Friends: Setting Up The Commander Rotisserie Draft

A few weeks ago, we got finally got around to our Commander 2016
Rotisserie Draft. We combined ideas from the

Commander 2015

and
Rotisserie Draft
Leagues to come up with how we proceeded. What I’ll do this week is
introduce you to the participants and give you the setup basics. Besides
me, Shea and Keith returned from last Rotisserie Draft. We picked up two
new combatants, Anthony and Tom. You’ve heard before about everyone on
these very pages, but I thought it would be great to offer you a more
personal look at the group, both in my words and their own.

Keith Bogart

I’ve been playing Magic since
Unlimited when I first saw an article in Games Magazine

about it. I had to go buy it immediately. I enjoy all formats, but

Sealed Deck and Commander

are my favorites. For me, Commander brings in all of the strategy of
Constructed and combines it with all of the variety of Limited.

I like playing unusual decks and cards which normally don’t see much
play. For example, my Glissa, the Traitor deck uses Conch Horn and Aeol

i

pile. Banding is my favorite keyword. My favorite generals are
Marchesa, the Black Rose and Glissa, the Traitor. I have three
different Glissa decks, each of which plays in different ways. My most
fun deck is Mirror, Mirror, a five-color deck with other unusual cards,
which has seen most of my favorite interactions and game play. It’s
basically a five-color Clone deck, focusing on cards that contain the
word “Mirror,” such as Spirit Mirror and Mirror-Sigil Sergeant. The
commander is Scion of the Ur-Dragon, which I picked from all the
five-color commanders because

it

most closely fits the theme of copying other cards, even though the
only Dragon in the deck is Mirror Entity.

One of my favorite moments was in a six-player game; I don’t remember
the other commanders, but the turn cycle (which was obviously later in
the game) went something like this:

Player 1: Cast Serra Avatar

Player 2: Cast Rite of Replication, kicked, targeting Serra Avatar.

Player 3 (me): Bleh.

Player 4: Cast Storm Herd at 36 life, with Sigil Captain on the
battlefield, for 36 3/3 Pegasi.

Player 5: Focusing on the six Serra Avatars in play and ignoring the
lethal flock of Pegasi, casts Echoing Truth on a Serra Avatar.

In response, I cast Mirrorweave, targeting the Serra Avatar, so when
Echoing Truth resolved, all creatures got bounced, earning the applause
of everyone except the Storm Herd player.

Keith is one of the people in Florida with whom I’ve been friends the
longest. That’s probably because in addition to being close to each other
in age, most of our hobbies, to include gaming and cooking, overlap. We can
always count on him to bring delicious dessert to any of our gatherings.
Like me, he loves trivia, although I’m still not sure if I’m happy or angry
with him for getting me involved in Learned League. He’s one of my
original Monday Night Gamers and one of the reasons I started the group in
the first place back in 2010-although he’s picked up the largest number of
negative XPs because he can’t resist making awful puns (I meanLSV/ Rich Hagon level stuff). It’s
like a sickness.

We’ve even gotten to the point where he just issues the minus XPs to
himself (note that minus XPs don’t actually have any impact on anything-I
don’t want to get angry messages about keeping a player down because of one
of his personality quirks).

Keith does indeed like unusual cards. I have to pick up and read more of
what he plays than everyone else combined. He’s normally a very
conservative player, meaning doesn’t like to do things without a strong
chance of success. This generally means he doesn’t bluff all that often.
I’ve picked up a few tells off of him over the years, although I’m
obviously not going mention what they are (and whether it’s true or not,
I’ve now sowed enough seeds of doubt to hopefully confound him). He’s also
extremely honest. You can count on him sticking to any deal that you make,
and he won’t rely on mealy-mouthed technicalities to get out of them.

Like many of the people I play with regularly, he prefers cool stuff
happening to winning, which is alright by me. In one of the pre-season
games for this league, I was at three life and cast Genesis Wave for
twelve. He had just enough mana to shoot me once with Breya, Etherium
Sculptor, but wanted to see what happened. I ended up being able to gain
enough life to put me out of harm’s way and promptly kill him (and
eventually everyone else) with Stalking Vengeance and a sacrifice outlet.
He assured me had it been an actual league game, he would have pulled the
trigger-which is completely fair and I would expect no less.

Shea Rutenber

Hello everyone, I’m Shea Rutenber. We’ve had some interaction in the
past through our mutual friend, Mr. Menery.

After earning my degree in Golf Course Operations Management from the
Golf Academy of America, formerly SDGA, I spent a number of years in
restaurant management. I am currently employed as the store manager for
our local game store, Armada Games. Working at the shop has given me
the opportunity to combine my passion for gaming and working directly
with people into a career.

This Commander league will mark my second with this group and it is a
continued honor to be part this community. Commander play has caused me
to once again dabble in Standard and given me a new appreciation for
drafting.

Amonkhet

looks to be one of the more popular sets in a while and I look forward
to it helping our Magic community flourish. My other hobbies include
some miniature gaming, some board gaming, playing golf, bowling-and
when there is some free time knocking the dust off my bass guitar.

My wife, Alli, and I just purchased our first home together in Tampa
and are looking forward to spending the foreseeable future in Florida
with our four cats, who keep us quite grounded.

Happy gaming!

Shea is also one of the Monday Night Gamers, having joined us in 2014. He’s
also a good cook in his own right (I assume you see a theme developing),
and commonly lends a hand in prep and then cleaning up before we game. It’s
not that he’s the only one to help, but that having worked in professional
kitchens before, the two of us have developed a kind of rhythm by which we
can work both quickly and efficiently without getting in each other’s way.

As a player, Shea has a wheelhouse, being a fan of huge creatures. As
you’ll see next time when I break down the draft, he’s ended up as the only
control player, a role I think he doesn’t relish, which has to be somehow
exploitable (“c’mon, man, wait just one more turn to Wrath; I swear it’ll
be fine”). Ever since I built my Ruhan of the Fomori deck, he’s come over
to the gospel of

You Did This to Yourself

, which you’ll see reflected in his draft. Just like Keith, I think Shea
doesn’t bluff that often simply due to his inherent honesty. If he eggs you
onto attacking him, you can be reasonably sure that Comeuppance is in his
hand. Unlike Keith, I haven’t picked up any tells from him over the years
we’ve played together (or have I?). The whole purpose of this piece may
simply be a campaign of disinformation disguised as a look into our
Commander group. You be the judge.

Tom Delia

I’m an avid
Commander player and streamer under the handle @mtgradio

, as well as being a member of the 2013 Magic Community Cup-winning
team. I love the more aggressive side of Commander. I began my
Commander career with

Shards of Alara

and the Zombie Assassin Thraximundar. I’ve always felt that the best
way to get to know a Commander player is through their decks, so here
goes. I have three that never leave the rotation. The first is a Child
of Alara deck focused around living and sometimes dying. One of the
deck’s features is making as many copies of Paradox Haze as possible.

Ephara, God of the Polis helms my second deck and brings the go wide
strategy to bear with armies created from cards like Sacred Mesa or
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror. The final deck that never leaves the bag
does the best job in encapsulating my favorite version of the format:
Borborygmos. The classic commander from

Ravnica

combines efficient red and green creatures with overwhelming board
presence to make sure the game never stops moving toward the final
turns. I would personally label myself as 55% Spike and 45% Timmy
because I love to do the dumbest things possible with decks, but if
there isn’t a clear way to win the game built into the deck I lose
interest rather quickly.

In his professional life, Tom is a nurse. I have an abiding amount of
respect for the job he does every day; it speaks volumes about his
character.

He and his girlfriend Marina, who used to live right across the pond from
me, have just gotten their first apartment together, so it’s exciting times
for them. I’m sure you all join me in wishing them happiness and success.

Tom is probably the strongest individual player in the group. He does a
great job of understanding the line between breaking and not breaking the
format, exemplifying the mantra “build casually, play competitively.” You
always know you’re in for a tough fight with him at the table, especially
since he likes to be aggressive and frequently battling. He’s reasonably
straightforward and doesn’t much like playing the political game. His
frequent response to the question “If I do will you do ?” is “I guess you’ll have to find out.” In extreme
circumstances he’ll forge alliances and suggest agreements, but it’s not
his first line of thought.

Tom’s not above waging the intel war. The day before we drafted, he did an
eight-person Rotisserie draft online, the results of which he made certain
to share with the rest of us. During our draft, he prioritized cards
somewhat differently, leading to enough doubt about pinning down his
upcoming strategic choices. It was a slick move.

It’s clear that Tom loves Magic and Commander, and he has a keen
understanding of both. I’ve occasionally used him as an outside-the-RC
sounding board for things which we’re discussing and have always
appreciated his insights.

Anthony Rueda

I’m an early adopter of the Commander format in Tampa. I enjoy thematic
deck ideas with often far too many cogs in the machine. I’m more
inclined to have fun while playing than winning. The social aspect of
table politics with friends is much more enjoyable than being
hyper-competitive. My proudest Commander accomplishment was killing
Sheldon with exactly 21 commander damage with Riku of Two Reflections
in one shot (courtesy of Mercadia’s Downfall). I live in Plant City,
Florida, and enjoy roleplaying games, cooking, and spending time with
my daughter.

Anthony is absolutely not going to let me live down getting one-shotted by
Riku.

It’s an example of the wild and wacky part of the format which he, along
with the rest of us, loves. He’s perhaps even more of a slave to theme than
I am. Once he gets onto a thematic idea, nothing knocks him off the path of
making sure his deck fits within the theme, appreciating that Commander is the only format in which one can do that and still
have a playable deck. He has pretty saucy builds of Saffi Eriksdottir and
Kresh, the Bloodbraided which are fun to play against.

Anthony is a clever player, but I appreciate the fact that if he has the
“good play/fun play” choice, he most often opts for the latter. Embracing
the chaos is a thing to him, which is part of the reason we’ve enjoyed
battling together for quite a few years now. He came into the draft with a
definitive plan and didn’t waver from his script, ending up with quite a
tight, if a little combo-y, deck.

The Setup

Instead of drafting colors, we randomly assigned commanders to each player.
In the previous Rotisserie Draft, players didn’t reveal their three
potential Commanders until draft day. This time, we obviously knew who each
other would play beforehand. We also chose seats in advance for a little
more strategic planning data.

Seat 1: Me, (Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder).

Seat 2: Tom, (Saskia the Unyielding).

Seat 3: Anthony (Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis).

Seat 4: Shea (Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice)

Seat 5: Keith (Breya, Etherium Shaper)

We gave ourselves a few weeks to make our nefarious plans and then got
together on a beautiful Florida spring evening here at my house to do the
draft. We sat poolside,

I made dinner

featuring coffee chipotle sous vide pork tenderloin, and we had a few
drinks while we drafted and chatted Magic. The evening featured a few
surprises, a few daggers, and a few blowouts.

We briefly considered doing Star format for the league but quickly
discarded it after playing some preseason games. In Star, the two players
on either side of you are your allies; the other two are your enemies. You
win when your two enemies are eliminated. Allies don’t count as opponents.
For example, if your ally casts a spell, it won’t trigger Rhystic Study.
Although we’ve had some great fun in the past playing Star, we realized
that in this particular league, it isn’t well balanced. For one, it makes
the job of Saskia the Unyielding rather easy. Second, the decks are
somewhat aggressive, and having to deal with only two opponents instead of
four suggested we might have quite linear games. We’re still working out
exactly what we want to do with points, although some bounty system will
likely play into it. I’ll give you the final rundown next time.

Other Stuff

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the

MTGO things

which happened last week. The Rules Committee had advanced knowledge of the
initial decision, having discussed it the last time Scott and Toby came to
Florida (we got Gavin involved online). We offered opinions but didn’t have
any direct input. When they changed their minds, it was to the position
that we had advocated. Judging by the responses, we weren’t alone. The RC
doesn’t have an issue with 1v1 Commander; it simply isn’t our focus. We
hope that folks have a great time with MTGO in either Commander version. We
recognize that different people like different things and want to have
different experiences. We’ll continue to focus on making paper Commander,
which is a multiplayer format, the best it can be on its own terms.

I was also happy to be featured on the

Commanderin’ podcast

last Friday. I have a good time with Phil and Sean every time I’m on, and
this was no exception. For context, was recorded shortly after the Leovold,
Emissary of Trest/Protean Hulk update to the Banned List, but before the
MTGO announcements. It’s worth a listen.

This week’s Deck Without Comment is

Gisa and Geralf Together Forever

.

Gisa and Geralf

Sheldon Menery

Test deck on 08-04-2016

Commander

Creatures (34)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Liliana, Death's Majesty

Lands (37)

SIGNATURE DECKS

Purple Hippos and Maro Sorcerers

;

Kresh Into the Red Zone

;

Halloween with Karador

;

Dreaming of Intet

;

You Did This to Yourself

.

THE CHROMATIC PROJECT

Mono-Color

Heliod, God of Enchantments

;

Thassa, God of Merfolk

;

Erebos and the Halls Of The Dead

;

Forge of Purphoros

;

Nylea of the Woodland Realm

;

Karn

Evil No. 9

Guilds

Lavinia Blinks

;

Obzedat, Ghost Killer

;

Aurelia Goes to War

;

Trostani and Her Angels

;

Lazav, Shapeshifting Mastermind

;

Zegana and a Dice Bag

;

Rakdos Reimagined

;

Glissa, Glissa

;

Ruric Thar and His Beastly Fight Club

;

Gisa and Geralf Together Forever

;

Shards and Wedges

Adun’s Toolbox

;

Animar’s Swarm

;

Karrthus, Who Rains Fire From The Sky

;

Demons of Kaalia

;

Merieke’s Esper Dragons

;

Nath of the Value Leaf

;

Rith’s Tokens

;

The Mill-Meoplasm

;

The Altar of Thraximundar

;

The Threat of Yasova

;

You Take the Crown, I’ll Take Leovold

;

Zombies of Tresserhorn

Four Color

Yidris: Money for Nothing, Cards for Free

;

Saskia Unyielding

;

Breya Reshaped

.

Five-Color

Children of a Greater God

Partners

Tana and Kydele

THE DO-OVER PROJECT

Animar Do-Over

;

Glissa Do-Over

;

Karador Do-Over

;

Karador Version 3

;

Karrthus Do-Over

;

Steam-Powered Merieke

Do-Over;

Mimeoplasm Do-Over

;

Phelddagrif Do-Over

;

Rith Do-Over

;

Ruhan Do-Over

If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a
campaign that’s been alive since 1987) which is just beginning the saga The Lost Cities of Nevinor, ask for an invitation to the Facebook
group “Sheldon Menery’s
Monday Night Gamers.”