Entry 13: Time Time is a concern for any hobby. More free time means more time for our hobbies. Less free time means the opposite. As commander players, we are always thinking about time. We need time to construct the deck, assemble the cards, and play the game. Magic, and commander, is a time consuming process. For the past two months, time has been a hot commodity for me. I’ve played less commander games, and I haven’t had a diary entry for nearly three months. A new commute, a new home to manage, a new puppy to watch, and a project to start. Last week, it finally all came to a head, and I just — stopped. I let magic take a back seat for a second. I stopped my Moxtober project. I stopped worrying about my lack of diary entries, and I stopped looking for commander games. While that may seem disappointing, it was actually refreshing. I wouldn’t say I was burnt out on magic, I still thought about it throughout the day, but I did need a reset. I took a few days. I didn’t design cards. I didn’t work on art. I just let my brain rest, and soon enough I picked back up the things I enjoyed. I built a new deck. I worked on some custom designs. I got some new cards for my deck diary. The deck diary went through some big changes this week as I picked up a swath of Midnight Hunt cards from both @EclipseMeteor and @AllieGolem (on twitter). With Nadaar at the helm, the deck didn’t see a lot of changes. I think that’s partially because Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was such an affordable set. If I wanted a card from AFR, it was pretty easy for me to get a hold of it, meaning lots of the cards came in at once. Getting a big batch of Midnight Hunt cards gives me some hope that sets will continue to be affordable moving forward. Making changes on a set by set basis is a lot cleaner than continuous changes throughout the lifetime of a set. The biggest change to my deck diary is another commander swap. Nadaar is great and I’ve loved venturing so far. In fact, I love it so much I now have multiple decks that care about diving into dungeons. As such, I wanted to make a swap here to another really exciting commander that was just released. Adeline might be one of the best mono white commanders from this year. Her stats are pushed. Her ability is pushed. She’s just really strong, and at a mana value that white loves. I also love that she sticks to a theme of the commanders from this deck diary project — she’s versatile. This deck is going to play creatures, both because I’m building it and because the nature of the project lends itself to midrange strategies. These creatures lend themselves to Adeline's powerful token ability, and while this isn't a token deck getting three creatures each attack is powerful regardless. The second biggest change is the removal of one of my favorite cards from the deck. Earlier this year I got to the point that every card was new from the last two years. Now I’m pushing that a step further and replacing cards from the oldest set in the deck first. That means that Theros cards are getting removed from the deck for new cards from Midnight Hunt. That has resulted in the removal of one of my favorite cards from this project — Taranika. When I started this project I didn’t expect to absolutely fall in love with Taranika but I guess it makes sense. Before starting my deck diary, I had tried to build Taranika several times but never figured out how to do it. Applying this restriction seemed to unlock something for me by pairing two mana creatures with double strike and Taranika. This project forced me to think differently, play cards I’d written off, and by extension finally find out how to make those cards work. That philosophy has carried through the project. With each new addition, I spend a little less time thinking about potential synergy and more time focused on simply trying out the card that interests me. In doing so, I hope to continue to find more cards that worm their way into my heart much like Taranika did. I don't have much to say about the new additions from AFR and MID as I just haven't gotten that many games in these past two months. However, I was actually able to play two games with an Oathbreaker variant of this deck. Oathbreaker is a sixty card singleton format where each deck is headed by a Planeswalker and Signature spell (an instant or sorcery within the commander's color identity). One of the things I've enjoyed about this format is that several of my commander decks can convert easily into an Oathbreaker deck. The deck diary was no exception. With Basri Ket at the helm, I was able to make some swingy plays and have a lot of fun, but the highlight was getting to play Flumph. By the end of the game, people were just declaring "I attack Flumph" and this gave me some huge card advantage. This new approach of "targeted group hug" is really interesting as it creates a tantalizing dilemma. Normally group hug cards suffer from giving you substantially fewer resources than your collective opponents. Truce for example draws you two cards, but draws your opponents a total of six. Flumph circumvents this math by drawing you a card each time and a single opponent a card. So this means in a turn cycle of attacks you can draw three cards and each opponent simply draws one. This results in your collective opponent drawing three and you drawing three an even exchange. However the advantage of drawing more cards then each individual opponent can't be understated either. I don't know what the math says about this advantage, but playing with it felt fantastic, and that's enough for Flumph to get my endorsement. With that note, I'm out of time for now, but hopefully not out of time for long.
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Entry 12: New Adventures
~ Into the smothering dark, Sera spoke a single word: "Hope." ~
(Abiding Grace) There’s something comforting about a game of magic. Beyond the game, beyond the socialization, there is an elemental of control you possess, and simultaneously a lack of that same control. Magic is a game full of variance, commander even more so. The singleton nature of the format, the multiple players, and the more than 20,000 cards in magic all assist in wrestling our control of the game and situation away. Despite those odds, for many of us, it isn’t overwhelming. We continually try to control the variance we can, and accept, even embrace, the randomness we can’t. The last month of my life has been especially chaotic, and the lack of control I can exude over those elements of my life became increasingly clear. I continue to struggle with this lack of control, but I’ve also come to realize how magic can act as a safe place to explore those same concepts. Magic has allowed me to deal with the unknown and the unexpected in a context free of real life consequences. Similarly, the game allows me to focus on the things I can control — deck building, card choices, and play decisions. It also allows me to see the results of those decisions, right or wrong, and learn from them. So, despite the frustrations that can exist in this game, it’s been a comfort for the past month and really the past year. For the last eight months, I’ve been working on this deck diary, and while at first it started as a deck building challenge, it’s impossible to ignore the parallel of this deck growing and changing as both I, and Magic: The Gathering, grow and change. As such, I decided pretty quickly, that upon some of the uncertainty in my life wrapping up, I’d change the commander to my deck. In the same way this project was a spiritual step away from the year that was 2020, so too would my next set of changes be a spiritual uniting of my new life ventures.
It’s probably obvious that the use of the word venture wasn’t an accident. Last month, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms released and with it came the introduction of the venture mechanic which allows you to journey into some of D&D’s classic dungeons. As an avid D&D and RPG player myself, I was extremely excited for this mechanic, and specifically captivated by Nadaar, Selfless Paladin. In fact, I was so excited to play with the new Dragonborn I fired back up Arena and built a standard deck while I waited for the set to release in paper.
As for changes to the 99, there’s a huge chunk of cards coming in from AFR. The set is extremely budget friendly with solid white designs like Flumph and Loyal Warhound being extremely affordable and powerful additions. Rather than break down each individual swap this time, I’ve included an image here with the exchanges being made. Some of these changes are close to a one for one — Loyal Warhound for Burnished Hart, Plate Armor for Loxodon Warhammer, or Gloom Stalker for Fencing Ace — but many of these additions are simply in an effort to accomplish the long term goal of constructing deck with only new printings.
The remaining reprints to be replaced are of two specific card types — removal and utility lands. Neither of these categories will be a struggle to replace, but their contributions to the deck are critical for functionality. As such, I’m being a bit more targeted with these updates. I already have a list of cards I’m looking at to take the spot of these remaining reprints. I expect to have the last of the reprints replaced in short order, at which point the project will refocus again to replacing some of the weaker commons and uncommons with new and more interesting cards. Long term, I could see the deck existing and being updated each new year or even each new set as a home for testing new printings. I seriously cannot recommend this type of deck building project enough. Having a home to buy new and interesting printings without having to build an entirely new deck has been an absolute blast and given me a chance to play with more cards than I ever normally would. If spoilers feel like they are coming too fast or are overwhelming, take a look at some of my early posts and create your own deck to fill a similar role, and low yourself to use magic to take control of what you can.
Entry 11: Catching Up ~ Invincible is just a word ~ (Oust) This past month has been a big one for the Deck Diary. I said in my last post that I had some catching up to do and if this past week didn’t catch me up then I don’t know what will. Thanks to the generosity of some community friends, I have a huge influx of new cards. As such, this post is going to get straight to the point. No, I’m not going to tell you about the time I took out an opponent with Seraphic Greatsword. Nor will I be talking about why in the world Nevinyrral’s Disk got the axe and Sheer Drop inexplicably remains. Instead, you’ll get one hundred words a piece on the ten new additions to the deck this week.
Big thank you's again to both Xynam and Nick (G3) for the many additions provided to this deck. I’m significantly closer to my goal than I was at the start of this month. I’m looking forward to many more new additions to come.
It wouldn't be a new set without some controversy over a new white card. Modern Horizons 2, like its predecessor, is full of reprints, new designs, and creative spins on old mechanics, but it was two callbacks that seemed to draw a lot of ire this time around. Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void are two of the most iconic graveyard hate pieces in modern, and possibly, in all of magic. Both of these sideboard all-stars saw some call back style creatures printed in the newest supplemental set — Sanctifier en-Vec and Dauthi Voidwalker. Naturally, the parallels between these two mana "hatebears" were drawn, and as is customary, the court of public opinion ruled in favor of the non-white rare. Sanctifier en-Vec has been lambasted for being underpowered and outclassed by its black counterpart, but with a closer examination is the comparison as horribly lopsided as people would like to believe?
While hitting cards at more points in the game is great, that doesn't exempt Sanctifier from its second crime. It only exiles black and red spells — then again — is this really a problem? There's a strange tension with this text. On the one hand, it's extremely easy to build a deck where this exiles no cards from the owner's graveyard whether that deck is mono white or otherwise. On the other hand, this will spare some graveyard synergies and reanimation targets that a commander or modern player would otherwise want to hit. Because modern has more of a meta than a casual commander game, this likely isn't a problem for modern sideboards, but commander doesn't have the luxury of sideboards. Should this have been made a truly one sided piece of graveyard hate for commander? At two mana, I don't think so. There isn't a precedent for unconditional graveyard hate on a two mana creature. At two mana, graveyard disruption usually targets a specific card or, at most, can target a specific player's graveyard. Remorseful Cleric can exile the most cards right away by exiling a single opponent's graveyard when sacrificed. After that, other two mana creatures like Scavenging Ooze Withered Wretch, or Apostle of Purifying Light have to target individual cards one at a time. While more narrow than actual Rest in Peace, the enters the battlefield trigger on Sanctifier en-Vec is still powerful when on a creature at that mana cost. Even when looking at three and four drops many of these cards such as Angel of Finality have to target a single opponent and can't hit multiple graveyards at one time. Sanctifier en-Vec is a powerful card at its mana cost. Could it be better? Absolutely, but that doesn't mean it should be better. As it stands, on a creature, it's a one of a kind effect, and it might even see play in bant or mono white decks in commander. It slots in nicely to a bant enchantress build that might want to exile an opponent's grave while protecting its own, and mono white reanimator is definitely something that can be built. To say Dauthi Voidwielder doesn't have a fascinating upside would be a lie, but the comparison between these two isn't as simple as one may think — especially when considering the importance of enters the battlefield triggers in commander. Both these cards have a fail case, but in a four person game, it's far more likely that the Voidwielder gets destroyed in a four player game than no black or red players. This seems to be a classic case of judging just two ceilings rather than the entire context of both cards. If it goes unremoved, Dauthi Voidwielder has the potential to create some absurd plays, but it also has the potential to do absolutely nothing. Sanctifier en-Vec will always do its job, but sometimes that job won't be sufficient. I honestly can't say if one is better than the other, but in the context of previous printings, the set, and the purpose of these two cards, it's clear to see why they were designed this way. In the end, power is relative and dependent on a variety of factors from meta games to the requirements of a set. What I can say — Sanctifier en-Vec is not a card I plan to ignore for my commander decks,
Entry 10: State of the Deck ~ Light as a feather, sharp as an angel's wrath ~ (Seraphic Greatsword) It’s been awhile, but after taking a break during the month of may I’m ready to start tackling my Deck Diary again. I think now, half way through the year, is a great time to take note of where the deck is after 180 days. To date I’ve made fifteen total changes. My hope is to have this list built entirely out of new printings from 2020-2021 by the end of the year. As such, I’ve got to pick up the pace quite a bit. There are 36 nonland reprints still remaining in the deck which need to be replaced with new printings from this year and 2020. At the time that this is going up, there are 29 weeks left in 2021. That leaves 29 weeks for 36 non land changes so I have a little catching up to do.
That means two things: 1) trying to make a change each week and/or 2) making multiple changes in a single week to help me catch up. For budget, I’m less concerned about keeping to my budget and more focused on updating the list with new printings I want to test. This project has provided an interesting stress test for new printings as it creates a kind of vacuum in which I can see the card acts in a variety of situations, not just in decks where the card is built to thrive. With that, I have three new additions for this week: Akroma, Vision of Ixidor; Akroma’s Will; and Seraphic Greatsword.
To wrap up, I’ll quickly touch on the three cards I’m cutting to make room for these additions. Sandstone Oracle is getting the axe despite being one of the best creatures in the deck for a long time. I’ve actually been able to slowly up the card draw so recently oracle hasn’t drawn me as many cards, but more importantly it’s a seven mana creature so swapping it and Akroma makes a lot of sense. Unbreakable Formation was a solid piece of protection for a while and could be used for offense too, but Akroma’s Will just does a better job on both accounts. Finally, Seraphic Greatsword is taking the spot of Fireshrieker. WIthout Taranika in the zone, Fireshrieker doesn’t have the same utility and is often just an awkward card when I draw it. Now, I can replace it with an awkward 2020 card. That wraps up my midyear update on this project. I’ll be looking to get in games with this deck more frequently moving forward and maybe even stealing a win here or there.
Entry 9: In Appreciation of Taranika ~ I like to think Kytheon keeps watch over all of us ~ (Taranika, Akroan Veteran) Before I delve into Taranika, I want to touch on the change I made for this week. Emeria’s Call likely isn’t many players’ pick for the best white card from 2020. I’m not most players though. The dual faced card is a great addition to a mono white mana base. The opportunity cost of this card is extraordinarily low, and though over costed, the spell face is valuable to a white deck with a board state. The three life is a rather negligible cost to having this come into play untapped so swapping a basic plains feels totally acceptable. Most importantly, this card gives the deck a nice boost while keeping it relatively unchanged giving me more time to compare the differences from having the partners at the helm. The swap at commander has, unsurprisingly, felt like one step backward to take two steps forward. I outlined in my previous entry how the ceiling of Taranika was naturally capped by her ability and my card pool. That said, she was a magnificent lead for this specific deck and having a new set of commanders at the helm has only served to solidify that thought. Livio and Alharu seem like much better long term fits as the strength of the deck continues to grow and new printings are released, but in the meantime some of the synergies feel a touch strange. A 1/1 double striker doesn’t quite feel as terrifying as it used to.
I think I was wrong on both accounts. Tanazir has an attack trigger just like Taranika, but that’s about where the similarities end. I built both a Taranika and Tanazir deck side by side thinking my lessons from Taranika would apply to Tanazir, but the cards play extremely different and it centers around the idea of scale and growth. Taranika does one thing, and she does it the same way everytime. Tanazir alternatively does two things that can vary depending on the circumstances. It feels almost ironic, but the same reasons I switched from Taranika in my 2020 deck are the reasons I disliked actually building Tanazir. I love the consistency of Taranika. I know what she’s going to do, and she’s going to do it the same way every time. The emphasis is then placed on me to get the most value I can from this single ability. I’m not chasing more value. I’m making the most I can in the moment. Tanazir is different. As I was building, I felt like I was constantly chasing that ceiling and as such it felt like I lost some control. My Unchained Taranika list is a soldier tribal list. It developed that way somewhat naturally. As I looked for more creatures that worked well with Taranika, I found that a lot of them were soldiers. A few scryfall searches later and I had a list of soldier creatures and some noncreature slots to fill in. Alternatively, my Tanzir list is part +1/+1 counters and part 0/0 creatures. The cards feel intrinsically more powerful and also appeal to me significantly less. To some extent, it feels like the power of the deck doesn’t come from my play decisions, but from the cards I choose to add. The cards themselves feel like they do their thing as best they can regardless of how I use them. The ceilings feel both variable and completely out of my control. Tanazir is the perfect example of this difference. Instead of presenting a choice upon attacking, Tanazir affects all of your creatures. Despite this power increase, I find the absence of this decision less enjoyable. I want that decision. I want to see that opportunity cost, and I want to have to make the correct choice. Taranika provides me with the scale I love. Whether correct or not, I feel in control when I play her and when I play mono white. For me, it’s about achieving the play experience that makes me happy and in most cases, I find that when I play Mono White.
In highschool, I had a job as a janitor for the local elementary school. During the summers, a group of us would come in and do a deep clean of the school, wax the floors, and assist with routine maintenance. You really learn the importance of testing when working with some of the chemicals we did. You never know how a chemical will react to the material you’re cleaning. It’s usually wise to pick a small innocuous area before diving in head first. If you’ve ever used an at home carpet cleaner, chances are you read that specific instruction on the back of the bottle. Whenever you’re trying something new, it’s nice to do a test run first, somewhere innocuous, to get a proof of concept.
This isn’t the first time this type of effect has been printed in white. The origins of group hug draw date back to the 1995 set Homelands with the card Truce which gave you and your opponents the choice to gain life or draw cards. Portal later introduced the card Temporary Truce providing the same effect at sorcery speed for one less mana. Following Portals' release in 1997, another group hug draw effect in mono white wasn’t seen until Throne of Eldraine and the enchantment Happily Ever After which drew each player a card upon entering the battlefield.
The evolution of this modern design has now seen its first interpretation at the uncommon level. Now, with this new three mana sorcery questions swirl on what it does or doesn’t do for white’s supposed card draw woes. Frankly, as an individual card, it doesn’t do much. According to edhrec.com Temporary Truce, Truce, and Farsight Adept see play in a combined 514 decks out of 219,637. If filtered by just mono white decks, those numbers don’t change very much. The card is far from an auto include, and I wouldn’t be looking to put it in a majority of my own decks. Group hug draw just is not an efficient or effective way of generating card advantage outside of group hug strategies, but frankly, the playability of this card is irrelevant. Rendezvous is an uncommon. It’s a pretty innocuous rarity. This isn’t to say that all uncommons are unplayable, but the vast majority of them will never see the light of day in constructed formats. While this card may have been designed for commander it was still designed at the uncommon level. It’s a bad card, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad design. Rendezvous does two important things for mono white design. First, it tests the scale of Farsight Adept. The kor wizard was a nice proof of concept for the “target opponent” technology, but Rendezvous asks the questions “how many cards is too many?” Each individual player’s determination of this question will affect their perception of the card. I expect to find that the cost of giving an opponent three cards will greatly exceed the benefit of getting my own three considering the card draw engines that already exist in mono white. However, that’s the other key feature of this card. It’s not an engine. It’s a single card that gives the mono white player three new cards in hand, and that is certainly appealing to a lot of people. White’s issue isn’t card draw, it’s the fragility of that draw. Where other colors can cast a card and get an instant return, white doesn’t have that. In fact, this is the first non-permanent in white that says “draw three cards”. Each color has sorcery speed cards that give that level of card advantage upon resolution, except white. While the need for that effect doesn’t appeal to the way I play, it will appeal to many others. This card isn’t meant to be the apex of white card draw. It’s just a step in the exploration of it. It’s built upon the lessons from cards that preceded it, and it’s pushing boundaries in a design space that hasn’t yet been fully explored. I don’t think this individual card will have a great impact on commander as a whole, but it appears to be the first step in consistently providing spell based card draw white has never seen. We may look back at this card in five years with the same reverence we do with Act on Impulse, and I expect it to see the same amount of play too.
Entry 8: Renovations ~ “The generals each surveyed their devastated forces. Then, slowly, they turned to each other and raised their swords” ~ (Slash the Ranks) Many battles have been fought. Many creatures have been tapped, then untapped, and turned into indestructible 4/4s, but I think the time has come. After three months, over twenty games, a lot of losses, and even a few wins I think it’s finally time to retire Taranika as the commander of my deck diary. Taranika has absolutely outperformed every expectation I had for her. The synergies I had in the deck routinely struck fear in my opponents, at times, forcing my opponents to eliminate me over someone else. Crawling Barrens, Siege Striker, and Gingerbrute were some of the innocuous looking cards that left my opponents shaking when played alongside Taranika. If she’s performed so well, why am I removing her from the command zone? It comes down to floors and ceilings. To continue improving the deck around Taranika would require me to go deeper and deeper into the narrow combat oriented strategy Taranika supports. The gameplans that work with Taranika, aggressive high synergy creatures, provide a natural cap on the power level of this project. The more of these creatures and synergies I add, the more linear the deck becomes. Fundamentally, this is against the spirit of the project which has me looking to create a powerful yet adaptable deck that can evolve with new printings. Secondly, Taranika is a payoff more than an enabler, and she is an extremely unique payoff. Finding redundant Taranika effects is difficult with the limited products I’m using and without Taranika the deck is filled with creatures that don’t really do anything. The floor of Taranika is low and the ceiling isn’t very high. Compare that to the commanders with which I’m replacing Taranika — Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel and Alharu, Solemn Ritualist. Both have been in the deck since January. Alharu was in the initial construction and Livio was one of the first additions to the list. The floor of both these commanders is quite a bit higher than Taranika. Partner bumps that floor up instantly because it’s essentially putting an extra card in my opening hand. It also means that I have synergy between the two cards at all times. Livio can flicker Alharu placing counters on more creatures and/or at instant speed. The deck already has a counters sub-theme meaning Alharu taking the lead gives me built in synergy from the command zone. Livio has less built in synergy with the current iteration of the deck, but enters the battlefield effects (etbs) are always at a premium and I’d expect improvements to this list would definitely include several creatures with etbs. The variety of creatures and strategies that can work with Livio helps to raise the ceiling of the deck along with the floor.
Last week I said the cuts were going to get tougher, and I wasn’t wrong. After three months, not only are the cards in this deck better, but that sentimental attachment many of us are familiar with has started to form. This week the card I’m cutting gave me a wild story during my last game with Taranika at the helm. Hopefully I can relay that story well.
ENTRY 7: Reflection
~ Why cling to these trappings? They are but tools and affectations. ~
(Forsake the Wordly)
It's been a long hiatus between this entry and my last which means I have not one but two sets of changes to cover before moving to my main topic. If you follow me on twitter, you may know the first change.
In one of the games I played over the past month, I was able to gain the monarchy from an opponent. I gave the monarchy up for one turn throughout the rest of the game. As I've described in previous posts, this deck is not only great at attacking, but also keeps my opponent's from attacking. As such, the monarchy is an ideal method of drawing. In the game which I had the monarchy, I rarely fell below five or six cards in my hand which is extremely important in helping me recover from a boardwipe and other forms of removal.
Court of Grace not only gives me some much needed card draw in a powerful form, but it also provides me with tokens to target with Taranika and regain my crown. To add this card, i excitedly cut Myriad Construct. The creature has quite a bit working against it. Firstly, it's a 4/4 so Taranika doesn't have a ton of synergy with the card even if I place the counters on it. However, I've rarely cast it for the kicker cost. Seven mana is just too much of an investment for a card that is as conditional as Myriad Construct. Having flexibility in your deck is always important — especially in mono white and especially when working with this kind of restriction.
Cutting Unstable Obelisk was a tougher decision. On its surface, Unstable Obelisk matches the theme of this post — it's a flexible card. However, the mana cost is actually a bit prohibitive. As with Myriad Construct, seven mana is just too demanding and having the option to cast two spells in a turn is extremely valuable. Stoic Farmer provides card advantage and potentially ramp, and unlike the obelisk, foretell offers some real flexibility in this deck that I haven't actually seen from the activated ability.
While determining my. cuts for these new additions, I came to two conclusions. First r touches on the nature of my additions. So far I've only added cards that received their first printing in 2020 and 2021. This was accidental at first, but moving forward I'm going to make this a new requirement. The hope of this restriction is that, at some point, I'll have a deck with no reprints in it at all. The goal of using reprints from sets like Mystery Booster and Double Masters was to have a functional initial deck. That objective was extremely successful. My hope is with new sets in 2021 I'll have enough new printings to have a highly functional deck made with only new mono white cards. The second observation was that cuts are getting more difficult already. This means that I'm going to likely be adding more cards that are over a dollar because these will tend to provide strict improvements on commons and uncommons making up the deck. If this is the case, it means that changes will be slower as I add only a single card approximately every two weeks. I'll monitor this, and if the resulting changes feel too slow, I'll determine if I need to change my. requirements. This is my first time working through this experience so I'm continuing to work out the specifics on the fly to create an enjoyable experience with which to follow along.
EXPLORING INTERPRETATIONS OF POWER LEVEL
Discussions of Power Level is an ongoing topic in commander. I even discussed the concept previously in Entry Five of this series, but recently the Professor tackled the topic with an excellent video. Before reading, I highly encourage you to take a moment and view it.
I really enjoy the questions posed in this video and wanted to make use of the timing of my own post to apply a concrete example to the method outlined. This is also an excellent vehicle by which to explore my own Taranika deck in further detail.
The first question posed in the video is "How long do we want to play?". My Taranika deck is looking to play a game that takes at least an hour, but possibly longer. It's unlikely that Taranika could win a game in an hour on its own, but that timeline would give the deck plenty of time to function. Taranika doesn't feature any mana acceleration nor is it a linear deck. To reach peak functionality, the deck needs time to develop its mana and its board. The reason I say an hour and not longer is because the deck doesn't need to win, nor do I want it to necessarily set the pace. I've mentioned it before, but the goal is for this deck to play against a wide variety of "power levels." As such, I expect to lose more than a handful of games and am perfectly content playing in a game that I could impact, but was unlikely (but still trying) to win. That brings me to the next question — "Are you playing to win or to socialize?" In the case of Taranika, as unlikely as it may be, I'm playing to win. While I enjoy interacting with people, this is a project to explore the recently printed white cards of new sets. To do justice to this exploration, my goal is to play the cards as optimally as possible, and I appreciate when my opponents try and do so as well. To me, this doesn't mean that the "more fun play" can't be made, but that plays made because they are funnier or chaotic are avoided. It also means that I'm going to be attacking — a lot. One thing I noticed is that this Taranika deck can produce quite a bit of aggro, and that can be frustrating to people. This questions gives me the chance to make clear, I'm going to try to make attacks that give me the most value as that's important to the functionality of the list. "What DON'T you like to play against?" As I've outlined in previous entries, I've approached this project with a "take on all challengers" perspective so there aren't any strategies I'm looking to outright avoid, but each week I am looking to learn something. Play against a powerful stax strategy that shuts down my deck isn't something I'll be looking for or okay with playing against every game. Similarly, decks that can only be interacted with on the stack aren't a great matchup for this list as I don't have access to counter magic or other ways to effect spells. While I'm open to different experiences, I'm still looking for matchups where different cards and strategies in the deck can be highlighted. This final step is one I've found to be very important — "Pick a deck for the table, not just the game." Taranika is a combat oriented commander with an extremely small effect relative to other commanders in the format. She's not going to generate insane amounts of value and, at the moment, the deck will function much like a slightly upgraded precon. While I'm open to being stomped, my opponents might not want to watch me simply roll over as they cast their spells. The deck is flexible, it can hang, but if the table is looking for similarly strong decks, this might not be the game for this project, and that's okay. After writing this, the strength of this method is that it not only discusses what your deck is trying to do, but what you, as the player, are looking to experience. I don't think there is a single set of questions or heuristics that will seamlessly solve issues of balance in commander. However, have a variety of methods to develop an understanding of what you and your deck are looking for in a game helps to shrink the magnitude of this problem from table to table. Entry 6: An Unexpected Entrant ~ It sours through currents of moonbeams to give hope to the forsaken ~
This left me in quite the predicament. As I’ve said before, I don’t really have a plan for this deck. This process is intended to be as organic as possible. With both my original choice and my back up choice being unavailable, I wasn’t sure if I would make an addition this week. Then it caught my eye. Sitting in the back of the glass counter was a card that I had unfairly forgotten throughout 2020, but now, in my time of need, it swooped in to save me.
On initial inspection, there’s plenty of ways for the deck to currently work with the Broodmoth. The deck has a handful of enters the battlefield triggers and Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel can even reset the flying counters. What’s so radical about this addition? As it currently stands, the deck doesn’t have any sac outlets which means I’m relying on my opponents to remove creatures other than my Broodmoth to get triggers. That's not a particularly likely proposition.
In a way, this feels different than my previous additions. It feels like the Broodmoth found its way to me rather than me finding it. It’s reminiscent of the way deck building used to be. The act of perusing someone’s binder, and finding something new or unusual to try out in your brew. That’s precisely what this project was about — throwing away those best laid plans for something different, unplanned, and unexpected. I didn't walk into my local game store planning to walk out with a Luminous Broodmoth, but I'm more than happy i did.
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AuthorMonoWhiteBorder -- A man who loves MtG and his small dog. Archives
June 2021
Categories"MonoWhiteBorder" and corresponding content is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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