Game #30: Thrun, the Last Troll

Game #30: Thrun, the Last Troll
Date: 2013-06-16
Location: a Friend’s house in Duluth, MN
vs: Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Result: Neutral Win

 

VS

After a long 3-player game, one player had to go home. The rest of us didn’t have any self imposed curfew, so we decided to play another few head-to-head games.  I grabbed Thrun, because it wasn’t a deck that needed to hide behind a multi-player game (though I considered a Non-guild Aurelia deck, in hindsight it would have been a better choice).

I played Okina on turn one, a Forest on turn two and missed the next two land drops. Kira got out a Rootwater Hunter and a Counter Balance.  I was able to play a Basilisk Collar and, after playing a Mishra’s Factory, a Fireshrieker.  I got plinked by the rootwater hunter a bit until I finally drew a fourth land, which allowed me to Skyshroud Claim.

I played Thrun, tested the counterbalance waters with a Spider Umbra, and when that stuck, played a Rancor on Thrun. Following turn I equipped the Collar and the ‘Shrieker and swung for 14 damage.  A Conundrum Sphinx hit me (and found no creatures in my deck). Then I played Mythic Proportions and swung for 30 more.

I picked the wrong deck to play in this situation.  Especially since we were playing under the new Legend rules (Kira’s Clone would have been a lot more effective as a dead Thrun than as a second Rootwater Thief).  Karma would get me though.

About the Deck ( http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/my-thrun-and-only/ )

What can I say? I like decks where the General is the only creature.  I wanted to make a “Creatureless” green deck, but it was hard to figure out a good way to win, so I fudged it and just made it a Voltron Thrun deck.  He is the last troll, though, so he’s the general without an army.

 

Game #29: Ashling the Extinguisher

Game #29: Ashling the Extinguisher
Date: 2013-06-16
Location: friend’s house in Duluth, MN
vs: Crovax, Ascendant Hero ; Angus McKenzie
Result: Fun Loss

VS

After playing an 8-pack Modern Master’s Sealed (I didn’t win the Tarmogoyf lottery… Sword of Light and Shadow was the only card of note in the box), I got a chance to play some EDH.  I had to lend one of my decks (Angus/Agnes McKenzie) to my friend, since he didn’t bring any EDH decks.

I went first and dropped an Urborg. I had another swamp, a dark ritual, Hatred and Howl from Beyond in my opening hand.  I played an early Reassembling Skeleton and a Corrosive Mentor.  Angus did a lot of ramping (the deck is based around landfall/land tricks and some token tricks), Crovax tutored for a Land Tax and played a Skull Clamp.

I got out my general on turn 5 and then used my ritual to play a Butcher of Malakir.  I attacked Crovax for 4. The butcher got Swords to Plowshares-ed.    Angus had a Patern of Rebirth on a Fertilid and Crovax had an Aura of Silence.  I attacked Angus, hoping to draw Crovax to sac the Aura (so I could safely play a Wound Reflection) to destroy the Pattern. He didn’t (“I want to see what he’ll get”) and Meloku,the Clouded Mirror was reborn.  Angus then played a Mirror Sigil Sergeant.

Crovax was building up a small army of Soldier tokens via Mobilization.  I played a Strands of Night and a Nefarox. I got a few attacks in with Nefarox, but was met with blockers (spirits from Meloku). Both opponents built up sizeable token armies. I sacced Nefarox to Disciple of Bolas. The following turn,  I cast Mutilate for 9 and then reassembled a skeleton which was then sacrificed to Victimize, which got me back a Nefarox and Corrosive Mentor.

Aura of Silence killed my Strands of Night, which allowed me to cast Wound Reflection. Angus played a Storm Cauldron, as a delaying tactic, which put both me and Crovax in a bind.  Angus copied a crovax’s Reya, Dawnbriger with a Vesuvan Doppleganger (playing under M14 rules), and used Scouting Trek/Treasure Hunt to get the last few basic lands into hand.  I used a Xenic Poltergeist to animate the Cauldron and Crovax sucked it up and cast a Martial Coup.

I followed up with a Massacre Wurm, but Crovax used a sac-outlet to prevent himself from losing 20 life.  I recast Ashling. Angus used Trade Routes to keep drawing cards.

I saw an opening that could win me the game: I gave Ashling Swampwalk with an enchantment, attacked Angus (at 18 life) and, anticipating Wound Reflection, cast howl from beyond  to put her power to 9,(before blockers, as I assumed her unblockable).  She got Cytoshaped into a 3/3 green centaur with protection from black, knocking the enchantment off and making her blockable. I had hoped to repeat the process the following turn using Hatred to do the last 17 General Damage to Crovax.  Instead Ashling died.

Crovax StoneCloaker-ed my Skeleton. I cast a Shelodred, which got Parallax Waved away. I cast an Avatar of Woe and then attacked with a Hunted Horror, which would have killed Angus (no general on the board), but he Mirrorweaved everything to Avatar of Woe and then events lead to my board being wiped of guys.

I made a last attempt with a 24/24 Umbra Stalker, but there wasn’t much I could do at that point without evasion. My hope was to get Sheoldred to get back a Disciple of Bolas and gain 24 life and draw 24 cards. Instead I died to damage from giant soldiers.

The game continued on for quite awhile with lots of back-and-forth. Tradewind Rider vs Isochron Scepter (Disenchant), Sundial of the Infinite tricks to save creatures. Eventually a Catapult Master was able to take control and Angus fell (at 6 life for almost an hour). Crovax only took 4 damage (from Ashling) the whole game.

It was long, but fun. My friend who played my Angus deck is a good player, and I like letting him play my decks (1. because they are bad, which gives me a chance against him, and 2. because he does well with whatever he’s given).  However, the night had gotten late, and he had to go home.

About the Deck: (tappedout coming soon)

This deck started out as being a deck about  “Black Cards with Purple in the Art”, but became a super-mono black deck (every card in the deck, with the exception of Thespian’s Stage and Urborg, which is pretty darn black) has Black Color Identity.  It was going to be ‘sacrifice matters’ but I had too many ideas and cards selected, so I chose to limit it to being only ‘black’ cards.   It has a “Swamps Matter” sub-theme, and it’s really fun to play Umbra Stalker with a big Chroma count.  I really enjoy playing this deck. It’s not subtle, it’s not control, it’s just black aggro.

Card Creation: 4-Color Generals, part 5

Another activated-abilities cycle.  This one is missing a second RW legend (with a UG) activation, but only because I forgot to make one.

Zoga the Meek

Zoga was tired of his goblin kinfolk being slaughtered (or dying due to their own idiocy), so he studied the darker arts to help keep them alive. As he grows stronger, his clan grows bolder.

Vivvixia of Warpwood

Vivvixia turns the natural cycle of life into knowledge and vengeance.

Kharalus Warpwinged

Kharalus does not breathe fire, but instead exhales literal life and death.

Viscerebroplasm

A mutant ooze that absorbs anything around it. It does not, however, kill what it engulfs, instead amalgamates its captives.

This was supposed to be creature type Ooze Mutant.  This card is possibly too complicated, but I like that it can act as removal or as wrath protection.

San’ai Vig

San’ai, a cousin of Momir, is somewhat of an outcast from the Simic Guild, dabbling in Orzhov magic (without their consent… she didn’t want to fill out the forms).

Her +1/+1 counter ability was created before Evolve, and was meant to work with Graft creatures. She can cast regrowth by stealing life-essence from her allies.

Pradoc and Pradice

 

Twin brother and sister, Pradoc and Pradice take very different paths in their magical craft. Pradoc mimics spells, while Pradice mimics souls.

Pradoc acts as a modified Gerrard’s Verdict, pushing opponents to discard spells he can copy. Pradice works to get creatures in the graveyard for copying.

Old Flamegnarl

  

Once the tallest and oldest tree in his forest,  he was the only tree  left standing(Woodwing took to the air) when the forest was burned. Though he died in the conflagration, his spirit bound itself to the flames and returned to animate his body.

Grathus Woodbane

Grathus Woodbane is the vampire that turned Kvasha into a vampire. He was a hermit who fancied himself a necromancer. One of his rituals went awry, turning him into an undead.

This one is getting updated text to allow copying of Legendary creatures now that the Legend Rule has changed

Card Creation: 4-Color Generals, part 4

The Dynamic Duo Cycle

This is another “off-color activation” cycle for achieving a 4-color identity.  This time the idea was the other two colors represent the second member of the duo.

Brannock and Gyr

A Knight and his Griffin. Brannock is an aggressive attacker, and Gyr allows him to divebomb.  UG aren’t normally Griffin (or Gryffinfdor) colors, but the abilities granted are right for the colors. UUGG buys you both flying and trample.

Fury and Vengeance

 

Samurai Twins. Protection from Blue is a cop-out, and I feel like I give out Double Strike and Trample too often, though Double Strike is fitting here. Paying to get Bushido is kind of cool.

Mosk and Merc

 

Mosk and Merc had their names stolen from the pages of the Wheel of Time series of books.  Mosk guys will steal your best Sword,stab you in the face with it, and then Merc will chuck it back at, not to, you.

 

Saralen and Cersei

  

Saralen’s name didn’t get borrowed from fantasy literature, Cersei’s did (though not intentionally).  I like Twin generals like Stangg, so I knew one of these had to be that style.  If Saralen Summons her Sister of the Sea, their siren song seduces attacks, and then soothes savagery aimed at you.

Trag and Allowin

Allowin’s name also comes from Sci-Fi literature. This one has Flavor Text.   I know that regeneration already causes the creature to tap (at least it used to),  but this allows Allowin to tap opposing creatures… they just get a random bonus of being a troll.

Card Creation: 4-Color Generals, part 3

The Transform Card series

While I still think differently-colored activation costs  are the secret tech that would make a 4-colored color-identity legend work the best, Innistrad block introduced some new tech — double-faced cards — that provide another option.  Again, you only need 2-colors to cast it, but they’re better with 4.

Some of these cards are my favorites, and a few need a bit more work.

Torkin Wingclaw

Torkin was partially inspired by Huntmaster of the Fells, and partially by Pikel Bouldershoulder (from R.A. Salvatore’s Cleric Quintet).   He’s a lord for the birds and the bears (that he makes), but he can switch back and forth depending on what you need defensively.

 

Daikatimor

  

Daikatimor is a Rage Demon.  He’s a pretty brutal beater, and a potential 2-turn clock.  However, his transform condition (which I think might need to cost more), curses him into becoming an innocent young girl (just waiting for blood to be spilled to reawaken the Demon within), who also makes your team into great blockers (if pacifists).

Dialda, of the Doesn’t-have-a-cool-title

Dialda is a Knight who has studied tactical strategy, but she has some anger issues.  I wonder if the Double Strike side  with the slith effect might be too attractive/powerful. I also think I’d use a less optional transform cost.

Gwynne, Handmaiden of Trest

Sure, Edric does the spying bit, but silly little court-maiden Gwynne does the dirty work.  First she disarms you with her charm (and convinces you to give her gifts), but if you get in her way, or if you just need  killing, she will eliminate you and then disappear in to the mists, leaving people none-the-wiser.

Aeonic Traveller

I have a rule against Time-Travel… it’s confusing, and rarely done well.   The baddass Mad Scientist speeds up time for you by giving you more cards… glimpses into the future… but if you pay the cost you get accidental rampaging dinosaur that eats time (preventing you from drawing cards, and requiring a sacrifice of hand), but also buys you time (more attack phases).

Card Creation: 4-Color Generals, part 2

The Commander Cast Contest Cycle

This was my second submission to the Commander Cast Contest. This one also didn’t win.

This cycle starts at 2 mana for a 2/2 and ends at a 6/6 for 6.  Each has an ability that has a major-effect on the game, where that effect is particularly stronger against the non-color, and can be built around in its own deck.  I used Hybrid mana in the 2 and 3 cost creaures in order to technically have the colors in the mana costs. This makes them a bit easier to cast in the early game. Color identity prevents them from slotting into 2 or 3 color decks, and the hosing of a  particular color strategy makes them less optimal in 5 color decks.

Spirit of the Earth

This guy’s name was originally “Gravity Bear.”  He is not blue and prevents bounce strategies.  Pro-Fliers doesn’t do much on defense, but he’s also only a 2-drop.

 

Urbania, the Leveler

Urbania would like nothing more than to see gleaming spires, crowded streets, and even dingy alleyways cover her plane (can’t someone buy her a planeswalker ticket to Ravnica?). Her grand plan, and it is Her plan, involves clearcutting the wilderness and building and building. She sells it well, but few others notice how powerful she grows as her cityscape spreads.

_design notes:_ This shuts down certain forms of ramp, which is one of the most annoying things about big green. It hits Primeval Titan [who was not banned at the time of the contest], fetch-lands, Oracle of Mul Daya, not Azusa though.  At one point she also made you discard any non-drawn lands too, but I thought that was too much at this cost, and I wanted her to beable to come out early in the game to slow ramp.  She hits your own ramp too OR if you ramp first (via fetches or artifact ramp) she’s bigger.   Her red-ness also plays well with Land Destruction.

The templating on this card is really poor.

Astaia, Souls’ Barrier

Astaia believes that the soul’s purpose is to serve on this plane, and that the only allowable death is a natural one (or at least an honorable one on the battlefield).

_desgin notes_:  There are sacrifice effects in all colors, but black has the most, and the most ability to cause others to sacrifice. This is a pretty powerful effect in EDH.  This card was created before Sigarda and before the other Angel that prevents sacrifices as costs.  I think the symmetrical effect is more interesting.

Anx, Spellweb Spinner

  

Anx’s webs capture the magical energies and vibrations, as well as the pain suffered by those around her, which she feasts upon.

_design notes:_ Her main ability shuts down red direct-damage strategies.  Reach is standard spider fare, but I didn’t want to break the cycle pattern and make her a 5/7.  I thought about adding a triggered ability that caused her toughness to grow when she was targeted, but I decided Shroud was a simpler and less wordy choice. Shroud, not hexproof, because she’d rather eat the spells you’d send at her than allow them to affect her.

Thursus, Grasp of Depths

Thursus exists in the unfathomable void that lies beyond life, death, or the imagination.  It’s empty there, and Thursus intends to keep it that way. It’s avatar emerges from the depths of the sea (or the mind).

_design notes_: White has a lot of exile effects, and this card at least gives you the hope of getting the cards back.  The second ability gives a degree of control against Wrath effects or other board-wipes. Note that it can give any player’s creature undying, so it can be used politically.  The Return to Hand cost is meant to represent Thursus retreating into the player’s mind. It gives undying rather than indestructible because the latter feels more white. If X is 0, it’s a convenient way to bounce Thursus to your hand in response to targeting, and be able to recast it without extra General fees. I almost changed it to ‘avatar’ creature type, but I really wanted to make a UBRG Zombie deck.

Card Creation: 4-Color Legends, part 1.

I’ve always been disappointed that there are no 4-color legends to build decks around.  The nephilim are cool, they aren’t all super-inspiring as generals, so soon after I started playing EDH, I started creating 4-color generals. These are all cards that I think would be cool in the format. I haven’t built decks around them yet (my 4-color decks are tag-teams featuring real cards), but I plan on it this summer.

Since I won’t have as many opportunities to play over the summer, I thought I’d share some of my commander creations.

The Originals (my first creations, entered into Commander Cast’s contest, thought they were created well before it)

“I figured that one of the ways that 4-color legal generals could actually get printed in a regular set would be taking advantage of Color Identity rules. In non-commander magic, these would be playable and draftable in 2-color decks. They’d be decent creatures that were made better if a player could manage to scrape together the off-color activation costs for their additional abilities.

In commander, by the color identity rules, they’d only be playable in 4 or 5 color decks.  They’d still be relatively easy to cast, but would really shine with they additional abilities, AND they’d enable the 4 color deckbuilding that we currently lack.

I designed these over a year ago after talking with a buddy of mine (and these were the impetus for me suggesting 4-color decks for the CallInferno).  I’ve tweaked them a bit over the last few months.  The process was mostly to identify some interesting abilities that were effective against the non-color of each general.  I went with Allied Color casting costs with off-color activations only because I liked the balance. (I am working on the opposing color/ allied color-activation counterparts).  Since I like flavor and character in my cards, I also used a bit of top-down design on some of the cards, thinking of the character archetype first and then adding abilities.”

Kvasha

 

Once a nightwatch patrol on the walls of her city, dutifully protecting it from threats from the surrounding wilds. Kvasha’s failing one night allowed a woodland necromancer to temporarily take the city. Kvasha was killed by undead beasts in the attack (which was ultimately resisted by the city’s militia). When she rose again the following night, her guilt compelled her to return to the walls (and skies) and defend the city. She slakes her vampiric thirst only on the enemies of the city, but she also draws strength from the dreams and fears of the inhabitants of her city.

 

_Design notes_:  I almost gave her Defender, but what fun is a commander that can’t go on offense just a little.  I gave her a vampiric pumping ability as a RW combat trick (which is also relatively powerful because of the deathtouch). The before block declaration keeps her from being a constant 2-for-1 on defense).  The discard-regenerate represents her blue side.

Woodwing

 

Woodwing was nothing but a normal tropical bird until Vedalken artificers burned and clear-cut her forest to gain access to the magical ores beneath it. Woodwing rose from the ashes ready to exact vengeance and justice. Though her flame has been snuffed out many times, her power over life and death is strong enough to re-ignite not only her own soul, but also those of the other inhabitants of her forest.

 

 _design notes:_   GWB are graveyard recursion colors, with R having creature recursion in the form of phoneix cards.  Hexproof comes from her G cost, and is helpful against blue’s targeted bounce.  Her Graveyard recursion power is also resistant to countermagic. I like the idea that this is a commanderyou want to go to your Graveyard.  I limited her graveyard recursion to G/R for flavor reasons more than anything else.

Zgplyx

If the roilng, burning, engulfing, acidic chaos that is Zgplyx has an origin or motivation beyond the utter destruction of order, none have survived encounters with it with enough sanity (or life) to discover them.

_design notes:_  Oozes are the best. So are +1/+1 counters. It’s a lot more fun with gross amounts of mana.

Varik

Varik was a typical knight in the service of his king, when he discovered a latent talent for spellcasting.

_design notes_:  This was the first one I designed. He’s a standard Knight with a mini- electrolyze on a stick.

 

Altus

Lost Civilizations, hidden temples, camoflauged enemy encampments… Altus Realmfinder will locate them. Many attribute his success to the piercing vision of his Owl-Aven eyes and his uncanny ability to evade harm, however, while this is true,  what none-still-living know is that he also engages in blood magic to guide him (at great and secret cost to those who hire him).

_Design Notes_:  This card is effective versus Red for two reasons. 1. protection from non-combat damage means he can’t be bolted out of the sky by direct damage. 2. Land recursion softens the blow of Red’s targeted and mass land destruction.  I didn’t want this to be a broken recursion engine, thus the additional sacrifice cost (which gives it it’s black feel). The Untap activation was added as a character trait. In order to find the lost realms, Altus has has to fly into the red-zone first. Or find some other way to tap.

Game #28 : The Reaper King

Game #28 : The Reaper King

Date: 2013-06-01

Location: A friend’s house in Baltimore, MD vs: Voltron (custom deck)

Result: Fun Loss

VS

One of the best thing about casual formats is that you can play homemade cards. I’m totally for it (as long as the cards are made with the spirit of the format in mind, and are basically balanced (or unbalanced towards being worse)).  My friend built an actual Voltron voltron deck that is full of custom cards.   I decided to pit my WUBRG robot vs. his.

I started out with 3 lands, two of which were Lairs, and had to do A LOT of land tricks to get a manabase going.  I had  Lord of the Unreal, Diamond Kaleidoscope and a Crystal Ball to help out a bit.

Reaper king hit the board, but got destroyed, and I was stuck on 40 lands for quite a bit of time, all the while being milled by Voltron with a Sword of Body and Mind.  I tried to get out both Spirit Mirror (for changeling trickery), but it was Krosan Gripped. I got out Reaper King again, and was able to destroy the Sword, but my Runed Stalactite was also destroyed.

Voltron had all his Lions out, and I eventually died to a big General Damage swing.

It was an uphill battle the whole way, but it was a lot of fun.

About the Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/lord-of-lords-1/) The goal here was to exploit Changelings and Lord-style creatures. Since there’s no uber-changeling, I went with the most fun (and affordable) 5-color legend that acts in a lordly way.  This deck is the only 5C deck where I only run a single basic land of each type.  Runed Stalactite on the Reaper King is usually a good play.

BONUS: Voltron’s Team

Game #27 : Squee, Goblin Nabob

Game #27 : Squee, Goblin Nabob
Date: 2013-06-01
Location: A friend’s house in Baltimore, MD
vs: The Sorcerer Supreme (custom card)
Result: Fun Win

VS

I played this 1v1 game against my friend’s custom 4-color general, Dr. Stephen Strange, The Sorcerer Supreme.  The deck was based around pingers. Since EDH is a casual format, I have no issues with people playing with custom/homemade cards as long as they are fun, and this one is.  To add the the fun, we played random planechase as well.

I started with a 2 land hand, that also had swords of Ice, Fire, Feast and Famine.  Nephalia was our setting, so after dropping a land and a Golem’s Gauntlets, I milled away several creatures.  We both ended up milling for a total of 14, and then we hit the Draw-4 phenomena as we moved to the Great Forest.

I was able to get an Empyrial Plate and a Sword of Feast and Famine on the board.  Dr. Strange had a Zhur-Taa Druid, but it got destroyed by the wrath of god Phenomenon as we planeswalked to the Grand Ossuary.

I stuck Squee and suited him up, but he got killed before I could give him the Sword of Feast and Famine. Dr. Strange got out a Staff of Nin and the Dr. Himself, and I had a Goblin Assault as well.  The staff meant recasting Squee was going to be a great challenge. We travelled to the Stairway to Infinity and then again to Glen Elendra.

I had to try to draw the ping on a Goblin Token in order to get Squee back. He didnt’ bite, so I was able to swing in with all of the equipment on the token, and then used Glen Elendra to trade for Dr. Strange, and tried to re-equip my equipment to the stolen Dr., which finally drew the ping, which let me re-cast Squee. I didn’t have enough to then re-equip, but it was enough to give me the option to equip either Squee or a hasty token next turn. Squee took the ping, but a drawn grafted exoskeleton allowed the token to infect for a victory (normally I don’t like poison, but for a deck where Squee is normally the only source of damage,  make an exception)

This was a fun game. Strange didn’t get a good set of pingers to stay on the board. I got to do some complicated tricks, which made it a fun game, even if it was a Poison win, and Squee didn’t deal the killing blow.

About the Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/unstoppable-squee/)

This is Squee Voltron. He’s joined by a few other Legen-wait for it-dary Goblin friends, and some token generation,  but mostly Squee just wants to Suit Up and smash face.   The emphasis is on easy to equip Equipment.  Squee can die early and often, and never goes to the Command Zone unless there’s no other option.

Game #26: Marrow-Gnawer

Game #26: Marrow-Gnawer
Date: 2013-06-01
Location: A friends’s house in Baltimore,MD
vs: Kresh, the Bloodbraided
Result: Neutral Win

vs

Despite the set-back of not being able to play at my LGS for quite awhile, I was able to get in a few games at a friend’s house while we were waiting to go to another friend’s wedding. There were only the two of us, which means head-to-head games, but the decks I brought were ones that could potentially handle that.

The first game pitted a pretty generic Marrow-Gnawer plus lots of Relentless Rats deck against a high-curve Kresh the Bloodbraided deck.  I started the game with 4 lands, the deathtouch rat, a Relentess Rat and a Necrologia.  I got out 3 relentless rats, a few of which died to Kresh’s Vein Drinker, but I stuck a Marrow-Gnawer with a Thornbite Staff and created 100 rats (which I felt was arbitrarily large enough).  Kresh couldn’t draw a board wipe, and that was the game. Not super exciting. I wish there would have been more battling, but that’s what happens in 1v1 games.

About the Deck: (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/relentlessly-ratty/)

There’s not much special about this one. 30 Relentless Rats (in a variety of languages), a general that makes more rats. A Thrumming Stone to cast many rats fast and furiously. Things to get rats back from the dead, etc.  This one might come apart for the new demon-finder that can have multiples in a deck.