Before I get to the EDH stuff, I wanted to spend a moment about set reviews. Whenever a new set debuts, many Magic writers naturally turn to the new set and offer up their initial impressions on the cards that we’ll get to play with in the coming 1-2 years. At the same time, a handful of other writers get up on their high horse and berate many of these set reviews as terrible, useless, and a general waste of time.
Don’t listen to those guys, because they’re full of crap.
For many years I was Contributing Editor for Scrye Magazine and in charge of much of its Magic content. When a new set came out I looked forward to it, but at the same time I dreaded it. Due to the lead-time we needed to get copy ready for print, I’d get the new set spoiler about a month before the Magic Community at large. It was awesome to get a peek into the future and ponder the possibilities. I dreaded it because one of our regular features was picking the Top 10 cards from the set. Now, I’ve played Magic since Unlimited, and I keep up with what’s competitive-good on the tournament scene, so I think I have a pretty good perspective to draw upon to make judgments on cards. I also consider myself open-minded and someone who does pretty well at thinking outside the box. That said, all I have to do is take a look at my Top 10 list a month or so after the set has been released and played in tournaments to realize that there are cards I valued wrongly or just plain missed.
Magic is a complex and dynamic game, which is why it’s thrived for so long, and it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. No matter how smart or clever you are, you can’t sit alone in a bubble and suss out all the implications for each card in a new set. Everyone brings their own bias and point of view when evaluating something new. You can learn something from just about anyone if you keep an open mind, which is why I read every set review I can get my hands on. It’s why I write my own set reviews, because I look forward to hearing the thoughts and opinions of my readers, to reinforce, contradict, or shine light on something I overlooked. Plugging into various feedback loops helps broaden your perspective and opens up possibilities.
These guys who tell you most set reviews are worthless are also guys who tend to have a tight network of high-level Magic players, and you can bet that their AIM or Twitter or email groups are red-hot with mini-set-reviews and opinions on these new cards in the weeks before and after a set releases. So yes, the vast majority of written set-reviews are of low value to them because they’ve been there, talked about that, and moved on (though I’d argue that even the best-connected could learn a tidbit or two if they gave it a chance). That doesn’t mean other, less well-connected Magic players can’t glean value from them.
So – for those who like to write set-reviews, don’t listen to the naysayers – keep writing, and we’ll keep reading.
Okay, so now on to the good stuff! A couple weeks back I wrote that I’d had a run in with a couple “unfun” EDH decks and had determined to build a deck stuffed with answers, to have sticks to beat the unfun decks about the head-and-shoulders, and to have carrots to reward those who more closely embrace the more fun, haymaker-style of EDH. I immediately knew I’d build around Phelddagrif as my general, since his 3 colors cover a wide swath of answer cards, and he has built-in carrot abilities. I wasn’t looking to include any killer-combos, and I didn’t expect to win many games with it. Rather, I was looking to impact the behavior of the players around me, and encourage them to build their decks with an eye towards maximizing fun for everyone at the table.
Here is what I’ve come up with:
1 Phelddagrif
1 Maze of Ith
1 Soldevi Sentry
1 Ivory Tower
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Dispeller’s Capsule
1 Expedition Map
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Scroll Rack
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Whitemane Lion
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Sylvan Library
1 Wall of Omens
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura Shards
1 Devout Witness
1 Nullmage Advocate
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Stonecloaker
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Oona’s Grace
1 Rayne, Academy Chancellor
1 Krosan Grip
1 Reins of Power
1 Wrath of God
1 Questing Phelddagrif
1 Heartmender
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Clone
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Dust Elemental
1 Harmonize
1 Jester’s Cap
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Voidstone Gargoyle
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Mulldrifter
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Jester’s Mask
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Rout
1 Time Stop
1 Akroma’s Vengeance
1 Austere Command
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Duplicant
1 Draining Whelk
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Vesuva
1 Academy Ruins
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Mystic Gate
1 Flooded Grove
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Rupture Spire
1 Exotic Orchard
3 Island
6 Forest
8 Plains
An interesting side note: the analyzer I ran this through to make sure I had a decent mana source mix also does pricing, and I noticed that the decklist comes in right around $270, which is pretty decent actually, especially when you compare to some of the 60 card Standard decks running around now. Most of the money is tied up in the two dual lands and Gaea’s Cradle, so if you swap those out for basic lands you end up around $150 bucks. You can trim the budget even further by cutting some of the high-end stuff like the Maze of Ith, Ravnica duals, Sol Ring, Scroll Rack, etc.
So here’s a breakdown of the deck.
CARROTS: Maze of Ith, Soldevi Sentry, Questing Phelddagrif, Phelddagrif, Reins of Power, Jester’s Mask, Cauldron of Souls
With my general as Phelddagrif, I’ll nearly always have carrots to give out, so the number of card slots is pretty small. Soldevi Sentry is a card I’ve been wanting to try out in a deck like this, though keep in mind that it doesn’t work exactly as printed – you only get to hand out a draw when it actually regenerates. Here’s its ability in Oracle:
{1}: Choose target opponent. Regenerate Soldevi Sentry. When it regenerates this way, that player may draw a card.
Reins of Power is another card I have high hopes for—not only can I use it offensively for my own purposes (“trading up” my army for someone else’s superior force in order to attack someone else), but I help someone else out who might be defenseless by giving him a bunch of instant blockers. I’ve talked about the flexible uses of Jester’s Mask, and it seems particularly well-suited as a carrot card, and of course I love Cauldron of Souls since I can save other players’ creatures.
STICKS: Dispeller’s Capsule; Path to Exile; Swords to Plowshares; Qasali Pridemage; Seal of Cleansing; Seal of Primordium; Nullmage Advocate; Devout Witness; Aura Shards; Aven Mindcensor; Stonecloaker; Krosan Grip; Wrath of God; Glen Elendra Archmage; Venser, Shaper Savant; Jester’s Cap; Voidmage Husher; Fracturing Gust; Voidstone Gargoyle; Rout; Time Stop; Austere Command; Akroma’s Vengeance; Duplicant; Draining Whelk; Woodfall Primus
So, fully one-third of the non-lands in the deck are answer cards/carrots, with a pretty heavy helping of anti-enchantment and anti-artifact cards. I don’t intend on smashing people’s cards willy-nilly, mainly I’m just looking to breaking up lockdowns or cards that set off warning bells (Mirari & Mirari’s Wake spring to mind). Aven Mindcensor does a nice job of cutting down on tutoring and teaching people to lean more heavily to what cards may come instead of trying to push their highlander deck into a consistent machine.
Voidmage Husher is a great card that is quite useful if you pay attention and look for ways to put it to use, and there are sometimes when Husher will really save your bacon. Time Stop is another card that will just sometimes make you the hero of the table and save the day when literally nothing else would do it.
The Clone/Shapeshifter package do double-duty, either giving you access to a really awesome creature on the board or being General killers that can even take out Uril, the Miststalker.
So, what do you think? What are some of your favorite carrot & stick cards?
Not long ago I got an email request asking about my Reki, the History of Kamigawa deck, which made me realize I hadn’t actually shared the deck with my readers yet, so I figured I’d remedy that today. Reki is a rather innocuous Green general, but he’s quite powerful if you build your deck around him, and it turns out that there are plenty of great Green and artifact legends to stuff into the deck, and imagine if they all cantripped?
1 Reki, the History of Kamigawa
1 Maze of Ith
1 Arena
1 Rancor
1 Ivory Tower
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Exploration
1 Burgeoning
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Sylvan Library
1 Scroll Rack
1 Wurm’s Tooth
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Emerald Medallion
1 Gaea’s Touch
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Nullmage Advocate
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Krosan Grip
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
1 Isao, Enlightened Bushi
1 Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Eternal Witness
1 Tawnos’s Coffin
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Jester’s Cap
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Iwamori of the Open Fist
1 Tornado
1 Rootgrapple
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Jorael, Empress of Beasts
1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
1 Baru, Fist of Krosa
1 That Which Was Taken
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Kaysa
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Masumaro, First to Live
1 Jugan, the Rising Star
1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
1 Autumn Willow
1 Jedit Ojanen of Efrava
1 Sakiko, Mother of Summer
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Verdeloth the Ancient
1 Mindslaver
1 Seshiro the Anointed
1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Tornado Elemental
1 Akroma’s Memorial
1 Sekki, Season’s Guide
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 Myojin of Life’s Web
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Winding Canyons
1 Strip Mine
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Sapseep Forest
1 Gaea’s Cradle
28 Forest
Burgeoning, Exploration, Gaea’s Touch, and Sakura-Tribe Scout are in here because when so many cards cantrip you are bound to find your hand filling up with lands. I’ve debated cutting the Ivory Tower so that I’m not wavering between keeping lands in hand for the Tower or playing them out double-time. Maybe Eternity Vessel might be better? I’m also not sure I really want those legendary Eldrazi because I’ve been hearing they’re not all that fun to play against.
There are some cards in M11 I’m looking forward to adding to my Green decks, especially additional creature-control cards like Brittle Effigy and Mystifying Maze.
This is definitely a deck that relies on the right group of people to have fun with since I don’t really have a lot of “answer” cards in the deck. Which is a problem with the argument that each EDH deck needs to load up on answer cards in order to deal with those players looking to combo out or play “unfun” cards. When you do that you start to loose deck cohesion on certain styles of decks. For instance, Reki would be pretty pathetic if you only played a legendary card every couple of turns. My Karrthus Dragon deck would be lame with just a handful of dragons. An open-ended general like Phelddagrif gives you a lot more space for answers, but sometimes you just want to play more specialized and focused decks.
Last up I’d like to share my newest Commander (EDH on Magic Online) deck. Long-time readers might remember I used to write for Magicthegathering.com, and Wizards gave me a “god account” to play Magic Online and write columns geared towards the MTGO Community. One deck I remember playing and having fun with was built around Tombstone Stairwell, so that inspired me to try and build a Commander deck with Stairwell and a bunch of Zombies. After hitting a couple bots and spending about 6 tix to boost my collection, I ended up with this:
1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
1 Arena
1 Diamond Valley
1 Last Gasp
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Distorting Lens
1 Stromgald Crusader
1 Null Champion
1 No-Dachi
1 Terror
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Reito Lantern
1 Lord of the Undead
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Scuttlemutt
1 Coalition Relic
1 Zombie Trailblazer
1 Nantuko Husk
1 Gutless Ghoul
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Pilgrim’s Eye
1 Putrid Cyclops
1 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
1 Khabál Ghoul
1 Forcefield
1 Reaping the Graves
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Slate of Ancestry
1 Ashen Ghoul
1 Western Paladin
1 Eastern Paladin
1 Undead Warchief
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Paradise Plume
1 Balthor the Defiled
1 Feast or Famine
1 Syphon Mind
1 Filth
1 Vengeful Dead
1 Tombstone Stairwell
1 Mindless Automaton
1 Gravedigger
1 The Fallen
1 Unliving Psychopath
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Tawnos’s Coffin
1 Corpse Harvester
1 Shriekmaw
1 Guiltfeeder
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Noxious Ghoul
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Helldozer
1 Gempalm Polluter
1 Gravespawn Sovereign
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Lim-DÔl the Necromancer
1 Mutavault
1 Island of Wak-Wak
1 Barren Moor
1 Unholy Grotto
1 Dread Statuary
1 Urborg
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
33 Swamp
Terrible, right? My mana curve starts at two and quickly skyrockets from there. I was going to detail the Commander game I played here, but it just really wouldn’t make a very good read. There were two zombie decks (me with Korlash, another player with Lim-Dul) against a Mono-Green Omnath deck. I thought I was doing pretty good lucking out with turn 4 Eastern Paladin, but Omnath dropped a Spearbreaker Behemoth to have his extraordinarily large general’s back and suddenly my Green-killer turned into a chump blocker. Omnath was in the driver’s seat until he ran his general into Lim-Dul’s deathtouch zombies and forgot to activate the Behemoth’s ability to make him indestructible, and he went and dropped out of the game. Unfortunately, while I was floundering around, Lim-Dul had built up an army of deathtouching, double-lorded zombies that made quick work of me.
I’ve got a lot of work to do with this deck, so any budget-ideas you have are welcome, and I’ll recount my online adventures with this deck as I tweak and (hopefully) improve it over the coming weeks.
If you’re in the area, come down to Richmond for StarCityGames.com Magic 2011 prerelease Saturday and say hello—I’ll be working the admin desk and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new cards. Oh, we’ll also have two other Magic writers from the family you may have heard of—Patrick Chapin and Evan Erwin, desperately trying to fend off those of you looking to win some packs from them. Make sure you ask them if they brought EDH decks with them, and if they didn’t, tell ‘em to come borrow one from me—I’ll have a few on hand!
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:
Phelddagrif (carrots & sticks)
Tsabo Tavoc (red & black nastiness)
Reki, the History of Kamigawa (more legends than you can shake a stick at)
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (brain-eating zombies, Commander)