Tale of Two Commanders 1

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GoldGhost012

19 November 2013

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Tale of Two Commanders 1: Dragons vs. Mortars

Hey everybody! This is GoldGhost012, here with something I thought was a good idea: a EDH/Commander article where I pit one of my Commander builds against the builds of others. This article has 4 goals:

1. To introduce newer players to how EDH/Commander works.

2. To show the vast amount of cards that EDH/Commander can use.

3. To see how certain archetypes of decks work against others.

4. To strengthen people's Commander skills and understanding, including my own.

For these first three matches, I'm going to playtest my three existing decks against each other for the honor of being the deck I playtest against other people. They will also be 1v1 matches until, well, until I say so. So, for Tale of Two Commanders #1, it'll be

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

This should be an interesting matchup. Dragons has a bunch of huge creatures that aren't easy to consistently block (because they're huge and have flying) while Tyramet packs quite a bit of sacrificial stuff, for damage and for removal, including the ever-dangerous Grave Pact. D will stand for Dragons and T will stand for Tymaret. Also, the thought process of D will be italicized while T will be bolded.

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 wins the roll and will go first. He mulligans a hand of Blood Crypt, City of Brass, Into the Wilds, Hellkite Overlord, Bogardan Hellkite, Moonveil Dragon, and Sarkhan Vol. I don’t feel comfortable with 2 lands and nothing that costs less than 3. He then keeps a hand of Hellkite Tyrant, Chromatic Lantern, Kessig Wolf Run, Terramorphic Expanse, Into the Wilds, and Forest. Much better. Mana-fixing and a turn 4 potential ramp play.

T keeps hand of Swamp, Mountain, Evolving Wilds, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Grixis Panorama, Vampiric Tutor, and Jund Panorama. A little mana-heavy, but the turn 2 Tymaret and the tutor is just too good to pass up.

Turn 1

D plays Terramorphic Expanse, then activates its ability to search for a Mountain and puts it onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffles his library.

T draws Mountain, then plays a Swamp.

Turn 2

D draws Balefire Dragon, then plays Kessig Wolf Run. During his end step, T casts Vampiric Tutor, searching for Endless Cockroaches, shuffling his library and putting it on top, losing 2 life (D: 40, T: 38). I figure that the Cockroaches will be good soon, as a repetitive sacker to Tymaret.

T draws Endless Cockroaches, then plays a Mountain. Then he casts his Commander, Tymaret, the Murder King for the first time.

Turn 3

D draws a Mountain, plays it, and casts Chromatic Lantern.

T draws Oversold Cemetery, then attacks with Tymaret (D: 38, T: 38; D: 2 Commander Damage, T: 0 Commander Damage). Plays Evolving Wilds, then activates its ability to search for a Swamp and puts it onto the battlefield tapped. He then casts Oversold Cemetery.

Turn 4

D draws Dragonmaster Outcast. He plays the Forest, then casts Into the Wilds and the Outcast using the Lantern.

T draws Act of Treason. This will come in handy soon. He then attacks with Tyamret, no blocks (D: 36, T: 38; D: 4 Commander Damage, T: 0 Commander Damage). Then he plays Jund Panorama then casts Endless Cockroaches.

Turn 5

At the beginning of D’s upkeep, he looks at the top of his library due to Into the Wilds. His top card is Utvara Hellkite; since it isn't a land, it stays on top and he draws it. Passes. Seriously? I’m one land short of Hellkite Tyrant.

T draws Go for the Throat. Might as well, I suppose, while I have the mana for it. That Outcast can get deadly fast. Plays a Mountain, then casts Act of Treason, taking control of D’s Dragonmaster Outcast. That might have been a bit of a waste, but I don’t want to see any of those dragons anytime soon. Swings with Tymaret, Cockroaches, and Outcast (D: 32, T: 38; D: 6 Commander Damage, T: 0 Commander Damage). He then sacrifices Outcast to Tymaret's first ability (D: 30, T: 38).

Turn 6

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Dragonspeaker Shaman. You have got to be kidding me. Since it isn't a land, it stays on top and he draws it, then casts it. Still 1 mana short of playing anything!

T draws Traitorous Instinct. Again? Well... Plays Grixis Panorama, then casts Traitorous Instinct, taking control of D's Dragonspeaker Shaman. It becomes a 4/2. Attacks with Tymaret, Cockroaches, and Dragonspeaker (D: 23, T: 38; D: 8 Commander Damage, T: 0 Commander Damage). He then sacrifices Dragonspeaker to Tymaret's first ability (D: 21, T: 38). Maybe a waste, but him not being able to play any dragons is good.

Turn 7

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Stomping Ground. Finally! He has it enter untapped (D: 19, T: 38). He then draws a Swamp, which he then plays. This is even better than I expected. Casts his Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund for the first time. Sadly, there are no other dragons, but oh well! Crap. Shouldn't have used that last Traitorous Instinct. He then attacks with Karrthus, no blocks (D: 19, T: 31; D: 8 Commander Damage, T: 7 Commander Damage).

T draws Phyrexian Altar. Do I destroy Karrthus now, or on his turn? I guess it’s generally better to do it on his turn. And I might as well attack since I can't block those stupid dragons. Attacks with Tymaret and Cockroaches (D: 16, T: 31; D: 10 Commander Damage, T: 7 Commander Damage).

Turn 8

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Coat of Arms, which he draws. He then casts Balefire Dragon. In response, T casts Go for the Throat, destroying Karrthus before Balefire Dragon resolves. Crap, I was hoping to attack... Karrthus returns to the Command Zone; the next time D casts him he must pay an additional 2 colorless mana. During the beginning of D’s end phase, T sacrifices Endless Cockroaches to Tymaret's first ability (D: 14, T: 31). Endless Cockroaches goes to T's hand.

T draws Demonic Tutor, which he then casts, searching for Grave Pact and putting it into his hand, then shuffles his library. I shouldn't need another "take control of" card, right? And Grave Pact is always a positive for me. Casts Phyrexian Altar, leaving Grixis Panorama untapped.

Turn 9

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Planar Portal, which he draws. He attacks with Balefire Dragon, and T in response sacrifices Tymaret to Phyrexian Altar for B, which he then spends to sacrifice Grixis Panorama to find a Swamp and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles his library (D: 14, T: 25). Tymaret goes to T's graveyard. D then casts Hellkite Tyrant.

T draws a Swamp. He plays it then casts Grave Pact. Too bad I can't do anything else...

Turn 10

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Steel Hellkite, which he draws. Attacks with Hellkite Tyrant and Balefire Dragon (D: 14, T: 13). The ability of Hellkite Tyrant activates, with D taking control of all T's artifacts, which is just Phyrexian Altar. He then casts Steel Hellkite. During the beginning of D's end phase, T sacrifices Jund Panorama to find a Swamp and put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffles his library.

T draws Terminate. This isn't much use to me at the moment. I can kill something, but I'll be very very low on health. With Kokusho, at least I can block, gain some life, and get rid of one of his creatures. He casts Kokusho, the Evening Star. Please don't let him get 2 lands next turn...

Turn 11

At the beginning of D's upkeep, he looks at the top of his library. His top card is Blood Crypt, which he has enter the battlefield untapped (D: 12, T: 13). He then draws Command Tower, which he plays, then casts his Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, for the second time. And that was exactly what I was hoping DIDN'T happen. Karrthus's ability allows him to take control of T's Kokusho, the Evening Star, since it is a dragon. With 5 attackers staring him down and no blockers, T 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!

Afterwards

Although the Dragons got off to a slow start, they came back big-time to win. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund came up huge with his haste and big finishing ability, while Into the Wilds gave me just enough ramp to pull out a win. I think I piloted this pretty well, even if there's really only one way to pilot it.

All-Stars: Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and Into the Wilds.

On the other hand, Tymaret got off to a fast start, but couldn't support itself as the game went on. Tymaret, the Murder King and Act of Treason/Traitorous Instinct were very effective. I can't help but feel I royally screwed over this deck. I probably should have looked for Grave Pact first instead of Endless Cockroaches. I know I should have looked for Grab the Reins instead of Grave Pact. Well, live and learn I guess.

All-Stars: Tymaret, the Murder King, Act of Treason, and Traitorous Instinct.

Lessons to Take Away From This:

Into the Wilds will usually eventually come through.

Tutors can be hard to use; you must anticipate as to how the game state might change.

Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face: (1-0)

Tymaret's Mortars of Death: (0-1)

Thanks for reading! Check out both decks for comments and suggestions you may have, and don’t be afraid to point out any mistakes I made; I’m only human, not a pro.

As stated above, the first three Tale of Two Commanders articles will be a tournament between my three decks BEFORE I test against anyone else's. So PLEASE WAIT UNTIL THE THIRD ARTICLE TO GIVE DECK SUBMISSIONS. Thank you and have a nice day.