Today I thought I’d shake things up a bit. While I do have a recounting of my EDH game with a Halloween themed Baron Sengir deck at the end of the column, I wanted to start things off by examining two Zendikar sealed deck pools. We’ve got a double PTQ weekend in Richmond in a week, and while I’m not a big fan of Sealed, I’ve got to at least try. Help?
For each of the sealed pools, I asked two friends of mine with much better Limited skills to tell me how they would build the deck, and contrast with what my first instinct was. A special thanks to Michael Rooks and Jay Delazier for their input. I’m also putting out the call to my generous readers with Limited skills for their advice on how they’d build these decks and any other thoughts on the format, since most of the Zendikar Limited columns seem to be focused on Draft these days.
Sealed Pool #1
Lands: Akoum Refuge, 2 Kabira Crossroads, Kazandu Refuge, Piranha Marsh, Teetering Peaks, Turntimber Grove
Artifacts: Adventuring Gear, Blazing Torch, Carnage Altar, 2 Expedition Map, Khalni Gem, Spidersilk Net
Green: Baloth Cage Trap, Beast Hunt, Grazing Gladehart, Joraga Bard, Mold Shambler, Nissa’s Chosen, Oran-Rief Recluse, 2 Oran-Rief Survivalist, Quest for the Gemblades, Relic Crush, Savage Silhouette, 2 Scythe Tiger, 2 Summoning Trap, Terra Stomper, Territorial Baloth, Timbermaw Larva
Red: Goblin Guide, Goblin Shortcutter, 2 Highland Berserker, Magma Rift, Plated Geopede, Punishing Fire, 2 Seismic Shudder, 2 Slaughter Cry, Spire Barrage, Tuktuk Grunts, Unstable Foots
Black: Blood Seeker, Bog Tatters, Crypt Ripper, Disfigure, Feast of Blood, Giant Scorpion, Guul Draz Vampire, Hagra Diabolist, 2 Heartstabber Mosquito, Mire Blight, Needlebite Trap, Vampire’s Bite
Blue: Aether Figment, Kraken Hatchling, 2 Living Tsunami, Reckless Scholar, 2 Roil Elemental, Seascape Aerialist, Shoal Serpent, Sky Ruin Drake, Spreading Seas, Trapfinder’s Trick, Trapmaker’s Snare, Umara Raptor, Welkin Tern, Whiplash Trap
White: Journey to Nowhere, 2 Kor Outfitter, 2 Kor Skyfisher, Narrow Escape, Sunspring Expedition, Windborne Charge
Rooks’s Build:
1 Adventuring Gear
1 Blazing Torch
1 Khalni Gem
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Whiplash Trap
1 Punishing Fire
1 Magma Rift
1 Baloth Cage Trap
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Mold Shambler
1 Nissa’s Chosen
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Terra Stomper
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Aether Figment
2 Living Tsunami
2 Roil Elemental
1 Umara Raptor
1 Welkin Tern
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Mountain
1 Turntimber Grove
8 Island
6 Forest
“I went with UG since you have so many bombs in U and a ton of strong Green cards. I wish you had more Red as the Ally package could have been there. I ended up just splashing Red for a bit of removal.
“You have fairly strong Black, but I think G and U are better in this pool, and your good Black cards don’t lend themselves to splashing.”
Jay’s Build:
1 Adventuring Gear
1 Blazing Torch
1 Expedition Map
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Khalni Gem
1 Baloth Cage Trap
1 Whiplash Trap
1 Summoning Trap
1 Aether Figment
1 Welkin Tern
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Umara Raptor
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Grazing Gladehart
2 Living Tsunami
1 Mold Shambler
1 Sky Ruin Drake
2 Roil Elemental
1 Terra Stomper
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Kabira Crossroads
8 Forest
8 Island
“With a strong consideration to Nissa’s Chosen or Jorge Bard over Welkin Tern. My plan is to win with Roil Elementals or Terra Stomper, and I would need to survive until you can drop them, so the Welkin Tern plan may not be the best. Obviously Aether Figment isn’t much of a blocker either, but Figment + Gear is stupid.”
So Rooks went U/G/r and Jay went U/G/w. Here are the cards they both liked:
1 Adventuring Gear
1 Blazing Torch
1 Khalni Gem
1 Whiplash Trap
1 Aether Figment
1 Baloth Cage Trap
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Mold Shambler
1 Terra Stomper
1 Umara Raptor
1 Welkin Tern
2 Living Tsunami
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
2 Roil Elemental
1 Teetering Peaks
Rooks added this:
1 Punishing Fire
1 Magma Rift
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Nissa’s Chosen
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Mountain
1 Turntimber Grove
Contrasted with Jay:
1 Expedition Map
1 Summoning Trap
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Kabira Crossroads
I asked them about their differences.
Jay said:
“The Red: I do not like running Magma Rift at all unless I have a Grim Discovery in my deck, so it really came down to Punishing Fire versus Journey to Nowhere. I was going to run a Kabira Crossroads and a Teetering Peaks anyway, so either card was just as easy for me to play. The ability for Journey to take down any size guy won out versus the ability to go to the face.
“Territorial Baloth: I have not been impressed with this guy at all. Sky Ruin Drake is just better in the type of game that I like to play.
“Nissa’s Chosen: As per my earlier e-mail, this one is probably right. I had a hard time deciding to cut it.
“Savage Silhouette: With Adventuring Gear and Blazing Torch already needing creatures in play to do anything, I opted out of the third creature enhancer. There’s nothing wrong with this card at all, particularly on an Aether Figment. I just couldn’t bring myself to include it.
“Turntimber Grove: I’ve already got two non-basics that come into play tapped. The third one was just too much. I’d rather have Teetering Peaks or Kabira Crossroads with Living Tsunami.
“Oran-Rief Recluse: This one is probably also right, but personal preference had me going with the Looter. Both cards play into the plan that my deck is trying to execute, but I’m thinking that Oran-Rief Recluse actually does it better.”
Rooks said:
“Expedition Map should definitely make it into my list somewhere. I’m not a huge fan of the Sky Ruin Drake. It’s a very defensive creature and I’m usually pretty aggro. I probably should have kept the Reckless Scholar in. He was a late cut. I was unsure on Summoning Trap. I don’t think you will ever use the trap cost and it seems a bit overcosted at 6.”
Me? It’s hard to argue with the Blue/Green approach, though not being a very aggressive player I’d likely lean more towards Jay’s build. But I had an interesting thought… if Blue wasn’t so ridiculous, would something like this be totally out of the question?
1 Spidersilk Net
1 Blazing Torch
1 Adventuring Gear
1 Expedition Map
1 Quest for the Gemblades
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Nissa’s Chosen
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Khalni Gem
1 Timbermaw Larva
1 Mold Shambler
1 Joraga Bard
1 Relic Crush
1 Baloth Cage Trap
1 Territorial Baloth
1 Terra Stomper
2 Summoning Trap
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Turntimber Grove
15 Forest
Mono-Green, using off-color special lands as spells that interact nicely with a fairly high concentration of landfall. What do you think?
Pool #2
Lands: Arid Mesa; Graypelt Refuge; Jwar Isle Refuge; Marsh Flats; Sejiri Refuge; Teetering Peaks; Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Artifacts: Carnage Altar, Expedition Map, 2 Stonework Puma, Trusty Machete
Green: 2 Beast Hunt, Grazing Gladehart, 2 Greenweaver Druid, Khalni Heart Expedition, Oran-Rief Recluse, Relic Crush, River Boa, Savage Silhouette, Tanglesap, 2 Territorial Baloth, Turntimber Basilisk, Vines of Vastwood, Zendikar Farguide
Red: Bladetusk Boar, Burst Lightning, 2 Demolish, Magma Rift, Molten Ravager, Ruinous Minotaur, Shatterskull Giant, Slaughter Cry, Spire Barrage, Unstable Footing
Black: Blood Seeker, 2 Bog Tatters, 2 Crypt Ripper, Desecrated Earth, Grim Discovery, 2 Hagra Crocodile, Heartstabber Mosquito, Malakir Bloodwitch, Marsh Casualties, Mire Blight, Nimara Sell-Sword, Ravenous Trap, Vampire’s Bite, Vampire Lacerator
Blue: 2 Caller of Gales, 2 Cancel, Cosi’s Trickster, Kraken Hatchling, Living Tsunami, Merfolk Seastalkers, Paralyzing Grasp, Shoal Serpent, Spell Pierce, Summoner’s Bane, Welkin Tern, Windrider Eel
White: Arrow Volley Trap, Bold Defense, Brave the Elements, Cliff Threader, Emeria Angel, Kor Outfitter, Kor Sanctifiers, Pillarfield Ox, Pitfall Trap, 2 Shieldmate’s Blessing, 2 Steppe Lynx, Windborne Charge
Yeah, two fetchlands, I’ve already won, right?
Rooks’s Build:
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Caller Of Gales
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Blood Seeker
1 Welkin Tern
2 Crypt Ripper
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Nimara Sell-Sword
1 Living Tsunami
1 Merfolk Seastalkers
1 Windrider Eel
2 Bog Tatters
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Shoal Serpent
1 Trusty Machete
1 Burst Lightning
1 Cancel
1 Paralyzing Grasp
1 Magma Rift
1 Summoner’s Bane
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Teetering Peeks
1 Mountain
8 Swamp
7 Island
“Green is pretty strong, but so are Blue and Black. Your White has your biggest bomb in Emeria Angel, but I don’t think you have enough in White to play it. This one is pretty tough to build…”
Jay’s Build:
1 Trusty Machete
1 Burst Lightning
1 Vampire’s Bite
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Arrow Volley Trap
1 Vampire Lacerator
2 Steppe Lynx
1 Blood Seeker
1 Cliff Threader
2 Stonework Puma
1 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Crypt Ripper
2 Hagra Crocodile
1 Pillarfield Ox
1 Emeria Angel
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Teetering Peaks
6 Plains
8 Swamp
1 Mountain
“Leaving a Windrider Eel and a Living Tsunami on the sidelines isn’t something that I would normally advocate doing, particularly when you’ve got a Teetering Peaks in the pool, but the Blue really doesn’t seem like it has a good enough backing behind it.
“You’ve got double Steppe Lynx here to go with your double fetches and Teetering Peaks. What I wouldn’t give for a Skyfisher in this pool…
“I’d probably go to time trying to build this one (which isn’t something that I ever do) because I’m not sure if I want the second Crypt Ripper or the Expedition Map. The second Ripper caused me to skew my mana to 8/6 where I think the Expedition Map allows me to run 7/7, which I think would lead to fewer mulligans due to a turn 1 play, but the wrong mana to play it.”
So Rooks & Jay agreed only on the Black with a red splash, with Rooks adding Blue and Jay adding White. Interesting!
Here’s what they agreed on:
1 Trusty Machete
1 Burst Lightning
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Blood Seeker
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Vampire Lacerator
2 Crypt Ripper
1 Nimara Sell-Sword
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Teetering Peaks
8 Swamp
1 Mountain
Rooks added this:
1 Cancel
1 Paralyzing Grasp
1 Magma Rift
1 Summoner’s Bane
1 Caller Of Gales
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Living Tsunami
1 Merfolk Seastalkers
1 Nimara Sell-Sword
1 Shoal Serpent
1 Welkin Tern
1 Windrider Eel
2 Bog Tatters
7 Island
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
Contrasted with Jay:
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Arrow Volley Trap
1 Vampire’s Bite
1 Cliff Threader
1 Emeria Angel
1 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Pillarfield Ox
1 Hagra Crocodile
2 Steppe Lynx
2 Stonework Puma
6 Plains
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
When I asked them about the differences, I guess they were tired of typing!
Jay said:
“The Nimara Sell-Sword was just an oversight on my part. That guy should definitely be in my list. Probably over one of the crocodiles.”
Rooks said:
“Kraken is actually REALLY good in a blue deck hoping to get damage in through flyers. It completely shuts down most ground-pounders that cost less than 5.”
When I was looking over the card pool, the element that drew me the most was the two fetchlands and Grim Recovery, which pushed me to look long and hard at taking advantage of landfall abilities. Would have really liked Adventuring Gear, but Trusty Machete ain’t bad. Here’s how I had first built it:
1 Expedition Map
1 Trusty Machete
2 Steppe Lynx
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 River Boa
1 Cliff Threader
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Grim Recovery
1 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Oran-Rief Recluse
1 Savage Silhouette
1 Pitfall Trap
1 Bold Defense
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Pillarfield Ox
1 Windborn Charge
1 Emeria Angel
1 Arrow Volley Trap
2 Territorial Baloth
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Swamp
6 Plains
7 Forest
Green/White… and splashing Black for just Grim Recovery?! While that might seem out there, my reasoning was that, later in the game after I’ve hopefully had a good aggressive start but things have stalled, ripping a Grim Recovery to get back a fetchland could be a great way to maximize my landfall dudes for the final punch through.
What are your thoughts on these card pools, and on Zendikar Sealed in general? I’d like to at least maybe have an outside shot at Top 8 for one of the two PTQs right here in my home town that weekend, and I certainly need all the help I can get.
Halloween EDH: Baron Sengir
Okay, so here’s the deck I’ve been brewing up ever since it became apparent that Vampires were going to get some serious support as a tribe in Zendikar and I dusted off the old Baron:
1 Baron Sengir
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Expedition Map
1 Ivory Tower
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Viridian Longbow
1 Bloodghast
1 Blood Seeker
1 Child of the Night
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Jet Medallion
1 Konda’s Banner
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Word of Command
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Quietus Spike
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Spoils of Evil
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Witch’s Mist
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Damnation
1 Grappling Hook
1 Irini Sengir
1 Mirri the Cursed
1 Nightmare Lash
1 Paradise Plume
1 Temporal Extortion
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Black Market
1 Bloodwitch of Malakir
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Krovikan Vampire
1 Necrologia
1 Patriarch’s Bidding
1 Repentant Vampire
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Sengir Nosferatu
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Soul Collector
1 Ascendant Evincar
1 Blood Tribute
1 Corrupt
1 Eternity Vessel
1 Mephidross Vampire
1 Nightmare Incursion
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Sorin Markov
1 Stalking Bloodsucker
1 Wound Reflection
1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
1 Shauku, Endbringer
1 Mind Twist
1 Drain Life
1 Consume Spirit
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Crypt of Agadeem
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
29 Swamp
A few guiding principles: First, I wanted no other creatures in the deck besides Vampires. The Baron’s ability helps out only Vampires, so I went with that instead of relying on Mephidross/Conspiracy shenanigans. I might shake that up a bit going forward. Second, I wanted to include “evil” cards that I don’t always play with: Word of Command, Sadistic Sacrament, Nightmare Incursion, Sorin Markov, Mind Twist. The Baron is a bad dude, I wanted my deck to reflect that.
I also added in some fun combos I hoped to pull off:
Eternity Vessel + Necropotence: raw card-drawing, you’ll draw a land to reset your life for more raw-card drawing. I figured this would certainly worry the table, but it was too evil a combo not to put in a Baron deck.
Sanguine Bond + Temporal Extortion: I usually gripe about Time Walk, but c’mon – a black Time Walk in an evil deck? Mwu-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!
Sanguine Bond + Blood Tribute: The ultimate vampire kill, right? No matter what your life is.
Vampire abilities + Grappling Hook: Vampires have cool abilities that require provoking creature combat and surviving in order to be effective, and that’s sometimes hard to convince a player to do. Grappling Hook forces the issue. Quietus Spike kinda does too, since most players aren’t going to want to give up half their life (and similarly Nightmare Lash helps too). The silly Longbow lets Vampires sit back and ping a creature that’s dying for some other reason to trigger his ability. Sudden Spoiling can certainly be a brutal surprise for an opponent’s creature that was planning on killing one of my special Vampires.
Skullclamp + Bloodghast: C’mon, you know you want to try it too!
Okay, so here are the players and their generals:
Josey playing Ulasht, the Hate-seed
Bennie playing Baron Sengir
Ryan playing Kresh the Bloodbraided
Shane playing Child of Alara
Turn 1
Josey takes his own mulligan, rides everyone else’s mulligans but still pulls no land. He’s playing the same deck as last time, with the exact same land count (20). Eventually he goes to Paris, keeps and reveals his hand to cast Land Grant. He fetches a Forest and plays Scute Mob. I play a Swamp and Expedition Map. Ryan plays Essence Warden, and Shane plays Bird of Paradise. Pretty eventful first turn!
Turn 2
Josey passes the turn, I play Child of Night. Ryan drops a Claws of Gix and Shane plays Oversold Cemetery.
Turn 3
Josey plays a Forest, then Nature’s Lore. I play Witch’s Mist, and attack Shane with my Child of Night to gain 2 life. Ryan plays Ashnod’s Altar. Shane plays Wonder.
Turn 4
Josey plays Regrowth to get back his Land Grant, reveals his hand to cast it, goes and gets another Forest to play, plays Scryb Ranger. I play a Swamp and pass the turn, shaking my fist at Wonder. Ryan plays Sadistic Glee on Essence Warden. I let him know the Baron approves. Shane passes the turn.
Turn 5
Josey plays Hunting Wilds—okay, so apparently he plays a bunch of land fetch over actual factual lands! He sends the Ranger flying over to attack Ryan. At the end of his turn I pop off the Map to get Cabal Coffers. I play Coffers and Loxodon Warhammer, and momentarily mourn the passing of double-Lifelinking creatures. Then I play a Morph creature. Ryan plays Cream of the Crop, and at the end of his turn Shane cycles Krosan Tusker. Shane then plays Multani, Maro Sorcerer. At the end of his turn, Josey plays Worldly Tutor to fetch Stone-Seeder Hierophant.
Turn 6
Josey attacks Ryan with Ranger, then casts Waiting in the Weeds. He’s got four untapped Forests, and Ryan has one, and they get their cat tokens. I affirm the Baron is unhappy he doesn’t get any feline snacks. I equip the Hammer to my Morph creature, play Necropotence, and draw 5 cards. It’s literally been 10 years or more since I’ve last drawn cards with Necro. Feels pretty good. Evil, but good. Ryan plays Wild Pair! Shane attacks Ryan with a 15/15 Multani, Ryan declares no blockers. Shane plays his Child of Alara.
Turn 7
Josey plays Howl of the Night Pack for five 2/2 Wolf tokens, and attacks Shane through the air with the ever-stinging Scryb Ranger. Between the cats and wolves I’m getting a bit worried about Ulasht, so I draw 7 cards with Necro and swing at Shane with my Hammer-Morph. Shane blocks with Child, everything goes ka-blooey. I reveal my Morph—Soul Collector. Considering my general, that wasn’t much a surprise. I play Bloodghast, then discard a couple cards but since Necro is gone they aren’t removed from the game! Ryan plays Carnage Altar. Shane plays Eternal Witness to recover Oversold Cemetery and plays it. Seems like a pretty strong play.
Turn 8
Josey’s finished fooling around—he plays Rampaging Baloths. We’re all kinda glad Scryb Ranger is in the bin. I play Paradise Plume, then Mirri the Cursed; I send Mirri at Josey and Bloodghast at Ryan. Ryan’s got nothing for his Altar. Shane retrieves Tusker from Cemetery and cycles it, then plays the land and Predatory Advantage.
Turn 9
Josey plays Vitaspore Thallid, and Empty the Warrens. He attacks Ryan with Rampaging Baloths. I draw Corrupt, and go ahead and snuff out the Baloths, attack Josey with Mirri. I then play Cairn Wanderer, who’s got flying, shroud, trample and Lifelink. Ryan plays Mogg War Marshal — finally something to feed to the Altar! Shane does the Cemetery/Tusker/cycle thing, and plays his own Cairn Wanderer. Curses!
Turn 10
Josey plays a pretty good-sized Ulasht. I play the Baron. At the end of my turn, Ryan sacrifices the War Marshal to the Altar to draw a card. He plays Hibernation’s End. Shane’s turn, he’s ready to bust a move; he plays Ardent Plea, and Cascades into Soul Warden. He then plays Beastmaster Ascension. He attacks Ryan with 5/5 Wanderer (thanks to Exalted), then finishes his turn with Wall of Reverence and some life. Josey decides to top things off by pinging off Mirri with Ulasht.
Turn 11
Josey draws Crop Rotation and plays it, getting Gaea’s Cradle. He then unloads Ulasht to kill off Baron Sengir (the nerve!). I replay the Baron (love those Coffers with 10 Swamps!), and attack Josie with Cairn Wanderer. Ryan’s Hibernation’s End triggers and he fetches up Magus of the Vineyard, and then plays his own Beastmaster Ascension. Shane does the Cemetery/Tusker/cycle thing, and then plays Bogardan Hellkite, hitting Baron into the Command zone again—he is not amused!
Turn 12
Josey replays Ulasht. I play Drain Life targeting Ulasht; he unloads as many Saprolings as he can to shrink it down. I then play Mephidross Vampire. Ryan’s Hibernation gets Devoted Druid; he attacks with a Goblin token to charge his Ascension but sacs it to the Altar to draw a card before it deals any damage because he doesn’t want to annoy anyone. Unfortunately for him, Shane’s ready to drop the hammer down, he’s built up just enough lizard tokens to attack with Wanderer and the Hellkite to trigger Beastmage Ascension to more than kill Ryan and collect a point.
Turn 13
Josey replays Ulasht, now an 11/11, and Thallid Germinator. I cast Sengir Nosferatu, and then Malakir Bloodwitch to suck 5 life from Shane and Josey, and then play Eternity Vessel where X=64. Sure wish I still had Necro out! Shane attacks me with his creatures, I block Hellkite with Nosferatu and turn him into a bat, but still take 30 points. At the end of Shane’s turn, Ulasht kills Shane’s 6/6 Soul Warden and makes a bunch of Saprolings.
Turn 14
Josey replays Ulasht (remember, he’s making Saprolings and has a Gaea’s Cradle out). He sacs a Saproling to Vitaspore to give him haste and attacks Shane, but it’s not big enough to be lethal. The only blocker Shane has is Wall of Reverence, and he doesn’t want to lose it so he declares no blockers. Josey sacs a bunch of Saprolings to Thallid Germinator to make Ulasht have 21 power to kill Shane with general damage. Shane and I both are surprised, not realizing what the heck this Time Spiral common did! It’s a shame too; Shane pretty much had board dominance and an available blocker… On my turn I replay Baron and Shauku Endbringer (yes, she’s a vampire). With no card draw since Necro I’m really struggling to find something to do about the Ulasht madness! I attack with Cairn Wanderer and play a Swamp to go up to 64 life.
Turns 15 — 18
Both of us living off the draw… Ulasht can’t get rid of all my creatures, I remove him with Shauku, he kills her back, Nosferatu keeps popping in and out of bat form… but I don’t draw any mass removal or tutors or card draw, just a few more Vampires. Finally, Josey rips a Nath’s Elite, who gets haste thanks to Vitaspore, and because of his lure effect Ulasht comes in and kills me with general damage. Well done, Josey—victory on the back of saprolings and cards you don’t generally often see in EDH decks!
Update! The Jay Coffman Memorial Tournament November 22nd
If you can spread the word, please let as many people as you can know about this very special tournament in memory of our friend Jay:
Here’s the link to the details on Jay’s tournament.
NEW — Jay & Silent Auction!
The main link above now has what is currently being offered for prizes. I have word from Wizards that they’ll be providing some prizes too.
There are also now links to Silent Auctions of Jay’s gaming materials, with proceeds going to Massey Cancer Research Center. There are some Vintage power cards, classic RPGs, Jay’s Trade Binder, and more—be sure to check it out, even if you can’t make the tournament!
If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll find the time to come out play some Magic in Jay’s honor!
That’s it for this week. I’m looking forward to trying out the new Standard at FNM tonight, join me next week when I talk about what I’m running and how it did.
Take care…
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com
New to EDH? Be sure to check out my EDH Primer, part 1, part 2, and part 3!
My current EDH decks:
Doran the Siege-Tower (toughness matters!)
Baron Sengir (Evil Vampires!)
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (big mana spells)
Sharuum, the Hegemon (equipment.dec)