Post #10: Let's Talk Casual

Now that the Commander product is in stores and the first wave of product completely sold out all across the internet, what type of impact has it had in the casual community so far? I can't speak for every casual pod out there, but I'll account my experiences with the product. So far, it's one amazing product and has many people who I haven't seen play magic in a while really get excited about the game.

After Scars of Mirrodin block, a lot of people in our group started to shy away because there was something about Mirrodin that rubbed some people the wrong way or a New Phyrexia victory that left die-hard Mirran fans disappointed. The number of people who normally drafted weekly went to only 1-2 a month. Personally, I feel Scars of Mirrodin has been very narrow minded and has left the Casual community very lonely. With really only variants of Myr tribal and Proliferate strategies, the entire block didn't add much to casual archetypes, rather gave some utility cards to older strategies (Equipment, Mono-Red, and Tokens). Since WotC designed cards more 'safely' in Scars of Mirrodin than in the original Mirrodin block, to avoid designing cards that have an outrageous power level, the cards in Scars of Mirrodin definitely didn't have the same flare and most cards felt like poor reprints.

I also feel that the block got completely overshadowed by Jace, the Mindsculptor and Stoneforge Mystic completely warping the Standard format. The two cards were just so powerful that opening a pack of Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, or New Phyrexia felt sub-par because you had no chance of opening a $100 card. Even worse, the casual players who had to compete against decks with 4 copies of each had to struggle to stay competitive with home brew decks, which left them disappointed in new cards that just weren't as good. The two cards were recently banned (explained here by Aaron Forsythe). Hopefully the ban will help revitalize interest in the Scars of Mirrodin block and spark some innovation with the M12 and Innistrad releases.

So far, I've been extremely impressed with the Commander product and I picked up mine asap. Playing at one of the release events was a lot of fun and I had the opportunity to play with a lot of people interested in having a good time. Over the past couple weeks, a lot of people who I haven't seen play magic in ages have been coming out to play in large multiplayer games. I feel that the Planeschase and Archenemy formats will get a lot of love from the Commander release. The Commander product is exactly what casual magic has needed for a couple years and it didn't come a moment too soon.

For those people in my playgroup, I did make the decision to move my singleton 60 card decks to Commander, but I will definitely be preparing to play my commander decks against the 60 card casual decks. I'll be testing out some new singleton 60 card decks very soon (beginning with Rith, the Awakener). I'll be working on the new Commander decks soon and I"ll be anxious to test them out very soon. I've already been testing Teneb, the Harvester and it's been doing pretty well so far. If you want to learn more about the Commander Product, check it out here in this Commander Overview video by Wizards of the Coast.

New Planeswalkers?:

Jace, Memory Adept

Another Jace? Well, he's pretty awesome. At 5 mana for 4 loyalty, I'm not complaining. His upside ability (+1 loyalty) draws you a card and could mill one of your opponents 1 card. You could also mill yourself 1 card which works very well with The Mimeoplasm EDH. Jace's 0 Glimpse the Unthinkable ability is very strong for the B/U mill decks and will definitely push mill as a stronger force in the casual strategy. I think Jace will be a very strong support card for the milling strategy, but doesn't carry the same finishing power that Nemesis of Reason, Sewer Nemesis or Guiltfeeder carry. The ultimate on Jace feels more like a synergy kill card, with cards like Underworld Dreams, Psychosis Crawler, or the Howling Mine/Turbofog strategies. Overall, I really like the card; however, unlike the other two Jace cards, this one is a bit more narrow in its capabilities. 

What's upcoming for Casual players? Well, first the premium deck series: Graveborn will be coming out on Nov 18th, 2011 which will feature an all foil deck of graveyard shenanigans and alternate art. Also coming out, Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas on Sept 2nd, 2011 giving you two 60 card decks and alternate art, foil planeswalkers. Finally, there's From the Vault: Legends for those of you looking for some alternate foil art commanders, this product is perfect (to buy the singles, because the whole product is so damn expensive!)

Thanks for listening guys. I'm looking forward to playing some Commander with you guys very soon!

-David J.

COMMANDER! Review: Part 4

After playing in the Commander Release Event on June 17th, I couldn't be more impressed. The decks are amazing and incredibly fun to play right out of the box. Personally, it's going to be a big challenge to merge the singleton decks I already have with the Commander decks out of the box. I'll be hosting some small group workshops on Commander/EDH in Gainesville and Orlando, Fl. This Thursday (or Friday) I'll be working on Vorosh, the Hunter in Gainesville, Fl at Mega Gaming and Comics. Next week, I'll be in Orlando, Fl bringing Teneb, the Harvester with me to CoolStuffGames. Over the course of this next week, I'll also be working on Intet, the Dreamer here on the MTG Casual Net Blog! I'll be taking photos of the workshops and I'll be posting the final decklists here. Stay tuned!

For my Commander review, I chose to pick some of the more ignored generals, probably the ones that will be low on some radars (with Kaalia of the Vast, and The Mimeoplasm being the most popular). I'll be discussing Karador, Ghost Chieftan and Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

Karador, Ghost Chieftan

The card that was spoiled when Commander was first released is Karador, Ghost Chieftan. First off, I'd just like to say, look at that flavor text! Absolutely epic. Now, I chose to discuss Karador, even though he's been discussed quite a bit since his spoiler, I couldn't resist talking about him. Obviously, Karador gets better with more creatures in your graveyard, making his casting cost cheaper, but what else can he do? As your graveyard size increases (the game progresses) Karador becomes invaluable. I think of Karador as a Debtor's Knell or a Sheoldred, the Whispering One that doesn't draw as much hate or attention. Karador has the downside of you paying a mana cost to cast cards from your graveyard. But that could be to a great advantage. Cards that benefit from casting such as Vengevine or Artisan of Kozilek will rejoice as they're recurred from your graveyard ready to swing at an unexpecting opponent. Karador is similar to Geth, Lord of the Vault, where he is able to take over a game very quickly. Karador can be controlled as a better win condition than Geth, since you can dump your own utility creatures in your graveyard to reuse them to destroy permanents or interrupt your opponents strategies. With any mana doubling effects, like Mirrari's Wake or Mana Reflection, Karador can become very problematic for multiple opponents very quickly. Even moreso with a 'sacrifice a creature' outlet.

Cards like Fauna Shaman, Greater Good, Survival of the Fittest, and Tortured Existence become very powerful in gaining you the right pieces to a combo or help you filter your deck for any type of answer. Karador's mana cost also becomes cheaper as you use these discarding abilities, giving you more strength in synergy for recursion strategy using Karador. I feel Karador is a very strong general and has a lot of interactions with utility and bomb creatures. He also reduces his own mana cost (including the additional 2mana payment after each death/exile) which makes him extremely viable in the late game. Cards like Bojuka Bog and Tormod's Crypt that run rampant in the Commander format can easily interrupt the Karador strategy, but it isn't something the deck can't recover from with some good tweaking. Overall, I've been very impressed with Karador and can't wait to cast him.

Tariel, Reckoner of Souls

I just noticed that both of these generals I'm reviewing recur creatures. That must say something about my personality.. haha. Tariel, Reckoner of Souls also has absolutely amazing flavor text. Fantastic job, Wizards of the Coast. Tariel is very interesting. Recurring a creature at random from an opponent's graveyard is very unique and I honestly don't know what type of impact this card will have in gameplay. I feel that Tariel is like a slot machine and you could get something very good, or something very average. Although, most Commander decks play great creatures or great utility, so I feel that even at random, the ability will always give you upside (unless your opponent is playing some sort of group hug deck.. yikes!) I like Tariel because she can block a titan and survive. Also, she has vigilance which makes her very defensive and offensive when necessary, similar to Sun Titan and Adarkar Valkyrie. I don't expect Tariel to make huge waves in the Commander format (because of the Kaalia shadowing over as a cheaper general), but I think Tariel will definitely be a great finisher and support card for the Oros, the Avenger colored control decks.

If you're really trying to break Tariel, using cards like Withered Wretch to manipulate your opponents' graveyards to give you exactly what cards you're looking for. I feel like that strategy would draw quite a bit of hate from the table. Not many people thoroughly enjoy their graveyard being exiled. I would leave the option open, but recurring a creature at random sounds like a very enjoyable experience as everyone holds their breathe as you either recur a 2/2 grizzly bear or a Stormtide Leviathan. Can't wait to flip some coins for random creatures =]

Thanks for being awesome viewers. If you enjoy the content provided here on MTG Casual Net, please follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook Group. 

-David J.

COMMANDER! Review: Part 3

SOOOOoooooooooooooooo. Commander….Good job Wizards. Most of these 3-color generals are great. They look like a lot of fun to play with and each one is extremely original and well designed (with a few exceptions).

The Mimeoplasm is a very interesting card. Two creature cards from any graveyard are fair game. How about a humongous Geth for 5?? Intimidate with additional counters and an amazing activated ability will have your opponents saying…well they won’t be saying much because they’ll be in the john wiping the mess they made. Or how about a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur that you pitched not too long ago??? Or how about a GINORMOUS MEMNITE COURTESY OF ONE IT THAT BETRAYS AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But seriously, it’s a simple yet extremely useful card that acts as pseudo recursion and then some.

Ruhan of the Fomori……sucks. Honestly. It’s a vanilla 7/7 with no other abilities other than to attack someone at random. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo. SOOOOOO…bad. His best use is being targeted by Mimeoplasm . This is the kind of general people look at and laugh their asses off at. It’s a bunch of American poop.

Animar, Soul of Elements is another beautiful card. With pro white and black it avoids a lot of spot removal, making it very hard to kill without red or some green cards (Beast Within, for example). Now, you get a reward for casting friends for him. He gets BIGGER (LOL). And for every friend you make for Annie, the next one is cheaper than it would normally be. An unanswered Animar with say 5 +1/+1 counters on it (from anything, such as Graft or his own second ability) turns Ulamog into a 6 drop spell that vindicates and gives you an 10/10 Indestructible with Annihilator 4. Good or good?


-Carlos Cabrera

COMMANDER! Review: Part 2

Hello, MTG Casual Net, my name is Sean! For those of you who don't know me, there's a goofy picture in Post #4 of my close friend David and I! I'd be honored to play a game of Magic with you or just hang out. I'm a physics/mathematics major at the University of Florida, Bible study leader at Gator Christian Life, guitarist, and casual Magic player. Thankfully, I wasn't raptured away in May, which means I have more time to spend with you guys and to get involved with this community. For my first post, David recommended that I join in the effort in addressing the spoiled Commander mythics. Let's go!

Damia, Sage of Stone is a spicy addition to the legendary women in Magic

The same artist who provided the beautiful full art Emeria Angel and Slave of Bolas, Steve Argyle did a fantastic job on this gorgon. So much for “Ask your query and be on your way. Just don't look her in the eye,” when that's the first thing I did! And what of her pose? Do her hands betray action or patience? Such well-tuned tension is only the beginning of flavor. (Not to mention the Everflowing Chalice on the bottom left corner, just as the full art Emeria Angel is referenced in the stained glass window for Admonition Angel. I see what you're up to, Steve!)

Damia's wedge loyalty is depicted as orbs of black (B), blue (U), and green (G) mana (from left to right) hanging about her graven throne, though you also find her in a scaly attire to match her green hair, the centerpiece between black and blue mana. Ramp is important in Commander to power out expensive spells and having access to green, the go to colour for ramp, caters well to her converted cost of 7. Take the hint to go green: be prepared to cast her multiple times (you know, for all the Perseus wanna-be's out there).

If you're still alive because you haven't looked at her, you'll find she's surrounded by mysterious flasks and an arsenal of equipment behind her. She'll help you to learn those spells as long as you obey her rule: “You've got to do something to get something.” You'll have to skip your draw step and leave your library alone if you don't play her game. Eager scholars see “if you have fewer than seven cards in hand, draw cards equal to the difference” as an incentive to unload their hand, which I have to agree is one way to achieve “maximum value.”That's assuming she makes it around to your upkeep to refill a mostly empty hand. To me, she presents an opportunity to learn to optimize between choosing high cost, deep impact spells that lend themselves to a deck that bides its time against a barrage of cheaper, decent spells that could encourage a faster style.

For a gorgon wizard, Damia has a decent body at 4/4, being bigger than most wizards and the first gorgon to feature the static ability deathtouch. In comparison with the rest of the creatures showing up to the mosh pit of a battlefield, she won't tango so well, not even against Indrik Stomphowler. Should your army crumble, at least she can trade with a much more threatening creature for your sake.

Now, you did notice she brought a pillow along for her seat, right? She expects to stick around for a bit, and you'd best not disappoint! While there are plenty of horrible fates awaiting outside of combat, there's also much you can do against them. A fashionable pair of Lightning Greaves comes recommended by Wizards to ward off point removal. With access to the flexible colour blue, you can seek spells that work hard to protect her, creatures like Kira, Great Glass-Spinner or a timely Pact of Negation when you bring her to the table early. Some may prefer the darker, proactive strategy of a mass discard theme rooted in black mana to rid their opponents' hands of cards that could jeopardize Damia.

All in all, Damia is a solid new commander for the BUG wedge, positioning herself as potent card advantage and a rewarding experience for players who treat her well. Thanks for reading my first post! There are more Commander spoilers on their way, so keep your eyes open!

-Sean Wang

COMMANDER! Review: Part 1

So for today, we will be looking over two of the most recently spoiled Commanders, as a part of MTG: Commander. Let’s get to discussing Ghave, Guru of Spores and Zedruu the Greathearted.

Look at that art! That’s some serious athlete’s foot… Ghave, Guru of Spores operates as the principal commander in the CounterPunch pre-con deck. To me, it looks like the prototypical build-around-me card. First of all, one can’t complain about spending 5 mana on this guy. It looks like a better, more versatile, and cheaper version of Pentavus. The first ability places Saproling tokens out, while the second one sacrifices creatures for +1/+1 counters. When I saw this card, I immediately thought of the token deck staple, good ole’ Doubling Season (also there seems to be an infinite combo going on with Ashnod's Altar or Earthcraft). Grave Pact is also fun with this guy! Jinxed Idol also equals fun times (though a bit slow). He also looks like he would work fine with other token stables, like pump enchantments of the likes of Glorious Anthem/Gaea's Anthem. We also can’t forget Eldrazi Monument. And how about finishers, like Overrun? Ouch! He works well with Sigil Captain and can be protected with Dauntless Escort or Asceticism. Cards like, Symbiotic Wurm, Mycoloth, Mitotic Slime, and the new Hornet Queen can help get the strategy on role.  An awesome finisher would also include Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and I can see Akroma's Memorial doing big things. In addition, this Commander has the same colors to include Mirari's Wake, so look out for Alliance of Arms or Martial Coup! Spells like that can be devastating.

However, this guy does come with his weaknesses. He’s especially vulnerable to Wrath of God -type of abilities. Even a spell, like Pyroclasm or Slagstorm  could make an impact. Ratchet Bomb is also pretty cruel. I think Black Sun's Zenith and Mutilate are some other cards to look out for. Also, what about cards, like Magus of the Tabernacle? Would you really want to have to pay for that giant swarm of creatures? Insurrection  also looks kinda scary here. Overall, Ghave seems like a fungus that will cause a lot of irritation.

Man, have you ever seen a goat lady with such a great heart? She seems like a great casual card and really becomes involved with the politics (seeing as how she is the star of Political Puppets). Now, there are several strategies with her. The first is the more generous one (the “Group Hug” strategy). Just give your opponents your stuff and hope that they don’t use it on you. This general does operate on very protective colors, so imagine having a Plumeveil, Wall Of Denial, False Prophet, Guard Gomazoas or Windborn Muse out. What about Loxodon Peacekeeper?  “Don’t attack me, it’s not worth it!” Let your opponent’s finish each other. Then at the end, use Homeward path, Insurrection , Cultural Exchange,  or something like Blatant Thievery. Maybe you can even surprise them with Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth,  Iona, Shield of Emeria , or Blightsteel Colossus. Sick, right? Just pretend to be the nice little victim, gain life, draw cards, sit in the sidelines, donate more stuff, and then crush everyone at the end!

That’s the political version. How do you win without making broken promises? Oh that’s easy. There is Delusions of Mediocrity (which works great with Venser, the Sojourner as a “u/r/w: Target player loses 20 life. You gain 20 life. Only play this ability once per turn”) and How about Transcendence when you are low on life? Let’s give away Thought Lash. Lich's Tomb is another fun thing to give away. How about Bronze Bombshell or Tolarian Serpent? Or how about Rust Elemental ? Those are fun cards to Mirrorweave at the beginning of someone’s turn. Why doesn’t the table have some fun with Flailing Soldier? Molten Firebird and Ivory Gargoyle makes your opponent skip his draw step. Zedruu allows for so much fun Kitchen Table value that it makes for a great casual card, but obviously involves a lot of work to see how to use it donate ability optimally.

That’s all there is time for today. How do you feel about these two Commanders? Leave your comments below.

-Michael Hood-Julien

Philosophy Behind #3: Control

For this week, we will be focusing on control. Here is a brief description of control:

“Control is a strategy that attempts to interfere with, prevent, deny, or otherwise cancel the opponent's actions. It attempts to establish a superior board position and then use that position to win.”

Some General Tips when using Control decks:

• Most control decks have few creatures. Some have as few as 8-12 (~5%). In control decks, the creatures usually serve as resilient threats and are well-protected.
• Often include spot removal and/or disruption to get rid of synergistic effects. An example includes how Creeping Corrosion deals with Tempered Steel indirectly.
• Most capitalize on extending the game to take advantage of more powerful late game spells.
• They focus heavily on card draw.
• They often play very defensively. Cards, (especially lands that come in tapped) that have an early disadvantage can allow for very powerful late game finishers (i.e. manlands, like Creeping Tar Pit or Inkmoth Nexus).
• Mass creature/permanent removals are used often as 2- or even 3-for-1s, which provide virtual card advantage.

How the colors generally approach control strategies:

1. White takes advantage of mass destruction (like Wrath of God or Day of Judgment) and uses prevent damage abilities to extend gameplay. Life gain is popular in white. Artifact and enchantment destruction are also big in spot removal. White has been known to use casting restrictions (with cards like Angelic Arbiter and Iona, Shield of Emeria) and other player restrictions. White can be retaliating, like destroying tapped creatures or damaging non-white permanents. White is first about exiling permanents (like Oblivion Ring). White can also perform grand, balancing abilities (Balance).
   
   
2. Blue is the color of control and is probably best known for spell and ability countering. It takes advantage of general card draw.  Blue profits off of using spell and ability redirection and has been known to give permanents shroud. Blue is the first color to take permanent control of permanents (like Mind Control and Keiga, the Tide Star).  Blue uses copy abilities and can also tap permanents. Blue takes advantage of returning to owners hand abilities and can even change land types (like with Spreading Seas). Blue works well with artifacts (like Acquire) and can execute powerful late-game abilities that manipulate the game (like Time Spiral).
   
   
3. Black is known to be the color of destruction, and that is pretty accurate from the array of destroy (usually non black and non artifact creatures) and sacrifice abilities it takes advantage of. Black is the first color with -X/-Y abilities and loves to use discard. Black is the first for tutor abilities (like Diabolic Tutor) and has abilities to exile cards in graveyards (as well as libraries). Black even has some damage spells and life gain. Black can also perform bombastic effects at a large cost.
   
   
4. Red is known best for direct damage spells (like Lightning Bolt!), but also mass damage spells (like Slagstorm).  Red has permanents that do the same, often called "ping"-ers by casual players. Like Blue, Red uses copy and redirection abilities.  Red is known for artifact and land destruction. Red also profits off of "can not block" and must attack abilities. Red also achieves greater gains at random (like Warp World).
   
   
5. Green is weakest control color (since it’s the most proactive color), but does involve some land, artifact, and enchantment destruction (like Acidic Slime). Green usually doesn’t target creatures, but it does dislike fliers and artifact ones. Green can extend the game with life gain and putting non-creatures at the top of owner’s library.  Green also allows for forced combat (like Lure), and manipulate mana for its own gains.

So, that is all for today. I hoped you enjoyed this look at the control strategy and look forward to the follow-up as I conclude with combo.

-Michael Hood-Julien