My Decks, The Tech, At Year's End.

Happy Last Shopping Weekend Zoners!

Today, we're going to take a quick walk through my Deck Portfolio. I've done a lot of re-tooling this year on most of the stuff that's come through the Better Deckbuilding series, and I thought it'd be a good idea to re-visit what I've been playing and show you the fresh-er tech from the changelog.

Let's go in alphabetical order.

THE ANIMAR DECK

The Thug in RUG got a huge mana upgrade with the scry lands, as well as some moderate pimping as I've started to collect some choice artwork and the cheaper foils. I snapped up copies of all the Duels Titans over the last year, and a few nice promo arts of Mulldrifter, Sakura-Tribe Elder, the cutest foil Pilgrim's Eye, and a cheeky foil Sigiled Skink. I was gifted a foil Clone from a Core Set and foil Archetype of Imagination, which acts as another copy of Sun Quan.

The non-block content was kind to my boy too, getting a sweet Conspiracy card in Dack's Duplicate, and a really excellent support card in Thunderfoot Baloth. I haven't added a Clever Impersonator, but if I can get a foil, I totally will.

BARRIN, MISTER WIZARD

This Barrin deck has been probably the most surprising and most rewarding deck I've built this year. Stacked to the brim with a bunch of cards that I like, I've had a significant amount of fun grinding out games trying to figure out how I'm going to win.

Playing and building this deck has helped me to forge a stronger understanding of myself and the cards I want to play, which has really changed my technical approach of building on TappedOut and scrolling through Gatherer. I still do these things, but putting cards in your hand in the decision-making process is always going to be helpful.

Reef Worm has been my top performer in this deck, probably by a mile. I think the $5 price tag on him explains a lot, but with Barrin, I have ways of ensuring that I get to release the proverbial Kraken. Teferi, Temporal Adept hasn't been too shabby here either, but not as good as Aetherspouts and Polymorphist's Jest, which are possibly better than they look.

GREEN EGGS AND GLISSA

Wanting to get more excited about Glissa, I took off her Dollar General Salary Cap, but kept her namesake's promise intact. In fact, we went old School with the removal, adding Smokestack and Triangle of War, the latter of which being pretty one-sided with a handful of Deathtouch and some seriously big bodies.

The biggest shakeup with Glissa was that she got more threats. She got my Jitte, my Soul(of New Phyrexia), a Spirit(monger) with new art, and a pimpin' promo Thopter Assembly. Oh, and a Doom Engine, that's been known to do a bit of Scuttling.

Still, the best changes I made were to gain some flexibility. Enter Vedalken Orrery, and a foil Shimmer Myr (pronounced Sher-mur-mur), which have been stronger than I thought. All in all the curve got bigger, but the deck got better.

HEARTLESS HIDETSUGU

Me and HH have been through a lot. In the beginning,  he entertained Kiki-Jiki, Siege-Gang Commander, Zealous Conscripts, and a whole host of over-costed removal and burn spells.

This last year, HH has been through a few different transitions. Being probably the most-played of all of my decks, he's seen a lot more cards in his squad. For the first half of the year, I played an eclectic build with Defenders. Post-Khans, I rocked some of the better Morph creatures.

The creature base is still something that needs work, and I like where it's going without the themes. Fortune Thief was a nice pickup, and actually put me in position to win a couple of times. Soul of Shandalar, Impact Resonance, and Flamekin Village were all nice grabs too.

But Daretti though! Probably one of the best Red cards Wizards has printed for us in the last two years. Depending on how you feel about his Commander-ability, he could potentially be among the top Commanders, next to Purphoros. Personally, I'm just happy to see another Red card that gives me access to "Rummaging" aka "Reverse-Looting" effects. Really, he's put this new Sarkhan to shame in terms of deck performance. We shouldn't stop talking about him. All hail Daretti, that glorious spider-wheelchair driving, goblin pope son of a bitch. Red is trending upwards folks. This calls for a Shiva Blast.

WHO'S THAT GIRL? NOT JESS...

Obvious Zooey Deschanel sitcom references aside, it's a fact here on the blog that I Love Land, and I'm not just looking around the room and just saying I love it.

I also love Titania. If there was no Narset in Khans, I think Titania would easily be the best new Commander.

It is for these reasons that Silvos got retired to the great pool of cards sitting in cardboard box on my desk. I Love Land, so does Titania, and she enables the Aggro-Loam deck that Grandpa Growth and I have both attempted to make in various capacities over the years.

The deck has practically built itself, but I've got a few more cards to tune and tweak for the first Better Deckbuilding of 2015. So stay tuned for that.

"THIN LIZZY," DEFIANT HERO

Lin Sivvi has had plenty of power since I designed the deck in the latter half of last year. I really wish I could get more games in with her, but the truth is that she's always going to be a Quality over Quantity kinda gal. So even though she doesn't get a whole lot of play due to time constraints, she's always playing for the long game, which brings the dynamic back to equilibrium.

This is probably a deck I could dedicate some more time to re-tooling in the next year. She's received an equal amount of attention relative to the basic upgrades I made in all of my mono-colored decks (you know, Deal Brokers, Myriad Landscapes, Blasted Landscapes, etc.), but only a handful of other cards have been slapped in. Jazzy G (Jazal Goldmane) found a home in place of a Heliod which I didn't think helped a whole heck of a lot. Arcane Lighthouse is a good tutorable option to help me better spot remove. I was able to trade for an Entreat the Angels. This deck burst onto the scene with a lot of power, so it's just been baby steps. I don't need to invent new ways to win- just new ways to play Mirror Entity.

SAFFI, DA BROKEST

My favorite infinite martyr got some scry land, but didn't need much more upgrading than a Deal Broker. She's such a boss that it wasn't necessary.

KARN AKA MR. BROWNSTONE

We talked about my Karn deck last week, so there isn't much to tell other than the fact that I just traded for a Planar Portal. He gets played, he combos, or we get conquered.

THE REST

We can take a moment of silence for Greel, but I'm not mourning any of the decks that didn't last this year. Greel was one of the most economically sensible approaches to mono-Black, and I wouldn't be surprised if I tried to bring him back. For now though, I'm going to be looking for something new to slot in his place in the portfolio.

In the meantime, I'm rocking Lyzolda, and Obzedat as adequate color replacements. So look forward to stories about them as well.

The last bit of news is pretty sweet. I know you guys haven't seen a lot of me this year, but I'll be ever-present in the online Commander content moving forward. In addition to running TGZ, your home for me and GG's awesome opinions and insight, I will also be writing for CommanderCast.

CommanderCast has produced some of my favorite non-TGZ content over the years, even given me a good framework for sharing all the Super-Secret-Tech I do here. So be sure to peruse the archive and check out the rest of their stuff. They worship Wrexial, Ib Halfheart, and the ever-flavorful Giant Shark, so you know it's good.

My first article runs next week, so if you need to escape the pesky cousins or obnoxious, clueless aunts, uncles, and/or grandparents, you can read how I use basic Poker techniques to improve my Commander game.

Well, that's all I got. All the lists are on TappedOut if you want to check 'em out, +1, and/or follow me.

Anyway, Be Safe, Make Good Choices, Happy Holidays, Pass Turn.

-UL

UL's Favorites: We're Blue, Da Ba Dee Da Ba Dudes

Yo listen up, here's a story... Just kidding.

Sure, I make stupid references, but we're not going to use Eiffel 65 to mind control you. I won't go that low. Lou Bega was high-brow.  Hearing this song everywhere in the 90's was enough though.

Sorry if you've never been traumatized by the so-called "Wizards of Italian Techopop." We'll save that for another day. Preferably one when you've got your dancin' pants on.

But seriously, here's a story about Landdrops, who doesn't live in a blue world on the regular, but occasionally dabbles with Islands, and is known to play a counterspell or two every once in a while when the police have all been trapped below Gotham in the tunnels and the world needs protecting; or, when he just really wants to play Cryptic Command.

So on these days, when the world is in fact much more blue, these are the creatures that I like to battle with. I'm kinda hoping maybe you'll like them too. I think they're worth a shot.

10. Kederekt Leviathan

He's like The Rock, except he looks
like an actual rock. But you can see
the resemblance, right?

Sometimes playing goofy stuff pays off.

Back in Zenny when I first got into Magic, I played this silly Quest For Ula's Temple deck, filled with copies of Wrexial, Lorthos, Inkwell Leviathans, Kraken Hatchlings, Shoal Serpent, Serpent of the Endless Sea, and this guy.

Switching formats, this card is almost always somewhere near my deck construction when I'm considering blue and I don't have a way to handle enchantments or artifacts, which is most of the time in mono-blue or in dark Dimir colors.

Even without Unearth, he's great. The ability to do this twice makes it a pretty excellent addition to any blue deck though, because it really helps slow the game down for re-builds and more chances to counter threats. Getting damage in with blue has to be done when you can, and sometimes this is the finishing touch you need at the end of a grindy, blue control game.

                                                                                                9. Sphinx of Uthuun

Fact or Fiction, All Day Err' Day.

I've been playing this card a lot recently in Animar and now in my Blue Braids design, and I love it.

Having another copy of Fact or Fiction has been a huge source of card advantage. In Animar, I basically cast him for UU, and Blue Braids has ways to get him for free.

Casting him for 7 isn't bad, especially when you've built your deck right. Getting any combination of five cards have put serious constrain on my opponents. GG always said there's really no such thing as a bad FoF, and more and more I find this statement to be true. Making your opponents pick their poison I find is as close to being fairly fun and interactive while not hyperextending into abuse. 

Having flying and being a 5/6 is relevant in the world of Hellkites, but it's not the thing that really is impressive. Getting cards and a nice beater, however, can be.

So start playing this. And FoF, if you're not.

 8. Diluvian Primordial

I'ma da Pope.

As most of the regular Zoners know, Grandpa's got a bias for blue and all its cruelty.

So when he said Diluvian tied for being the "best" Primordial with Sepulchral, I disagreed because of Sylvan, but put it to the test anyway.

I've played it a couple times now, and I do really like it. Though I'm not high on the art, but I can't deny there's a lot of fun to be had with this card.

They definitely fixed the places where they went wrong with Chancellor of the Spires. But if you like two-ofs, go ahead and get its spiny-looking, less-powerful partner. It's worth it if you want to play a "more fun" style of blue game.
                                                                                                 7. Phyrexian Ingester

It's like the movie Teeth, but with Legs.

This is another creature that earned starting spots in Braids and Animar. Cause getting this for free, even close to free, is pretty great.

I love Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, the former's new ridiculously technical Frog Lizard sidekick, so Ingester is just my extra support when I can't play Path to Exile and Swords.

Most control decks probably don't want to be tapping out for dudes anywhere before turn 6 anyway, so paying the "Troll Toll" to cast this bad boy isn't awful, and you should get a big dude in most cases.

For me, I like this card better than Control Magic or similar enchantments. Eating a creature tends to have that effect, and I find it's stylistically more "original" than stealing a creature.

 6. Mulldrifter

I like the way he's kinda smirking.
He's either nice, evil, or the evil kinda
nice. I can't decide yet.

Visually, this card seems pretty Dr. Seuss-meets-Dr. Moreau.

This flying fish (say that five times fast) Elemental is pretty cool though. He can be the Divination you need to make land drops, or he can be two cards and a chump blocker for some pesky flyer.

Animar loves 1-for-2s, and he eats Mulldrifter up for breakfast. I've used him in a variety of decks for years now, and I'll be using him for years to come.

This is as simple and straightforward as they come.

And getting a copy is as easy as reading "One Fish, Two Fish," and after you play it, you're gonna wish you did get a copy when you were 4 or whatever. What age do kids learn to read these days?
                                                                                                5. Drift of Phantasms

Drifty, honestly, doesn't ever get cast in my decks. However, being a 3 CMC Transmuter means that he's still doing quite a bit of work. And the art is fairly badass, if you're into live-action role-playing that involves being part of a Biker Gang (I call this BGLARP-ing; I don't want to do this, but I still hope it'll catch on.).

This is a great card to create a mini package around in any deck. There are plenty of relevant 3-cost cards I like to plan this card around, and I've been doing so for years now.

Recently, he got a slot in The Braids-y Bunch so I could get Proteus Staff, but I have other targets too. There are also plenty of other options here. In Momir Vig, he's a dude you can play, or a dude you can pitch to get your Cloudstone or Equilibrium. I've had him for counterspells in other decks too.

Whatever you do though, make sure you transmute him for more card advantage. Like Blue Sun's, Crucible of Worlds, even Divination. Trust me. It's just better this way.

4. Treasure Mage

What am I doin? Nothin' man.
Just kickin' it wit muh pal
BLUE EYES, WHITE BEATDOWN!

Treasure Mage has become one of my favorite cards. Recently, I got my hands on a couple copies of this sweet GameDay promo, and I don't think I want to look back.

This dude is bonafide money. He gets me all the things that I want in a game. Duplicant, Steel Hellkite, and Caged Sun is a short-list of great targets. Etherium-Horn Sorcerer is part of the great package I built for him in Animar.

If you're more adventurous, there's plenty of other useful cards like Contagion Engine, Wurmcoil Engine, even Darksteel Colossus. Well, Blightsteel, I guess. That's the new "unfair" card.

Don't worry though Darksteel. I still love you.
                                                                                                3. Elgaud Shieldmate

Shieldmate has been really a great card in my Animar deck, and I think it's a great addition to any 2-plus colored decks playing Voltron-dedicated strategies. Bruna or Enchantment-Voltron Ertai the Corrupted are the most immediate beneficiaries that come to mind, but I'm sure there are other decks that could use her help.

She fits on a lot of mana curves, and with a lonely U mana symbol, into any 2+ colored deck. And she's a cheap card to pick up if you don't wanna spend 2 dollars on another lightning greaves, or require another copy.





2. Merfolk Looter

The Merfs is something I've been playing in almost every single blue deck I've ever had, even before I was playing EDH. The incremental card advantage is just unfair. Even getting one card deeper into your deck is often a difference maker in games. I've lost a lot of games to GG on this card alone.

He can do it all. Sometimes, it's just a discard outlet for Sedris, Bruna, or even (dare I say it) a Mimeoplasm deck. Any Reanimating or graveyard-abusing deck will love this though. And The Mimeoplasm's still super-lame. Sorry. Had to say it.

I actually try to play this and Thought Courier, its Wizard counterpart, whenever I can. If you have to pick one, I have recently found that this art is a "loot" cooler than the newer versions.

However, tribal Azami, or any deck where you're running wizards and a Riptide Laboratory might mean you have to run Waldo aka Thought Courier. There is however, no alternate art for Waldo yet- Especially one as cool as a Steampunk-Looking Sea-Dragon robbing an unconscious woman underwater. Cruel, but super-sweet. It's one of those GG-abusive cards we can both agree is disgustingly good.

                                                                                                1. Looter il-Kor

Looter il-Kor is number one on the list because he does one thing better than Merfolk Looter. Get in the Red Zone.

We can talk for days about damage theories in EDH- when to attack, when not to. However, this guy is all downhill, and does essentially the same thing as Looter.

Most folks will even laugh, take a point, and let you sit there and straight up lose to getting an extra card. Sure, you sacrifice the instant speed of Merfolk Looter, but I tend to be in a lot of games where Life Total is relevant, and blue tends to be pretty hands-off until Turn 8.

This fact, in my opinion, justifies playing the guy, especially against people who like to play Luminarch Ascension and pretend it's not going to wreck your life.

With Shadow, the damage trigger is almost a certainty. I seriously don't know anyone in my meta who's playing dudes to block this, cause there's no point, and they're not going to waste a removal spell. So take the chance. Pick up a couple copies of this and Looter, and see how much better your blue deck gets.

Remember to come back to TGZ Thursday for new writer Johnny Confidant's article where he goes "Tops Down//Bottom's Up" with Melek.

Also, we've got the second half of our Dragon's Maze Guild Champs to talk about on this week's installment of "The Stack." Yeah, I know these ones aren't as exciting, but not all those cards can be Ruric Thar, apparently.

And stay tuned for Next Week- I've got another Repay In Kind Winner, and I hope to get the alt art done by then. Till then, Remember-

Friends Don't Let Friends Play The Mimeoplasm.
(Trademarked. All Rights Reserved.)

-UL