About Omen Machine

Let's talk for a minute about Omen Machine in the Mayael deck.



"But Jasper," I hear you cry, "Omen Machine is a terrible card! It's a symmetrical effect and your opponents get to go first and Guthix only knows if you'll get a decent card from it at all!"

Well, you're wrong. Omen Machine is what we in the business call "tech."

See, the Mayael deck's main gameplan revolves around building up some mana and then eventually dropping large creatures onto the board one at a time. There's not a lot of card draw and no real rush to play multiple spells in one turn. Every individual spell in the deck tends to have a high impact on the board, so while it's possible to run out of gas, the deck gets a lot of miles per gallon, so to speak.

If the opponent trades one-for-one with Mayael's fatties, that's okay, because there's another one waiting in the wings to replace it. However, if the opponent is also drawing extra cards and getting 2-for-1s, it's easy to fall behind.

Omen Machine stops that strategy cold by forcing everyone to play on the same terms as Mayael: It brings all of the action out of the hand and onto the battlefield. Mayael is already only drawing one card a turn, so for us it's a strict positive effect: instead of having to wait and tap out to cast the fatty we just drew, we get to play it for free and still have mana up to activate Mayael! Kablam! But for the rest of the table, it's not so optimal. Removal? Use it or lose it, because you won't be able to save it for a better target. Counterspells? Ha! Good luck with that. Card draw? Nice blanks you got there.

When everyone is playing Mayael's game, Mayael is going to win. You don't invade Russia in the winter, you don't start a land war in Asia, and you don't fight a topdeck war against a deck where half the spells are enormous fatties.

Now, it's possible to really abuse it, if something like Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack is in the picture. Really, though, rawdogging it is just fine—and if you're not visibly "abusing" the effect, it's less likely that the other players at the table will rush to destroy it.

So there's my little love song to this little-known piece of tech. It's an awesome card that's great for punishing control and combo decks.

Good news. My new machine has the muscle to record and stream video. Fun. ^_^



Here's two commander games. Not exactly drowning in viewers, I suppose, but commentating on games like this is a good exercise even if nobody's watching.

The true story of how I milled the table without playing a single spell

Shuffled up Mayael the Anima
Against Niv-Mizzet, Wydwen, Kaalia
My op'ner needed one green mana source
But I refused to mulligan, of course
Niv-Mizzet's Sol Ring promised a quick start
And lo, his next play nearly stopped my heart
For on turn 4, he grinned and played Hive Mind
Sharing spells could be construed as kind
But trouble came when, with mischievous glee,
Wydwen untapped and cast Prosperity
Again, a card that might seem generous
But her gifts showed themselves as treacherous
When Niv-Mizzet tapped three more of his lands
For Windfall! Everyone tossed out their hands
(Already filled with eighteen precious spells!)
To draw that many more, as it compels
But Hive Mind's trigger had to interject
And three more times, repeated the effect
Until our libraries were very small
With hardly any cards in them at all
Our decks were down to just three measly draws
And running out would leave us with a loss
Niv-Mizzet's Howling Mine sped up this clock
Our time was ticking down -- was it a lock?
Not so! For I had one trick up my sleeve
By which a vict'ry I might yet achieve
Discarding at the end of my next turn,
I binned my Vigor and my Worldspine Wurm
Their triggers sent them back into my deck
And I was leading, though 'twas neck and neck
Three turns passed by, and three opponents down
With two cards left, I proudly took the crown!
I sat back, quietly musing, "Well, well, well --
I won the game, but never cast a spell!"

#MayaelFTW returns

Time for another round with the #MayaelFTW deck.

Balefire Dragon is taking the place of Vagrant Plowbeasts. With Spearbreaker, Avacyn, and Deathless Angel already protecting my guys more effectively, Plowbeast has become less useful. Balefire Dragon is a card I've been meaning to try out since Innistrad, but never got around to. It seems pretty strong. I don't have much in the way of Loxodon Warhammer sorts of things to buff it, so it might not be superlative, but even without support, the ability should be good on its own.

I took out Akroma, Angel of Fury for Utvara Hellkite. Akroma has been consistently so-so. She's decent against decks she has protection from, but even in those matchups, she's not exactly winning games singlehandedly as a Shivan Dragon variant. She's been on the bottom of the pecking order for a while, and I don't feel too bad cutting her. Utvara Hellkite is a card that--as I may have mentioned in my RTR set review--interests me. I think it's worth testing. And hey, I even added another dragon. (Dragon count: 4)

Lastly, I've swapped Hellkite Charger in favor of Mana-Charged Dragon. I haven't been liking Hellkite Charger very much. Its ability is rarely useful, and the haste isn't relevant when I play it on someone else's turn, so it's been a vanilla 5/5 flyer pretty often. Mana-Charged Dragon still fills the "Mana sink for alpha strike" role, but it adds trample for free, and there's an off chance that someone else will pump it for me.

The list looks like this now. (Click to enlarge.)

Then I played a few games for testing and never saw any of the new cards, so meh.

Mayael and friends

#MayaelFTW: Return to Ravnica review

Okay, it's time to share my thoughts on how the new cards affect Mayael the Anima. I've been playing Mayael for a long time now, and I'm still continually tuning my list, and there's a new batch of cards that could be worth adding. Let's get right to it.




Right off the bat we have a sweet one! Angel of Serenity does something we don't have a lot of access to: it's a fatty that's also a multi-target pinpoint creature removal spell. Sure, we've had cards like Hateflayer, Living Inferno, Bogardan Hellkite, Admonition Angel--but none of them are remotely close to this level. Angel of Serenity offers a powerful, unique, useful effect at a reasonable cost with a healthy-sized flying body, and I feel comfortable pegging her as one of the best cards for Mayael to come out of this set.

Even if she dies immediately, you still get to bounce the creatures. And she can target your own creatures in your graveyard, too--they'll go back to your hand when she leaves play. There are also those ever-popular tricks to permanently exile the targets with instant-speed sacrifice or blink sorts of effects, if you're so inclined.

Basically, a great creature removal spell that is also a fatty. What's not to love?




This one I'm not so hot on. Basically a worse version of Prison Term, which isn't even particularly good. Not much to say here--it's overcosted and underpowered.




Now this is a hoser. It turns off all the graveyard shenanigans, past, present, and future, and it does so with merciless efficiency. My build is very light on graveyard interactions, so I went ahead and added this card, and it's been performing very well so far. There's always at least one deck at the table that wants to abuse the graveyard for loopy card advantage shenanigans, and loopy card advantage shenanigans are one of the easiest ways Mayael can lose. Rest in Peace shuts that down. It might seem narrow, but it's actually a lot more universal than you'd think.

If my deck were heavier on the shenanigans itself--like one of my past builds that played around with Death or Glory and Marshal's Anthem and that sort of thing--I might want to skip this, since it is symmetrical. But it's a big whammy against a very large portion of the field, and making unfair decks play fair is powerful.

If you run just about any white deck, you should strongly consider Rest in Peace.




Making the team indestructible actually isn't the worst. This is a little too much mana to pay for that effect, though, especially since so many fatties already have some sort of built-in resistance to ordinary destruction.




Vanilla flyer with only 6-7 power? Yeah, that's not gonna do it. If you're running Chaos Imps, it's because you have some very serious card availability issues.




Pauper interlude! I've played Incurable Ogre in Pauper Mayael with no shame, and Cobblebrute is strictly better. Cheap fat is hard enough to come by that this man should be a strong consideration in Pauper.




Hoo boy, this card. It's pretty crazy. I am always on the lookout for wacky chaotic library effects like this one, and so far, I think it passes muster. It's nowhere near the power level of Lurking Predators, of course, but it does a good job of creating an exciting minigame.

The thing you need to understand if you're thinking about playing Guild Feud is this: you're not going to win every time. Some amount of the time, you're going to flip three noncreatures, and your opponent is going to get something awesome. Now, the Mayael deck has a lot of very good creatures, and the odds of winning are going to be pretty high. But you can't win them all. If you're not comfortable with that, don't play this card, because it will make you rage.

For my part, I'm happy rolling with it, rawdog-style. Random moments like this are what #MayaelFTW is all about.




Pauper interlude! Another common fatty, and its stats are respectable, I guess, albeit nothing special. What's most notable here is that this is indeed a beast, which means it works with Wirewood Savage--not irrelevant. I'm not sure if it makes the cut, but it's worth thinking about.




This is an exciting effect, but I've been burned by Godsire before, and I'm not sure it's good enough on its own. I could be convinced, but my initial reaction is that it'll need dragon synergy to be worthwhile.

That being said, it's certainly not unreasonable for Mayael to run dragons. I don't know what critical mass is, but if you've got some number of big red flyers, you might do well to check this dragon out.

Also, shout-out to the token subtheme, which is getting more and more viable with each new set. Rith, the Awakener was never much of a powerhouse to begin with, but it's almost embarrassing how much worse she is than this guy.




Much like Rest in Peace, this is a nice hate card. However, artifact hate isn't at quite the same premium as graveyard hate, since there are a lot more options to choose from. Rest in Peace is easily the biggest and baddest of its category, but Vandalblast has steeper competition to contend with. Woodfall Primus and Terastodon already take out artifacts, and if you want to go real deep, you can also run Hoard-Smelter Dragon or Rustmouth Ogre. And those guys are creatures that work with Mayael. For noncreature spells, you've already got your mass removal suite, Akroma's Vengeance and the like. Oh, and Fracturing Gust, which is instant-speed, hits enchantments, and gains you life. Shattering Pulse only hits one thing at a time, but it's an instant, which is a big deal.

You get the idea--the market for artifact hate is very competitive and the slots are very limited. It's easy to hate on artifacts incidentally without dedicating a whole slot to it. Also, a large portion of the time, Vandalblast is only going to be a value card that you play as a 4-for-1 to set the opponents back on mana a little. That's good, but it's not exactly an essential effect.

I'm not ruling it out, but I don't think I want to spend a slot on this. I wouldn't fault you for including it if you're so inclined.




The problem here, I think, is that it's essentially vanilla. 5/5 for 2GG is efficient, sure, but the Scavenge ability costs a hefty chunk of sorcery-speed mana. A lot of the time, Deadbridge Goliath is just going to be a 5/5.

I could imagine a build where "just a 5/5 for four" is good enough. Like an aggro sort of deal focusing on cheap fat, with Mayael as a late-game post-Wrath card advantage engine. And it's not a bad card. The Scavenge will be relevant in some games. +5/+5 on something with trample is no slouch, and it resets Persist creatures.

I imagine most versions of Mayael just won't be interested in it, though.




Here's a card.

There are a few other fatties already fighting for the "10+ mana unkillable creature" slot. How does Worldspine Wurm stack up? Well, I'm pretty sure Ulamog and Blightsteel are more powerful. However, they have the big drawback of being, uh, you know... unfun. They can be pretty miserable no matter which side of the table you're on. But Worldspine Wurm, not so much. It's a straight 15/15 trampling monster--good, clean, fatty fun.

Then there's Darksteel Colossus, who is more traditionally indestructible. I feel like Worldspine Wurm is the clear winner in that fight; 15 is significantly more than 11, and its token-making brand of indestructibility works better against sacrifice effects, which is a big upside. (Or with sacrifice effects, don't forget--Worldspine Wurm with Greater Good is quite the blowout.)

There's also those other Eldrazi, but they're all worse than Ulamog anyway, so meh.

You don't want to have too many eleven-mana creatures, but Worldspine Wurm seems like it's as good as they come.




Seems solid. Getting the token immediately puts it well ahead of Utvara Hellkite off the bat. And ten power of trample is a lot. Oh, and of course there's synergy with flicker effects and whatnot.

Yeah, pretty solid. I could definitely see myself running it and being happy with it. (And again, shout-out to the token subtheme.)

I wouldn't call it an auto-include, but it's good.




If you're looking for a four-mana lifegain creature with a big butt, Wall of Reverence is that-a-way. Populate is cute for that token subtheme, I guess.




Hmm, yeah, seems nice.

If you're in the market for a mana rock, I think this is worse than Darksteel Ingot or Coalition Relic. I also think it's worse than Selesnya Keyrune, but I could be wrong there.

You could certainly do worse, I suppose. If you want your mana fixed, Chromatic Lantern will definitely fix it. It works with Maze of Ith and Diamond Valley too, if that's your cup of tea.

So yeah, it's fine. Nothing special. Don't get too excited.




I actually like this, as far as mana rocks go. The 3/3 body isn't impressive, but it is relevant--it can keep early attackers off your back sometimes, and it's cheap enough that you can activate it and still have enough mana for your Overrun effect when you alpha strike.

Mind, I'm not actually going to run it, because I favor land-based ramp. But if you like artifacts, I think this is better than the Time Spiral totems (if only by virtue of tapping for two colors).

On Avacyngeddon

So I've been thinking a bit about Avacyn, Angel of Hope (seen here finishing the Kessig Wolf Run in under 12 parsecs).

Earlier today I played a game where I had Quicksilver Amulet in play and she was the only creature in my hand, and I realized that I probably don't want to actually put her onto the battlefield. See, I figured it would be so much better value to wait and drop her in response to removal, right? But now I'm wondering if I was being crazy. So I think this is an interesting scenario.

On the one hand, I had Spearbreaker Behemoth on the board, which was already doing work for my creatures. But on the other hand, I was holding a Catastrophe, which I could have used as a one-sided Armageddon if Avacyn were in play. I am still not sure what the best line was.

I ended up playing Catastrophe on creatures to clear the board, prompting the scoops from one of the two remaining players. Then my last opponent standing played Karador into Rune-Scarred Demon to get the shenanigans going again, and with him tapped out I did the math and saw that dropping Avacyn EOT put him dead on board to Kessig Wolf Run + Mirari's Wake, so I did that and won the game on turn 12, as you can see in the screenshot.

I'm not sure if that was the optimal line, though. It's possible I should have just gunned for the Armageddon plan first chance I got. The problem was that I had just won my last game on that same plan. I don't want to win all my games with Avacyngeddon. Some of them, maybe, but not all of them.

Well, I dunno. Something to ponder.

M13 for #MayaelFTW

Boundless Realms: The problem with this card is that you basically have to be on an all- or mostly-basics manabase for it to work. I think if that's the case, it's probably better than Mana Reflection for sure and maybe better than Mirari's Wake, by virtue of being a sorcery instead of an enchantment. But I am not convinced it's worth skewing my manabase to accommodate Boundless Realms.




Elderscale Wurm: The thing with this guy is that the ability just isn't all that relevant in this format. It's probably okay against certain matchups, but most decks won't care about it at all, and Blazing Archon and Gisela are far, far stronger versions of the effect. Elderscale Wurm will not be making it into my deck.




Mwonvuli Beast Tracker: Oh joy, another tutor for Primeval Titan? No thanks, I think I'll be fine. That's pretty much the only guy worth tutoring for with the Beast Tracker here, and lord knows we get enough of Titan already. Plus, Fierce Empath already does the same thing better, and we're aren't exactly nuts about him, are we? Pass.




Thragtusk: This is one of those guys who fits in the "Baneslayer Angel" slot: the early-game lifegain dude. My initial thoughts are that it's worth testing, sort of a smaller version of Pelakka Wurm that's probably better than Mycoid Shepherd but worse than Baneslayer Angel or Wurmcoil Engine.




Thundermaw Hellkite: Not really worth a slot. He's just too low-impact. He'll come down, hit for 5, and then maybe durdle for a while. 5/5 is too small to race anything, but big enough that the guy you attack with it will want to kill it. And aside from being a body, he doesn't actually do anything. I'm putting him down as "bad".




Worldfire: "Ooh look at me I have a Greater Gargadon suspended." Yes, you're very clever. Next card, please.




Ajani, Caller of the Pride: While planeswalkers in general are tough to miss with, the Mayael deck doesn't really get much out of this effect. I guess you could play it if you want, since it's just a generically nice card, but I wouldn't.




Rings of Valkas, Kalonia, and Thune: I personally think these cards are really cool. They're not very strong, though. I mean, you could be running, like, Sword of Fire and Ice. Or any of the other four. Or, I dunno, Mask of Memory or something? Whatever. Point is, if you're gonna buff creatures, these are not exactly the prime options. I mean, I don't even run Loxodon Warhammer. Can't see running these.




 Cathedral of War: Exalted is nice, but it's not so nice that I'm willing to run a land that's colorless and comes into play tapped. You don't see me playing Llanowar Reborn, and I'm pretty sure this is worse than that.




Hellion Crucible: We have enough manlands that don't require you to sacrifice them, and the "colorless land" slots are already very crowded. Nantuko Monastery is better than this card, and I don't run Nantuko Monastery. This is not making the cut.


Thoughts on some notable reprints

Serra Avatar and Hamletback Goliath: If you're in the market for "Creatures that are absurdly gigantic but otherwise vanilla", these are two of the best. Me, I like to get more utility out of my guys, but maybe your build wants them.
Fervor: I don't think the deck needs this effect. If it did, though, Fires of Yavimaya is the clearly superior choice.
Rancor: Notably, very good with those big dumb vanilla creatures like Hamletback Goliath and Serra Avatar.
Akroma's Memorial: This is an okay card for some decks, but I don't like it here. There are too many better options for mass pump effects. I have a long list of cards I would run in this slot before going to Akroma's Memorial; off the top of my head, Triumph of the Horde, True Conviction, Overwhelming Stampede, Insurrection, Craterhoof Behemoth...
Gilded Lotus: This is actually a pretty nice ramp spell, but being in green, we get to use Mana Reflection, Mirari's Wake, and Primeval Titan already, so this isn't something I'd be looking to run.
Reliquary Tower: I really like having this card in my deck just to deal with annoying Howling Mine effects, but over time the deck's been wanting new colorless lands, and Reliquary Tower has definitely been on the weaker end of the scale, and in my last update I ended up cutting it. It's still pretty good if you run a lot of card draw, though, like Garruk, Primal Hunter or Greater Good or whatnot.


The Verdict

There's nothing in M13 that I'm looking to add to my Mayael deck. The expansion has a fair share of decent, playable cards for the deck, but none of them are better than what we already have.

Maybe Thragtusk.

More Commander

Played some more games today with both Gisela and Mayael.

On the Mayael side of things, Primeval Titan is still pulling his weight like a champ. Avacyn, Angel of Hope has been seeing the board a lot lately as well, and she's vying for the title of "Best creature in deck." I've been consistently impressed with her mass indestructibility. On the downside, I have yet to activate Slayers' Stronghold, despite drawing it in two or three games. I'll give it some more time, but so far I'm not sold. So far it's just a much worse version of Winding Canyons.

Oh, also, I added Shelter to the deck. Otherworldly Journey has been one of my favorite pieces of tech for a while now, and I've found myself wanting an additional copy. Shelter isn't quite as flexible for protecting my guys from mass removal or from non-targeted removal like edicts; it can't reuse enters-the-battlefield triggers; it can't regain control of a stolen creature; it can't remove auras or counters from an opponent's creature. However, it does draw a card, and it's a little better as a combat trick. We'll see how it pans out. I chose it over Faith's Shield or Stave Off or Apostle's Blessing because drawing a card is nice and Mayael's curve can afford to pay two mana instead of one (play Mayael at 5 with two up, activate her next turn at 6). I could see the other choices being good too: Faith's Shield can protect my noncreature permanents if necessary; Apostle's Blessing can be cast for colorless if I don't have extra white, can protect my artifacts, and can give protection from artifacts; and Stave Off can target an opponent's creature. I really wish that I could just play a second copy of Otherworldly Journey instead, though.

With Gisela, not much to say. The deck still needs some tuning, and to be honest, I still need some practice piloting it--I'm having difficulty sequencing my plays. Mostly, I feel like I'm either playing Armageddons too soon or not soon enough. A perfectly timed Geddon is a beautiful thing, but it's harder than I thought it would be to pull it off.

I did manage to get my first Heartless Hidetsugu one-shot, though. Played Hidetsugu and Gisela on the same turn with Anger in the graveyard and opponents all tapped out at even life totals. Tap Hidetsugu, 40 damage to all of them, 9 damage to me, boom! Good game. I'm sure that'll get old at some point, but I was grinning, I'll tell you that.

Another dose of #MayaelFTW

Before playing, I made a couple changes to the deck.

First, I took out It That Betrays for Baneslayer Angel. Last time, I complained that It That Betrays basically, well, sucked. I was planning to swap it for Ulamog, but did you know Ulamog is like 23 tickets? Yikes! Screw that! So, Baneslayer Angel. My initial impression of her was that she's a little too small to be exciting, but on further reflection, she is a pretty solid body. I like lifelink a lot, and flying + first strike is good on defense. I can imagine plenty of scenarios where I'd be happy to see her. So let's give her a shot.

Second, I took out Reliquary Tower for Slayers' Stronghold. Since I took out Greater Good, I don't really have enough card draw to justify Reliquary Tower. I still like having something to combat opposing Howling Mine-type effects, but it's the weakest land in the deck right now and I didn't want to cut a spell. Stronghold interests me; I'm not sure how good it is and I think it deserves some testing.

So anyway, in this game I mulliganed a one-lander into this hand, which has some ramp, a tutor, and a sweeper. If I whiff on lands it could slow me down, but I think it's a good hand.


I've never played against an Endrek Sahr deck before, but I think it's safe to assume that Sen Triplets is a control deck and The Mimeoplasm is a reanimation deck.

I draw into a Krosan Verge, which is a nice one. The lands keep rolling off the top for me, which I'm pretty happy about. Meanwhile, The Mimeoplasm is doing pretty well with a Splinterfright and Oracle of Mul Daya, while Sen Triplets has a Top and a Mystical Tutor fetching Idyllic Tutor, and Endrek Sahr is relatively land-light but making up for it with a Sol Ring.

Sen Triplets fetches Land Tax with the Idyllic Tutor, and Endrek kills the Oracle with a Nekrataal. I cast Enlightened Tutor at end of turn to fetch a Swiftfoot Boots, since I can play Temple of the False God to cast Mayael and Boots and equip her in the same turn.

Enter one (1) Ooze Shapeshifter commander, copying Oracle and getting counters from my Eternal Dragon.

Sen Triplets drops a Mimic Vat, Endrek Sahr casts his commander, I cast Darksteel Ingot (leaving up Mayael), and then The Mimeoplasm cycles Decree of Pain, which seems odd to me since it only kills Nekrataal and Endrek Sahr. But whatever.

Then Sen Triplets casts Swords to Plowshares on the faux Oracle.

...and plays a Consecrated Sphinx, which draws four cards before getting Shriekmaw'd. I rip a Gisela off of Mayael, which is awesome! I agonize a little and decide to attack The Mimeoplasm, but maybe that's wrong. Remember that Sen Triplets has ten cards in hand, but some of them are from Land Tax so it's not as if they're all business.

I move the boots to Gisela. She is way more important to protect than Mayael. If she stays on the board, I'm just going to win. Mayael is good, but Gisela is what you Mayael for.

The Mimeoplasm re-casts its commander, copying Acidic Slime to destroy my boots. See, if I hadn't moved them, that would have been a Shriekmaw killing my Gisela.

Then it plays Fleshbag Marauder. I Mayael in response, revealing Terastodon. I destroy The Mimeoplasm's bounceland (keeping it off of double-green), Sen Triplets' Mimic Vat, and my own Plains so that I can sac the elephant. These might be the wrong targets, I dunno.

So then Sen Triplets plays Personal Tutor for Damnation, then does some durdly stuff with Rings of Brighthearth and fetchlands and Crucible of Worlds. Endrek follows up with Harvester of Souls, and I play Quicksilver Amulet to sneak in this Moldgraf Monstrosity in response to the sweeper, teehee. The Mimeoplasm mills an Ulamog with Splinterfright, which kills the Splinterfright of course. It musters a Syphon Mind and a Veteran Explorer and passes.

Naturally, the Sen Triplets cast Damnation, but I respond with Moldgraf Monstrosity and come away mostly unscathed. Ha! I could have tried to Mayael into Avacyn, but that would have been way too greedy.

I think I targeted the wrong things with this revived Terastodon, but I'm not sure what the correct play would have been. Probably to not hit any of Sen Triplets' stuff and just kill them instead on the attack.

Endrek follows up with Beseech the Queen for Thran Dynamo, casting it and tapping it to play Cloudstone Curio, which is a dangerous card. Could lead to any number of combos. I have no idea what, specifically--maybe something with Priest of Gix or whatever--but I can tell that it's dangerous.

I attack Sen Triplets with Gisela to put them at 1, and The Mimeoplasm with Terastodon to put it at 7. Sadly, said Mimeoplasm has a Black Sun's Zenith for 9 to wipe the board of angels and elephants. Sen Triplets reply by casting Future Sight and Jace and going off, hitting me with Bribery to steal my Avacyn, Angel of Hope.

By the way, I really don't want to play this Timesifter into an opposing Top. That seems bad. 

Another Fleshbag Marauder kills Avacyn, and Endrek starts trying to go off with Cloudstone Curio, playing Puppeteer Clique to get back Terastodon and blow up some stuff, sacrificing the Clique to Persist (and bounce Terastodon back to my hand) and bring back Avacyn, which finishes off the wounded Sen Triplets.

I spot an opening and decide to go for it. I cast Planar Cleansing, blowing up Endrek's trinkets and The Mimeoplasm's blockers. Then I activate my Raging Ravine and Treetop Village and swing at The Mimeoplasm for exactsies! This takes up my whole turn, of course.

Endrek plays a Tutor Demon and more trinkets, and I try to Terastodon them for value, but he has a Go for the Throat; I suddenly regret giving him an extra 9 power.

He has enough gas in his tank to leverage my stumble into a victory, building on the momentum with two more kill spells for my blockers in order to finish me off in two combat phases. Fair enough.

Gisela continues to be absurdly good. Swiftfoot Boots is still impressing me, as is Moldgraf Monstrosity. Manlands did well in this game too, allowing me to deliver a killing blow on an otherwise empty board.

On the other hand, Vagrant Plowbeasts is feeling more mediocre now that I have Avacyn and Spearbreaker. I'm thinking maybe two of that effect is enough. Plowbeasts is at a much lower power level compared to the other two, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on the chopping block soon.

I couldn't work up the nerve to play Timesifter at any point. I put it in the deck because I thought it would add some silly variance, but maybe I'm too risk-averse to run it. The potential downside is enormous, after all.

I played another game, but even though there were some interesting decisions in it, I don't want to do another full recap today, so I'll just show one screen:

This game was a perfect demonstration of the power of Blazing Archon against mono-green. With a Baru, Fist of Krosa tribal Beast concoction, norbert88 had only one out to it in his entire deck (Beast Within). Despite a Genesis Wave for 26 and a mind-blowingly enormous squad of trampling dudes with Ravenous Baloth to gain life, he was just stone dead to my one Archon. I even gave him an extra turn by miscounting my damage with Kessig Wolf Run and putting him at 1 life instead of dead, and misplaying earlier by clicking through my combat instead of pumping with Wolf Run so I could play Avacyn off of my hideaway land (which would have put him at zero outs for a complete lockdown).

Blazing Archon is very good against mono-green.

It was also a good game for Primeval Titan, which got lots of activations and went a very long way towards getting me the win. As usual, one of the best cards in the deck. (Timesifter, incidentally, was dead in this game as well.)

Another #MayaelFTW

Tonight I played a commander game against Jonathan Richmond (@norbert88) and Zack Levine (@metaknightmare) from Twitter, plus some other guy I don't know.

I'm up against Kresh, Baru, and Merieke Ri Berit. These are commanders I'm comfortable going up against. I assume Baru is a ramp deal with lots of creatures to take advantage of Baru's pump. That means I have to watch out for out-of-nowhere kills from him. Kresh could have any number of tricks up his sleeves, so I'm not sure what to expect from him. Merieke is probably a control deck with white sweepers, blue goodstuff, and such and such, so I'll be looking to play around removal and try to counter any stealing with Homeward Path if necessary.

My opening hand has Top, Boots, and land, so I snap-keep. I think this is a good hand. Swiftfoot Boots is a key card against the mono-green deck because mono-green has so few outs to Blazing Archon--if I can get an Archon in play and use Boots to protect it from Duplicant, Jon might just be putty in my hands. Additionally, I expect a lot of point removal out of the two black decks at the table, so the hexproof should be powerful. If I'm lucky, they'll have all creature kill and nothing for artifacts.

Jon comes out of the gates quickly with a Garruk into Garruk's Horde. Zack declines to cast his commander, which actually seems kinda sketchy in retrospect--if I'd been paying closer attention, I probably would have taken it as a hint that he's holding a Wrath effect.

For my part, I run out Top and Boots. I could try to hold the boots, but I have a gut feeling that the first Wrath this game will not be my own Akroma's Vengeance. I think if I can protect a Mayael, I should be able to drop enough fatties to wrest control of the board away from the mono-green deck. I feel better about this plan when I see a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight on top of my library with Top.

I cast Mayael and equip the boots, planning to spin the Top on my upkeep. Jon decides to point his 7/7 at the Kresh deck, which isn't unreasonable, since Kresh has been ramping quite a bit. I suspect if he'd seen the Gisela on top of my library, it might have been pointed at me instead, but as-is I only had to suffer attacks from the 3/3 Beast.

Incidentally, this It That Betrays is looking very bad.

I manage to find a sixth land, so I'm all set to start spinning the wheel next turn. Meanwhile, Jon has added a Baloth Woodcrasher and a Hidden Herd, while Zack has dropped a face-down creature (claiming in the chat that it is a Zombie Cutthroat). It's obviously not really a Zombie Cutthroat, since that card is unplayable in EDH; I figure it's something like a Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Willbender, or Bane of the Living.

Hidden Herd seems like a bad card. I don't think it should be in the deck. Yes, it's pretty much guaranteed to activate, but a vanilla 3/3 just isn't very good in Commander, even at 1 mana.

Zack plays another morph (loudly declaring that they are both Zombie Cutthroats), Jon accelerates with an Extraplanar Lens drawn off a Harmonize, and Captain America uses a Flametongue Kavu to dispatch Jon's 4/4 Baloth.

For my part, I don't draw a seventh land, seeing three fatties on top of my deck instead. But for now, I play land #6 and get ready to drop Gisela, who has been waiting faithfully on top of my library for several turns. I'll happily slam her to block Garruk's Horde if it comes my way, although I suspect that will not happen.

Instead, Garruk ultimates, and the green squad ranches at Captain America for 22, getting revenge for the Mind Shatter that just emptied his hand. The good Captain scoops...although even if he hadn't, I would have dropped Gisela after blockers to kill him anyway with double damage. But turns out it wasn't necessary.

Zack neutralizes Garruk with a Faith's Fetters, not willing to suicide one of his morph guys (although again, I would have dropped Gisela to make it trade with the beast). Then I finally slam Gisela at end of turn.

I choose not to activate Top in my upkeep here. I know I'm going to equip the boots to Gisela (because she is a monster and if I can keep her in play I will just win the game). If I Top, it means that even drawing an untapped land won't let me equip + activate Mayael, so I draw blind. It turns out it's a Seedborn Muse, which is much better than a land. I cast it, obviously, and pass the turn after hitting Jon for 10 with my angel.

Jon whiffs on the topdeck and attacks Zack, who trades off his two morphs for two beast tokens (turns out they were Willbender and Skinthinner) and goes to 21. I get to drop Akroma at the end of that turn.

Then Zack plays a Martial Coup for 5 to destroy all creatures. This means, as Jon points out in the chat, it's time to mise an Avacyn! I don't hit the Avacyn, but I hit Moldgraf Monstrosity, which is the second-best possible thing--it bounces my Akroma and Seedborn Muse right back onto the battlefield.

This lets me untap, re-cast Mayael, give her haste with the boots, and immediately get right back to dropping an endless stream of fatties. I attack Jon for 6 with Akroma (cleverly remembering the Beast Attack in his graveyard and leaving my smaller guys back) and pass the turn, untapping my stuff.

I flip a Terastodon off the top, which hits three of Zack's mana and eight of Jon's. At this point, I think the game is a lock for me. I have my combo rolling, the Merieke deck that has all the removal that could stop me is stuck on four lands with no black sources, and the green deck has no cards in hand or on the field and probably has little to no outs anyway.

And indeed, I manage to quickly close the game from there after flipping Woodfall Primus, Primeval Titan, and Avacyn--although truth be told, I'm pretty sure that I could have been flipping vanilla 5/5s and won just as easily.


This game really showcased the power of Seedborn Muse. When Mayael and Seedborn Muse are rolling, it's very difficult to lose. It's an obvious interaction on paper, but seeing it in action really makes you appreciate how busted it is.

More subtly, Sensei's Divining Top was an all-star as well. If not for Top, my hand would have been clogged with fatties I couldn't cast. Thanks to the library manipulation, I got to make that Gisela and red-Akroma float on top of my deck while I pulled lands out from underneath them to draw instead. That's a very big deal, and I think it won me the game.

The boots were good here too. If Mayael hadn't had hexproof, she probably would have died to Captain America's Flametongue Kavu; instead, one of my opponent's creatures got blasted. The haste bought me two full Mayael activations as well, thanks to the turn I re-cast her with Seedborn Muse in play.

Gisela was sweet. When she's on the board, it's like I'm invincible. I mean how do you even beat that card? Moldgraf Monstrosity was also great here; this game got to showcase how good it is against sweepers.

On the downside, It That Betrays was a waste of space. I am more and more convinced that this is just a bad card. I threw it into the list just for fun because I had oen in my collection and I wanted to see how it would play out, and it's been underwhelming at best. I think replacing it with Ulamog proper is the right play here--one less mana, two more annihilator, free Vindicate, prevents me from getting decked, and indestructible, in exchange for losing an ability that is never relevant. Yeah, obvious upgrade.

Akroma, Angel of Fury was underwhelming as well. I saw her in my library with Top, and again on a Mayael activation after shuffling my deck, and both times she seemed pretty weak. In her defense, she's in the deck for some pretty specific matchups, but I think she's one of the weaker fatties and she'll probably be on the chopping block soon enough.

Akroma, Angel of Wrath is still better, I think, although she's not irreplaceable either. Her main strength is being great on defense with six first striking power in the air and protection from two colors--the haste and vigilance is a nice bonus, but while she can poke them, six damage isn't super impressive on offense. I like how difficult it is for red and black decks to deal with her, but I have other cards that are good in those matchups, so I could see dropping her from the list at some point.

Jungle Weaver was sort of awkward. I was a little too tight on mana to cycle it this game, so it just sat there durdling in my hand. I still like it, though. Boosting the Mayael hit percentage is a subtle advantage, but it's real, and it's not as if a 5/6 reach is irrelevant--it blocks reasonably well.