Some Enchanted Board State

Let me tell you why I love Enchantments in Commander: they’re underappreciated. Because of this they tend to be undervalued and under targeted and as a consequence it gives me an edge.

How did I get here? For as long as I can remember I have had a preoccupation with using the Graveyard as a resource. My flagship Golgari deck, no matter who is at the helm (currently Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest) has a strong graveyard theme, usually based around sacrificing for profit. I love Blood Artist and Falkenrath Noble and any chance I have to turn them into machine guns is a chance I’ll take. This usually involves a healthy dose of Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton to make sure the hordes keep flowing. So when I sit down to play with one of my regular playgroups early copies of Bojuka Bog and Agent of Erebos will often get pointed at me.

Rightfully so.

In these I situations I would often find myself unable to claw back into the game. As regular Rob says, “No on runs enough graveyard removal.” Because of this our playgroup runs an overabundance of hate which makes my straight-graveyard decks start behind the 8 ball. When Conspiracy was printed and I was gifted Deathreap Ritual. Now I could draw cards while not taking time off from my regular game plan.

My exploration of Deathreap Ritual led me to have a greater appreciation of Enchantments. Sure, I had been running Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos for as long as I could remember but they would draw heat. Deathreap Ritual would just sit there and draw me cards. As I built more and more Commander decks I made an effort to use these permanents where I could. I found that Enchantments would often go unmolested and allow me to accrue incremental advantages. I’ve followed in Rob’s footsteps and often say now that people don’t run enough Enchantment removal.

Now this is somewhat misleading. Cards like Reclamation Sage and Acidic Slime see heavy play while Austere Command and Merciless Eviction are common sights. Enchantress decks - entire strategies built around Enchantments - exist and are powerhouses. So how can Enchantments be underappreciated if there is an entire strategy based around them? How can they fly under the radar if their answers are everywhere?

The goal with leveraging Enchantments is not to have them be the threats but rather have them enhance your game plan. In an Enchantress deck these permanents are usually everything - threats, answers, card advantage, combo pieces - and as such they can place a firm target on their ephemeral bodies making powerful cards like Replenish, Starfield of Nyx,and Bruna, Light of Alabaster a must. The way I use Enchantments is different and as such I often do not mind if one gets removed.

Now a deck like Mazirek, which makes heavy use of Grave Pact effects, does not enjoy when someone tampers with its engines. But that isn’t a deck I am going to talk about today. Instead I want to highlight two decks I feel that use the forgotten card type as force multipliers.

Creatures

Avatar of Slaughter

Bogardan Hellkite

Conquering Manticore

Crater Hellion

Crimson Hellkite

Hellkite Charger

Hellkite Tyrant

Hoard-Smelter Dragon

Hoarding Dragon

Humble Defector

Ire Shaman

Mindclaw Shaman

Molten Primordial
Scourge of the Throne

Skyline Despot

Utvara Hellkite

Warmonger Hellkite

Zealous Conscripts

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs

Burnished Hart

Pilgrim’s Eye

Solemn Simulacrum

Steel Hellkite

Planeswalkers

Chandra, Pyromaster

Koth of the Hammer

Instants

Comet Storm

Into the Core

Reiterate

Sorceries

Blasphemous Act

Earthquake

Jaws of Stone

Slice and Dice

Volcanic Vision

Enchantments

Barrage of Expendables

Bedlam

Dictate of the Twin Gods

Dragon Tempest

Flameshadow Conjuring

Goblin Bombardment

Outpost Siege

Pyrohemia

Shivan Harvest

Vicious Shadows

Warstorm Surge

Artifacts

Altar of Dementia

Angel’s Trumpet

Armillary Sphere

Carnage Altar

Conjurer’s Closet

Fire Diamond

Hedron Archive

Magewight’s Stone

Magnifying Glass

Mimic Vat

Nevinyrral’s Disk

Sol Ring

Sundial of the Infinite

Thousand-Year Elixir

Wayfarer’s Bauble

Illusionist’s Bracers

Lightning Greaves

Skullclamp

Swiftfoot Boots

Lands

20 Mountain

Blasted Landscape

Dormant Volcano

Evolving Wilds

Flamekin Village

Forgotten Cave

Ghitu Encampment

High Market

Keldon Necropolis

Myriad Landscape

Mystifying Maze

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Opal Palace

Shivan Gorge

Smoldering Crater

Temple of the False God

Terramorphic Expanse

Zirilan is my Mono-Red Commander deck. It wants to cheat giant dragons into play with Zirilan of the Claw and make sure they stick around past the exile trigger with things like Conjurer’s Closet and Sundial of the Infinite. If that does not work, I want to keep the Dragons around in my graveyard (for when I finally up and get another copy of Feldon of the Third Path for this deck). Zirilan wins via damage, the kind dealt by a scaly sky force. As a Red deck it can sometimes have trouble keeping up with the card advantage other decks bring to the table so it needs to get creative. Eleven Enchantments aide Zirilan without being core to actually winning the game.

Barrage of Expendables, Goblin Bombardment, and Shivan Harvest all help keep my Dragons out of exile. The single point of damage or destruction of a Non-Basic Land, while nice, are hardly integral to the plan. These cards are also replicated in High Market, Keldon Necropolis, and Altar of Dementia. Those cards, however, are far more vulnerable than the trio of Enchantments so they stick around.

Bedlam and Dictate of the Twin Gods play into Zirilan’s subtheme of setting the rules of combat. If I am going to be winning via damage then I need to do a whole bunch of attacking. These cards are dangerous and tend to be deployed to help accelerate games to an end state.

Dragon Tempest, Vicious Shadows, and Warstorm Surge don’t set combat but they play along the same axis of damage. To that end so does Pyrohemia which has the added advantage of containing token armies.

Flameshadow Conjuring and Outpost Siege are both attempts at card advantage. Conjuring can put out additional token copies of a summoned Dragon which can be saved with Sundial of the Infinite. Outpost Siege can use its Khans mode to keep the cards flowing. Again, neither of these are integral to the victory - there are Dragons to worry about - but they help to support the deck.

I built Zirilan without Enchantments in mind. I knew I wanted some permanent way to keep up with decks that had more traditional forms of card advantage and these cards made sense. A few weeks ago I rebuilt my Red-Green deck from the ground up and decided to lean a bit harder on Enchantments. Before the rebuild the deck revolved around Killer Instinct and Impromptu Raid. In order to keep these key components around I included Dowsing Shaman. Moving from “living off the top” to a Tokens build, I decided to see exactly how much mileage I could get out of the Shaman.

Creatures

Acidic Slime

Avenger of Zendikar

Bloodspore Thrinax

Centaur Rootcaster

Dragon Broodmother

Dowsing Shaman

Emrakul’s Evangel

Eternal Witness

Fertilid

Furystoke Giant

Genesis Hydra

Goblin Dark-Dwellers

Hellkite Charger

Hornet Queen

Kessig Cagebreakers

Ogre Battledriver

Oracle of Mul Daya

Orochi Eggwatcher

Paleoloth

Rage Thrower

Savageborn Hydra

Skarrg Guildmage

Sporeback Troll

Terastodon

Thunderfoot Baloth

Ulvenwald Hydra

Wood Elves

Woodland Bellower

Courser of Kruphix

Eidolon of Blossoms

Pentavus

Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter

Dragonlord Atarka

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

Purphoros, God of the Forge

Xenagos, God of Revels

Planeswalkers

Domri Rade

Xenagos, the Reveler

Sorceries

Cultivate

Growth Spasm

Journey of Discovery

Kodama’s Reach

Nissa’s Expedition

Reviving Melody

Shamanic Revelation

Volcanic Wind

Enchantments

Beastmaster Ascension

Doubling Season

Druids’ Repository

Fires of Yavimaya

Goblin Bombardment

Hardened Scales

Outpost Siege

Saproling Burst

Seal of Primordium

Vicious Shadows

Bear Umbra

Squirrel Nest

Artifacts

Fireshrieker

Lightning Greaves

Mage Slayer

Swiftfoot Boots

Lands

8 Forest

8 Mountain

Cinder Glade

Command Tower

Forgotten Cave

Fungal Reaches

Gruul Guildgate

Gruul Turf

Kazandu Refuge

Mountain Valley

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Raging Ravine

Rogue’s Passage

Rootbound Crag

Rugged Highlands

Shivan Oasis

Slippery Karst

Smoldering Crater

Stomping Ground

Temple of Abandon

Temple of the False God

Timber Gorge

Tranquil Thicket

Borborygmos is an intensely personal deck these days. One of the side effects of my treatment for Crohn’s are some very loud stomach growls aka borborygmi. Good news is the treatment is working. The bad news is it’s costing us some sleep.

Borborygmos is a go-wide deck that wants to leverage the Commander’s ability to add counters to make the token army that much more impressive. Beastmaster Ascension, Doubling Season, Hardened Scales help to act as true force multipliers while Goblin Bombardment is an outlet for once the board is jam packed. But a key to this deck is Eidolon of Blossoms.

This deck is not jam packed with Enchantments. Counting the creatures it only has 16 of the type which is enough to draw a card off of the Eidolon a few times a game. That is, unless, Dowsing Shaman is on the table. Now Seal of Primordium and Fires of Yavimaya are recurring sources of velocity. Reviving Melody can “draw” quite a few cards out of the graveyard (old habits die hard) and with Eidolon on the table it looks closer to a Divination than a Restock.

Enchantments play a more prominent role in Borborygmos than they do it Zirilan. That being said the same principle applies - you can only focus on so many threats at once. The fact is it won’t be the Hardened Scales that kills you so dealing with the Tokens from Avenger of Zendikar is the right call. Fires of Yavimaya is scary but is it going to deal the final points of damage or will that be the horde of Wolves from Kessig Cagebreakers?

Enchantments are great in Commander. They do a ton of heavy lifting without being the biggest threat on the field. Part of the reason they are attractive is because removal that can hit them often can hit other threats as well, which can lower their threat profile. Figuring out how to walk that fine line is one reason I love building Commander decks and pitting them against my friends’ creations.

Just don’t pack Tranquility, kay?

Weaving my Own Lore

Last night I played two games of Commander. In it of itself that isn’t strange - it’s one of my favorite ways to play Magic with friends. I trekked up to the Upper West Side with Andrew to join one of his playgroups.

Here is where things start to veer from the normal course.

First off, I only brought one deck that featured Green and Black - my favorite color combination up to this point (and I didn’t even play it). Second, Andrew had warned me that this group was a little more cutthroat than my usual experience so I should come prepared. With that in mind I brought two decks that have the ability to go up against stronger opposition: Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper and Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest.

Sek’Kuar is one of my many graveyard based decks but this one is focused on two card combos. Stitched together with Victimize, Ever After, and Birthing Pod, the deck wants to assemble Nath of the Gilt-Leaf and Sadistic Hypnotist, Triskelion and Mikaeus the Unhallowed or Mephidross Vampire. I recently added Winding Constrictor and Walking Ballista to the deck and was eager to give it a go. Shu Yun is a trinket based deck, using cost reducers like Etherium Sculptor and Herald of Kozilek to fuel massive Shu Yun swings, Nettle Drone pings, or Altar of the Brood triggers.

I didn’t play either of them. Instead I brought out two Mirage Legends in Zirilan of the Claw and Hakim, Loreweaver.

First up was Zirilan. I had been wanting to build a mono-Red deck for some time and finally got around to putting it together. I like the idea of setting rules for combat so the deck features cards like Angel’s Trumpet, Avatar of Slaughter, Bedlam, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and more. The deck also runs a nice suite of Dragons and ways to keep them around beyond the Zirilan exile trigger. Conjurer’s Closet and Sundial of the Infinite do the heavy lifting here. Finally the deck is an excuse to run Dragon Tempest which can deal a surprising amount of damage on its own.

The game set up with Andrew on Karona, the False God “Symmetry”, me on Zirilan, Tony on Diochan, Artful Beauty, Colin (our gracious host) on Dragonlord Atarka, and Mike on Narset, Enlightened Master. I was able to develop my mana early thanks to Myriad Landscape and Magnifying Glass and stuck an early Flameshadow Conjuring. I got my first taste of the Spikey nature of the table when Mike stuck Burning Sands and then played out a bunch of mana rocks.

Yeah, it was going to be one of those games.

Thankfully I had Hellkite Tyrant in hand and got it into play, copied it with the Conjuring, and stole all those rocks. When Mike inevitably cast a board wipe I was in fine shape to start recovering. A copy of Chandra, Pyromaster kept drawing me into lands so I was able to build up my board again all the way up to Avatar of Slaughter. Hoarding Dragon found me a Conjurer’s Closet to go with my Humble Defector - a combo I didn’t realize until everyone stared awkwardly at the two cards. With Mike at one I passed up the opportunity to Earthquake him out of the game only to lose that Earthquake to Incendiary Command. Andrew and Colin eventually fell to Tony stealing Andrew’s Hydra Omnivore, leaving the two Red mages squaring off. I was at 9 facing down a lethal attack next turn and ripped a Conquering Manticore. I could cast it and steal one of Tony’s creatures to put him to exactly one.

If only I had cast that Earthquake. Instead I offered up the hand. Still, a second place showing with a deck outside of my comfort zone and one built “for fun” was better than I expected.

Creatures

Avatar of Slaughter

Bogardan Hellkite

Conquering Manticore

Crater Hellion

Crimson Hellkite

Hellkite Charger

Hellkite Tyrant

Hoard-Smelter Dragon

Hoarding Dragon

Humble Defector

Ire Shaman

Mindclaw Shaman

Molten Primordial

Skyline Despot

Utvara Hellkite

Viashino Heretic

Warmonger Hellkite

Zealous Conscripts

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs

Burnished Hart

Pilgrim’s Eye

Solemn Simulacrum

Steel Hellkite

Planeswalkers

Chandra, Pyromaster

Koth of the Hammer

Instants

Comet Storm

Into the Core

Reiterate

Sorceries

Blasphemous Act

Earthquake

Jaws of Stone

Slice and Dice

Volcanic Vision

Enchantments

Barrage of Expendables

Bedlam

Dictate of the Twin Gods

Dragon Tempest

Flameshadow Conjuring

Goblin Bombardment

Outpost Siege

Pyrohemia

Shivan Harvest

Vicious Shadows

Warstorm Surge

Artifacts

Altar of Dementia

Angel’s Trumpet

Armillary Sphere

Carnage Altar

Conjurer’s Closet

Fire Diamond

Hedron Archive

Magewight’s Stone

Magnifying Glass

Mimic Vat

Nevinyrral’s Disk

Sol Ring

Sundial of the Infinite

Thousand-Year Elixir

Wayfarer’s Bauble

Illusionist’s Bracers

Lightning Greaves

Skullclamp

Swiftfoot Boots

Lands

21 Mountain

Blasted Landscape

Dormant Volcano

Evolving Wilds

Forgotten Cave

Ghitu Encampment

High Market

Keldon Necropolis

Myriad Landscape

Mystifying Maze

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Opal Palace

Shivan Gorge

Smoldering Crater

Temple of the False God

Terramorphic Expanse

Next up was Hakim, Loreweaver. I had recently broken down my Bruna, Light of Alabaster deck and had planned to build a Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor “flying tribal” build. Hakim was always going to be a part of the deck but then I saw a post about how you could stack Hakim’s upkeep ability multiple times and I was  smitten. I put something together this week and decided to give it a go.

Game two started with Tony on Reyhan, Last of the Abzan/Ravos, Soultender, Colin on Iroas, God of Victory, Mike on Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, and Andrew on Sharuum the Hegemon. This time around I got off to a very slow start and didn’t hit my third land until turn 6 or 7. I managed to stick a Claws of Gix, Sword of the Animist, and Compulsion but was far behind everyone else. Colin had played Serra’s Ascendent which Mike stole and managed to buff his life total into the 70s. Andrew thinned his library with Solemn Simulacrum and Blade of Selves while Tony played out solid value creatures. I was at 20 life and barely a threat when I manage to stick a Nevinyrral’s Disk. Somehow I survived long enough to activate it and reset the board, leaving Tony with a massive Stonehoof Chieftan. Mike followed that up with Humility and Andrew with his own copy of Disk. I waited patiently, just playing lands, as the second Disk blew.

Then things got really crazy. Mike cast Magister Sphinx a number of times, targeting everyone else but me. Tony was the first to fall as the aggro he had thrown at Mike came back to bit him. Colin sat down building out a massive board with Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Iroas, Sun Titan, and Repercussion. Andrew fell to Repercussion triggers and Mike would have fallen a turn earlier if not for my Evacuation. He recast the Sphinx, sending Colin to ten. I played out Hakim and got Drake Umbra on there. Colin went crazy and cast a ton of stuff, attacked Mike for lethal, and fetched up a land with Arid Mesa. Going down to a single untapped Plains he passed the turn, leaving up Avacyn to block. I cycled a Lonely Sandbar and saw Zephid’s Embrace. I drew for my turn and saw Tricks of the Trade. I had plenty of mana at this point. I put Tricks on Hakim, then gave him a warm Embrace and swung in for exactly 9.

I had no business winning that game but boy did it feel good.

Hakim, Loreweaver turned itself into a surprisingly fun and competitive deck. I do not doubt that one of the reasons I survived the night was because I was an unknown quantity - if these guys knew how I played there’s a chance I would have been eliminated earlier both times. But  I played to my outs and managed to win a game. I also forced people to read old obscure cards which is probably my second favorite thing about Commander.

Creatures

Academy Researchers

Advanced Stitchwing

Aura Thief

Dakra Mystic

Forgotten Creation

Iridescent Drake

Meletis Astronomer

Monastery Loremaster

Stitchwing Skaab

Archetype of Imagination

Hypnotic Siren

Thassa’s Emissary

Rayne, Academy Chancellor

Solemn Simulacrum

Steel Hellkite

Instants

Aetherspouts

Capsize

Counterspell

Dismiss

Evacuation

Exclude

Fact or Fiction

Forbid

Frantic Search

Kiora’s Dismissal

Pongify

Scour from Existence

Sorceries

Ancestral Memories

Windfall

Enchantments

Attunement

Compulsion

Copy Enchantment

Legacy’s Allure

Monastery Siege

Propaganda

Honden of Seeing Winds

Auramancer’s Guise

Confiscate

Corrupted Conscience

Curiosity

Disappear

Drake Umbra

Fate Foretold

Flight of Fancy

Fool’s Demise

Ordeal of Thassa

Pemmin’s Aura

Sigil of Sleep

Spirit Away

Treachery

Tricks of the Trade

Volition Reins

Zephid’s Embrace

Eldrazi Conscription

Artifacts

Caged Sun

Claws of Gix

Nevinyrral’s Disk

Surveyor’s Scope

Wayfarer’s Bauble

Helm of the Gods

Swiftfoot Boots

Sword of the Animist

Lands

30 Island

Blighted Cataract

Evolving Wilds

Lonely Sandbar

Reliquary Tower

Remote Isle

Terramorphic Expanse

Warped Landscape

Simple Pleasures in America

Hello friends.

I'd like you to listen to a song. 

I know there's some problematic language in it but I hope you can see past it and through to  the message.

We are entering uncertain times. Various outlets have reminded us not to forget who we are in the coming years. Me? I want to think about the simple pleasures.

For me it's finding a parking spot on my first try.

It's cooking a new recipe and having my wife enjoy it.

It's watching my cousin follow in my footsteps and work at the same summer camp I attended and worked at.

It's watching my students light up when I ask about their work.

If you listened to the song and read the post please reply to me on Twitter @nerdtothecore and tell me one of your simple pleasures.

Bad Cop/Bad Cop Matters

The election forced my hand. Writing has helped me come to terms with the maelstrom of feelings I experience on a daily basis. Which means I get to empty my vault of ideas. I had an outline of this post but I never put pen to paper.

I was in a quagmire. Not Sorry by Bad Cop/Bad Cop is an album that sank its teeth into my brain and shouted "Listen to me on repeat!" I've dutifully obeyed that command for almost three weeks now. The 2015 record is infectious with its tight rhythms and hooks. It's a perfect realization of pop-punk. But I gave up writing about it because all my takes came back to a key element: Bad Cop/Bad Cop is a band of women.

I gave up because it felt reductive. It should not matter in the grand scheme of things that this fucking fantastic record is written and recorded by four women as opposed to four men or a mixed group. It took the election for me to come to my senses and see that the composition matters but at the same time it doesn't.

Let's take the song "Cheers!". It's one of those perfect pop-punk tunes. At just over four minutes it is a quintessential "I am doing a shitty job of getting over you" song. As a former bartender the imagery is pitch perfect. But the artistry is just unbelievable. Watch the video:

There's a moment after the ladies launch into chorus for the first time. The brief rest of "this one's to chase" is such a technically savvy move that it gives me shivers every time. 

Of course then they launch into a second refrain where we just graced with the bass. In a moment evocative of the Mad Caddies Linh carries the song forward and we get to watch Stacey dance. Let me tell you something - when the band looks like they're having a good time it's hard not to smile right along with them. Of course the way Jennie goes into the lyric "cheap shots" is so heartbreakingly perfect that it makes me want to down some well bourbon just for the burn. And all the while Myra is keeping perfect time until we end the song with some shout along vocals. 

The song is perfection.

How about a contrast? Punk often prides itself on being progressive in its values. Equality is a hallmark and one that should be pushed to the forefront. That being said representation is lacking. Take a listen to the Have Nots' "Louisville Slugger": 

The song is important in its message against domestic violence and that of supporting women. However it still has a reductive stance of white male protectors coming to the rescue of white women. I still like the song but the more I listen to it the more problems I find. Because it says that the only answer to this is violence. 

It isn't about rescue it's about revenge.

Bad Cop/Bad Cop tackles the same subject in "Sugarcane" 

There are similar messages - "I'll use a fucking hammer on his face" is not subtle. What "Sugarcane" does that "Louisville Slugger" does not is that it emphasizes the self worth of the main character rather than focus on the revenge against the abuser. The shift in the focus makes this a story about a woman instead of one about her friend seeking retribution. 

Again the song is a four chord wonder played at not-quite-breakneck pace. At under three minutes "Sugarcane" has the blood of No Use for a Name and Teenage Bottlerocket running through its veins. 

There are other awesome tracks - "Joey Lawrence" instantly belongs in my "woah-oh" hall of fame while "The 'Wood" takes on gentrification in a neat package. However I want to close on the track that encouraged me to revisit the review. "Support" is a fist raising anthem designed to close out sets and leave the crowd wanting more. We need this song now more than ever.

You're with us or against us

It's yes or no

You're silence is defense 

of the status quo

If you support me

Then come and join me

We're on our own

An Obstacle

It's Monday. A new week has started. I spent most of yesterday struggling to write an article. I write about the card game Magic and I never realized what a privilege it has been to do so. I do not just mean the fact that I can trade my words for some capital but rather the mindset required to be able to devote time and energy to a hobby.

To something in the grand scheme of thing does not matter.

It was not until yesterday, wracked by guilt and fear, that I realized that not only is it a privilege to write but it is precisely because I am privileged that I have shared my words.

My words have not been those of the oppressed or downtrodden. They were words of enjoyment and diversion. This week I had a hard time focusing on anything as I started to contemplate the next four years in America.

I somehow finished my work, realizing that maybe the article will provide a brief respite for others like me. 

My mind has been my greatest impediment these days. I try to focus on tasks but I fear the future. I hate where my mind goes but it always lands on those words:

"Never forget."

Has American forgotten? 

No; so many never knew.

As my mind is wont to do it wanders. I imagine a time eight years ago where those on the other side of the aisle had just lost an election. I stop myself - thinking of them as the "other side" will not help us move forward, but neither will ignoring their opposition.

Another obstacle.

What is different about these two times? Is our fear any more real?

This is the problem of focusing on feelings and not facts. Eight years ago a candidate some people did not like was elected but that same candidate did not overtly go after citizens and their way of life.

Today I choked up on the phone, calling organizations imploring them to never forget.

And again, hope. Maybe American won't forget. Maybe this time it will be different and the structure will protect us. It is this hope I cling to. It is with this hope that every day when I ask people "Is it time to leave?" that the answer will forever remain no.