This deck is meant to be the embodiment of political Magic. We put our opponents up against each other and make them feel in control, until we see an opportunity to strike and seize the game. If you see any possibillities to improve on this or got something else you want to discuss, please leave your feedback below.
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My favorite games are those where everybody can participate, following their unique strategy and messing up others'. It is those games where the momentum can swing multiple times within a single turn that keep everybody on their toes and make it the game we love. It does not matter if we win or loose in the end, but we fought valiantly and shaped each others experience
...at least on the surface.
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes but few have the gift of penetration.
Background
Over the years I've played in several casual playgroups, seen various decks and tried different things myself. I found it interesting that the powerlevel of cards being played and the performance of decks was hardly ever the deciding factor in a game. More often than not decks were hated away from the table immediately without any apparent reason, while others were allowed to fly under the radar and rise victorious. There may be multiple reasons for this, but for me the most apparent one is a gap between the percieved and actual strength of decks in comparison to the other decks at the table. Looking at many games in hindsight most of the time the player who just did neither too good nor too bad was able to seize the game.
Of course building a strong deck is the basis for success, but with this deck we do not want to go overboard with mechanics that will make us the center of attention. We will just perform well enough to go unnoticed, keep the table in balance and wait for our time to strike...
Strategy
The overall strategy of this deck is to outlast our opponents by putting them up against each other while we build up our board state, countering threats and trading favors until we can win the game in one final blow. To accomplish this we build on several different win-conditions to disable our opponents from shutting us down.
The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.
Run them down
We play a lot of small unblockable creatures to exploit Edric's carddraw. In addition we play cards like
Fable of Wolf and Owl
,
Chasm Skulker
,
Hornet Nest
or
Notorious Throng
which create a lot of tokens we can use in the same way, while not going overboard with mechanics like
Doubling Season
. Though we can use our army of tiny dudes to either create enormous amounts of mana (with
Gaea's Cradle
or
Alchemist's Refuge
), or transform them into deadly killing machines within the glimpse of an eye, with
Biomass Mutation
,
Beastmaster Ascension
,
Craterhoof Behemoth
,
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
or
Elder of Laurels
.
Beat them up
(1) Benefiting from Edric's ability we play several creatures that can single-handedly win us the game or eliminate a player. Those are mainly
Chasm Skulker
,
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
,
Overbeing of Myth
, a well placed
Progenitor Mimic
or
Psychosis Crawler
, especially in combination with
Lightning Greaves
,
Swiftfoot Boots
or
Rogue's Passage
.
(2) On a second note we can also create such beaters from our small creatures and tokens, should our enemies try to counter or exile our threats. We can do so with cards like
Quietus Spike
,
Sword of War and Peace
or
Elder of Laurels
.
Blow them away
As a counter for enemies relying on flying creatures and a possible last resort we use
Hurricane
to finish a game in which we are ahead in life total. The neccessary mana can be raised through
Druids' Repository
or
Gaea's Cradle
and untap shenanigans like
Mind Over Matter
,
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
,
Deserted Temple
and others, while the life total is kept high by
Horizon Chimera
,
Venser's Journal
and
Sword of War and Peace
.
Let them fight
As we play multiplayer games of five people only, we do not need to defeat every single one of our opponents to rise victorious. Therefor it is important to know not only our deck, but also those of our opponents and how to exploit their weaknesses. We try to influence the table politics in our favor, making friends and eliminating foes. Therefor we adjust to the pace of the table and try to time our moves accordingly.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
In addition we play several cards that foster political thinking and give us the possibility to trade favors. Those are among others
Assault Suit
,
Bident of Thassa
,
Curse of Predation
,
Elder of Laurels
,
Forbidden Orchard
,
Illusionist's Gambit
,
Vow of Flight
and
Vow of Wildness
.
We also play cards that keep us safe, should our opponents recognize what we are up to, like some of the above and
Hornet Nest
,
Vortex Elemental
,
Stuffy Doll
, or
Propaganda
. Those cards, along with Edric's ability, giving our opponents only cards when attacking each other, make us a less attractive target and give us a better chance to execute one of our winning strategies.
Context
I play this deck in a casual group of friends. To spice things up we meet regularly and play in seasons, where we follow a set of rules to earn points and avoid penalties. We track our points on a leaderboard with the one in first place owning bragging rights. This way we can measure our longterm performance and compete with one another beyond individual games.
+1-5 pts. for Placement: Should several players be eliminated at the same time, the one with the lower rank gets the favor.
+1 pt. for every Elimination: Every player you eliminate through 21 commander-damage.
+1 pt. for First Blood: The first player to deal damage to someone else.
+1 pt. for an Ace: One player kills all other players.
+1 pt. for a Save: One player saves another one from a sure elimination, max. 1 pt. per game.
+1 pt. for Endurance: One player plays his commander more than 4 times from his command zone.
+1 pt. for MVP: If you are voted the Most Valuable Player of a game, by 3/5 of the group.
-1 pt. for Bad Leadership: Not playing your commander for a whole game.
-1 pt. for being a Bully: Attacking a player who has nothing on the board except for lands.
-1 pt. for being a Bully: Attacking the player with the lowest rank first in a game.
-1 pt. for being a Bully: Attacking a player more than three times in a row and additionally -1 pt. for every attack thereafter.
-1 pt. for a Lame Ending: Killing all enemies at the same time.
-1 pt. for Uncertainty: Taking more than 40 seconds on searching your library for a card and additionally -1 pt. for every 30 seconds thereafter.
-1 pt. for Wasting Time: Taking more than 60 seconds to finish your turn after another player complained about you wasting time.
We know that some of these rules can be exploited, but as of now they make for enjoyable games. Should this stop being the case at some time, we will adjust them accordingly.
Some other commanders in our playgroup include:
Animar, Soul of Elements
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
Marchesa, the Black Rose
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Sharuum the Hegemon
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Sliver Overlord
Zedruu the Greathearted
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Discoduck and his City by the Forest by the Sea for inspiring me to use
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
in the first place.
