Elves and how they break a play group

Turn 1: Forest, Joraga Treespeaker
Turn 2: Forest, Level up Joraga, play Priest of Titania
Turn 3: Forest, Nettle Sentinel, Primal Command for Primeval Titan and put a Signet on top of opponents deck
Turn 4: Primeval Titan, get Gaea's Cradle and Deserted Temple
Turn 5: Dosan the Falling, Genesis Wave for 11. gg.


That was exactly how the game played out. Broke the play group. ;-)

How to draft rares

Last Monday I was able to participate in a Innistrad draft. Here is what my draft pool looked like:

White:
Doomed Traveler
Avacynian Priest
Elite Inquisitor
Feeling of Dread x3
Spare from Evil
Midnight Haunting
Rebuke
Village Bell-Ringer
Mausoleum Guard
Slayer of the Wicked
Giest-Honored Monk

Blue:
Sensory Deprivation x2
Spectral Flight
Invisible Stalker
Sticher's Apprentice
Skaab Ruinator
Selhoff Occultist x2
Armored SkaabSo
Stiiched Drake
Frightful Delusion
Curse of the Bloody Tome x3
Grasp of the Phantoms
Battleground Geist

Green:
Grave Bramble
Somberwald Spider
Spider Spawning

Black:
Stromkirk Patrol
Ghoulcaller's Chant

Red:
Burning Vengence
Curse of the Pierced Heart x2

Artifacts:
Wooden Stake

Land:
Moorland Haunt

I ended up hating the green spiders because I drafted a deck that used a lot of 1/1 fliers, so I didn't want 1/2 spiders ruining my day. But the basic concept of the deck is to just try and over run them with fliers and pushing through just enough damage.

My first game was against Andy. Game 1 he had a couple of Werewolves out early, however, I had a turn 2 Inquistor. He was able to hold back just enough of the Wolves. He threw a couple of devils into the mix, but I ended up getting a Giest-Honored Monk out and it was a 7/7. Couple swings took down that game. Before game 2, Andy said he had 1 out...a Devil's Play. Ugh. No way to stop that. Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with it in game 2. I powered out a couple of creatures early along with the Inquisitor.

1-0

Round 2 was against Dan. He got out a few Werewolves. Then played Kessig Wolf Run...ugh!!! I was just able to squeak out game 1 against him. Game 2 I was not so fortunate. He played the Werewolf that has Intimidate when he flips on turn 2. Then Kessig Wolf Run. Then lots of smash. Game 3 was more in my favor. I got my Giest-Honored Monk Traitorous Blood and got smashed a little. However, on a pivotal swing, I was able to play a couple instants and flip all his Werewolves back. Took it down with 6 1/1 fliers, a Giest-Honored Monk and Inquisitor.

2-0

My 3rd opponent and I were done playing magic, so we split.

2-0-1

So, short little report, but a little insight. Go draft!

Trades

Went to the local game shop tonight for an Innistrad draft. I ended up doing some trades throughout the day and also after the tournament. This was my haul.

Cards going out:
Plow Under Foil $19.99
Sulfuric Vortex Foil $7.99
Blood Crypt $19.99
Rune Scar Demon Foil $4.99
Simic Growth Chamber Foil $3.99
Akroma, Angel of Fury $7.99
Fallen Angel (Commander set) $0.39
Angel of Despair (Commander set) $4.99

8 cards in total
Total lost = $70.32


The foil Plow Under was much more than I thought it was. This pulled down a lot of value.

Cards coming in:
Urbrask, The Hidden $5.99
Buried Alive $3.99
Hinterland Harbor $6.99
Sulfur Falls $6.99
Hall of the Bandit Lord $0.99
Hero of Bladehold Prerelease foil $6.99
Heartless Summoning $4.99
Living Death (Commander) $3.49
Lord of the Unreal x2 $3.49 + $3.49 = $7.98
Snapcaster Mage $29.99

11 cards in total
Total gain = $78.40

Total = +$8.08 +3 Playable cards

Trading is so god damn much fun.

An open letter to Wizards of the Coast

Dear Wizards of the Coast,

Let me first start off by kissing some ass and saying that I love your game. Everything about it. I love the social aspects, I love the different mechanics of the games which allow a different game every time it is played, and most of all, in the past year, I have loved the Elder Dragon Highlander format.

I believe that the Elder Dragon Highlander format (or Commander) is one of the most true forms of Magic the Gathering. The fact that the format only allows one of a card (other than basic lands) to be in a deck at a time, makes the game a bit more balanced. By only running 1x Kiki-Jiki, The Mirror Breaker and 1x Pestermite , you have a less of a chance of getting the two of them and going "infinite" on your opponents. I believe that the EDH/Commander format has been provided a sufficient banned list...up until now.  

Recently, you came out with a new method of offering invitations play in major tournaments, such as the Pro Tour. This new method that I speak of is the "Plainswalker Points System". Rather than spend my entire time writing about it, I will just have Evan Erwin explain it:

Through all the jargon, I was able to flesh out this fact: Your EDH/Commander leagues now count towards your Plainswalker Points. Correct me if I am wrong, but that would mean that EDH/Commander now falls under the Wizards of the Coasts jurisdiction of sanctioned formats in which you could qualify for major events. With that being said, I believe that Wizard of the Coasts needs to step in a take the reins as far as banned lists go for the format. What do I mean? One word:

Overhaul.

There are many, many, MANY cards and mechanics that need to be put under the microscope and need the sentence applied to them "Is this fair in this format? Does this make the format unfun? Is this card in the spirit of the game/format?" I think some serious examples need to be made:

1. The Infect mechanic.

Infect is a mechanic that is build for constructed, 60 card play. Infect was designed to be a win condition where if you could deal half of your opponents life in Infect counters, you win. Now take that same mechanic and apply it to EDH/Commander. Now, instead of requiring to deal half of your opponents starting life total, now you only need to deal a quarter of their life total in Infect damage. Where is that fair? Another way of looking at it is that in EDH/Commander, you can also kill your opponent with 21 points of "General Damage". However, it takes less than half of that to get there with Infect. Should we do away with Infect? Gods no. Infect is a great mechanic and being able to have alternate win conditions is part of what makes the game fun. I suggest the Infect rule be changed to 20 in the EDH/Commander format.

2. Gaea's Cradle

 This card needs to be seriously looked at. The only reason I say this is because Gaea's Cradle's younger, ADHD addled brother, Tolarian Academy, is already banned. If Tolarian Academy is banned, shouldn't Gaea's Cradle be banned for the same reason? Sure, Tolarian Academy is broken, but the reason why it is broken is because of cards like Metalworker (banned), the Moxes (banned) and other filthy artifacts. I personally play with Gaea's Cradle. Every time it hits the board, everyone and their mothers know that this card has to leave play as soon as possible or else very bad things will start happening. So, with Gaea's Cradle, it is a two way street. Either you ban this card because Tolarian Academy is banned, or you unban Tolarian Academy because this is unbanned.

3. Library of Alexandria

"Library is banned because it is expensive and potentially playable in every deck." Should this REALLY be a reason why this card is banned? I mean, seriously! Library of Alexandria is banned, however, Imperial Seal, a card I have seen been double the amount of Library of Alexandira is. If Imperial Seal wasn't a $200+ card, I would guarantee that black would see a lot more play in EDH, and it would be included. This is not a cry to ban Imperial Seal, this is just trying to shed light on the fact that banning a card, simply because it has a expensive secondary market, doesn't mean it should be banned. Library of Alexandria is great, but it also doesn't fit with the theme of EDH/Commander. More times than not, I have seen players have a goal of having as many cards in their hand at one time and allow themselves to have multiple choices and answers to what their opponents might do. 1 v 1, this card is pretty devastating, but again, that is where the Magic (pun absolutely intended) in this format lies. It would be 1 card in a 99 card deck that you would need to draw in your opening hand in order to make it useful.

So Wizards, you have released your EDH/Commander decks, you have released your From the Vaults: Legends, you have no made EDH/Commander a viable way of competing for a spot in your most prestigious tournaments, please, rethink your banned/restricted list and simply make this format the greatest that you have to offer.

Yours truly,

--Wilson Fisher

3 decks. 3 wins.

Last night we had a epic gaming session. I played a total of 5 EDH games and won 3. That gives me a winning percentage of .600! I know! I'm impressed too. Now here was the really tricky thing:

All 3 of my wins came with different decks.

Not one of my decks out performed the others. It was even across the board. Todays lineup consisted of Zedruu, the Greathearted, Rafiq of the Many and Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Let me give you a quick recap on each game:

Zedruu was the first of the night. The game went pretty smoothly. Keith was sitting to my left playing Kemba, Kha Regent, Dan was playing Rhys the Redeemed and to my right was Eric playing Ink-Treader Niphilim (which is more or less a house rule that he is a legend...don't ask). I play Rhystic Study  and Keith refuses to pay extra for any of his spells. I end up drawing nearly 3/4 of my deck before the end of the game. I exchange a lot of lands (mostly Mountains) with Keith to keep him off of his white and keep him mana screwed most of the game. Eric was the big pain in my side because he kept targeting the Ink-Treader with things like Unsummon type spells. I eventually got a lock on the board with Paradox Haze, Ghostly Prison  and Zedruu. I was gaining 10 life a turn, drawing 11 cards (one for my turn). Aaron actually pointed out that Thought Lash  can be used as a one shot kill...which I did. I eventually took out Eric with damage (Mostly from a Illusions of Grandeur), I took out Dan with the Thought Lash and with Keith. Well...

And then there was this










So that was game one. The big turning point in the game was Eric using Pyrokinesis on his Ink-Treader, and copying 1 damage to every creature and 45 at me (which I am now seeing it only hits creatures...but we weren't in the right state of mind to see this)...which put me at 18. I was at 63. Eric said he wasn't looking at my life total and the math just didn't add up. Alls well that ends well.


Game 2:
Rafiq of the Many

I built Rafiq of the Many as a infect deck. It is not nearly complete and right now, I would say it's a strictly 1 v. 1 deck. However, I entered into a 5 way EDH match which included Eric sitting on my left playing Animal, Player of Drums, Andy playing Teneb, The Harvester, Ben playing Merieke Ri Berit and Aaron playing Heartless Hidetsugu. This game took place after Aaron won in about 3 minutes, dealing 120 points of damage on turn...like...4. That was awful. I don't even remember how that happened. My memory has blocked it out. As far as I am concerned, that game didn't exist. Now, Rafiq is designed to just one shot players with things like Putrefax. Just infect them as fast as possible. So, I went along with that plan. Eric only had 2 toughness out when I had Rafiq out and I played Putrefax. That's 12 infect coming through. Next I got Andy with 9 infect and then proliferated with Throne of Geth . Everyone ganged up on Aaron because of the game before, so he was at a pretty low life total. I was able to finish him off with Celestial Colonnade. Ben was the hard one. I attempted to finish him off with a Inkmoth Nexus, then the Colonnade, and so on and so forth. Ben always seems to have answer for me, this time it was Sudden Spoiling , Voidmage Husher, and Wipe Away. I was at 2 life when I was able to wipe his board with Parallax Wave and finish him off with a Blightwidow, Sword of Vengeance   and a Rancor. Phew!

It was just a grinder of a game. I was telling the guys that it has been a while since I played a multi-player EDH game where opponents would go out one by one. It's usually everyone all at once. Anyways. Interesting.

Game 3:
Ezuri, Renegade Leader

The only thing I can attest to this win was the fact that nobody (except for Mike) who knew what I was doing! On my left this time was Keith playing Oona, Queen of the Fae, Mike playing Jenara, Asura of War and on my right was...oh god....um....New Guy playing Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. This game was just bad. My turn sequence went like this:

Turn 1: Forest, Arbor Elf
Turn 2: Oran-Rief the Vastwood, Fyndhorn Elves
Turn 3: Greenweaver Druid, Gaea's Cradle, Fauna Shaman
Turn 4: Lurking Predators VROOOOOMMM!!!!!

Lucky for me, the first creature that came off the top of the Predators was Dosan the Falling Leaf so I was able to do whatever I wanted on my turn. The game ended with me having 17 creatures on the board with Deserted Temple  letting me untap my Cradle. I played Ezuri and swung in with the team. It's totally overkill, but I also had an active Beastmaster Ascension, Slate of Ancestry. Huge damage. No Wraiths also. That was a big part of this game. Biggest part even.

So, there we have it. 3 decks. 3 wins. A control deck, a one shot kill deck and a hyper aggro deck.

I'm not gloating.

I want to point out lots of things happened that allowed these wins to happen. Play errors, focusing on other players for past games, not drawing appropriate cards and players not knowing what your deck does.

EDH is a cruel mistress.

When all else fails...

Play Triumph of the Hordes.

While you won't find me at the top of the Sheldon Menery fan list, I can get on board with his Triumph of the Hordes ban theory. I mean...let me start over:

I love Triumph of the Hordes. I think you can equate my happiness playing Triumph of the Hordes is the same as a small child in footie pajamas running downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing a crap ton of presents. However, the payoff of Triumph of the Hordes is like finding out all those presents are socks. Sure they are useful and at the end of the day, it's something you will use, however, you would have been happier with a Gameboy.

Triumph of the Hordes falls into a category that my friends and I have been making of cards that, while not powerful enough to ban, do what they shouldn't do in EDH. Example?

Yep. Cards that should be fine on their own, but they make the EDH rules work for them instead of the other way around. Infect is a mechanic that does this. What Triumph of the Hordes should read in EDH is:

Until end of turn, all of your creatures get +1/+1, trample and all of your opponents life totals become 10.

Yep. Nice and tidy.

I was playing a game last night where I was playing Elves (link goes to deck list) and I was able to go: Concordant Crossroads, Genesis Wave (for 9), Triumph of the Hordes. Win. Did I get the win? Yes. Did I feel good about it? No.

So, you have to look at Triumph of the Hordes as a card that does something that it shouldn't do. We have already banned cards that do things that they shouldn't do in EDH. Does this card warrant a ban also? If we do that, do we ban other cards that simply do things that they shouldn't? You know, that Felidar Sovereign just wins you the game? He does that. Infect is just a mechanic that isn't made for EDH.

However, on the other side of the coin, the argument of why to ban it is exactly the reason why it can't be banned. If you ban Triumph of the Hordes, you should also ban the following:

ALL OF THESE

If you ban something that is related to the mechanic that makes it broken, then you would need to ban the mechanic all together. Triumph of the Hordes is a great card, but, if you are looking for friends, I don't suggest Triumph of the Hordes.

We are going in circles here. Point being, Triumph of the Hordes wrecks.

A great P1P1 cube

So, I wake up, and find this:

I honestly can't make this pick. At first I thought:

1. Time Walk
2. Jace the Mind Sculptor
3. Mox Ruby
4. Maze of Ith
5.....My brain exploded.

Who can make this pick? The biggest problem is that after you pick Time Walk, you will be splitting blue with the next 3-4 players (depending on where they pick Mox Ruby and Treachery).

Ugh. Just had to share this. But I think Time Walk is pick 1.