SpartanNerd Review…M15 Pre-release sealed deck experience

 JULY 17, 2014 BY SPARTANNERD

Be sure to visit SpartanNerd.Com!

For the first time ever, this weekend I made it to the top 4 of a magic tournament.  But this time was even more extra special…It was a sealed deck pre-release!

In case the reader is unfamiliar, Sealed Deck is a limited form of MTG that requires you only play with cards you open.  Generally, you get five booster packs, open them, and build your deck from those cards and those cards only.  The Pre-Release is just a little different, because you get to play with a promo card and an extra “seeded” pack, which is meant to support your strategy.  You choose a color when you sign up, and your seeded pack will contain cards of that color and with synergy with your strategy.  (was that redundant?)

This time was different, I believe, because I studied for the event well ahead of time.  And I went into the event with a plan in mind.

But it didn’t hurt that my cards worked really well together!

Here are pics and commentary!

I crafted this deck from my card pool.  Green and Black were my star colors.  I felt very comfortable playing these two colors together.  I splashed a little red and white for added removal.

These one drops really didn’t do that much.  They became targets for Yisan, who I will be discussing shortly.

Satyr Wayfinder and Black Cat are old friends of mine.  They accomplished their jobs well.  The Satyr Wayfinder made sure there were things in my graveyard to use as resources.  This was one of my goals.

Now for the good stuff.  Netcaster Spider was a star at blocking flyers.  In limited formats, such as sealed deck, people choose flyers when they can.  The Necrogen Scudder is an old friend.  He hurts you when he enters the battlefield, though.  And then there is Yisan.

Yisan deserves his own paragraph.  Yisan the Wanderer Bard is a music card.  Right up my alley!  Never once was he removed. I guess my opponents didn’t think him that big a threat.  But guess what?  Oh yes.  He was the secret to winning most of my games.  You pay his ability cost, onc green and two others, and then tap him.  You get a “verse counter.”  Then you get to find a creature from your deck with the Convereted Mana Cost of the number of verse counters he has on him.  SICK!  As mentioned already, the one drops were usually elvish mystics.  The two drops, well they were the Satyr Wayfinders usually.  The three drops were the only two possibilities.  And the four drops were the next card I want to discuss.

Undergrowth Scavenger.  His power and toughness are equal to the number of creature cards in the graveyard.  And I scored two of these guys in my sealed deck!  He was almost always a 6 or 7 power and toughness and demanded an answer from my opponent, that they usually wouldn’t have.

 

Other cards that took advantage of the graveyard were Rotfeaster Maggot, and Lilliana Vess.  Have I ever Mentioned that Lilliana is my favorite Magic card ever?  (I actually have a top three.  All black.  Lilliana Vess, Grave Titan, and Elbrus the Binding Blade/Withengar Unbound.)

Once during the evening I got to ultimate Lilliana.  My opponent just scooped right away!

The Rotfeaster Maggot was included to help me recoup life loss from Necrogen Scudder and from a few other cards that had me paying life.

Ah, the promo of the evening.  If he wasn’t answered, GG.  Usually my opponents wouldn’t sac someone or pay three life right away.  But card advantage is one secret to winning in Magic.  It didn’t usually take but two card draws and them being hammered a couple of times with him for them to pay the life.

One more worthy mention.  I actually got Soul of Innistrad.  One of the cards I had my eye on since it was previewed.  The Soul was a star if I ever got him out.  at 6/6, he’s hard to kill.  In the graveyard, he can get creatures into your hand from your graveyard.  On the battlefield he can too.  Only once was he removed.  (Pillar of Light.  A white exile spell with the condition that the toughness of the creature must be 4 or greater.)  Exiling him is just about the only way to deal with him.

Onto my removal.  I passed up a few cards in my card pool.  Festergloom and Crippling Blight, as well as Covenant of Blood.  All black spells that should have worked.  But I opted for the better options in other colors instead.  This was a critical choice, especially with the splash of red.  Heat Ray and Lightning Strike were just too good to pass up.  Oppressive Rays is a star in sealed deck limited.  It rarely got used during this event, however. Ulcerate was one of those cards that penalized my life total.  But it is so powerful at one drop.

 

There were three other spells.  I thoroughly enjoyed playing Necrobite.  I would surprise my opponent…he would think he was trading creatures with me, then, BAM.  I got one over on him.  Stab Wound was cited as putting pressure on one opponent.  And I was able to finish off two opponents with Sign In Blood.  This card was also useful in getting me cards a couple of times.

  

Now for the boring part.  LANDS.  I didn’t get any pain lands.  I did get two Radiant Fountain.  But in the end I thought it better to just run one copy.

So my deck did several  things well!

Flyers.  Check!

Graveyard Digging.  Check!

Life Gain.  Check!

Card Advantage.  Check!

I may never be so lucky with a set of cards again!

I went 3 and 1.  The only loss for the night was against a mirror.  The guy had more Sign in Blood than I had.  He told me I dumped the game against him by playing cautious near the end and not swinging all out.

Other people I played didn’t hardly stand a chance.  I played one White Weenie guy.  The flyers took him out.  I played a guy who played control.  But he couldn’t respond to the graveyard strategy or to Yisan the Wanderer Bard’s ability.  One guy was trying to take advantage of Convoke.  (Bad idea.)

I saw almost no one else play a planes walker, or a Soul.  Wonder why I was so lucky?

In the end, I won TEN PACKS OF M15 cards!  (The top four were tied at 3-1.  We all voted to split the box.)  My winnings netted me an Avacyn, Guardian Angel, and a Chord of Calling, as well as a black-green pain land and a red-blue pain land.  I also traded for Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, and Scuttling Doom Engine.  Not bad!  I even traded for a Jace, the Living Guildpact!

Compared to M14, M15 is THE BOMB.  The power level here is similar to what was in M13, with all those legendary creatures.  The Soul cards also sort of remind you of the Titans.  (M14 was a dud.  It just couldn’t cut it.  The slivers were lame.  Red was good.  Mutavault and Doom Blade were good.  But other things really weren’t so good in the end.

I rate M15 based on my Sealed Deck experience at 5/5.  How did your experience go?  Do you feel the same as me?  Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review..."Battle the Horde" Magic the Gathering Challenge Deck

Battle the Horde Challenge Deck

While Magic Game Day was officially this past Saturday our local store, “The Tangled Web” decided to hold off on the celebration until next week.  Luckily, on Monday this week when I made it there they had one deck on sale left for me to purchase.  How good is the Horde?  Continue reading for my review!

Battle the Horde is the second “Challenge Deck” that Wizards of the Coast has produced for us to play solitaire or group MTG with.  The first deck, “Face the Hydra,” was pretty tough, though it had certain weaknesses, some of which “Battle the Horde” also shares.

Horde Magic isn’t new.  I made a Zombie Horde deck before when I first learned about it.  But this challenge deck doesn’t have the exact same rules.  This time, yes, you do take three turns first, but the Challenge deck reveals two cards at a time from the top.  In this game, the Horde’s deck IS its life total.  So if you hit it for three with Lightning Strike, then it mills three cards.  The only way to win is to mill all of the deck and kill all of the creatures.

So let’s talk turkey.  What are these cards and how tough are they?

This deck really uses “theme and variation.”  There are five different types of minotaur in this 60-card deck, most of them some version of the “Hurloon Minotaur.”  In other words, they are 2/3 or 3/2.  There are the Youngblood Minotaurs, which are 2/2, (But see what they did?  they built an excuse in it’s name!)  Then there are the big monsters…Reckless Minotaur and Mogis’s Chosen.

And all of these except for Mogis Chosen has HASTE!  (Mogis chosen is the biggest creature in the deck, at 5/4.  He enters the battlefield tapped, thankfully.

So the deck’s creature breakdown is…

15 Minotaur Youngblood (2/2)

10 Phoberos Reaver  (2/3)

10  Minotaur Goreseeker (3/2)

4 Reckless Minotaur (4/1)  (he is destroyed during the end step of the turn he came out)

4 Mogis’s Chosen (5/4)

This is a horde of 43 creatures!

The other seventeen cards in this deck are either sorcery or artifact cards.  10 Sorcery and 7 Artifacts.

The Minotaurs

The Sorcery Cards

Turns out that some of the sorcery cards can help you in certain situations.  For instance, Intervention of Keranos “deals 3 damage to each creature” at the beginning of combat this turn.  So it is more or less a board sweeper for all the “chump” minotaurs.  (said in the most joking way possible!)  This could help you, though, if you have bigger creatures out.  On the other hand, Mogis’s Chosen will live through this.  Consuming Rage is another sweeper type sorcery that might help you in certain situations.  This card pumps all attacking minotaurs this turn for +2/+0, but then they are destroyed at the end of combat.  If you play “Fog”  They just burned themselves out!

There are three more Sorcery cards, each is more of a problem.  “Touch of the Horned God” gives each attacking minotaur Deathtouch.  “Unquenchable Fury” causes all Minotaurs to have “can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.”  Some of that “Madcap Skills” type magic for the whole lot of minotaurs.  And finally ‘Descend on the Prey” gives all attacking minotaurs First strike and “must be blocked this turn if able.”

The Sorcery Cards

The Artifact cards add some real “Rakdos” type flavor to this deck.  Each one, when on the battlefield, has the same effect.  The Horde gets to cast an extra card during the main phase.  So if multiple artifacts are out, you are going to be seeing multiple minotaurs, and your problems are going to grow and grow.

But each artifact also has a “Hero’s Reward.”  This is a throwback to the “Face the Hydra” deck, where killing certain heads would reward you in a special way.  The cool thing is, each artifact says “When CARDNAME is put into the graveyard from anywhere…”This means attacking the deck might just reward you!  (Remember, attacking the deck causes it to mill.)

The artifacts in this deck are:

“Massacre Totem,” which lets you put the top seven cards of the Horde deck into the graveyard.

“Refreshing Elixir” (Two copies)  does what you would think.  Sending it to the graveyard will give you five life!

“Altar of Mogis" causes the Horde to sacrifice two creatures.

“Vitality Salve” lets each player return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield.

“Plundered Statue” (Two copies)  lets each player draw a card.

The Artifacts

Playing the deck

First experience…3 on 1.  Me and the SpartanSmurfs ganged up on the Horde, ever anxious to play new cards!  We played the horde on it’s most difficult setting, (Allowing us to take two turns before it takes the first turn.)  And we stomped it, of course.  SpartanSmurf #1 played Minotaur Tribal, SpartanSmurf #2 played Dimur Graveyard, and I played Turbo Fog Mazes End.

SpartanSmurf #2 played a solo match against it.  That was, his Tribal Minotaur deck against the Minotaru Horde.  It defeated him badly….

I was rubbing it in, so he suggested I try.  I used the Turbo Fog deck and beat it twice!  I think I know why.  I fogged every time a creature would swing at me.  Sometimes Consuming Rage would be activated, and I would fog, thus taking no damage, but then the entire horde was killed.  This happened twice, and then the Keranos Intervention card also killed the miniotaurs.

But I beat the deck twice….

I decided to switch decks, and try out mono black devotion.  After two wins with Turbo Fog, maybe a different kind of control strategy was called for.

Nope.  Every time, it seemed the Minotaur Horde would grow too strong for me to control…No matter what really.  And it doesn’t help that there is basically no artifact removal or mill in the black deck.

The Challenge Deck beat Mono Black twice!…

Hero Cards

This deck is meant to be taken on with Hero cards as well.  I have some of these…They go with the Face the Hydra Deck or this deck.  But I haven’t played them so far, thinking my decks were good enough.  One big difference in this deck and the Hydra deck is that the Hero cards that go with it (From Born of the Gods Pre-Release and other events) all instruct you to somehow exile it after it is used.

Weaknesses of the Horde Deck.

Detention Sphere.   Imagine having out all 15 Youngblood minotaurs.  D-Sphere.  You win.  Also the new Bile Blight, which gives everything with the same name -3/-3.

Supreme Verdict.  Of course.

Fog.  Minotaurs are only effective attackers if they hit you!  You fog them, and Consuming rage can kill them, and they get no benefit out of it.

Jace, Memory Adept (and any other card that mills.)  The horde can’t remove planeswalkers, (unless it attacks them directly.)

What is my rating of the Beat the Horde Challenge Deck?  I like it pretty good.  It is a fine solitaire game.  It is a neat challenge for a group.  What more could we ask for, really?  I do wish some of the cards will be printed/ updated for “Journey Into Nyx.”

So I give this deck a 5/5.  Remember, the Hydra was 4/5…I took off a point for the art.  But the art on Beat the Horde is really good, and like I said, I hope they use some of the art in the next set.

Now, I wonder what would happen if I pit the Horde against the Hydra???

The Playmat/ Instructions

10 Print List ...... You might be the SpartanNerd if....

10 Print "You tell your kids to clean their rooms, and proclaim "THIS I COMMAND!"

20 Print "You do the Mario on the way to the kitchen."

30 Print "You make a transforming sound when you change into your robe for the evening."

40 Print "You warm up your children's choir with "Co- Bra- LALALALALALA"

50 Print "You lift something heavy, and proclaim "I Have the Power!!!"

60 Print "You weigh yourself, and seeing that you have gained, pronounce "Up, Up, and Away!"

70 Print "You compare your professional relationship with bosses to that of all of the Sith's apprentices.  (Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Darth Vader)"

80 Print "You sing to your child, who says they have to go to the restroom "Nothing can stop the smooze"

90 Print "You say "Mine resolves first" to your child who suggests eating at McDonalds and you say you would rather eat Mexican.

100 Print "You are still crying about the time the Quintessons commandeered Optimus Prime's body, as a ruse to defeat the Autobots.  Optimus' will was too, strong, however, even in death...He saves everyone and flys his ship into an exploding sun (I can hardly type anymore...waaaa)

SpartanNerd MTG Quest update....TOP 8

I finally cracked the top 8 at the local comic book store's Magic Tournament!  The Hub City was SLAMMED with snow for the past week, keeping me and everyone else indoors, so I spent plenty of time practicing, and it paid off it seems.

Basically, I played two rounds of 2 out of 3 matches against one of the SpartanSmurfs everyday.  One of them had a BEAST of a BNG Minotaur deck, and I was having a hard time with that, and thought to myself..."This is what people will be playing Saturday..."  (nope)

My two deck choices were either the Fencing Ace deck, which I had been playing and working with for awhile, but it always seemed to lose.  However, it would be fresh with some new BNG cards.

But then I thought I would revert to my pre-Return to Ravnica style...MONO BLACK.

Too bad this guy isn't legal anymore...:(

I had been playing some black devotion.  But I thought it was time to step up my game a little.  One of the slow things about my devotion deck was that it was a "budget" deck, featuring the complete Bogbrew Witch combo.  I had some success with this deck in the last Modern tournament that I played, balancing the activity of assembling the combo and ramping up my devotion with Vampire Nighthawks.  Basically, I ripped all of that out of the deck and added something I never hardly played...Thoughtseize!  I replaced the Witch combo with Nightveil Spector, Herald of Torment, and Slitherhead.  (In place of the Festering Newts.)  BNG added Temple of Malice, so that was four more scry lands I could play.  Then there is the added advantage of having mana available to play cards stolen with the Nightveil Spector.  (The deck is mono black.  But the lands are not.  Unfortunately, there is no green and black scry land...yet...)

After playtesting it for a week because of the weather, I decided to add Elixir of Immortality in place of two of the Slitherheads...A fine choice!  The Elixir proved to be a star of the deck.  Cracking it over and over replenished my life (which I had to pay from playing Thoughtsieze), and it kept my cards playable, refreshing my deck.

I really wanted three more copies of Bile Blight.  I have whined and cried about this already.  I hoped to trade someone before the tournament.  No one had theirs for trade, or no one had one to trade.  BUMMER.  In the end, this would make a difference.

So at the Tangled Web on Saturday, February 15, I brought my black devotion deck.

Here is the deck list.

4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Nykthos, Shrine ot Nyx
10 Swamps

2 Slitherhead
2 Desecration Demon
4 Nightveil Spector
2 Herald of Torment
3 Pack Rats
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Spiteful Returned

4 Devour Flesh
1 Bile Blight
2 Liliana, of the Dark Realms
4 Thoughtseize
2 Elixir of Immortality
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Hero's Downfall

I also had a sideboard....

4 Duress
4 Doom Blade
4 Dark Betrayal
1 Drown In Sorrow
1 Pain Seer
1 Lifebane Zombie

All evening I played against mostly green and red aggro decks.  I had no problem at all Thoughtsiezeing out Stormbreath Dragons, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Archangel of Thune, or Blood Baron of Vizkopa.

One thing that people were playing that they should not, was Courser of Kruphix.  This allowed me to see what was on the top of the deck...

I had one mirror match, where we played until we had to draw.  It was tough...This was a seasoned player, and to see the same strategy basically across the table was an experience.

In the finals, I lost in the first round.  Devastating.  It was my first loss all day.  But it was a good game against an Azorius Sphinx's Revelation deck.  I think fondly on this match, it was like an ascension...a catharsis.  Here I was playing against a truly great player, and standing him down with devotion for at least one match...I lost in the third game.  How did he beat me?  I didn't draw Hero's Downfall when I needed it.  His Elsepeth, Sun's Champion continued to supply him with fresh 1/1 chumps, that I could have taken care of QUICKLY with a Bile Blight....He also played Supreme Verdict a good bit after he caught on to my game to squash my devotion, and then would have his Elsepeth give him more board presence.

I mean, what good is a NightVeil Spector if you can't swing with him because he gets removed?  And you can't use him for devotion because he isn't there?)

So, I plan on playing at Friday Night Magic this week.  I will use the same deck, but hopefully have a full set of Bile Blight!  There are some other things I might change as well.  Herald of Torment didn't do anything all night.  I like him, but he has to go.  He is not as good as Nightveil Spector, and he hurts you for one life each turn he's out.  He is also expensive to bestow.  Maybe I'll main deck Pain Seer, a weaker version of Dark Confidant....I might swap out the other two Slitherheads for Elixir of Immortality...The Elixir was a surprise star.  I think I might come up with two more copies of Heroes Downfall.  Most of the good players I played knew how to deal with the Desecration Demon.  I like him for the devotion.  And it's not like he was useless...But most people either dropped a removal spell on him, or said "Let him through..."  Then I usually wouldn't swing...usually...I also might go back to playing Underworld Connections.  This card helps with the card advantage better than Erebos, God of the Dead.  Did I mention that I got to swing with Erebos a couple of times?  People don't like that....I also am thinking of adding a couple of secret weapons...aimed at the Sphinx's Revelation deck.

You say, SPARTANNERD...HOW DARE YOU POST YOUR STRATEGY?

Well, it isn't a new strategy or anything.  Plenty of people out in the world are playing black devotion...it is one of the top builds in the world right now!  It is just new to me, and nobody around here hardly is playing it, so....

SpartanNerd Blog...Blog Photos the way they Should Be!

I have a few really nice figures, and am always reviewing them on this blog....

But up until now, I have only used my kitchen table....Or maybe the "Protector of the Keep" playmate for Magic cards or comics.

But not anymore!

The SpartanWife got me an early Valentines present...And I was completely surprised and blown away by it.

A LIGHTBOX!

Now I can take really good pictures, and edit them like a pro!

Here is a sample!

D Arts MegaMan!

i switched out the armor on Snout Spout last week.
I like my elephant warriors to be more savage!

Teela has proven to be the hardest to photograph.
I think her face is a bit too shiny for the spotlight.  Here I gave here a cooler treatment,
with mystical blue lighting.

Here is Marvel Select Thor, with a black background and a filter.  I wanted an antique look.
I am especially fond of how the hammer turned out.

Skeletor is an interesting one to photograph.  So much detail!  This black and white filter really makes the trio of Panthor, Havoc Staff, and Skeletor feel like they came from a horror story.

A good pic of the details on Panthor's face.  The Sepia filter makes it feel bronze, or clay even.

One thing, Skeletor's eyes can hypnotize you if you stare too long at them.
There was masterful design and execution on the face sculpt and painting of Skeletor.

I think this is my favorite picture I have taken with the new equipment.  Nothing too fancy.  But it feels like the cover of a Conan the Barbarian comic book.  I tried to have Vikor hold Teela over his shoulder, but their facial expressions are too calm for that pose to work.  Still, Red is the perfect color to go behind Vikor.

I tried to get a "Catalogue" feel on He-Man and Battlecat here.  

And here he/they are.  Two Bad looks like he leapt off of the comic pages as well.

I have a lot to learn about taking pictures for reviews, and editing them as well with iPhoto or other software.  But I am off to a good start.  The lightbox is a 3X3X3 cube with two spotlights and four background colors.  I have found that sometimes the light reflects on faces a little too much, as in the case of Teela, Mega-Man, and Two-Bad above, but I was able to recover most of the time with editing.  I need to spend more time previewing before shooting, I think.  And also maybe moving the lights back or something.  I also took a few pics right before my iPhone battery died, and I believe that caused them to be a little blurrier. (I took some Pokemon pics that were unusable.)

There are also size limitations.  He-Man and Skeletor barely fit on their cats in the pics.  I cropped down what you see.  But the Griffin is way too big for the lightbox treatment.  And so is Megator, really.

Still, it is a great start and I am having a blast.  Comment on the photos!

(Also check out my recent blurb about Born of the Gods, where I also used the white reflecting material as the background for the cards.)

Oh yeah.  My rating.  The Polaroid Lightbox gets a 5/5!

It folds up for easy transport and storage into a little baggy with pouches for the lights.  It also came with a camera stand that I will have to try out when I use a real camera sometime instead of an iPhone.  I won't fault it on it's size.  Really it is perfect for most action figures, and I am a beginner.

Groovy Dork List....MOTUC, Magic, Coffee, Pathfinder, Arkham, and MineCraft.

Groovy...I was able to find a massive local source of Masters of the Universe items!  A dude at the Barnyard Flea-market sells them.  Workable on the price (I AM a cheapskate, remember!), and also a knowledgeable and enthusiastic fan.  I will be reviewing the three items I picked up today soon!

Dork...The problem finally appeared.  Snout Spout has a crack in his trunk.  The trunk is apparently made of blue foam-rubber.  :(



Groovy...I am Back-in-Black!  I am playing Mono-black devotion as my current for Magic: the Gathering strategy!  Just keep putting black permanents out, get that devotion ramped up, and then slam the opponent with a Grey Merchant of Asphodel.  And unless they cancel the Merchant, there is little they can do.  The fine folk at the Tangled Web were ready to trade the other day.  I scored a few more Nightveil Spectors, which I really, really needed, and a Desecration Demon as well!  Readers of this blog will know that my color is black.  I have recently been playing other colors, but it seems the old dark evil ways are returning!

Dork...Don't get me wrong...I had a blast, but I would play someone, anyone really, for almost 45 minutes.  And then somehow lose...I would disrupt their strategies over and over, only to be trumped eventually.  You can only run Four gray merchants!



Groovy...In the same vein...The Born of the Gods set looks amazing!  I can't wait to see what else they reveal.  I have preordered a box, and me and my two boys are going to play in the sealed deck pre-release.  I already see cards with promise for the Fencing Ace deck, and for the black devotion deck.  The inspired mechanic sounds interesting, and Mogis, God of the Slaughter is going to be crazy!

Dork...They haven't released a new challenge deck  :(  The Hydra has been a blast!



Groovy...The Keurig Vue system is wonderful!  This machine makes not only coffee, but cafe drinks and iced tea!  Most everything I have tried tastes great!

Dork...(semi-dork, I guess)...Those Vue cups cost a bunch.  BUT, I am subscribed to the Cafe Express Savings Club, that basically means I only pay half for the Vue cups.



Groovy...I am now a Dungeon Master...I mean Game Master.  Me and the SpartanSmurfs, and even the SpartanWife have been playing Pathfinder.  This is our first taste of this kind of gaming.  I don't know what I think about it yet.  I like being the game master.  But I don't always feel like it.  These games tend to run over an hour.  Also, the SpartanSmurfs are too easily killed off.  I have to be careful not to off them unintentionally.  This has already happened three times.  The first time I considered it a real death, to try and send them a message.  I didn't like it, though.  So I have been inserting lucky saves into the game.

Dork...I have a pretty good imagination, and can flesh out the Pathfinder world pretty good for the boys.  But they on the other hand tend to just want to battle constantly, rather than take in their world.



Groovy...I have been playing Batman: Arkham Asylum again.  That game is terrific!  I especially like taking out the armed thugs!  That is a lot of fun.

Dork...I don't get MineCraft.  I played it.  I just don't get it.

SpartanNerd Review...Commander Unboxing...Evasive Maneuvers

Evasive Manuevers….Commander Deck Unboxing and Review.

Commander, or EDH (whichever you prefer,) is a format for Magic: The Gathering that people seem starved for…Usually they are trying to sneak in a round in between Standard tournament matches, etc.  I have been sort of puzzled by that…thinking it is fun…but is it that fun?

My experiences with Commander come from playing at home with my boys…no surprise really.  The games would tend to be longer, but otherwise, besides the “commander factor” the same and just as fun, just more restricted fun.  (You may only have one copy of each card in your 100 card deck, besides basic land)

BUT that was before this deck!  I think the reason I have had “meh” feelings about the whole thing is that my decks didn’t really “do anything.”  They were more of a collection of cards that I like…that were generally unplayable in standard for some reason.

So my first cohesive deck is one that I buy ready made, it it works great!

Evasive Maneuvers comes in this blister packaging,  You can see the oversized foil Derevi, Empyrial Tactician clearly.  Notice the price...I used a $10 coupon, so this cheapskate didn't pay full price!  (I hear that Oloro's deck is fetching around $100 on the internet!)

Here's the back.  I didn't read it.  But it is supposed to sell you on buying the deck.  Derevi is impressive enough for me, and I have been playing his colors in Standard for awhile.  (White, Green, and Blue, also known as Bant)

When you open the box, you see this.

and here are the contents, underneath the foils.

This deck comes with not only Derevi, but also two other Commanders,
Rubinia Soulsinger, and Roon of the Hidden Realms (A Rhino!).  The deck comes with a regular
card of these also, as they complete the 100 cards.

But clearly Derevi is the star!

Here is a picture of the deck list.

Here is some blurb about how to play the deck.

and a nice poster.

I wish I could have made it to a "serious" tournament before this review...unfortunately Christmas Singing obligations kept me away from the one at the Tangled Web today.  There are two more planned for the future that I know of, and I may be able to attend those and play this deck.

So my first match was against my oldest son, who is currently playing a self built Excava, Blood Witch Commander deck.  (See Excava here.)  It is an aggressive Rakdos strategy, and he uses a lot of burn spells and haste, as well as favors goblins.

I beat him soundly!  And on all fronts.  Here are the cards I used to do so....There are certainly more cards to see, however.

The Mistmeadow Witch got a lot of attention from some veteran players last night
as I showed off  the deck to the people at the Standard tournament at the TW.
Apparently, Kithkins were a big deal in former Magic sets.  This cards activated ability was the way I ousted Excava the first time.  He was never able to get her out again before I finished him off.  (I mean he could have..he chose not to)

This card is kind of a more powerful Tidebinder Mage.  It flys...so....He had no flyers.  

This is apparently a reprinted card from the ancient past of Magic.
I used this to cast Blue Sun's Zenith, (not shown here).  But that instant put cards in my hand when I was starting to feel a lack of fun because I had no hand anymore.

I was delighted to get to play a "level-up" card.  This deck has two!  I had never played one before,
but have played against people that do at Modern tournaments.

This was one of my last plays.  It didn't get to do much....

I put this card onto Dungeon Geists...I never had to use it, though.

I DID use this card...Sort of a Wrath of God.  And because I had the two tokens afterward,
they were part of me winning the game!

I mention this because one of the key things was that MANA WASNT A PROBLEM!
I used this spell to get Evolving wilds back out...(It was the only land card in my graveyard)

Rubinia made an appearance, giving me control of Krenko, Mob Boss.  My son really didn't appreciate this, so he just burned her.  A key point to remember for the future...She's not to hard to kill off.  AND, if she's tapped, she isn't doing much else, is she?

Thoughts on the match...Excava is no lightweight...But I just had more access to stuff.  I had out Darksteel Ingot, Basalt Monolith, and Selesnya Signet, in addition to 12 basic lands and Faerie Conclave and Bant Panorama.  By the end of the game...with the mana-fixing artifacts coming out early giving me the power to do just about anything I wanted.

This caused another problem, though.  My hand was empty for the mid-game.  And I was powerless to do anything but block and activate abilities, of which all I had was the Mistmeadow Witch and Derevi.  Derevi's ability was great...He got sent to the command zone twice, and I was able to get him out cheap!  But my source of card draw came from SpartanSmurf #1 playing Sign In Blood, which got the Blue Sun Zenith into my hand, which I played at the end of his turn in response to him trying to remove Mistmeadow Witch...( I wasn't able to counter him)

The game ender came after all this.  I got out Kirtar's Wrath, and nuked everything.  He had more stuff out than me, so it was not biggie...This gave me the upper-hand with the two spirits, then I was able to also get Derevi out of the command zone.  At the END OF HIS TURN (So he was ready to attack next turn!  Then I played Aethermage's Touch, which got out the Skyward Eye Prophets, and I got to play Curse of Predation.  SpartanSmurf #1 didn't have much life left, so when I swung all-out, it was curtains for him!

Commander damage didn't even figure into all of this...It was all regular damage!

Thoughts on what you get....You get the three commanders...all Bant, so that's cool.  I especially like the Rhino...Rhino's are becoming one of my favorite animals.  (Maybe it is their big nose!)  Some of the cards in here are apparently lusted after by long-time players.  "Sol Ring," for example.  You also get a pretty nice box...But it won't fit your cards if you sleeve them...it is a snug fit as it is.

I am keeping the deck list for reference.  The Wizards are wasting paper by including the blue propaganda that comes with almost every Magic: The Gathering product.


My Rating...I give Evasive Maneuvers a 5 out of 5!  I can't wait to get more of these decks....I have been hint dropping the SpartanWife for Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's Esper Commander deck.  Basically, I see him as kind of like me...Sitting in that chair, He-Man's sword leaned up by the side, drinking a Diet Dew, totally ripped (now I'm dreaming)