Tale of Two Commanders- Bonus Round #1

Features

GoldGhost012

5 June 2014

2100 views

Hello Tappedout; welcome to a spin-off of my Tale of Two Commanders series. A Bonus Series, if you will.

Basically, I get excited about most of the decks I build (those I don't get excited about I know are instant failures). But I always get super excited about my EDH decks, because I love the format. And sometimes, I just want to show these decks off. Selfish? Yes. Crying out for attention? I don't like to think so. Thrilled to show epic battles between different brainchildren of mine? Absolutely.

But don't worry, this isn't a full-time thing. I'm not going to think, "Hey, I made a new deck, time to make an article on it!" No. These decks won't be showcased until they've been through the rigorous eyes of the Tappedout community, and approval of them has been shown. Like today's deck:

Sincerely Yours, The Breakfast Club

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 109 | 48 COMMENTS | 14100 VIEWS | IN 27 FOLDERS

Breakfast Club is my most +1'd EDH deck, with nearly 3 times +1s as Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face, with nearly 450 less views. Clearly the community likes it, and so do I, so today, it gets article'd up. Maybe it’s the description, maybe it's because I made a deck from a classic movie, maybe it's because it works well! We'll find out... after the Deck Tech.

Deck Tech

Clearly, this is a Devotion deck. With the 5 major Theros Gods, there was a serious need for devotion. Thankfully, one block gave us not one, but two series of creatures that provided us with major devotion. So I give a great big thanks to the Shadowmoor and Eveningtide sets for giving us the Liege (Ashenmoor Liege) and Demigod (Demigod of Revenge) cycles! Not only do these creatures give 3 or 5 devotion each, but they’re also split color, able to provide devotion for two colors. They also make up the most of our offense because they’re easier to find and usually ready to go once they hit the field, unlike the Gods.

And that brings us to the second part of the offense- swords. Quite a few cards that are able to boost the offensive capabilities, often becoming immune to certain colored spot removal. The Mirran Swords, Umezawa's Jitte, and Batterskull all make appearances and all are very very helpful in the beating of face.

"But Ghost," I can hear you ask, "what about the land base? How can you be sure it’ll always be consistent enough? It’s five colors!" Yes, it is five colors. Yes, that does make harder to be consistent. No, I'm not worried. Not just because I run the excellent color fixers of Joiner Adept, Chromatic Lantern, and Prismatic Omen, but because I also run what may be the most expensive EDH land base possible: 10 fetchlands, 10 ABUR dual lands, and 10 shocklands, with utility lands making up the rest. Zero basics.

Let the awesomeness sink in.

Oh yeah, there's that too.

Many of my spells don't really cost that much in terms of color. Okay, sure I may have at least 20 spells that require at least 3 colored mana, but all those spells (covered above, in fact) are all hybrid spells and can be cast with 2 different colors. Sure, there may be a few games where Mindwrack Liege or something similar may just sit in my hand, but I should have enough consistency in the other colors where I don't need to play it.

To bring this Deck Tech to a close, I don’t need to cast the Gods to win. In fact, most of the time when I draw or tutor for a God, it either doesn't come online or I've already established enough Devotion for that God. The Lieges, Demigods, and Equipments do very well at destroying the enemy. There are a few other choices, like Hydra Omnivore, Cromat, or even Progenitus in the Command Zone, that don't completely fit in with the Devotion to Gods theme, but they also make for good utility or win-more cards.

As always, D will stand for Dragons and have thoughts be italicized while G will stand for Gods and thoughts will be bolded.

If you want to get the full experience of what happens when I playtest and write up this article, listen to this. I literally listen to this on a nonstop loop until I get the article done.

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 initially draws a hand of Twilight Mire, Dragonskull Summit, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Forest, Emerald Medallion, Ryusei, the Falling Star, and Primal Rage. This hand really isn't great. Three lands are okay, but there's nothing substantial early. He mulligans using the Partial Paris Mulligan, exiling Ryusei and Primal Rage and drawing Vexing Shusher, shuffling the exiled cards back into his library. Slightly better.

G keeps a hand of Reliquary Tower, Darksteel Ingot, Birds of Paradise, Balefire Liege, Spiteful Visions, Watery Grave, and Sacred Foundry. Pretty good hand. Can't argue with draw power, mana acceleration, and a Liege. Only thing better would be if I had a Sword.

Turn 1

D plays Dragonskull Summit tapped.

G draws Murkfiend Liege and plays Sacred Foundry tapped.

Turn 2

D draws Volrath's Stronghold and plays Forest, casting Vexing Shusher.

G draws Sol Ring. He plays Reliquary Tower and casts Sol Ring, then activates it to cast Darksteel Ingot, and activates the Ingot to cast Birds of Paradise. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is early-game board presence at its finest.

Turn 3

D draws Bojuka Bog. Vexing Shusher attacks, and G decided not to block (D: 40, G: 38). Plays Volrath's Stronghold and casts Emerald Medallion.

G draws Maelstrom Nexus. He plays Watery Grave tapped and activates the abilities of Birds of Paradise, Darksteel Ingot, and Sol Ring to cast Balefire Liege.

Turn 4

D draws Dolmen Gate. He plays Bojuka Bog (G's graveyard is exiled, but it’s empty anyway) and casts the Gate.

G draws Ashenmoor Liege. He activates Darksteel Ingot's ability to cast Ashenmoor, which triggers Balefire Liege's first ability (D: 37, G: 38). He attacks with Balefire, D decides not to block (D: 34, G: 38).

Turn 5

D draws Sarkhan Vol. He plays Twilight Mire and casts Sarkhan. I think it would hurt me more to take Ashenmoor Liege and attack, so I think I'll +1.” He activates Sarkhan’s +1 ability (5 loyalty counters), giving all D's creatures +1/+1 and haste. He attacks with Vexing Shusher, G decides not to block (D: 34, G: 35). If I can draw another land, I can start beating with Karrthus. I doubt Sarkhan will survive until next turn, but at least some pressure will be taken off me.*

G draws Misty Rainforest, plays it, and cracks it, searching his library for Tropical Island and putting it on the field, shuffling his library (D: 34, G: 34). He activates the abilities of Birds of Paradise and Darksteel Ingot, casting Maelstrom Nexus. Both abilities of Balefire Liege trigger (D: 31, G: 37). Balefire attacks D while Ashenmoor Liege attacks Sarkhan Vol, killing the Planeswalker (D: 28, G: 37).

Turn 6

D draws City of Brass, which he plays and casts his Commander, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, for the first time (D: 27, G: 37). Attacks with Karrthus and Vexing Shusher (D: 27, G: 28; G: 7 Commander Damage). This game could end quickly now. Karrthus might be able to finish it on his own. This will turn out to be a problem. Birds of Paradise can block Karrthus, but that'll only delay him a turn. I need to find a Sword!

G draws Heliod, God of the Sun. Oh hey. This guy. Oops, spoilers. He activates Sol Ring and casts Heliod, triggering Maelstrom Nexus. Cascades Bringer of the Black Dawn, Arid Mesa, Bayou, Oversoul of Dusk, Ring of Three Wishes, Hydra Omnivore, Abundance, Command Tower, Creakwood Liege, and Liliana Vess into Sygg, River Cutthroat. Holy crap that was a long Cascade. Balefire Liege's second ability triggers (D: 27, G: 31). Heliod is online thanks to Devotion from himself, Maelstrom Nexus, and 3 from Balefire Liege. Activates the abilities of Darksteel Ingot and Birds of Paradise to cast Spiteful Visions, triggering Balefire's first ability (D: 24, G: 31). Attacks with Balefire and Ashenmoor Liege (D: 16, G: 31). During the end step, G draws Sword of Fire and Ice via Sygg, River Cutthroat (D: 16, G: 30). Wow, looks like I really needed that Cascade, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that Sword. Probably would've been beaten out of the air too.

Turn 7

At the beginning of D's draw step, D draws Mosswort Bridge (D: 15, G: 31). He draws Elfhame Sanctuary normally (D: 14, G: 30). He plays Mosswort Bridge, triggering Hideaway. The top 4 cards of his library are Mountain, Stomping Ground, Mountain, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. He exiles Kozilek facedown and sets the others on the bottom of his library. Well then. He casts Kokusho, the Evening Star and attacks with Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and Kokusho (D: 14, G: 18; G: 14 Commander Damage).

At the beginning of G's draw step, G draws Prismatic Omen (D: 14, G: 17). He draws Windswept Heath normally (D: 14, G: 16). He plays Windswept Heath and cracks it, searching his library for Savannah and putting it onto the battlefield, then shuffling his library (D: 14, G: 15). He activates Sol Ring to cast Sword of Fire and Ice. Maelstrom Nexus triggers, cascading Wooded Foothills, Volcanic Island, Glen Elendra Liege, Abundance, Overgrown Tomb, Taiga, Oblivion Stone, Reflecting Pool, Increasing Ambition, Sword of Body and Mind, Deus of Calamity, Thassa, God of the Sea, Thistledown Liege, Coalition Relic, Batterskull, and Divinity of Pride into Deathrite Shaman. Another large Cascade. It really helps that it needs to be a nonland card. Equips Sword of Fire and Ice to Birds of Paradise and casts Prismatic Omen. Attacks with Birds, Balefire Liege, Ashenmoor Liege, and Heliod, God of the Sun. Vexing Shusher blocks Ashenmoor Liege, killing both (D: 3, G: 15). Sword of Fire and Ice triggers, dealing 2 damage to D while G draws Plateau (D: 1, G: 14). During the end step, G draws Survival of the Fittest via Sygg, River Cutthroat (D: 1, G: 13).

Turn 8

At the beginning of D's draw step, D draws Soulbright Flamekin (D: 0, G: 13).

Sincerely Yours, The Breakfast Club

Commander / EDH GoldGhost012

SCORE: 109 | 48 COMMENTS | 14100 VIEWS | IN 27 FOLDERS

wins the game!

Afterword

A giant thank you to miracleHat and CommanderOfBolas for reviewing the article and helping make sure I didn't screw anything up!

Pretty intense back-and-forth game! Give Dragons 6 more life he would've been able to cast Kozilek from his Hideaway exile and draw 4 more cards. And maybe within those 4 cards, plus the extra draw, would have given D something to turn the game around. But I guess we'll never know.

Actually, I do know- within those 4 cards D would've drawn with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth was Sarkhan the Mad. D would have been able to drop Sarkhan, -4'd him, and attack for game. There, now you know too. What a game!

Despite a lack of creatures, Dragons was able to keep up with Gods by summoning Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund a turn early thanks to Emerald Medallion and immediately putting pressure on Gods. Other than that... not a lot happened, just dropping lands and artifacts. And Sarkhan Vol, who did take a bit of pressure off Dragons.

Greatest Contributors: Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

Gods was able to pull off a win despite being one turn away from dying by Commander Damage, Thanks to quite a built up board presence, Gods didn't exactly have the giant beaters Dragons has access to, but with at least one of Balefire Liege's abilities triggering almost every turn, a good deal of damage was able to be dealt while a bit of life was gained. Spiteful Visions, while also dealing the final blow, also provided a bit of card advantage, while Maelstrom Nexus helped dig for Sword of Fire and Ice, going through at least a tenth of the deck both times to find protection from Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund (which actually turned out to be unnecessary for blocking Karrthus).

Greatest Contributors: Balefire Liege, Spiteful Visions, Maelstrom Pulse

Lessons to Take Away:

Swords for the win. Because as if protection from your opponent’s colors wasn't scary enough, there are also triggered abilities that, well, trigger when combat damage is dealt. Remember, the equipped creature has protection from opponent’s colors!

Holy crap can Maelstrom Nexus go through a chunk of your deck. Plus, free spells!

No fliers, no removal? This is how Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund can win games.

So, like this sort of article? Hate it? Should I keep doing this kind of stuff in addition to the normal ToTC series? Let me know!

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day guys.

Sincerely Yours,

GoldGhost012