Q&A: The Spider Fog Remix

Call it a casual format, call it a social format, call it Susan if it makes you happy. Commander is a fan format. Those of us who administer the format are fans, the people who play it are fans. We’re not here to win tournaments and prizes, we’re here because the format resonates with us and we have a great time playing it. We’re here because we like it. We wouldn’t be here without the format’s fans, so when they ask questions, I like to answer. I opened the floor for an Ask Me Anything-style thing: Magic in general, grad school, building a new house, music, and life, the universe, and everything. Here’s what came in:

What’s more important: Strict applications of the format’s rules or using flavor interpretations to allow rules to be bent or broken? (I’m referring specifically to a Kozilek, the Great Distortion Multicolored, Eldrazi-only deck here but it could apply to anything.)

Deck-building restrictions breed creativity, so I’m all for them. We’re not going to change the format-level rules or anything, but if you can convince your local group that it’ll be cool, then we support you going for it.

Spectacularly strong. There’s a vibrant professional game, lively competitive formats played at all geographic levels, and, of course, the best fan format ever.

There are a few college things I’ve yet to experience. I haven’t played hacky sack, changed my hair color, or gotten alcohol poisoning. I’m pretty much the straight-arrow student. Because of my situation in life, I’m there to learn and make myself a better human being, not necessarily to get a degree. That said, taking three grad courses and an undergrad at the same time while we’re building a new house is a beating. Since I’ve returned to school in Fall 2013 my GPA is 4.0, but the streak is in some jeopardy because grad courses can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, by the first week of May, I’ll have a BA in English Literature and be halfway to a Master’s Degree. Last semester and this one have been moderately difficult because of the accelerated program I’m in (the short version is my senior year of undergrad and first year of graduate are the same). After this semester, I’ll be able to roll my sleeves up on the grad studies at a more leisurely pace.

We live in Florida. The latter seems more likely.

Since I don’t know Rodrigo y Gabriela, guess I’ll have to go with aging rockers.

As if.

At least they thanked us for all the fish.

Never have been, never will be. Can we somehow make this a sticky?

There is not a specific plan. We’re humming along reasonably well with just the five of us. That said, if we run across someone who is undeniably perfect, we’ll add them in a heartbeat.

Anything that’s not available in foil at the moment. My first pick is Fault Line. And, of course, Phelddagrif. How about the outside-the-box choice of Mana Drain? My hope is that it will get more cards that we don’t frequently see in the format into the hands of players — which I think it will do. I don’t have any concerns, because it’s not like they’re creating cards that don’t exist.

I’m not sure what they’re up to for this year, but I’d like to see more cooperative stuff. And more Spider Fogs.

It involves meeting up with three witches on a heath. You should do it. It always turns out well for everyone involved.

Maybe I’ll try to talk the Monday Night Gamers into house unbanning it so that I can have a long report on why it shouldn’t be unbanned. Alternately, we might find it’s not that bad. No, j/k, it’s probably still pretty toxic.

This becomes an identical question to “if you could only play one of your existing decks forever?” I’d have to say Karador, and I’d rebuild it exactly as it is now. Or will be once I get all the BFZ and OGW updates put in (after we move).

Alice Cooper, “Welcome to My Nightmare.”

I’m the face of the committee because the other four are orders of magnitude smarter than I am. We make decisions, and then if people don’t like them, I get to take the body blows. When we first formed the committee back in 2006 I was the most well-known, so I naturally took the role. Even as the profiles of other folks rose (the RC is full of reasonably-influential Magic people), we had sort of settled into a good rhythm. There was never a meeting about it or anything, it just developed organically.

One has nothing to do with the other. Don’t panic; we aren’t coming for your off-color fetches just yet. Which is exactly what someone coming for your off-color fetches would say.

Well, I don’t podcast myself, I just show up as a guest on other folks’s podcasts. When I did a brief stint of my own podcast with fellow USF student Cole Giering, we used the booth at the school’s radio station. I’m not sure about the specific equipment.

Ditka. Guy was a football player when football players were actually tough.

None, really. I’ve seen one situation where it could have mattered. In our Commander 2015 League, Michael, playing Oblivion Sower, peeled a Forest and Grim Backwoods from Keith. He also had on the battlefield a Vivid Crag (with a counter still on it). He could have activated Grim Backwoods. As the game worked out, he didn’t. One of the reasons we made the change is that we realized that it wouldn’t matter all that often. Seems like we were right.

Karlov, because Orzhov is the only true guild. Those who disagree will be cleansed.

Clearly, that’s dependent on your local environment. For me, I like to have four or five different ways of interacting with other players’ graveyards. It’s easiest in black decks, but you have to be careful because those weapons can get turned against you. Nothing worse than someone reanimating your Withered Wretch or copying Bojuka Bog and stripping your graveyard. Mnemonic Nexus is a nice choice in decks that play blue, since it’s an instant and can really mess with some turns.

We decided a long time ago that the hundred-card deck would be a format-definer. It’s been good. Saying it’s stifling is hyperbolic. Battle of Wits is the one card that no one really wants to see you play because you spend most of the game shuffling your impossibly large deck. The creative possibilities of Commander are alive and well despite the loss of Battle of Wits.

None whatsoever. Do not hang your hat on that ever changing.

Because all colors go to the graveyard.

Coffee. In fact, I am currently enjoying some Stumptown Coffee Roasters French Roast as I write. I get a shipment from them once a month, three bags of deliciousness. Someone in their shipping department must be a Magic fan, because occasionally WUBRG is written in big letters on the outside of the box.

A Legendary Werewolf that lets your Werewolves fight with other creatures; if they don’t kill the other creature, it becomes a werewolf, too. Then you can control it for short periods of time.

Something about my wife Gretchyn, who I cannot stop bragging about. She’s brilliant, accomplished, beautiful, and an outstanding example of a 21st-century woman. She went to engineering school at a time when women were actively discouraged from pursuing the sciences and now her job makes the world a safer place every day. She spends her free time rescuing cats. In five years, the organization she founded and directs took the euthanasia rate in our county from over 35,000 cats a year to less than 10,000. She inspires me to want to be an even better person. Plus, then I can slip in something about her impeccable taste in men.

Nephilim and hybrid mana. They’re not changing, and it’s time to move on. Recounting the history of the format gets old, too. Tip to podcasters: strike off “how did the format start?” from your show notes.

OG Karn, Silver Golem, because he can do the whole Rise of the Machines thing.

I dislike the idea of a non-legendary creature as a commander, since it’s not special enough. That said, I have a thing for battling Angels, so Empyrial Archangel.

I don’t.

Can’t say that I have, but I’d be willing to try it. I can see the mead giving a sweetness to the beer (which couldn’t already be one on the sweet scale, like a Scottish ale, because that’d be too much).

No. Hasn’t been any semi-serious or casual discussion, either.

Trostani and her Angels. The link is below.

Elephants. I blame the liberal New York educated elite. You think it’s a coincidence that it’s the symbol of the Republican party and there are no legendary Elephants. Who’s being naive now, Kay?

Melvin’s Horobi Deck, which I featured back in 2012.

You can find lots of nice wines at $30 and under. Snap call on this one is Mollydooker Two Left Feet, an Australian blend from one of the country’s great winemakers, wife and husband team Sarah and Sparky Marquis. We go through a case or two of this a year. It’s a great baseline when you want something good but don’t want to pull out an expensive bottle. It’s around $25, so it’s a little too expensive for what I’d call a “cellar defender,” which is a bottle that keeps you from opening something pricey when you just want a glass or two. For those, our go-to wines are d’Arenberg Stump Jump GSM (less than $12) in red and Tormentoso Old Vine Chenin Blanc (around $13) in white.

Because I never play that deck anyway. Mono red in Commander just puts me to sleep.

Spiders! We need to have more of them so we can have more Spider Fogs!

I wrote about the process a few years back. We work together extremely well and have a common vision of what’s best for the format (not to say that it’s identical, but we’re definitely all pointed in the same direction), so our disagreements have been few over the years. No single person has held up (or rammed through) a decision that the other folks agreed to.

Thanks for another excuse to say “Spider Fog!” There are plenty of underused cards/hidden gems. Keep Watch is currently at the top of my list.

I love Recurring Nightmare and it’s been banned forever. My love for the format is greater than my love for any individual card.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots going for Kibler. There’s the playmat. There’s the dog. There’s the dreaminess. But for me, it’s Osyp. You never know what’s going to come out of that mouth, but you know it’s going to be funny.

I haven’t played another format in quite some time. I played Standard pretty regularly for a while, but Mythic Bant was the last deck I played, so you know it’s been something approaching forever.

Perhaps we’ll think about it after you learn that proper sentences and texts are two different things.

The idea is as awesomely nerdcore as it gets, but the realization is so far disappointing — although with only one listen through so far, I’ll reserve too much judgment. Mostly, I found the lyrics and character names somewhat (and surprisingly) juvenile. Emperor Nafaryus? Really?

I’m sure there have been some very serious discussions about banning it, just not by us. The deciding factor is that it doesn’t violate any of our banning principles (you can check out the philosophy document in the link above about process).

Protean Hulk has kept Protean Hulk banned. We did a local test a few years ago by just putting it into existing decks — making no other changes in an effort to leverage its ability — and everyone (the local players who experimented with it) unanimously voted that it should stay on the banned list. It devolved games pretty quickly.

The downside is additional rules baggage for very little reward. Wishboards promote a competitive mindset, which we’d prefer to avoid. If your local group likes the idea, we support you giving it a go.

Well, it’s just “build casually/play competitively.” Once you build your deck to try to make sure that you’re not the only one having fun, the playing field becomes interesting enough that you can stomp each other with impunity. One of the ways it instantiates with me is that if a person is barely clinging to life, I’d prefer to kick them off the ledge than keep them alive. Too many times now, I’ve seen that person come back to take the game. I’m not talking about swarming the person who’s missed a few land drops. If someone is at two life and presents any kind of threat, I’ll need a pretty good reason to not finish them off.

I like the people I game with. I don’t play Smokestack.

I can’t recall ever having dreamt about banning cards. My Magic dreams all involve Elvish Ranger.

I love Belgian Abbey beers, such as Hoegaarden Verboten Vrucht and anything by Leffe. Domestically, I’m all about Dogfish Head and Rogue. I’m not much of a fan of lagers and pilsners, but I really have a taste for the big-bodied stuff.

To the extent that it would get cards into the hands of players, yes. To the extent that it would hurt some of the non-sketchy secondary card dealers who support the hobby, no. If it would hurt the sketchy ones, I’m all for it.

I feel like closing on Spiders is the best thing to do here. A Legendary Spider that wraps stuff in a web and slowly devours it (kind of like Giant Oyster) would be awesome. The activated ability immobilizes it (like with Arrest), and then a triggered ability gives it -1/-1 counters. Maybe something else cool happens when the creature finally dies.

This week’s Deck Without Comment is Children of a Greater God.

Commander: Child of Alara

Sheldon Menery

Test deck on 11-30--0001

Commander

Creatures (37)

• 1 Darksteel Colossus
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Withered Wretch
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Crusading Knight
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Stuffy Doll
• 1 Seedguide Ash
• 1 Sapling of Colfenor
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Predator Ooze
• 1 Deathrite Shaman
• 1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1 Karametra, God of Harvests
• 1 Xenagos, God of Revels
• 1 Phenax, God of Deception
• 1 Iroas, God of Victory
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms
• 1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
• 1 Athreos, God of Passage
• 1 Pharika, God of Affliction
• 1 Dack's Duplicate
• 1 Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1 Zurgo Helmsmasher
• 1 Dualcaster Mage

Planeswalkers (2)

• 1 Liliana Vess
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Lands (39)

• 7 Forest
• 3 Plains
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 4 Swamp
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Island
• 1 Volcanic Island
• 1 Underground Sea
• 1 Tropical Island
• 1 Scrubland
• 1 Savannah
• 1 Plateau
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Bant Panorama
• 1 Grixis Panorama
• 1 Jund Panorama
• 1 Naya Panorama
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Command Tower

Spells (22)

• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Akroma's Vengeance
• 1 Decree of Pain
• 1 Scrabbling Claws
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Survival of the Fittest
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Mirror Strike
• 1 Rout
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Prismatic Omen
• 1 Grim Discovery
• 1 Chain Reaction
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Rise of the Dark Realms

Check out our awesome Deck List Database for the last versions of all my decks:

ADUN’S TOOLBOX;
ANIMAR’S SWARM;
AURELIA GOES TO WAR;
CHILDREN of a LESSER GOD;
DEMONS OF KAALIA;
EREBOS and the HALLS OF THE DEAD;
GLISSA, GLISSA;
HELIOD, GOD OF ENCHANTMENTS;
DREAMING OF INTET;
FORGE OF PURPHOROS;
KARN, BEATDOWN GOLEM;
HALLOWEEN WITH KARADOR;
KARRTHUS, WHO RAINS FIRE FROM THE SKY;
KRESH INTO THE RED ZONE;
LAVINIA BLINKS;
LAZAV, SHAPESHIFTING MASTERMIND;
ZOMBIES OF TRESSERHORN;
MELEK’S MOLTEN MIND GRIND;
MERIEKE’S ESPER CONTROL;
THE MILL-MEOPLASM;
MIMEOPLASM DO-OVER;
NATH of the VALUE LEAF;
NYLEA OF THE WOODLAND REALM;
OBZEDAT, GHOST KILLER;
PURPLE HIPPOS and MARO SORCERERS;
ZEGANA and a DICE BAG;
RITH’S TOKENS;
YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF;
RURIC THAR AND HIS BEASTLY FIGHT CLUB;
THASSA, GOD OF MERFOLK;
THE ALTAR of THRAXIMUNDAR;
TROSTANI and HER ANGELS;
THE THREAT OF YASOVA;
RUHAN DO-OVER;
KARADOR DO-OVER;
KARRTHUS 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 and is just now getting started with a new saga called “The Lost Cities of Nevinor”), ask for an invitation to the Facebook group “Sheldon Menery’s Monday Night Gamers.”