Welcome back to another session with the Epic Experiment!
Normally I try to provide a more in depth consideration of an idea, or dive deep on a deck, or just other thoughts that deserve a little more exploration. However, if you have ever caught our podcast, you will often hear us ping pong ideas around. There are loads of ideas that never make it to a segment on the show, or an article, so today I decided I wanted to share a smattering of ideas. I call these… Bruce’s Deep Thoughts.
Verity Circle
Ok, if you haven’t ever played this card, you are forgiven. It looks 100% like it should never see the light of day because, really, how often do people tap creatures for something other than attacking?
Turns out… all the time.
This can leave a very reasonable impression of cards like Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora and help keep your hand. With a return of vehicles in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty there could be an uptick in cards that get tapped to crew vehicles, not to mention mana dorks, utility creatures, or even tokens that are being used to convoke out larger spells. The truth is, this card draws piles of cards… and can be found for about 30 cents. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Semester’s End
There are plenty of Commander decks that are very heavily reliant on creatures to help secure victory. Token decks, Voltron decks, and plenty of others rely on creatures. However, the Achilles heel to all of these decks is also their strength… the creatures. Creatures can be, and are regularly, killed. This forces creature decks to rebuild, which robs them of their opportunity to win.
What’s the best way to protect your board? Why, Teferi’s Protection, of course. But what if you don’t have $30 to buy a copy of Tef’s Protection? You go for Semester’s End. It isn’t a perfect solution and your opponents can make a mess of your lands and other permanents, but you can dodge a board wipe and come back with your board intact.
Shadrix Silverquill
I don’t understand why this card doesn’t see more play. It appears as a Commander in only 846 decks, and in 4335 decks as a card overall. I can understand why in 1 on 1 formats you might shy away from this card because the fact that you need to give value to your direct opponent is a bit of an issue.
However, in a multi-player setting the cost of these benefits quickly disappear and Shadrix looks significantly more appealing. My play experience against the card has been in a small sample size, but the negative drawback of giving something to an opponent in a multi-player setting is very easy to circumvent.
You give a 2/1 flier to a player with a weak board state, meaning that you can draw or pump your team. Once Shadrix has a counter or two, it is very difficult to manage it through blocking, meaning it now needs to eat a removal spell. Those those two conditions can be managed through things like Mother of Runes, Gods Willing, or something as simple as Feat of Resistance. This card should probably be more widely adopted… but I think I have a few reasons for why it is not.
Kamigawa Neon Dynasty Sagas
Ok, I need to come clean here. I misjudged these. Initially I thought these were highly underwhelming and weren’t as powerful as their counterparts from other sets. I was seriously wrong.
These cards are very good and should probably garner consideration for your deck, particularly since they are all really quite affordable and can go a long way in keeping your budget down. What has changed, you ask? The fact that these sagas have two modest modes and then flip into a creature seems very weak comparatively. But, I forgot a major point. I thought the creature was a drawback, not a benefit.
Whelp… turns out having something that impacts the board, even in many Commander games, is just good. Once the sagas are transformed, you can easily return them to your hand. There are countless ways to return non-land permanents to your hand including stuff like Temur Sabretooth, Teferi, Time Raveler, or even Chulane, Teller of Tales, so you can reuse these sagas. If that isn’t enough, blink decks that lean into Emiel the Blessed, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, or just Conjurer’s Closet and Teleportation Circle can reset these and get more utility out of them.
So, the long and the short of the whole thing is: don’t undersell these sagas. They provide significant utility and are great budget tools for your decks!
Lands
I have often thought about what lands I put in my deck. We are currently at a stage where we are being given plenty of budget options for our decks that are excellent. My attention these days is mostly drawn to the pathways from Zendikar Rising and Kaldheim as being a cycle that is outstanding and ought to be scooped up by budget players everywhere. Yes, they are all more than $5 and some are closer to $10 but compared to many options these are bargains. Similarly, the slow lands from Innistrad:Midnight Hunt and Innistrad:Crimson Vow are also excellent budget options that are hovering between $5 and $10 and are going to be long term staples of the format.
So, that makes two very strong and affordable options to power up the mana bases for decks. The third option is the new Legendary land cycle from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. But with Boseiju, Who Endures and Otawara, Soaring City being already sought after, it is a little unclear how much some of the others will be priced. Truthfully, if Boseiju and Otawara are generating the sort of play that they seem to getting, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire really should be far behind. Takenuma is essentially a Corpse Churn stapled to a land, which hardly seems bad. Even Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance seems like a reasonable option to ambush attackers as needed. Clearly, we have now added a whole bunch of new tools to the game that will make our mana bases much smoother and consequently. Don’t miss out on these opportunities to give your decks a shot in the dark at prices that are fairly reasonable.
Satsuki, The Living Lore
Once again, I need to admit that I misjudged this card. I had initially undersold this because I felt that there simply weren’t enough sagas to warrant a proper G/W commander. What I failed to consider is sliding Satsuki into an existing shell where you are running a number of sagas. 5 colour sagas/enchantress was my first reaction, but it could be simple as an Abzan deck playing Teysa to double up on death triggers and packing a number of powerful sagas.
Bottom line, Satsuki is far better than first considered because rebuying your sagas is objectively good, but what is even better is using Satsuki in conjunction to manipulate counters on your sagas to all sorts of great effect. Don’t sell her short – she can help give those sagas a new life.
Boomer Magic
I think the big reason that Shadrix is seemingly underrepresented is that he plays right into what I am calling Boomer Magic. I recently spent a night playing Commander and just getting trounced. It was like I was playing a completely different game where I had little real opportunity to win, or even be an impact in the game.
I like to play EDH games where I accrue incremental advantage over time, kind of like Shadrix, and leverage that to a win. I like the initial stages of the game where we set the foundation, and there is some posturing about who has what and how much. I like the ebb and flow of the game in successive turns as we establish who the greatest foe at the table is and make moves to counteract each other. I like how there is a moment that dictates who is going to win and the story we are telling comes to a crescendo.
Then, it usually comes down as the eventual winner consolidates their win. But every once in a while, there is a surprise victory that twists the ending in an unusual way. I like the story, I like telling the story through my gameplay. This may be a very simplistic way of looking at the game, but it is an accurate way to describe how I play.
Unfortunately, on this night of playing, I was playing Boomer Magic looking to tell a story when my opponents had completely different ideas. I never stood a chance.
More thoughts on Boomer Magic in the weeks to come.
Conclusion
Well, there we have some of my deep thoughts about Commander. I apologize that I jump around a little, but sometimes that is just how the brain works.
If you enjoyed my thoughts or have something you would like to see explored in more detail, please check out our decks and much more each week on our podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere else you find better podcasts. Just look for the name The Epic Experiment Podcast! We’d love to have you join us!
Get all your board game news from The Bag of Loot! www.thebagofloot.com
Get all your board game needs from Three Kings Loot! www.threekingsloot.com
