Keeping Up With Griselbrand

Have I mentioned how not cool it is that Griselbrand is banned? At 8cc mana, he shows up right on time to refill my hand. You know what happens now when I hit 8cc mana? A whole lotta nuthin. Reiver Demon, sometimes.

Anyway, I made some changes to the Demons Deck. I still swap in Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis when playing "for real" and swap out Griselbrand so that the deck is legal.




I swapped out the Darksteel Pendant for Phyrexian Arena. I love the Pendant, for sure. But, most of the time I just want the extra card no matter what it is.




I'm also testing out Jet Medallion over Barren Moor.





This sounds crazy, but I swapped out Loxodon Warhammer and Nihil Spellbomb for Lashwrithe and Bonehoard, both of which are Living Weapons.





The Warhammer is undeniably awesome, but I often found myself needing a creature to put it on. When it works, it really works. Otherwise, it just sits there. The Living Weapons come into play with a 0/0 germ attached, so they pull double-duty. And even though neither piece of new equipment adds trample or lifelink, they both do a decent job of turning one of my demons into a must-deal-with threat when equipped.

As for the spellbomb, it's one card. I do have tutors to go and get it, but I can get the Bojuka Bog instead if I really need to get rid of a graveyard. I'm weak to lots of things, so I'm okay with being weak to graveyard recursion, too. Adding the Sepulchral Primordial to the mix gives me a way to grab creatures anyway. Too bad it's not a demon, but a little flexibility on the theme seems justifiable.

Speaking of flexibility, I'm considering slots for Massacre Wurm, Wurmcoil Engine, Phyrexian Obliterator, and Spreading Plague. The first three look pretty savage. The last one looks like a card that would complement the deck nicely and reminds me of Painful Quandary in that it causes opponents to make tricky decisions.




Finally, I found a spot for Liliana Vess by dropping Mimic Vat. I already had Liliana of the Dark Realms in there and I like the idea of Liliana / Demons (Griselbrand!) being the theme of the deck. If I ever end up with Liliana of the Veil, that would be sexy too.




Future cards I'm looking at include Rise of the Dark Realms at 9cc and Shadowborn Demon at 5cc (replacing Bone Shredder).

1st Place at Commander Tournament

Better lucky than good.

Due to a string of lucky events, I took first place at a Commander tournament today at my local gaming store. I played a modified version of Demons (decklist below).

Lucky event #1:

• The store was hosting a Modern Masters tournament today, so we only had 10 players in the Commander tournament. The "hardcore" players were playing in the other tournament.

Lucky event #2:

• No one was playing combo during my first round (pod, table, whatever).

I was able to control table one long enough to knock out one player and sit behind my Forcefield and Maze of Ith while forcing damage through with my demons.



Lucky event #3:

• The winner of the first round at the table on my left decided to drop. He was playing Chieftain and would have likely won. This left me and the winner from the table on my right, playing Zur, to fight it out 1-vs-1 in the final round.

As it turns out, mono-black control does well when I can kill Zur every turn. He was able to drop Swiftfoot Boots into play followed by Zur at one point. He chose to use Zur's ability to get Prison Term for my Rune-Scarred Demon instead of making Zur indestructible. But I topdecked Decree of Pain to kill Zur for the 3rd time.

Like I said, better lucky than good.

Creature (19)

• 1x Abyssal Persecutor
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Bone Shredder
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
• 1x Lord of the Void
• 1x Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
• 1x Pestilence Demon
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Reaper from the Abyss
• 1x Reiver Demon
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Steel Hellkite

Land (39)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Strip Mine
• 31x Swamp
• 1x Thawing Glaciers
• 1x Urborg
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Wasteland

Instant (4)

• 1x Dismember
• 1x Grasp of Darkness
• 1x Murder
• 1x Rend Flesh

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Dauthi Embrace
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Ambition's Cost
• 1x Ancient Craving
• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Consuming Vapors
• 1x Corrupt
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Hellfire
• 1x Infest
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Syphon Mind

Artifact (15)

• 1x Armillary Sphere
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Bonehoard
• 1x Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Forcefield
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Lashwrithe
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Liliana Vess

Paying Attention

I play Magic once a week - if I'm lucky. That's not by choice, exactly. It's just that once a week on Saturday is when the card shop I go to has a Commander tournament. Otherwise, other things take priority during the week. This is in stark contrast to playing Magic 15+ years ago, every day, all day, and most of the night too. Let's just say that I got in more practice back in the day.

I can't remember where I read about this technique, but I started using it a long time ago. You know that moment in a game of Magic where you know you made a play mistake? Like, let's say you missed an attack or tapped the wrong land and cut yourself off from the color of mana you needed later in the turn. Those sorts of mistakes may not cost you the game immediately, but they add up. If you really want to practice with purpose, put a D6 on top of your library. Every time you make a mistake, add one to the D6. Your goal is to not make mistakes. Looking at the D6 before you draw every turn will help you be aware of what you are doing each turn.



Last week, I shuffled up my Braids / Eldrazi deck expecting to get smashed by combo for the umpteenth week in a row. But not this time. This time, I found myself one attack away from winning (the first round at least) and screwed it up big time. This wasn't a D6-type mistake. This one cost me the game. It went something like this.

I'm playing against Sliver-combo - nice guy, but I lost to him last week so I know what I'm up against. I also see Uril sitting across from me, which is never good. And, someone I haven't played against before on my left. It's four of us at the table. On turn 4, I cast Braids expecting to not have her live to make it back around the table to me. But she does. So, I drop Ulamog. I drop a land and tap out for Time Warp, expecting it to get countered. It doesn't. Ulamog goes into the red zone at Slivers and sets him back with the Annihilator 4 trigger. It goes back around again. Braids is still alive. More Eldrazi join the party. Uril attacks me for 20 Commander damage. Here's where I lose.

Uril is tapped. He has no blockers and is tapped out. I have Ulamog, a couple of other Eldrazi, and Braids. I look across the table and see Uril's life counter is at 2. He's using a D20 to keep track at this point. I attack with Braids for what I think is lethal. I swing everything else at the other guy. As it turns out, Uril is really at 5 life. Take a D20 out and turn it over so that you are looking at 5. Now, turn it around and put it across the table from you. See the "2"? My brain certainly did.

I should have asked what his life total was, of course. I should have been writing it down if I was taking this "tournament" seriously. Instead, I expected to eat the Sliver combo on turn 5 and lose without having to do much of anything. I guess the lesson is "pay attention" or something. You can insert your own words of wisdom here.




Speaking of combo. We shuffled up for an unofficial second game after my spectacular failure. The second game is almost always the fun game because people put the combo deck back in the box and take out something "fun." I took out Demons, who without Griselbrand don't really do much except look cool and have lots of black mana symbols and evil-sounding names. One guy had tokens. Someone else had Grimgrin. Someone else had, Geist. No one was playing combo. The game took forever. Hours. Lots of sweepers. Lots of stalling. I missed lunch. I nearly missed dinner. Near the end, I was secretly hoping for a combo kill. There, I said it. Don't judge me!


A couple of fun things to note:


This kept happening. It's a "combo" alright. And it's pretty scary. Just not scary enough to end the game.


At one point, I put a Whispersilk Cloak on Ulamog. Because that makes perfect sense. "Quick! Put this on. No one will notice you that way."


Uril is a beast, and I don't just mean his creature type. With three auras, he was up to 20 power, indestructible, lifelink, first strike, and some other junk. It involved Shield of the Oversoul. This all happened in one turn. Plus, it's Commander damage coming your way.

Spotlight: Wayfarer's Bauble

Oh, Wayfarer's Bauble.




Looks simple, right? Humble, even. It comes out for 1cc mana. It activates for 2cc mana. It's an artifact. And it ramps. This common card deserves the spotlight, though. Why?

Wayfarer's Bauble searches up a basic land and puts it into play. Sure, the land comes in tapped, but it does give you an extra land to untap next turn.

That's good, but what else?

At 1cc mana to cast and 2cc to activate, you can drop it first turn and activate it on the second turn. That way, when you get combo-killed on turn 3, you can at least feel like you actually got to do something during the game other than play lands. But, I digress.

If you draw the Wayfarer's Bauble mid-to-late-game, you can usually find 1 mana floating around to drop it into play. Now, you have a shuffle waiting. That can come in handy if you are running anything like - oh, I don't know - Sensei's Divining Top or Halimar Depths and don't like what you see.



If you are running blue, Trinket Mage is probably close by. I mean, you are running - oh, I don't know - Sol Ring, right? The Mage can get you Wayfarer's Bauble if your Sol Ring is already out or already blown up.



What about landfall triggers? Can't get enough of those, right? Wayfarer's Bauble plops another land into play for only 3 total mana. Ob Nixilis is a huge fan of lands coming into play, what with the hole in his soul and all. Also, Rampaging Baloths get all rampagy when lands come into play. So, watch out for that.



What it comes down to is this: Sit down with your 99 cards and go through them one by one as you ask yourself, "Is there a spot for Wayfarer's Bauble?" If there isn't a spot, why not? It's one of those humble cards that gets the job done. It makes your other cards better. It makes your deck better!

Combo Out!

I get that combo is part of the game. It's never been my thing, but you Johnnies out there know what I'm talking about. I appreciate a well-built combo deck as much as the next guy - that's part of what makes Dominion so fun - but shuffling up at a Commander table only to lose on turn 5 to someone packing combo really isn't a good time.

None of my kitchen table friends play combo. Maybe because they aren't into it. But, probably more likely because they know that the rabbit hole doesn't go down that far. But about once a week I get a chance to play Commander at a card shop. What do I lose to every week? Combo.

At the shop, there is no entry fee to play. If there was, I probably wouldn't go. That's not to say that I don't want to support the place, but they already give out a prize to whomever wins. It's very cool of them to give out a prize even though no one pays to play, but it also encourages people to combo kill everyone for $5 in store credit. I'd hate to give them even more incentive.

Here's the thing: for the most part, we know everyone who shows up. Usually, there's between 8 and 15 people. We also know who plays what decks. We know the combo players before they sit down. Does that stop them from winning? No. Even ganging up on them is often not enough.

The fun of this format (for me) is slamming demons into the red zone. I'm not saying that my pet deck absolutely has to be viable, but when turn 5 rolls around and it's another combo death for team demon (and everyone else) it's not really a game anymore. At that point, it's watching someone do a card trick with very complicated rules. :)

We all know that you can build a combo deck. There are lots of them. Temple Bell + Mind Over Matter usually does the job. It's two cards. One of them actually helps you get the combo.



For those of you who want to ruin your next Commander game, the combo is tapping Temple Bell to make everyone draw a card, discarding the card you drew to Mind Over Matter to untap the Temple Bell, then doing it again... and again... and again. To not lose, put something in your deck with a shuffle effect, like Blightsteel Colossus. Winner!

Losing to combo isn't a "fun" way to lose. The guys who play combo know this. I often hear, "I'm sorry," from them as they win followed shortly by, "If you guys want to play another game, I have a different deck." Inevitably, the deck they bring out is the damn deck they should have played in the first place.

Spotlight: Akroma's Memorial

Akroma is awesome*. Don't believe me? Check it out!



One of the coolest parts of Magic is how the Legendary Creatures are used to tell a story about the set(s) they appear in. Visit the MTG Salvation wiki to read more about Akroma. Spoiler alert: Akroma dies.


What better way to honor the fallen Akroma with a sweet-ass statue?



That's quite an inscription. Well, there you go.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of big artifacts. And at 7 mana, this one packs a wallop. I often play a black deck, so when I see this hit the table across from me it's usually game over. I have a handful of ways to either deal with it or block the protection from black creatures bearing down on me, but not many.

Red and black decks make an appearance at almost every table. Giving your creatures protection from both colors usually spells doom for those players. In addition, Akroma's Memorial hands out flying and takes the fight to the air. But wait! There's more. First strike, vigilance, trample, and haste? Sure, why not.

Does that sword look familiar?



There it is. Apparently the protection from red and black (and the flying) has something to do with Akroma herself. The sword on the other hand gives a boost to attack and the other goodies. I like this sword, but I usually end up running other equipment. Akroma's Memorial, on the other hand, doesn't need to be equipped and gives the juice to all of your creatures. That sort of "continuous effect" is powerful in the Commander format. Heck, just giving haste to all of your creatures is powerful. Everything else is sweet, sweet icing on the cake.

*Akroma is awesome, just maybe not as awesome as Avacyn. Oh, power creep. I think it might be the sexy eye-liner that makes her indestructible. Or, maybe the time she spent in prison. :)

M14 Spoiler: Rise of the Dark Realms, Rings of Three Wishes, Primeval Bounty, Into the Wilds

M14 spoilers are coming in hot and heavy. Slivers are back! So, we have that to look forward to. You know, because they were so much fun the first time around. But it's not all slivers. A few other cards have caught my eye so far. Take a look.

(Check out the up-to-date spoiler at mtgsalvation.com)

Rise of the Dark Realms

 

Oh, hell, yes. I routinely hit 9 mana with my demons deck and I always find myself looking for a haymaker at that point in the game. How about I reanimate... everything? That should do it.


Ring of Three Wishes



My wish this Christmas: cards!5 mana and an artifact. I can drop this in lots of decks. For a 5 mana activation, I can use up one of my wishes to go get any card I want! Not a bad deal. Anything that lets you replay an artifact or untap an artifact will push this. Plus, check out that artwork!

Into the Wilds

  

I see they are pushing this theme more into green. I'm a huge fan of the card Future Sight (and it's creature-based brother, Magus of the Future). If I played green, Oracle of Mul Daya would be in that deck, you know. Into the Wilds probably would be, too.

Primeval Bounty

 

Okay, when this happens that happens. And then when that happens, this happens. Then, sometimes some other stuff happens. But only when certain things happen. Got it?

Wait, it's 6 mana and it has "Primeval" in its name? Uh-oh. 

I like this for the green mage. The reason I like this is that I like incremental advantage, where little things just keep adding up. This card is full of incremental advantage. Casting a creature spell? Here's a bonus 3/3 dude. Casting a non-creature spell? Here are some +1/+1 counters, three of 'em. Putting a land into play? Gain some life!