I will confess a weakness for Jund colors. I’ve been playing Mythic Bant in Standard recently, and although I love the idea of attacking with 17/17 Baneslayers, I really love the savagery of BRG, so I hope you’ll understand why I keep going back to the Kresh and Karrthus wells. This week, it was Karrthus.
One of the reasons I love Karrthus is the ability to grab other Dragons. From a social point of view, I’m not in love with the idea that he might prevent someone from playing their General because of the fear of getting him stolen, but one of the things about stealing someone’s dudes is that you don’t want to attack them with it, since when they die, you lose the dudes. I think the Karrthus/other dragon General creates an interesting level of gamesmanship. Plus, there are a fair number of Brooding Saurians running around our League.
We had another fine turnout, with 16 players. I’m seated with Patrick (Endrek Sahr), Anthony (Lin-Sivvi), and Taylor (Dakkon Blackblade). Anthony is actually one of the guys who helped build the Isperia deck for me, so for a minute I consider changing to it. I had played a couple of casual games with it early in the afternoon, and it was fun, but it was a little passive for my tastes. Having had enough of sitting and waiting for other stuff to happen so that I could respond, I decided to go forward with my plan of naked aggression. This aggression would not be aided by the fact that the other decks at the table all had reasonable good control elements.
GAME 1
I win the roll, and we wait for the announcement of the first Enchant World. It’s Forsaken Wastes. Ick.
TURN 1
Me: Badlands
Taylor: Watery Grave
Anthony: Plaines
Patrick: Swamp, Tortured Existence.
TURN 2
Me: Forest, Survival of the Fittest
Taylor: Plains, Sol Ring
Anthony: Plains, Umezawa’s Jitte
Patrick: Swamp
TURN 3
Me: (37) Swamp, Sol Ring, pitch Genesis to get Oracle of Mul Daya.
Taylor: (37) Lonely Sandbar, Sensei’s Divining Top.
Anthony: (37) Plains, Expedition Map, sacrifice it to get Miren, the Moaning Well. Guess he’s setting up for later.
Patrick: (37) Swamp, Cycles Scion of Darkness.
TURN 4
Me: (36) Cast the Oracle and my own Top, use the Top and I still have no lands.
Taylor: (36) Tops, nothing else.
Anthony: (36) Steadfast Guard, equips it.
Patrick: (36) Ghost Quarter.
TURN 5
Me: (35): Top, put Savage Land on top, cast Lotus Cobra, play the Savage Land (get Green), use it to pitch Molder Slug for Indrik Stomphowler. Now there’s a Mountain on top, so I play it. Pitch Butcher of Malakir for Greater Gargadon and Suspend it.
Taylor: (35) Plains, Syphon Mind. I pitch Crucible of Worlds (it’s a holdover from this being a Landfall deck, which I’ve kind of moved away from), Anthony tosses Thousand-Year Elixir, and Patrick tosses
Anthony: (35) Sword of Fire and Ice. Equips the Guard, attacks. I block with the Cobra and then sacrifice it to the Gargadon so he doesn’t get the trigger.
Patrick: (35) Endrek Sahr.
TURN 6
Me: (34) Stomphowler the Sword, which is way more dangerous than the Jitte. Or is it?
Taylor: (34) Glacial Fortress. Acquire on Anthony, getting his other Sword, the one of Light and Shadow.
Anthony: (34) Attack Patrick (32). Kills Oracle with the Jitte. Ramosian Commander. Taylor kills it with Sudden Death.
Patrick: (31) Ascendant Evincar.
TURN 7
Me: (33) Karrthus, attack Anthony (26). Generals with Haste seem extra good.
Taylor: (33) Wrath of God. I sacrifice stuff to Gargadon.
Anthony: (25) Maze of Ith (cool original version), Lin-Sivvi.
Patrick: (30) Recasts his General
TURN 8
Me: (32) Pitch Vampire Hexmage to get Wood Elves, cast it, get a Forest.
Taylor: (32) Just as he resets his die, they call In the Eye of Chaos as the new Enchant World. Liliana Vess, makes Patrick discard. He tosses Pestilence.
Anthony: Gauntlet of Power, seemingly an auto-include in mono-color decks.
Patrick: Nothing. He’s either waiting for something (no idea what) or is just out of gas already. At EOT, I Artifact Mutation the Gauntlet (it costs me 4 mana, but I figure that I’m not likely to otherwise play it with Eye of Chaos is still running, so I guess now is the time).
TURN 9
Me: Gargadon to 2. Cast Acidic Slime, taking out Ghostly Prison. I pitch Azusa for the Avatar of Woe. I count graveyards just to make sure.
Taylor: Makes Anthony discard his last card to take Liliana to 7. Casts Divinity of Pride and Equips it.
Anthony: Waits
Patrick: Tormod’s Crypt. Big frowns for me, although I have something up my sleeve.
TURN 10
Me: Avatar of Woe for BB. Chameleon Colossus. Attack Liliana with the tokens and Slime. He blocks one token, and I sacrifice it to Gargadon, bringing it into play.
Taylor: Attacks Anthony with Deathbringer Liege, who Mazes it.
Anthony: Wrath of God.
Patrick: Sengir Vampire.
TURN 11
Me: Demonic Tutor and pass, doing the searching on Taylor’s turn.
Taylor: Angel of Despair blows up Sengir Vampire which earns a “?” from me.
Anthony: Austere Command choosing Artifacts and Enchantments. Patrick Crypts me, which I Reroute back to him (I briefly consider Taylor, but I think Patrick has more recursion).
Patrick: Repentant Vampire. Looks like I made the right choice.
TURN 12
Me: Regrow Avatar of Woe, cast it.
Taylor: Top, Diabolic Tutor. Goes to Path my Avatar, and we remind him that Eye of Chaos is the Enchant World. We let him have takesies-backsies.
Anthony: Sol Ring, Reveillark.
Patrick: Font of Mythos. Seems pretty decent, especially since I’m going to draw cards, then blow it up.
TURN 13
Me: Bring back Stomphowler, cast it, shatter the Font. Everyone says ‘boo,’ and I briefly explain my position of multiplicative asymmetry. It falls on deaf ears, and they boo me again.
Taylor: Mystic Gate, Liliana to 2, making Anthony discard. The new Enchant World becomes Mystic Decree. Casts Ray of Command on the Avatar (for a point). I respond by killing the Angel. When he gets the Avatar, he kills suicides it.
Anthony: Sacrifices Reveillark to Miren (28), getting back Steadfast Guard and Ramosian Commander. Recasts Lin-Sivvi.
Patrick: Attacks Liliana with the Vampire, killing it and earning himself a point. Casts Evincar.
TURN 14
Me: Wooded Foothills, crack it (31) to get a Forest. Evoke Shriekmaw to blow up Lin-Sivvi. Eternal Witness to get back Demonic Tutor.
Taylor: Memory Plunder Anthony and Twincast it on me. Austere Commands for all creatures then Demonic Tutors.
Anthony: Plains and Lin-Sivvi for the third time.
Patrick: Sengir Nosferatu. Probably pretty good when he finally casts that Grave Pact.
TURN 15
Me: Karrthus, attack Taylor (25). The control deck is going to be tough to beat the longer the game goes, so seems like the right target. Karplusan Forest.
Taylor: Tops, puts the Top on top, and casts Time Warp. Looks like he’s digging for answers and might not be in the best position.
Taylor (extra turn): Paths Karrthus (finally getting me my 7th basic land for the point) and then cast Identity Crisis targeting me. Talk about your ouches. Now normally, I’d say what a mean card Identity Crisis is in EDH, since you’re basically just taking one person out of the game (and might still if it had been turn 5, not turn 15), but I had it coming. My hand was decent (I had World at War in it—so I had the chance to kill Taylor next turn), and my graveyard was super-saucy, so IC on me right there is a perfectly reasonable play. Guess I’ll play the rest of the game off the top.
Anthony: Plains (also for a point). Nothing else.
Patrick: Swamp (for his point). Grave Pact. Called it! Attacks me (28) for calling it.
TURN 16
Me: Pay 11 to cast Karrthus again, attack Taylor (18).
Taylor: Tops, ships it, casts Savor the Moment. He really is digging.
Taylor (extra turn): Plays the Top again. At EOT, Anthony searches. We gently explain that he could have done that earlier to save time and then changed his mind if the board position changed. He searches out Task Force. Clearly, there’s an en-Kor coming.
Anthony: Indeed, here comes the Outrider. Taylor responds with Sudden Spoiling. After it resolves, Patrick makes Bats and sacrifices one. Anthony sacrifices the Outrider, and I ship Karrthus. Now I can cast him for the 4th time for a point!
Patrick: Enslave on the Task Force. Anthony sacrifices it to Miren (34).
TURN 17
Me: Puppeteer Clique, getting Angel of Despair from Taylor, blowing up Maze of Ith. I feel a little bad because it feels like we’re picking on Anthony. The Angel attacks Anthony and I cast Ob-Nilixis.
Taylor: The new Enchant World is Land’s Edge. Taylor Tops then casts Crystal Shard. He bounces Lin-Sivvi then casts Damnation. Clique Persists, getting Divinity of Pride, but I end up having to sacrifice it to Grave Pact.
Anthony: Recasts Lin-Sivvi and Lightbringer.
Patrick: Endrek Sahr for the third time.
TURN 18
Me: Upkeep I Top, and see Kozilek, so I cast him, getting Reliquary Tower in the deal.
Taylor: When in doubt, cast Dakkon Blackblade. He’s pretty big.
Anthony: Lin-Sivvi searches up Bound in Silence and he puts it on Kozilek. Casts Amrou Seekers.
Patrick: Pawn of Ulamog.
TURN 19
Me: Compost. A little late. Rampaging Baloths and Darigaaz’s Caldera to get a Beast.
Taylor: Decree of Pain. Ends up drawing 10 cards.
Anthony: Lin-Sivvi for the fourth time. Point.
Patrick: Uses Ulamog tokens to cast Endrek Sahr for the fourth time.
TURN 20
Me: Cast Karrthus for the fourth time (point) and attack Taylor. After he’d been digging, I just assumed he had something, but he doesn’t, so I get a General kill.
Anthony: Puts Bound in Silence at the bottom, then pulls it out to put on Karrthus.
Patrick: Xathrid Demon (and six tokens from Sahr). I’ve wanted to live the dream with Xathrid Demon but haven’t been able to yet. Until then, I’ll live vicariously through Patrick.
TURN 21
Me: Withered Wretch and a face-down Morph. I also Harrow. At EOT, Anthony ships stuff to the bottom of his library.
Anthony: Sivvi for Lightbringer and casts Riftmark Knight.
Patrick: Upkeep, sacs a token, me to (27), Anthony to (31). Casts Conspiracy for Vampires. The undead are coming! Casts Fleshbag Marauder. With the trigger on the stack, I exile Bound in Silence, Evincar, Reveillark, and Pawn of Ulamog. Attacks me (19).
TURN 22
Me: I have no answers, even via Top.
Anthony: Exiles the Demon. Attacks me (18) and Patrick (29). Sacrifices Lin-Sivvi to Miren (34) and casts Planar Cleansing, which completely saves my bacon. Clearly Patrick was going to murder me. Time is called at this point, so Patrick will get the last regular turn and then we’re once around the table.
Patrick: Casts Underworld Dreams (not too scary) and then Teferi’s Puzzle Box, which turns Dreams into nightmares. Fortunately, I don’t think he’s going to have time to wreck us.
TURN 23
Me: Take 8 (11). Ravenous Baloth (that could help) and Greater Good (which is a path to pain). Drop Contested Cliffs.
Anthony: Takes some damage, floats up Task Force and Scout, drops them.
Patrick: Looks at his draw and tells us he doesn’t have anything. Bullet dodged!
It was a good game with good intensity, and some fun moments. None of us piled up a lot of points, so I end up taking the table with 5 (so by virtue of killing Taylor). Karrthus paid dividends in that he was hasty and fat, but when the other guys don’t have Dragons as Generals, he’s definitely worth less. Fortunately, at the next table, he came into his own.
GAME 2
I sit down with Mikhail, who we call Mike (playing Rith), fellow Team Lives in the Red Zone member Todd (also Rith), and Ryan (who played Child of Alara in the first round but has switched to Baru). I know nearly every card of Todd’s deck. It’s about creating situations that are favorable for overruns. I assume that he’s going to be making room for Overwhelming Stampede post-M11. Ryan’s deck is much the same, only in mono-Green. Baru makes it truly dangerous. I have no idea what’s in Mike’s deck, but knowing Mike, it’s full of cards that he saw and went “Ooh, that’s cool!”
The first Enchant World is Chaosphere, so we start with the world upside-down.
TURN 1
Todd: Plains
Mike: Shivan Oasis
Ryan: Forest
Me: Overgrown Tomb
TURN 2
Todd: Sungrass Prairie
Mike: Plains, Emberwilde Augur.
Ryan: Forest
Me: Savage Lands
TURN 3
Todd: Twilight Thicket
Mike: Fires of Yavimaya, attack Todd (38)
Ryan: Forest, Yavimaya Elder.
Me: Swamp, Tauren Mauler (a new addition, since it’s a Beast too!)
TURN 4
Todd: Garruk, makes a Beast.
Mike: Cage of Hands on the Mauler, attack me (38). Appropriate counters on Mauler. Fortunately, the gang gives me a little leeway on missed triggers since I’m writing down everything.
Ryan: Wood Elves. You see where this is going.
Me: Kodama’s Reach, and drop the land I get. Ramp is the only chance!
TURN 5
Todd: Temple of the False God, untap with Garruk, cast Symbiotic Wurm. Attacks Mike (37).
Mike: Retaliator Griffin. Attacks Ryan, forgetting the Chaosphere. Ryan blocks with Elder and draws.
Ryan: Nacatl War-Pride. That seems pretty good against someone else’s tokens!
Me: Morph and Ouphe Vandals. Right now, I just want a few dudes to keep the pressure off my back. Well, off my face really.
TURN 6
Todd: Makes 10 mana, casts Ant Queen and World Queller. Attacks Ryan, who blocks with Wood Elves.
Mike: Ajani Vengeant. Locks down Todd’s Fire-lit Thicket.
Ryan: Forest, Mold Shambler blows up Garruk.
Me: Topdeck and cast Ob-Nixilis. Drain Mike (34).
TURN 7
Todd: World Queller calls Creature. Sacs his Wurm (obv), I get rid of Vandals, Mike sends the Augur, and Ryan the Shambler, who has done his work. Attacks Ajani with the Queen, which Mike kills with Lightning Axe, but not before Todd makes 3 tokens.
Mike: Teetering Peaks, and once again keeps Fire-lit Thicket locked. Attacks Todd with the Griffin; he blocks with the Beast token.
Ryan: Top, attacks Todd with War-Pride, getting 11 dudes. He blocks the original with World Queller. After combat, Ryan casts Collective Unconscious for a pile.
Me: Oracle of Mul-Daya. Bloodstained Mire Drains Todd (32), crack it (37) to get a Swamp, drain Todd (29), attack Mike (22).
TURN 8
Todd: Calls Planeswalker on his upkeep, so it’s only Mike that loses anything. Primal Command, searching up Avenger of Zendikar and gaining 7 (36).
Mike: Enlisted Wurm into Lava Axe, targeting me (32) and then attacks me (27).
Ryan: Explosive Vegetation, Weatherseed Totem.
Me: Draw Greater Good, which gives me something to do with that Taurean Mauler. Play Miren off the top, draining Todd (33). Cast Greater Good. Attack Todd (who I truly fear—I’ve seen the deck explode into 80 damage out of nowhere) with Ob-Nixilis (18).
TURN 9
Todd: He puts the World Queller trigger on the stack, and I sacrifice the Mauler in case he chooses Enchantments. Draw 16 cards. Discard Genesis, Hexmage, and Spinerock Knoll. I’m really considering taking out the Hideaway lands since I can never get anything decent under them. It’s a running joke in the shop now. Whenever I play a Hideaway, someone else runs over and looks at the top 4 for me—and it’s always terrible. As I’m drawing the cards, the new Enchant World is called, and it’s Caverns of Despair. Todd and Ryan groan. The rest of us now have a 30 minute reprieve from getting stampeded. Todd chooses Enchantment. He casts Avenger of Zendikar and pumps them up with a land.
Mike: Lignify on Ob-Nixilis. Todd, who is a L1 judge, explains that that doesn’t help much since he’s still big from the counters and we offer take-backs, but Mike is adamant about keeping it there. Attacks Ryan (35).
Ryan: Planar Portal and Seedborn Muse. That’s a combo I can get behind! Now I really know that if I don’t do something before the protection of the Caverns goes away, I can expect a trampling green death.
Me: Reliquary Tower and Forest off the top. Attack Mike with Ob-Nixilis. Ryan Tutors while I’m doing that. I try to quietly (meaning not casting and attacking with) cast Karrthus and then Wood Elves. My path is clear if I can get away with it. In the big pile of cards I drew, there is both World at War and Savage Beating. Two turns can get me two General kills. With time slipping away, I’m not sure I’ll get them, but we’ll see.
TURN 10
Todd: World Queller calls Creature. Ryan has animated his Weatherseed Totem in response to the trigger and sacrifices that. Mike sacrifices Enlisted Wurm, and Todd a token. Todd thinks for a while, shrugs, and casts Overrun, and it’s enough to attack Mike with 2 guys and kill him. I support this message, since Lignify goes away.
Ryan: Yavimaya Hollow, Tutors, and casts Multani. Uh oh. Caverns of Despair will not save me when Baru makes Multani, who is immense, tramply.
Me: Drop two lands, drain Ryan twice (29). I’ve also drawn the card that will save me if Ryan heads my way. I Cast World at War, attacking Ryan (22) and Todd (11) with Karrthus. I Stomphowler Ryan’s Portal just in case and keep that 1BB handy.
TURN 11
Todd: Chooses Creature. I sacrifice the Morph, which is Hystrodon, and Ryan the Seedborn Muse.
Ryan: It all plays itself out in slow motion like a movie, since it’s clear what’s coming. Baru. Scapeshift. He starts to put up land, and I tell him he might want to change his mind, since I have a response. I cast Sudden Spoiling, a card I’ve been so happy with since Armada owner Aaron Fortino suggested it to me (not to mention savaging me with it), I want to play black in every deck. Ryan shrugs, says “you got me” and drops the Weatherseed Totem.
Me: World at War Rebound goes off. I attack Todd, cast Savage Beating Entwined, killing him and then kill Ryan, both with Karrthus damage. There are less than 3 minutes left on the clock until the next Enchant World change. Talk about Embracing the Chaos! It was a little exhilarating to be standing at the edge of the abyss and be able to walk back from it.
Some of the forums folks have wondered again why, since I do win more than my fair share, I’m not targeted right away. We’ve talked previously about the value of being second best on the table. I also might suggest that while I play some dangerous cards, they’re generally not dangerous until later in the game (this last game being a bit of an exception, but that was kind of perfect storm-ish; I would have been dead earlier than turn 11 without Caverns of Despair), and I guess the regular players in our League know it and consider that dealing with the more immediate threats will provide them with greater EV. What I think is the most important point, however, is that other than the obvious point of killing someone or winning the table, I don’t try to take away the other players’ ability to play the entirety of the game. I might try to neuter or slow down a particular part of a strategy, but that’s reasonable self-preservation. It’s actually a little naïve to not provide yourself with a touch of protection against things your opponents might do. Indrik Stomphowler or Bojuka Bog get in the gears of someone else’s machine, but they don’t completely shut it down. That seems like striking the right balance.
Here’s where my line is, and I think there’s a level of understanding from the folks in the League (and the folks I play with in general): I would play Wrath of God, a one-shot destroy all creatures effect. I would not play Humility, which completely shuts down all creature strategies. If I get cut some slack because of that attitude, seems like everyone wins. I’d much rather be in a situation where everyone has the opportunity to impact the game at one time or another than robbing them of the ability to play. Sure I like to win, but I want to do it in an environment where everyone else at the table has their opportunity to win as well. Had Ryan let Sudden Spoiling resolve and then cast Overrun to kill me, that would have still been okay in my book. The back-and-forth, punch/counterpunch game is extremely enjoyable to me, and that’s what I think is the best way to Embrace the Chaos.