Max Brett

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory #9 – Disruption in EDH Part 2

Max Brett

Welcome back to C+C Magic Factory. It’s been a hot minute since I picked up the [card]Bloodletter Quill[/card] as end-of-year job duties caught up with me, but now that we are in the warm relaxation of the summer, it’s time once again to talk some EDH. In part one of this now three-part mini series on disruption, we looked at what disruption in EDH means (messing with what your opponent has planned) and looked at some examples of six common classes of disruption you might see played during a game of Commander. For reference, they are: spot removal, wraths, board wipes, catch-alls, 187s, and [card]Disenchant[/card] effects. Today, we’ll examine four of the remaining seven classes: discard, counters, prison, and theft (and for the final installment, we’ll discuss mana denial, chaos, and “going over the top”). On to the discussion!

7. Discard

The Good: Discard effects are great at nipping problems in the bud. With so many cards having immediate impact and/or built-in resiliency, pre-emptive solutions become very valuable. Discard is also a great equalizer if you have a player in your group who is known to run juiced-up decks, since the power of discard scales with that of your opponents’ cards. By pulling the trigger at the right time, it is often possible to slow the player in pole position down just enough to have a more fair and interactive game of Magic.

The Bad: Like spot removal, most discard is targeted, leading to the same card-disadvantage-in-multiplayer problem that you see with the former group. Even if you mitigate the disadvantage with an X-for-1 discard like [card]Rakdos’s Return[/card] or [card]Identity Crisis[/card], the result is even more unbalanced since all those cards come from one player. That trait can also lead to some feel-bad moments as the discarding player can be put quite far behind the rest of the table. Also, it must be noted that discard is not always good, since it does not protect from the top of the deck and there are an abundance of graveyard-themed strategies, like [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card], and [card]The Mimeoplasm[/card], that are resilient to and can even benefit from discard.

Who Wants It: Decks that have difficulty dealing with permanents and can recoup the card disadvantage are best positioned to make use of this traditionally black ability. This form of disruption is also metagame-dependent, as it can be used as a way of keeping certain decks in check while never being truly dead at a table with multiple players.

8. Counters

The Good: Blue does it best. Just like its black brother, discard, blue has the ability to stop pretty much any problem before it reaches problem status. But while black does it proactively, blue does it reactively. This has the political upside of avoiding the misery of being [card]Blackmail[/card]ed or put under [card]Duress[/card] by stopping opponents’ cards at the point they become a threat rather than when they were just a twinkle in their planeswalker’s eye. It has further collusive application by threatening a counter should an opponent step out of line. Counters can also be used as protection for your own threats and combos since they are one of the few answers to the many forms of disruption being reviewed in this article. [card]Counterspell[/card]s are incredibly versatile and make up the rare class of cards that can stop pretty much whatever your opponent tries to do.

The Bad: Once again, the problems are the same as with spot removal: inherent card disadvantage and the need to keep mana open on your opponents’ turns. This is why [card]Pact of Negation[/card] is such a great counter in EDH; you get all the upside of holding a counter with none of the downside, since you can progress your board business as usual and all the game-breakers in EDH cost five mana or more anyway. Additionally, counterspells are incredibly difficult to play correctly—a fact made more true by the singleton rule. The best counters get value in hand (even if they aren’t yet there!) as a threat and then get cast to counter a spell that will win the game for one of your opponents or lose you the game. Sculpting that board state in a multiplayer game is no soft job and not for the faint-of-heart. If a counter is fired off at the first spell on the stack, the card disadvantage will be a problem.

Who Wants It: Ux decks where x is not white or green will want some number of counters. They are one of the few ways of dealing with would-be problem permanents of all types non-creature. Control decks want counters to seal the deal once stabilized and combo decks will want counters to protect combo pieces. Decks with instant-speed card draw will best be able to leverage counterspells, regardless of archetype. Many players will want counters just because it’s fun to counter things.

9. Deterrents/Prison Pieces

The Good: Looking at this collection of six cards I pulled from my various Commander decks, I notice that each of these cards either makes a statement (“You can’t do that!”) or asks a question (“Do you really want to do that?”). I grouped them together because the connecting theme is that in each case, you get a lot of disruption out of one card, enough to control the flow of the game. It is very difficult to quantify how much life a card like [card]Ghostly Prison[/card] will gain you and cost your opponents over the course of a game. Until turn eight, the card is superior to [card]Moat[/card], as all those creatures that would have come your way will be sent smashing elsewhere rather than just sitting at home washing their tights. In the case of the prison, it works because it provides a disincentive for your opponents to attack you and that disincentive is strong enough that aggression is not worth it. In the end, all the above cards (and many others, such as the curse cycle from Commander 2013) change the rules of engagement just enough to warp players’ actions and motives.

The Bad: Unlike many previous examples of disruption, prison-style disruption is permanent rather than directed spell disruption. The upshot is that in addition to being susceptible to disruption itself via removal, the outcomes are unpredictable. Sure, in nine games out of ten, no one will attack you while you have [card]Ghostly Prison[/card] out because they want to tap out for [card]Peregrination[/card] or whatever, but there will be that one game where a couple players are flooded and opt to get value from their lands by smashing you with their Commanders. Sometimes that [card]Zur’s Weirding[/card] will lose you the game. Furthermore, if an opponent’s game plan is on a different axis than your disruption, these cards might just not do anything.

Who Wants It: The best prison cards are white, not because there are necessarily more in that color, but because white has the most cards that affect creatures in a meaningful way. In the above examples, a deck looking to win outside of combat will benefit from these cards since by dedicating one or two deck slots it becomes possible to negate swaths of your opponents’ cards.

10. Theft

The Good: While there are many other cards that can do what [card]Treachery[/card] does, [card]Treachery[/card] is the king of this type of effect. Most [card]Control Magic[/card] effects are very similar, save for exceptions like [card]Bribery[/card] (theft from deck) and [card]Ray of Command[/card] (borrowing). This class of cards has quite a lot going for it in that there is no card disadvantage or loss of tempo when measured against all the players at the table. Furthermore, it can often create huge tempo swings when the object of desire costs six or more mana. Lastly, theft is a “75-percent friendly” way of killing your opponent with Ulamog or Vorinclex, since those had to start the game in their deck anyway.

The Bad: None, really. Being enchantment-based in most cases means the stolen item can usually be [card]Returned to Dust[/card], where dust is what’s left of your opponent after a good trouncing by their own creature. Also, if you kill the owner, then the creature goes with it, so be sure to save the best for last. While it makes the most sense to compare theft to spot removal, they do fill different roles, as something like [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] is a much more permanent solution despite lacking the #value of a [card]Treachery[/card].

Who Wants It: Since most cards of this type cost four to six mana and are blue, there is no deck that wouldn’t benefit from [card]Control Magic[/card] and friends—and I have yet to see a blue deck that tops out at three. Perhaps a combo deck would leave this effect on the sidelines for more focus or a mana-plus-bombs deck like [card]Animar, Soul of Elements[/card], might have its sights set on bigger things, but then those decks had better be going over the top.

Out of respect for my word count and my urge to wax philosophical about mana denial in Commander, this series will wrap up with the next installment. Until then, let me know in the comments or on Twitter how the new Conspiracy or M15 cards are working for you in your Commander decks or Cube drafts!

Play more lands,

Max Brett.

Contact:

Email: djkensai at gmail dot com

Twitter: @djkensai

MODO: djkensai

My Cube

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory #8: Disruption in EDH, Part 1

Max Brett

Play more spot removal. Play less spot removal. Play enchantment removal, some of which must exile or tuck. Play counters. Play mana ramp. Play wraths. Play enough threats. Don’t dilute your game plan. Play artifact removal. Play board wipes. Play enough lands (seriously, play enough lands.)

Deckbuilding mantras for EDH come at us constantly. If we took them all with us to the deckbuilding table, EDH would be a 256-card format. So how is the brewer to sort it all out?

My take is that many of these statements can be simmered down to a single statement: play disruption. Disruption is a blanket term for anything that messes with what your opponent has planned; anything that cancels one or more of an opponent’s cards, even temporarily, falls into this category. My goal in this two-part series is to provide a framework for classifying types of disruption and identifying which types fit which archetypes. To do so, I scoured my 13 EDH decks as well as my cube and pulled pieces of EDH-playable disruption. After sorting, I ended up with 13 distinct categories of disruption. I’ll be breaking down the analysis according to: The Good, The Bad, and Who Wants It.

1. Spot Removal

The Good: Spot removal tends to be the best way to get something off the table at the time that’s best for you and worst for your opponent. The best spot removal is instant-speed and cheap. Some of it even tucks, which for EDH could be a category of disruption all on its own. Ironically, spot removal is at its best when it’s in your hand, not on the stack, as the threat of efficiently killing an opponent’s dude is only good as long as there’s a bullet in the gun.

The Bad: Card disadvantage, namely one card for each additional opponent at the table. Assuming your EDH games host three or four players, you need a pretty good reason to use a spell slot on something that puts you and one opponent down a card with respect to the rest of the table.

Who Wants It: A master pilot can actually turn the disadvantage of spot removal into card advantage thanks to the little type line—instant. If you can effectively put the fear of retribution into the minds of your opponents to the point where their attacks are being directed elsewhere, that potential lost card has turned into a gained card many times over for each sideways creature heading into an opponent’s red zone. A deck with a lot of instant-speed card draw and counters will appreciate spot removal since it fits the theme of playing reactively on your opponents’ turns. This type of deck will also be able to leverage that threat turn after turn without giving up mana. Most of my spot removal is in my [card]Thraximundar[/card] and [card]Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge[/card] Grixis deck for just that reason.

2. Wraths

The Good: Here we have the old standby. When in doubt, kill all the things. Since EDH is predominantly a creature format, a well-timed wrath can turn the tide of battle and, at the very least, allow you to live another untap step. [card]Wrath of God[/card] and friends don’t suffer the card-disadvantage-in-multiplayer stigma that spot removal does, and therefore can be slotted without special considerations into more decks. What is even better about WoG and friends is that sometimes that’s the topdeck the table is clamoring for once someone starts running away with the game. One of my favorite games in recent memory is one where I had my Karador engine running full-bore until the player to my right ripped [card]Terminus[/card]. I didn’t win that game.

The Bad: Wraths are usually expensive and sorcery-speed, which make them difficult to set up. They also don’t discriminate and force you to neuter your board position when you pull the trigger. This can be mitigated in a variety of ways, but all the bad things to say about wraths can be boiled down to difficult timing.

Who Wants It: All but the most aggressive of decks will run one WoG effect, with many creature-light decks loading up on five or more. In combo and control decks, wraths are all-stars, providing ample time to set up as well as crushing the opposition with the card advantage provided by their lopsided “symmetry.” In midrange builds, wraths simply provide a safety valve that can be crafted to be advantageous at various states of the game.

3. Board Wipes

The Good: Similar to wraths in many ways, board wipes provide the ultimate doomsday device secret weapon. With minor differences between them, they all reset the board in one way or another. Often, one or more permanent types will be left unscathed, thus allowing for some card-advantage crafting. Board wipes have the advantage over wraths by being able to hit the combo and control players as hard if not harder than the decks with durdles, though they require even more setting up to take advantage of.

The Bad: Board wipes are wraths with bacon, cheese, and all the super-sized combo add-ons. So they cost more and can be even slower, sometimes providing an entire turn-cycle window before the red button can be pressed. Also, it’s very difficult to be ahead of the table once one of these resolves.

Who Wants It: Decks with very few permanents will love these, though any deck that wants only one or two sweepers may opt for one of these nukes just to be sure the reset button does what it says on the box. Also, decks with a heavy recursion theme may run more of these than usual since if your graveyard is your hand…

4. Catch-alls

The Good: What do you get when you cross spot removal with board wipes? The catch-alls, is what. This is the Swiss Army Knife class of disruption, allowing the wielder to get any one thing off the table. They come in cheaper than their global counterparts and will even sometimes get cast at instant speed. What this class of disruption gives you is flexibility, since its members can target any permanent and ask nothing more of your deck construction than a slot in the 99.

The Bad: Like spot removal, catch-alls suffer from the card disadvantage problem, but unlike most spot removal, being sorcery speed makes threat-of-retribution not an option. Also, catch-alls are purely reactive and will rarely synergize with your other 99 cards; running them can dilute your deck’s effectiveness.

Who Wants It: Decks that rely on heavy board presence like my Marath deck will tend toward running catch-alls, since they can’t afford to run sweepers without stunting their development. Also, decks that are very tight for space may opt for one or two catch-alls, since if you only have a couple slots for removal, might as well make sure it can kill what you need it to.

5. 187s

The Good: As much as it seems like [card]Shriekmaw[/card] and [card]Doom Blade[/card] are similar cards, they are actually miles apart. [card]Shriekmaw[/card], like any of these 187s, gives the caster card advantage since you get a threat to go with one of your opponents being down a card. Furthermore, many other EDH decks have a creature recursion theme, which means that the CA spread is likely to keep growing as the game goes long.

The Bad: Just like 187s avoid the drawbacks of spot removal spells, in doing so they also give up the advantages. Gone are the one and two casting-cost instants that are the makings of blowouts. Instead, 187s are the epitome of the grind and the two-for-one.

Who Wants It: Decks with creatures that aren’t of the group hug variant will default to jamming as many of these value dudes as possible to fill out their curves. If you can recur, blink, flicker, bounce, tutor for, or otherwise get the ETB effect with any regularity, the stock of these 187s goes up even further. Their ideal vacation starts with [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card] taking them on a trip to the [card]Recurring Nightmare[/card] before dropping them back home to [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card] and [card]Roon of the Hidden Realm[/card].

6. Artifact/Enchantment Removal

The Good: How good artifact and enchantment removal is depends very much on your meta. Since many decks are guaranteed to jam at least one [card]Sol Ring[/card], finding room for a few [card]Naturalize[/card] effects will never be the worst (even though actual [card]Naturalize[/card] is). This class of disruption does two things: kills said [card]Sol Ring[/card] and breaks up combos. Artifact and enchantment removal doesn’t need to be instant-speed, since combos involving those card types don’t generally use the combat step. As you can see from the picture, I prefer my [card]Naturalize[/card] effects to either hit multiple permanents, be repeatable, or have legs. What’s best about this sort of disruption is that it has a moderate floor but a ridiculous ceiling, since some decks can’t play Magic when there is an [card]Aura Shards[/card] on the table.

The Bad: Devoting a spell slot to a narrow piece of removal is a losing proposition. However, if you have lots of gods in your meta, [card]Deglamer[/card] becomes quite playable since it will answer a card that your opponent will be guaranteed to play. Generally, 187-[card]Naturalize[/card]s will never be bad but may not be that great either.

Who Wants It: This one is meta dependent. Decks with lots of artifacts or enchantments require more hate. If you play fast decks, be aggressive and eschew the spot removal. If you play slower decks, make room for some [card]Disenchant[/card]s so that you can execute your game plan before your opponent can do the same for her own. Always opt for card advantage versions when possible.

There Will Be More

So that’s it for part one of Disruption in EDH. In part two, I’ll be breaking down the remaining seven disruption types. As a teaser, [card]Manabarbs[/card] will be a referenced card.

Until next time,

Max Brett

Contact:

Email: djkensai at gmail dot com

Twitter: @djkensai

MODO: djkensai

My Cube

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory – Journey into Cube

Max Brett

Now that the full spoiler for Journey into Nyx is out, it’s time to theory-craft what the impact on Cube will be. I will be holding off on a full review like the ones I did for the Commander 2013 series until I have a chance to play with these cards and see how they impact Commander tables. For now, I’m going to write about the cards I will be testing in my cube and what applications I see them having for existing archetypes.

[card]Gnarled Scarhide[/card]

The one-armed cow-man will likely be making his way into more cubes than any other card from Journey by virtue of being accessible to C/Ubes and by providing valuable redundancy in the black aggro one-drop slot. [card]Gnarled Scarhide[/card]’s bestow modes might actually push him to best-in-slot for that category depending on how relevant bestowing on your opponent’s guy plays out. Turn one two-power one-drop into turn two disruption is a very solid archetype for black that is getting easier to support thanks to cards like the Scarhide.

[card]Nyx-Fleece Ram[/card]

White is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Cube since it’s the only color that typically supports both aggro and control archetypes. [card]Nyx-Fleece Ram[/card] clearly plays for the latter team but fills a role there that previously only [card]Wall of Omens[/card] and [card]Perimeter Captain[/card] volunteered for. How it compares to those two remains to be seen, but I can definitely see how the extra toughness and incidental life gain could be worth a card in some matchups. I will test it but it might have a tough time competing for a slot, unlike the next card.

[card]Banishing Light[/card]

[card]Oblivion Ring[/card] 2.0 is a snap include for pretty much every cube as [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] supports both the aforementioned control and aggro archetypes and is picked highly even in powered environments. [card]Banishing Light[/card] is a functional reprint for our purposes since in practice the stack trick only ever comes up on creatures.

[card]Setessan Tactics[/card]

I run a larger cube (~640 cards) and green is the only color where the lack of depth is truly felt. Even though I feel [card]Setessan Tactics[/card] may be weaker than any other Journey into Nyx card discussed in this article, I will be giving it a shot since it has a role to play. Like in many other cubes, green aggro has fallen by the wayside in my list to support ramp and better midrange four- and five-drops. In that paradigm shift, most combat tricks have made their way out (only [card]Vines of Vastwood[/card] remains). Not only is green looking to improve card quality more than any other color, but [card]Setessan Tactics[/card] can fill the role of a trick while playing much better with green’s creatures, which are large enough to win combat anyway. How it plays might show that it’s not good enough since attacking may just be better most of the time. That said, it is green removal and sometimes you just need to kill that [card]Sower of Temptation[/card] or [card]Looter il-Kor[/card].

[card]Prophetic Flamespeaker[/card]

You know you want to…
(Alter by Gus S.)

The red Johnny Magic comes to the party with very exciting rules text, all for the low cost of 3 mana. As soon as I saw this card I though “I want me some of that!” The theory-crafting jury is still out on this guy, which is one of the prerequisites for a card to break out. Even the question of whether the Flamespeaker slots better into aggro, control, or midrange is still unanswered. What is known is that he has a strike against him—he needs some help to reach his full potential. Luckily, he accepts it in all forms: pump spells, equipment, removal, burn or other creatures all get the Flamespeaker to connect. Once he does, [card]Prophetic Flamespeaker[/card] helps himself quite well, as his trigger can pile on up to two cards of pressure per turn. Card advantage considerations aside, double strike and trample on the same card threaten a huge amount of damage should anything be done to change that one power. The fact that the printing of this guy makes me want to put [card]Reckless Charge[/card] back in my cube is making me really pay attention to him. Of course, Cube might be the best format for him since that’s where he’ll get to play with the best toys like swords and [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card].

[card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card]

Gold cards are so difficult to evaluate for cube because they have to compete for five slots rather than 70 or more. Ajani does compete and the easy cards to put him against are [card]Mirari’s Wake[/card] and [card]Gavony Township[/card]. Ajani is hands down a better anthem than both cards, but it is dangerous to stop there—Wake was always played for the mana doubling and Township is so good because it’s a land. In my list, I may actually just cheat and slide Township into my land section just to get some testing in. Though Ajani doesn’t protect himself the way other ‘walkers do, waiting a turn to drop him so as to put three counters on a mana elf gets the job done. What is clear is that Ajani passes the mustard for a spot on team Selesnya; what you cut comes down to preference.

[card]Keranos, God of Storms[/card]

Of all ten multicolour gods, Keranos may be the only one to get a slot in Cube. Not even Xenagod made the cut in my list, even though he’s much better than some of the mono-colored cards I run. Luckily for Keranos, his competition isn’t as stiff and his abilities line up well with what UR wants to do. I’m not sure if drawing and casting [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is always worth a card, but the board states where it’s not are few and far between. He’s unlikely to be a creature very often, which is fine since he has enough value frontloaded on his enchantment half. [card]Steam Augury[/card] has under-performed for me and will be making room for some playtests with Keranos. You could also cut some low-impact cards: [card]Izzet Charm[/card], [card]Fire/Ice[/card], or the similar [card]Prophetic Bolt[/card] to make room for the god.

[card]Mana Confluence[/card]

Which 5-colour land would you rather go to?

I am slightly upset by the printing of this card since it seems marginally better than [card]City of Brass[/card], of which I have an original Arabian Nights version in my cube. I could cut that, [card]City of Ass[/card] (not going to happen), or make room for a third five-color land. I like this last option most, since in practice CoB sees as much play supporting two-colour decks that still need mana fixing late in the draft as it does supporting four- and five-colour decks. When you think of it as a 10-way split card with a downside, [card]Mana Confluence[/card] definitely needs to “get in there.”

[card]Temple of Malady[/card]/[card]Temple of Epiphany[/card]

I will be testing [card]Temple of Epiphany[/card] in my cube, but not [card]Temple of Malady[/card]. I find the temples excellent lands for filling out each guild’s section but not as a 10-card land cycle for cube. As we get more cubable dual lands, I feel like the musical chairs remaining after shocks/fetches/duals have taken their seats should be filled by lands that support each guild’s strategies. For example, some guilds really need a land that is untapped on turn one. Another example is how critical [card]Fetid Heath[/card] is for a B/W deck, even after most of the WW two-drops have been removed from Cube. These two temples illustrate this effect perfectly. B/G needs to have its green source untapped on turn one to cast an elf, but the best UR usually does on turn one is cast [card]Ponder[/card] or [card]Preordain[/card], which is an effect a free scry 1 emulates quite well.

So that’s it! With nine cards to test, six of which I believe will have a long-term stay in my cube, Journey into Nyx seems like a very good set for Cube. Let me know in comments, by Twitter, or email what you think about JOU and what cards you will be testing.

Until next time,

Max Brett.

Contact:

Email: djkensai at gmail dot com

Twitter: @djkensai

MODO: djkensai

My Cube

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory – The Casual Collection

Max Brett

Random boxes and MODO redemption – enough to start a cube!

Q. What do the following have in common?

A shoe box full of Ice Age and Revised. Leavings from opened booster boxes going back three years. Smatterings of cards sporting bizarre expansion symbols. A melting pot of pre-constructed products.

A. These are typical components of a collection belonging to the “casual magic player.”

Aside from giving clues as to what casual players can offer as trade targets, such a thought experiment allows us to determine why casual players play the formats they do and consequently how to best serve those players. This latter notion is gaining traction in the finance community; see Ryan Bushard’s recent article on Gathering Magic or hear Jason Alt reiterate how much he loves trading with EDH players for evidence. Since this is Cube + Commander Magic Factory, we’re going to tackle the question, “Why are Cube and Commander the hottest* casual formats?” and see where it leads us.

*While more cards by volume are likely tied up in casual 60-card decks than cubes, Cube is certainly getting more growth and face time, as evidenced by all the podcasts and web content as well as WOTC-endorsed products like Conspiracy and the MODO cube.

1. Both are Singleton

Singleton formats flatten the power level of cards. Whereas in regular Constructed a single card choice accounts for one-fifteenth of the total available space, in C + C that figure tops out at 1/99 of the available space and therefore power level.

2. Both are Eternal

Eternal formats are more forgiving of collections by providing access to more functional replacements while not being haunted by the specter of planned obsolescence the way rotating formats are. From Shivan to Stormbreath, [card]Wrath of God[/card] to [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], [card]Terror[/card] to [card]Dismember[/card], and [card]Sol Ring[/card] to [card]Chromatic Lantern[/card], the repetition of staple effects throughout Magic’s history allows players to build towards the deck they want regardless of the sets they collected.

3. Depth

As a corollary to (1) and (2), a greater depth of cards are “playable,” particularly when considering EDH and pauper/peasant cubes. There is satisfaction to be had by taking old cards from your shoebox and sleeving them up to make a coherent and fun deck. The best way to get value from your bulk is to play with it—cubes and durdly EDH decks are perfect for that task. That EDH decks and cubes give players the optimal way of extracting value from their collection is, in my opinion, the reason why those formats are so popular.

So What?

A collection-focused thought experiment allows us to identify the needs and motivations for casual players, thereby facilitating trades with said group. Why you should want to trade with casual players should be clear—they can unearth value from cards other players can’t and by extension find value in your collection that other players won’t. Casual players crack as many chase mythics as anyone else and they are actively looking to move them for cards unplayable in the Standard-Modern-Legacy triumvirate. This article is not about taking advantage of casual players but rather perceiving the value to be had by trading with them and understanding the service you can provide by integrating them into your trading network. To this end, here are some questions that can help you trade effectively with casual players and have fun in the process.

Yes, that’s a box of Netrunner in there.

1. What years did you play?

You know the score—you quit, sell off everything you’ll later wish you kept, get back to the game, take a break, come back for a prerelease before repeating the cycle. Most Magic players quit and of then many come back to the game. The upshot is that your typical player will have large gaps in his or her collection corresponding to years of non-play. For example, I have a gap in my paper collection bookended by Betrayers of Kamigawa and Eventide. Every time I trade with someone, I’m particularly interested in finding cards from those sets; whenever I go to a store I ask to see binders from that era. Even if you don’t have binders for different sets, organizing your binder chronologically can make for a very exciting experience for your trade partner, much like cracking a fresh pack.

2. Can I see your deck?

One of the interesting facts about EDH decks is that unlike a deck in a solved Standard metagame or an age-old Legacy archetype, players are always modifying them. This could be in response to a local meta, to play with new toys, to “level up” their decks, or simply for the sake of variety. Taking a look at a player’s current brew can allow you to suggest cards according to any of the above purposes while engaging in friendly conversation about your trade partner’s favorite hobby and creation. By looking through his or her deck, you can quickly see and suggest functional upgrades and new directions for the deck. When I suggested [card]Dragon Tyrant[/card] for my friend’s [card]Scion of the Ur-Dragon[/card] deck, I had an image of myself as Trainspotting’s Mikey Forrester touting in a Scottish brogue “…custom designed for your purposes…” Not only did I find a home for an old rare no one else would have wanted but I succeeded in making for pleasurable trade experience for both parties.

3. What are you building?

Similar to question two, knowing what your trade partner’s next project is allows you to open a discussion about deckbuilding earlier in the process. Rather than simply suggesting alternatives or upgrades, you can determine the thematic thrust for the deck. A simple, “Have you thought about _____________?” may be all it takes to set the wheels in motion. You may not always have the cards players want, but if you do, you can expect some pleasant trades.

Not anywhere close to done…

4. Are you foiling out a deck or cube?

Entire articles could be written about casuals and their precious foils, though my opinion is that EDH foils get too much attention from the financial community and that there is plenty of demand in non-foil EDH fare. That said, casual players will often get to the point where they have a foil project. I believe this is a function of needing a value-preserving outlet for Constructed-playable Standard cards opened through Limited tournaments or box purchases, as well as enjoying the journey of a trade mission. In any case, moving money cards to further a foil project is what a casual player is looking to do, since it’s the only way they can bank more value in their [card]Day of Judgment[/card], which will at least get played and appreciated. If you manage to find someone who is building a peasant cube, you have just found a great demand for oddball foils. You know who cares about foil [card]Kor Skyfisher[/card]? Anyone building a cube is who. If the cube has a quirky or tribal theme, the demand net is cast even wider. Furthermore, any foil wanted by a cube builder will be wanted by many due to the transitive nature of the format, thus ensuring that any foils the builder pulls will be worth more than bulk.
I hope that this has been enlightnening read on collection-based thinking and trading with the casual crowd. We know who we are and would love to hear from you!

Until next time,

Max Brett.

Contact:

Email: djkensai at gmail dot com

Twitter: @djkensai

MODO: djkensai

C(ube)+C(ommander) Magic Factory #5 – Nature of the Beast Review

Max Brett

For the last installment in this series of C+C Magic Factory, we’ll be reviewing the Commander 2013 deck, Nature of the Beast.

Here’s a review of the grading system we’ll be using. The first grade for each card is a Cube grade, the second is a Commander grade.

Cube:

[A+]: First-pick card on power level alone or tier-one for associated archetype(s).

[A]: High-powered alone or in the context of two or more archetypes.

[B]: High-powered in the context of one archetype.

[C]: Role-filler in a niche archetype or mid-powered utility card.

[D]: Might see play in large or restricted lists (e.g. peasant)

[F]: Not playable in Cube.

Commander:

[A+]: Best in class. These cards are at the top of the list for any deck wanting the effect.

[A]: Excellent card according to two or more of: power level, size-of-effect, card interaction, or politics.

[B]: Excellent card according to one of: power level, size-of-effect, card interaction, or politics.

[C]: Solid role-filler or theme-supporter.

[D]: Playable, but better options exist.

[F]: A knife at a gun fight.

Naya Deck: Nature of the Beast

Commanders: [card]Marath, Will of the Wild[/card] [F]/[A+], [card]Gahiji, Honored One[/card] [D]/[C], [card]Mayael the Anima[/card] [F]/[C]

As it turns out, Marath, the new commander with the biggest text box and recipient of errata before it even hit the shelves, is good. Though I may be biased, just having won a small EDH tournament at my LGS with a decidedly untuned Marath build, the amount of interactions and single cards he enables cannot be ignored. Whether you want to brew a Ghave-style token build or just have Marath be at the helm of a Naya beats pile of big dumb idiots, the elemental beast does whatever you want him to up to and including smashing face on-curve. In my games I spammed 1/1s, went off with [card]Ashnod’s Altar[/card], threatened and achieved early lethal damage with [card]Mirror Entity[/card] and a juiced-up [card]Wild Beastmaster[/card], closed out a game by going to the dome, cast him as a 13/13 and got to play him after a [card]Mirari’s Wake[/card] and [card]Warstorm Surge[/card]. Even a card like [card]Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice[/card] that normally requires significant deck allocation to function is randomly turned on by Marath. This card is $1.50 in paper and $10 online, which is a reflection of the distribution disparity between the two media platforms, compounded with the fact that (spoiler alert) the rest of Nature of the Beast is lacking. I would try to pick up any of these you may see in binders, because it is an excellent general from an unwanted product and $1.50 seems disproportionately low.

Alter by Sandreline

[card]Gahiji, Honored One[/card] saw a surprising amount of initial play in my groups despite the consensus that he was powered down from what should have been a 5/5 or at least a 5/4. Anthem-on-a-stick is nice, but compared to Marath’s all-the-abilities-on-a-stick, Gahiji is nowhere near as good or interactive. The political impact did not come up enough in games to make people stick with him, and I have not seen him recently except as support for Marath—a job he does well. You could consider Gahiji for Cube if you have a token theme and include any shard cards, since the competition in Naya is so low. Myself, I run [card]Realm Razer[/card] because [card]Armageddon[/card].

[card]Mayael the Anima[/card] is a decent reprint here as she has sweet art and can be built around in ways that don’t involve losing friends the way an inclusion like [card]Uril, the Miststalker[/card] would. I get the sense that this may be her swan song, as the five-power matters theme seems so stale when compared with these new, more interactive options. The saddest part of this inclusion is that her slot should be occupied by [card]Hazezon Tamar[/card], but the reserved list struck again.

New Cards

[card]From the Ashes[/card] [F]/[D+]

[card]From the Ashes[/card] is a metaphor for Nature of the Beast in that it’s intentionally underpowered. The idea here seems to be land destruction minus the hurt feelings—except for the guy with the $500 mana base, who can stand being the butt of jokes from everyone while they search out their basics. Personally, I prefer to just run [card]Ruination[/card] (which is unplayable in Cube), but if your social contract frowns on that, [card]From the Ashes[/card] may just be the tool you need to get your fix of LD.

[card]Mystic Barrier[/card] [F]/[C+]

Another card that seems custom-built for [card]Zedruu the Greathearted[/card], [card]Mystic Barrier[/card] is a fun political card ripe for exploitation. I don’t think it’s at home here since Naya typically has creatures out, but for a combo deck, this is a [card]Moat[/card] that is weak to one player’s creatures rather than flyers. If you play combo and still have friends to play multiplayer games with, give this card a shot—I think you will be pleasantly surprised. If you hadn’t noticed, this card does stone nothing in 1v1.

[card]Naya Soulbeast[/card] [D-]/[F]

While a neat mechanic, [card]Naya Soulbeast[/card] is way too overcosted for anyone’s taste. Maybe with 10 players at the table and a [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] on your side, this card can pull its weight, but until Magic starts awarding achievements, no one is going to try that. The flip side of this coin is that this beast is totally unplayable in 1v1.

[card]Restore[/card] [F]/[C+]

See Power Hungry review.

[card]Spawning Grounds[/card] [F]/[D-]

Effectively nine mana for your first 5/5, any deck running [card]Spawning Grounds[/card] needs to be cheating on mana in a big way to want this effect. Any sort of combo deck can likely make do with [card]Squirrel Nest[/card]. The effect is good, but paying retail seems not worth it. If [card]Spawning Grounds[/card] cost half the mana, I think it would be exciting enough to see play. Five mana for a 5/5 is fine, and once it’s on the battlefield, it certainly applies pressure.

[card]Tempt with Discovery[/card] [F]/[B-]

Initially I was down on all the tempting offer cards except [card]Tempt with Vengeance[/card], but the amount of play [card]Tempt with Discovery[/card] is seeing in my groups makes me rethink this one. The first observation I had is that people weren’t even playing by the rules: as soon as the spell hit the stack, everyone was rushing into his or her library. Even once we started playing it correctly, each time the spell was cast, at least one person took the offer. EDH players love ramping and [card]Tempt with Discovery[/card] has a subtle upside of playing into the psyche of your opponents. Also, the floor for this card is not the worst, as you can grab a [card]Temple of the False God[/card] and make a reasonable [card]Explosive Vegetation[/card] impression. Since the lands ETB untapped, if a couple opponents take the offer you can usually cast a spell after ramping, which hardly any other ramp spell lets you do. Furthermore, this is the only tempting offer card which uses hidden information, thus giving your opponents opportunities to make mistakes. None of this, however, means it will see any play in Cube.

[card]Terra Ravager[/card] [F]/[F]

See Mind Seize review.

[card]Witch Hunt[/card] [C-]/[C-]

[card]Witch Hunt[/card] is a neat card for a chaos game of EDH, in a Zedruu deck, or to hate on any life gain decks in your meta. The random clause on this card makes it play very differently in multiplayer or 1v1. In a duel, the card just bounces back and forth. Most of the excitement over this card came from people touting it as the second coming of [card]Sulfuric Vortex[/card]. Vortex is the [A+] card for the mono-red burn archetype in Cube, so shouldn’t two Vortices stapled together with a mana discount be an auto-include? As it turns out, the answer is no. Yes, the mono-red deck wants a single 5-mana finisher with reach, but the problem is that there are many cards that can fill that role while still supporting other archetypes. [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] tops the list, but even [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] or [card]Siege-Gang Commander[/card] are completely serviceable in that role while being nowhere near as narrow. I drafted [card]Witch Hunt[/card] in my cube several times, each time picking it up late. On each occasion, it would have fit perfectly but I always had something better to run at five mana.

Notable Reprints

[card]Avenger of Zendikar[/card] [A]/[A+]

Alter by Galli

Here we have the second reason to buy this product. Avenger is the go-to target in any ramp deck. He scales very well from the mid- to late-game and can hit as early as turn four when preceded by a little work. What’s beautiful is that this assessment applies to both Cube and Commander. Like Myr Battlesphere, 40-card decks can get Avenger into play a myriad of ways, and at seven mana, not all of them have to be unfair. He even blinks for sick value! Unless you’re staring down an evasive army, [card]Avenger of Zendikar[/card] stabilizes in one turn and wins the game a couple turns later if not removed. This factor puts him head, shoulders, and rooty appendages above the other fat-and-green competition. In EDH, Avenger is often built towards with cards like [card]Doubling Season[/card], [card]Boundless Realms[/card], and [card]~~Sylvan Primordial~~[/card]. What makes him so great is that he has a top-notch effect at a non-prohibitive cost.

[card]Eternal Dragon[/card] [D+]/[C]

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Creature power creep has pushed both the Eternal and Dragon parts of [card]Eternal Dragon[/card] into obscurity, though plainscycling for two mana does its best to keep this card relevant. It was recently squeezed out of my cube by cards that got drafted and did things, though I was saddened to see it go because landcycling is such a welcome effect. In EDH, where you have more time to durdle, [card]Eternal Dragon[/card] still has a role helping you hit land drops or making an appearance as a 5/5 in the late game. Never bad but rarely good, [card]Eternal Dragon[/card] is at its best when it’s covering up the fact that you’re running too few lands.

[card]Harmonize[/card] [B-]/[B+]

[card]Harmonize[/card]’s high rating is due mostly to the fact that unconditional card draw is such a rare yet in-demand effect in green. Forests are to EDH what Islands are to 60-card Constructed, and in the format where color identity is a thing, tapping trees to cast blue spells is the best place to be. In Cube, ramping and fixing are often one in the same, making [card]Harmonize[/card] good but less stellar, since it’s easy to cast Fact or Fiction off a blue splash.

[card]Rampaging Baloths[/card] [B]/[B]

Avenger’s older-but-less-abusive partner in crime is quite good for many of the same reasons Avenger is good. Since you want to play Baloths and immediately trigger landfall, both cards are effectively seven-drops, with Avenger being the better of the two since you get most if its potential value immediately. Any Cube (or Commander) deck that wants one will want the other and will likely run both, though I expect Avenger to be around in cubes much longer than [card]Rampaging Baloths[/card]. Baloths will have to compete with newer cards while Avenger looks down from its perch at the top of the heap.

[card]Wrath of God[/card] [B]/[A]

The OG board sweeper adds some much-needed value to this product. “Wraths” are staples for both Cube and Commander and [card]Wrath of God[/card] is still among the best, even after all these years. Anti-regeneration doesn’t come up very often, but when it does, you’re thankful for it. The only reason Wrath doesn’t get a higher rating is that in Cube, there are enough functional replacements that control decks can afford to take their sweepers later. In EDH, tuck-Wraths like [card]Hallowed Burial[/card] and [card]Terminus[/card] may actually be better due to the life buffer and all the generals and indestructible dudes running around.

Notable Cards in All Five Decks

[card]Sol Ring[/card] [A+]/[A+], [card]Command Tower[/card] [F]/[A+], [card]Opal Palace[/card] [F]/[C-]

These three apply pretty much only to the Commander crowd, as any cube that wants a [card]Sol Ring[/card] has one by now. As for [card]Sol Ring[/card] and [card]Command Tower[/card], best get them now while they are cheap, as any EDH deck would benefit from their power level. Players in my groups rarely cannibalize decks to make new ones; most (me included) build new decks whenever something exciting is released. New decks mean all the [card]Sol Ring[/card]s and [card]Command Tower[/card]s will find homes, so expect the price to rise accordingly. [card]Opal Palace[/card], on the other hand, is not nearly as powerful as the first two and once the novelty wears off, it will probably only be at home in a deck that really wants the +1/+1 counters on its general, like Marath or Animar.

Overall – Value: [D] / Playability: [D]

Nature of the Beast has several problems from the perspective of both value and playability. First and foremost is the lack of exciting new cards. Marath is great and [card]Tempt with Discovery[/card] is good, but the rest of the new designs here suck. Long-term, this will hurt the value of this precon. Furthermore, there is no tier-one Constructed card, no P3K reprint, and no mono-colored general—small transgressions, but they add up. There is some value in the reprints (Wrath & Avenger), but none of the depth seen in Evasive Maneuvers. Playing the deck is basically a lesson on how to not play the cards in your hand, hope to hit your land drops, and dump all your mana into Marath since he’s so much better than anything else this deck can do. Comparing any of the nine non-[card]Avenger of Zendikar[/card] 5+-power creatures to Marath is a joke, and with only ten total in the deck, Mayael has about as good a chance to whiff as to hit. Nature of the Beast is about as cohesive as Mind Seize, but without any good cards. This is sad, because there are so many cool cards that could have been included to showcase how awesome Marath is. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Contact:

Email: djkensai at gmail dot com

Twitter: @djkensai

C(ube) + C(ommander) Magic Factory #4 – Evasive Maneuvers Review

Max Brett

This time on C+C Magic Factory, we’ll be reviewing the Commander 2013 deck, Evasive Maneuvers.

Here’s a review of the grading system we’ll be using. The first grade for each card is a Cube grade, the second, a Commander grade.

Cube:

[A+]: First-pick card on power level alone or tier 1 for associated archetype(s).

[A]: High powered alone or in the context of 2 or more archetypes.

[B]: High powered in the context of one archetype.

[C]: Role-filler in a niche archetype or mid-powered utility card.

[D]: Might see play in large or restricted lists (e.g. peasant)

[F]: Not playable in cube.

Commander:

[A+]: Best in Class. These cards are at the top of the list for any deck wanting the effect.

[A]: Excellent card according to two or more of: power level, size-of-effect, card interaction, or politics.

[B]: Excellent card according to one of: power level, size-of-effect, card interaction, or politics.

[C]: Solid role-filler or theme supporter.

[D]: Playable, but better options exist.

[F]: A knife at a gun fight.

Bant Deck: Evasive Maneuvers

Commanders: [card]Derevi, Empyrial Tactician[/card] [F]/[B], [card]Roon of the Hidden Realm[/card] [B]/[A-], [card]Rubinia Soulsinger[/card] [F]/[B-]

Alter by Cardkitty

Similar to Mind Seize, Evasive Maneuvers offers a very solid trio of commanders. While Rubinia may be the least exciting of the bunch, she is still a very well-selected Legends reprint that can woman the helm of a goodstuff deck, since the ability to take the best creature at the table will always be relevant. The other two generals present some fun themes for the EDH deck builder to exploit. Roon has two modes: beat your face with commander damage or slide guys for value. He is aggressively costed, has a nice rhino-sized body and his rules text sings with synergy. While most players in my groups have built Roon to grind value with [card]Reveillark[/card] and friends, one has gone the Voltron route and made the swap with [card]Rafiq of the Many[/card] as his Bant commander. Though he doesn’t threaten as much damage, Roon still loves a [card]Finest Hour[/card]. EDH isn’t the only place where Roon is tagging in for Rafiq, either. In my cube, Roon is getting a shot at my lonely Bant slot since blink.dec is a very real archetype in most rare cubes. I like my shard cards to be high-impact, though in cubes that just want the best, Roon may not compete with [card]Bant Charm[/card] for the top slot.

Derevi is perhaps the new commander I’m most excited to brew with, but her puzzle is not one that’s easily solved. The precon clearly emphasizes untapping token generators for Fibonacci-esque value with inclusions like [card]Kazandu Tuskcaller[/card] and [card]Presence of Gond[/card], but the fun does not stop there. Other applications include generating stupid amounts of combat step-mana, trying to go infinite with her alternate cost and a sacrifice outlet (seems difficult), or simply being annoying and tapping down lands and blockers in a multiplayer game. However, what got the attention of my inner griefer was the idea of pairing her with [card]Winter Orb[/card] and [card]Stasis[/card] to get all the zero-sum fun. While currently much less popular than Roon, I feel Derevi may have a longer shelf life and inspire much more variety. (Since the first writing of this section, Derevi has been banned in 1v1 French Commander.)