Welcome to my blog. This is where I spend way too much time navel-gazing about the games I've been playing. I go over both my casual and my EDH League games and try to share my thoughts about them. Sometimes things have been going well. Sometimes they've been going poorly. Sometimes I struggle to remember the details, but if nothing else I always try to write with candor and passion for this format. I wouldn't play any other type of Magic than EDH. I write about Commander over on CoolStuffInc.com every week, but this is where the Commanderruminations blog first started and it seems a fitting place to share these stories every Sunday.
I play anywhere from 5-8 games of Commander every week. This past Tuesday I was able to play at our LGS on "casual" night, and I also played Commander at our EDH league on Saturday.
Casual Night
I rolled into our weekly casual Commander night a bit early, with dinner in hand and plans to chill out for a half hour before we started to play. As it turned out, a table was already shuffling up and I was invited to sit down and join the game. I probably should have enjoyed my dinner, but I have a hard time saying no so I jumped right in.
We wound up playing three games over the evening.
Game one was a five player game. I was on my new Gyrus, Waker of Corpses deck. It's got a lot of suboptimal cards and I'm already thinking it might be the next deck I pull apart. It's not been doing much in the games it's been in but I was able to get Gyrus out multiple times and swing for some decent chunks of damage before the game ended. The only real high points were getting Anger into my graveyard so I could cast and swing with Gyrus on the same turn, and being a crappy enough deck that I didn't get targeted by anyone for a long time. Eventually the Tawnos player combo'ed off and we started up the next game.
After playing a bad deck I decided to play a good deck. I switched to Xantcha, Sleeper Agent.
I'm still not sure how close to cEDH the deck really is, but the previous game had enough expensive cards and strong plays flying around that I didn't feel like it would be rude to play her. Some of the guys were actually excited to see what having Xantcha in a game would be like.
One of the interesting things about playing Xantcha is that I find myself constantly checking to see if my opponents have sac outlets on board. Every game I played had a player or two without a way to rid themselves of Xantcha.
Game two was another five player game. I won this game. Apparently it's a terrible idea for me to play multiple games in a row with the same commander because I tend mix up what happened in each one. This game and the next game had me on Xantcha. It all blends together and I have trouble tracking what happened when, so I'll just do the best I can.
I think it was this game where one of my opponents also played a Xantcha and gave her to me. I eventually sacrificed her to an Ashnod's Altar. I'm pretty sure I wound up making infinite mana with Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith not 20 minutes after pointing at the Tawnos player's Basalt Monolith and ominously declaring that he had half of an infinite mana combo on the field. Apparently he doesn't run the combo, but he builds strong decks so it wasn't a crazy thing to bring up and I enjoyed the irony of it. With infinite mana I was then able to drop a Walking Ballista and win. It would have been more fun to give Xantcha to someone and draw a bunch more cards but at that point I had the win in hand.
We were on to the next game and were joined by a spike who had been haunting the LGS over recent weeks. I don't particularly enjoy playing with him, but we let him join and started another 5 player game. The spike was on Feldon and we also had a Rakdos deck, a Lord Windgrace deck and a Tawnos deck. I stayed on Xantcha, as it was the only deck I had with me capable of an occasional quick combo.
I got out to a good start, with a Sol Ring and a Mana Crypt on the field. I had Nim Deathmantle and Workhorse in hand and was able to play Xantcha and give her to the Feldon player.
Most of the table wasn't playing fast, optimized decks. The spike played an early Vandalblast and then in consecutive turns played Gamble, Zealous Conscripts and Kiki Jiki to win the game.
I don't think anyone was interested in a five or six turn game.
This kind of crap on casual night was what the Feldon player had become known for in the LGS and his Feldon deck was his attempt to build something "more casual" than his good deck. Everyone wants to win, but when you sit at a table with players who are looking for a casual game, that's like walking into a birthday party, taking a dump on the cake and walking out. It's rude, it's unnecessary, and it shows a complete lack of interest in anyone else being able to enjoy the game. In a competitive environment, it's totally fine. In a casual environment you can't be continually tone-deaf to the mood of the table and expect people to want to keep playing with you.
I proceeded to do something I pretty much never do. I stopped everyone from picking up their cards and asked if the table wanted to keep playing rather than scoop up and start another game. I didn't care that much either way, but figured it was worth asking, as nobody else had really had a chance to play their decks. I would have been OK with a new game and had on previous nights endured long strings of losses to this kid and his optimized combo decks. I didn't enjoy it, but I wasn't pushing the table to keep playing on my account.
To my slight surprise, to a man they said yes. Someone even commented that at another store they used to play at they would sometimes play for second place. We wound up continuing, leaving the "winner" to have what he seemed to want - a sense of superiority at having pubstomped yet another table of casuals, and we got what we wanted - a longer, more enjoyable game with interesting twists and turns and an eventual end.
I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the game. I've lost lots of games to lots of players where it didn't bug me afterwards. In some losses I'll even give the winner a high-five and real heartfelt congratulations. With players who aren't pleasant to share a table with, a loss can grate on the nerves and stay with you for days. This was one of those losses. Given that we're not playing for anything more than the fun of sharing a game of Commander together, I may not choose to play with this guy in the future. I really just see no point to it.
The rest of the game was actually quite fun.
I was able to play an early Black Market. It would have been great but it didn't get counters onto it for a really long time. It's a great card, but I had fun making fun of "how bad a card" it was and how I should just pull it from the deck because of how useless it was.
The Lord Windgrace player seemed to have a pretty nice manabase. He got Gitrog out and in the midgame was really going crazy with the lands. For the second game in a row he cast Tooth and Nail entwined and for the second game in a row he didn't get Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth. He was trying to go all "next level" on us and he got an Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Behemoth. We fell for it, thinking he had Hoof in his hand and another player used removal on Avenger. In actuality he was going for a huge X spell that would have killed the table. The Tawnos player saved our sorry asses by casting a tutor to put Pact of Negation on top of his library, sacrificing Commander Sphere to draw it and then casting it with the knowledge that now he likely wouldn't be able to pay to not lose the game.
Before he did all of this, the Tawnos player asked if the table wanted the game to keep going. We said yes, and that's basically why he committed Pact suicide to stop Windgrace from winning.
To my mind this is the difference between the kind of player I want to share a table with and the kind of player I don't ever need to play with again. If all you care about is your own win percentage, I would almost rather concede games to you than bother to play them out. If you genuinely care about whether other players have fun, even possibly at the cost of you staying in the game - that's the kind of camaraderie that I look for in a playgroup. We all want to win, and we're all playing to win, but we generally all want the table to have fun and to enjoy the game. Winning isn't everything.
Tawnos was soon out. I had given Xantcha to Windgrace, whose life total was down to 11 or maybe even 9 at that point. I had three mana and a Workhorse on the field, which can have +1/+1 counters removed from it to make mana.
The Rakdos player made a few plays but wasn't able to find a wincon.
The Lord Windgrace player then started digging. He clearly didn't have the win in hand and realized the end was near. He was at an odd life total and started paying Xantcha triggers, losing 2 life for each one, to dig into his library. When he went down to 5 I realized he didn't remember that I had the ability to pull counters off of Workhorse to make mana, though I think I had done so just a turn or two earlier.
When he paid another three mana and went to 3 I let him know that I was able to pay for not one but two Xantcha triggers to kill him. I almost let him take back the previous draw but his buddy insisted that he take the loss as a way to help impress upon him how important it is to check the board and be careful about end of game plays. He was right of course - takebacks for sloppy play do only reward sloppy play though maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
I killed the Lord Windgrace player, drew two cards, got Xantcha back and then on my turn I started to combo out. Despite at that point having 13 mana from black Market I was only able to get a win in hand along with a maybe few pieces on the table. It was frustrating because I was sure there was probably a way I could have closed out the game quicker, but apparently I need to work with the deck more to get more familiar with the lines of play in it. Rather than waste more time than I was already wasting I passed turn with a little mana open and Darkness in hand.
The Rakdos player had a decent board and I had very little in the way of blockers, but Rakdos needs combat damage to power out spells. He attacked. I fogged with Darkness. On my turn I got my infinite mana combo going with Nim Deathmantle, Ashnod's Altar and Emrakul's Hatcher and closed out the game with a Comet Storm.
It wound up being a pretty enjoyable game with the desired twists and turns. Even though I technically only got second place, it felt like a win and in many ways it was a win. In casual games winning is as much about who is having the most fun as it is about who actually wins the game. At a good table everyone wins because the games are balanced and enjoyable with all of the players coming away with the sense that they had a role in the game, a play or two to hang their hats on, and a shared experience that is much more fun than just shuffling up after someone tutors into a turn 5 combo.
For the record - I'm not necessarily right or wrong in my feeling about fast games, quick wins, combo and caring about everyone enjoying the game. I'm well aware that a portion of the community has a win-at-all-costs attitude and will shit on anyone that would ever consider playing a game after the "win" has been achieved. For them it's always "git gud, scrub", but in many ways I believe that approach is a child's approach. It lacks humanity. It lacks nuance. It reduces the experience of a Commander game to a zero sum affair when for me and hopefully for you, it is much, much more than that.
EDH League
Last EDH League was for me one of those rare days where I went 2-0 and my deck pretty much did exactly what it's supposed to do. I'm playing Narset, Enlightened Master this month and she is nothing if not a glass cannon. That means when things go well, things go REALLY well, and when they don't... they REALLY don't. I don't have much of a board. I don't have blockers. It's fun but one of the reasons I don't play her often is that it's much more fun to lose a game when you at least got to play some creatures and have some sense of progress before the game ended.
Game One
This week's league games don't really deserve much time. They certainly didn't take much time. Round one was at a table with two Daretti decks and an Animatou deck. The guys were all guys I enjoyed playing with, but the Daretti player was a pretty strong player who was rejoining us after being away for a while. We had a bunch of returning players today and it had me in good spirits.
The game was over almost before it began. The optimized Daretti deck got off to a good start and was able to line up a combo really early on. I would have at least gotten to cast Narset once but the turn before I was going to do so, he cast Warp World. The Animatou player had Perplexing Chimera out so he might have stolen my commander with it, but at least I would have cast her. I didn't even get to do that, going from 7 permanents on the battlefield and enough colors and mana to cast Narset to having 5 - three lands, a rock and an equipment. The Animatou and casual Daretti decks didn't have much more going on and the optimized Daretti deck combo'ed off on the next turn.
I entered into the day tied for first place in our league's rankings. It was looking increasingly like that wasn't going to hold up, but I had no idea how my round two game would go.
Pickup Game
To kill time because the other three tables were still playing, we played a pickup game. I played the worst deck I had with me - a slightly modified Lord Windgrace deck. I was able to make a lot of mana but didn't draw into anything particularly useful. To make this deck really click I'd need to devote some of my tutors to it. I was sitting with Craterhoof in hand but had no creatures and Avenger and Tooth in Nail were nowhere to be seen. I made a few decent plays but the deck didn't really do much. The Animatou player on the turn before we scooped up to play round two of league was able to set up a boardstate that would have won him the game if play had continued.
Game Two
My first place ranking was now in serious jeopardy, but could I make up for only getting 3 paltry league points in my first round?
The game saw me on Narset against four other players - a Ghave deck, an Ezuri Claw infect deck, my buddy Jared on his Bruna deck and a Lord Windgrace deck. The Bruna player was the same guy I had entered into the day tied for first with. His deck is markedly better, faster and more expensive than mine, so while I was hopeful that I might be able to pull a win out of the pod, I certainly wasn't expecting it.
I mulliganned down to 6, keeping a hand with Mana Crypt, Leyline of Anticipation, and Island and Swan Song.
In the early game the Ezuri player was able to get infect counters onto most if not all of us. I had drawn into a plains but hadn't seen any sign of a red mana source. I was saving my Swan Song for the Ghave player, who had a pretty fast start and was probably going after a combo win. The Ezuri player tried to play Inexorable Tide, which would have allowed him to proliferate every time he cast a spell. I might not have "saved the table" but I really didn't want to have zero blockers and an opponent giving me a poison counters so easily, so I used Swan Song. A threat was averted, but I still didn't have any red sources.
Predictably, the Bruna player was able to put Eldrazi Conscription on his commander and start swinging. I had a Deflecting Palm in hand, but that wouldn't save my butt even if I could cast it. Fortunately, I wasn't a threat. The Ghave player took 15 commander damage and on the next turn Bruna had Battle Mastery and Ghave was out of the game. On the next turn Ezuri was killed. Even if Bruna doesn't feel particularly fair - most strong commanders don't - she does give you a little time to try to find an answer.
Last week everything went right for my Narset deck. This week whether because of my own bad choices when I mulliganned, or just because over time everything seems to even out, today nothing seemed to go right for her. I never saw that red source. Bruna swung for 30 commander damage and I was out of the game. Even if I had found a way to cast the Deflecting Palm in my hand, it would have only put off the loss for a turn.
If nothing else, I was most assuredly out of first place.
Pickup Game
With such a short league game, we again had time for a pickup game. There were still two tables going and it was less than a half hour into the two hours alotted for each round.
After having so many bad games, I decided I'd play what is becoming a new guilty pleasure for me - Xantcha, Sleeper Agent.
The game was a four player affair with me on Xantcha against Ghave, Lord Windgrace and the Bruna player on his Gitrog Monster deck.
I wasn't able to land an early infinite mana combo, but I was able to keep out a blocker and start building my board. The Ghave player cast Tempt with Discovery and the two lands-matter decks were delighted. Normally you never say yes, but I wasn't going to be left out of the fun. I had Urborg out and tutored up Cabal Coffers. I had already cast Xantcha and given her to the Gitrog player, as the other two either had a sac outlet in the command zone (Ghave) or on the field. Lord Windgrace had Westvale Abbey out, and I wasn't going to help him transform it.
Everyone, including the Gitrog player, was getting in on the Xantcha action and before long Gitrog was down near 20 life. He threw Xantcha at Lord Wingrace a bunch of times but never actually hit a player with her. The Lord Windgrace player was eventually able to play Omnath, Locus of Rage and start churning out elementals. Gitrog used Bojuka Bog on Windgrace's graveyard and then I dropped Bojuka Bog targeting Gitrog's graveyard. Gitrog had World Shaper out and was eager to see it die and return four lands from the graveyard to the battlefield, so it was worth nipping that plan in the bud.
Eventually the Gitrog player was brought down to three life, putting him in range of being killed with the Xantcha he still controlled. He had tried to kill Xantcha by swinging into blockers but by the time anyone had something large enough to do the job, I had Spires of Itlamoc out and was able to pull her out of combat. The Ghave player paid for three Xantcha activations to kill the Gitrog player and the Gitrog player responded by paying for two activations of his own. The result was that he killed himself, Xantcha returned to my control, I sacrificed X using Viscera Seer but the activations were on the stack and used the "last known information" to let the Ghave player draw three cards and deal 6 damage to me.
My mana situation was looking pretty good at this point. I had 11 lands out, along with Urborg and Cabal Coffers. I had wanted to find an infinite mana combo but I had Triskelion and Ring of Three Wishes in hand. It was getting towards the end of round two for the other tables, so I cast and activated Ring of Three Wishes to get Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. I fully expected someone else to win before my turn came around again, but when they didn't, I was able to cast Mike and Trike and close out the game.
While it wasn't the wincon I wanted, those two are in there so that if i use Xantcha to draw into a wincon I can win. There seemed little point in playing Xantcha and drawing more cards when I already had the win in hand. It was a nice way to close out what had been an underwhelming day. Not only did I get the win, but the Ghave player gave me the double-bird salute. Why that wincon is so despised yet others that come out of the blue just as easily are somehow more tolerable will always mystify me, but Mike & Trike is definitely seen as tiresome and overused. I get it, but in my defense I play a lot of other decks and don't just jam the same lame wincons again and again. I use lots of different lame wincons and actually try to play interesting ones as well.
Final Thoughts
While I might complain about how badly my Narset deck (or me, piloting my Narset deck) did on Saturday, it was actually a great day. I played with folks I enjoy playing with. My opponents were fun to share tables with and I didn't lose to anyone that I couldn't be happy for, even if I would have preferred to have another day like last week, when I went 2-0. I also got to see a bunch of old league regulars who hadn't shown up in a while. All things considered, it was a great day, even if I fell from first place to fourth place. I'm not out of it, but it'd take a minor miracle for me to climb back up to first place.
While I'm happy with how Xantcha is playing, I want to get that deck to be a little more reliable. I've had some good suggestions made by friends to add more token generators like Goblin War Marshal and Beetleback Chief so I have more reliable targets for my Ashnod's Altar / Nim Deathmantle combo. While I'm hesitant to push harder for a three card combo, it's probably good advice. The deck has other options, so making that one be more reliable make a lot of sense.
That's all I've got for you today. I'm aware it's possible you might see my feelings about spikey play as the height of hypocrisy given that I'm willing to close out a game with Mike & Trike. Ultimately my problem is more with players who don't seem to actually care about anything but winning - including the enjoyment of the folks they're playing with. In a casual setting that means occasionally dropping your power level down so you're not just constantly crushing people and you're not constantly digging for combo wincons. Those are fine and have their place, but playing casually means not always pushing the pedal to the floor and winning as fast as possible in every single game.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!