Elder Dragon Wrestling

By decree of Stately Lord Phelddagrif

[elderdragonwrestling]

We don’t need no water let the mother&%*er burn...

I dig the card filtering and the removal quite a bit. The ultimate is good, though not quite as game-ending as other ultimates. Still, in a Naya color identity, getting multiple uses out of a Craterhoof Behemoth seems pretty good. Any overrun-type effect or mass removal seems great.

[elderdragonwrestling]

Announcing Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago

Announcing Conspiracy: The Reign of Brago.

Brago’s the king, he’s the king and you should hail him!

[commandertheory]

January Rules Update

-Prophet of Kruphix is banned. -Off-color mana generation is now allowed (it doesn’t become colorless anymore). -No more Partial Paris mulligans; the official mulligan will be full mulligans, with the first one being free. If you continue to mulligan after your first free one, you get to scry 1 at the beginning of the game.

Notable consequences of this change: -Colorless mana generation becomes harder, because you can’t just tap your City of Brass for a color outside your identity and convert it into colorless. -Sen Triplets and Daxos of Meletis become much better. -Praetor’s Grasp, Converge cards, and Sunburst cards become better. -Combo decks will have less of an advantage at the beginning of the game.

Personally, I’m most happy about the mulligan change and the change to how mana production works. I didn’t like that the rules circumvented the requirements of the {C} cards in OGW, allowing decks to use them without making a significant change to their manabase. Also, I didn’t like having a rule that didn’t matter in 99% of games (why prevent off-color mana production when you can’t run cards with off-color symbols anyway?), as it made the format harder for players to learn with little or no benefit. I’m kinda lukewarm on the Prophet banning, but I guess I’m okay with any change that makes Blue/Green Goodstuff decks worse. How do y'all feel about the changes?

Source on these changes: http://mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18057&sid=eba28e2afcdf66e4377f3f0be7ec274a

[elderdragonwrestling]

Prophet’s banned. My poor foil one will be so sad. I’ll miss it a bit, miss playing against it a lot less, but still probably consider it a borderline ban.

Off-color mana generation is extremely interesting now. You no longer need a five-color deck to run converge or sunburst cards. This seems like a small change which preserves most of the flavor of color identity with minimal impact on gameplay while opening the door to more diverse decks. I’m actually more interested in making a Simic, Bant, Temur or Sultai deck now to make use of a few converge cards (particularly Bring to Light).

Mulligan change looks fine. Partial Paris was really interesting, but it makes godhands a little less likely and encourages more 99-card singleton.

[commandertheory]

Wow, this is a much better Ally Commander than Munda!

[elderdragonwrestling]

Aww, WotC, you shouldn’t have! I’ve always wanted a five-color Ally tribal commander!

[commandertheory]

Diamond mana confirmed as the new symbol for colorless mana production! Also, filterland expeditions in Oath of the Gatewatch!

[orphanfight]

So does Sol ring produce or if its past is it just 2? I mean it seems neat, albeit slightly parasitic. We have mage ring network in standard now as well.

[commandertheory]

Future printings of Sol Ring are going to say “T: Add {D}{D} to your mana pool”, if that’s what you’re asking. And I would argue it’s not parasitic; it’s the same mana we’ve always used, just with a different look. Hell, Kozilek 2.0 can be cast using cards from Alpha, which is about as backwards-compatible as you can get.

[elderdragonwrestling]

I’m glad to see this get confirmed. All this really seems to be doing is try to use card templating and mana symbols to formalize the difference between Colorless Mana (which in the past was represented on Sol Ring as “T: Add {2} to your mana pool.”) and Generic Mana (which is represented in the costs of cards and abilities).

So the new Kozilek costs 8 generic mana and 2 colorless mana. Generic mana can be paid using colorless mana or mana of any color. Colorless mana costs can only be paid using colorless “diamond” mana (placeholder “{D}” above).

[commandertheory]

Very early and very strange Oath of the Gatewatch spoilers. Gimme one min to pull some sources and I’ll give you my interpretation of what this means.

[commandertheory]

Okay, remember this post?

http://commandertheory.com/post/130305682832/will-there-ever-be-a-colorless-basic-land

MaRo answered a question about a colorless basic about a month ago and I think this is it. I think that symbol on Wastes is just a way to represent colorless mana that looks less dumb than a big ol’ {1} in the middle of the card. I think this means that Kozilek must be cast with at least two mana from a colorless source (such as those produced by Kozilek’s Channeler, in a cute nod to BFZ).

So, what does this mean for Commander? The biggest impact is probably going to be on colorless decks, which can now run colorless ramp options like Burnished Hart, Solemn Simulacrum, and Myriad Landscape.

Edit: It’s been pointed out to me that Wastes have no basic land type, which means Domain cards don’t get any better.

[elderdragonwrestling]

Very interesting if these are real. I'd guess these would work similar to snow mana and Phyrexian mana.

"Presumptive rules for the mana symbol: The devoid mana symbol {*} represents one generic mana in a cost. This generic mana can only be paid with one colorless mana; colored mana cannot be used to pay for {*} costs. Effects that reduce the amount of generic mana you pay don’t affect {*} costs. (There is no such thing as “devoid mana”; “devoid” is not a type of mana.)

" Presumptive rules for Wastes: Wastes are a Basic Land with no basic land subtype. Wastes have the intrinsic ability, "{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool." "

[commandertheory]

Free recursion!

[elderdragonwrestling]

I really like this card in Golgari, Abzan and especially Sultai color-identities, where you have access to Life from the Loam and a solid sac outlet like Infernal Tribute. Black seems to get all the best non-basic common lands in Zendikar.

[commandertheory]

[elderdragonwrestling]

Interesting that this doesn’t say non-creature land... you can theoretically go tall or go wide with Noyan Dar, animating a ton of lands or just stacking +1/+1 one a few lands. There are some interesting interactions with some of the evasive manlands in his color identity too.

Celestial Colonnade

Faerie Conclave

Blinkmoth Nexus / Inkmoth Nexus

Casting just one or two cantrips can turn Celestial Colonnade into a 10/10 flying beater... three cantrips turns Inkmoth Nexus into a one-hit kill.

Probably not a critical mass yet, but the possibilities are interesting.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, part VII

"Or: How do you build a mana-base?"

We have our deck almost completely assembled. Now that we know which cards we're going to include, we can work on our mana-base and select the lands we need for the deck.

What's the Game Plan?

We need to remember, before we assemble our mana-base, that our game plan is going to be:

Turn 1: play a land which produces G, tap for G, cast part of our early game ramp package

Turn 2: play a land, use our ramp card to either get mana or drop another land, tap for 2G, cast Yasova Dragonclaw

Yasova's early game-plan is heavily aggressive; delays can criple the deck, as Yasova does't want to give her opponents a chance to get their footing. So our deck will place a premium on cards which can produce green mana, above and beyond what analysis of our deck's colored mana symbols may otherwise suggest. But we also want to be able to rapidly switch gears; after the first two turns, we need to be able to pay hybrid U/R U/R to activate Yasova's Threaten ability, so our mana base will need to be very flexible in its ability to fix our mana.

Mana Analysis

Analyzing our deck's mana needs suggests the following starting breakdown:

21 Forests

12 Islands

5 Mountains

As we noted, we want to skew our mana-base in favor of producing green mana early-game, to allow us to drop our mana dorks to ramp to a turn 2 Yasova as often as possible. We also cannot afford to have lands which come into play tapped, so the Theros-block Temples are out. After we achieve these two needs, we want to make sure we can have two mana sources on the table which can tap for some combination of U and R.

I've included the following cards which tap for 3 colors:

Commander Tower: No drawbacks, all three colors of mana Yasova needs.

Exotic Orchard: This can miss the mark at times, but I find it relatively reliable in our four player games.

Forbidden Orchard: The drawback is easy to play around, particularly since Yasova can trample over the tokens fairly easily so long as your opponents don't build up too many of them.

Opal Palace: Boosting Yasova's power is really that important. It's a land I'll be willing to play mid-game to make sure that if Yasova dies, she can come back onto the battlefield with a still-relevant power, even on the first re-casting.

Reflecting Pool: This does the job quickly. By the time you need to be able to produce a second red or green mana, Reflecting Pool should be online.

I've also placed an emphasis on lands which can tap for G and one other color:

Breeding Pool / Stomping Ground: Shocklands are amazing, full-stop. The damage from bringing them into play untapped is usually irrelevant in a deck this aggressive. And you can fetch them with the deck's ramp and fetch passage.

Wooded Foothills: If I had more copies, I'd probably be running any fetchland I own which can fetch a Forest. Pairs amazingly well with Shocklands and ABUR Duals to easily fix your mana.

Hinterland Harbor / Rootbound Crag: Checklands are really easy to play around in Commander.

Karplusan Forest / Yavimaya Coast: Painlands are really easy to play around. The 1 damage is mostly irrelevant, particularly when you're you're using them to get other forms of ramp out.

Fire-Lit Thicket: I'm experimenting with using filter lands in this deck. They only tap for colorless by themselves, so we need to keep a critical mass of green sources ot get that first turn mana dork as much as possible. I hope to expand my filter lands in the near future, and anticipate that Flooded Grove and Cascade Bluffs will likely replace an Island and a Mountain, respectively, to make sure I'm not sabotaging the deck's odds of having green mana on turn 1.

Grove of the Burnwillows: Particularly for a deck with a strong Voltron package, handing out life to opponents is almost completely irrelevant.

Taiga: One of the few ABUR Dual Lands I own. I hear those are good.

I've also included a pair of lands which can tap for both U and R without G:

Sulfur Falls: Another checkland, like Rootbound Crag and Hinterland Harbor.

Steam Vents: Another shockland, like Breeding Pool and Stomping Ground.

Normally all of my decks get a Temple of the False God, but this one has such a hunger for colored mana that the ramp isn't worth it.

That leaves me with 21 of 38 land slots to fill with basics.  Here's the breakdown:

6 Island

4 Mountain

11 Forest

I hope this series of posts have been helpful in describing one approach to deckbuilding in this format.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, part VI

"Or: And how do you win, exactly?"

The final objective which we'll have in building our deck is to fill our deck with threats, particularly ones which synergize well with Yasova. And most of these will be serving to enhance the threat that Yasova poses (particularly to get her to 7 power).

Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?

Equipment tends to be the most useful for a general seeking to eke use of a Voltron package, as they will survive even if the Commander they are attached to should die. The downside is that you have to pay mana to equip them. Yasova's equipment is primarily focused on trying to get her power up to 7:

Butcher's Cleaver: Innistrad had an interesting and occasionally relevant "humans matter" subtheme. +3/+0 is what we care about, but the lifelink is a nice perk, since Yasova is a human.

Empyrial Plate: You don't need to have a large hand to get Yasova's power up to 7. It also turns all of the powerful card advantage abilities in this deck, particularly draw effects, into pseudo Giant Growth effects for Yasova to boot.

Hero's Blade: +3/+2 and it equips to Yasova for free. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we like to call a "jackpot". I think this card is a must-include for many, many Voltron commanders now, especially if it has as massive of an impact on the Commander's clock as it does for Yasova.

Loxodon Warhammer: +3/+0 is the relevant part. Lifelink is a nice little perk, but Yasova already has trample. It's essentially a Butcher's Cleaver which can also be carried by other creatures in your deck to turn them into legitimate threats.

O-Naginata: Cheap to cast, relatively cheap to equip. Overall, it provides the +3/+0 for half the price to play and equip a Butcher's Cleaver or a Loxodon Warhammer.

Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho: +3/+1 at a slight discount to equip. The downside and the upside are basically irrelevant.

In addition to our equipment, we've included two Auras which can get Yasova's power up to 7:

Boar Umbra: A lot of survivability for relatively cheap. +3/+3 makes Yasova strong enough to survive many blockers, and Totem Armor can protect her from targeted removal and from sweepers.

Drake Umbra: More expensive, but it grants flying on top of Totem Armor. Flying is particularly effective on Yasova, who can Threaten your opponents' fliers to further enhance this form of evasion.

There's also a pseudo-anthem effect who plays along very well with the flicker subtheme which this deck includes:

Master Biomancer: Without any other setup, he can boost Yasova's power by 2, which would normally make him a pass. But since he triggers every time you flicker a creature, you can use him to turn other modest threats you play into major threats. If you have the mana to equip a spare piece of equipment to him, he can provide 5 +1/+1 counters for free, turning even your lowliest mana dorks into heavyweight 6/6s.

Haste Makes Waste

One way to enhance the effectiveness of your threats is to get them attacking before your opponents get a turn to answer them. Haste is an exceptionally powerful keyword, and red is one of the best colors in the game to provide it:

Fires of Yavimaya: One of my favorite haste-granters in the Gruul color-identity. It's a very fairly-costed one-sided way to grant haste. And that extra +1/+1 can have a lot of utility. I've frequently used it as a combat trick in plain sight to save a creature who would otherwise die. If Yasova's power gets up to 10, Fires of Yavimaya can be used to get that 21st point of damage through.

Lightning Greaves: Haste for one creature, equips for free, and Shroud on top of it all? There's a reason it was in all of the original wedge Commander decks from Wizards of the Coast.

Urbrask the Hidden: It gives all of your creatures haste, turning down the clock, and it forces your opponents' creatures to enter the battlefield tapped. Urbrask does't get nearly the love he deserves, probably because of his relatively high cost and vulnerability as a creature. With a clock as fast as Yasova's can be when she has 7 power, a Kismet effect on your opponents' blockers can be crippling.

I Get By With a Little Help from My Friends

One major advantage to Temur colors is that Yasova can bring a lot of very big threats to the table. Many of the creatures we've included to generate card advantage or serve as answers can also swing for for a fair chunk of damage. These are our backup plan if Yasova gets sent to the command zone a few too many times, and often lean heavily on this decks's ability to grind out card advantage and answer our opponents' threats effectively:

Consecrated Sphinx: 4 power in the air is respectable. If you can spare a piece of equipent, 7 power in the air is a major threat.

Indrik Stomphowler: It’s a 4/4. After you’ve smashed an artifact or enchantment, if you have nothing better to do, he can still wear equipment and still swing. A very low-level threat, but he can become respectable if you can spare some gear.

Phyrexian Ingester: After it eats another creature, the Ingester is very likely to be a major beater afterwards.

Prime Speaker Zegana: She'll get you a lot of cards. If you can get her a little evasion, she'll continue to pay dividends every turn she's on the board by swinging.

Thanks to some overlapping roles, we managed to squeeze quite a few threats into this deck which overlap well with 

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, part V

"Or: Don't Wait for An Answer" We've filled the tank and built the road. We have a fairly solid overview of Yasova's game plan. Now we have to figure out how we're going to answer our opponents' threats. If we can't answer our opponents' threats, we can't advance our own game plan.

Answering Creatures

Fortunately, Yasova herself is an amazing answer to creatures. We can repeat her Threaten every turn. This is why we're backing her up with a host of synergistic sac outlets. We already discussed some of these in earlier posts, but we'll revisit them briefly:

Ashnod's Altar: This helps with ramp as well, letting you steal an opponent's creature and "reclaim" 2 colorless mana from Yasova's ability, allowing you to continue to develop your board-state while disrupting your opponents.

Birthing Pod: Turns the creatures you steal into tutors for 1 colorless and 1 green Phyrexian mana.

Goblin Bombardment: There are plenty of 1-toughness creatures in the world, allowing you to turn Yasova's Threaten ability into two pieces of removal per turn. It synergizes nicely with Yasova particularly because it costs no mana to activate.

Greater Good: Turns the creatures you steal into a looter effect to sculpt your hand.

Helm of Obedience: This card expands the viable targets for Yasova, as it lets you sacrifice the creature you stole to grab any other creature on the board. Helm of Obedience cannot be used repeatedly without giving back the creature you stole. But if you combine it with a blink engine, you can start stealing and keeping multiple creatures per turn.

Jalira, Master Polymorphist: Turn your opponent's creatures into your creatures! She's almost a Proteus Staff, save her non-legendary clause.

Perilous Forays: Turns stolen creatures into dead creatures for your opponents and basic lands for you.

Phyrexian Ingester: Brings a huge exile effect and leaves a big, fat body afterwards to help swing for lethal. And since it's on legs, it can be blinked for you to repeat the effect!

Proteus Staff: There's no more tucking of commanders, but the Proteus Staff, as we had discussed previously, can still answer creatures you don't control. When you use it on stolen creatures, it replaces the creature you temporarily stole with a permanent "free" creature for you.

Skullclamp: It's 2 cards for 1 colorless mana if the creature you stole has a toughness of 1.

Trading Post: The sac effect is relevant when you have equipment in your deck that your opponents will undoubtedly want to answer.

Outside of synergy with Yasova, there are a few very good answers to creatures in Temur colors:

Aetherize: I've talked in the past about how much I like this card. It can be a one-sided sweeper against someone who decides to go all-in against you. It's only a bounce effect, but it will only bounce the creatures of the player you choose, and while it will miss most utility creatures, it can crush the tempo of other Aggro decks.

Aetherspouts: For an additional blue mana, Aetherspouts doesn't just bounce an incoming horde, it disrupts your opponent's topdeck for multiple turns. After an Aetherize, it may take one or two turns for your opponent to recover. After an Aetherspouts, it can take five or six turns until your opponent's board-state is rebuilt.

Answering Non-Creature Permanents

Temur colors also give us some answers for non-creature permanents:

Acidic Slime / Indrik Stomphowler / Reclamation Sage: The Sage is the cheapest to cast and has the most relevant creature type for this deck. The Slime can deal with lands and puts a body with deathtouch on the battlefield for you. And the Stomphowler... well, it's the biggest creature and can help contribute a few points of damage when you're trying to knock an opponent out.

Beast Within: Answers anything at instant speed, and leaves your opponent with a usually-useless 3/3. It has the added benefit of being able to trade a permanent of your own for a 3/3 body, which is occasionally useful ability (I have won games because I could create a 3/3 beast at instant-speed to survive an incoming attack).

Chaos Warp: Answers anything at instant speed. Being unable to tuck a commander is a loss, but this is still one of the single best pieces of spot-removal in the format, and the best spot-removal in red.

Cyclonic Rift: Answers creatures and non-creatures alike, at instant speed. And answers all of them at once. This can be a backbreaking spell when cast at the right time.

Glen Elendra Archmage: She can counter so many relevant spells in this format... and can do it multiple times. Once you have a blink engine set up, she can put the brakes on a lot of game plans your opponents may be trying to advance.

Shivan Harvest: It's creature removal when you feed a creature Yasova Threatened into it, and it can kill an opponent's tempo at the same time in a big two-for-one.

Vandalblast: Destroy all mana rocks, Skull Clamps, Equipment, and other assorted artifact goodies you don't control. Yes, it really is that good.

Taken altogether, the deck is very effective at answering creatures, particularly because so many good sac outlets become de facto removal when combined with Yasova's Threaten ability, but we still have a critical mass of answers to non-creature permanents. Keeping the board clear will let Yasova keep the pressure on while she swings for 21 commander damage as fast as possible.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, part IV

"Or: Do you even ramp?" Okay, we've reviewed how Yasova will be filling her tank with card advantage, so now we can start looking at how Yasova's game plan can be enabled with some ramp. It's time to build our road.

Early Game: Get to 2G ASAP

It is very easy to drop Yasova on turn 2, but to do so we need to hit at least one green mana and two other mana of any color. Fortunately, green provides us with a critical mass of mana dorks and other 1-drop ramp options to help us hit 2G on turn 2. All of these forms also can pay for their own trip into a sac engine like Skullclamp mid-game when the 1 mana they produce is less valuable than card advantage.

Birds of Paradise: Fixes and ramps us on turn 1 and then can provide a flying chump blockers mid-game. Very awesome.

Boreal Druid: Only taps for colorless but helps us achieve our critical mass of 1-drop ramp. The snow supertype could be potentially useful.

Elvish Mystic: Reliable G-producing mana-elf.

Fyndhorn Elves: See Elvish Mystic above.

Llanowar Elves: See Elvish Mystic above.

In addition to mana dorks, green also give us access to cheap creatures which can let us put lands into play:

Sakura-Tribe Scout: Puts a second land into play for you, which could mean ramp and potentially mana-fixing, provided you have at least two lands in your hand the turn after you cast the Scout.

Skysdhroud Ranger: Functionally identical to the above with a more relevant creature type.

We could also generate more mana by untapping our lands:

Arbor Elf: Only untaps Forests, which can limit his ability to mana-fix but we'll be sure to include a critical mass of Forests to maximize the chances that he can put us over to 2G on turn 2.

And we'll take advantage of one of the best mana rocks ever printed:

Sol Ring: In our game plan, it even allows us to drop some of our equipment which Yasova will need to hit 7 power immediately, providing a huge boost to the tempo of our game-plan.

Our game plan will be:

Turn 1: play a land which produces G, tap for G, cast part of our early game ramp package

Turn 2: play a land, use our ramp card to either get mana or drop another land, tap for 2G, cast Yasova Dragonclaw

Once Yasova hits the battlefield, we want to be able to use her Threaten ability every turn. 1 U/R U/R is potentially very different from 2G. Birds of Paradise could do a lot to help here, but we also want our mana base to fix our mana effectively. This means a preference for lands which can produce green (to help us ramp on turn 1) and a second color to help us pay for Yasova's ability on turn 3. We'll look at our mana base in detail later in this series.

Mid-Game: Accelerate While Everyone Else is Stuck in First Gear

Because Yasova is able to Threaten, your opponents must take care with what creatures they play early game. This means that on many turns you may have no good targets to Threaten with Yasova early on. An excellent use of that early mana advantage which Yasova needs to generate is to accelerate to late-game mana quickly. Ideally we want to jump at least 2 turns ahead when we ramp:

Explosive Vegetation: Can help fix by grabbing Islands or Mountains as needed.

Ranger's Path: Can help with color fixing by grabbing shocklands or ABUR duals.

Skyshroud Claim: Same benefits of Ranger's Path but lands fetched this way also come into play untapped! You could conceivably Skyshroud Claim and still afford to Threaten with Yasova in one turn if you grab mana-fixing shocks or duals.

We also have a few other mana dorks which can provide huge acceleration and thus are worth including:

Priest of Titania: We have a critical mass of elves in this deck, and even having one other elf on the board will make the Priest produce GG.

Rattleclaw Mystic: Color-fixing on-par with Birds of Paradise. We can get a big mana boost once out of the Mystic. It’s very difficult to pull off, but a surprise two-mana boost mid-game can be difficult for opponents to overcome.

Somberwald Sage: Three mana of any color will let you cast some of the best creatures in the format much earlier. We're in Temur colors, so the fixing is a huge bonus on top of the top-notch ramp.

And there are some cards we included which can't put us ahead by two turns but provide such synergy elsewhere or fill other roles that they are too good to ignore. By including one card which fills two or more roles, we free up space in our 99 for more threats.

Perilous Forays: A sac outlet for Yasova to dispose of the creatures she Threatens which also puts us a turn ahead. It's de facto removal and nice ramp. I'll take it.

Urban Evolution: We've talked about it before under card advantage, but Urban Evolution is another example of a card which fills multiple roles, as it ramps and it provides card advantage. It only puts us one land ahead and only if we have or hit that second land when we draw three, but it's so much tempo that it's hard to pass up.

The land ramp is also an excellent option to replace our early-game mana dorks which may be falling to removal or doing their duty as chump blockers. We want to get to late game mana and stay there where we can start dropping massive threats to back up Yasova on an increasingly-crowded battlefield, and equipping Yasova to get her power up to 7.

This gives us a total of 15 ways to ramp, with a critical mass of both early-game mana dorks and mid-game explosive ramp. Next time, it's time to start looking for answers for Yasova to make use of.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, Part III

Or: "Time to Fill the Tank"

Now we know what Yasova wants and we can start filling in the slots we described in part I of this series. The first question to answer is "how will we keep gas in our tank?" Yasova isn't going to be playing much out of the graveyard so we will definitely need to emphasize ways to draw cards. And we want to keep in mind Yasova's relevant abilities to try to synergize effects with her whenever possible.

Sacrifice to the Gods of Card Advantage

When Yasova steals a creature we will be generating card advantage if we can avoid giving it back to our opponent at the end of turn. To that end, effects which allow us to sacrifice a creature for card advantage will have significant synergy with Yasova. Remember also that sac engines are very useful in creature-based strategies because they allow us to get paid even when our creatures are going to die. We're already considering mana elves to quickly accelerate Yasova onto the board, and these fragile creatures are likely to die quickly, so cards which synergize with Yasova but also allow us to get paid when a mana dork is on its way to the graveyard have significant synergy

Greater Good: Greater Good will allow us to start sculpting our hand very quickly, particularly one Yasova gets her power to 7. It's a powerful looter effect which kills the creature we stole without a mana cost. It also allows us to fill up our hand in the event of a board wipe, putting us on the best position to rebuild. It's great by itself, but with Yasova's Threaten effect, it is a crushing source of card advantage.

Birthing Pod: Including a Birthing Pod will encourage our creature selection to have at least a smattering of utility options at each point on the mana curve. Again, we're feeding a creature stolen by Yasova into the Pod to maximize the payoff from this effect.

Skullclamp: Now each creature we sacrifice pays out two additional cards for 1 colorless mana. That means we can break even on Greater Good even if the creature we sacrifice only has a power of 1.

Trading Post: While recursion won't be a key feature for Yasova, Trading Post can offer very relevant recursion to our deck (which will certainly include equipment and value artifacts) with its sac option.

Proteus Staff: The last major source of card advantage I'll include in this section isn't technically a sacrifice effect, but a tuck effect. Remember that recently the rules committee has blocked players from tucking one another's commanders, so keep that in mind while discussing this next card. You can use this card on a creature you stole with Yasova's ability, and you get the free creature at random from your library. Jalira, Master Polymorphist falls into a similar role in the deck.

I will, however, also note that Proteus Staff is an example of a card which fits into multiple roles in your deck. It's not just a card advantage engine when combined with Yasova, but also a source of removal, one that can even remove indestructible creatures. When a card can fill multiple roles effectively in your deck, it essentially "frees up" a slot in your deck to be devoted to another threat.

Blink and You're Dead

The other way to generate card advantage off of Yasova's ability is to "blink" a card you've stolen. Remember from the last post that Innistrad-era blink effects allow us to keep any creatures which we exile. This means that two of the most powerful blink engines in the game slot very well into Yasova's game-plan:

These blink engines allow us to keep the creatures we've stolen, but they have other strong benefits as well. For one, it makes enemy creatures with strong enter the battlefield abilities attractive targets for Yasova to steal. In one game, Yasova managed to start gaining steam only after she stole a Nekretaal from an Abzan reanimator deck led by Karador. It couldn't destroy everything my opponent played, but coupled with a Conjurer's Closet, it did allow me to rapidly generate card advantage.

Second, these blink engines are also extremely effective when combined with our own creatures which have enters the battlefield abilities. We have a strong selection of these creatures in Temur colors, so blink engines are powerful inclusions into this deck, making them even stronger than simply enhancing Yasova's ability.

Other Ways to Fill the Tank

That gives us 8 sources of fairly powerful card advantage which synergize strongly with our commander and our game-plan. Not quite enough to fill all the slots we need, so we'll need to explore other options to fill the tank:

Consecrated Sphinx: If your opponents don't have an answer for it, you can and will quickly overwhelm them with card advantage.

Eternal Witness / Deadwood Treefolk / Genesis: Creatures die, cards go into your graveyard. Green is fairly good at getting things back into your hand from the graveyard, so these can be fairly effective ways to refill your hand on a regular basis.

Godo, Bandit Warlord: He's a limited tutor, but he can fetch a piece of equipment which expands the utility of Yasova's Threaten ability into mid-to-late game, allowing her to Threaten heavyweights. The extra combat step is occasionally relevant, particularly since it can let Yasova Threaten two creatures per turn

Mulldrifter: 2 cards for 3 mana is pretty nice. But if you're willing to pay the full cost, you get a body you can blink and recur to keep drawing cards.

Prime Speaker Zegana: She's a huge boost of card advantage with a Simic color identity. If Yasova isn't equipped for the late game, Zegana is still a Draw 5 for six. If Yasova is carrying a +3 power equipment/aura, suddenly she's a Draw 8 for six. Either way, if you can blink or otherwise recur her, she's a devastating source of card advantage.

Rhystic Study: The tax is tiny but not insignificant, particularly if it comes down early. Forcing an opponent to choose between effectively developing their game-plan and handing you card advantage is often a very difficult one.

Urban Evolution: One of my favorite cards in Simic color identity. Draw 3 for five mana is great. Tacking on an Explore on top of it grants a nice tempo boost with that land card you're likely to draw.

Whirlpool Warrior: I really like this little guy in Izzet, Grixis, Temur and Jeskai color idenities, particularly when combined with a blink engine. When you blink him, you get to cycle your whole hand, letting you see a large number of new cards. He can also act as effective disruption to opponents who are trying to sculpt their hands with his sacrifice ability.

All told, this gives us 16 sources of raw card advantage, and several sources serve double-duty as removal. It's particularly useful for this deck where some of the card advantage doesn't fill our hand but rather cheats cards into play from our library (Birthing Pod, Proteus Staff, Jalira, Master Polymorphist). Card advantage doesn't equal cards going into your hand; that's a large source of card advantage, but there are other avenues to consider.

In the next post, we'll be looking at the answers that Yasova is packing, how they synergize with our commander and game-plan, and how we use them as additional sources of card advantage.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, Part II

Or: "What Does Yasova Want?"

Let's take a look at this commander so we can ask ourselves what our commander wants us to build around her:

She is an aggressively-costed 4/2 trampler with a very interesting Threaten-like triggered ability during your combat step. It’s time for us to break down these attributes point by point so we know exactly what we’re dealing with, and how it can impact upon our game plan.

Yasova's Cost

2G is extremely aggressively costed for a Temur commander. You only need green mana to cast her. She gains her Temur color-identity from her triggered ability. Yasova can come down fairly reliably on turn 2 if you can play a mana elf on turn 1.

But Yasova's true cost is slightly higher than this. When you cast her, on your next turn you want to be able to activate her Threaten ability, which cost 1 U/R U/R, a heavy color investment for a commander with a very minimal investment in green to cast. Yasova needs a fairly flexible mana base to be able to cast a turn 1 mana elf then drop Yasova on turn 2 while still having access to some combination of two colored blue or red mana to use her triggered ability. This likely necessitates a mana base 

This is an important factor to consider for a number of commanders with expensive abilities they need to use to affect the board. Shattergang Brothers, for example, has a mana cost of 1BRG, but you need to be able to use the Brothers' ability as soon as possible to generate card advantage, so they often really cost 3BBRG. You can't just look at what a commander costs off the shelf but also what your commander's abilities cost top use.

Yasova's Ability

That 1 U/R U/R buys us a very potent effect: the ability to steal creatures whose power is less than Yasova's until end of turn, a Threaten effect, after the card of the same name from Onslaught. This is definitely an ability we can build around, as it opens up several game plans for us:

Yasova answers your opponents' early game plans. If your opponents hope to bring their commanders down early game or need to start establishing position early with utility creatures, they do so knowing that you can steal them immediately, take advantage of the creature's abilities, or simply swing in for additional damage during combat.

Yasova answers your opponents' blockers. She's a fragile 4/2, so many chump blockers can trade with her. Trample can let her push commander damage through, but it's better to simply get rid of blockers altogether to clear the way for her to swing in on an opponent.

Yasova can gain tremendous card advantage by threatening opposing creatures and then feeding them into sac outlets. Breaking this down, imagine a really great card like Perilous Forays reading, "2 U/R U/R: Destroy target creature. Then search your library for a land card with a basic land type and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library." You answer an opponent's creature and pay for one of your sac outlets. That is a card advantage engine, and a powerful one at that.

We want to supplement this ability with ways to turn the temporary answer of the Threaten effect into more permanent answers, so Yasova wants to bring a critical mass of sacrifice outlets and Innistrad-block blink effects.

I specify Innistrad-block blink effects for a reason. During this block, most blink effects were written like Deadeye Navigator's ability: "As long as Deadeye Navigator is paired with another creature, each of those creatures has '1U: Exile this creature, then return it to the battlefield under your control.'" That last phrase, "under your control", is they key. Yasova does not give back a creature blinked this way at the end of turn. It permanently becomes your creature. Aside from these blink effects being potent card advantage engine on their own, blinking and taking advantage of your own creatures with valuable enter the battlefield abilities. These are great value even without Yasova but synergize very well with her ability.

Yasova's Power/Toughness

4/2 is respectable, certainly. There are many excellent creatures with powerful abilities to take advantage of who can be stolen with a power of 3 or less, and many commanders are in this weight class. Even if you can just delay your opponents from casting these creatures until they can protect them, that is a massive tempo advantage.

But some of the most powerful creatures in the format are heavyweights, with a power of 5 or 6. That's where you start seeing angels, dragons and titans, who can really alter the board state. The biggest commanders also weigh in around here, and Yasova has a fairly powerful answer to many of them... If you can boost her power enough. What Yasova really wants is a power of 7, so she can bully creatures with a power of 5 or 6.

This also conveniently makes her a threat which can eliminate an opponent in 3 turns (a "3-turn clock"). Any equipment or auras which can boost her power to 7 will work double duty for us, expanding her threat profile by a massive amount as she continues to be a huge threat while still providing cost-effective answers to a broad swathe of creatures your opponents may play.

Our first priority will be to boost her power by 3. Then a few different options exist to increase her survivability (increasing her toughness, giving her first strike or double strike, or giving her totem armor), but these are secondary. Remember that Yasova doesn't need to attack to use her ability; all you need to do is declare the start of your attack phase. Yasova can play the long game and grind out value with the best of them thanks to her threaten ability if she's unable to score an early knockout.

Putting it Together: How Does Yasova Get Paid?

I like to think of cards in Commander as investments. When they generate card advantage or tempo, that's getting paid. You want the biggest payoff possible for your investments, and you want to get paid as often as possible, no matter what happens to your investment. That's why creatures with enter the battlefield abilities are so powerful: you get paid immediately, and if they get destroyed right away, you still got a payday from your investment.

Yasova gets paid several times. She gets paid when she Threatens a creature, and that payday can pay further dividends if you have a way to sacrifice or blink that creature permanently. She can generate a bigger payoff if you boost her power up to 7. The engines which can help synergize with Yasova's Threaten effect can also get you paid with your own creatures by blinking them or sacrificing them on the way out to generate extra value. Then she gets paid again when she can swing in and put your opponents on the clock.

Next time we'll start trying to build our deck using the framework from the first post, building on it with our analysis from this post.

[elderdragonwrestling]

The Care and Feeding of Yasova Dragonclaw, Part I

Or: "What is the foundation of a Commander deck?"

This series of posts are going to go through the process I use to build a Commander deck. I'll be using Yasova Dragonclaw, a deck I've recently built and am currently tuning, as my example.

In this first post, we'll be looking at the foundation which all decks in the format will share. This foundation is the starting point I use when building a deck.

Land (37-40 cards)

Your mana base is the absolute foundation of your deck. Nothing cripples a deck faster than the inability to hit land drops. The magic number for the majority of Commander decks is 38 lands, roughly equivalent to 23 lands in a 60-card deck. Many lands can do many different things for you, but there unless it is able to produce at least 1 colorless mana, or fetch you a land which can produce at least 1 colorless mana, then it is not going to count towards your total number of lands in the deck.

You can reduce your total land count, but it can be dangerous to do so. Going down to 37 lands for a more aggressive deck with a very low mana curve is certainly possible, but missing critical land drops can absolutely crush an aggro strategy.

Particularly mana-hungry decks and land-focused decks may need as many of 40 lands. Borborygmos Enraged, for example, ran 40 lands to make certain that the deck had a lethal count of land available when it combo'd out.

Ramp (6-10 cards)

In the simplest sense, "ramp" (named for one of the earliest green ramp cards, Rampant Growth) allows a player to expand his or her mana base beyond what hitting one land drop per turn would normally allow. The art to using ramp effectively would take an entire article to itself, but we'll cover the basics here.

The best ramp accelerates your game-plan by at least two turns. In green, this includes cards like Skyshroud Claim and Explosive Vegetation. All colors have access to Sol Ring and Worn Powerstone. Running the numbers for the green ramp spells, you go from turn 4 (tap 3G to pay for Explosive Vegetation to put 2 lands onto the battlefield), so on turn 5 after your land drop you have 7 lands available to you.

In Yasova, my game plan is to get my commander onto the battlefield as early as possible, so her Threaten ability can act as a deterrent as early as possible. Since she costs 2G, I want to ramp past turn 2 so I'll have 3 mana available to me most games to drop Yasova immediately on my second turn. Thus I'm including a critical mass of 1-drop mana dorks. My other goal is to buy myself some breathing room soon after dropping Yasova, so I can afford to use her Threaten ability and still do other things on my turn.

All decks in all colors want to consider what turns are most important to their game plan and start tuning their ramp towards reaching those critical turns more quickly.

Card Advantage (10-15 cards)

A deck needs something to do with its lands, which usually means having cards in hand. The majority of decks will want to be drawing cards at a prodigious rate. Recall from our discussion about the Control Archetype in Commander that each player starts out an inherent card disadvantage against their multiple opponents in a free-for-all game.

To overcome this, you need access to cards. Blue has an easy time with this, able to make use of very efficient draw effects (particularly powerful ones including Rhystic Study or Recurring Insight). Black can also manage good card draw and tutoring alongside recursion from the graveyard. Other colors are more limited in their options, often able to tutor for a limited type of card. While the mana you're putting into play is important, the mana by itself does nothing unless you have cards to play with it.

I liken the relationship between your mana base and the cards in your hand to a road and the gas in your car's tank, respectively. You may have 7 cards in your hand, and thus a full tank of gas, on turn 1, but with only one land, the road can't take you very far. Likewise, on turn 10, you may have plenty of land in play, but if your hand is empty and you're in top-deck mode, you may as well be out of gas. Get more cards into your hand, and make sure that each card you play does the work of more than one card.

Answers (13-20 cards)

I don't like the term "removal", and the reason for this didn't crystallize in my mind until the recent rule change that blocks players from tucking commanders. Now that you cannot permanently "remove" a commander, I find it helpful instead to consider what answers I can pack to deal with my opponents' game-plan.

Again, there could be a whole series of posts on what makes for a good answer. Suffice it to say that an answer is your deck's response to your opponents' game-plan, and how it can disrupt their game-plans. How will you prevent their creatures from dealing you 40 damage on the attack? What will you do if your opponents have a backbreaking enchantment or artifact on the field?

I find it helpful to divide my focus and have roughly half of my answers focused on dealing with creatures and the other half focused on dealing with non-creature threats. A simple example of an answer to a creature is Murder, which destroys any creature you target. A simple non-creature answer is Naturalize, which can destroy an enchantment or an artifact for you.

The best answers are also able to generate card advantage for you. A one-for-one trade of an answer (Murder) with an opponent's threat (a creature) means you each have lost a card, while your other opponents have each drawn a card, putting you behind. Cards which can impact multiple targets at once can serve to help maintain your card advantage. In Yasova, for example, I've chosen to include Vandalblast, which can generate significant card advantage while removing every artifact my opponents control and Cyclonic Rift, which simply bounces every single nonland permanent my opponents control.

Threats (15 cards)

Once all the other pieces are in place, the rest of your deck needs to focus on developing your own game-plan. You do this with threats. A threat is anything that puts your opponent on the clock. A threat says, "You must find an answer to this card within the next X turns or I will win the game."

Consider some common threats:

Serra Ascendant says, "You must find an answer or I will eliminate you in a few turns and take such a massive lead in life totals that I'll be untouchable."

Blightsteel Colossus says, "You must find an answer that doesn't say 'destroy' or I will eliminate you next turn."

Exsanguinate says, "You must find an answer right now, before this spell resolves, or I will eliminate you immediately."

But threats are not always direct like this. Anthems, for example, which pump up multiple creatures at once, can be gargantuan threats. Combo pieces should also be considered threats.

The next post in this series will build upon this foundation to analyze card choices for Yasova.

[necrogen-egregore]

Combining impactful cards in mono black engines (EDH multiplayer)

In this article, I’ll try to share my thoughts on my (unpretentious) attempts to merge two of the main EDH deckbuilding concepts: the use of cards that can be impactful and relevant on its own and the insertion of several potential engines in a singleton decklist.

My examples are tied to the color I feel more confortable playing (black) and to the deck I tested the most (click for the list), but players with different profiles may be able to adapt them to their color combinations of choice.

Individual impact vs. synergy

“The whole is other than the sum of the parts.” - Kurt Koffka

One of the first concepts EDH players need to adjust before moving from 1v1 to multiplayer deckbuilding concerns impact. What does it mean to impact the board when mana curves are higher and in-game variables are multiplied by the number of players and biased by its political implications? Another important point to be considered is how could newcomers find the right consistency when moving to a singleton format, as it drastically affects the deck’s potential synergy. But how many cards sharing the same functionality should be added without making them redundant? Reaching all those balances require familiarity with your decks. Playing them with different opponents will reveal most of their weaknesses, but finding the right solutions also demand critical analysis.

Improving a deck means you have to discover what is loose inside it, in order to be possible to create new space for well-adjusted inclusions. Experienced players usually make themselves lots of questions to decide if a card will be included in (or will be taken from) a deck. Some of these questions can help us think about how to balance “EDH’s need for impactful cards that work individually” with “poweful engines that become almost combo-like when assembled”. Those questions include, but are not limited to, the following.

Is this card helping me reach my main strategic goal?

Would this card’s effect escalate in multiplayer games?

Could this card stand on its own and, at the same time, integrate an engine?

Did I notice anything in my meta that alters my perception of this card? 

Let’s explore each one… from the most obvious to the less ones.

Read More

[elderdragonwrestling]

This post is an extremely useful analysis on how to pick cards during deck building / tuning, and more importantly how to choose cards which have synergy with other cards in your deck. Consider this one recommended reading.

[elderdragonwrestling]

Commander’s Cup Spring 2015: Preliminaries

This is it! This is where the best of the best will begin their arduous climb towards the Commander's Cup! The Prelims are stacked with some of the greatest match-ups in the history of the format. We have decorated veterans to hungry young bucks. We have old scores to be settled and new rivalries beginning. And we have the superstars of the format ready to duke it out. Let's look at some of these match-ups, bracket by bracket.

Animar, Soul of Elements vs Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Can 2 life per turn survive insane tempo? Can a fistful of Esper hate beat a swarm of Temur value? We will find out when Oloro and Animar face off. Animar had edged out Oloro in terms of his life totals and his total margin of victory; that is the overwhelming speed of Animar's relentless offense. But Oloro can combo out if the blue and leave you wondering where your life total went. Can Animar keep his pace while being prepared for these surprise haymakers? Can Oloro hang in long enough to deliver a finisher?

Sygg, River Guide vs Uril, the Miststalker

They met at the Quicksilver Qualifier and Sygg dominated Uril, taking a commanding lead early with fish carrying swords. By the time Uril found his stride it was already too late. The experts look at that match and say that Uril was handicapped by his poor land draws. At the Transguild Invitational, the other Uril showed up and he crushed the competition, going 3-0. Which Uril will come tonight? Can Sygg really prepare for the wrecking ball that is Uril?

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard vs Gahiji, Honored One

The rookie sensation Yisan has been electrifying crowds with turn 3 Ulamogs. Now he must come face to face with a living anthem, a relentless beast who leads an unstopable swarm. Will Yisan be able to continue his meteoric rise through the ranks of the EDW, or will he be eaten alive by Gahiji? Was it luck that brought him this far, or is he the genuine article? We’re about to find out!

Thraximundar vs Titania, Protector of Argoth

Thraximundar reached the Preliminary round by systematically dismantling the reigning EDW Champion in single combat. Titania managed to eke out a victory over Kaalia with a fortunate top-deck. The only edge Titania has going into this match is her token generation: if she can get it online, she may be able to outlast Thrax. But outracing He Who Paints the Earth Red will be the greatest challenge of this young contender’s life.

Yasova Dragonclaw vs Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Karador is one of the veterans of the format, the Mayor of Valuetown. He made it to the Preliminary Round with a Wild Card. Now he has to face Yasova Dragonclaw, an aspiring rookie who swept the Thran Qualifier. Yasova showed her ability to dictate the tempo of matches and make it difficult for her opponents to get their footing before she knocks them down. Karador is nothing if not resilient. Maybe he has what it takes to knock the rookie down a peg.

Athreos, God of Passage vs Krenko, Mob Boss

Absolute Aggro versus grinding Control! Krenko has dominated 4-way matches all by himself. Athreos has one of the best long games in the format. And packing both black and white gives the God of Passage the best package of mass removal in the game. If you want to best Krenko 1-on-1, you had better be able to keep the board clear of goblins. But if he can't, Krenko will advance to the Quarterfinals as the only superstar with confirmed deicide.

By decree of Stately Lord Pheldaggrif, the Preliminary Round of the Commander's Cup Spring 2015 begins now!