We begin today's journey with a little brain tickling from Philosoraptor.
I assure you, it fits. The gang's almost all back into full swing in this installment as we talk about some cards that have spurned surprising effects on us, the battlefield, or others.
Sometimes, in tricky situations, it is advantageous to design with the atypical in mind. Mixing things up is a good quality to have as a deckbuilder and player, and it's important to keep you and your opponents guessing not only when you'll play a spell, but also how you can get it to work.What we picked for you today are some cards that have actually surprised us in various capacities. So let's get to it.
THIS IS THE STACK!
SURPRISE! NO IT ISN'T! We're going to talk about Commander 2013!
JUST KIDDING! I'LL WRITE ABOUT IT TUESDAY!
THIS REALLY IS THE STACK!
VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK
My buddy and mentor plays a deck centered on this card. It's not an artifact heavy deck (though there is an Arcbound Crusher and Dross Scorpion in it), nor does it really play off of large numbers of creatures. In fact, when he pitched the idea of the deck to me, I laughed. He wanted to make a deck based on Norin, the Wary. Turns out, he's not even the main focus of the deck. This card is. This silly, old card is what makes the deck work 90% of the time. I have the scorecards to prove it. This card and a Suture Priest. You do the math.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
Have you ever feared Rhys and his army? I have and if the idea of this is anything close to that, I'd be ridiculous not to watch out for it.
Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
This is a perfect pick for this stack, my hat is off to you VJ. This card looks so fair, but really is so not. I feel like this topic is, "I learned my lesson the first time" or "Things I have been missing out on". You might have to google some decklists to figure out all the combos, but rest assured, people who play this card are intending for it to be pretty broken. Pro tip: don't let that happen.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I'm actually getting ready to play G-Chamber in what I foresee being a pretty tough little combo deck. I have my own apprehensions about it- mostly, I don't want to turn it into a huggy bear card, and let it end up being the death of me. It's definitely a bad matchup against Doubling Season abusers and other token decks.
GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK
You may recall Master Warcraft, which this card is a strong callback too, minotaurs and all. This card is less subtle, slower, and much more expensive. In exchange for those downsides you get a body with which to leverage all those attacks and blocks, but also you get the effect every combat. This can get ugly very quickly. This functions much like a copy of The Abyss stapled onto a Prison Term. Their best guy usually can't ever doing anything intelligent and they are almost guaranteed to be losing at least one creature per turn. This...is not 'fun'. Which is perfect for me. Unfortunately, this card is Red and White, which is not a color combination that I typically advocate for Commander play. If this were Legendary and sat at cmc 6 I would be singing a different tune, but for now I am going to say leave it behind.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I really like this. I already force people to attack with Basandra and War's Toll so why not add in more of battle shaping effects to the party.
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
I get that his effect triggers each combat, which is nice, and that it basically can destroy a chump/creature-not-intended-for-attack each turn; but as frugal as it sounds, the CMC 7 just ruins this for me. For one, he's only a 5/5. I'm not always a big fan of big P/T, but when I think minotaurs, I think ridiculous power. I'd be more satisfied if he were a 7/3 honestly. Also, it is only one creature per combat that attacks/blocks and one creature that cannot. Two per turn isn't bad, but by the time he's in play, you may have a lot more to worry about, especially if your opponent lets you have him on the field.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I considered this card for a couple decks, but found the 7 CMC offputting. One of its redeeming qualities is the fact that it isn't a "when this creature attacks" trigger, something that severely crippled Odric, who is apparently not the actual Master of Tactics. I agree with GG. This would be a pretty neat little Legend. Definitely better than a couple of the cards they made with heavyhanded intentions in the RtR block (Here's looking at you, Aurelia).
JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK
Dying to infect is probably one of the worst ways to go. While talking to a fellow Animar player at my card shop about non-combo out win conditions he mentioned that Inkmoth Nexus has won him some games when plans went awry.
Looking through my deck he noticed Kessig Wolf Run was in it, so I already had half of it anyway. Granted this little combo works once then people tend to watch your mana once one of the two are in play which it kind-of a downside. Inkmoth Nexus took Alchemist's refuge once I got myself a Prophet of Kruphix.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I'm not saying Nexus is bad, or that this combo is overplayed. I just think this particular little ditty is one we all know, and without a good support system in the deck to assemble and/or make it unstoppable, it's not something I can really defend or support, from any angle. It's just how I play, and what I've learned from playing Animar. It feels like a distraction. Animar kills people by dealing 40 almost unstoppable points of damage. I'm not seeing why I'd want to play colorless land in a 3-color deck that can turn into a 1/1 that deals a different form of damage not aligned with this strategy. Playing this is just really unappealing to me on a lot of economic levels.
UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK
Not a nice card by any means, but I've been pleased with the results. Preventing opponents from playing chump blockers when you're ahead, or from playing more creatures when you're down makes it a good two-way play. Just make sure you have a few creatures to play post-Wrath or whatever.
I tried this out in a couple of decks, and so far it's taken hold really well in Glissa T's, managing creature counts, keeping me from having to take too much damage, and saving other key artifacts by simply being a nice removal target.
It does pose some serious problems against decks with a lot of ETB creatures though- so be warned. But I think it's worth your time.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
So true that this card is not nice at all. I have been on a few bad ends of resource/utility denial strategies and while my playgroup doesn't have a "House ban-list" we try to shy away from excessive denial routes. I may play both Sylvan Primordial and Deadeye navigator, and in my upcoming Sydri deck ill be running Mycosynth Lattice and Arcum Daggsson but i'm not about to destroy all lands. Likewise if i'm in the lead i'm not going to put into play something that weighs significantly for a win. Personally i feel its better to lose less than i win, but win with interesting plays without hearing alot of "oh... this again"
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card is stellar. This is the kind of stuff I can get behind. Not surprisingly, this is also the kind of stuff that Commander players hate seeing. "Spirit of the Format" and all that nonsense. Play this. Play Hokori Dusk Drinker. Play Gaddock Teeg, or Thalia, or Heartwood Storyteller, or really anything. Deliver the beats while your opponent, who built a deck full of absolute garbage, loses in a slow and humiliating fashion.
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I like cards like Oblivion Ring and Fiend Hunter. I don't thoroughly understand this card, but I like it's ability. This is probably the best tempo creature control card that I've ever seen (at least that's what I want to think considering I've never played or seen this card played). The backlash of this card may possibly outweigh the benefits (UL hinted to this with ETB creatures), but if you have the cojones to play something this ridiculous, I'd expect you to also have counterspells and a way to protect this artifact.
That's all we got today. Until then, call "Shenanigans!" if you think that the person you're about to battle is going to let his Millenium Puzzle transform him into an older, better card playing Pharoah from Ancient Egypt. Say Yu-Gi-NO!
And enjoy your morning/afternoon cartoons.
-UL/JC/VJ/GG
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