The Latest In Commander 2015 League Action

Creatures (13)

Planeswalkers (3)

Lands (37)

Spells (46)

Our Commander 2015 League is humming along, now with 25 games under our belts. It’s been more than a month since I’ve updated you on one of the most fun things we’ve done in a while, so I thought it would be a good time to catch you up. I’ll discuss picks number nineteen through 25 for each of us, then talk a bit about how the games have been going. Then I’ll reveal the proto-plans for our next adventure.

Keith (Meren of Clan Tel Noth)

In: Harvester of Souls; Fleshbag Marauder; Homeward Path; Kokusho, the Evening Star; Geth, Lord of the Vault; Pestilence Demon; Avatar of Woe

Out: Bloodspore Thrinax; Barter in Blood; Evolving Wilds; Extractor Demon; Eater of Hope; Wall of Blossoms; Thought Vessel

Keith has been focusing on the black cards and not cutting me off of the green ones, so I’m not too sad (although he’s already picked up the two green cards I wanted most, Greater Good and Seedborn Muse). I am sad about Pestilence Demon because it really messes with my mojo. It’s better than Pestilence (or, as we’ll discuss, Pyrohemia) because it doesn’t go away if there are no more creatures on the battlefield.

Homeward Path came the pick after I took Willbreaker, which was more the straw that broke the camel’s back. Keith was already irritated about Todd stealing peoples’ (well, mostly his) stuff, so Homeward Path was likely somewhere in the loop anyway. Homeward Path is only awkward for me if I don’t have a sacrifice outlet and I don’t have enough yet to be confident that I’m going to have one when I need it.

Kokusho is certainly dangerous in a deck that can possibly recur it for free via Meren. Geth is another winner that we saw quite a bit of after Scars of Mirrodin came out, but not so much lately. In this environment Avatar of Woe will certainly get cast for BB reasonably often, but I wonder if he needs that much more creature removal.

Michael (Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas)

In: Rise of the Hobgoblins; Reflect Damage; Pyrohemia; Urabrask, the Hidden; Aurelia, the Warleader; Basandra, Battle Seraph; (Cloudgoat Ranger)

Out: Banishing Light; Orim’s Thunder; Borderland Behemoth; Boros Cluestone; Loxodon Warhammer; (Hamletback Goliath)

Michael had kind of been durdling around with his picks and in these few rounds got kind of serious. He and Shea got together and decided that Pyrohemia and Pestilence would be funny to pick in the same round, so they did. It’s not actually all that bad for Michael, since he doesn’t have that many small creatures (unless he’s already played Rise of the Hobgoblins).

After he picked Urabrask, we all wondered why he didn’t pick it earlier—but we certainly weren’t going to say anything. It’s not likely that Todd would have picked it anyway, but since Michael is all-in on the Red Zone plan, it seemed like the kind of thing he’d want. Plus, he could the use the fact that he has vigilance creatures and snag Sunblast Angel. Aurelia is another follow-up to the face-smashing plan. Kalemne with three experience counters (which seems pretty easy) can be deadly in just one combat. Basandra, which has already seen play in several games, has ruined the combat tricks for everyone else. No Spider Fogs is just bad.

Shea (Daxos the Returned)

In: Debt to the Deathless; Painful Quandary; Pestilence; Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim; Phyrexian Tower; Palace Siege; Return to Dust.

Out: Nighthowler; Dawn to Dusk; Daxos’s Torment; Death Grasp; Wastes; Corpse Augur; Seal of Doom

Debt to the Deathless is a winner, assuming Shea can generate a reasonable amount of mana. Gaining eight life for every additional mana is a way to make a crazy life total swing. Having fallen into the role of the player who just protects himself and waits, having a high life total seems to be the right call.

Painful Quandary was directed at Todd, whose hands frequently get too large. If he’s carrying fifteen cards or so (due to things like Blue Sun’s Zenith and Reliquary Tower), it’s pretty likely we’re not going to be able to do too much about him. We’ve already talked about how Pestilence pretty much just neuters me; for Shea in particular, who loves his lifegain, it’s nothing to be afraid of.

For a black deck, he was missing out on sacrifice outlets, so you can see the move to both Ayli and Phyrexian Tower. We have yet to see Ayli for more than a turn or two, but it will be an excellent control element in the long term. Palace Siege seems more at home as an alternate Oversold Cemetery, but it gives Daxos a counter either way.

Todd (Mizzix of the Igmagnus)

In: Time Warp; Reiterate; Shattering Pulse; Condescend; Mindswipe; Recall; Blasphemous Act

Out: Epic Experiment; Vandalblast; Thought Reflection; Worn Powerstone; Sphinx-Bone Wand; Melek, Izzet Paragon; Charmbreaker Devils.

As I’ve reported previously, Todd’s deck has made him into the Archenemy. Because there aren’t too many other counterspells, once he decides to go for the win, there’s not much we can do about it. With this setup, we started targeting him early. If he’s not weak by the mid-game, the rest of us are in trouble.

Knowing that we’re targeting him, he’s taken steps to give himself more of a chance (don’t tell him I said this, but Crawlspace might be a good idea). Time Warp lets him do some setup shenanigans, like playing a bunch of spells while Mizzix is on the battlefield in order to get the experience counter count up, then instead of being tapped out for a turn, just go right back to it.

For a while, it was only Keith and I battling for the experience counter point; now, Todd has put himself frequently into the running—and his is more frightening to when he can add X spells into the mix. Mindswipe is a perfect example there. “Hey, why are you countering something dumb like Patagia Viper? Oh…so you can kill me.” I didn’t look at which version of Recall he put into the deck, but I sure hope it’s the cool Fifth Edition Richard Kane Ferguson one. Blasphemous Act is obvious, and because Michael wouldn’t likely choose it, he knew it would be available.

Me (Ezuri, Claw of Progress)

In: Momentous Fall; Willbreaker; Thassa, God of the Sea; Glen Elendra Archmage; Garruk Wildspeaker; Edric, Spymaster of Trest; Phyrexian Altar

Out: Biomantic Mastery; Simic Guildgate; Loaming Shaman; Simic Keyrune; Stingerfling Spider; Simic Growth Chamber; Simic Signet.

I’ve shifted a bit off of the original plan, but not too much. If you haven’t been following since the beginning, I’m trying to maintain the original intention of the deck, which is to get giant piles of experience counters from making lots of token creatures, and from having the creatures which I’m playing have a power of two or less, and then doing glorious combat.

I’m also trying to leverage +1/+1 counters, like putting a bunch of them on Spike Feeder to either battle for lots or gain a pile of life. Sage of Hours isn’t my thing, although now that Shea has opted for having Exquisite Blood / Sanguine Bond combo in his deck (which he’s already gotten once), it feels like all bets are off, especially in a closed league in which removal is at a real premium. I never really want to get into an infinite turns loop, since I’d rather play with my friends instead of them watching me play.

Momentous Fall will likely draw fewer cards in the long run than what it replaces, Biomantic Mastery, but I wanted the flexibility to do it as an instant to stay away from some of Todd’s theft, as well as being able to get at least some value out of a creature when someone wipes the battlefield. I’ve already used it to sacrifice Multani, Maro Sorcerer for twenty-plus life and cards. Speaking of Multani, casting him and then casting Prime Speaker Zegana is full of win.

Willbreaker is just value when you have cards like Opposition and Nylea, God of the Hunt in the deck. Thassa is just good, giving the scry every turn as well as making a potentially lethal attacker unblockable. Unfortunately, Multani has shroud and I can only give it to my creatures, which means I can’t do tricks with Thassa and Willbreaker.

Glen Elendra Archmage ticks up experience counters on Ezuri (twice, or more often if I decide to put Ezuri’s combat counters on her) and provides some excellent counter capability. I still only have creature-based counterspells, but that’s the price you pay for having a creature deck and only so many slots to fill.

Garruk Wildspeaker has been on the plan since the beginning. It provides some mana acceleration plus the inevitable Overrun capability. It’s weird that I find myself wanting for it to produce two-power Beasts instead (although that’s simply an option which rarely gets used—hey, maybe there’s a deck idea: the underused abilities of planeswalkers).

If I’m going to create lots of creatures, it makes sense to get some return on the investment above and beyond the experience counters. Edric, Spymaster of Trest does that quite nicely, thank you. I’m not stoked about giving my opponents cards, and this is actually the first deck in which I’ve played Edric, but I considered how the games in the League play out.

Todd rarely attacks. Keith doesn’t attack much in swarms, instead spending time setting up. Michael attacks frequently, but generally with a) few creatures and b) creatures that you have to block or get seriously hurt by. Shea attacks with some frequency, but rarely early, because most of his setup involves getting those enchantments going.

Phyrexian Altar is my zero-mana-cost creature sacrifice outlet. In this deck, I’d obviously much rather have Goblin Bombardment, but that’s not in my colors. I considered Altar of Dementia, but everyone else likes to use their graveyard (even Todd, in recurring his spells), so I’m not of a mind to fill it without being able to use it (although I suppose I could hope for Shea to have Leyline of the Void on the battlefield). With Phyrexian Altar, I can ramp if I need to, sacrifice creatures to cast instants, mess with Chain Reaction math, or just generally not have people touch my stuff.

For my tastes, the deck started with too many lands and mana rocks. I believe I’m at the right balance now, with 38 lands and two rocks (Sol Ring and Thought Vessel), plus some ramp (Rampant Growth, Kodma’s Reach, Oracle of Mul Daya; Coiling Oracle and Garruk kind of count as well). I draw enough cards that I feel confident that I’m hitting land drops most of the relevant early turns.

We’ve settled into a kind of rhythm with the games. There aren’t too many explosive starts possible, so unless there’s a Turn 1 Sol Ring (which, if I recall correctly, we’ve only had once so far, which would be less than the math indicates we should), then it’s pretty much everyone (except maybe Todd) casting their commanders as soon as possible. Todd has trouble re-casting Mizzix a second or third time since it leaves him vulnerable to whatever we’d like to do to him, so he has to be careful.

There hasn’t been much of a change in how early turns go. Michael is the aggressor unless I’ve gotten off and running quickly (less likely now that I’ve pulled back into a few more control elements). Keith’s position in the game is dependent on which creatures he gets out early and can reanimate with Meren (as opposed to just putting it back into his hand). If it’s Sakura-Tribe Elder, he gets the double whammy of adding experience counters to Meren of Clan Nel Toth while upping his number of lands on the battlefield. The thing I think his deck misses is that giant damage punch like it might get with Lord of Extinction. He was going to take out Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, but we convinced him that it’s one of his few good haymaker win conditions.

As I mentioned earlier, the games have kind of devolved into a decision of “do we let Todd get into a position to kill us or not?” Once he’s either dead or effectively neutered, we then turn to the next biggest threat. Last week, that was me, when Michael had put out Lightmine Field, which is nice for slowing down attackers, but then I played Vigor and gleefully slammed my creatures into combat.

Each of the decks is capable of doing something splashy, so it definitely comes down to assessment of the battlefield state. I’ve noticed that Keith has been more hesitant to drop Homeward Path onto the battlefield until after Todd has played Blatant Thievery, since the land is the thing he’ll take from Keith. Once or twice already, Todd has controlled all five commanders at the same time, which can be quite amusing.

Here are the updated standings after 25 games (you’ll note that that means we should have 26 picks, since we did an Oath of the Gatewatch freeroll, but the guys haven’t given me those picks yet). The active categories (1st kill, Most XP, Last Standing) are worth two points; the passive ones are worth one.

We’re stopping at 30 picks, so we only have five left. Those could be quite significant in changing the dynamics of play. After the 30th pick, the only cards we can take out are ones which didn’t come with the deck. Once an original card makes into the 99 after Game 30, we’re stuck with it. By then, we’ll likely be ready to put these aside for a while and start our new thing. We’re thoroughly excited about it, even though we haven’t fully formed exactly how we’re going to instantiate it.

The basic idea is a three-color Commander draft—not a draft in the traditional Magic sense, but more like a fantasy sports draft. Each deck will be three colors. We haven’t decided if we’re going with all wedges, all shards, or some hybrid, in which we actually draft colors one at a time. One idea is that no color can appear in more than three decks, and you can’t draft a color that would force someone into two colors. That might get a little unnecessarily complex.

My favorite suggestion so far is to pick one of the wedges, whether we do it randomly or by some kind of selection order. However we pick our colors, we then sit together (or potentially online at the same time) and draft cards one at a time. It’s true highlander (save for basic lands), and banned cards are still banned.

We haven’t figured out if we’ll force each other to play a certain number of basic lands or not. I mean, I don’t want to get into a “with the fifth selection of Round 80, Michael Fortino chooses… Swamp” situation. It’ll be interesting to see if we get into early battles over mana-fixing dual lands or not. The whole thing idea is pretty fascinating. Armada Games is working on streaming and podcasting, so I’d like to think that we can record the whole thing. More details as they come.

This week’s Deck Without Comment is “You Did This to Yourself.”

Ruhan of the Fomori: You Did This To Yourself

Sheldon Menery

0th Place at Test deck on 04-22-2012

Commander

Last Standing

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.”