I'm well and truly back from holiday now. I've had nearly two weeks in the office and jet lag has become merely the pleasant memory of waking at a reasonable time for an adult human. I have returned to the vacillating sleep pattern of the constant insomniac.
I haven't updated the blog in this time due to a mixture of other commitments and general ambivalence. As an example, witness the original intro to this post, circa January 31st:
"It's not quite spring yet, but that's no reason not to get a head start. I've decided to take the release of Mirrodin Besieged as an opportunity to spring clean my Commander deck. There are a lot of exciting cards from the last few sets that I just haven't got round to including yet."
Well it's not quite summer yet, but better late than never, eh? For reference, the old list for my Saffi Eriksdotter deck can be found here.
Getting the Chop
The most difficult task is deciding what can be cut to make room. There are a number of cards that seem like must-includes, but how many of them are really essential to the core of the deck? There is a saying that sacred cows make the tastiest burgers, let's hope that's true as I'm breaking out the chainsaw. It's venerable bovine smashing time!
Vinelasher Kudzu is a hard cut to make purely from a sentimental point of view. It's one of my favourite cards in the game, and a key inclusion in one of the first successful tournament decks I created from scratch (a RG Assault Loam deck during the brief window when Seismic Assault and Life from the Loam were together in Standard). It doesn't play an important role in this deck though, which is why I am rotating it out for now.
On the other hand, Novablast Wurm does play a key role; I've won several games by suiting it up with both Swords and the Greaves. The problem is that winning like that isn't very fun, especially in multiplayer. There have been several occasions where I've had the opportunity to play it and decided not to because the game would be less fun otherwise. A good sign it would be better as another card.
Defense of the Heart was an experiment which I consider to have failed. The way the deck plays out, there is never a good time to play it early. Later on, there is no particular pair of creatures that I wanted to get with it. Like the Wurm, this is an easy case of cutting a card that I found myself not wanting to play. With only three enchantments left in the deck, Academy Rector starts to look pretty anaemic, so makes way for some new blood.
I've decided that I want to increase the number of creatures in the deck, so it makes sense to reduce the number of sweeper effects. Saltblast is a great generic answer card, but a similar effect can be had from the incoming Qasali Pridemage.
Cows!
There are two main reasons I've decided to cut these Commander staples from the deck. First, sitting with either of these artifacts in play can lead to other players over-estimating what you are capable of and (sometimes) unfairly marking you as a threat. Secondly, both of these artifacts encourage you to play in a way where you have to pay close attention to the game and act during other player's turns. This is a good thing in competitive duels, but in multi-player (and particularly Commander) the emphasis should be on interacting socially.
In fact, a lot of the changes I'm making are to move the deck towards an ethos of 'have a big turn, then enjoy talking with other players during their big turns'. My hope is that this will lead to better Commander games for everyone involved.
Another staple in green decks, and closely linked to the above reasoning on drawing too much attention. It also loses a lot of value with the Orrery departing.
Regrowth is a small and efficient effect. There just so happens to be a new card that provides a much larger and splashier effect. In Commander land, that is known as 'an upgrade'... Harmonize is similarly a solid card, but less exciting than some of the newer ways to gain card advantage that are available.
In keeping with the plan to increase the creature count, I'm replacing these two fun instants with two fun creatures.
Cutting the two Tutors will reduce the amount of shuffling required (which is still a lot, don't worry, manual dexterity fans!) I imagine this is a short term change and these two cards will return to the deck in time.
There is, sadly, a limit to how much equipment you can run before you risk drawing too many and not enough creatures to hold them. With two exciting new swords in Scars block, the Greaves make way for the possibility of the Four Sword Dream (shortly to be upgraded to the Five Sword Dream). The Archon is solid but earns an honourable discharge as two of the incoming creatures share the 3WW mana cost.
Finally, I am switching around these lands for what should hopefully be some more effective versions.
In With the New
That's twenty three cards shown the bench, nearly a quarter of the deck. In their place I have a selection of old favourites and new classics to revitalise the deck:
I'll start with the replacement lands. Thicket is a straight upgrade over Elfhame Palace; Oran-Rief is getting the nod over Pendelhaven as a combo with Cauldron of Souls (below); and Brushland makes way for my newly acquired Thawing Glaciers promo. As an experiment I have dropped the land count to 39 now to make room for more awesome cards (well, one more awesome card, but whatever). In the absence of Maze of Ith, Mystifying Maze offers a powerful deterent to would be attackers, as well as an effective political tool.
A nice utility creature, and one that interacts well with the general. Provides repeated strikes against artifacts and enchantments that are being misused in enemy hands.
Three more creatures that promote tutoring and shuffling (I told you - check out these ripped finger muscles from all the shuffling!) The Knight and Titan provide reliable access to utility lands, but more important is Stonehewer Giant, who joins Stoneforge Mystic to bring the Four Sword Dream closer to reality.
A fantastic creature to hold a sword (or four! (or five!))
Having two more creatures that can perform similar functions to the general should give the deck far more consistency in getting its recursion on.
Some additional weapons of mass destruction both figuratively and, in the case of Myojin, literally. My hope is that these guys will give me some interesting power plays. I'll be watching Iona to make sure she isn't an unfun card, but who could possibly object to Iona set on blue?
The biggie. I imagine that every Commander player looked at this card when it was released and thought "I'm playing that!" This is, like, so obviously designed for the format. It looks set to become a staple.
Like the Valkyrie and Karmic Guide, these two artifacts mirror the purpose of the general. Even better, they can both be used for political gain, in particular the Cauldron.
While GSZ is tearing up constructed formats, the whole cycle of Zeniths seem perfect for EDH with their ability to scale up in effect as the game goes on. In this deck, GSZ has targets at every cost from 2 to 7. Also, shuffling!
The two latest planeswalkers to qualify for inclusion, by dint of being white or green and not sucking in EDH (sorry, Nissa). Planewalkers are so fun and powerful that I want to play as many of them as I can in the deck.
These are required to live the FSD life, although I think that they are less exciting than the two original swords for Commander. Here's hoping that Sword of War and Peace has a better set of abilities (Wheel of Fortune plus Land Tax maybe? What, I can't dream?)
I'm sure I'll be back soon with news of how the changes have worked out, but it's GL and HF for now.
Steve
