A few weeks ago I took apart my favorite and best deck because it just wasn't consistent enough and when it had a bad game, it was a really bad game. I think it's possible I have a new best deck. This past week I played on Tuesday night and again in our Saturday Commander League and my Muldrotha deck went two for three and always felt like if the game went past five turns I would always be perilously close to being able to combo off.
Casual Night
This week's casual night was a little short for me. I'm a lifelong New England resident and have been following the Boston Red Sox since the mid-1970's. Tuesday night was the first game of the 2018 World Series and the Sox were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. I wasn't about to miss the game, but I also didn't want to miss my mid-week Commander fix. Fortunately, the game started at 8pm so I was able to head to NexGen Comics straight from work to get in on the first few games of the evening, which often start before our official 6pm start time.
I brought a range of decks, including my recently improved Muldrotha deck, and I wound up getting three games in. All of them featured new or newly rebuilt decks.
Game One
For the first game I went with my Muldrotha deck. We had a four player table and I was up against a Ghave deck, an Endrek Sahr deck and a Karametra deck. The Ghave player was the same poor fellow who I stole certain victory from last week, and the latter two were some of the store's best players - though not on their best decks.
I got out to an OK start, dodging Endrek Sahr's repeated forced-sacrifice effects by either not having creatures yet or by having nothing of any real value. I've been goldfishing this deck like crazy lately, as I made some significant upgrades, and as a result I'm a little hazy on how this next part went exactly, but it was something like this.
I was able to play Muldrotha and draw into Tunnel Vision. I used Tunnel Vision to mill until I got to Splendid Reclamation and with Muldrotha on the field I was able to play Amulet of Vigor and Spelndid Reclamation. I was able to put about three quarters of the lands in my deck onto the field and have them untap thanks to Amulet of Vigor. I think at that point I played Viscera Seer from the graveyard, sacrificed and re-played Muldrotha, used Dread Return to put Triskelion onto the battlefield and I was able to play Mikaeus the Unhallowed for the novel, always fun to see "Mike and Trike" win.
The funny part is that the previous Saturday the Karametra player had used the same combo to kill the table in our second round of EDH League when he was on his Darigaaz deck. It's not my favorite way to kill a table with that deck, but it certainly works.
Game Two
For my second game I decided to switch to my Ramos storm deck. This version hadn't seen an actual game yet and it didn't do much. The Ghave player left us for a more casual table and we were joined by the same guy who crushed me in a pickup game with his Kess storm deck. He was on Kess Storm, and while the Endrek Sahr player stayed with his deck, the Karametra player switched up to Ezuri, Renegade Leader. It's a strong, aggressive build and I had my doubts that I'd be able to out-race either Kess or Ezuri. I wasn't wrong.
The game wasn't super long, but I didn't wind up doing much. I got Ramos out just as we went into the mid-game and Ezuri had already blown up beyond control. I think Kess died first and then the rest of us died, but to be honest I could have that all wrong. I don't think Kess pulled out the combo win, but all I really recall is that Ramos stalled and I was never able to present a threat to do much of anything. Forgettable games are forgettable, and I might need to work on this list a bit.
Game Three
I was torn between trying out my new Varina zombies deck and playing my new Silvos, Rogue Elemental deck. I didn't think either would do well and wound up going with Silvos. The Kess player didn't want to play Kess again and borrowed a Tatyova deck. Endrek Sahr stuck around and Ezuri switched back to Karmaetra for the third game.
Silvos is an experiment to see how good a deck I can make with pre-modern black-bordered cards. It's mono-green, and may eventually become an elves deck. For now I'm not even sure what it is, but it will likely be a "beater" deck that I can fall back on when I just won a game and really don't want to risk crushing a table multiple times in a row. If Silvos beats you, I honestly won't know what to tell ya.
The game went as expected. Tatyova built up a pretty impressive board. Endrek Sahr never seemed particularly vulnerable and Karametra blew up pretty nicely. Tatyova and Karmetra wound up with tons of lands on the field and the latter was eventually able to drop an Avenger of Zendikar and swing for an alpha strike.
I had nothing going on, but for some reason everyone figured out that I had to have a fog in hand. Maybe I was too relaxed about my terrible boardstate and imminent demise. Silvos is not fog tribal - at least not yet - but I did have Moment's Peace in hand and figured I could fend off death for a couple of turns.
Karametra decided to force my hand and sent all of his ridiculous number of attackers my way. I fogged, and much to my chagrin the Karametra player (smartly) used something to exile it out of my graveyard so I couldn't use its flashback ability to fog again.
That was about the most relevant thing I was able to do in the game. Earlier I had played Seedborn Muse, a Forgotten Ancient, and an enchantment that turns into a 5/5 Treefolk if an opponent plays an enchantment. I was even able to swing at the Karametra player after putting 3 +1/+1 counters onto my Treefolk, but that was about it.
Karametra eventually overwhelmed us. I do run Constant Mists, but I didn't draw into it.
I don't really regret playing Silvos in that game, but I don't think that was the right table for such a bad deck. I need to read the table better and pick good decks against players who genuinely don't care if I play decks even on the level of my Najeela or Marwyn on casual night. Some players hate that, but these guys probably would have been happier to have seen real competition.
I didn't mind ending the night on that note, as I usually only care that I win a game somewhere along the way and I had managed to do so with Muldrotha. I was able to get home in time for the first pitch, and the Red Sox were able to win both that night and on Wednesday night!
Saturday Commander League
I rolled into NexGen Comics just before 2pm but we had players running late and we only started our first round of games at 2:30. I followed through on my plan to really go for it and play my Muldrotha deck. I figured it would give me my best chance at getting a win outside of Najeela and Marwyn. I'm saving Marwyn for December and Najeela is fun and powerful but I wanted to see how Food Chain Muldrotha would stand up against better decks.
Game One
My first game was a five player table with an Estrid deck, a Kess deck, a Kyanios and Tiro Hug deck and mono-green Selvala. The Selvala player for some reason was thinking of playing their first hand without looking but didn't want to do so if I was going to be playing Purphoros. It seemed like an odd request but I confirmed that I wouldn't play Purph.
We take penalty points if we eliminate an opponent before their turn 5 or win before our turn 5, so I wound up holding back a little in the early game. I did play an early Hermit Druid, in part to draw out some removal. The table reacted with an appropriate mix of disdain and nervousness and someone was able to kill it before I used old Jethro Tull to dump my library into my graveyard. I run zero basic lands, so it could have led to a win absent any interaction from the table. I was lacking in ways to draw into a Lab Man win and I've goldfished the deck enough times to know that if you try to pop off too early you can easily lose a game you should have won.
The Kess player was starting to what Kess does, getting out stuff like Aetherflux Reservoir and I think a Paradox Engine. He was over 50 life so anyone that tried to win would just get shot down. I had answers in the form of Orbs of Warding, but knew that wouldn't really stop him. He's the player who won last month and has been at the top of our rankings this month so he's turned into a force to be reckoned with.
I drew into Food Chain and was excited to see if I could get anything going. I think I had a 4 mana tutor in hand as well, but it was still so early that I didn't have the mana to go for it. I definitely need to get a Stifle for this deck, as it would be nice to have an answer for Aetherflux Reservoir. Unfortunately, on his next turn the Kess player cast Windfall and my Food Chain was gone before I could cast it. I had dropped a pair of mana rocks on my previous turn instead, figuring it made more sense to ramp.
Kess won on either his next turn or the turn after that. I never felt like I had no shot, but I knew it was going to be a hard game to win. The K & T Hugs player has a self-imposed rule that when playing Hug he always gives 5-0 piles for Fact or Fiction and Kess was able to cast that, get 5 cards and leap into an Isochron Scepter inifnite storm win using Aetherflux.
The Selvala player had been able to get a promise from Kess to not get hit with Aetherflux by choosing to kill my Hermit Druid instead of killing the Kess player's Reservoir earlier in the game so Kess used something else to kill Selvala. Apparently taking your first seven cards without looking at them didn't make for a strong hand, but I've seen Selvala run away with games really early so it might have gone differently if he had gotten a good hand.
Game Two
In our second round I was in a four player pod against a Lord Windgrace deck, a Keranos Stax deck and a less huggy Kynaios & Tiro deck.
This game was a pretty wild ride.
Early on I was faced with a Magus of the Moon and was faced with the prospect of having to play a Sultai deck that would only be able to play colorless spells. I play red decks with both Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon and had locked an Edgar Markov player out of his nonbasic lands just the week before so I wasn't about to complain. Still, it was hard to imagine a path to victory with a deck that wasn't in red and had zero basic lands.
The other players may not have been running only nonbasic lands, but they were certainly running a few and before long the K&T player saw fit to kill Magus Moon and open the way for me to start doing stuff.
Not long after we had gotten past turn 5 I was able to present a serious threat to win in the form of Food Chain and Eternal Scourge. I had counters in hand and was optimistic but my opponents had counters as well and my Food Chain found its way to the graveyard.
The midgame wound up seeing the Keranos Stax deck play Stranglehold, Arcane Laboratory and Winter Orb. Not being able to search libraries was going to be a challenge but only being able to cast one spell per turn was going to keep me from being able to combo. I run mana rocks but not being able to untap lands was going to be a problem.
Even though it seemed silly, I was able to play Traumatize to put half my library into my graveyard. One of the onlookers apparently hadn't seen such shenanigans before or didn't really get what Muldrotha was all about and seemed a little astonished that I would target myself. Now Food Chain was buried under a huge pile of cards. On my next turn I was able to play World Shaper and sacrifice it to High Market to put a huge number of lands onto the field. They entered tapped and only one would untap each turn, thanks to Winter Orb, but I felt like I had done something.
The K&T player was the only one at this point in the game able to do anything, as he had a Narset out and nobody had blockers. I had a Dryad Arbor, but it counts as a land and wouldn't be untapping any time soon. I think the K&T player must have been as annoyed at the Stax strategy as everyone else was because every turn he swung his Narset at the Keranos player. He was flopping into a decent number of planeswalkers which would have let him impact the game without playing more than one spell per turn, but he didn't find a way to win or even threaten a win yet.
Keranos has wheeled us a few times and as the game went on, both the Lord Windgrace player and I were starting to look at the prospect of drawing out. I didn't want to use Dread Return to bring Lab Man out of my graveyard prematurely, but I wasn't too worried because I had that as an option if the Stax player didn't find a wincon first. At one point I played Eternal Witness and with a ton of options for what card to put into my hand from my graveyard I chose Food Chain. My Eternal Scourge was waiting patiently in exile, but we were still stuck on one spell per turn. I even specifically said something along the lines of "I'm going to get Food Chain, though I don't know if it'll wind up doing me any good". I had also played an Amulet of Vigor. This was one of those games where nobody did much on any given turn so we ran through a ton of turns relatively quickly.
The K&T player eventually started killing off some of the Stax pieces that were locking the table down, and by doing so he pretty much sealed the table's fate. Arcane Laboratory was removed, but Winter Orb remained.
On my final turn my life total was in the 20s, Selvala was at 1, Keranos was at 7 and the K&T player was up in the 30s. I had been untapping bounce lands each turn, as they tap for two mana, and I had a few mana rocks that would untap, but I had a plan.
I was able to play Splendid Reclamation and despite my earlier shenanigans I had wound up discarding a bunch of lands, so I was able to go to work. I'm pretty sure I had a huge pile of lands that never untapped but I didn't win up needing them. I was able to sacrifice Buried Ruin to return Walking Ballista to my hand and cast it for 14 mana. I then used it to kill Keranos. Arcane Laboratory was what had restricted us to one spell per turn. I had just enough mana left to play Food Chain and Eternal Scourge to make infinite mana.
I then cast Muldrotha and cast Ashnod's Altar out of my hand to allow me to sac and recast Muldrotha as many times as I wanted thanks to my inifnite mana. That allowed me to cast every creature, enchantment and artifact out of my graveyard and then re-cast Walking Ballista with a huge number of +1/+1 counters. When I went to kill the Selvala player, the K&T player forced him to draw, resulting in him drawing out. He stole my kill but I was able to win the game!
I should note that I'm sure I messed up the above recounting of how the game went in lots of minor ways. I also never really give my opponents' plays the level of detail they deserve, but even my own plays are sometimes hard to remember with accuracy.
I got my win for the month, even if I had to resort to playing a dirty combo deck to do so. It's nice to have what I consider to be a strong, fast deck again. Narset was fun, but Muldrotha, while vulnerable to graveyard hate, is proving to be quite the deck. I'm sure it's not "cEDH" quality but few decks are, and I do plan to work on making it stronger.
Final Thoughts
My old favorite thing was having one of those Narset games where every attack flopped me into more turns, combats and power. My new favorite thing might well be putting a ton of lands into my graveyard and then plopping them all onto the field with Amulet of Vigor out to untap them and launch me in to some ridiculous series of plays. Making infinite mana with Food Chain and doing whatever I wasn't with Muldortha out isn't half bad either, but calling Food Chain my new favorite thing feels like calling Mike & Trike a "fun" wincon. Winning is fun, but a well-timed Splendid Reclamation always feels fantastic.
While I didn't make much of a push for the top spot this month, I was able to get and stay on our Top 5 chalkboard. I'm not optimistic that playing on theme for November will be a path to the top spot, but I'm going to play on theme anyways. It's my pick next month and our theme is commanders in pre-modern card frames! I'll be playing Multani or Rith, and will likely not even bother taking out Silvos for a league game as it's just not good enough. Multani and Rith are both too slow to win against the combo decks we've been seeing in league play, but I don't want to just play Muldrotha for the next two months.
This week I'm devoting my Monday Commanderruminations column over on CoolStuffInc to a rundown of what I go through in a day of running our Commander league. In part to keep the article from going too long, I intentionally glossed over the actual games I played. Hopefully any readers interested in that level of detail have found their way over to this page and enjoyed today's rundown.
I've long wondered how folks like Jimmy Wong (The Command Zone), Ryan Peneff (Commander Cookout), Jason Alt (fellow CSI writer) or kindred spirit Mark Mahler (Commandercast) have been doing in their games - or even how often they play Commander. I don't even know how many readers I've got but I'm happy to give you all a window on the ups and downs of my own games.
That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow over on CoolStuffInc and next Sunday back here with another rundown of the Commander games i've been able to play.