Commander Night Playback - Zendikar Rising Legends Night

Now that Zendikar Rising has officially released, a new set of legendary creatures has been released upon us for our amusement. And naturally, that meant it was a good time to have a theme night. Each of us built a deck based around one of these new legends, similar to how we had our Ravnican Guild Night a few weeks prior.

Just as before, we each rolled for the order we got to choose our commanders. While I didn't go first, I did get the commander I was most interested in. Oddly enough, the creature that stood out most to me as an interesting build around was Akiri, Fearless Voyager. Obviously, the deck focused on the use of equipment to power up and protect my creatures.

The other players chose Yasharn, Implacable Earth, Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager, Charix, the Raging Isle, and, of course, Omnath, Locus of Creation.

Commander Night Playback - A Most Perplexing Commander

Most of the commanders you'll see played against you in a match have an obvious direction or set of directions the deck could go: A Yuriko deck is probably going to swarm the table with unblockable ninjas. A Teysa Karlov deck is likely to have some token element and some aristocrats element to out-value the rest of the table. A Korvold deck is going to end your friendship with its pilot. Whatever the case, it's easy to see what it's trying to do.

Other commanders require a little more thought in how they operate. Such was the commander I opted to run at the head of my deck in this last round: Mishra, Artificer Prodigy. I didn't get to show off just what kind of tricks can be pulled with him in this game, playing one of the most fair matches I have ever played. That said, I need you to trust me when I say that despite how the text reads, there are tricks one can pull with him in EDH. Hopefully, I'll be able to show off some of those tricks in the future.

Naturally, my opponents had ploys of their own. One of them was recently enchanted by Homura, Human Ascendant, and opted to build a mono-red deck utilizing him. My fellow graveyard-loving compatriot brought Kathril, Aspect Warper to the board. And last, but not least, the Melek, Izzet Paragon player from before was continuing to break in the deck and grow more comfortable with it.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Mill Wins (Sometimes)

Recently, EDHREC added a new page to their website, detailing the most common and popular combos in the format. And, naturally, as one does when exposed to a new resource of valuable information, I perused it.

Two particular combos, both in Dimir colors, caught my attention, because they resulted in a victory via infinite mill. As someone who loves alternate win conditions (I ran Exodia in my old YuGiOh days), mill is always a strategy that holds my attention. Armed with this knowledge, my reptile brain immediately set to work building a mill deck that I could bring to bear against my Cockatrice playgroups.

To do so, I must of course worship at the altar of Phenax, God of Deception. Answering my prayers, the god jumped to the helm of my deck to help lead my forces into their unconventional battle.

The first of my adversaries ran Heliod, Sun-Crowned. Next, the player who ran Rakdos, Lord of Riots during the Ravnican Guild Night opted to pilot the deck again since he enjoyed running it last time. And finally, Bruna, Light of Alabaster brought up the rear.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Ravnica Guild Night

A good way to spice up a Commander playgroup is to run a theme night to force everyone out of their comfort zone in some way. When someone in my Tuesday night crew ran the idea by the rest of us, we were all enthusiastically on board. Voting on a list of options, we unanimously chose a Ravnican Guild Wars night.

Each of us rolled a die, and from highest to lowest roll we chose which guild we would represent. The rules were that our commander had to be in the color combination of the two-color guild. Additionally, it must also be a legendary creature from one of the Ravnica blocks. (Ravnica, Return of Ravnica, and Guilds of Ravnica)

• The high roller chose Orzhov, with Teysa Karlov leading his deck.
  
  
• I was the next to pick with Golgari, and while I was torn between Savra, Queen of the Golgari, and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, I ultimately chose Savra because I didn't see as many decks built around her as I did with Jarad, and I didn't want to build a combo deck.
  
  
• The third player in line went with Simic, and specifically Vorel of the Hull Clade.
  
  
• Izzet was selected afterward, represented by Melek, Izzet Paragon.
  
  
• Last, but certainly not least (that would be the Azorius), we have the Rakdos guild, with their eponymous guildmaster at the helm.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Killing Your Own Forces for Fun and Profit

Another week, another couple of rounds of Commander with my playgroups. Yes, you read that correctly.

One of my friends who used to be in the first playgroup but needed to drop out for his new job started up another one with a few others at a time better suited to his schedule. After awhile, I was invited to join the group, and I did so gladly.

Of course, that also gives me more material for this series. I won't go into every match I ever play. That said, as long as my stamina is up for it, I'll write with about those matches that just need to be saved for the record books.

With my new Tuesday group, I brought out a new version of my Syr Konrad list, removing the Mindcrank combo from last time and adding in a density of creatures to get more triggers of his ability. The other players were running Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, the Gitrog Monster, and Heliod, Sun-Crowned.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Take One Down and Pass It Around

Everyone's had that experience where certain commanders just end up fundamentally warping the game around their abilities. Like that Lavinia, Azorius Renegade player who you just know is playing the Knowledge Pool combo or my own Marisi deck who forces the rest of the table into uncomfortable combat, these are commanders that immediately telegraph that you're not in for a "normal" game of Commander.

Out of the three players who were in the match played, two of us were using such commanders. I was one of them, using a new flying "tribal" deck I had built around Inniaz, the Gale Force. The other game-warping commander was Zedruu, the Greathearted. And our third player had Kess, Dissident Mage as their general.

Magic: The Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Achieving the Moral Victory

Statistically speaking, if a 4-player pod are building and playing decks are similar power levels, any one player should win roughly 25% of the time. This means that players should expect to lose the vast majority of their matches.

While this week's matches fall into that other 75%, I still managed to get in my licks and make an impact on the board.

Almost on accident, our first match went in a tribal direction. One of my friends ran Goblin-tribal with Muxus, Goblin Grandee. Another ran Morophon, the Boundless as a God-tribal deck, and the third player ran a Gishath, Sun's Avatar deck with dinosaurs.

So what tribe did I go with: Human Advisor, of course! And thanks to Bruvac, the Grandiloquent, I have the perfect commander for my Advisor-tribal deck. (wink wink)

Magic: the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Green is Too Powerful

It is often said that green is the most powerful color in Commander, possessing a glut of useful tools that feel almost disproportionate to what other colors are capable of. Of course, I've played decks that use Green, like Muldrotha and Marisi, but I've never played a mono-Green deck...

...until now. One of the members of our playgroup handed me a decklist that he wanted me to play on his behalf if he wasn't able to join us. When game time was upon us and he hadn't show up, the very least I could do was honor his wishes.

So it came to pass that I ran Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, with a deck designed around using both of her abilities to build an unstoppable board of powerhouse creatures. Standing in the other corners were Arcades, the Strategist, Sygg, River Cutthroat, and Sethron, Hurloon General.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Casual Game of Thrones

Well, this was supposed to be the week I went to Anthrocon. You might be surprised to know that there is some fierce competition in the intersection between furries and MTG players. I have a Kenrith and a Muldrotha deck that I've been prepared for the occasion, but obviously the quarantine rightfully cancelled those plans. Covid-19 just makes such travel unsafe.

But whenever one door closes, another one tends to open. One of the members of our playgroup has a friend that they've wanted to teach Magic to for a while, and so I joined the two of them for a more beginner-friendly, casual Commander match that we could use to teach the rules of the game.

This gave me an opportunity to play one of my more "for fun" decks, helmed by Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) because Monarchy is one of my favorite mechanics to introduce to a multiplayer game.

My play group member brought out their Sygg, River Cutthroat deck, and handed their friend a Gishath, Sun's Avatar deck because everyone loves big stompy dinosaurs!

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - The Return of King Kenny

There's nothing quite like a knock-down, drag out battle where every player gets the chance to take command of the game at least once. Three decks, all of the same relative power level, making strong plays, and sowing fear and excitement into their competitors.

This was the exact kind of match that we had in our EDH game yesterday, and I'm still thinking about how incredible it was.

Instead of adhering to our usual Cockatrice budgetless deck construction, I made the choice to run the version of Kenrith that I had built for myself in real-life, with the intention of playing it at Anthrocon (RIP travel plans). While the deck's paper variant does run a few tutors, I swapped them out for some cards in the maybeboard to adhere to our table's rules.

My opponents were the partner pair of Tymna the Weaver/Kraum, Ludevic's Opus and King "Drivin'" Macar, the Gold-Cursed.

Magic the Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Commanders Die!

Commanders die!

If you aren't an EDH player, that phrase means absolutely nothing to you. But for the rest of us, this is a huge difference. Previously, whenever a commander returned to the commander zone, it never hit the graveyard so any death triggers would not activate.

Thanks to a recent statement by the Rules Committee, we are in a new era of Commander. We are finally freed from the tyranny of technicality.

And I could not think of a better way to celebrate than to build around a creature that I've wanted to for a long time, but was dissuaded from doing so by the old rules. The card that was forever trapped in the 99 until now: Elenda, the Dusk Rose.

My hybrid Vampire-tribal/Aristocrats build went up against Urza, Lord High Artificer, the Ur-Dragon, and the partners Pako/Haldan.

Commander Night Playback - Enigma's Birthday Bash

Finally, after two long weeks of no Commander gameplay from my playgroup due to extenuating circumstances, we managed to gather enough players for a round of my favorite Magic format. And on my birthday, no less.

That's right, we're playing Tiny Leaders! No, wait. I mean EDH. Of course, I mean EDH.

We only had time for one match, but it was a good one. I played a deck helmed by Tayam, Luminous Enigma. My opponents ran King "Drivin'" Macar, and Gavi, Nest Warden respectively.

Magic: The Gathering - Commander Night Playback - Choices, Both Good and Bad

Some EDH games don't take too long, only about an hour or so. Others can be marathons where the tides ebb and flow, each player taking their turn in the hot seat until someone is eventually able to establish that final lock to close out the match once and for all.

This week, my table played both of types of games last night. The first of which was the one that wrapped up quickly. I piloted a combo deck using Gyruda, Doom of Depths, and my opponents were Vial Smasher/Ikra Shidiqi (with Obosh as the companion), Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Mairsil the Pretender, and Mayael the Anima.