Everyone who loves playing Magic has that moment where someone they've met who has never played before shows a glimmer of interest. That's a special moment because it holds so much possibility for bringing someone into the fold and building a friendship around a great game.
But here's the thing: Playing Magic is tricky. The rules are dense. The timings, restrictions, formats, combat, and everything else that makes Magic so wonderful takes a while to even explain, let alone remember and apply. I know someone out there reading this is thinking, "I've taught plenty of people to play Magic and it's been just fine." Well, congratulations.
Wizards has done a good thing with releasing Duels of the Planeswalkers. I was floored when my wife introduced me to a couple of people and the conversation steered to toward gaming. It went something like this:
"My daughter plays Pokemon and loves it."
"Oh, hey I've been playing a game on my iPad called 'Duels of the Planeswalkers', ever heard of it?"
"As a matter of fact, I have. It's based on a card game. Let me know if you want to try it sometime."
My guess is that this is the conversation that Wizards imagined people having when they designed the Duels of the Planeswalkers trainer... er, game. That, and they imagined big piles of money. We call that a win/win.
But, showing a new player the ropes with a pre-constructed deck and getting them into Commander are two very different things. A lot of Commander games are wacky and random, and chock full of technical interactions involving stacks of spells and several players. Besides, one of the biggest barriers for new players is understanding combat. Combat in Commander is crazy. And the games can be extremely long. "Sit down right there, draw some cards, and don't move for about 4 hours." Sounds like fun, right?
What we need is a step between just-getting-started and full-on-Commander.
I recommend pre-building a couple of decks using the modified rules below. You can get a new player up to speed quickly so that they can get the main concepts down and so that they aren't completely lost at the table.
Champion (mini-Commander) Rules
Your "Champion" must be a Legendary Creature just like in Commander, but the "color identity" rule is relaxed a bit. You may include spells in your deck with one additional color besides your Champion's color(s). In other words, if you Champion is a White creature, you may include White spells in your deck along with spells of one other supporting color: Blue, Red, Black, or Green.
-This retains the "feel" of Commander, with your "Champion" creature giving your deck "flavor," but opens things up for deck-building. This is especially important for new players with small collections.
60-card deck, Highlander (Singleton).
-One copy of any given card still gives the decks a "random" feel, so that it's not the "same game" over and over.
-This lowers the barrier of entry for a new player that doesn't have a large collection.
-The reduced deck size is easier to shuffle and less prone to random bad draws.
You start with 30 life. It takes 15 poison counters to kill you.
-This speeds the game up compared to Commander, but pushes things out enough turns to still cast big spells.
Your Champion deals double the combat damage to players.
-Instead of tracking damage from every Commander separately, the Champions simply deal more damage.
-Yes, this makes some Champions better than others. Have removal ready.
If your Champion would put into any zone from play, it is put into the Champion zone instead. Pay 2 more mana each time to cast it.
-No more tucking the Champion into the deck or bouncing it back into your hand. It's simple. If it leaves play, it goes back home.
At the start of the game, set aside two basic lands from your deck. Shuffle the remaining cards and draw 5 cards instead of 7 into your opening hand. Put the two basic lands that you set aside into your hand. You'll end up with 7 total cards in your opening hand, 2 of which are the basic lands you set aside.
-It's super crappy to teach someone to play when they get mana screwed.
-Muliganing takes a long time. New players don't want to watch you shuffle for 10 minutes while you hem and haw over what to set aside for your partial paris. They want to play.
With these changes, teaching a new player about the format is much easier. They can build a deck with a smaller collection since the deck size is smaller and more forgiving with the Champion's color identity. The games are shorter since the life totals are smaller. And, it puts the focus on your Champion since they do extra damage.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Tutor, Draw, and Manipulate
Way back in Alpha, the original set, Richard Garfield laid the foundation for what Magic would be for years to come. Along with the core rules, many of the core concepts we know and love were created in that early set. But not everything went according to plan.
Check out these three concepts and how they do the same thing, but in different ways. This is important to consider when building your deck because it gets at the heart of what the designers are trying to do with the cards.
Tutoring, Card Drawing, and Deck Manipulation
Two of these cards are restricted in the Vintage format (where almost everything is legal) and banned in the Legacy format. One of them is not. The reason for the restrictions is that two of these cards are not costed properly. They "warp" or even "break" the formats where they are played, especially in multiple copies. Natural Selection is all good, though. Go nuts.
Warping and Breaking is what happens when something is under pressure. In Magic, there are a several ways to win. Cards that let you get other cards (tutoring), draw lots of cards (card drawing), or manipulate your library (deck manipulation) enable winning scenarios. In other words, in a game where one of the fundamental concepts is "randomness," being able to get the card(s) you want when you want them puts the rules under pressure. It breaks the game.
Of course, breaking the game is fun. Lots of cards break the game. Look at Omniscience. That's pretty broken... or it would be if the cost was 2U. Demonic Tutor costs two measly mana (1B), only one of which is Black. Compare this to Diabolic Tutor. It does the same thing, but at 4 mana (2BB), two of which are Black.
If Demonic Tutor is broken, Diabolic Tutor is the "fixed" version of the card. They figure that you have a heavier commitment to Black, need to generate two colored mana instead of one, and the total cost is 4, putting it in the turn 3-4 range. All that combined make for a card that works as intended. Tutoring is strong, but not format-warping at 4 mana.
Okay, so what about Ancestral Recall? If Demonic Tutor, a Black card, lets me get any card I want for only two mana (1B), what should a Blue card look like? Since I can't get any ol' card I want like I can with the tutor, I should be able to draw three cards instead. Plus, it's not like I can even necessarily use the cards. What if they are lands and I've already played a land this turn? So, it should cost even less mana to cast. Oh, and it should be an Instant so that I can cast it on my opponent's turn. Yeah, that sounds fair. Well, it did at the time because that's how they printed it. Ancestral Recall is totally broken.
There isn't really anything like Ancestral Recall. The designers have made many variations on card drawing, though. The closest Blue, Instant that draws three cards without any other funny business is probably Jace's Ingenuity at 5 mana (3UU). Otherwise, you could run Concentrate at Sorcery speed for 4 mana (2UU). Either way, you can't force your opponent to draw the cards like you could with Ancestral Recall. For that, you could run Inspiration at 4 mana (3U), but someone draws only two cards that way instead of three.
It's not a coincidence that all this card drawing shows up in the 4-5 mana range. The designers figure that at that point in the game, you deserve to draw some cards. Go ahead, treat yourself.
The last concept is deck manipulation. This started in Green, as you can see with Natural Selection, but mostly ended up in Blue. Green got a few other cards along this line, but not as many (or as good) as what Blue got. Cards like, Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, and Impulse let the Blue mage see a bunch of cards and choose the one they like the most. It's somewhere between tutoring for the exact card you want and outright drawing the cards you are looking at.
Notice the costs of the Blue mini-tutors, though. They are usually one or two mana, bringing them in line with the "fixed" versions of the cards above. Tutoring and card drawing both cost 4-5 mana. Manipulating your deck, however is much less mana-intensive. With tutoring, you effectively choose the card you want to "draw." With card drawing, even though you don't get to choose the cards you want to draw, you get to hold onto all of them to give yourself more options later. Deck manipulation works in a different way, giving you access to three or four cards on top of your library. Pick the best one! You can manipulate sooner, since the cost is lower. And, you can actually play the card you keep somewhere around the turn you'd be using the fixed tutors and card drawing.
What does this have to do with Commander? Well, this is foundation-of-the-game kind of stuff here. So, it applies to all formats. By all means, if you have a Demonic Tutor to run in your Commander deck, go for it. Just know that it is way under-costed. Running the properly-costed tutors (especially if you run all of them) makes your deck less "random," but you also usually give up the turn you tutor unless it's late in the game. I hate that. At two mana (1B), I can cast Demonic Tutor and usually play the card I got right there. Making things happen. At four mana (2UU), I can cast Diabolic Tutor and often pass my turn. Boo-hoo.
Ancestral Recall is banned in Commander, so that's out. But if you want to draw a bunch of cards, there are options: Fact or Fiction, Covenant of Minds, Fathom Trawl, and even Tidings are all going to give you a bunch of cards for about the right price. But you have the same problem as the tutoring. You draw a bunch of cards, but now what? If you've tapped out, you now have a snazzy handful of "waiting until your next turn while getting attacked."
Deck manipulation doesn't give you the exact card you need, but it does give you options. Options are king because they open up new lines of play. Options make good cards better and good decks better, without making every game a carbon copy of the last one. There's little doubt why Sensei's Divining Top is one of the best cards in the format. It's a low-cost artifact, cheap to activate, that manipulates your deck turn after turn, with a way to protect itself, and draw the card you really need when you need it. Woo doggie.
Check out these three concepts and how they do the same thing, but in different ways. This is important to consider when building your deck because it gets at the heart of what the designers are trying to do with the cards.
Tutoring, Card Drawing, and Deck Manipulation
Two of these cards are restricted in the Vintage format (where almost everything is legal) and banned in the Legacy format. One of them is not. The reason for the restrictions is that two of these cards are not costed properly. They "warp" or even "break" the formats where they are played, especially in multiple copies. Natural Selection is all good, though. Go nuts.
Warping and Breaking is what happens when something is under pressure. In Magic, there are a several ways to win. Cards that let you get other cards (tutoring), draw lots of cards (card drawing), or manipulate your library (deck manipulation) enable winning scenarios. In other words, in a game where one of the fundamental concepts is "randomness," being able to get the card(s) you want when you want them puts the rules under pressure. It breaks the game.
Of course, breaking the game is fun. Lots of cards break the game. Look at Omniscience. That's pretty broken... or it would be if the cost was 2U. Demonic Tutor costs two measly mana (1B), only one of which is Black. Compare this to Diabolic Tutor. It does the same thing, but at 4 mana (2BB), two of which are Black.
If Demonic Tutor is broken, Diabolic Tutor is the "fixed" version of the card. They figure that you have a heavier commitment to Black, need to generate two colored mana instead of one, and the total cost is 4, putting it in the turn 3-4 range. All that combined make for a card that works as intended. Tutoring is strong, but not format-warping at 4 mana.
Okay, so what about Ancestral Recall? If Demonic Tutor, a Black card, lets me get any card I want for only two mana (1B), what should a Blue card look like? Since I can't get any ol' card I want like I can with the tutor, I should be able to draw three cards instead. Plus, it's not like I can even necessarily use the cards. What if they are lands and I've already played a land this turn? So, it should cost even less mana to cast. Oh, and it should be an Instant so that I can cast it on my opponent's turn. Yeah, that sounds fair. Well, it did at the time because that's how they printed it. Ancestral Recall is totally broken.
There isn't really anything like Ancestral Recall. The designers have made many variations on card drawing, though. The closest Blue, Instant that draws three cards without any other funny business is probably Jace's Ingenuity at 5 mana (3UU). Otherwise, you could run Concentrate at Sorcery speed for 4 mana (2UU). Either way, you can't force your opponent to draw the cards like you could with Ancestral Recall. For that, you could run Inspiration at 4 mana (3U), but someone draws only two cards that way instead of three.
It's not a coincidence that all this card drawing shows up in the 4-5 mana range. The designers figure that at that point in the game, you deserve to draw some cards. Go ahead, treat yourself.
The last concept is deck manipulation. This started in Green, as you can see with Natural Selection, but mostly ended up in Blue. Green got a few other cards along this line, but not as many (or as good) as what Blue got. Cards like, Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, and Impulse let the Blue mage see a bunch of cards and choose the one they like the most. It's somewhere between tutoring for the exact card you want and outright drawing the cards you are looking at.
Notice the costs of the Blue mini-tutors, though. They are usually one or two mana, bringing them in line with the "fixed" versions of the cards above. Tutoring and card drawing both cost 4-5 mana. Manipulating your deck, however is much less mana-intensive. With tutoring, you effectively choose the card you want to "draw." With card drawing, even though you don't get to choose the cards you want to draw, you get to hold onto all of them to give yourself more options later. Deck manipulation works in a different way, giving you access to three or four cards on top of your library. Pick the best one! You can manipulate sooner, since the cost is lower. And, you can actually play the card you keep somewhere around the turn you'd be using the fixed tutors and card drawing.
What does this have to do with Commander? Well, this is foundation-of-the-game kind of stuff here. So, it applies to all formats. By all means, if you have a Demonic Tutor to run in your Commander deck, go for it. Just know that it is way under-costed. Running the properly-costed tutors (especially if you run all of them) makes your deck less "random," but you also usually give up the turn you tutor unless it's late in the game. I hate that. At two mana (1B), I can cast Demonic Tutor and usually play the card I got right there. Making things happen. At four mana (2UU), I can cast Diabolic Tutor and often pass my turn. Boo-hoo.
Ancestral Recall is banned in Commander, so that's out. But if you want to draw a bunch of cards, there are options: Fact or Fiction, Covenant of Minds, Fathom Trawl, and even Tidings are all going to give you a bunch of cards for about the right price. But you have the same problem as the tutoring. You draw a bunch of cards, but now what? If you've tapped out, you now have a snazzy handful of "waiting until your next turn while getting attacked."
Deck manipulation doesn't give you the exact card you need, but it does give you options. Options are king because they open up new lines of play. Options make good cards better and good decks better, without making every game a carbon copy of the last one. There's little doubt why Sensei's Divining Top is one of the best cards in the format. It's a low-cost artifact, cheap to activate, that manipulates your deck turn after turn, with a way to protect itself, and draw the card you really need when you need it. Woo doggie.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Spotlight: Rhystic Study
As it turns out, Rhystic Study is one of "those" cards. You know what I'm talking about: the cards that everyone seems to profess undying love for, but that just don't do a thing for you.
Rhystic Study shows up in Commander's Arsenal. So, that's a nod to its popularity. Otherwise, you're looking at a 2U (3cc) enchantment from the Prophecy set circa 2000. I've run this card a number of times in a number of decks. Whenever I draw it, I think: Well, there's a card that isn't going to do anything for me this turn. But I play it anyway. In the 10-or-so times it's been on the table, I've drawn maybe 3 cards... total. And it's not like the 1 mana "tax" on my opponents' spells is breaking things wide open for me, either.
When I see the word "Rhystic" on the card, I immediately think the same thought I had when I saw this set for the first time: I wonder if "Rhystic" means "Terrible"? Just about anytime your opponent can choose if you get to do something, you've already lost. Rhystic Study hangs around instead of being a one-shot deal, but it still just sits there.
Yuck.
I suspect that all the love for Rhystic Study comes from the "politics" of the Commander format. Most people I know frown upon flat-out alliances at the table. But there's nothing wrong with raising your eyebrows at the Rhystic Study player after casting a spell then tapping the extra mana to "pay the tax" before taking it back with a casual comment, "No, go ahead and draw the card." Subtext: Wink, wink. Further Subtext: How about you attack someone else next turn. I am the guy who let you draw that card, after all.
Maybe I'm just no good at politics, but it doesn't ever work out this way for me. I'd rather be in control of the cards I draw, and when I draw them. For the same casting cost, I can draw some cards or filter through a few more and end up with the one I want.
Assuming you are already running Ponder, Brainstorm, Impulse, Forbidden Alchemy, and Thirst for Knowledge, consider Compulsive Research. Draw three cards, discard one or two from your hand. Great! I get to see three new cards. Plus, if I draw a land or have a land in my hand, I get to keep two of them. There's nothing saying I can't drop things in the graveyard that I want there, either. Maybe I have a Reanimate in my hand. Maybe I have a Crucible of Worlds on the table. Either way, I see three cards immediately. Things are happening.
Not your style? Want some major upside with super surprise factor baked right in? How about Theft of Dreams, Borrowing 100,000 Arrows (yes, this is a real card), or Keep Watch? Sure, you might have to wait around for a particularly good time to cast these, but boy-oh-boy when it works out it really works out!
But the options don't stop there, folks. Want to feel raw power? How about a broken card from Urza's Saga? Restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy for a reason, Windfall can spring out of nowhere and refill your hand for a measly 2U (3cc): the same cost at Rhystic Study.
On the plus side for Rhystic Study, it does sit there ticking away. In a big enough game, with enough time, you might end up drawing a bunch of cards. Maybe. (But, I doubt it). If that sounds like more your speed, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is the card you want. It's more mana, but there's some serious strength in her Planeswalker abilities. You can use the -2 loyalty ability to duplicate Keep Watch and Borrowing 100,000 Arrows right off the bat. And if you do get the emblem, well, blamo. :)
Plus, "Moon Sage." So, that's fun.
Rhystic Study shows up in Commander's Arsenal. So, that's a nod to its popularity. Otherwise, you're looking at a 2U (3cc) enchantment from the Prophecy set circa 2000. I've run this card a number of times in a number of decks. Whenever I draw it, I think: Well, there's a card that isn't going to do anything for me this turn. But I play it anyway. In the 10-or-so times it's been on the table, I've drawn maybe 3 cards... total. And it's not like the 1 mana "tax" on my opponents' spells is breaking things wide open for me, either.
When I see the word "Rhystic" on the card, I immediately think the same thought I had when I saw this set for the first time: I wonder if "Rhystic" means "Terrible"? Just about anytime your opponent can choose if you get to do something, you've already lost. Rhystic Study hangs around instead of being a one-shot deal, but it still just sits there.
Yuck.
I suspect that all the love for Rhystic Study comes from the "politics" of the Commander format. Most people I know frown upon flat-out alliances at the table. But there's nothing wrong with raising your eyebrows at the Rhystic Study player after casting a spell then tapping the extra mana to "pay the tax" before taking it back with a casual comment, "No, go ahead and draw the card." Subtext: Wink, wink. Further Subtext: How about you attack someone else next turn. I am the guy who let you draw that card, after all.
Maybe I'm just no good at politics, but it doesn't ever work out this way for me. I'd rather be in control of the cards I draw, and when I draw them. For the same casting cost, I can draw some cards or filter through a few more and end up with the one I want.
Assuming you are already running Ponder, Brainstorm, Impulse, Forbidden Alchemy, and Thirst for Knowledge, consider Compulsive Research. Draw three cards, discard one or two from your hand. Great! I get to see three new cards. Plus, if I draw a land or have a land in my hand, I get to keep two of them. There's nothing saying I can't drop things in the graveyard that I want there, either. Maybe I have a Reanimate in my hand. Maybe I have a Crucible of Worlds on the table. Either way, I see three cards immediately. Things are happening.
Not your style? Want some major upside with super surprise factor baked right in? How about Theft of Dreams, Borrowing 100,000 Arrows (yes, this is a real card), or Keep Watch? Sure, you might have to wait around for a particularly good time to cast these, but boy-oh-boy when it works out it really works out!
But the options don't stop there, folks. Want to feel raw power? How about a broken card from Urza's Saga? Restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy for a reason, Windfall can spring out of nowhere and refill your hand for a measly 2U (3cc): the same cost at Rhystic Study.
On the plus side for Rhystic Study, it does sit there ticking away. In a big enough game, with enough time, you might end up drawing a bunch of cards. Maybe. (But, I doubt it). If that sounds like more your speed, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is the card you want. It's more mana, but there's some serious strength in her Planeswalker abilities. You can use the -2 loyalty ability to duplicate Keep Watch and Borrowing 100,000 Arrows right off the bat. And if you do get the emblem, well, blamo. :)
Plus, "Moon Sage." So, that's fun.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Grixis, Bolas and Planeswalkers
As a mentioned a few posts ago, playing against Eldrazi isn't always fun. So, my Arcanis / Braids / Eldrazi deck is on hiatus for a while. In it's place, behold: Nicol Bolas!
Okay, maybe Bolas isn't tons of fun either, but this deck isn't designed to go all out. With Bolas in the Commander slot and no way to cheat him into play, it's not like you won't see him coming. Besides, I'm not running ANY equipment (no haste, shroud, or hexproof). A couple of other things to note:
1) There are no sweepers other than O.Stone and N.Disk.
2) There are enough Planeswalkers to see a couple per game.
3) The creatures are few. And they are ones that I felt made an impact on the game that other players would feel. They aren't just random beaters.
4) These are my leftover cards. I'm not taking anything else apart to build this, so most of the "staple" EDH cards are not here: Solemn Simulacrum, Sol Ring, etc.
The Creatures:
Clone and Evil Twin are both there to cause problems to Legendary creatures, particularly Commanders. Because of the Legend rule, both of these cards work as very effective Commander removal. Phyrexian Metamorph and Phantasmal Image are probably both better, but I don't have them. :)
Charmbreaker Devils, Kozilek, Consecrated Sphinx, Magus of the Future, and Sphinx of Uthuun are all spectacular at giving me more fuel for the fire. The Devils throw a spell back into my hand. Kozilek is a powerhouse. He doesn't just beat up Truth; he butchers it. The Consecrated Sphinx is ridiculous. No, seriously. Future Sight is one of my all-time favorite cards, so the Magus of the same gets the nod, and who doesn't like Fact or Fiction stapled to a big, flying Sphinx?
Geth, Kaervek, Prince of Thralls, Psychosis Crawler, Gilded Drake and Thraximundar are all trouble-makers. Geth's ability fits my theme of "stealing" creatures, only his thievery happens after they are dead. The Drake steals the best targetable creature on the table. How is the flavor text on that card not, "Here, have a drake."? The Prince lets me ask this question over and over, "Do I get it?" No end of fun there. Psychosis Crawler can get really out of hand, fast. And as Bolas' Zombie Assassin, Thraximundar is in-theme. Although he is a great creature (and causes a sacrifice), I'm not sure that I want him here. He's on my watch list. Saying his name is fun, though.
With all the Planeswalkers running around, Savor the Moment and Rings of Brighthearth really shine. Savor the Moment basically reads: Activate your Planeswalkers again. Oh, and play a land if you've got one. Blue ramp! Rings of Brighthearth is crazy and deserves a separate post altogether. Pro-tip: You can use Rings with the Planeswalker abilities, and the fetch lands, and cycling, and the list goes on.
I'm thinking that the deck might want Keening Stone. There are a few other possibilities I'm considering, but I want to try it in this configuration before I start making wholesale changes. I love building and testing new decks! There's something fulfilling about testing out themes and pushing them. I like winning as much as the next guy, but this is about winning with style.
Minor Note: I switched out Syphon Mind for Liliana of the Dark Realms in my mono-black demon deck. Syphon Mind can be a spectacular card, but it doesn't really fit the themes in my deck and I've never had a big turn from playing it. Your mileage may vary. Plus, Liliana is what the deck is all about. :)
Okay, maybe Bolas isn't tons of fun either, but this deck isn't designed to go all out. With Bolas in the Commander slot and no way to cheat him into play, it's not like you won't see him coming. Besides, I'm not running ANY equipment (no haste, shroud, or hexproof). A couple of other things to note:
1) There are no sweepers other than O.Stone and N.Disk.
2) There are enough Planeswalkers to see a couple per game.
3) The creatures are few. And they are ones that I felt made an impact on the game that other players would feel. They aren't just random beaters.
4) These are my leftover cards. I'm not taking anything else apart to build this, so most of the "staple" EDH cards are not here: Solemn Simulacrum, Sol Ring, etc.
The Creatures:
Clone and Evil Twin are both there to cause problems to Legendary creatures, particularly Commanders. Because of the Legend rule, both of these cards work as very effective Commander removal. Phyrexian Metamorph and Phantasmal Image are probably both better, but I don't have them. :)
Charmbreaker Devils, Kozilek, Consecrated Sphinx, Magus of the Future, and Sphinx of Uthuun are all spectacular at giving me more fuel for the fire. The Devils throw a spell back into my hand. Kozilek is a powerhouse. He doesn't just beat up Truth; he butchers it. The Consecrated Sphinx is ridiculous. No, seriously. Future Sight is one of my all-time favorite cards, so the Magus of the same gets the nod, and who doesn't like Fact or Fiction stapled to a big, flying Sphinx?
Geth, Kaervek, Prince of Thralls, Psychosis Crawler, Gilded Drake and Thraximundar are all trouble-makers. Geth's ability fits my theme of "stealing" creatures, only his thievery happens after they are dead. The Drake steals the best targetable creature on the table. How is the flavor text on that card not, "Here, have a drake."? The Prince lets me ask this question over and over, "Do I get it?" No end of fun there. Psychosis Crawler can get really out of hand, fast. And as Bolas' Zombie Assassin, Thraximundar is in-theme. Although he is a great creature (and causes a sacrifice), I'm not sure that I want him here. He's on my watch list. Saying his name is fun, though.
With all the Planeswalkers running around, Savor the Moment and Rings of Brighthearth really shine. Savor the Moment basically reads: Activate your Planeswalkers again. Oh, and play a land if you've got one. Blue ramp! Rings of Brighthearth is crazy and deserves a separate post altogether. Pro-tip: You can use Rings with the Planeswalker abilities, and the fetch lands, and cycling, and the list goes on.
I'm thinking that the deck might want Keening Stone. There are a few other possibilities I'm considering, but I want to try it in this configuration before I start making wholesale changes. I love building and testing new decks! There's something fulfilling about testing out themes and pushing them. I like winning as much as the next guy, but this is about winning with style.
Minor Note: I switched out Syphon Mind for Liliana of the Dark Realms in my mono-black demon deck. Syphon Mind can be a spectacular card, but it doesn't really fit the themes in my deck and I've never had a big turn from playing it. Your mileage may vary. Plus, Liliana is what the deck is all about. :)
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Choosing Lands for Commander Decks
At the heart of Magic (and every game) is that players make tradeoffs. We accept constraints (the rules) to make the game work. Imagine Magic with no rules. That would be lame, right? Mark Rosewater, one of Magic's designers, understands this well. Constraints are what make the game exist at all. The right constraints are what make the game fun.
To explain how to select the right mix of lands for your Commander deck, let's look at how these tradeoffs work in the context of the lands themselves. Way back in the original set, Richard Garfield put in five land cards. These basic lands formed the foundation of Magic. From these lands, we get mana. From the mana, we cast spells. But right from the get-go, he cleverly introduced a constraint. Players had to choose the right lands to go with the spells they wanted to cast. Building a deck with only one color meant that your deck could more consistently cast the spells you wanted. Adding additional colors meant that the consistency of your deck went down. But I see a lot of Commander decklists out there where people are adding inconsistency for no good reason.
So, let's use the basic lands as our "benchmark" to see how the designers introduce choices. These are the choices that we - as players - have to make when building a deck. So, it's important to see how they force us to make tradeoffs. Plus, we can save some money if we don't buy cards we don't end up wanting.
If a basic land is the "standard," then we can compare everything else to this standard. For example, look at a Swamp. It's great for a mono-black deck. Not as good for a mono-white deck. A Plains would be an objectively better card in that same deck slot. That, my friends, is what we call obvious. But how about an Underground Sea? Is that better than a Swamp?
In the original set, the designer included a set of so-called "dual lands." These lands, like the Underground Sea, tapped for two different colors of mana. The only drawback was that they were not "basic" lands. For our purposes, this meant that you were limited in the number you could put in your deck. (It didn't work this way at the very beginning, but the four-of rule ended up creating this constraint.) The supposed drawback wasn't much of a drawback at all. There weren't many cards that affected non-basic lands (if any) at that time. But making a distinction between "basic" and "non-basic" lands did open up design space that was later explored with cards like Blood Moon, creating a bigger risk for running non-basic lands.
The real issue is that the original dual lands are "too good." The real drawback was that they were more rare, a constraint that steps outside of the rules and play of the game. Don't get me wrong: dropping big money on the original dual lands is a drawback, just not one that happens in the game.
Okay, so evaluating lands for your Commander deck might look something like this:
My Commander is Wrexial, the Risen Deep. He's blue / black (UB) so my deck is full of blue and black spells I want to cast. What are my options?
Island (this is the standard, so not much going on here)
+produces blue mana
Underground Sea
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+counts as a swamp
+counts as an island
-is a non-basic land
Forgetting the price of buying the card for a moment, this looks like a good deal. Too good. I would automatically include one in the deck if I had access to this card. The drawback of it being non-basic is a drawback I can accept. There are a handful of cards that might see play that would hurt me for running a non-basic, but otherwise it's all good. I don't expose myself to much risk for running the Underground Sea over the Island, and I get access to two colors of mana right away.
That's an easy one. Let's look at something more interesting.
The designers started to wise up as the game developed. To get access to more than one color of mana on a single land card, players were going to have to make a tradeoff that mattered. The two biggest tradeoffs are "comes into play tapped" and "lose some life." For example, let's compare an Island to an Underground River. (See, it's a river, not quite as big as a sea.)
Island (same as before, the standard)
+produces blue mana
Underground River
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+produces colorless mana
-does 1 damage to you when it produces colored mana
-is a non-basic land
In this example, the Underground River doesn't count as a Swamp or and Island. Since there are other cards that "care" about these basic land types, this could be important. More on that later. What we have here is a real choice. Do we accept the tradeoff of taking damage each and every time we want to produce colored mana with this land? What about this one? Is this any better?
Salt Marsh
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
-comes into play tapped
-is a non-basic land
The Salt Marsh doesn't count as a Swamp or Island either. It offers the same "risk" since it is also non-basic. But this time, instead of taking damage to get mana, I have to wait a turn to use it. That's like giving my opponent(s) a mini-Time Walk. There are times where your lands coming into play tapped is no big deal. There are other times where it makes the difference between winning and losing. Imagine that your opponents lands come into play untapped and ready for action. Now imagine that all of your lands come into play tapped. Who is likely to win that game? If you start including lands that come into play tapped, you are creating a version of that game. It's a raw deal. Avoid lands that can't be used right away.
How about the new dual lands? Should we run those? The new dual lands work just like the original dual lands except they include an additional choice. Instead of coming into play untapped with no drawbacks, you can choose to pay 2 life for that privilege or allow the land to come into play tapped instead.
Watery Grave
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+counts as a swamp
+counts as an island
-comes into play tapped unless you pay 2 life
-is a non-basic land
In other words, Watery Grave is exactly like Underground Sea except for that pesky "pay 2 life" clause. Still, this gives us the most options. It produces two colors of mana. You have the choice of paying the life or letting it come into play tapped when it is most opportune for you (not your opponent). And, it counts as the basic land types we care about. Looks like a good deal! But is there a better deal out there?
I couldn't quite believe it when they printed the "fetch lands." They are incredibly good. But don't take my word for it. Let's look at how this works.
Polluted Delta
+(effectively) produces blue mana
+(effectively) produces black mana
+(effectively) counts as a swamp
+(effectively) counts as an island
-costs 1 life to use
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
That's right. Polluted Delta is all that and a bag of chips. If I had to choose between running Underground Sea or Polluted Delta, it would be a close call. Blasphemy, I know. But with the Polluted Delta, I can shuffle my library on command. I can thin my deck (slightly). Since it ends up in my graveyard, I can replay it with Crucible or Worlds. I can activate it to get the color of mana I need, even when my opponent is threatening me with a Wasteland or Strip Mine. It effectively gives me the color of mana I need the turn that I play it. I can use Rings of Brighthearth on it. And, since it doesn't use the word "basic," I can fetch my dual lands (old or new). Woah, hold the phone.
The reason my mind was blown when I saw the fetch lands is that they actually printed something that made the original dual lands even better. I can crack my Polluted Delta to make all those technical plays listed above, and then go and get my Underground Sea for my trouble. For comparison purposes, let's look at another fetch land that's not as good.
Terramorphic Expanse
+(effectively) produces any color of mana
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
-target land must be a "basic" land
-target land comes into play tapped
The only benefit this has over Polluted Delta is that you don't have to pay a life to use it. Otherwise, it doesn't get dual lands (only basics), and the land that it gets comes into play tapped. It's the worst of all worlds. But it's not the only fetch land out there. The Panorama lands might be decent. Let's see.
Grixis Panorama
+(effectively) produces blue, black, or red mana
+produces colorless mana
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
-target land must be a "basic" land
-target land comes into play tapped
-costs one mana to activate
Another way to look at this is that when comparing the Grixis Panorama to the Terramorphic Expanse, you can't get quite as many of the basic lands since you are limited to only three, but you can tap it to make a colorless mana the turn it comes into play. That's much better because it doesn't create a mini-Time Walk for your opponent. It does have an additional drawback, though. When you tap it to finally fetch the land you want, you have to pay a colorless mana. So, in effect, it takes your land drop for the turn and it takes one of your other mana you might use for something else, and then the land it gets comes into play tapped. Still, it's better than the Terramorphic Expanse because you choose when these terrible things happen to you.
There are, of course, many other lands that tap for more than one color. There are even other fetch lands. Examples include: Drowned Catacomb and Bad River. You can do the same analysis on these to see if they are something you'd want into your Commander deck. Pro-tip: they're not.
The truth is that most of us don't have access to every card ever listed. We have to make tradeoffs about what cards to spend our money on. So, using a decision-making framework to make choices before you buy the cards can keep costs in line with budget. Important stuff. What I've found is that the the value of a card (the price) is the intersection between scarcity and perceived value. Classic supply and demand. Players may not know why a card is better, but based on intuition, experience, and practice, some cards rise to the top.
If I was choosing lands for my Wrexial deck that produce more than one color of mana, here's my buy list in order:
(Command Tower, of course: all relevant colors, no real drawback)
Polluted Delta
*Underground Sea
Flooded Strand
Bloodstained Mire
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
*Watery Grave
And here's the dirty secret. That's it. That's the list. It's the old dual land, the new dual land, and all of the fetch lands in my colors. Every other land that I can think of, when I do the analysis, isn't worth running over a basic land. The times when the other lands come into play tapped or damage me far outweigh the times where I am missing the color of mana that I need.
Part of that comes from deck-building, too. Don't get my wrong. If you cram a bunch of BBB and UUU spells into your deck, expect to run into a little trouble getting the right color of mana on turn three. But take note before you go out and buy a bunch of lands that aren't doing much to help you. Just save up for the fetch lands. You'll spend less in the long run. And have a more consistent deck.
Believe it or not, running only basic lands is going to get you most of the way there. Try it. Unsurprisingly, one-color decks will do just fine. Two colors, you'll do just fine too. Three colors, you might run into some cases where you are searching for a land you need to cast a spell. Four colors and you start to need fetch lands and dual lands to make it work. Five colors and you will be in a world of hurt without them (but you can try a green mana base).
The dual lands (old and new) and the fetch lands make a good deck even better. They add consistency and open up other technical lines of play (shuffling, reusing lands, playing defensively to keep access to a color, etc). The other lands make you deck worse.
To explain how to select the right mix of lands for your Commander deck, let's look at how these tradeoffs work in the context of the lands themselves. Way back in the original set, Richard Garfield put in five land cards. These basic lands formed the foundation of Magic. From these lands, we get mana. From the mana, we cast spells. But right from the get-go, he cleverly introduced a constraint. Players had to choose the right lands to go with the spells they wanted to cast. Building a deck with only one color meant that your deck could more consistently cast the spells you wanted. Adding additional colors meant that the consistency of your deck went down. But I see a lot of Commander decklists out there where people are adding inconsistency for no good reason.
So, let's use the basic lands as our "benchmark" to see how the designers introduce choices. These are the choices that we - as players - have to make when building a deck. So, it's important to see how they force us to make tradeoffs. Plus, we can save some money if we don't buy cards we don't end up wanting.
If a basic land is the "standard," then we can compare everything else to this standard. For example, look at a Swamp. It's great for a mono-black deck. Not as good for a mono-white deck. A Plains would be an objectively better card in that same deck slot. That, my friends, is what we call obvious. But how about an Underground Sea? Is that better than a Swamp?
In the original set, the designer included a set of so-called "dual lands." These lands, like the Underground Sea, tapped for two different colors of mana. The only drawback was that they were not "basic" lands. For our purposes, this meant that you were limited in the number you could put in your deck. (It didn't work this way at the very beginning, but the four-of rule ended up creating this constraint.) The supposed drawback wasn't much of a drawback at all. There weren't many cards that affected non-basic lands (if any) at that time. But making a distinction between "basic" and "non-basic" lands did open up design space that was later explored with cards like Blood Moon, creating a bigger risk for running non-basic lands.
The real issue is that the original dual lands are "too good." The real drawback was that they were more rare, a constraint that steps outside of the rules and play of the game. Don't get me wrong: dropping big money on the original dual lands is a drawback, just not one that happens in the game.
Okay, so evaluating lands for your Commander deck might look something like this:
My Commander is Wrexial, the Risen Deep. He's blue / black (UB) so my deck is full of blue and black spells I want to cast. What are my options?
Island (this is the standard, so not much going on here)
+produces blue mana
Underground Sea
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+counts as a swamp
+counts as an island
-is a non-basic land
Forgetting the price of buying the card for a moment, this looks like a good deal. Too good. I would automatically include one in the deck if I had access to this card. The drawback of it being non-basic is a drawback I can accept. There are a handful of cards that might see play that would hurt me for running a non-basic, but otherwise it's all good. I don't expose myself to much risk for running the Underground Sea over the Island, and I get access to two colors of mana right away.
That's an easy one. Let's look at something more interesting.
The designers started to wise up as the game developed. To get access to more than one color of mana on a single land card, players were going to have to make a tradeoff that mattered. The two biggest tradeoffs are "comes into play tapped" and "lose some life." For example, let's compare an Island to an Underground River. (See, it's a river, not quite as big as a sea.)
Island (same as before, the standard)
+produces blue mana
Underground River
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+produces colorless mana
-does 1 damage to you when it produces colored mana
-is a non-basic land
In this example, the Underground River doesn't count as a Swamp or and Island. Since there are other cards that "care" about these basic land types, this could be important. More on that later. What we have here is a real choice. Do we accept the tradeoff of taking damage each and every time we want to produce colored mana with this land? What about this one? Is this any better?
Salt Marsh
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
-comes into play tapped
-is a non-basic land
The Salt Marsh doesn't count as a Swamp or Island either. It offers the same "risk" since it is also non-basic. But this time, instead of taking damage to get mana, I have to wait a turn to use it. That's like giving my opponent(s) a mini-Time Walk. There are times where your lands coming into play tapped is no big deal. There are other times where it makes the difference between winning and losing. Imagine that your opponents lands come into play untapped and ready for action. Now imagine that all of your lands come into play tapped. Who is likely to win that game? If you start including lands that come into play tapped, you are creating a version of that game. It's a raw deal. Avoid lands that can't be used right away.
How about the new dual lands? Should we run those? The new dual lands work just like the original dual lands except they include an additional choice. Instead of coming into play untapped with no drawbacks, you can choose to pay 2 life for that privilege or allow the land to come into play tapped instead.
Watery Grave
+produces blue mana
+produces black mana
+counts as a swamp
+counts as an island
-comes into play tapped unless you pay 2 life
-is a non-basic land
In other words, Watery Grave is exactly like Underground Sea except for that pesky "pay 2 life" clause. Still, this gives us the most options. It produces two colors of mana. You have the choice of paying the life or letting it come into play tapped when it is most opportune for you (not your opponent). And, it counts as the basic land types we care about. Looks like a good deal! But is there a better deal out there?
I couldn't quite believe it when they printed the "fetch lands." They are incredibly good. But don't take my word for it. Let's look at how this works.
Polluted Delta
+(effectively) produces blue mana
+(effectively) produces black mana
+(effectively) counts as a swamp
+(effectively) counts as an island
-costs 1 life to use
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
That's right. Polluted Delta is all that and a bag of chips. If I had to choose between running Underground Sea or Polluted Delta, it would be a close call. Blasphemy, I know. But with the Polluted Delta, I can shuffle my library on command. I can thin my deck (slightly). Since it ends up in my graveyard, I can replay it with Crucible or Worlds. I can activate it to get the color of mana I need, even when my opponent is threatening me with a Wasteland or Strip Mine. It effectively gives me the color of mana I need the turn that I play it. I can use Rings of Brighthearth on it. And, since it doesn't use the word "basic," I can fetch my dual lands (old or new). Woah, hold the phone.
The reason my mind was blown when I saw the fetch lands is that they actually printed something that made the original dual lands even better. I can crack my Polluted Delta to make all those technical plays listed above, and then go and get my Underground Sea for my trouble. For comparison purposes, let's look at another fetch land that's not as good.
Terramorphic Expanse
+(effectively) produces any color of mana
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
-target land must be a "basic" land
-target land comes into play tapped
The only benefit this has over Polluted Delta is that you don't have to pay a life to use it. Otherwise, it doesn't get dual lands (only basics), and the land that it gets comes into play tapped. It's the worst of all worlds. But it's not the only fetch land out there. The Panorama lands might be decent. Let's see.
Grixis Panorama
+(effectively) produces blue, black, or red mana
+produces colorless mana
-is a non-basic land (but the drawback is mostly nullified)
-target land must be a "basic" land
-target land comes into play tapped
-costs one mana to activate
Another way to look at this is that when comparing the Grixis Panorama to the Terramorphic Expanse, you can't get quite as many of the basic lands since you are limited to only three, but you can tap it to make a colorless mana the turn it comes into play. That's much better because it doesn't create a mini-Time Walk for your opponent. It does have an additional drawback, though. When you tap it to finally fetch the land you want, you have to pay a colorless mana. So, in effect, it takes your land drop for the turn and it takes one of your other mana you might use for something else, and then the land it gets comes into play tapped. Still, it's better than the Terramorphic Expanse because you choose when these terrible things happen to you.
There are, of course, many other lands that tap for more than one color. There are even other fetch lands. Examples include: Drowned Catacomb and Bad River. You can do the same analysis on these to see if they are something you'd want into your Commander deck. Pro-tip: they're not.
The truth is that most of us don't have access to every card ever listed. We have to make tradeoffs about what cards to spend our money on. So, using a decision-making framework to make choices before you buy the cards can keep costs in line with budget. Important stuff. What I've found is that the the value of a card (the price) is the intersection between scarcity and perceived value. Classic supply and demand. Players may not know why a card is better, but based on intuition, experience, and practice, some cards rise to the top.
If I was choosing lands for my Wrexial deck that produce more than one color of mana, here's my buy list in order:
(Command Tower, of course: all relevant colors, no real drawback)
Polluted Delta
*Underground Sea
Flooded Strand
Bloodstained Mire
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
*Watery Grave
And here's the dirty secret. That's it. That's the list. It's the old dual land, the new dual land, and all of the fetch lands in my colors. Every other land that I can think of, when I do the analysis, isn't worth running over a basic land. The times when the other lands come into play tapped or damage me far outweigh the times where I am missing the color of mana that I need.
Part of that comes from deck-building, too. Don't get my wrong. If you cram a bunch of BBB and UUU spells into your deck, expect to run into a little trouble getting the right color of mana on turn three. But take note before you go out and buy a bunch of lands that aren't doing much to help you. Just save up for the fetch lands. You'll spend less in the long run. And have a more consistent deck.
Believe it or not, running only basic lands is going to get you most of the way there. Try it. Unsurprisingly, one-color decks will do just fine. Two colors, you'll do just fine too. Three colors, you might run into some cases where you are searching for a land you need to cast a spell. Four colors and you start to need fetch lands and dual lands to make it work. Five colors and you will be in a world of hurt without them (but you can try a green mana base).
The dual lands (old and new) and the fetch lands make a good deck even better. They add consistency and open up other technical lines of play (shuffling, reusing lands, playing defensively to keep access to a color, etc). The other lands make you deck worse.
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