Feeling Machete At The Invitational

“Can you pick up the pace?”

My very first Starcitygames.com Invitational tournament performance had been an utter train wreck, but I went to the Standard Open the next day hoping for
a fresh start. I came really close to pulling an audible and switching to a totally new deck Friday night when I came home from the Invitational fiasco,
but unfortunately, I’d forgotten to preorder any copies of Dragonlord Ojutai, so I wasn’t able to build the Bant Double Dragon deck I’d written about in my
last column.

Instead, I stayed up pretty late tweaking my Villainous Wealth deck a bit, tossed and turned before falling asleep, and then woke up late and ran to the
tournament on an empty stomach, fueled only by tournament day excitement and the optimism of possibility. I even have the amusement of glancing up from the
player’s meeting pre-tournament and seeing this at the next table.

I know that this is a tube to store your playmat in, but that wasn’t the first thing to pop into my mind when I first saw it. Gave me quite a chuckle to
start the day and added to my positive mood.

So imagine my dismay when I get matched in Round 1 against Esper Control, who kills and counters every creature I try to stick on the board. Of course, I
had drawn both copies of Villainous Wealth along the way (the worst cards in the deck against Control), and when all my other options have been nullified
and I have an opportunity to cast the first Villainous Wealth (X=6), the only card I can actually cast from it is Anticipate. Heaven forbid I actually nab
one or more of his Planeswalkers or Dragons with that Villainous Wealth. The Anticipate is another whiff (two lands and a Caryatid), but at least I didn’t
have to draw through those cards looking for action. It didn’t really matter since he’d tapped low to cast Dragonlord Ojutai, had a fistful of cards thanks
to a few copies of Dig Through Time, and pretty much had the game on lock at that point. I let the turn come back around to see if I could draw and maybe
resolve a Whisperwood Elemental (it’s a land), give another Villainous Wealth a try (it gets Dissolved), and shuffle up for the next game.

Unfortunately, Esper Control Guy took 40 minutes to get around to finally getting his win condition on the board after countering every play I made, so I
don’t feel much hope in winning this match unless things go horribly, horribly wrong for my opponent. Unfortunately, he’s happy with his seven and we get
cracking. I do my best to play in such a way to make him waste mana to try and leverage my early board presence, but he draws the right answers pretty
early, and I can feel the game slipping away. Then he looks up at the clock and speaks.

“Can you pick up the pace?”

Seriously? Seriously Esper Control guy who took 40 minutes to win the first game? You’re asking me to pick up the pace? I haven’t had breakfast, so I’m
hungry, and I’m playing a Green Devotion deck against uber-Control in the very first round of the tournament, and I’m down a game so I’m grumpy. Suddenly
an image comes to mind, the new Snickers commercial based on a scene from The Brady Bunch where a hungry and grumpy Marsha Brady has transformed into
Machete.

I’m feeling very Machete right that moment. If I had an actual machete available, it might have very well split some cards on his side of the table.
Considering the legal and DCI ramifications of that, I’m glad I don’t actually own a machete I could carry around. My lack of zombie apocalypse
preparedness is my opponent’s gain.

Instead of responding to his inane question, I try my best to tap into a calmer, Zen-like inner peace and send Machete and my growling stomach to a dark
and quiet corner of my mind. I can feel the game slipping way and the icy grip of control starting to settle over my lines of play. My opponent has an
Ojutai and a Narset out and has finally killed my Deathmist Raptor. He attacks with Ojutai. I draw my card and look at my options, of which there are two.
I can kill both Ojutai and Narset with the two Hero’s Downfall in my hand, or I can instead cast Whisperwood Elemental with two mana open. He’s got 1U mana
available, which means he could potentially have Disdainful Stroke. He’s burned off two Disdainful Strokes already, and I don’t think he’s running Negates,
so I feel confident my Hero’s Downfalls will resolve. That seems the obvious, easy choice. The problem with that plan, though, is I’ll spend my entire turn
basically resetting the board to zero and letting him untap with all his mana facing an empty board. I’d managed to get his life down to three, but I
couldn’t imagine with all his mana available that he couldn’t find some way to deal with my only actual threat, Whisperwood Elemental.

So instead I decided to play Whisperwood Elemental. If it landed on the board, I could manifest something I could potentially turn face up for two mana. If
I were lucky, it would be one of the three Stratus Dancers I still had in the deck, and I could megamorph it to counter whatever spell he was going to cast
on his turn to kill Whisperwood Elemental. If it was something else, I could flip it to bring back Deathmist Raptor at the end of his turn and be able to
get around his blockers. Another option was flipping a creature, bring back Deathmist Raptor, and sacrifice Whisperwood in response to a board wipe spell
like Crux of Fate, which would give me two new manifest guys. It was risky, but I think it gave me the only real chance I had to win this game.

Of course, he had the Disdainful Stroke and countered the Whisperwood Elemental. I was able to kill Dragonlord Ojutai with my second Hero’s Downfall the
following turn, but the damage had already been done, as a second Ojutai came out and finished out the game shortly thereafter.

I filled out my slip and made a beeline to the vendor food area to get a chicken sandwich and try my hardest to transform grumpy Machete into cheery Marsha
Brady. I thought about what happened on Friday. Day 1 of the Invitational had been a train wreck. It started out promising enough, with my Villainous
Wealth Devotion deck managing to win the match against a very aggressive mono-red deck. Game 1, he crushed me by drawing and deploying Goblin Rabblemasters
on turns 3, 4, and 5, while I only had a removal spell for one of them. He’d apparently used up all his luck though since he mana flooded in game 2 and
then had to mulligan to five in the final game, and I was able to get a large board presence fast with a relatively high life total.

Round 2, I got matched against Abzan Midrange, which is normally a promising matchup, but after slugging it out and splitting in the first two games, we
were running low on time for the last game. I ripped a Villainous Wealth and played it (X=10) and basically whiffed on the cards, which is generally
unheard of in this matchup. He wasn’t able to capitalize on the good fortune though, and we ran out of time.

With a draw under my belt, I naturally got matched up against Sultai Control next round, who very handily destroyed or countered any relevant threat I
could find while I died slowly to Silumgar, the Drifting Death. Having to mulligan game two didn’t help things, and soon enough I was 1-1-1.

For my last round of Standard, I got matched up against another Green Devotion deck. He had black as a pretty solid secondary color for Hero’s Downfall
(much like me) but also had blue available for what I assumed would be Sultai Charm, a solid metagame call with all these crazy strong enchantments in the
format. He’d gotten a Polukranos on the board that I killed, and I had deployed Frontier Siege and had a Courser of Kruphix on the board with a land on top
of his deck when I drew a removal spell. I had a Villainous Wealth in my hand, which I could fire off for just five, but I could play a tapped land and
have nine mana available next turn. I waited for his draw step, and when he drew the land and revealed another land I went ahead and killed his Courser at
the end of his draw step, knowing that his next turn would be a dead draw. He played his land and passed the turn. I draw another tapped land and decide
that since his next turn is a land and he’s got a ton of mana, he must not have anything relevant to play, and I should play the land and wait to cast
Villainous Wealth next turn so I could have ten mana for Villainous Wealth. So I pass the turn back. He draws the land, plays it…

You know what happened right? Can you smell it? The sweet, spicy stink of karma?

He casts Villainous Wealth on me where X=11, drawing a ton of creature kill spells and annihilating my board, ruining my devotion-fueled plans for casting
Villainous Wealth next turn. His board position afterwards is unassailable, and I pack it in.

“This deck is so much fun!” he exclaims. “This tournament is the first time I’ve played Villainous Wealth.” Each word cuts me like a dagger plunging into
my heart.

For game 2, I have a weird hand with a turn 2 Stratus Dancer, turn 3 Stratus Dancer I can play as a morph, and then once I untap, I’ve got a creature kill
spell and can protect my Stratus Dancer from removal with the other Stratus Dancer. I basically go on the beatdown plan and kill him quickly before any
sort of Devotion-fueled shenanigans can ensue.

Game 3, he’s on the play and so he accelerates and fires off Villainous Wealth for nine without me being able to do anything to stop it. He basically
whiffs on it, revealing two of my own Villainous Wealths that get exiled. “Oh my god, it’s the Villainous Wealth mirror match!” he exclaims. A couple turns
later, he plays Villainous Wealth again, this time for sixteen cards, and does not whiff. I’m quickly destroyed.

Who but me brings Villainous Wealth to the 571-player Starcitygames.com Invitational and gets paired up against likely the only other Villainous Wealth
deck in the room? And who but me, who’s played countless games with the archetype, gets destroyed in the mirror match by a guy who picks it up the day of
the tournament?

I’ve got two thumbs-this guy.

So I finish the Standard a disappointing 1-2-1 and put away the deck, not entirely sure I want to play Villainous Wealth anymore. I pull out my Legacy
deck, an Abzan Nic Fit brew I’m hoping will be fun and effective in the new Treasure Cruiseless environment.

My Round 5 opponent is a no show, which is a shame since I had a pretty sweet hand. Given how my day has been, I’ll take the easy win. But not so fast, Mr.
Smith-the Magic gods aren’t done pounding on you yet! The next two rounds I get paired against Miracles and suffer through two long, grueling, painfully
slow games each match without winning a single game. There is one more round of Swiss to finish the day, but I scream mercy and check the drop box, wanting
nothing more than to shut the door on this train wreck of a day. The Standard Open has to go better, right? It has to!

Well, as you already know, my Standard Open started pretty horrible. Still, I had staved off Machete with a chicken sandwich and tried to remain
optimistic. It’s entirely possible I could win out, make Day 2 and have a shot at some money and glory.

I sit down with my opponent and shuffle up, and after a few minutes we realize that we only have other players sitting on one side of us. On the other side
are empty tables. We are literally on the very last table of the tournament, the very bottom of the loser’s bracket. We both make some jokes about it
before we get down to the serious business of trying to scramble back into the tournament. My opponent is playing G/R Midrange, and while I feel fairly
confident in the matchup, I know some burn and some Dragons can turn things around pretty fast. I have a commanding board presence and will kill him next
turn, but he rips Crater’s Claws and kills me with it. Thankfully, the next two games go my way, though, and I manage to avoid falling into the 0-2 abyss,
thanks in part to a timely Crux of Fate I draw to destroy his Dwo dragons in play. Hope is still alive!

Unfortunately, hope is crushed by my next two opponents, both playing Jeskai Control and both fairly handily controlling my board to prevent any sort of
Devotion-fueled haymakers from derailing their paths to victory. I even had a couple mulligans tossed in to crush my spirits even more. No, when three of
my first four opponents are casting Dig through Time, I’ve obviously made a horrible, horrible choice with a base Green Devotion deck. I scream mercy and
check the drop box.

To clear my head, I wander over to one of the artist booths at the event, the awesome rk post. He was selling some sweet token cards two for a dollar, so I
picked some up:

If anything could get me to play a Jeskai deck with Monastery Mentor, it would be these sweet Rasputin Monk tokens! And as a Southerner and native
Virginian, calling slivers “slivahs” feels as good as sipping a mint juleps on a warm summer evening.

Oh, and check out the creepy but cool card back:

If you’re curious what I played, here’s the Villainous Wealth deck as I built it for the Standard Open:

Villainous Wealth Devotion

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 04-06-2015

Standard

Creatures (30)

Lands (24)

Spells (6)

Sideboard

The main difference from the version I played in the Invitational is that I’d made room for four copies of Ultimate Price, which I thought would be really
good maindeck, but ended up rotting in my hand way too many times while facing down multicolor creatures. So I cut them from the deck for Saturday. I wish
I’d nabbed one more copy of Deathmist Raptor, which was a great card the few times I played it-I managed to acquire three copies Prerelease weekend, but
then the price of the Raptor went nuts, and I couldn’t bring myself to spend $20 to finish out the playset. I really like the synergy of Raptor with the
megamorph dudes and Whisperwood Elemental’s manifest ability, but it didn’t come up often enough since I only ran three copies. I’d definitely play four
going forward.

I stuck around the tournament room and birded the games my friend Kevin Davis played with his Jeskai Tokens deck since he was still live a lot longer than
me, and cheered him on. I did make my way to the Starcitygames Buy tables and sold off a bunch of cards that had been rotting in my trade binder for way
too long for some cash and store credit to pick up some copies of Sarkhan Unbroken. I really like that guy and want to find a good deck to take advantage
of his sweet abilities. When I went home I threw together this deck I’m hoping to try at a local FNM soon:

Temur Midrange

Bennie Smith

Test deck on 04-06-2015

Standard

Creatures (18)

Planeswalkers (9)

Lands (24)

Spells (9)

The concept here is to make a “super-friends” style deck with Sarkhan since both Xenagos, the Reveler and Kiora, the Crashing Wave do good work and can
protect Sarkhan. One of the first Courser of Kruphix decks I built had great synergy with Kiora, so I’m looking forward to taking advantage of that here.
To help protect your Planeswalkers, I’ve included Heir of the Wilds and Deathmist Raptor, figuring deathtouch will strongly discourage attacking.

I know the twos and threes might scream “bad deck,” but I’m not entirely sure what mix of burn spells I want quite yet. Playing Sarkhan Unbroken makes me
want to play Wild Slash so I can tap out to play Sarkhan and use his +1 ability and fire off a spell with the mana. However, I also want Lightning Strike
to burn off Fleecemane Lions or Mantis Riders, and Roast to kill off Coursers and Rhinos and Tasigurs (oh my!). Crater’s Claws provide some flexible ways
to fill in the gap while also being a sweet finisher on occasion.

Avatar of the Resolute is a card I wasn’t very excited about until I saw it in action while I was birding one of Kevin’s games and spoke with his opponent
about how he liked it. It’s much better with a deck that can throw around +1/+1 counters (say, with Dromoka’s Command or Abzan Charm), but it’s still just
a good value at two mana, and reach has become relevant. He mentioned that it was an efficient answer to Mantis Rider, which green decks can often struggle
with, and being able to chump block Dragonlord Ojutai and prevent his trigger for a turn could be invaluable. I have two copies, so I want to give them a
whirl.

Another thing I’m thinking about is G/W Devotion, similar to what Chris Andersen played at the Invitational:

G/W Devotion

Chris Andersen

4th Place at Star City Games Invitational on 03-27-2015

Standard

Creatures (30)

Lands (24)

Spells (6)

Sideboard

Check out that Dragon Throne of Tarkir in the sideboard-that’s certainly some spicy tech, not unreasonable in a Devotion deck to break open board stalls! I
also really like the idea of playing Hornet Nest with Dromoka’s Command. I’ve been trying to pull off that combo with Setessan Tactics for a year now with
no success, but Dromoka’s Command is a much better card, so I have hope.

What decks are you playing in the new Standard? What cards do you think I should try out? Any suggestions for building a sweet Sarkhan Unbroken deck?

New to Commander?

If you’re just curious about the format, building your first deck, or trying to take your Commander deck up a notch, here are some handy links:

Commander Primer Part 1
(Why play Commander? Rules Overview, Picking your Commander)
Commander Primer Part 2
(Mana Requirements, Randomness, Card Advantage)
Commander Primer Part 3
(Power vs. Synergy, Griefing, Staples, Building a Doran Deck)
Commander Starter Kits 1
(kick start your allied two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 2
(kick start your enemy two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 3
(kick start your shard three-color decks for $25)