Better Deckbuilding: Obzedat, Ghost Council

Happy Thor's Day Zoners, and welcome back to Better Deckbuilding!

I'm pretty excited to share my deck based around the Ghost-iest Gangstas of Gatecrash- the Obzedizzle!

While some might say it's not that difficult to build a Commander deck, that doesn't mean it's good. I spent a lot of long hours building several different iterations of Orzhov, finding them to be clunky, somewhat boring iterations of GoodStuff decks that never resonated nor represented the kinds of decks I wanted to play.

Although I only made the Resolution last year to find versions of Boros and Orzhov I could be happy with, you could say that this has been moving a lot longer than that.

So I'd like to dedicate this special episode of Better Deckbuilding to others who may be on the strugglebus, still looking for that Legendary Creature to get excited about, or that one special little space in design that you've always seen, but never found before. Although playing and winning with these decks is awesome, nothing gets me more jazzed than finding the surprise. And building around Obzedizzle was surely that!

WHY OBZEDIZZLE?

Back when I reviewed Gatecrash, I was pretty salty about the flavor of this card. My biggest criticisms being 1) Generally, that the creatures on cards updated from our last visit felt a little "too easy" to design and 2) Specifically, that gaining Haste felt like a forced flavor foul, made so that it would see play in Standard (which, it did.)

None of this is to say I didn't think the card was good- just a little unimpressive in terms of design. It stunk that I couldn't get excited about a new potential Commander in colors I wanted to play. I mean, I love Haste just as much as the next person. I even get the argument for being the "Black" part of the ability, and that the combined effect is a "Chinese Take-Out Style" (This is what Mark Rosewater calls it when they combine effects of two different colors. See also Recoil) print on the card.

So it took me some time to get over myself in order to take him for a test drive. Fortunately, some other things I didn't realize were compelling me towards Obzedat, as well as a good headspace for deck design.

The first factor was a metagame choice to bring back the Wrath. Over the last couple years, my metagame has experienced some serious shifts. We've had too many Wraths and not enough spot removal. We've had not enough removal, and too much Battlecruiser Magic. Now we have a ton of spot removal, and not enough ways to clear the board.

Because a healthy metagame really wants to have the same qualities that pitchers and hitters do in baseball, where they're constantly making adjustments to psych the other one out. I liked the idea of playing a Wrath deck, but with a little bit of a twist.

The twist, naturally, involves playing around our General. With the additions of some powerful, faster mass removal effects, a combination of old stand-by's and ones that I wanted to try out, I came up with a really nice control-based Orzhov deck that I've had a lot of success with.

THE STRATEGY

Basically, it's a Wrath-Based Control Deck. We are fortified with answers, so that we can play most of the early game with spot removal for serious threats while building up a big enough mana base to get Obzedat out and doing its thing.

While there are a lot of Obzedat lists out there doing some serious Extort and dedicated Life Gain strategy and Combo, this deck is avoiding these intentions. There are a few cards in the deck that help create engines based on the Obzedat's Syphon Life trigger, but the deck's not specifically designed to rely on these effects, making them ironically, as you'll see, a little bit more potent.

THE TECH

There are quite a few popular cards that see a significant power boost in this brew- Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk, and Magus of the Disk.

I've attempted to make the Wrath-proof battle deck several times with no success. Tajic and Zurgo have been the Commanders, and they weren't successful.

What's better about this deck is the timing flexibility and its conjunction with Obzedat's ability. With Tajic, the problem was that being only a 2/2, he needed stuff he could pick up and swing with. Not wanting to lose the equipment, these cards were avoided in favor of cheaper, Sorcery-speed Wraths, which made the deck hard to play, with too many cards and not enough mana to play them all in a single turn.

With Obzedat, we get to, much more literally, get people to "play into our Wraths." We have a solid creature needing no equipment, and, with no creature on the battlefield, we can actually lure players into attacking us, protecting the Obzedat from our own stuff while also eliminating cards from our opponent's hands and board.

Because I don't get to play this color combination enough, you can almost always guarantee that I will be rocking this card, and mentioning it as a piece of tech.

I understand that this innately makes it almost the opposite of tech, but it is my favorite Fog effect, because I get to say,  "Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Batwing!"

Fun story- I have actually won multiple games with this card, so even if it it isn't tech anymore, I can't explain how it continues to win me games.

Anyway, back to Wrath tech. I think people are very reluctant to commit to such an expensive card, but it's a good one.

Frankly, it's not on my list of favorite Wraths, but it shines here, where I already play Rout and Angel of the Dire Hour. Seven sits at a good spot in our curve, where we're cleaning up the big 6-drops, clearing way for the Ghosts to get in for damage.

One of the cool tricks with this card is the ability to respond on our own turn, before Obzedizzle returns, or on our end step, when we exile him.

The latter, tapping out on our end step, may sound inefficient, but it's actually fine. Letting our opponents untap is sometimes too much time, and we all need a good scry every now and again.

Before we get back to our cool removal, let's talk about some of the creatures I'm playing.

Stinkweed Imp, as I've found out across the Interwebz, is becoming a relatively popular include for Karador decks, and that makes me happy.

I think this is a card that Gramps brought up when talking about Pauper a while back, and I decided that I should just play this card in normal EDH and see what happens.

What happens is you get an incredible creature with a lot of re-tread value. Having a huge Dredge cost attached to a huge Rattlesnake effect makes this an effective card for decks that don't play a lot of creatures, and don't want to tap out so much while also having at least some permanents permanently on the board (Obzedizzle tends to come and go, remember).

Long story short, I will be trying to slide more copies of this card into more decks. And I will be looking for a foil one too. Cause this is the kind of card I like to get in foil. Janky weird stuff.

My copy of Retaliate had an unsuccessful run in my Darien, King of Kjeldor deck, where it was silly for anyone to want to attack when Darien was out, and chances were, I probably didn't have enough mana to support it.

Doing my binder check after my first run with the deck, I had Executioner's Swing sitting out, and realized this would be a much bigger improvement. With Obzedat gaining a steady amount of life, I don't mind giving my opponents the opportunity to think they've done something meaningful if I can get rid of their board as a result.

Sometimes, cards we think are bad don't turn out to be so horrible. I've already used this a couple times, taking like 15-20 damage, and completely obliterating my opponent's board because they chose to attack.

So we'll run back the other Fated card in Obzedizzle's colors.

Fated Return has been an incredible addition to both of the decks I've played it in so far.

My first was in the Doran Defender deck, where I cast Fated Return to Reanimate an opponent's Sun Titan and ensure I had my Rolling Stones out for my nonsense Walls.

A few weeks ago, I cast Fated Return on my opponent's Pontiff of Blight and took Obzedat into Extorts-ville. It was the coolest.

And by coolest, I mean, I won the game by casting Solemn Simulacrum with multiple Extort triggers. So I've done that.

Last card I'll talk about is a piece of old school CommanderCast tech- Seht's Tiger.

This card is seriously, seriously bonkers. I don't usually tell you to get up IMMEDIATELY and go buy a card, but if I did, it'd be this one.

I've been listening to a lot of Mark Rosewater's Drive To Work podcast, and one of the elements he's mentioned that he likes to do in design is create cards that players have to discover their possibilities.

Seht's Tiger is definitely one of these. Because at face value, this doesn't look like a way to both counter Fact or Fiction and Fog your opponent. But it's both. And it's a creature. Also, I love Flash. This card is all the things I love, which is why it was on one of our first episodes of The Stack, and it's back again (and so too, will be The Stack).

Here's the list in its entirety, so's you can check out the rest of it. Obzedizzle

Remember to come back by on Saturday for the triumphant return of The Stack!

Pass.
-UL

UL's Favorites: Great White Creatures

Last time I did lists, I'll be the first to admit things got way out of hand.

I mean, I didn't exactly kill anyone with a Trident. But still.

Huge rankings were made, things were missed, and ultimately I'd say attitudes have already changed. I'm not sure my lists now would be the same as a few months ago. That's never a good sign.

Anyway, these lists will be better. I promise. Some of them will feature cards we've talked about before. Some might be obvious. Still, it's important to know that I am trying to steer away from the latter, unless it's just too good and I can't help myself.

10. Angel of Serenity

Yeah, an obvious card if you've pulled it or managed to purchase one. Grandpa Growth has previously called this card the "Angel of Infinite Beatdowns," and that is a pretty fair depiction of how one-sided she is.

If you watched the first Transformers film, Sector 6's crazy agent played by John Turturro would show his credentials and say, "You see this? This is my do whatever I want and get away with it" badge. That's how I like to describe her.

The only thing I have to say other than High Praise to this amazing card is the proxy I did for her, because I love the show Firefly too much to pass up the pun and beauty.

ANGEL OF SERENITY PROXY

                                                                                                  9. Weathered Wayfarer

If you said "Wayfarers" are the only
thing that could make this card cooler,
you are correct. Now, go sneak into
the cookie jar and get yourself a treat.

Wayfarer is a card I used to get beat with a bunch of times in games with GG cause he'd use it to tutor for Strip Mine.

But I think that's more of a testament to how powerful this card is. It's Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying on a stick, which is basically card advantage galore. Especially on the play.

Also, Gatherer has him classified as Human Nomad Cleric, which I think is kind of awesome. I'll never get why some creatures get a bajillion types and some get like, "Ouphe."

Anyway, this card is gross, and if you play multiplayer, the possibilities are even more endless, because no one will have the guts to blow it up before you get 2-3 lands out of the deal. This is assuming you just slam it down Turn 1 like a good Magic player.

8. Preacher

I've thought about a proxy, but
I really like this art. It's sweet.

This is a card I heard about on CommanderCast. Since the text is small here, I'll give you a quick synopsis:

Tap: Gain Control of target creature an opponent controls of his or her own choosing. You may control that creature as long as Preacher remains tapped and in play, and you may choose not to untap Preacher during your untap phase.

So if you haven't been playing since The Dark (which is a legitimate Magic Expansion AND a turn of phrase), Preacher is where they got the idea for Evangelize in the Time Spiral Block.

Like Andy said on CommanderCast, I kinda wish he was Legendary. This art makes him look awesome, both pure and full of evil, and he's got massive flavor. And to be perfectly honest, the only one I own is currently in the mail. Haven't even played it yet. Goes to show you how invested I am in this madman at the pulpit.

                                                                                                7. Eternal Dragon

Falcor. Forever.

Eternal Dragon is some semi-original tech that I found when I was playing what I consider my first successful deck, Oros, the Avenger.

Having the instant speed ability to get a plains is huge. In mono-White decks, I have to play with less than my 40 land count because if I don't, I draw too much land. So there are circumstances where I might be scrounging around for an extra land.

He's mondo card advantage, and you can get him back in the late-late if you're hurting for a land, or you need a recurrable chump blocker.




6. Taj-Nar Swordsmith

Last year I re-discovered this card when searching for cheaper options to replace Stoneforge Mystic in my mono-White Dollar General deck.

Though he isn't better than ol' B-Cups, Taj-y really helps bring the heat. Having other copies of cards, even less-good ones, can really help make a deck run consistent and according to plan. And I can't tell you how many times I've been able to pull this guy out and go get an Umezawa's Jitte or a Sword of Fire and Ice. It's awesome. He's totally worth whatever he costs. So give B-Cups a buddy, and go get yourself one.





                                                                                                5. Ranger of Eos

Ranger was a beast in Standard during Alara, and I'm keeping tales of his awesome-ness alive whenever I can.

His best attribute is the lonely white mana symbol up top, which means creature packages of all colors and shapes are welcome. He's great with Figure of Destiny, Scute Mob, D-Master Flash, Gravecrawler, Dryad Arbor- pick your favorite 1-drop dudes. He loves them all.

Best of all though, he's even good in his own colors. In my Darien deck, I run a package with the Soul Sisters, White Mike, and Weathered Wayfarer. The Ranger has utility that just can't be bottled up and sold in a jar. 




4. Aven Mindcensor

It's killing me a little that I don't remember where I got this tech from, but that's okay.

Mindcensor is insanely good, having Flash and Flying, even without the last ability. Also there's a ton of cool points for his strange cat-owl-looking face, his hairy arms, and his dress (If you can see his arms, it's probably not a wizard robe). Can't be a girl with those arms either.

I'm not concerned with anything that isn't performance though, and this dude owns players on the battlefield. Interacting with opponents in strange ways like this really frustrates them because they want to Diabolic Tutor all the time. Though an owl-cat, he's a great HateBear. Saying, "NO!" with your owl-cat Wizard tranny is a surefire way to mess with their heads. Excellent utility, and all-around sweet design.

                                                                                                3. Mirror Entity

If you want beatdowns, Mirror Entity's got them. Hidden beneath his reflective physique is the ability to do whatever you want, long as you're willing to pay the mana.

Entity makes all your dudes better, especially the tokens that you're probably getting if you're playing white, and he turns them into big dudes. He's basically a three-drop threat that you have to deal with in a few turns or else you'll be dead. Like Spawnwrithe, but better.

This is a card I think you want in every game in Mono-White tokens. Provided of course, that you're making 1/1 dudes. Angels might not appreciate his talents.


 
2. Seht's Tiger

Last week, we talked about my favorite cat, so I don't want to repeat things.

We just need to take a few moments and bask in the glory of how cool it is to be able to dodge Mind Twist and Fireball, let alone someone's army of lethal damage.

Having a White Leyline or Fog is really a lot more useful than you expect. And if you don't believe me, you should take the Seht's Tiger Challenge. Test it for yourself.








                                                                                                 1. Stonecloaker

I don't how the "Once you go Gargoyle"
saying goes, but I imagine there's
a lot of sexual violence. Like, a ton of it.

GG played this against me the first time I saw it, and it was quite a blowout.

I sorta forgot about this card and was delightfully reminded about Mr. Gargoyle here from a really early episode of CommanderCast.

In the show, the guy called Stonecloaker "The Spanish Inquisition," because no one expects him. And it's true. I've shut down Reanimator decks, used him as a surprise blocker, even protected a Sun Titan from a pending Wrath.

Being white, Cloaker fills a lot of utility nicely. He's better than most graveyard hate because he can target whatever your opponent wants. He can also bounce himself back up for recursion. He's basically the Acidic Slime for White cards. As his semi-lude art suggests, Stonecloaker is Game-breaking value at a price everyone can afford. Just look at how he dominates his opponents into submission. That's basically what playing him is like.

He's quickly become the first card I slam into a white deck. Also, having flying and being a Gargoyle just make him just about the the perfect card. I say that cause there's probably something I haven't thought about. Right. Solemn Simulacrum.

I'm sorry Sad Robot. I hope I didn't make you sadder.

Any excuse I can make to plug
my sweet alters, amirite?
Honk if you're a "Hitchhiker."

Well, looks like I've got to find Marvin Simulacrum's
Box O' Xanax.

In the meantime, make sure you change the channel back to TGZ for Thursday and the world premiere of our newest writer, Mr. Johnny Confidant!

Til Then, Keep Talkin' Trash, Gloating, Rage Quitting, and Complaining at the Commander Table. Kidding. Please Don't.

But if your friends love that, then you're gonna love me.

By me, I did mean the "royal me," which will always and forever be Batman. 

Not actually me. But SWEAR TO ME anyway!

Pass....
-Ya Boi Landdrops

The Stack #2- Cats, Crabs, and Bad(ass) Enchantments

Welcome to this week's edition of The Stack!

We've got a really great little set of cards to discuss this week, and I'm pretty excited to have our resident sojourner Venser's Journalist back from traversing the planes to join Grandpa Growth and me as we tackle what has turned out to be a bunch of blue cards. Good thing I came prepared.

And since we play Fight Club rules here on The Stack, AND it's VJ's first night, we're going to make him fight last. Cause that's how The Stack works. Last in, First out.

So let's make like Autobots, Ludacris, and various Rock/Ground Type Pokemon and ROLLOUT!

"Me and my homies, like Donphan/ So much money, you can't stop that."
If you don't like my Super Friends, then go build your own Legion of Doom.

ON THE STACK!

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICKS

Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
This card has seen tons of use in standard formats, but the transition into EDH has been rough at best. The biggest problem I see with Detention Sphere is the fact that it's just a glorified O Ring. Also, you can't Detention Sphere a Detention Sphere (which may not necessarily be a bad thing, considering the multiple O Ring loops I've seen in silly EDH games against four other white decks). The good in this card is the fact that it is a token/Rite of Rep/Followed Footsteps destroyer. Still, the 1WU cost might be tricky and the $3.49 price tag makes this not worth the trouble, unless you desperately need another O Ring effect.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I'll play this card. I actually don't play a lot of O-Rings, but I like this better. Cause tokens and Infinite Reflection are  things. Also, if you're feeling like building your own Maelstrom Pulse, Faith Healer and Auratog are nifty ways to get this off the battlefield before the second ability triggers. Similar to the way Tidehollow Sculler gets abused in the Modern Zombie deck.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card. Is not good for my sanity. Consider the separation: Oblivion Ring is a common. A very powerful one at that. Maelstrom Pulse is an enemy colored Rare that is a fixed/modernized version of an iconic and powerful from the past. Now from the other direction: O ring is light years ahead of Dark Banishing. D-sphere is 'cheaper' Maelstrom Pulse in my mind because it only requires ally colored mana. The balancing factor that made Vindicate acceptable was that is was a simple 1 for 1.  Much like Counterspell, it could never be that out of control because you just trade straight up and go back to work; not much real advantage on paper. This takes things into a whole new dimension. Speaking of which, this card was perfectly named. It's O ring that loops infinitely in a new direction...into...a...sphere. BOOM FLAVOR BOMB!

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
In EDH, mill is somewhat uncommon in terms of win condition. But if you're going for some serious mill, you need to get some crabs (Hedron, that is). Landfall has always been one of my favorite effects and this 0/2's ability is nothing short of devastating, especially if you can trigger multiple land drops per turn. Fill a deck full of fetch-lands and mana ramp, and you'll have a well-oiled milling machine.

Uncle Landdrops-THUMBS UP
Definitely willing to try and make this work. I do feel that this card is probably better in a more self-mill style game though. Getting cute with this on your opponents might make them want to Doom Blade it quickly. Especially if you're trying to get Lazav online.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
I am a little unclear about what I am supposed to be evaluating here. I thought we were talking about Magic cards. I am going to take this moment to talk about designing mill cards and why R&D never gets it right (cause it can't be done). Milling cards has almost zero marginal value. Even in situations where it can have value, the value is quantized in an irregular way. Value comes when you mill important things or when you mill them down to enough so they can no longer win with the cards they have left. Milling cards earlier is worse than milling cards later. If your opponent wants to draw a particular card from his deck (which is almost always true) then you are actually improving his chances of winning by milling him. So knowing all that, let's step back to how to design mill cards. How do you appropriately cost something like this? Here we have a one drop that can potentially mill infinite cards, but does so incrementally and at a controlled pace. Why is that so cheap? Because it is getting harder and harder for YOU to win the more times you do it. It should actually be getting CHEAPER as it goes, up until your opponent has 9-12 cards left then the cost should rise again. Need proof? Compare the cost, effect, and card economy of Traumatize, Memory Sluice, and Glimpse the Unthinkable. In my opinion, Traumatize and Archive Trap (for 0) are the only properly costed mill cards. Traumatize can't really kill and it's effect scales down the closer you get to milling them out, keeping the cost appropriate throughout the game. Archive trap is expensive, but easy to fall into. When your opponent plays around it (typically because they are in danger of being milled out) you can pay the blood price and kill them. CMC 5 is an established cost for cards that are lethal under particular conditions (see Time Warp).

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Counterspells are crucial to any EDH deck that runs blue, and chances are, exiling spells would be even more helpful. Syncopate works great on telling those 9 and 10 drop creatures to take a hike, since you really only need two mana to make this card work. A minor drawback might be the fact that you were hoping to cancel a huge spell, but you find that you need to cancel someone's Doom Blade and that person's got plenty of Open mana. That's why Wizards made Dispel.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
If I'm in the mood to be sadistic and bring a bunch of counterspells to the party, this guy will definitely be invited. Until that day though, I'd rather take my chances with Condescend instead. There are better options, but this card isn't bad. Just a matter of personal taste.

Grandpa Growth-THUMBS DOWN
I like the nostalgic name. I like the balance of the effect. There are just better options. I would rather have Condescend and Power Sink, or even Mana Leak, if I am going to play something like this, which I am not always on board with. VJ mentioned the plan of just 'getting them' when they tap out. Which is always a major victory, but it is much easier with something like Daze. People are less likely to tap out if you are representing counterspells. Let's be honest though, in the haymaker, big spell format, you can't afford to be inefficient with your mana. People tap out at every stage of the game, even when the coast isn't clear. Sometimes you just have to go for it to have any chance of winning. Eventually you figure out that your chances of winning are just better if YOU have the counterspell.


GRANDPA GROWTH's PICKS

Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP

An excellent distraction card. A plan B that your opponent must deal with or it will win by itself. It draws removal away from your real threats. The key part is that unlike creature removal, people tend not to overload on Disenchant effects. So killing this has a more direct cost when you also control a Sword or Greaves. I don't even play much multiplayer either, where this card is usually better, if not more unpredictable.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
And I've rooted for this card, I promise you. Back when GG and I used to swap EDH Fisticuffs, he claimed that this card was good against his normally reactive control aspirations to play "Draw, Go," but it never was, and so I've evolved. Cause even if you get 2-3 counters on it, good players will find ways to screw you over big time. I've since removed it from all of my decks. Funny anecdote. I was playing a buddy of mine who played this card the other night thinking it was gonna wreck my face cause I didn't have any board position. Fortunately for me, I was playing fresh new Scepter of Empires tech cause of how well it works for Darien. Scepter of Empires: Luminarch's natural enemy. See also- Vampire Hexmage, Hex Parasite, and the aforementioned Disenchant.

Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
This is a great distraction card indeed, but it seems a bit like a card that will paint targets on your face. As long as another player card deal you damage each turn, this card may not even be worth much stress on anyone's part. I really like spitting out Angel tokens, but Sigil of the Empty Throne might be more effective, assuming you run a lot of enchantments.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS SIDEWAYS? (UL got a not sure last week so...) 
Conceding the disclaimer that this isn't what I'd call a multiplayer card, that is simply too dangerous for my tastes. In 1v1 however, this card, along with others like it, help create a powerful advantage in certain matchups. Breaking the symmetry is key, but that shouldn't be difficult against control decks. In certain matchups this is equivalent to Time Warp.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN (& Thumb's fine GG)
Definitely a political card with volatile power.  My inner red player tells me that you're probably only playing this if you're trying to go off with Krenko (and seriously, no other Goblin Commander.) and kill the table in one turn. Or maybe you've got a Commander like Zedruu and you're having a FIRE SALE. But if you're just trying to get a fast Inferno Titan, play Mark of Fury instead. You're gonna like the way it works. I guarantee it.

Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
There is a time and place for this card. Use it if you see your opponent's deck is not creature based. Don't you dare use it if you're up against Rhys the Redeemed, Goblins, or the like. But in multiplayer, this is probably going to get you killed.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a nostalgia pick for me. It has been a long time since Boomerang made it into any of my decks, but I still love it. I still have fond memories of it. There are just better versions these days that make me looks elsewhere. 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I prefer this card with ways to get it back, like Mnemonic Wall, Izzet Chronarch, or our favorite Snappy Asian Wizard. Definitely good in a tight spot for blue, but is much better with build-me-around stuff like Isochron Scepter.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Boomerang is still a great card today, being a cheap bounce spell that works on ANY permanent. Do I need to say more?




UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICKS

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I don't really draw it much (if ever) in my Kiyomaro EDH, but it's a card I'd like to have every time when I'm playing against discard, token hordes, or people who still play Gifts Ungiven, like Grandpa Growth. Reminder text really helps you show how multi-dimensional this card is. One of the most elusive white utility cards I've ever heard about.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
It's all about fast cats and pro colors. Hell, I just like the fact that it's a 3/3 with Flash. Sygg, River Guide could take a lesson from this card.

Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP
This card is a vicious beating and a source of tremendous value. I like my threats to be instant speed and my counterspells to attack. In short: I wish every card were more like this card.

Uncle Landdrops-THUMBS DOWN
I know there's a world where this card will be good, but it's not the one that I currently live in. I've had zero luck with trying to play this, mostly because I want it to be my replacement for Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence, which I've gotten exhausted with as of late because everyone plays those cards. But I get it in my hand, and I don't ever want to play it. It's basically a horrible version of the aforementioned, and invested versions of Night's Whisper and Sign In Blood, which I do play.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
If I want to draw cards in a black EDH deck, I prefer Underworld Connections or Null Profusion. This card is just too much of a late game liability for me to give it much credit.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
All of the investment, none of the pay off. This is what makes bad cards bad. Even if you get really deep on this it is still way worse than Greed, which is so much worse than Necro that people won't even play it. Tying up your mana means you won't get to use as many of those extra cards and you are essentially down a card for a full two turns JUST FOR THE PRIVELAGE of maybe being up some cards after that. Admiral Ackbar says...

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I heard about this card on CommanderCast, and I've had it both fail and succeed in a few decks I've tested it out in. When I have a little more time, I do have a nice place for this card, and it's going to blow people's minds. (Hint: I'm gonna abuse combat tricks.)

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
As a fan of Rube Goldberg style Magic tech, this doesn't seem as much fun to play as an Eternal Witness + some kind of blink spell, artifact, what have you. But the fact that you can trade the mediocre creature in your hand for the really important creature in your graveyard makes this totally playable and a real lifesaver.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
When the dollar general idea got tossed around in our playgroup, Rosheen Meanderer was the general I was most excited to try out. It gave me a chance to play cards I would never play normally. Mostly giant do-nothing sorceries, but this was a hidden gem. I don't think it is as powerful as Creeping Renaissance and it doesn't have the instant kill potential of Nostalgic Dreams, but it does have one important improvement over those cards. You can recur the same card multiple times, thus allowing this to become a hybrid of Tortured Existence, Survival of the Fittest, and Crucible of Worlds. Not bad company.

And GG's right. Cause this is Bad Company, and they look nothing like that.

Honk if you were raised on Classic Rock.

Alright now, you Rock Steady, ya hear?

Seriously though. The show's over, and so are the horrible rock puns. But keep it rocking anyway. Cause we will.

Oh, and yeah, Grandpa Growth's showing up for work tomorrow, contrary to the false promises I made last week. So if you can't get enough TGZ, that's good. Cause we'll be here tomorrow, lying about not saying puns, making pop culture references, talking trash about Top, and having fun talking about Commander all the while.

Your Move, Kaiba!

-UL