Tale of Two Commanders #7: The Battle for Kapsho, Part Dos

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GoldGhost012

26 July 2014

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Last time on Dragon Ball Z Kai!

Time for me to change it up a bit. No, not like I did last month, just within the playstyles of this series. All the other articles have been focused on creatures, hard and heavy hitting. Instead, let's look at a deck that hardly uses creatures. In fact, it uses exactly one creature: Talrand, Sky Summoner. Allow me to introduce you to today's opponent, erabel's

deck-large:talrand’s party of one

Instants and sorceries! This deck is chock full of them, and for good reason: they provide the offensive force when paired with Talrand. For example, a Boomerang provides not only removal, but also a 2/2 evasive Drake. Blue is full of nonpermanent disruptive cards that often make opponents throw fits (counterspells, anyone?). I think we can expect a lot of Drakes, draws, and frustration on my part.

erabel's deck, as noted in the description, is “budget-ish.” It's not going to throw the best and most competitive cards it can play in it (looking at you, Force of Will and Mana Drain!), nor does it hose decks by overflowing with counterspells, so this makes it perfect to dip my toe in for a control shell- not an overload of control cards, but enough build up an army of of flying Drakes.

And it's creatureless (with the exception of Talrand). And in case you didn't already know, I love creatureless decks.

According to my rapidly becoming outdated list, Talrand, Sky Summoner is fairly popular as a Commander, more popular than powerful Commanders like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Zur the Enchanter *f-etch*, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Those three are partially stifling to play against though, but Talrand still generates a lot of popularity. Onto the deck!

Deck Tech

Over half the deck are cards that trigger Talrand, Sky Summoner, and a lot of those able to give you more cards to play and summon Drakes. And the later the game goes, the more spells in a row can be chained together, meaning the more Drakes can be conjured! More spells = more Drakes = more win. Simple!

The deck can be considered a bit of a glass cannon, but nothing like my team in Pokemon X. Man, most of them cannot take a hit... Ahem. Anyway, erabel relies on Talrand's Drake producing ability to generate his offensive power. If he or his Drake tokens are removed, the deck suffers a setback in offensive power. But that's why counterspells exist, right? (Supreme Verdict...) Shut up!

Play instants and sorceries, make flying tokens, draw cards, and screw your opponent. I can do that! Let's break down what 5 of the top spells for this deck may be against me:

1. Talrand, Sky Summoner. Pretty self-explanatory; comes out early and builds an army. At the very very worst, an army of flying chump blocks.

2. Reins of Power. Because it would suck if I managed to remove all the potential chump blocks only to have my attackers turn on me and have nothing to defend myself with. This card can be utilized to either save a game or win a game.

3. Caged Sun/Gauntlet of Power. Particularly in this matchup, where I have no blue creatures or basic lands that might otherwise benefit from Gauntlet of Power. It may not seem that +1/+1 is too good, but when you have 7 Drakes on board, that’s 7 more damage that goes through. And let’s not even go into how much double mana helps.

4. Desertion. There are are 45 targets in my deck to steal. That's a lot of targets for this spell, quite a few of them dangerous.

5. Any low-costing spell that nets erabel a card. Things like Gitaxian Probe, Opt, Rhystic Study, Brainstorm, Impulse, etc. They're good early game when trying to gain some more resources, and they’re excellent late game triggers for Talrand, Sky Summoner while drawing more triggers.

Now, for my defense!

1. Obligatory Oblivion Stone mention is obligatory.

2. Balefire Dragon. Deal damage, kill erabel's offense.

3. Steel Hellkite, because token destruction for 0.

4. Primal Rage helps the two dragons above get through for damage.

5. Thundermaw Hellkite for an alpha strike.

6. Soulbright Flamekin, again for trample.

Now, that appears to be quite a list, but they need to be used together. Except Oblivion Stone and Thundermaw Hellkite, but those are one-offs. Balefire and Hellkite really both need trample to avoid being chump blocked and preventing their abilities. The real challenge will be drawing all these pieces and playing around all of erabel's card advantage.

In his lore debut, Talrand managed to kill a Thundermaw Hellkite that ruled over the area for over three hundred years. His method of attack? Summoning massive amounts of Drakes to overwhelm the Hellkite.

That’s right, I'm recreating the battle for Kapsho. Hopefully it won't go as badly for me as it did Kalyntri.

Just like I did in the last (bonus) article, I'm attaching the music that I listened to when I was writing this article. You guys didn't complain last time, so enjoy.

D will stand for Dragons and have thoughts be italicized while T will stand for Talrand and thoughts 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 (see last article- or on second thought, don't). This is for me to improve my skills as well as for the viewers.

T wins the roll and will go first. He keeps a hand of Reliquary Tower, Trickbind, Rhystic Study, Ovinize, Psychic Spiral, and 2x Islands. Honestly, the Tower and the Study are really too good to pass up at the same time. That'll be quite a lot of draw power I'll hopefully be able to generate.

D keeps a hand of Volrath's Stronghold, Knollspine Dragon, Dragonspeaker Shaman, Balefire Dragon, Blood Crypt, Awakening Zone, and Swamp. I do wish I had something that produced green mana, but I really shouldn't complain when I have Dragonspeaker and one of my best chances of winning in Balefire. Hopefully I'll be able to find another red mana source soon.

Turn 1

T plays Island. D, seeing the most powerful card in the game, forfeits... Just kidding.

D draws Terramorphic Expanse and plays it, sacrificing it to put a Mountain from his library onto the battlefield tapped and shuffles his library. Second red mana source, check.

Turn 2

T draws and plays Halimar Depths. The top 3 cards of his library are Distant Memories, Island, and Island, which he leaves as is.

D draws Evolving Wilds. Twice? Okay. He plays it, sacrificing it to put a Forest from his library onto the battlefield tapped and shuffles his library.

Turn 3

T draws Distant Memories. He plays Reliquary Tower and casts Rhystic Study. If they don't pay it, I will draw.

D draws Skarrg, the Rage Pits. He plays Swamp and casts Awakening Zone. Before resolution, Rhystic Study triggers and D cannot pay, so T draws Island.

Turn 4

T draws and plays Island and casts his Commander, Talrand, Sky Summoner, for the first time. If I cast them, an army will build. I should probably stop parodying Field of Dreams now.

At the beginning of D's upkeep, Awakening Zone gives him a 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn token. He draws City of Brass and plays Blood Crypt, having it enter untapped (T: 40, D: 38). He casts Dragonspeaker Shaman, paying 1 when Rhystic Study triggers before resolution.

Turn 5

T draws Desertion and plays Island, passing the turn. If they play it... Okay, I'm done now, I swear.

At the beginning of D's upkeep, Awakening Zone gives him a 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn token. He draws Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and plays Skarrg, the Rage Pits and casts his Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, for the first time. He sacrifices an Eldrazi Spawn to pay for Rhystic Study when it triggers, but T counters Karrthus with Desertion. Talrand, Sky Summoner triggers, giving T a 2/2 flying Drake token. Adding insult to injury, T puts Karrthus under his control. That went terribly. Now I need to kill Karrthus fast before I'm killed with my own Commander! Yay!

Turn 6

T draws Jace Beleren. Good card draw is good! He plays an Island and casts Jace Beleren. He activates Jace's +2 ability (5 Loyalty Counters); T draws Mystic Speculation and D draws Dragon Broodmother. Great repeatable scry engine is great! He attacks with Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and his one 2/2 Drake (T: 40, D: 29; D: 7 Commander Damage)

Now is a good time to point out the ruling for Commander damage for Generals under another player's control. RussischerZar corrected me on this in the second article, saying, "Commander damage is specific to each commander/player pairing, not combined across all commanders." So if Talrand, Sky Summoner had attacked and not been blocked, D would have had 7 CD from Karrthus and 2 CD from Talrand, not 9 total.

At D's upkeep, he gets a Spawn. He draws a Forest and plays Volrath's Stronghold. He casts Knollspine Dragon, paying for Rhystic Study when it triggers. He chooses not to discard his hand when Knollspine’s ability triggers. Now I can either kill or keep Karrthus at bay.

Turn 7

T draws and plays an Island.He activates Jace Beleren's +2 (7 Loyalty Counters); T draws Rapid Hybridization and D draws Spinerock Knoll. Another land? Give me a break. He casts Mystic Speculation, paying its Buyback cost, and triggering Talrand, Sky Summoner getting a Drake token. He scrys Visions of Beyond, Island, and Gauntlet of Power. He sends Island to the bottom and puts Gauntlet of Power on top, with Visions of Beyond underneath it. T attacks with Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and a Drake, D blocks Karrthus with Knollspine Dragon. T casts Ovinize on Knollspine, triggering Talrand again, and Karrthus kills Knollspine (T: 40, D: 27). Well then...

At D's upkeep, he gets a Spawn. He draws Abundance and plays Spinerock Knoll tapped. Hideaway triggers, and D looks at the top 4 cards of his library: Graven Cairns, Dragonskull Summit, Mountain, and Vexing Shusher. Wow. Really, deck? Exiles Shusher facedown and puts the others on the bottom of his library. Here I have a choice. I'm obviously going to cast Balefire Dragon to defend myself from Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, but I can either cast Abundance to filter future draws or hold some mana for Volrath's Stronghold to get back Knollspine Dragon. Karrthus really needs to be dealt with like yesterday though, so I think I'll go with getting Knollspine back. He sacrifices a Spawn to cast Balefire Dragon and doesn't pay when Rhystic Study triggers, so T draws Gauntlet of Power. End of turn T casts Rapid Hybridization, destroying Balefire, giving D a 3/3 Frog Lizard creature token, and Talrand, Sky Summoner triggers. Fan... tucking... fastic. This... almost feels too easy.

Turn 8

T draws Visions of Beyond. He activates Jace Beleren's +2 (9 LC); T draws Gitaxian Probe, D draws Mycosynth Lattice. This is not something I need. Deck, you continue to disappoint me. T pays 2 life to cast Gitaxian Probe and triggers Talrand, Sky Summoner for a Drake. D’s hand contains City of Brass, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Dragon Broodmother, Forest, and Mycosynth Lattice and draws Second Sight (T: 38, D: 27). He casts Gauntlet of Power and attacks with Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and 3 Drakes (T: 38, D: 11; D: 14 CD). End of turn D activates Volrath's Stronghold's ability to return Knollspine Dragon to the top of his library, but T counters the ability with Trickbind, once again triggering Talrand for a Drake. Well, now I think I'm well and truly screwed.

At D's upkeep, he gets a Spawn. He draws Bladewing the Risen. Why did you show up now when lethal's on board?! Why not last turn?! Well, I guess it still would've been hit by a Trickbind + Rapid Hybridization, but I want Oblivion Stone!!! He sacrifices a Spawn to cast Bladewing, paying when Rhystic Study triggers. Bladewing's ability triggers, and D puts Knollspine Dragon into play from the graveyard. Knollspine triggers, but D decides not to discard his hand. Not that it matters, but I can now get Balefire Dragon back next turn and kill Karrthus. Too late! End of turn T casts Second Sight entwined, triggering Talrand, Sky Summoner for a Drake; he looks at the top 5 cards of each player's library and can rearrange them to his liking. He sees Command Tower REALLY?!?! (Not that I can see these…), Primal Surge, Elfhame Sanctuary, Into the Wilds, and Ryusei, the Falling Star; he puts Elfhame on top, with Command Tower, Wilds, Ryusei, and Surge below it. On top of T's library, he sees Reins of Power, Temple of the False God, Hinder, Relearn, and Island; he puts Hinder on top, followed by Relearn, Reins, Island, and Temple. I'm really just screwing with him right now, since I have lethal on board. :)

Turn 9

T draws Hinder and attacks for 25 total power, 10 of which D can block.

deck-large:talrand’s party of one

wins the game!

Afterword

Devoured by Drakes! Looks like I met the same fate as Kalyntri. Sad really, I would've like to have one time a Dragon beat Talrand.

Even though I managed to draw one of my best cards in this matchup, it meant nothing when I was faced with a turn 3 clock from a stronger creature. One of my stronger creatures. Seriously, that's annoying.

Desertion is stupid.

When you think of blue, you don't exactly think of removal spells, right? Blue typically has removal in the form of counters and bounces. Blue has to use its removal in some creative ways. Like Ovinize. Normally it would be passed over as junk, but it very well may have saved the game today. Gauntlet of Power may have delivered some extra points of damage, but Ovinize may have stopped D's war machine from rolling back into gear.

But the only way to disrupt this deck was either to remove Talrand and/or his Drakes. Something I clearly failed to do, and it really cost me the game. Being continually prevented from answering the stolen Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund also did not help. All my answers were quickly and efficiently removed, quickly and efficiently creating more Drakes. And holy crap, Jace Beleren really helped the deck pick up steam. Drawing an extra card a turn almost never hurts.

Greatest Contributors: Talrand, Sky Summoner, Desertion, Ovinize, Jace Beleren

On the flip side, Dragons was kept from doing... well, anything. I dropped a Dragonspeaker Shaman and Awakening Zone, and that's... it. Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund was stolen, Knollspine Dragon and Balefire Dragon were destroyed, and Bladewing the Risen was too little, too late. Being a bit mana flooded really didn't help.

Greatest Contributors: Awakening Zone, Dragonspeaker Shaman? I hate it when I don't really have any GCs...

Wise Words

Desertion is a nasty spell- but only if you take something worthwhile. Otherwise it's just a 5-mana Counterspell.

KILL TALRAND WITH FIRE!!! And his little Drakes too!

A very great thanks to erebel for submitting deck:Talrand's Party of One! I like the deck a lot, and contrary to what may have been expressed in the playthrough, I really enjoyed it!

The next article is to be had! You all know the drill by now: SUBMIT!!

Stipulations for the next article: None, another 1-v-1 match.

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day guys, and may your Commanders always lead you to victory.

This article is a follow-up to Tale of Two Commanders #6: Time to Suit Up!