March Mailbag Madness: Q&A Time!

Folks ask me questions all the time. I like to collect them and answer them
in this kind of forum so that you can hopefully catch up with both what I’m
doing and get some insight into what the Commander Rules Committee (RC) is
up to. Questions are always open to any subject, making this a Star City
Games version of an AMA. Any time you have questions, feel free to send
them along; most of them I’ll answer right away or at least tell you that
I’m saving up for a future Q&A, which I like to do roughly quarterly.
Let’s get right to it:

Here’s a Partner drink challenge! You have Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and
Reyhan, Last of the Abzan. You need to make a cocktail; you’re limited
to 3 ingredients and each one must represent one of the colors in the
partner combo.

Okay, that’s three colors: black, blue, and green. Limiting ourselves to
those three ingredients means we’ll have to get each of them to do quite a
bit and we can’t use something neutral like vodka to help ourselves out.
There aren’t that many black liquors, which makes things even harder; we’re
pretty much stuck with either Kahlua or Sambuca Black. I guess Jagermeister
also counts, but that stuff is nasty. The black liquors also mean we’re
unlikely to see the colors of the others, so we’re going to have to work
around that as well.

We’re going to go all in on the anise flavors: equal parts Sambuca black
and absinthe for the green. We’ll then add some creme de violette (about
half a part) for the blue and to add a floral quality. You might be able to
get the three-layered effect by floating the absinthe on top of the
Sambuca, then carefully floating the creme de violette on top of that in a
tall, narrow shot glass. This is definitely a shooter, so game on (and
always drink responsibly).

Are you back to school? What are you taking this semester?

I am indeed back to school. I’m taking two courses, Global Shakespeares and
Introduction to the Digital Humanities. The former explores how Shakespeare
was working to think globally in his own time period, about the concerns of
a wider world he probably never visited. We’re also investigating what it
means for Shakespeare to be a global figure today, one whose works are
adapted and performed on every continent. One of the things I like about
this course in comparison to other grad courses is that we’re taking
multiple weeks to explore each of the five plays ( Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Hamlet,
and The Tempest). Not having to rush through them is great.

The second course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field at the
intersection of digital technologies and humanities research and learning.
The instructor,

Dr. Steven E. Jones

, is a well-known and well-credentialed expert in the Digital Humanities,
and has written extensively on game theory. It’s an enlightening look into
a field that I knew very little about going in and realize will have a
great deal more to learn about after the semester is done.

How would you best prepare, and which wine would you pair with Tide
Pods?

What the hell is with the Tide Pods? Do I need to add another piece of
advice to the list? Get plenty of vegetables, stay in school, play your
Fogs, and DON’T EAT TIDE PODS!

You’ve commonly mentioned your policy of only adding a single copy of
new cards to your Commander decks, and your Do-Overs in which you don’t
repeat cards from the first build of the decks. Have you ever thought
of taking it further and simply not duplicating cards in your decks at
all? Perhaps exclude colorless cards so you don’t shaft yourself on
mana and card draw?

That would be a major project in its own right. If I were starting from
ground zero, it’s the kind of thing I might want to take on, but at this
point it seems like quite a bit of effort for low reward. It’d be kind of
cool, however, to eventually have every card in the collection actually in
a deck instead of in boxes, but some of those decks would be awful.

Plus, there’s the fact that there are simply cards I love playing. While I
try to not go overboard, I’m quite fond of cards like Lurking Predators and
Greater Good. Solemn Simulacrum obviously gets its due. I might actually be
able to do it if the only decks I made in the future were Do Overs. Maybe,
but we both know that’s not happening. There will be too many cool cards in
the future that go with great cards from the past to ignore them. It’s a
great thought exercise, though-and now at least you have me wondering how
I’d do it.

If you were to devise five decks for a balanced Star game of Commander,
would you choose: Allied Color pairs, Enemy Color Pairs, Shards or
Wedges? Which five Generals for your choice? Which General do you play
at that table?

I’m always in on three colors, so there’s some argument to go with the
original five Elder Dragons, Arcades Sabboth, Chromium, Nicol Bolas,
Palladia-Mors, and Vaevictus Asmadi. The upkeep, however, makes them a
little annoying. I’m sticking with Dragons, but I’m choosing the Planar
Chaos ones (meaning wedges is the direct answer): Intet, the Dreamer;
Numot, the Devastator; Oros, the Avenger; Teneb, the Harvester; and Vorosh,
the Hunter. They’re classic, they’ve played well against each other for a
long time, and they keep on giving good times (okay, Numot can be a bit of
a jerk). I would play Intet because I have a
Temur problem
. I was just talking the other day with someone about how Star is still the
best way to play with five players, and lamenting that it’s been some time
since I’ve had the opportunity to play.

During your Active Duty time, what was your favorite duty location (PCS
or TDY)?

I spent six years at the NATO Programming Centre in Glons, Belgium from
1994-2000. It was a tour so nice I took it twice, right in the middle of my
career. It may have in the long run even cost me a stripe because I skipped
some professional development stuff, but I’ve never regretted it. We lived
just a few kilometers from the Netherlands border (near Maastricht), and
could be in Aachen in 45 minutes, Brussels in an hour, Paris in two hours,
and the rest of Europe only a train ride away. It was only five hours to
London on the high-speed train. I got to travel to more places than I can
list. Plus, the work was somewhat rewarding. We wrote air defense software
for the NATO partners, so I like to think we had a pretty important impact
on the security of western nations. Belgium is a great country with
wonderful people, outstanding food, and of course the best beer in the
world. It’s been nearly twenty years since I left, and I still remember it
fondly.

What are your thoughts these days on eminence, both the commanders and
the mechanic?

For me it’s a nice next step of the command zone matters mechanics. They’re
strong but not broken, and a few of them can win games seemingly out of
nowhere, especially Arahbo, Roar of the Wild. Due to two of our group
having babies and school restarting for me, we haven’t been able to play
with our Commander 2017 decks for a while, but that hasn’t
dampened my excitement for the mechanic. I doubt it gets explored further,
but I won’t be disappointed if it does.

Why are dogs noses wet?

The answer that the educated elite want you to believe is that a dog’s nose
is part of its temperature-regulation system and help keep them cool. What
the Illuminati, the Reverse Vampires, and the Rand Corporation don’t want
you to know is that the moisture on a dog’s nose is a secret
behavior-modification secretion invented in the 1930s and tested on
unsuspecting residents of cities that start with the letter V (I’m looking
at you, Vancouver). The secretion makes human beings highly suggestible to
the desires of the dogs, which are transmitted via pheromones. The
dastardly people behind this? The makers of Milk Bones. True fact. You can
look it up.

Why is Intuition okay but Gifts Ungiven banned? Can you explain the
reasoning to Prophet of Kruphix being banned but Paradox Engine not
being banned?

Although they’re about different cards, these are essentially the same
question. The short version is that we evaluate cards on their own
individual merits, not in comparison to other cards. The latter approach
(“if this, then that”) can lead to a cascade which could easily get out of
hand. Nobody (especially us) wants a hundred card banned list. We do our
best to take a big-picture view, a more holistic approach to the list, with
one of the guiding principles being keeping it as small as is reasonable.

In reference to the specific cards, Gifts Ungiven is just under-costed for
what it does. The one additional mana over Intuition for the one card
pushes it over the top. Prophet of Kruphix is the poster child for one of
the things which will get a card banned: it unintentionally wrecks games.
You can just slap it into any appropriately-colored deck and it will make
games miserable. Paradox Engine isn’t all that bad until you build around
it. We’d prefer to solve the latter problem by encouraging folks to build
with a different mindset. A little social engineering isn’t a bad thing.

How do you feel about Zacama, Primal Calamity and whether or not it’s
“too good?” I would like more opinions; I honestly don’t mind the card
but I’ve got some friends with . . . strong opinions.

It’s really strong, but nothing that I’d be too worried about. Sure,
anything that untaps all your lands can probably get out of control-but it
still costs nine mana (and more on subsequent castings). It’s rather hard
to get too scared of something that expensive. It seems like the exact
representation of the battle cruiser style which helped popularize the
format.

Any consideration to unban Leovold, Emissary of Trest on the basis of
insufficient evidence of its negative impact on the Commander format?

I think this is what a lawyer might call leading the witness. Or begging
the question. I reject the premise of the statement. Leovold was, in fact,
one of the most miserable cards ever in Commander. Completely miserable.
I’m pretty sure those who miss it are in the minority and none of them are
interested in anyone else having fun.

Can you give us some hints on what Planeswalker commanders will be in
the next Commander set?

This seems like a trick question. If I deny knowing anything, you’re going
to read into it that I actually know something, which then confirms your
suspicions. So instead, I choose to tell you that I know something, but
then say something cryptic-like “hold onto all your copies of Sorrow’s
Path.”

When (if ever) can we expect the banned as commander list back? I just
want Braids, Cabal Minion and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary back in the
99.

It’s unlikely. We don’t think that making rules for the corner cases is all
that sharp an idea, which is why we removed it in the first place. It’s not
like we felt that Commander players couldn’t parse the two separate lists,
it’s that the second list seemed thoroughly needless.

First part of a two-parter: Has the RC decided to stabilize the ban
list at the size it is-in other words if something gets banned, would
we expect to see something unbanned and vice versa?

Not intentionally so. We think that it’s in a pretty sweet spot right now,
but moving the line by a card or two wouldn’t have a major impact. We
certainly wouldn’t remove something bad just to make room for something
worse.

Second part: Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

More often than you might think.

Seeing as though cEDH (competitive Commander) and tournament-oriented
play for Commander has picked up steam in some gaming circles over the
last few years at LGS’s across the country, is there an impetus to
create a separate ban list apart from the regular ban list to
accommodate those who prefer to play EDH in this manner? If there is,
what cards would you prefer to see on that banned list that aren’t on
the list? Likewise, are there cards you’d like to see removed from the
banned list if such a thing actually happened?

We don’t have any intention of creating a separate list for competitive
Commander. If we did, I think the banned lists would look rather different
from each other. Methodologically, I would start from ground zero on a
competitive list-I wouldn’t keep something banned because it’s on the
normal list. That said, it’s just not our thing. You’ve heard me say it
before-we want Commander to be the best format it can be on its own terms.

Along the lines of the previous question, is there a desire at WOTC (as
far as you know) to convert Commander into an official sanctioned
tournament format?

As far as I know, our friends at Wizards of the Coast are extremely happy
with Commander exactly as it is-the best social format there is.

Seeing as though Planeswalkers have been given the Legendary supertype,
is there any growing desire among the RC to make them legal as
commanders?

The discussion has come up, but we’re in agreement that it’s not something
we want to explore at the moment.

How is your health?

Outstanding, and thanks for asking. My thyroid is a little messed up as a
result of treatment, but fortunately medication can mitigate most of the
side effects. It was just about this time a year ago that I was finally
starting to shake off the effects of radiation. It would still be a few
more weeks before I could get off of the pain killers, and another three
months or so before I felt like myself all the way, but I’m happy to report
that the doctors have declared me in remission. One lingering effect is
that my sense of taste and smell haven’t completely recovered. I’d say that
I’m at about 90-95%; I can taste food clearly, and pick most of the more
subtle notes out of a wine, but I still can’t taste chocolate. Dark
chocolate is just a blank to me; milk chocolate tastes to me what white
chocolate tastes like to you. The doctors say that this is the last thing
to recover and suggest that it might not ever come back. I miss it, but as
long as I can taste and enjoy everything else, I’m okay. Being a Stage IV
cancer survivor beats chocolate every day of the week.

This week’s Deck Without Comment is

Adun’s Toolbox

.

Adun Oakenshield

Sheldon Menery

0th Place at Test deck on 12-04-2013

Commander

Creatures (36)

Planeswalkers (2)

Lands (36)

Check out our comprehensive Deck List Database for lists of all my decks:

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

;

Angry, Angry Dinos

;

Animar’s Swarm

;

Borrowing Stuff at Cutlass Point

;

Ikra and Kydele

;

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

;

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

;

Kynaios and Tiro

;

Ikra and Kydele

.

THE DO-OVER PROJECT

Adun Oakenshield Do-Over

;

Animar Do-Over

;

Glissa Do-Over

;

Karador Do-Over

;

Karador Version 3

;

Karrthus Do-Over

;

Kresh Do-Over

;

Steam-Powered Merieke

Do-Over;

Lord of Tresserhorn 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.”