Tale of Two Commanders 3

Features

GoldGhost012

21 December 2013

2119 views

Hello, and welcome to the third installment of Tale of Two Commanders. This is the third and last article of the little tournament between my decks to see who will be the one to fight your decks. That’s right, this saga is FINALLY over and you can start submitting your decks- as soon as this article is finished. Once again, the three decks in contention are:


Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 66 | 104 COMMENTS | 14393 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS



Tymaret's Mortars of Death

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 6 | 20 COMMENTS | 2350 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS


deck-large: Dude, You Just Got Crushed By Plants

In the last article, deck: Dude, You Just Got Crushed By Plants handed Tymaret's Mortars of Death its second loss, eliminating it. Which was kind of sad, because I loved the Grave Pact shenanigans. Today, in Tale of Two Commanders #3, the contestants in the final showdown for the undisputed ruler of my articles are


Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 66 | 104 COMMENTS | 14393 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS


and deck-large: Dude, You Just Got Crushed By Plants

In the first article, Dragons ended up steamrolling through Tymaret with the brute force of dragons, despite Tymaret stealing and throwing his own creatures against him. The deck's Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, can start putting an enormous amount of pressure on opponents when he comes out, letting all dragons rush in for damage as soon as they pop out. And in the last article, Plants pulled off a huge come-from-behind win over Tymaret with a bunch of Saprolings that managed to prolong his life and chip away at Tymaret's. Doubling Season is a gift from the heavens here, providing all the Saprolings anyone could wish for. So let's see what happens, shall we? D will stand for Dragons and P will stand for Plants. The thought processes of D will be italicized while P will be bolded.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an awesome soundtrack for you to listen to as you read the article. Sorry guys.

Disclaimer: Both these decks are played by me on the Tappedout playtester. I am definitely not a MTG pro. Far from it. I WILL make mistakes and misplays. This is for me to improve my skills as well as for the viewers.

Let's Begin


D keeps a hand of Kokusho, the Evening Star (man, this guy cannot stay out of the articles, can he? He's been in every one!), Dragonmaster Outcast, Swamp, Rootbound Crag, Crucible of Fire, Woodland Cemetery, and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. It's a bit risky, but one more land and I'm set up very nicely.

P wins the roll and will go first. He keeps a hand of 2x Forest, Kessig Wolf Run, Spirit Mantle, Idyllic Tutor, Plains, and Voice of Resurgence. I like it. Turn 2 creature, turn three tutor for Doubling Season.


Turn 1

P plays Forest. Yay, exciting.

D draws Fire-Lit Thicket, then plays Rootbound Crag, which enters tapped because D has no Mountains or Forests.


Turn 2

P draws Growing Ranks. He plays Plains, then casts Voice of Resurgence.

D draws Coat of Arms. He plays Swamp, then casts Dragonmaster Outcast.


Turn 3

P draws Rugged Prairie. He attacks with Voice of Resurgence, no blocks (P: 40, D: 38). He then plays Kessig Wolf Run and casts Idyllic Tutor, searching his library for Doubling Season, reveals it, and puts it into his hand, shuffling his library. Hopefully I'll get some token generators soon too.

D draws Sarkhan Vol. This is awesome. Hasty dragons! He attacks with Dragonmaster Outcast (P: 39, D: 38), then plays Fire-Lit Thicket.


Turn 4

P draws Ulasht, the Hate Seed. He attacks with Voice of Resurgence( P: 39, D: 36), then plays Rugged Prairie and casts Growing Ranks.

D draws Cavern of Souls, which he plays, naming Dragon. He then casts Sarkhan Vol and activates Sarkhan's +1 (5), giving all his creatures +1/+1 and haste. He attacks with Dragonmaster Outcast (P: 37, D: 36). Things are going to be getting very interesting very soon...


Turn 5

P draws Utopia Mycon. He attacks Sarkhan Vol with Voice of Resurgence (3). He then plays Forest and casts Doubling Season. I need to kill Sarkhan now, before he does any real damage.

D draws Graven Cairns. He plays Woodland Cemetery, then casts Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and activates Sarkhan's +1 (4), giving all his creatures +1/+1 and haste. Like that. He attacks with Dragonmaster Outcast and Skittles (P: 35, D: 36; P: 5 poison counters, D: 0 poison counters). I don't see why people don’t like infect. Just kidding, I really can.


Turn 6

P draws Scatter the Seeds. He attacks Sarkhan Vol with Voice of Resurgence (2). I am in trouble now. Very very big trouble. I need an answer to that Blight Dragon ASAP, otherwise I'm dead.

D draws Dragon Mage. He plays Graven Cairns then taps Cavern of Souls, Fire-Lit Thicket, Rootbound Crag, and Graven Cairns to cast Crucible of Fire. I am so screwed. He activates Sarkhan's +1 (3), giving all his creatures +1/+1 and haste, and attacks with Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Dragonmaster Outcast. In response, P casts Scatter the Seeds, getting 3 1/1 Saproling tokens. Doubling Season triggers, making more 3 1/1 Saproling tokens for a total of 6. Two Saprolings block Dragonmaster Outcast, killing all three creatures (P: 13 poison counters, D: 0 poison counters).


At this point, I realized I didn't know the exact number of poison counters it would take to kill a player in EDH. I was thinking it was 15 or 20, so I looked it up, and shockingly (to me, anyway), it's actually the regular 10 poison counters. Although I guess technically


Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 66 | 104 COMMENTS | 14393 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS


wins the match, I'm going to continue the game to 20 poison counters.


Turn 7

During P's upkeep, Growing Ranks populates a Saproling token. Doubling Season triggers, making another Saproling token for a total of 2. He draws Forest. Well, this will defend me for at least a turn. He attacks with 4 Saproling tokens and Voice of Resurgence; Voice and 1 Saproling kill Sarkhan Vol (P: 35, D: 33). He plays Forest, then taps Plains to activate the ability of Rugged Prairie, adding RW to his mana pool. He taps out and spends the floating mana to cast his Commander, Rith, the Awakener for the first time. I seriously need an answer to Skittles right now. I really wish I could put Spirit Mantle on Rith.

D draws Liliana Vess. He attacks with Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, and P blocks with Rith, the Awakener, which dies and goes to the Command Zone. Avoided that final attack, but I really need an answer. Casts Liliana Vess, then activates her -2, searching his library for Sarkhan the Mad, shuffling his library, and then putting Sarkhan on top. Even if he can block next turn, I can make Skittles deal infect damage with Sarkhan. Yay for contingency plans!


During P's upkeep, Growing Ranks populates a Saproling token. Doubling Season triggers, making another Saproling token for a total of 2. He draws Enlightened Tutor. And I can't stop Skittles. With no way to remove Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, P concedes.


Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 66 | 104 COMMENTS | 14393 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS


wins the game!


Afterward

So. Bit of an anticlimactic ending, huh? Infect is pretty cheap, but I feel that in EDH, it's somewhat (note that I said SOMEWHAT) balanced due to the fact that you can only have one of each nonbasic land card, and there are relatively few infect creatures. Still, this kind of shows you that a card like Triumph of the Hordes can be a great game-ender. Honestly though, I was a bit mad at myself for winning like this.

Anyway, this was basically a perfect game for Dragons. He managed to dump Sarkhan Vol, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, and Crucible of Fire one after another for a lot of quick infect damage. Now I truly understand why a lot of players hate infect, especially in EDH. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop running it though. Interestingly enough, Kokusho, the Evening Star has appeared in all three articles so far, but this is the first article where he didn't hit the battlefield.

Greatest Contributors: Sarkhan Vol, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

It’s not like Plants performed badly; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they would've been able to stampede over Dragons if the game had lasted a few more turns. With 2 Saprolings being produced every turn and Ulasht, the Hate Seed in hand, I could definitely see a stampede being possible if they had lasted a little bit longer. And then if Voice of Resurgence died…

Greatest Contributors: Doubling Season, Scatter the Seeds


Lessons to Take Away From This:

Infect is somewhat cheap. A little balanced by the card count, but if you get all the right pieces...

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon can be a killer beater.


And so, the deck that won the right to be in all future Tale of Two Commanders articles is:


Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 66 | 104 COMMENTS | 14393 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS


!!!!

It's Time...

Finally the time has come for you to submit your decks! After each article, you may submit one EDH deck in the hopes that it will be played against Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face. Keep in mind that I don't know how to play your deck as well as you do, so please be patient with me when I make mistakes.

Stipulations: None. But know that it will be a 1-v-1 match.

Thanks for reading! As always, don't be afraid to point out any mistakes or misplays I made. Have a nice day guys.

Let the Games begin!

This article is a follow-up to Tale of Two Commanders 2 The next article in this series is Tale of Two Commanders #4- Angels and Demons and Dragons Oh My!

atreyujames says... #1

you should face up against my deck Bro's Got Cancer, We Need to Radiate. would be very fun

December 21, 2013 7:16 p.m.

squire1 says... #2

Hey there. I would like to suggest Tamar a true legend. It is my take on Hazezon Tamar . A bit less traditional and a bit more casual.

December 21, 2013 7:22 p.m.

Matsi883 says... #3

I've played 0 EDH, but I'd be honored if you playtested against my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck:


deck chart Where my bear SLUGS you...

SCORE: 1 | 4 COMMENTS | 146 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* Matsi883 Playtest

December 21, 2013 7:35 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #4

You could try mine maybe:


deck chart Reanimation; the Oppressive Nation

SCORE: 74 | 9 COMMENTS | 7402 VIEWS
Commander / EDH ChiefBell Playtest

You basically just tutor for an infinite combo and try to win straight away. It's more fun when everything goes wrong. It would really help me if you could test it :)

December 21, 2013 8:24 p.m.

ChiefBell says... #5

Although, I would mention that it's not the easiest deck to use because you have to know exactly what you're looking for with all the tutors etc.

December 21, 2013 8:28 p.m.

GureiSeion says... #6

I'm rather fond of this one. Have at!


deck chart Maelstrom Roulette

SCORE: 2 | 0 COMMENTS | 648 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* GureiSeion Playtest

December 21, 2013 8:33 p.m.

Spootyone says... #7

Huzzah! Now I can decide which of my decks to enter!

Yeah, this is a perfect example why poison can be annoying in a casual format like EDH. Though I don't ever play to more than 10 poison counters, I feel as though the number should be increased to possibly 20 as some do (not for these, just my opinion as a whole). In any case, it could just be my preference for your plant deck biasing my response hahaha.

Well, I have two EDH decks I play with -- both made from scratch. The first is a Sigarda non-artifact voltron deck. It's what I play when I'm playing against more competitive decks:


deck chart Justice, At Any Cost | Sigarda Voltron

SCORE: 20 | 19 COMMENTS | 4985 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* Spootyone Playtest

The second is a more casual deck that really only works well in a less competitive, multiplayer format. It would probably just die to your deck, so I'm hesitant to even enter it. However, if you really want to test against it, feel free! I present my attempt at Wurms tribal:


deck chart Wurms...Oh God the Wurms! (EDH Edition)

SCORE: 3 | 32 COMMENTS | 779 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* Spootyone Playtest

December 21, 2013 8:54 p.m.

bigv54 says... #8

Surrounded on all sides by masses of rage and scales, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician knew only an expertly formulated plan could keep the flames from engulfing her winged soldiers. Can a bird wizard survive an onslaught of dragons?


deck chart Tap Dancing

SCORE: 1 | 4 COMMENTS | 153 VIEWS
Commander / EDH bigv54 Playtest

Can you even dream of stopping a bird wizard?

Can you stop bird wizard?

Can you?

Bird wizard?

December 21, 2013 10 p.m.

doinitwrong says... #9

Feel free to take on my deck:


deck chart Marath, Will of the Highlands

SCORE: 1 | 8 COMMENTS | 640 VIEWS
Commander / EDH doinitwrong Playtest

December 21, 2013 11:57 p.m.

ScionLocke says... #10


deck chart Legendary Captain, Sisay Appears!

SCORE: 0 | 3 COMMENTS | 237 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* Carpediem Playtest

December 22, 2013 12:47 a.m.

-Fulcrum says... #11

How about Kaalia of the Vast ? Pretty fun, pretty straightfoward, and probably competitive enough to deal with your tribal dragon deck.


deck chart Kaalia Ruins Friendships

SCORE: 9 | 9 COMMENTS | 2080 VIEWS
Commander / EDH thePESSIMIST Playtest

You can play it straightfoward, or you can have fun and tutor for Possibility Storm to play as early as possible for some real fun. I'm calling Spootyone as a witness on that.

December 22, 2013 1:41 a.m.

Spootyone says... #12

I am witness to such a feat. Also, dont ever go up against Kaalia with that wurms deck...bad idea...bad, bad, bad idea...

December 22, 2013 2:57 a.m.

MagnusMagicus says... #13

I read your battle of Dragons vs Plants and I liked it :). I did notice one thing you mentioned several times, and that is the triggering of Doubling Season . The outcome was correct (you get two Saprolings instead of one), but Doubling Season does not have a triggered ability, it has a replacement effect. It does not trigger (allowing somebody to respond and making the token made by the Season), it replaces the "get a Saproling" effect with "get twice as many Saprolings".

Usually this is not really relevant, but it might be in some cases and since you are such a Doubling Season fan I thought I'd mention it :).

A relevant difference (if you are interested :)) is for example when you make token with Seance . If you have Doubling Seaon, you'd get two of those tokens and both would disappear at end of turn (because both copies were made by Seance). But if you would populate the Seance-token instead of having a Doubling Season, it would not be under the Seance-effect and remain on the battlefield. Because a copy of creature does not copy any temporary effect.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me. And if you think I'm just babbling, feel free to ignore it ;).

Regards,Mark (Dutch level 1 judge)

December 22, 2013 3:45 a.m.

Ooh, try my Thraximundar deck:


deck chart Low on Red Paint

SCORE: 4 | 0 COMMENTS | 2229 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* ItchiUchiha117 Playtest

Jund vs Grixis. Do eet.

December 22, 2013 3:54 a.m.

OriginLeon says... #15

Take on my five color enters-the-battlefield party.


deck chart It's the End of The World as We Know It

SCORE: 2 | 1 COMMENTS | 434 VIEWS
Commander / EDH OriginLeon Playtest

December 22, 2013 7:42 a.m.

DaShPrime says... #16

Well, I don't play EDH at all, but I have theorycrafted a Bruna, Light of Alabaster deck. Probably not going to stand up to your deck, but it would be interesting to see how your deck deals with Voltron.

deck-large:bruna-the-light-of-all-bust-em

December 22, 2013 8:08 a.m.

Replayced says... #17

I have a couple submissions for you to choose from. First is


deck chart Look Mom, No Friends

SCORE: 20 | 1 COMMENTS | 3605 VIEWS
Commander / EDH Replayced Playtest

It's a nontraditional Rafiq deck. I haven't played it 1v1, but I'm curious how it would do.

The second is


deck chart Arien Nation

SCORE: 8 | 0 COMMENTS | 2183 VIEWS
Commander / EDH Replayced Playtest

This was the first edh deck I built. It's fun to play and can win out of nowhere.

Hopefully one of these decks can provide a fun game and an interesting article.

December 22, 2013 11:24 a.m.

mccracka says... #18

I've got two submissions you can choose from that I'd love to see in these articles


deck chart Mr. Stoutarm

SCORE: 1 | 0 COMMENTS | 246 VIEWS
Commander / EDH mccracka Playtest

I think this would be a decent match up for your dragons. It's similar to you're Tymaret, the Murder King deck with steal and sac affects, but punishes your opponent for playing fatties by launching them directly at their face.


deck chart The Sultans of Ping

SCORE: 8 | 14 COMMENTS | 1588 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* mccracka Playtest

This is my Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius budget deck so it probably would get trounced, but it's fun to play and can be surprisingly strong. I'm interested to see how it would fair against a competitive deck.

December 22, 2013 2:12 p.m.

smash10101 says... #19

I really hope you pick randomly, because otherwise mine's never gonna get picked (wasn't online yesterday). Here it is, the best 1v1 EDH deck I own:


deck chart Ermahgerd! Berbergermers

SCORE: 16 | 3 COMMENTS | 2407 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* smash10101 Playtest

December 22, 2013 4:01 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #20

Thanks for all the entries guys! Even if some of you didn't follow the instructions... And yes, there is still time to enter. I'm not actually sure when I'll choose the deck to play against, but it'll probably be in the next few days barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Thanks for the correction MagnusMagicus. I just read the card wrong. I was thinking it said "whenever" instead of "if".

December 22, 2013 5:30 p.m.

DrLitebur says... #21

I got an EDH deck for ya to try out against...and it would be interesting to see just how the Dragons handle what it does.


deck chart How Many Cards Do You Want?

SCORE: 0 | 5 COMMENTS | 122 VIEWS
Commander / EDH DrLitebur Playtest

December 22, 2013 9:48 p.m.

firerunner36 says... #22

Poor plants getting eaten by a dead dragon :( oh well I'll throw natures fury at it with a BGB-Big Green Bus.

December 22, 2013 10:15 p.m.

adt630 says... #23

If you want to try another Naya deck that works almost the same as Dragons, try:


deck chart Does this make me look fat?

SCORE: 7 | 15 COMMENTS | 2359 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* adt630 Playtest

Or some other Mayael Decks would be from MindAblaze! and ChiefWannaHacka

December 23, 2013 2:41 a.m.

vertexvortex says... #24

Eh, why not: A good old-fashioned Elf Tribal with a Simic Twist! It's an Elf Elf Elf Elf World

December 23, 2013 9:11 a.m.

TheLameSauce says... #25

Threw this together from memory specifically for this challenge. This deck is my baby, and has proven to be nigh unbeatable in my playgroup.
Hug Harder!

December 23, 2013 9:20 a.m.


deck chart Mayael the Chubby Chaser

SCORE: 83 | 32 COMMENTS | 23456 VIEWS
Commander / EDH ChiefWannaHacka Playtest

Definitely meant for competitive multiplayer, but you're more than welcome to play it 1 v 1. It'd be fun to see how it performs.

December 23, 2013 10:56 a.m.

MTG_Player says... #27

My deck is ultra competitve so please try it out if you want to mix things up!


Jin and Juice

SCORE: 122 | 39 COMMENTS | 27803 VIEWS
Commander / EDH* MTG_Player
Playtest

December 23, 2013 2 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #28


deck chart Mayael and Garruk's Wild Pair-ty

SCORE: 16 | 4 COMMENTS | 6292 VIEWS
Commander / EDH MindAblaze! Playtest

is the EDH deck I have the most fun with. It's intended to run smoothly and be fairly competitive. Set up your board then beat face!

December 23, 2013 4:20 p.m.

Rienuaa says... #29

I'd love it if you could try out my deck Thraximundar, the Shadowborn - "Paint it Grixis."

I don't have any witty quips, or even anything concrete to tell you about its performance. I can tell you it is a beast to pilot and tends to ruin the day of everyone. I can tell you it wins consistently and hilariously. I can tell you it's a bit cheap to play.

Please?

December 23, 2013 11:23 p.m.

fijord says... #30

thought I might throw this into the mix


deck chart Gisela's Host

SCORE: 3 | 11 COMMENTS | 246 VIEWS
Commander / EDH fijord Playtest

December 24, 2013 12:23 a.m.

killroy726 says... #31

I'll go with this one Dont attack me plz!

December 24, 2013 9:48 a.m.

Casey4321 says... #32

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/x-rated-drana/ I submit for your evaluation.

December 24, 2013 9:23 p.m.

Check out my Naya Gahiji, Honored One EDH deck for your next article: Beast Mode

December 25, 2013 9:39 a.m.

the5ervant says... #34

Mono-blue control with Arcanis the Omnipotent . Quite a far cry from the aggros you've been testing.


Just one of those days... Playtest

Commander / EDH the5ervant

SCORE: 2 | 5 COMMENTS | 174 VIEWS

.

January 17, 2014 3:35 p.m.

DaShPrime says... #35

Whoops, I changed the name of the deck that I submitted above. It's now


Mighty Morphin' Powerpuff Girl Playtest

Commander / EDH* DaShPrime

SCORE: 3 | 7 COMMENTS | 966 VIEWS

January 18, 2014 12:02 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #36

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I've been through a bit of hell with the last month and been under a lot of stress. But regardless, the next article will be up soon, probably by the end of next week at the latest.

January 21, 2014 5:44 p.m.

Matsi883 says... #37

Who are you going to play against, GoldGhost012?

January 21, 2014 6:01 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #38

I don't want to give away any spoilers on purpose until the next article comes out.

January 21, 2014 6:28 p.m.

Matsi883 says... #39

I didn't think so, but I thought that there was no harm in asking.

Also, I like the idea of just spoiling opening hands like you did in the last article. The suspense would increase tenfold

January 21, 2014 6:32 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #40

I love the idea, but I don't want to give away too much. I want to keep the identity of the deck I'm playing against secret until the actual article comes out. If I spoil the hands, and my opponent's hand has a bunch of artifacts and blue spells, and there's only one deck submitted that runs a boatload of artifacts and blue spells, I think people are smart enough to tell that I'll be facing a Memnarch deck if it's the only one that fits the opening hand.

January 21, 2014 6:53 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #41

Oops, spoilers!

Well, I'm not going to spoil opening hands, but here's something else that I find pretty amazing: one deck dealt 76 damage in one turn to win the game. And 59 of it was overkill.

January 31, 2014 6:17 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #42

Blargh!

January 31, 2014 6:41 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #43

No, wait, it's only 47 damage; I read a card wrong. Wow, that's a lot less overkill. And wow am I stupid for not realizing my mistake sooner.

Consolation spoiler: Neither player ever controlled more than 5 lands.

January 31, 2014 6:59 p.m.

_Djanngo_ says... #44

Goldghost, it would be for me an honor if you play against my Scion EDH

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/scion-of-the-many-dragons/

Way more easy than yours, keep hand of just lands & mana rocks, cast scion, let the fun begins, possibly T5 kill, with mana ramp T4 scion, T5 Moltensteel Dragon + Dragon Tyrant Combo.

ahmm, in the deck i add the 10 guildgates cuz i cannot efford the 10 shocks (Treat them as shocks P:)

March 24, 2014 5:12 p.m.

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