Game #200: Purraj of Urborg
Date: 2016-08-02
Location: Red Castle Games, Portland OR
Vs. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death; Rith the Awakener; Teysa Envoy of Ghosts
Result: Fun Loss
vs
I was not planning on Playing Game 200 tonight, but playing 199 with a Pauper deck made it happen. So there’s no super ultra special deck for this milestone (I was maybe going to play a Dragonlance-themed Scion of the Urdragon, but it never got finished). After the last game I switched tables where another player was making some edits to his Alesha deck. Another guy and his young son (playing EDH for the third time) asked if we wanted to join them. This sounded like a good scenario for game 200. 2 players that have played since ’94, and one brand new (plus a 4th player). The deck I had on tap for tonight’s game was Purraj of Urborg (aka Black Cat, with vampire Mirri as a swapable commander). White cats and a new young player gave me bad luck in game 198. Would black cats give me good luck against a new young player in 200…?
I kept a 2 land hand (being risky). But was able to draw into a land for turn 3, where I cast an Agent of Fates. Teysa mulliganed down to 5 or 6 cards and was really land hosed for much of the early and mid game (Mulliganing-down in casual formats is silly, but that’s how he wanted to do it). Alesha played a Keening Apparition, and Teysa was able to Oblivion Ring my Agent of Fate. I played Fate Unraveler on turn 4, but it got Apparitioned. Since I was playing some Enchantment tricks, the recurrable apparition was going to be a problem.
On turn 5 I played a Curse of Wizardry (naming White), which Did Work all game long, and was super great for me. Turn 6 I got a Cabal Coffers (which was the only land I saw until turn 10!) and was able to cast Purraj. Alesha had a Clone Shell and Nahiri’s Machinations, as well as a Mirror Entity. Rith was on the table, and still building up lands, and Teysa was still trying to get lands.
On turn 7 I played Curse of Oblivion on Alesha (hoping to get that Apparition out of the yard) who had 4 cards in his graveyard (it didn’t). Turn 8 I played Curse of the Shallow Graves on Alesha and threw a damage-transfer enchantment onto Rith. Alesha was able to get back the apparition and killed off the Curse of Oblivion. Rith made 7 saprolings. On turn 9 I cast a Black Cat (giving a counter to Purraj) and suspended a Curse of the Cabal. Teysa played the all-or-no dragons board wipe, leaving Rith, but wiping the board . Alesha started playing Clone Shell tricks. On turn 10 I played a Swamp (my 5th!) and had enough to re-cast Purraj. Rith cast a Secure the Wastes for 5 and then used Descent of the Dragons to make them big.
On turn 11 I cast a the suspended Curse of the Cabal (that no one sacrificed anything to…) and targeted Rith, getting 5 dragon tokens and a Mobilization. Alesha got rid of some curses with the apparition. Rith cast a Martial coup for 5, and Teysa cast a Patron of the Kitsune. I cast Enslave on the Patron of the Kitsune, and Rith cast Sylvan Offering (I got 5 elves). I was able to throw another Curse on Alesha, but then a very low-life Teysa cast a huge Debt to the Deathless, putting me down low, and kiling Alesha.
Rith cast a Gahiji and made a big attack at me. Through life-gain from the Patron (and a surprise Bubbling Cauldron), I was able to block and survive at 1 life. Rith cast a Nomad’s Assembly. Teysa, didn’t want to leave me alive, and killed me with a Orzhova, Church of Deals (which was the very first land he played in the game).
In the end, Rith (played by the new player) killed Teysa (played by his dad). It was a pretty epic game, and worthy of being game 200. I will also say that the Dad was really good about helping his son learn the game and giving pointers while NOT being unfair or unbalanced about it. It’s fun to play when everyone is enjoying it.
About the Deck ( TappedOut http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/better-watch-your-step/)
Purraj was one of my favorite cards from way back in Mirage days. I’ve never seen her used as a general (or even played) in Commander. The deck is based on general “bad luck” stuff: Curses, Witches, Fate etc. Since it plays all of the black Curses (plus cards named Curse that aren’t of the subtype) it also has a bit of an enchantment sub-theme and makes use of re-castable enchantments as a way to put counters on Purraj as well. It has the Bubbling Cauldron/Festering Newt/Bog Witch in it, plus the extra flavorful new witch that transforms into a curse. Mirri (the vampire version) is in the deck but can easily be swapped in as a commander, since she and Purraj both can have +1/+1 counters, there’s a Mer-Ek Nightblade and a faerie that buffs things with counters as well. I like the deck thematically, though it ‘s not a mighty powered one.
GAME 200!!!!!! What does it mean?!?! I have no intention of stopping building decks, and I’m going to continue to update the blog as I play new ones (I can see no fewer than 12 partially complete decks on my table right now). I anticipate the rate picking back up again once my new job starts and I can buy cards more frequently. (I also anticipate it slowing down early next year when my family grows by 50%).
I’m also trying to add as many decks to my TappedOut account (http://tappedout.net/users/Nickel97/ or http://tappedout.net/users/Nickel97/deck-folders/ to view all the decks), mostly because then I can add them to Forge for playtesting against AI. I won’t make my goal of having all decks added by the time school (work) starts in 2 weeks, but it takes me 9-12 minutes to add a new deck. Maybe I can hit 100 decks.
Be on the lookout for a Stats report covering the first 200 games, and maybe some charts and graphs.
If you’ve made it here via some sort of social media link, thanks for reading! I love Commander, and I love building decks. Even though almost no one reads my blog (except when I get a social media bump), I’m happy I have a record of this. If anyone wants me to be on their podcast, or blog (or anything else), I’d be happy to do it. (also, I can write much better if I put time into it.)
EDH 100 Project 