In General: Out of Fashion

Hello, and welcome back to In General! On Sundays here at the General Zone I, Grandpa Growth, write about high-level, conceptual topics. Metagame strategy, player psychology, game theory, fundamental strategy, etc. Last month, I spent each Sunday discussing the metagame breakdown of Commander. I started with what a metagame composition is, how one gets created, what the driving force behind the Commander metagame is (it's Fashion in case you missed the series), and I spent the last two weeks discussing how to update your decks for the current trend in the format: Devotion. I received a lot of positive feedback on these articles and we saw a big rise in views here on the blog. However, I saw one question cropping up a lot and was even asked face-to-face in my personal life: If Commander is so heavily dominated by the decks that are 'in fashion', then what are we missing? What should we be playing instead?

This is an interesting question. Not often do I openly assume my analysis to be correct, but that is the default position I have to take in order to answer this query. If I am right and people are OVER-playing Devotion, what decks should they play instead to improve their percentages and playing ability? Well, not surprisingly, I have a couple of unsubstantiated ideas.

I am going to talk about the three Devotion decks that I have personally played against the most. I think personal experience is the best place for me to speak from when answering such a nebulous question. It would, of course, be preferable to fall back on the data proving which decks get played and what has the highest win percentage, but such documents simply don't exist. Instead we will have to settle for anecdotal evidence. Let's take a look.

Making Big Red sexy since 2013.

It is tough for me to think of Purphoros as over-played because I legitimately believe it to be the best Mono Red deck in the format AND the best choice for a Commander port of a pure 'Red Deck Wins' strategy. I like that it exists, I like that people play it. They are trying something old and new at the same time. Aggro needs to be good for Commander to be healthy. The ETB trigger on Purphoros just makes so many cards into must counter spells. Firecat Blitz. Goblin Offensive. Hostility + basically any burn spell. Purphoros has put Mono Red in the most competitive spot it has ever held in Commander, but this deck does have one glaring weakness that I can't stand. It lacks disruption. Zoners, you should know by now that Grandpa loves his disruption. So what do we do instead...?

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for your
friends hating you. 

I bet you weren't expecting that! "But Grandpa, you hate gimmick decks! You hate chaos decks! Why are you supporting the enemy?!" Simple. Norin is good. Much better than most players would give it credit for. The deck is just rock solid AND the internet community has pretty much nailed down an air-tight competitive version. This is a highly resilient, highly disruptive combo deck that attacks from a very unconventional angle. It has only gotten better since Theros block dropped. In fact, Nykthos and Purphoros are two of the best cards in Norin decks! Now, I am not ENCOURAGING you to play Norin, because that would mean a nonzero percentage of people would start doing it and then I might have to play against some of those people and that would lead to an immediate and measurable decline in my quality of life, BUT hell man...at least I am honest.

You wouldn't want to take him home to
Mom and Dad, but ladies love his whip.

Erebos is also very good, but unlike Mono Red, Mono Black has a wide variety of high quality generals to choose from. Mono Black also has a deep pool of cards that can act as Devotion enablers. Phyrexian Obliterator and Necropotence come to mind. There are plenty of other decks that can leverage the power of these cards, and Nykthos as well, while using a different captain for their ship. The generic strategy of getting ahead on cards and getting ahead on board works for Erebos, but in this case the simplicity makes it somewhat vulnerable. Sweepers and removal can represent a hurdle for decks trying to assemble a high Devotion count. That is the silver lining for people trying to stay off the Devotion band wagon.

Early in the game I'd rather have a Erebos,
but in the late stages I'd much rather have
an active Geth. 

Because people need to dedicate more slots in their decks for answering and managing the God cards, less space is available for niche hate cards and other semi-sideboard technology. In this case I am talking specifically about graveyard hate, but other examples can be shown. I recommend playing a graveyard-centric Black deck. Both strategies are powerful, both are vulnerable to specific hate cards, but I have learned an important lesson from playing competitive constructed events. The less popular combo decks are more successful. Take a look at Twin decks in Modern. The more popular the deck becomes, the worse it performs. As Twin's win percentage falls, people tend to become more concerned about beating Pod or Storm, which, in turn, leads to a rise in the success rate of Twin. The analogue for Commander is clear: both Black recursion and Black Devotion decks are powerful and popular, but the one you want to be playing at any given moment is the one that your opponent DOESN'T have the hate for.

Drawing 2-3 cards per turn is a great way
to overcome removal and take over the game.

Of all the Gods printed so far, Ephara's triggered ability is the most appealing to me. What can I say? I dig drawing extra cards. It is also easy to trigger. In fact, of all the replacements I am talking about today, this is the easiest to make. GoST and Ephara really want to be in the same deck, but the choice of which to play as a general is very dependent on the matchup. They are both resistant to certain kinds of removal, but not THE SAME kinds. They synergize incredibly well together. They both belong in a fast, disruptive, aggro-control brew. The kind of deck that I can really get behind.

This is turning into GG's list of the most
annoying cards to play against.

I feel a little dirty recommending that people play Geist. In fact, at the height of Hexproof's popularity in Standard, I was playing against more Geist decks than I could stand -  in every format. Geist is just good; not much else to say. A second alternative could be Bruna, Light of Alabaster, but I don't want to shamelessly recommend a deck that I, myself, play. That seems like a conflict of interest to me. That being said, if you want a more dedicated theme in your deck, or just don't want to play a lockout, Counterspell deck, then Bruna is a great place to start. It is strange to me though: for all the history and popularity Blue/White has in Magic, there are very few UW Legendary Creatures that are really playable in Commander. By contrast, Esper, which is historically a much less popular control deck, has many, many more appetizing Commander choices.

Thanks for reading guys! I promise: the five week rant about the Gods is finally over. Next week we will be back to more regular topics here on In General. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. What decks do you think are being underplayed because of new Theros block cards?
-GG

The Stack #25- Good Game Hunting

Happy first day of Labor Day weekend, Zoners.

In honor of the holiday (and continuing our year anniversary reflection period), we're going to take a look at the Commanders of decks we had fun battles against in the last year.

So join as we spend Labor Day weekend not working.

THIS IS THE STACK!
 
VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
This card alone gives me no worries, no heartache, and I actually think this could be a cool commander-booster card.

However, I've encountered this guy more than a few times in the past year and there are some things about him that really grind my gears... namely him grinding gears.

The first time I saw the opponent had Karn as his commander, I wondered how he could pull off an all-colorless deck. After a 2-hour game (a total of 4 players), I was bored, beaten, and burned-out from artifact combos and Eldrazi. No player should have to endure this. Not to mention Karn was not even used most of the game. It wasn't until some kind of weird Teferi's Puzzle-box/Divining Dreidel/Darksteel Forge Combo that the person actually played Karn (I ran out of counterspells at this point).

Also, drawing cards is fun, but Howling Mine AND Font of Mythos AND Teferi's Puzzlebox seems like a bit of a stretch.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
I've only come across one true Colorless EDH deck that was built around Ulamog, The Infinite Gyre. While that deck was as insane to play against as was its price tag (deck cost over $900), I see Karn decks as a kind of challenge to deckbuilders. The legend has some interesting abilities and restrictions that would draw a "Johnny" like me to make it work.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I've played against a pretty mean little non-Karn-centric Combo deck too. Overall, I wasn't particularly impressed. The deck plays a lot of nonsense and cards that I think take away from what's exciting to me about the format, but I guess that's what happens when you can't play any colors in the deck. A real "one-and-done-er" kinda deck for me.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
Allow me to put on my hipster glasses for a moment. This used to be cooler back when the gimmick was hard to pull off. Now there are so many colorless lands that it is not a challenge. VJ referenced the "Puzzle Lock" build of this deck, which I actually like quite a bit. I love griefer strategies and this is right up my alley. Granted it is no fun for people who like fun, but I tend to frown on fun anyway. Unfortunately, I have only ever had the opportunity to play against this deck online, where the constant flow of triggers make it labor-intensive. In paper, where you can shortcut past these things without clicking 400 times I am sure it isn't so bad.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP (grudgingly)
Much has been made about Hexproof. Whether you like it or not the mounting evidence has created a strong case that the ability is pretty overpowered. R&D has been struggling for years trying to figure out a way to make Aura cards playable in Limited and Constructed. Well this is it: Take away all the costs and risks associated with doing it and print three creatures that have Hexproof and reasonably aggressive stats. Voila!

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP!
GoST is a haunting general to go up against and the combos I've seen people pull with him are absolutely chilling (done with ghost puns for now). Usually I see an aura/token approach with him, but people who play The Geist have a number of tricks up their sleeves. By looking at the card itself, one really cannot guess what type of deck to expect. I'm sure you could build a mill deck with Geist.

That's what I like best about this card as a general: he's kind of a wild card. A hexproof angel engine alone is intimidating. But he could be combined with the Populate mechanic from RTR to make long lasting angel tokens. Or he could be Voltron-ed to epic proportions. Or he could only be a card that helps a more subtle win con. Remember Planeswalkers, people aren't afraid of the dark; it is the unknown that terrifies us.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I like Geist. If you recall several months back I rated it among the top dual-colored Commanders. It's a nice little aggro-control deck that has the opportunity to adapt to a bunch of different styles of games, and leverage card advantage. Hexproof is huge, and there's plenty of great modern tricks like Eiganjo Castle that can be used to protect it.  

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
My fiancee commands this deck and its always a blast to play against her favorite Guild.

The games end a lot with Lord of Extinction making an appearance and then being flung for 30+ Damage at everyone's face. Other strong appearances are Vorinclex, Mikaeus (non-Infinite), and Massacre Wurm.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a card I'll try to be objective about. I like it a lot more than I did when I first came out, but it's still fairly love-hate. I had a bad experience one time with this kind of know-it-all kid who wanted to play a serious game of Commander against decks like my old Chisei shenanigans deck, and a Niv-Mizzet Dracogenius Coin Flip deck. He was annoying, and it was annoying. However, one of the guys in my group used Jarad as his Commander for Relentless Rats, which I really liked. I hope to see some similar-but-different tricks like that in the future. Shadowborn Apostles would be cool too, as it pumps big J in the late-late. Hopefully WotC will add more cool designs to supplement him.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
I like this card a fair bit and it is easily underestimated. I often scoff at people who immediately build decks around the new potential Commanders as soon as they get spoiled. Mostly because they are almost always nonsense. This guy isn't so bad and I expect him to stick around for a while after RtR ceases to be cool. He is a strong card and this is the format where he shines. He is excellent in junk decks and those with dedicated themes.

Here are my top 5 ways to make your card playable in Commander:
5. Make use of the well stocked graveyards/libraries that tend to build up in Commander.
4. Recursion. People can't get enough of this.
3. Be Green. People can't get enough of this either.
2. Scale properly to multiplayer games.
1. Be a gigantic, multi-angle threat for little-to-no cost/work.


Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I've never encountered anyone using Jarad as a general (surprisingly), so my rating is really only based on a hunch that he would be fun to play against. I'm not a huge fan of B/G land-ramp and sacrifice, but Jarad seems like a functional dude. I think he wouldn't be a deck's only win con and all his abilities seem relevant to the type of  strategy a deck like this would have.

What I speculate is that this deck would have plenty of kill spells as a form of control as well as lots of big, nasty creatures. I could be wrong, but isn't that the essence of Golgari? Death and swarms of zombie plants? Anyway, I'm sure the Lich Lord makes for an exciting game.


UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Earlier this week I wrote about the game I played against Zur. It's a good deck, even when it's not optimized. I'm playing a "Big Pauper" version of it currently, and it's still moderately good.


Johnny Confidant- THUMBS NEUTRAL
I'd like to give a solid judgement on this one but I can't say i've played against this guy at all. My best assumption would be to give it a THUMBS DOWN because Zur is just so disliked that he's the second card I usually hear listed next to Kiki-jiki. While I may seem more on the DOWN than UP if I were to play consistently against a Zur player, I could also see myself having fun playing this guy. Until I have faced this deck i'll have to remain open on the general.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Love it. Love everything about it. I remember Landdrops telling me about the aforementioned game. Multiplayer gets pretty crazy sometimes, but back to Zur. This is a pillar of the format. It defines the boundaries of power in Tier 2 Commander. If you can beat a tight Zur list, your deck is good. Not: your mom thinks it is good, or it used to be good, or it would have been good if you got your combo. No. This deck is good. It is resilient, disruptive, kills quickly, generates tons of incremental advantage in multiple resources, has themes in both flavor and mechanics, gives you access to 90% of the coolest and most powerful cards in the format, and can win easily without the use of infinite combos or mass land destruction. To me, this is embodies the soul of Commander. Is it overplayed? NO! PIPE DOWN SCRUBS. It is played the correct amount because it is awesome.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Although I've never gotten the chance to encounter someone running this as his/her commander, it definitely looks like a fun card to go up against. I've always been a fan of enchantments, and I currently run a couple decks revolving around auras (all pretty cheap).

Zur seems to be a pretty fast deck to play, since the limit on the enchantment cost would make most people turn away from putting in crazy 6 and 7-drop enchantments that need long buildups. Plus the fact that his ability triggers on the attack makes him even more of a challenge and usually makes for a faster-paced, aggressive play. Like a cheaper, flying, non-exalted Sovereigns of Lost Alara.

Enjoy your weekend! Take it sleazy!

-UL, GG, VJ, JC