Command Zone OG's #4: RUG LYFE

Welcome to our fourth installment of Command Zone OG's, the place TGZ takes the pulse on the EDH trends on the internet, and brings it to your attention.

ON THE RISE

Finally, it seems, the Internet is catching up with the aggressive nature of this deck.

In the past year, Animar decks have been gaining steady ground, and I can definitely understand why. In 1v1, there are very few consistent strategies that can beat it, outside of some of the "Top Tier" UR decks. Edric is banned in the silly French formats, and this is the next best thing. Though it doesn't draw you into counterspells, here's a nice little combo with Man-o'-War and Phyrexian Metamorph if you can afford the Imperial Recruiter to go along with it.

This deck has a lot of trouble beating Wraths, but it does make a majority of your opponent's best single removal useless. Animar's a deck that wants to play aggressive, and makes a case for being the best aggressive deck, as well as a very powerful Tier 2 deck. 

In multiplayer, beware though- you are the innate threat. So just don't die. 

ALWAYS AROUND(?)

Riku isn't a deck in my metagame, or "a deck," as in something I believe that's worth playing- yet it still seems to linger and get people excited to talk about. 

I consider it very overrated, especially when you compare it to the value oozing out of Animar and the next card we're going to talk about, Maelstrom Wanderer.

Allegedly, Riku is supposed to be a competitive "Toolbox" deck predicated on doing a lot of Kiki-Jiki/Pestermite style cards with Tooth and Nail as security. Clearly, this is just shenanigans, because this is something the better decks in the format already do, and they can do it in a more concentrated, less diluted way.

This deck needs a bunch of mana to get online, and while it has green, that doesn't mean we can actualize its dream. Once Riku is gone, your little 2/2 Dudes (cause he's two creatures, I think) cost 7 to play again. Hence, why I think the fact that Riku being a playable deck, even in more casual multiplayer environments, is as mythic as the card itself.

UNDER THE RADAR(?)

Relative to RUG Legends, I do feel that Wanderer is slighted due to mana cost.

Still, if people haven't played this, or played against this deck, they need to know that the deck is a total house. Unlike Riku, Wanderer's need for land is aligned with the strategy that you're going to get big and play big stuff, whether it's off a Cascade trigger, or out of your hand, it doesn't matter.

Additionally, Wanderer is a 3-turn clock by itself, which forces trades, thereby allowing you to keep casting him.

While Wanderer is a key part of what I do in Animar, GG plays a deck designed around Wanderer, and it's pretty good.

Recently, one surfaced in my new playgroup, and it's doing some serious face-beating with any and all Storm spells he could find.

From what I can tell, Wanderer and Animar do a pretty good job of straddling the fun/power balance. Though certainly not fair in design, they are aggressive, and have provided the metagame with some serious threat power in the RUG wedge. In my opinion, it's just what they needed to really "tie the room together."

Until next time, don't let thugs or school bullies put your head in a toilet, or nihilists unleash a marmot unsuspectingly at bath time.

-UL

In General: The BotG Conversion Chart

Hello and welcome to In General. Every Sunday on The General Zone I, Grandpa Growth, write a column about higher level topics. Fundaments of strategy, psychology, theory, and player trends. In a departure from the norm, today I will be talking about specific cards.

Theros block has had a significant impact on the Commander format. Entirely new decks have been born to take advantage of the Devotion mechanic, as I discussed at length last week. Today, I will follow up on that article by sharing what I call a conversion chart. Every time a new set comes out, I comb through the spoilers for the cards that I believe will make immediate entrances into my favorite formats. These cards are usually updated versions of older cards, being either stronger, cheaper, or more versatile than their spiritual predecessors. To clarify I will present an easy example, sans context.



Triton Shorethief shares the same mana cost, but adds a second relevant sub-type and increased toughness. For all intents and purposes, Merfolk of the Peal Trident is strictly worse, effectively being obsoleted by the printing of Shorethief. So as a new set is released I will look to obtain copies to replace Merfolk of the Pearl Trident wherever I was using it. The conversion chart is the complete list of all such replacements that I want to make for a given set, but it is important to note that I don't only replace older cards with newer ones. As I will demonstrate, it is important to think about how new cards will affect the standing of other related cards. Specifically, the God cards in Theros block made certain kinds of removal less desirable so I will look to replace them with more effective alternatives from previous sets in response to the new threats.

If you're thinking this is pretty basic, you're right. These types of changes have already been detailed by Magic writers and thinkers all over the internet. This isn't new or unique, merely a collection of my own thoughts, scribbled into one space for others to share. For reference the obsolete card is on the left, the card replacing it will be on the right. Some cards that fit the theme of 'spiritual sequels' have been intentionally left off because the format hasn't yet reached saturation with this type of effect and both it and its predecessor will be played alongside one another. E.g. Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya. Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you think something deserves mentioning, make sure to let me know in the comments below. Share the tech, share the wealth. That's quite enough preamble. Let's look at the chart:






These cards fit the role of being Black token hosers and, while they individually only see very limited play in Commander, it is worth noting that superior options have become available. Although, I feel obligated to point out that in both cases the flavor text has gotten DECIDEDLY worse.

Both Day of Judgment and Hallowed Burial are cards that have been on the fringe of playability in my decks for quite some time, despite being generally accepted by the format at large. Now, with the addition of serious pressure to build around the Gods, I have found myself with no real choice in the matter. I simply MUST play Hallowed Burial because it can answer the Gods and I can't afford to play Day because it doesn't.



I have made a habit of including Vengeance in decks for a long time as s way of hedging my bets. I despise playing situational answers. I want to know my opponents and have the right answers for their threats. In most cases that means just playing more general, more versatile removal. The Cycling ability adds extra flexibility for when I don't need a sweeper. Unfortunately, now I have other things to worry about. Specifically, I am more worried about being able to answer the Gods than I am about incidentally answering random Artifacts and Enchantments.




















I want to note, I don't actually play Naturalize in any deck, this is more of a general commentary: I am going to discontinue playing all Artifact/Enchantment removal that can't answer God cards in play. I already dedicate very few slots in any given deck to this type of effect and I can't afford to waste them on cards that aren't going to be effective against the format's threat du jour.




















Similarly, I am much more worried about answering a God card in play than I am about busting peoples chops for taking to much time to rearrange their library with Sensei's Divining Top. I always felt cheaky and clever when I 'got' people with Grip, but things have changed and so must my decks. At least for the time being...



This is mostly a consideration for Pauper, where I will be switching in copies of Fall of the Hammer in both Commander decks and my Pauper Cube.



Again, this is a general commentary about moving away from niche removal. At this point I would rather have a worse card that can at least interact with the Gods in some way, even if it isn't ideal.

Well, there you have it Zoners. Those are the general changes I making in my decks to combat the new tech in BotG. I hope you enjoyed the look inside of your old Grandpa Growth's decks. If you have thoughts on these changes or if you want to talk about the changes you are making in your own decks, share your thoughts in the comments. Till next week Zoners!
-GG

In General: Fashion is Danger

Once again it is Sunday. Once again I, Grandpa Growth, am here with another In General. Today I will be fulfilling my promise of discussing how the metagame of Commander is shaped. Last week, we took a look at the idea of metagame composition: the breakdown of what decks are viable in a competitive format and what percentage of the total player base each archetype accounts for. Specifically in Modern with how Wizards has used the Modern banned list to control what the composition of the metagame looks like.

It is easy to explain how a metagame composition develops in a competitive environment. Because people are motivated to win tournaments, they need to be playing a deck that can win consistently. So a plurality, if not a majority, will be playing the deck that they think is the best in the format; meaning that it consistently wins in the majority of matchups. Sometimes that edge is thin, but in large enough sample sizes, a 55-45 edge in 75% of the potential matchups will become a substantial factor in deciding what deck to play. Historically, most of the 'best decks in the format' are not much better than 55-45 in general, but again I must stress: that is a significant edge.

Now a second contingent of people will be playing a different deck, one that is not as good against a variety of decks, but is favored against the 'best deck'. So you are a 40-60 underdog in 66% of the matchups, but a 80-20 favorite in the most frequent matchup. This is a fundamental kernel of deck selection strategy. This choice is a big part of what people mean when they say "metagaming" in the context of Magic formats.

There will also be some people playing other 'rogue' decks, or 'pet decks', or 'home brews', but when a particular format's metagame composition is stable, most people will either be playing the best deck, or trying to exclusively beat the best deck at the cost of all others. That is how things end up when the decision process is competition...but Commander isn't really all that competitive for most people. So how do you assemble a metagame in a format where people don't strategically optimize their metagame decision making?

The answer is simple...Fashion. Cue video.

Since I am a dispenser of knowledge and opinions, part psychologist, part life coach, part philospher...part analyst...mostly cartoon rabbit - I forgot where I was going with this, but the important takeaway is: if you haven't watched The Flight of the Conchords you need to. It is my legal and moral responsibility to distribute this public service announcement to as many people as I can. In the above clip we see how the normally dorky Brett and Jermaine are transformed into fashion forward heart throbs by a bottle of hair gel. I am starting to imagine the confused looks on some of your faces. The brows all-a-furl with the burning question: "Grandpa, what does any of this have to do with Commander?"

Competitive environments are dominated by the best optimizers. You win more, you propagate more. Casual environments in Magic are dominated by fashion. It is not what wins the most that becomes popular, but what has the most 'it' factor. It is the newest, the funnest, the flashiest, the most underground, the most retro, the most gimmicky - whatever the cool thing of the moment is, you want to be doing that.

Think back, if you will, a few years ago. Before the first Commander product was released by Wizards, there was a distinct lack of enemy-color "wedge" commanders. Or Generals, as they were called then, I suppose. You could play the Planar Chaos dragons, and a small smattering of other choices like Doran the Siege Tower, but all-in-all your choices were limited. You didn't see many Green/Black/White or Black/Blue/Green decks. Suddenly, when the Commander pre-cons came out, everyone wanted to play a Kaalia of the Vast deck. Karador, Ghost Chieftan. The Mimeoplasm. These decks were literally everywhere. The convenience and price of the Commander product brought new players into the format and got old players excited about new cards. The metagame was dominated by these new Legendary Creatures, not because they were better cards or strategies than previous offerings (in fact in many cases they were just flat-out worse, ask UL about his opinion of The Mimeoplasm), but because they were fashionable at that moment. Of course, over time, their popularity has waned. Some, like Ghave and Animar, have stuck around and carved out permanent niches in the Commander metagame, but the others have died out. When was the last time you heard someone rave about how good their Damia, Sage of Stone deck was? The same happened with the Avacyn Restored angels, the RTR champions, etc. The evidence is beyond dispute. Without competition to sculpt better strategic deck choices, the format instead moves through phases like seasonal fashions. People play the newest stuff until they get bored, dig out an old favorite and pair it up with a newly printed enabler, or maybe they give mono color a shot based on some new mechanic that gets printed, but eventually things settle back down until the next 'fashion show'.

Don't misunderstand, I am not condemning this. It is in no way bad. It is fun. It is exciting. It keeps things fresh...or fresher at least and it requires less maintenance than altering a banned list every few months. As a side effect though, some weird things happen. When you want to try out a new archetype it is tough to know where to start. What cards do you start in your 99? Well an easy way to get an idea is to just look at other people's deck lists. This is how it typically happens too. You do a 10 minute Google search, look for some common threads, incorporate them into your deck and fill up the rest with your personal favorites or some new techy pet cards you want to try out to give the deck your own personal flair. If you repeat this process a few thousand times for every potential commander, then you start to see how the same cards are always popping up in a particular deck. Instead of being OPTIMIZED, i.e. choosing the cards to win the most games, decklists become CENTRALIZED, i.e. including more 'staple' cards that are common to the most viewed online lists and deck techs. A centralized deck is one that contains the cards that you would EXPECT to see in it, whether they are actually the best strategic choices or not. Think about your local metagame or even - GASP - your own decks! They are probably very centralized, with a few random exceptions for "hipster" decks or 'secret tech' cards.

This will be the focus of next weeks article. Centralization...and how it became the dominant deckbuilding principle in Commander.

I hope you have been enjoying this somewhat unconventional article series, because it is going to continue at least for the next few weeks. Remember to like/comment/favorite/subscribe/hashtag/retweet/pin/whatever it is you are supposed to do...I don't understand how to internet. And remember my friend: Fashion is danger.
-GG