Author

About the Author
David has been an on and off Magic player since the very 1st set back in 1993. He is an active card trader on PucaTrade and Deckbox under the name Rheebus, a name he used for 7 years on Dungeons and Dragons Online. He produced the longest-running segment to DDOCast called Rheebus the Rogue's Top Ten, and now aspires to contribute actively to the Magic community through writing.

Why the Banning of Splinter Twin is Good for You, New Modern Player

If you haven’t already heard that [card]Splinter Twin[/card] was banned from Modern play this weekend after being spoiled (yes, another inadvertent spoiler!) by an overzealous Magic Online playtester, then, my friend, you are just the player for which I am writing this article. Typically, I write about casual stuff like Commander and how I like to play budget decks in Standard, but this week we have something spicy and delicious to devour, Competitive Magic ban lists.

Modern is a format, like Commander, where cards do not rotate over time. It was devised by those geniuses at Wizards of the Coast to allow newer players without the deep pockets or longevity in Magic to compete in a non-rotating format outside of Legacy and Vintage. Legacy and Vintage decks include the oldest, rarest, and hence the most expensive cards in Magic. It isn’t uncommon for Vintage decks to break the $20,000 mark. It isn’t likely that newer Magic players will be forking out that kind of cash to purchase one deck to participate in one format. Modern was supposed to help solve that problem. For the most part, it has. Most modern decks come in under $800, and some competitive decks can even be purchased for just a fraction of that cost. Modern is a fun format with a wide diversity of, so called, Tier 1 decks. Tier 1.5 or 2 decks (slightly less competitive, but still able to beat Tier 1 decks on occasion) add dimension to the format’s diversity as well. I, myself, play one of these less competitive decks in the format called Death and Taxes, with my latest list below. It is a blast to play and I beat my buddies Tron deck regularly.

[deck title= Modern Death and Taxes]
[Creatures]
4 Flickerwisp
1 Kitchen Finks
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Restoration Angel
4 Scavenging Ooze
1 Tarmogoyf
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
[/Spells]
[Land]
*1 Cavern of Souls
*2 Forest
*2 Gavony Township
*4 Ghost Quarter
*1 Mutavault
*2 Plains
*3 Razorverge Thicket
*1 Tectonic Edge
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Windswept Heath
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Mirran Crusader
1 Qasali Pridemage
3 Sunlance
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Vryn Wingmare
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

[card]Splinter Twin[/card] was a “pillar of the format” according to many Magic writers and Modern players. It has been played in the Modern format since it’s inception, and decks featuring the card have been top eighting tournaments left and right. I am not going to get into the “should Twin have been banned” argument here, but what you need to know as someone who may want to start playing Modern, is that the format is going to be very fun and somewhat unpredictable for a while as dew decks take their place in the sun.

[card]Splinter Twin[/card] decks were everywhere in the format. There were many shells that the card with its other combo friends, [card]Pestermite[/card] and [card]Deceiver Exarch[/card] lived in, which helped to mask its overall prevalence in the format. Now that Twin is gone those shells are going to have to find ways to live on their own or die off. New decks that were held in check by Twin before will now start to rise again. I am no expert on the Modern format, but I think you, as a new player, might be able to find a cheaper entry way into the competitive format right now than at any other time. Here are some of the decks that you have to choose from. Hint: Ignore the ones that have [card]Splinter Twin[/card] and [card]Summer Bloom[/card] as both of these cards were recently banned. These decks are all considered Tier 1 and 1.5.

  • Tron
  • Living End
  • Scapeshift
  • Jund
  • Junk
  • Bogles (predicted by some to be much better post-Twin banning)
  • Affinity
  • Burn
  • Infect
  • Eldrazi
  • Merfolk
  • Abzan Company
  • Control
  • Kiki Chord
  • Zoo
  • Lantern Control
  • Grishoalbrand
  • Elves
  • Ad Nauseum

There are other budget decks that are likely less competitive in large paper tournaments, but that I have found success with on MTGO. I’ve been playing the Evoke Control deck on MTGO, and it is a blast! I’ve won more than 50% of my games, which I take to be a success considering I am often playing against deck lists similar to or exactly the same as the lists found in large tournament top eights.

Budget decks are a great way for you to get a feel for the format and certain kinds of decks that inhabit it. You can build a budget deck, invest into some of the staple lands of the format, play in a tournament or two, and start to see what it is like. You might like it, or you might not, but there has never been a better time to try!

Hurry up if you plan to buy into any of the tier one decks, as Modern season is upon us. The staple cards in the format will be rising in price over the next few months as the Modern Pro Tour gets underway and many other tournaments across the country follow suit. If you acquired many of the fetch lands from Khans of Tarkhir, then you will be happy to note that those cards will play nicely in Modern. Older and popular cards like [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card], [card]Tarmogoyf[/card], [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card], and [card]Cryptic Command[/card] are very pricey right now, and I would avoid them during the turmoil of the format finding itself again.

Play a budget deck for now to see if you enjoy Modern play. For the time being, everyone else will be “figuring out” the format along with you. It is a good time to enter as you won’t feel like the only one who isn’t sure about what is happening in the game in front of you. Modern is quite different than Commander and Standard, but a blast nonetheless. Go one, give it a shot. What is the worst that could happen, ending up with a handful of [card]Mulldrifter[/card]s and [card]Esper Charm[/card]s with no place to play them? They will still be fun in your Commander games.

The Staple Binder – Making the Most of Your Collection

This past week, @seantabares and @andyhullbone, the guys at The Commander’s Brew podcast talked about a really cool idea that I believe many kitchen table players could benefit from thinking about.  That idea is the staple binder (Episode 22). A staple binder isn’t necessarily a binder with plastic card protector sheets. It is simply a collection of cards that are moved back and forth between decks, designed to reduce the cost of building new decks.

It’s easy to lose track of what your money is worth when buying Magic cards on the secondary market. Most gamers grimace when forking over $50 for a new board game with tons of miniatures, new rules, a board, dice, and even set pieces including furniture! An entire Settlers of Catan game is less than $40 and can be used by multiple people for endless hours of fun. $50 for any Magic deck is considered budget, and is the line that The Commander’s Brew uses when making new budget EDH decks. In order to keep the money from hemorrhaging to the point of wallet-death, the guys at @commandersbrew propose sharing cards between decks and to organize them into a a personal set called the staple binder. Well, I am not one hundred percent sure that they came up with the idea, but I can’t find reference to it anywhere else, so I am giving them the credit. Let me also say that I love this idea, and I am reorganizing all eight of my EDH decks with a staple binder per their suggestion. I’d like to tell you why.

How It Works

To get started with a staple binder, use your tappedout or deckbox lists to identify all the shared cards between your EDH decks that cost $1 or more. Make a list of these cards (staples) for each deck. Pull all of those cards from those decks, and place one copy of each into a box or binder (Staple Binder). Be sure to organize that box/binder in whatever way makes it easiest for you to pull and return the cards quickly. Before each game of Magic, check the list of staples in the deck you wish to play. Pull the staples from the Staple Binder and add them to the deck. Play Magic. After the game, check the list again and remove all of the staples from the deck and put them back into the binder. It’s that simple. It takes between two to five minutes to pull and switch staples to switch decks.

To make the staple binder more convenient, you can sleeve all of your decks with the same color and style sleeves so you don’t have to sleeve and unsleeve your staples. This seems like a no-brainer, but if you are the type that likes your sleeves to match your deck’s theme, this might be a tough pill to swallow. It is also an initial cost to setting up the staple binder that should be cosidered when determining if a staple binder is right for you. You can organize your staples in a box or binder depending on your preferences. The guys at @commandersbrew also recommend to keep a card-sized list of staples with each deck to easily identify the staples needed for each deck. This reduces the time you need to swap staples between decks.

Staple Binder Bonuses

Having a staple binder allows me to make new decks for far cheaper than I could previously. I included all of the fetches, shock-lands, temples, tri-lands, and other utility lands in my staple binder. I’ve included many of the artifact ramp cards like [card]Gilded Lotus[/card], [card]Sol Ring[/card], [card]Chromatic Lantern[/card], and the signets. Commander keepers like [card]Lightning Greaves[/card] and [card]Swiftfoot Boots[/card] are also in the binder. Granted, each of these cards isn’t that expensive, but added up, they can be $100 or more for each new deck. With a staple binder, I just use the same copy for each new deck, and that allows me to either save money on each deck or spend a little more on the cards that make each deck special.

The cards that my decks share currently make up approximately $1,700. If I sold the extra copies of those cards for 50% market value right now, I could recoup $500! I’d like to turn my extra copies into Zendikar fetches or other cards for my decks, both new staples and cards that go in just one deck.

One of the best bonuses to having a staple binder is that when considering whether to buy an expensive card to add to a Commander deck, I know that I can include it in more than one deck with just the one copy! That makes purchasing things like old dual lands or modern staples more enticing and makes multiple decks better with just one card.

Be Aware of the Potential Drawbacks

The guys in my playgroup are open to the idea of using a staple binder, but they are leery of some of the negatives. First, once you have a staple binder, your decks might start to look more and more like one another. The other side to this is that you can make new decks more cheaply and that will encourage more diversity in a particular playgroup. If you find that the games get predictable because the cards in play tend to be the same no matter what decks are being played, it’s time to have a conversation with your group about setting ground rules for the staple binder. You can limit the number of cards that can be used from the staple binder in each deck or limit the number of decks that any particular staple can be included in. There are options to use the staple binder responsibly. No one wants all the games to look the same.

Second, If you can include the “best cards” in every deck, why wouldn’t you? Won’t the power level of everyone’s deck get out of control? I don’t think this will be a problem with my group because we check each other pretty regularly about the 75% rule. If a deck feels too overpowering or oppressive, we talk about it and the pilot takes a little off the throttle. I don’t think that the staple binder will change that for us, but for other groups this may be a problem to look out for. There is a hidden benefit here as well. One of the worst feelings in EDH is getting mana screwed. If you are able to play better lands because you only need one of each for all your decks, you are less likely to have this feeling. If everyone plays better lands, then everyone gets to play more Magic, which is generally good for all.

If you want to transform your extra cards into playable decks and increase the deck-diversity of your playgroup, introduce the idea of a staple binder. I plan to post again on the Brew after my group has adopted it for a few months to see any additional benefits or drawbacks, so check back to see the update. If you have any suggestions of cards you would include in your staple binder, post them in the comments.

BFZ – Standing in the Way of Control

Control decks have lost their way in BFZ Standard. They currently represent Less than five percent of the winning meta game. Control often flounders in the early meta because the deck is made of answers. If the threats haven’t stabilized in the meta, it is hard to know which answers to include. There are a number of different lists being piloted in that tiny percentage of the field, and I’d like to take a look at them to find similarities and differences to help you design your own take on this extremely fun deck type.

Control decks are made primarily of answers to assumed threats. They grind down opponents by trading one card for two, drawing additional cards, and removing any important threats from the board. In the late game, control decks become heavily favored because their players will have more cards in hand, more options, and usually a consistent, hard-to-kill threat on the table. The Esper Dragons list from the previous Standard meta is a great example. The deck was made of removal spells like [card]Bile Blight[/card], [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Languish[/card], and [card]Crux of Fate[/card], counterspells like [card]Silumgar’s Scorn[/card] and [card]Dissolve[/card], card draw spells like [card]Dig Through Time[/card], and one monster threat in [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. There were other role players in the deck, but essentially  we removed threats and plopped an Ojutai on the table once we had that mana to play and protect him. Then he became an opponent-damaging, card-drawing machine. If you could play and protect him, the game was pretty much over. A few key cards like [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Bile Blight[/card], and [card]Dissolve[/card] rotated with Theros block. There are a few replacements, but they are deceptively much worse in most situations than their Theros counterparts.

Playing control has been tough lately because of GW Megamorph’s ability to gain card advantage through Deathmist Raptor recursion, Den Protector antics, and Mastery of the Unseen’s manifests. Recently, the renewal of Crackling Doom has made sticking a late game threat more challenging, forcing Ojutai control players to turn to different strategies. The midrange strategies like Jeskai Black and GW Megamorph pose trouble for control’s strategy. What is a control player to do? I’d like to bring a few of the control options in BFZ that are waffling for supremacy to light and see what makes them tic, and what deck combinations might be possible as the format matures.

Here are a number of different control lists that have some promise in the new format. Most of these won’t see significant competitive play, but you never know when an odd list might break out against a shifting field. They are listed in order of their current meta game percentage as measured on MTGGoldfish.com.

Top Control Deck Lists by current meta game percentage

  1. Esper Dragons
  2. W/B Control
  3. Esper Control
  4. Bant Control
  5. W/U Control

One thing jumps out at me when I look over all of these lists. Even though they don’t all attack along the same lines of offense nor utilize the same defensive measures, they all play white and most count white as a core color making up a significant portion of their deck.

The second thing I notice is that the most competitive deck (Esper Dragons) runs 4 [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card]s while only two other decks run Jace at all, and then only as a two of. Jace has been a hot button in the Standard crowd over the past month as his price has skyrocketed to over $70. Even though he fits right into the control strategy, brewers are maneuvering around him possibly because of the extremely high price tag. So far, the lists without Jace haven’t seen much success.

Top Ten Cards by number played

  1. [card]Dig Through Time[/card]
  2. [card]Scatter to the Winds[/card]
  3. [card]Stasis Snare[/card]
  4. [card]Planar Outburst[/card]
  5. [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card]
  6. [card]Arashin Cleri[/card]c
  7. [card]Silkwrap[/card]
  8. [card]Duress[/card]
  9. [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card]
  10. [card]Dispel[/card]

[card]Dig Through Time[/card] is everyone’s favorite card drawing engine. Cast spells, draw more cards! The number two card, [card]Scatter to the Winds[/card], which also happens to be a [card]Dissolve[/card] minus the scry is a blue answer with upside. [card]Stasis Snare[/card] is a one-size fits all answer to your opponent’s creatures. [card]Planar Outburst[/card] is the new wrath of choice leaving behind any land creatures you might have made with a previous Outburst or with Scatter. [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] shines brightly with Jace and [card]Arashin Cleric[/card]. [card]Silkwrap[/card] is a great answer for an opponent’s Jace, and considering everyone is playing this little bugger, it is a good idea to have some cards designed specifically to deal with him. [card]Silkwrap[/card] also prevents an opponent from using [card]Ojutai’s Command[/card] to get their Jace back on the battlefield. [card]Duress[/card] helps us prevent Gideon from hitting the table and also the various commands from interfering with our card dominance. [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card] is in just about everybody’s deck. He is a card drawing, pitching, and then recurring engine. Lastly, [card]Dispel[/card] is an efficient counter for our opponents’ spells.

The only black card in the top ten list is duress, and I think that overall the control strategy for BFZ is shedding black. The black removal isn’t as good with the loss of [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Bile Blight[/card], and [card]Drown in Sorrow[/card]. White removal has jumped way ahead with [card]Stasis Snare[/card], [card]Silkwrap[/card], [card]Planar Outburst[/card], [card]Quarantine Field[/card], and [card]Suppression Bonds[/card]. Hand disruption is strictly worse with the loss of [card]Thoughtseize[/card]. Black just isn’t as powerful in the control shell as it was in the last season.

The thing that this top ten doesn’t take into account are the finishers and role players. [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] is certainly a star, as well as [card]Secure the Wastes[/card], and [card]Ugin, the Spirit Dragon[/card]. We can find multiple examples of these finishers throughout the deck lists.

As far as role players go, I think we include at least one copy of [card]Valorous Stance[/card] mostly as removal, but also to prevent our precious creatures from being removed. This can be quite a surprise to an opponent in game two or three when they have seen no copies yet.

What if we took all the most played cards in these control decks and made a list? It might look something like this. Maybe W/U Hodgepodge Control will show up in your meta next week?

[deck title= BFZ Hodgepodge W/U Control]
[Creatures]
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Arashin Cleric
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
3 Stasis Snare
4 Silkwrap
4 Dig Through Time
3 Planar Outburst
4 Scatter to the Winds
2 Dispel
4 Ojutai’s Command
1 Valorous Stance
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Secure the Wastes
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Prairie Stream
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Flooded Strand
8 Plains
7 Islands
[/Land]

[Side]
3 Arashin Cleric
2 Valorous Stance
2 Dispell
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Secure the Wastes
3 Dragonlord Ojutai
2 Murderous Cut
1 Orbs of Warding
[/side]
[/deck]

 

Updating Esper Dragons for BFZ

I have been playing Esper Dragons since Dragons of Tarkir arrived with [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. The deck has been fun to play, and I’ve had success with it, but now that Theros is on it’s way out, is Esper Dragons going to survive? If so, will it be weaker or stronger? Will it even be the same deck?

Here is my pre-Battle for Zendikar list. Notice there are no [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s. I am cheap! I preordered the Ojutai’s (luckily!) and opened Jace at the Origin’s prerelease. [card]Despise[/card] and [card]Duress[/card] work for me, save me a few bucks, and aren’t rotating out. True, you can’t take away their draw step, but I don’t find myself in that position enough times to make it relevant. Also, the two life really does matter. I’ve won games with one or two life multiple times, and that is just one [card]Thoughtseize[/card] from death.

cardart_q0eypOqIlF

[Deck Title=Standard Esper Dragons, Pre-BFZ ]
[Creatures]

*3 Dragonlord Ojutai
*1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
*1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death

[/Creatures]
[Spells]

*3 Bile Blight
*4 Dig Through Time
*2 Dissolve
*2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
*3 Hero’s Downfall
*4 Silumgar’s Scorn
*2 Ultimate Price
*2 Crux of Fate
*1 Despise
*2 Duress
*1 Languish
*2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

[/Spells]
[Land]

*3 Island
*3 Swamp
*3 Caves of Koilos
*4 Dismal Backwater
*1 Flooded Strand
*2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
*4 Polluted Delta
*4 Temple of Deceit
*2 Temple of Enlightenment
*1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/Land]
[Sideboard]

*1 Orbs of Warding
*1 Bile Blight
*2 Dragonlord’s Prerogative
*1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
*1 Negate
*1 Ultimate Price
*1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
*1 Dragonlord Ojutai
*2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
*1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
*1 Despise
*2 Drown in Sorrow
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Rotating Out

Let’s look at the cards in my Esper Dragons deck that are rotating out of Standard with Theros block.

[Deck Title= Rotating Out]
[Spells]

*3 Bile Blight
*2 Dissolve
*3 Hero’s Downfall
*2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

[/Spells]
[Land]
*4 Temple of Deceit
*2 Temple of Enlightenment
*1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*1 Bile Blight
*2 Drown in Sorrow
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Overall, we lose six weenie wipers, two three-mana counterspells, three targeted creature and planeswalker removal spells, two value-train planeswalkers. and eight scries through our counters and temples. The Urborg was also helpful and we will have to adjust our manabase at it’s loss.

Weenie Wipers

Does the new Standard have any efficient two-or-three-for-one removal spells? Weenie wipers effectively clear the board when a handful of tiny monsters appear, especially tokens from red spells like [card]Dragon Fodder[/card] and [card]Hordeling Outburst[/card]. We will need a way to kill a bunch of small creatures.

[card]Rising Miasma[/card] is an interesting choice, but feels strictly worse than [card]Languish[/card] and [card]Drown in Sorrow[/card]. Sure, in the mid to late game, it can clear some creatures and give you a 3/3, but the deck has better creatures, and while the 3/3 isn’t nothing, it’s not hugely impactful either.

We may just have to rely more on our friend [card]Languish[/card] on turn four, five, or six. I can see putting a full playset of these in the deck. As we will see later in the article, there are also some new ways to put your own little creatures onto the battlefield in addition to doing some of the things you need to be doing. We may be less needy when it comes to those little threats from our opponent.

Counterspells

Losing [card]Dissolve[/card] isn’t so bad when you have another three-mana spell to replace it that arguably has more utility, giving you a creature late-game if you want. [card]Scatter to the Winds[/card] is a great two-for-one, putting a 3/3 into play after blanking something important from your opponent. That 3/3 can blank your opponents’ whole team of 2/2s and 1/1s.

[card]Dispel[/card] is a cheap way to prevent your opponent’s instants. It might be a good card to side in against the mirror match and [card]Collected Company[/card] decks. Your opponent will have to respect a single untapped blue mana source, and that puts you in a very good position. I wouldn’t main deck these, yet.

I am pretty sure that [card]Horribly Awry[/card] will not be going in the deck unless Eldrazi take over the format. Even if that happens, we still have [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card], which blanks more big spells than Awry.

Targeted Creature and Planeswalker Removal

We lose [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], and that is going to be trouble. [card]Ruinous Path[/card] appears to be a strictly better version, until one notices the type line, “Sorcery.”  [card]Bile Blight[/card] and [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card] both had the benefit of waiting in your hand to see what your opponent chose to do during their turn. We are losing all of those. [card]Ultimate Price[/card] will have to pick up a lot of the slack here, but I am nervous because many of the best creatures in the format are multicolored or, now, colorless. I think a couple copies of [card]Ruinous Path[/card] are necessary to deal with planeswalkers and multicolored and colorless creatures that our [card]Languish[/card] can’t reach.

I don’t think [card]Bone Splinters[/card] will be an option because we just won’t have expendable creatures to sacrifice to it, however, a one cost kill spell is very enticing and may be an answer to a kill spell on a tapped [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. Cycling dragons out of the graveyard with [card]Haven of the Spirit Dragon[/card] can bring those sacrificed Ojutais and Silumgars back to your hand. In the end, Splinters is a two-for-one, but in favor of your opponent. That is just not something this deck can afford to do.

EN_Ashiok_Header

Planeswalkers

Our good friend Ashiok is leaving us. What can I say about Ashiok, but that he was a huge target with a small casting cost. He would save me from taking early damage. He put creatures into play that my opponents wanted to play, so typically they were good for me too. In the mirror, an unanswered Ashiok (only counters and Downfalls could do it) won the game. I don’t see [card]Ob Nixilis, Reignited[/card] taking on Ashiok’s role. Baby Jace might be the new format’s Ashiok. We will have to wait and see.

Lands

We get one-drop dual lands to replace our temples in [card]Prairie Stream[/card] and [card]Sunken Hollow[/card], so we can sleep easy knowing that our mana base should continue to be stable. As benefits, these lands come into play untapped in the late game and can be fetched. The downside is that we are losing a total of eight sources of scrying in the rotation between [card]Dissolve[/card] and the temples. Those scry triggers are so useful for smoothing out our draws, especially in the early game. I am pretty worried about this change, and I think it will lead to more variance in the play of the deck. This is probably a good thing for the format, as oppressive control strategies are quite boring to play against.

We straight up lose Urborg, which was great for turning fetches into swamps when paying life wasn’t an option or was less desirable. There isn’t much to be swapped in or out here. We could put in a colorless source with upside like [card]Blighted Fen[/card], [card]Blighted Cataract[/card], or [card]Blighted Steppe[/card]. We could put in a black source with a pretty useful ability like [card]Mortuary Mire[/card]. I think all of these are interesting choices. I am most intrigued with the magical Christmasland thought of playing a [card]Sandstone Bridge[/card] targeting Ojutai, swinging for six in the air, getting the Anticipate trigger, and my opponent never having the opportunity to target him! I don’t really want a white-only source of mana in the deck, but I am going to have to try it, because I want to make pull this off at least once!

Most likely, we are going to see [card]Shambling Vent[/card] take Urborg’s place, because a land that can gain you life and block small creatures is going to be very relevant in this kind of deck. It also taps for the right mana, which doesn’t hurt.

Final Post-BFZ Standard Deck

When I put it all together, here is where I end up for post-BFZ Standard Esper Dragons. What does your list look like? What changes would you make to adjust for the new format?

[Deck Title=Esper Dragons Post-BFZ Standard]
[Creatures]

*3 Dragonlord Ojutai
*1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
*1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death

[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Dig Through Time
*2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
*2 Scatter to the Winds
*4 Silumgar’s Scorn
*3 Ultimate Price
*3 Crux of Fate
*1 Despise
*2 Duress
*4 Languish
*3 Ruinous Path

[/Spells]
[Land]

*3 Island
*3 Swamp
*1 Caves of Koilos
*4 Dismal Backwater
*1 Flooded Strand
*2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
*4 Polluted Delta
*1 Shambling Vent
*1 Sandstone Bridge
*3 Prairie Stream
*4 Sunken Hollow
[/Land]
[Sideboard]

*1 Orbs of Warding
*2 Dragonlord’s Prerogative
*1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
*1 Negate
*2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
*1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
*1 Dragonlord Ojutai
*2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
*1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
*1 Despise
*2 Ugin’s Insight

[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Kitchen Table Magic – Love and Hate in Multiplayer

I recently spent four and a half days playing multiplayer Magic with my brother and two friends over a long weekend. This was the fourth annual event playing Magic from wake-up to pass-out. We rent a double suite and spend 16 hours a day playing nothing but multiplayer Magic. It gave me many chances to reflect on and apply my understanding of Love and Hate. In the previous article, we uncovered sources of multiplayer hate, and in this sequel, we will look at the other side of the coin. It is all about the Love.

Love

Again, I’ll restate the obvious. Humans are emotional creatures, even Spikes. If another player offers a carrot, it is hard to say no or not use that action in our future game calculations of who to target and attack. If you can woo another player into this scenario, you earn an advantage. It is often advantageous to cultivate alliances with gifts, and those who unduly cross those alliances reap negative rewards from both you and other players who view those actions as treacherous. I think a majority of multiplayer games use the Commander format, and that is what I have the most experience with, but most of the types of love can apply to other multiplayer variants like Planechase and Archenemy as well.

There are a number of actions that can generate love. I hope to explore a number of them in the paragraphs that follow. Remember that political tricks need to be used judiciously. Using too many or too often will tip your hat to the other players and they will start reacting differently than you might expect.

Commander Love

In multiplayer Magic there are few commanders that garner love and hate like [card]Zedruu, the Greathearted[/card]. Zedruu has the ability to [card]Donate[/card] permanents to your opponents. Sometimes those cards are negative, sometimes completely benign, and sometimes they are beneficial to the donatee. There is an EDH player out there who created a Zedruu deck with the explicit goal of garnering an alliance with at least one other player by casting and donating good equipment ([card]Sword of Fire and Ice[/card], anyone?) and then having the donatee sign a little contract signifying the terms of the deal. Ingenious. The Deck is called Zed’s Make ‘Em Dead Emporium, and it takes the idea of making alliances by doing good things for other players to the next level. I am not sure whether these contracts will be welcomed at your kitchen table or LGS, but verbal contracts are an integral part of most multiplayer Magic circles.

Combat Love

When you attack an opponent, that generates hate. When you provide reasoning not to attack an opponent, that can generate some love. “I am going to attack Jimmy, because I’ve decided that Pam is going to be my friend this game,” is a way to initiate some love between you and one of your opponents. Sure, Pam might just decide to attack you on her turn to put a prompt end to that alliance, but she might also attack the same opponent you attacked and give you a bestie high five. As with all of these political maneuvers, they can backfire, but why not give it a try? You can read opponents through multiple games to see which ones are most susceptible to these kinds of moves, and focus you energy where it is most effective. Try not to overuse it, though.

Problematic Permanent Removal Love

If an opponent casts a particularly problematic permanent for another opponent and you have the ability to take out that permanent, you can often garner some amount of love if you set it up before the action. “James, I can get rid of that [card]Propaganda[/card] for you. I can tell that you really want to attack Samantha.” If James bites, you can prevent James from attacking you and instead promote an attack against Samantha. Win-Win! This is especially potent if the permanent or effect is preventing a player from playing their game like a [card]Meekstone[/card] or [card]Bruna, Light of Alabaster[/card].

Lost the Last Game Love

You lost the last game, so milk it! If other players have a choice of attacks or targets, point out that you lost the last game. “Are you sure you want to attack me? I got smoked last game, remember?” Many players will take pity because they don’t like being the one who sits out after being killed first. Most people will avoid making you sit out first twice in a row.

You Killed the Other Guy Last Game Love

In multiplayer, there is a common event where it is your turn and the board state is in perfect alignment. If you attack Heather, John wins. If you attack John, Heather wins. You don’t have enough to kill both of them. If you don’t attack, you can clearly see that the next player will kill both you and the last opponent. You get to decide who wins, and it’s not going to be you. Which of your opponents will likely avoid killing you first next game if you allow them to win this game? Make your decision and swing, then ensure that the winner remembers at the opportune moment in a future game. “Remember when you won that game after I killed Heather?”

 

In the next article, we will explore the opposite of table hate, table love.

Kitchen Table Magic – Love and Hate in Multiplayer Magic Part 1

Multiplayer Magic is very different than traditional head to head Magic. Because more humans are involved, more emotion is involved. Every time you have a choice to attack or target a permanent or player, you have many more options. Each comes with its benefits and costs. One cost of any action in a multiplayer game is table hate. In this article, I will explore the concept of hate and what actions generate it. In Part Two, we will examine the opposing force, love.

Hate

Every time one player makes a move against another, they generate some amount of hate from that player or the entire table. Those of you who are familiar with MMORPGs should be familiar with the concept of “hate.” If you have never accidentally pulled the attention of a boss monster with a 5x rogue strike, hate is a quantity like a life total. You can think about it like a counter that starts at a particular value and counts up or down based on your actions and the game state. When Sue attacks you with [card]Dragonlord Atarka[/card], the counter with her name on it in your mind tics up a few notches. When Anthony chooses you as the target of his [card]Diabolic Edict[/card], his counter goes up. These hate counters represent feelings. When one of our internal hate counters is high, we feel more compelled to get back at that person. Many players use these feelings to make decisions, sometimes at the expense of an obvious and more strategic path..

Humans are emotional creatures. We tend to take things personally. When I am chosen as the target among two other opponents, I wonder, “why me?” If you generate more hate than your opponents, you will likely lose the game as your opponents chose to attack and target you more. I find that one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in multiplayer Magic is to convince another player to act against their better judgement and attack my opponent instead of me. Hate generation often keeps competitive Magic players from winning multiplayer games. They just don’t understand this component of the game and throw their hands up in frustration. It makes sense to try and understand table hate and use it to our advantage to have more fun and win.

There are a number of actions that generate hate. Some of them are pretty obvious, others, less so.

Commander Hate

One of the most underrated and influential hate generators is your commander. Commander or Elder Dragon Highlander, as it is also known, is one of the most commonly played multiplayer Magic formats. When you reveal your commander for the game, do any of your opponents groan or comment on it? If so, you have likely already generated some amount of commander hate. You may smile and say, “Heck yes, I am playing [card]Sliver Overlord[/card]. Come get some.” You should also be taking notes. Identify who hates your commander, because those opponents will likely chose you as a target when the option presents itself. They simply do not like how your deck interacts with the game or their deck. Try to divert attention away from your commander by pointing out interactions in other player’s decks that are powerful or infinite. You don’t want all the players gunning for you right out of the gate.

<h3>Combat Hate</h3>

When you attack an opponent, you will generate some hate. This hate is unavoidable, but you can sometimes deflect some of it if you are savvy. On a recent episode of the Command Zone, a wonderful podcast that covers all things EDH, Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai talk about some subtle political maneuvers to reduce attack hate. One suggestion they had was to roll a die to randomly determine the defender of this turn’s attack. You can then blame chance for the attack. Another suggestion from the boys was to ask the group, “Who should I attack?” If Anthony responds, “You should attack Sue,” then you can attack Sue and blame Anthony. Anthony gets the attack hate from your attack! Clearly you can’t use this trick every time, but using political strategies to deflect the hate is a good way to have fun and reduce the hate at the same time.

Spell Target Hate

When you target the permanents, hands, life totals, library, and graveyards of your opponents, you will generate some amount of hate. As long as you can offer a solid reason for targeting Sue’s permanent, you can reduce the hate you generate when you target it. You could also ask Anthony again, “Should I remove Sue’s [card]Griselbrand[/card] or John’s [card]Avenger of Zendikar[/card]?” If Anthony gives you feedback and you follow it, you can deflect some of the hate to him.

Won Last Game Hate

You won the last game, the other players will want to take you out first this game. This is natural, and will often show up most at the beginning of the next game. When players have a choice between targets, they will attack you and your permanents because you are the Yankees this game. I have found that this form of hate wears off when players get their board presence established. It is important to avoid taking an early lead the game after you win. You don’t want to establish a dynasty. It will cause the others to gang up on you for a longer period of time.

You Killed Me Last Game Hate

This form of hate is similar to the won last game variety, but there are differences. It only affects the players you personally took to zero life and is more personal. Winning is something other players often excuse with time, but if you killed a player and then lost, you will likely feel the hate more acutely from that player. Some players are very susceptible to this form of hate. This is especially potent when you kill a player first, and when you could have chosen to attack someone else. Some players will carry this chip on their shoulder for at least the next game. You better believe that if they get the chance to eliminate you, they will take it even if the action is detrimental to their chances of winning the game. You need to take this into account as you calculate what the actions of the other players will be in response to your plays. You can actively avoid attacking or targeting the hater’s permanents and draw attention to it at the beginning of the game to help mitigate the hate, “I am going to attack Jessie instead of Bill. I killed Bill last game, so I’ll give him a break.”

You Convinced Him to Attack/Target Me/My Permanents/Hand/Graveyard/Library Hate

When you respond to another player asking, “Who should I attack?” you put yourself in a position to receive some of the hate from the attack. If there is a permanent on the board that is preventing you from playing, [card]Iona, Shield of Emeria[/card] I am looking right at you, you should speak up. If the cards in question are fairly equally detrimental to you, keep your trap shut! There is no reason to share in the hate unless you absolutely need to.

 

In the next article, we will explore the opposite of table hate, table love.

Kitchen-Table Magic: Ta Ta Tuck

I’ve been playing Commander with my kitchen-table group of friends since the original Commander decks were produced by Wizards of the Coast. I remember sitting in the food court area at GenCon back in 2011 with newly opened Commander decks. We had no idea what we were getting into, but we have had great fun with the format.

In case you have been hiding under a rock for the past couple weeks, you should know that the Commander rules committee adjusted the rules of the format so that when your commander is changing zones to your hand or your library, you can now choose to send it instead to the command zone. In the past, the hand and library were the only two places a commander could be sent without the “send to the command zone” replacement effect.

My play group never really understood the tucking rule. It didn’t seem to fit the format. Why would a format that bends over backwards to keep its commander within reach have this complex way to hide another player’s commander in their deck?

Elder Dragon HIGHLANDER

In Elder Dragon Highlander, “There can be only one.” The “Gathering” in Magic: The Gathering may have gotten its original name partly from the “game” played by immortals in Highlander, powerful beings searching for and defeating one another in combat.

ugin the spirit dragon

The Commander format takes that idea one step further and identifies a legendary creature as the commander to serve in the immortal planeswalker’s place. That creature should assume an immortal role in games of Commander by being available to cast from the command zone no matter how many times the creature is killed or removed from play. Under the rules of Highlander, an immortal keeps coming back until you chop off its head. In Magic, that means taking your opponent’s life total to zero.

Tucking the commander never felt right. It felt like getting your head cut off, but without the instant-death effect. Instead, death came slowly over the next 14 turns as your commander deck bled all over the floor.

Unnecessary Complication

Tucking was always just a little too complicated to explain to new Commander players. It should be simple to explain. If your commander is removed from play in any manner, you can have it go to the command zone instead.

Tucking complicates the dance between the command zone and all other zones. Instead of being simple, explaining where the commander goes based on which effect is resolving was always face-melting.

“If your commander dies, you can put it back in the command zone instead of the graveyard. If it gets exiled, same thing. Now, if it gets sent to the bottom of your library, you are out of luck.” Huh? I’ve been asked why tucking was the rule, and I have never really been able to explain it. Flavor-wise, it does not make sense. Rule simplification-wise, it still does not make sense.

Where Did My Deck Go?

When I build Commander decks, I use my commander card as the focal point. It is a Johnny’s wet dream! You know you will have access to the commander card all game long, so you can fantasize about all those crazy interactions between your commander and the rest of your deck.

When the commander card is tucked, all your dreams turn into poopy diapers. When a commander is tucked, a lot of the fun of a deck is tucked with it. I am glad the rules committee said “no more.”

dragonscards5

Tuck Haters

It should be noted that there are some long-time Magic players out there who will get into Commander precisely because tucking is no longer involved.

Do you have friends who play Magic, but hate Commander, like Marcel of Brainstorm Brewery fame? Maybe the death of tucking will tempt some experienced Magic players who had a bad tuck experience or just thought that tucking was too counterintuitive among the other rules of the format. I believe that removing the tuck rule and making the interaction between commanders and zones simple will keep more players engaged with the format. More players keeps the format healthier.

Tutors Still Fun

Will we play fewer tutors? I doubt it. In a 100-card singleton format, tutors buy a little more consistency. Plus, there is always that one combo that ends the game.

If you aren’t playing at least one game-ending combo in your Commander decks, you should consider adding them. Sometimes, we just need to put the game out of its misery. Tutors get that job done nicely. I don’t agree with the rules committee that changing the tuck rule will decrease the number of tutors people are playing. Tutors are still very good (and fun!) in a format with 99-card libraries.

I have listened to the belly-aching from many a podcast host and column writer over the rule change. I think it is a positive one that simplifies the rules and stays true to the spirit of the original Elder Dragon Highlander. I am guessing the tuck rule was in place because of troublesome commanders with few outs. Instead of creating a rule that complicates the game, ban those commanders. I think the committee was correct in this rule change. Could we see some new commander bannings in the future resulting from this change? I think it is highly likely.

Brago Returns

My brother has a [card]Brago, King Eternal[/card] deck. He loves Brago. Everyone else hates it. When Brago comes out, it gets tucked. Every time. When we see Brago sitting in the command zone, we save our tuck effects for it.

The result is that my brother never gets to play his Brago deck. There are other ways to deal with the Brago deck without tucking Brago, but tucking the commander is the easiest way to deal with it, so that is how we do it.

Now that the rules have changed, we will have to start investigating the other ways to deal with the Brago deck without tucking. My brother gets to play his Brago deck, and we get a new challenge, figuring out a new way to make him suffer. That seems like a win for everyone.

Kitchen Table Magic: Brewing Dragons – Ojutai Advantage

Hello. My name is Dave, and I am a Magiholic.

[Editor’s note: Hi, Dave!]

At almost 40 years old, I still collect and play with Magic cards. My relationship with Magic began over 20 years ago in high school, but I kicked it for four years, dumping all my Alpha and Beta cards in a garage sale. Sad, I know!

In college, I earned the wrong crowd’s favor and reentered a state of Magiholism, only this time I lived with a [card]mountain stronghold[/card] of guilt for letting my early and now extremely valuable collection go. I vowed never to feel that [card]chained to the rocks[/card] again. Here, I am freeing my [card]heart warden[/card] to intentionally spread my [card]exotic disease[/card]. Don’t listen to me. Save yourselves.

By the way, if you are getting rid of your collection, toss me a tweet; I know a guy.

Home Brews for Home

I am a kitchen-table Magic player. Ninety-nine percent of my play has been with two close friends and my brother. I play on MTGO from time to time, at FNM when I can, and I devour Magic-related media like Marshall Sutcliffe’s Limited and Constructed Resources podcasts, the Brainstorm Brewery podcast, and many columns and resources from across the Magic community. I don’t make any claims to being an expert deck builder or player, but I enjoy having fun with the game we all love, and I want to share that fun with the community.

For my first series I will create five decks based on the new mythic elder dragons. This week’s brew will be based on the blue and white [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. [card]Narset Transcendent[/card] has captured the attention of the entire Magic community. Patrick Chapin was high on the card during a recent Top Level Podcast. He mentioned an interaction with [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] that got me thinking about Bant.

[deck title=Ojutai Advantage]
[Creatures]
*4 Elvish Mystic
*4 Sylvan Caryatid
*4 Courser of Kruphix
*1 Dragonlord Dromoka
*1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
*4 Dragonlord Ojutai
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*4 Dig Through Time
*4 Dissolve
*4 Silumgar’s Scorn
*3 Valorous Stance
*2 Narset Transcendent
*1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Flooded Strand
*4 Windswept Heath
*4 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
*4 Opulent Palace
*3 Mana Confluence
*2 Forest
*2 Island
*2 Plains
*1 Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
[/lands]
[Sideboard]
*3 End Hostilities
*3 Disdainful Stroke
*2 Murderous Cut
*2 Perilous Vault
*2 Reclamation Sage
*2 Dragonlord Dromoka
*1 Dragonlord Silumgar
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Transcendent Courser

[card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] shows us the top card of our library. It is a handy interaction when deciding whether to use [card]Narset Transcendent[/card]’s +1 pseudo card-draw ability. If you see a land, you get to dig to the next card with the Courser. If it is a creature you don’t need, you can sacrifice that fetch, shuffle your library and try again. Combined with Courser and the right deck, Narset essentially says, “+1: Draw a card.”

Flying [card]Anticipate[/card] of Death

When I started brewing around the interaction between Narset and Courser, I spent some time looking through the new dragons and discovered [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card]. He is a 5/4, has flying, has hexproof on the turn he is played, and provides a free [card]Anticipate[/card] every time he connects with a player. All this for five mana. I love him. Sure, it is a little bit “win more,” but if I can survive long enough to get this guy on the table, protect him while attacking, and connect with him, I bet I will win.

Courser is green and already a little rampy. If we add in a little more green ramp to push Ojutai out on turn four, then we are really talking. The deck I have in mind acts like a rampy green deck until I get Ojutai on the board, then I switch to a control role, protecting him with [card]Silumgar’s Scorn[/card] and [card]Dissolve[/card], dealing five in the air, and [card]Anticipate[/card]ing each turn. Once [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] is out, I can chump on the ground with my ramp creatures to keep myself alive long enough to win in the air.

Digging for Answers

Narset allows the pilot to dig for counters or sideboarded answers, and Courser just speeds up that searching. I’ve included [card]Silumgar, the Drifting Death[/card] and [card]Dragonlord Dromoka[/card] as additional and surprising win conditions that are either hard to deal with (hexproof) or get me out of [card]Stoke the Flames[/card] range (lifelink). I can use [card]Dig Through Time[/card] to find one or both of these threats, if needed.

Bottom line: there is a lot of card draw and selection in this build. The pilot has a lot of options for finding answers.

Strategy

Against a beatdown deck, getting the ramp out early to trade with their creatures is essential. Courser is great for stopping their early creatures and Caryatid is an untargetable blocker. Ramping out Ojutai is not essential against aggro. The best course of action is to trade creatures until Ojutai hits the board and then to have a counter up to protect the dragonlord from Stoke while attacking. Siding in another lifelinking dragon is a good plan as well as the [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card]s and [card]End Hostilities[/card]. If we can gain some life and knock out their ground force, this matchup should break in our favor.

When facing midrange, we don’t want to get overwhelmed. [card]Whisperwood Elemental[/card], [card]Siege Rhino[/card], [card]Genesis Hydra[/card], and [card]Tasigur, the Golden Fang[/card] are current, popular examples in this strategy. Manifest is a special enemy putting uncounterable bodies on the field every turn, but face-down [card]Genesis Hydra[/card]s don’t do your opponents much good, and flipping up a [card]Siege Rhino[/card] isn’t especially threatening. Your opponents need to cast these monsters from their hand for best value. In the early turns, get out some ramp and blockers to prevent their 2/2s from gaining ground. Once your opponent has five mana open, you need to have a counter ready. Don’t worry about their [card]Voyaging Satyr[/card]s and [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card]s. Worry instead about their [card]Whisperwood Elemental[/card]s.  Side in the [card]Perilous Vault[/card]s and [card]End Hostilities[/card] to clear the board after they dump their hand to overwhelm you.

siege-rhino

For control match-ups, dump the Caryatids and double down with [card]Disdainful Stroke[/card] and [card]Reclamation Sage[/card]. Getting creatures out early and countering their removal targeting your dragons is key. Courser is especially useful here as it does damage and keeps lands out of your draw step. [card]Dragonlord Ojutai[/card] can be freely cast with a counter at the ready for mass removal. Use the sage to remove their vaults before they can activate them and to deal those last few points of damage. [card]Dragonlord Dromoka[/card] is a nice surprise: an uncounterable threat, but without countermagic at the ready, he won’t last long on the board.

If you like controlling the pace of the game, drawing cards, and playing dragons as much as I do, try out the Ojutai Advantage deck at your next kitchen table event. I promise it will, at the very least, be fun!