioned in the context of Darksteel Ingot. I took it out. This is a very solid removal suite; I particularly
appreciate the inclusion of Death Mutation and Hex, cards that do well in this style of deck. But I think the past year has offered some great synergy
cards, and I’d rather play them than the generically powerful answers here.

Cards like Abzan Charm, a creature exiler that can also draw cards or give you counters at instant speed. In a Ghave deck, unlike many of the other Abzan
commanders, all three of those modes will be relevant from time to time. Bane of Progress is a mass artifact and enchantment removal spell that gives you a
bank of counters to turn into Saprolings. Bow of Nylea makes all your Saprolings win in combat while sniping the occasional flier and generating counters
from time to time. Dictate of Erebos is another Grave Pact effect, and while I disdain them in general it’s impossible to deny their strength in a deck
like this. Paying two mana for a repeatable, instant speed, “each opponent sacrifices a creature” effect is absolutely brutal, and it will win you a lot of
games.

Drakestown Forgotten isn’t the most powerful engine, but it does turn your counters into removal, albeit at a terrible mana rate. Add in the fact that it’s
a beast in the lategame, and it’s probably worth its inclusion. Retribution of the Ancients is amazing and one of the more powerful additions from Khans of
Tarkir. It’s a cheap mega-Ooze Flux, and it’s going to kill a lot of creatures at instant speed for a single black mana. Finally there’s Spear of Heliod.
Its main purpose isn’t really removal, but it adds a solid rattler to an otherwise playable Glorious Anthem effect.

Tokens

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And here’s where I made most of the changes. You can see the shift in focus, from the big tokens to the small ones. Alive and Well, Call of the Conclave,
and Centaur’s Herald all net you a single centaur token. If you’re in on the populate plan that might be a perfectly fine use of a slot, but when we’re
going wide it’s a bit of a missed opportunity. Doomed Traveler, Gather the Townsfolk, Mausoleum Guard, Miming Slime, Spectral Procession, Trostani’s
Summoner, and Vile Rebirth all seem similarly weak after the pivot. They’re all one-time token generators, and I tend to prefer engines in those
situations. Plus, you’re never getting five tokens off Gather the Townsfolk; actually turning on fateful hour is about as rare in Commander as seeing a
unicorn in another player’s deck. Which is a shame that there isn’t a totally badass unicorn for Commander players, but we’re not there yet, I guess.

Spawnwrithe and Giant Adephage do offer continuing token advantage, but I find they’re usually shot before they get a chance to connect. Certainly the 2/2
finds it hard to make it through, and even the 7/7 can get outclassed easily in Commander. It would be less of an issue if it triggered on attack, but it
has to connect to provide you with any advantage, and relying on that seems like the utter definition of a “win more” card. Even beyond that though, I
think they should be cut for the same reason I cut the populate cards: Ghave is a harsh master, and he cares less for individual tokens than he does for
the size of his swarm. Spore cloud? Swarm.

The cards we’re bringing in are universally strong. Abzan Ascendancy has two modes, both very relevant. First, it pumps your whole team with +1/+1 counters
when it comes into play, which is strong. It also provides a repeatable source of tokens over the course of a game. It doesn’t go crazy with Ghave, since
it requires the blood of non-token creatures, but it does provide repeatable advantage over the course of a game and offers some protection against Wrath
of God effects.

Custodi Soulbinders is one of my favorite cards from Conspiracy in general, and it’s stronger than usual in this particular deck. Ghave, Guru of Spores
combines well with Custodi Soulbinders: if you need a quick swarm you can pull off the tokens for cheap to make into Saproling tokens, and then you can
convert those Saprolings into Spirits should you need an air force later in the game. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion would be good in any deck, but it’s great
when paired with a general who can grow and shrink your board to dodge her mass removal effect. I was bearish on Empty the Pits when it first got spoiled,
but I saw it in action when I was watching the Pro Tour, and I’ve come around. In a deck like this, where there isn’t much in the way of graveyard
recursion, it’s a great way to get a lot of power in a pinch.

Hooded Hydra is another card I initially misjudged, although I think it’s another card that’s specifically good in counter manipulation decks. It works in
two ways: it provides you with a counter bank when you need it, and it also can act as a safe haven from a wrath effect. If you sac your board to load it
up with counters, your creatures are going to reincarnate as soon as its graveyard trigger triggers. Sorin, Solemn Visitor is another card I misjudged,
although this was largely due to a reading comprehension error on my part. I hadn’t realized his pump ability lasted an entire turn cycle. That defensive
potential rounds it out brilliantly, and it’s a solidly powerful card that’s earned inclusion.

Hydra Broodmaster, on the other hand, is just a straightforward bit of power. Gelatinous Genesis has always been a strong card in EDH, and this one gives
you a power boost as well. Plus, the tokens do play well with the one or two populate effects I left in the deck. Ophiomancer is one of the cards that
impressed me in Commander 2013. It represents a token on every player’s upkeep, and in most decks the deathtouch makes it worth inclusion for the rattler
effect alone. When you can take full advantage of the token, banking it on Ghave, the card goes from good to amazing.

Which leaves us with Wingmate Roc. It’s another card that saw a fair bit of play on the Pro Tour, and I think there’s a lesson to be learned in comparing
it to Gemini Engine. Gemini Engine gives you a repeatable token but only when you’re attacking, and it goes away at the end of each combat. Good with
populate, not amazing without it. Wingmate Roc in many ways looks worse at first glance. It requires an attack to make its token, and it’s not repeatable
in the same way Gemini Engine’s is. But there’s evasion tied to the bodies, and there’s a secondary effect on Wingmate Roc that rewards you for going
broad; the Gemini Engine, on the other hand, is just beef. In the right deck it’s a hell of a card, but in a Ghave deck I think Wingmate Roc is the better
card.

Beef

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But let’s talk beef. In an aggro deck, I could see including Crusader of Odric; I even considered adding in Seraph of the Masses, which is a very similar
card. But to pull off tricks like a Butcher of Malakir lock, or to have time to utilize Ooze Flux to any real effect, you’re planning to win in the
midgame. Personally, I think that’s the sweet spot. Control decks win in the long game, turning fun matches into unreasonable grinds; aggro and combo decks
beat your opponents before they get to have fun, and I play Commander socially. But the midgame is just right. That way everyone gets to do some fun stuff,
but the game ends before there’s an unbreakable stalemate.

Anyway, Heroes’ Bane and High Sentinels of Arashin are both large bodies that also act as counter generation engines. High Sentinels of Arashin is pricey
in its counter rate, but it’s also a mana sink if you’ve run out of things to do or want to hold up a trick you then don’t get to use. Heroes’ Bane is
interesting because it’s a card that Ghave will sometimes be buffing and sometimes be eating. You can store some counters on the hydra and then collect
your interest, or you could use it as a repeatable four saprolings per turn.

Unless you’re pure aggro though, it’s probably going to be more fun if your beef has a backup plan in case it gets outclassed. Unless you’re hiding behind
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, there’s always the chance someone’s going to have the bigger body; even with those two legendary
Eldrazi, there’s always the chance that someone’s going crazy with counter doubling, Voltron generals, or even the oft-overlooked Empyrial Plate.

Draw

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As I believe I’ve mentioned, I’m a little hesitant to run tutors in my list. I try to build decks where there are many different combinations of cards to
potentially advance my gameplan, while tutors tend to lead people to rely on the strongest combination of cards in each game. After a while that gets
boring to me. So I wouldn’t run Diabolic Tutor. And, frankly, there are some better tutors out there these days. I’ve had some good experiences with
Liliana Vess.

Deathreap Ritual may be the best Commander card printed in Conspiracy. Its only drawback is the difficult color identity. In a deck like Ghave, this strong
card gets particularly brutal, since you can effectively play two mana during each player’s turn to draw a card, even if nothing else would die. Reaper of
the Wilds offers a similar bonus to you for following your plan A, and in a deck like Ghave it even has potential as a pseudo-tutor. Every sacrifice or
death brings you a card closer to what you need.

The scenic route is often the fun route.

Lords

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The issue with Phantom General is that it only ever pumped half of your board. That’s okay with something like Intangible Virtue, where it’s on a stronger
permanent and also grants an ancillary ability, but on a creature I think we can do a little better.

Instead, I decided to use Ghave to make combat a nightmare for your opponents. With Mer-Ek Nightblade on the field, your opponents risk death in every
attack or block; with Ainok Bond-Kin on the field, all of your creatures get a pseudo +1/+1 and first strike that you don’t need to pay for until they call
your bluff. Put them together and you win combat completely. And the same goes for lifelink, flying, trample, pseudo-vigilance, and reach.

I did agree with your decision to include a lord though. Force multipliers are important, and I wanted to bring more traditional ones in as well. Woodvine
Elemental might be stretching the definition of traditional, I admit, but it does a lot of things right for a deck like this. It’s not restricted in the
type of permanent that it pumps, it draws you a card every time it attacks, and it buys you a fair amount of goodwill. It’s the type of creature I’d let
swing through my defenses, if the rest of my opponents attackers were aimed at a mutual enemy. Dictate of Heliod is less political, but it makes up for it
by being more tricksy. It’s a buff and a combat trick! Dictate of Heliod is an example of the growth of Commander power within the last year; I imagine it
will be a format staple for years to come.

Finishers

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There are two types of finishers: the ones that you cast and win with immediately, and the ones that plant the seeds of your victory early. Chorus of Might
and Overrun will likely win some games when you cast them, sure, but they’re not a ton of fun. I mean, you cast them and it’s game over! And the last thing
you did in that game was cast Overrun. If you’re motivated by more than the victory, it can seem a little bland.

That’s why I like the other two cards. Primal Vigor is an attempt at a fixed Doubling Season. While it technically helps your opponents as well, you’re
built to take advantage of it and most of your opponents will not be. Every once in a while you’ll run into a deck it’s bad against, but you can usually
tell long before you’d cast the card anyway, and you can just hold off until that opponent’s been run out of the game. Against everyone else it’s the
ultimate force multiplier, as it doubles Ghave, Guru of Spores’s abilities coming and going.

Hardened Scales is a bit subtler. The key to its power is twofold: it’s a one-drop, and Ghave works in single increments of +1/+1 counters. Even when you
take a bunch off at a time or add a bunch, each one of those is technically a discrete trigger, and that turns Hardened Scales into a bit of a personal
Doubling Season. Which is a steal at one mana! It’s not powerful enough to draw the aggro that you’ll see in response to Doubling Season, but it’s a good
complement to Parallel Lives.

Miscellaneous

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Some of these belong in different categories, but the whole categorization system I use is a sham. There are a lot of cards that should fall under several
headings, and yet the tagging system that would make the most sense doesn’t make for a decent narrative. Ajani Steadfast is a lord and a buffer and
protection all in one. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes does counter generation and draws cards. Anafenza, the Foremost is a counter generation source that doubles
as a graveyard hoser. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled is a mean tutoring hoser that doubles as beef and a wellspring of counters. There’s more to these cards than
their legendary stature; each one of them offers a repeatable source of counters tied to another, equally powerful effect.

Armada Wurm and Druid’s Deliverance were hard cuts, but when I was totaling the list back up I realized the deck was 101 cards to start with. Sometimes,
given my one-for-one system of cuts and additions, this happens. So I took out the two cards that seemed to promote the gameplan the least. Armada Wurm is
a bonkers card, but without flicker shenanigans it’s probably a little too beefy for this deck. After all, the goal is to go wide. And the same goes for
Druid’s Deliverance. I’m not opposed to playing Fog effects in Commander, but it’s usually better to play one with a more asymmetrical effect. The populate
add-on works better with large tokens, but again, I’ve pivoted from that theme.

Here’s the final list:

Ghave, Guru of Spores

Jess Stirba

Test deck on 10-14-2014

Commander

Creatures (28)

• 1 Selesnya Evangel
• 1 Selesnya Guildmage
• 1 Twilight Drover
• 1 Butcher of Malakir
• 1 Hero of Bladehold
• 1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
• 1 Wayfaring Temple
• 1 Reaper of the Wilds
• 1 Bane of Progress
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Heroes' Bane
• 1 Hydra Broodmaster
• 1 Drakestown Forgotten
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Custodi Soulbinders
• 1 Woodvine Elemental
• 1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1 Ainok Bond-Kin
• 1 Ivorytusk Fortress
• 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1 Wingmate Roc
• 1 Abzan Battle Priest
• 1 Hooded Hydra
• 1 High Sentinels of Arashin
• 1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1 Abzan Falconer
• 1 Tuskguard Captain
• 1 Longshot Squad

Planeswalkers (5)

• 1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
• 1 Ajani Steadfast
• 1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands (38)

• 5 Forest
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 5 Plains
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Grove of the Guardian
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Temple of Plenty
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Jungle Hollow
• 1 Blossoming Sands

Spells (29)

• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Hour of Reckoning
• 1 Coalition Relic
• 1 Dreamstone Hedron
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Alliance of Arms
• 1 Parallel Lives
• 1 Intangible Virtue
• 1 Increasing Devotion
• 1 Lingering Souls
• 1 Druids' Repository
• 1 Ooze Flux
• 1 Bow of Nylea
• 1 Spear of Heliod
• 1 Ordeal of Nylea
• 1 Primal Vigor
• 1 Dictate of Karametra
• 1 Dictate of Heliod
• 1 Dictate of Erebos
• 1 Deathreap Ritual
• 1 Nissa's Expedition
• 1 Abzan Ascendancy
• 1 Empty the Pits
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Abzan Banner
• 1 Abzan Charm
• 1 Retribution of the Ancients

I like the new list, I would love to play with all these cards, and I think there are several synergistic elements that will make for interesting decision
trees while the deck is being played.

Now, normally I try to be conscious of the fact that not everyone has $255 to dump into a Commander deck, but from time to time it is enjoyable to ignore
price limitations and just have some fun with it. One caveat as to the pricing, I checked these prices on Sunday morning, before the Pro Tour results came
in. Given the success of Abzan and the general instability of the Standard format in general prior to the Pro Tour, it’s possible that the price of some of
these staples will be volatile within the next few days. I can’t imagine it will cause the price of these cards to go down though, so it’s yet another
reason I’m glad I didn’t try to keep this particular outing to a set price limit.

That’s it for this week’s installment of Dear Azami! Mark, I hope you’re still playing and loving Commander, I really do believe that it’s a wonderful
format. And for everyone else out there who has love in their hearts for the Abzan wedge, this past year has been very good for it. Consider playing with
some of these cards, they’re all pretty bonkers and worth a spin.

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article. Only one deck
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