Brainstorming Commanders #5: Tarkir Mechanics (Part 2)

                 Dash

If we count all the cards that have said keyword printed on them, we get 18 cards, not a bad start... Even though there are probably some cards among those that we won't play. But that's a worry the guy will have to face who acutally builds the deck... we're only here to draw three cards and then put back two from our hand if you know what I mean. The cards that dash out the most (see what I did there?) are:

While the first two bad boys will make turns where you dash out creatures really explosive and have a comboey feeling, the later two offer quite some value.

Additionally we can add some more raw power for our dashing creatures:

So while both green and white can grant extra explosiveness, the Mardu-colors don't really offer a fitting commander in my opinion. But more on that later. There are even more cards that support a hyper-aggresive dash-themed deck:

Not only we can squeeze out even more damage, but draw extra cards or use enter the battlefield effetcs multiple times. Even in a stall, having a Soul in play while casting two Dash-creatures each turn without attacking will most likely get you far enough ahead to break the stall. Same goes for Purphoros and Warstorm Surge, in fact with those in play you won't even have to break anything since you'll just have burn-spells with buyback in your hand. In terms of utility, once again green wins over white, but if you're not yet convinced...

... how about this a Commander for the deck? Ogre Battledriver? Yes, please! Warstorm Surge plus anything that pumps on entering the battlefield? Most definitely! Purphoros? Even yesser!

He's just everything the deck wants... He can generate a bunch of good chump blockers while you get aggressive with your dash creatures, he comboes well with all the cards that you want to play when building around Dash, he's a threat of his own which is always good to have as a commander AND he offers all the colors we'd want. 

But wait, did you think that's all the deck has to offer? Here comes the punch line:

Did I mention that we're using Dash creatures? So while we're a really aggressive deck, our threats aren't exposed to any sorcery speed (mass)removal our opponents play or any instant speed mass removal we play ourselfs. So end of turn Starstorm, sweeping the whole board, untap play one or two dash creatures and go to the face. Also you can Damnation, then dash the creatures and attack. Bottomline: You can and should play a whole lot of massremoval just because it is a good way to clear away potential blockers while also protecing you against a backswing...

That's probably the reason that tempts me the most to actually build the deck, since in a format where people rely more on slow mass-removal than on spot-removal, having threats that aren't exposed to 95% of these answers is fairly strong even if those threats aren't as dangerous as that Rafiq of the Many for example.

The rest of the deck is up to you, but basically filling up the deck with some ramp, artifact and enchantment removal as well as card draw should do the trick. And cards that synergize with the dash-support cards of course like Avenger of Zendikar, etc... Then about 38-40 lands and you're set.

I hope you liked the second part. I sure had a lot of fun thinking about all the sick turns that could be possible with this deck.

See you people around!

Brainstorming Commanders #4: Tarkir Mechanics (Part 1)

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, yet another time!

Since now the dust on Tarkir should've settled let us take a look on what the three sets have to offer for EDH. But not cardwise... I'm talking new mechanics people!

Khans of Tarkir

Well morph isn't new at all, but a welcome reprint I think... Admittedly, Delve isn't exactly new either. In fact it was introduced in Future Sight... A set where things like "assembling a contraption" were a thing, and we don't know yet what that means. From these 6 keywords I think the two most suited ones for EDH are Delve and Morph, but more on that later.

Fate Reforged

Fate Reforged was a small set so no surprise that there wasn't a whole boatload of new mechanics. After some thought Dash really caught my eye, especially after the introduction of...

Dragons of Tarkir

The Khans were beaten and had to carry the new abilites. Dash and Bolster were familiar at that point but three new ones emerged. Rebound was exactly new but was kind of fitting, Formidable was a thing before but never had a keyword or an exact value, and exploit is kind of like Devour v1.5.

Oh yeah and then there was this:

The keyword is a biiiiiiit annyoing but other than that I think the ability is a solid addition to Morph.

I won't go into detail now why I discarded certain abilites, but let me say this: One block often isn't enough for enough cards and/or those cards most often aren't powerful enough to fit into a format like EDH. 

The two abilites I can see being the backbone of a Commander-Deck are:

• Morph: There were already existing cards with Morph on them so the pool of possible morph cards is big enough. Additionally there is one particular general that synergizes very well with Morphs.
• Dash: Boardwipes? Nah bro, I'm chilling back in that guys hand. The support for Dash cards is amazing... at least that's what I think. Again, I found a fitting general rather quickly.

The others only have left some vague ideas but aren't really suited... Maybe some outlast creatures could fit into a Derevi deck. Of course the graveyard based decks love the new delve cards, so do spellslinging decks that will delve away their early cantrips and tutors while enjoying the extra value of rebound-cards, and one or two formidable cards could fit into a green based "ramp-into-fatties" deck. But all those things aren't really suited to build a whole deck around.

Morph

So what commander do I have in mind you ask? Well most people will have guessed it at this point:

Not only will her colors be very handy when building the deck, but that fact that you'll be able to play Morphs for free at a certain point is pretty hilarious. So basically he first Morph will cost 3 to cast, the next one 2, the third one only misely 1, and from there on you're casting Morphs for free as long as you cast them face down of course.

And while casting 2/2s for free isn't too impressive, essentially casting them for only their unmorph costs is pretty strong, especially as the unmorph abilites are nothing more than enter the battlefield abilites that can be delayed and get instant speed that way.

A Yosei on steroids that has instant speed and hits multiple players, a 3/2 Eternal Witness that can't be chumped, Spelljack on a stick and the old instant-speed-blocker-generator-2000. And these four are just a selection I've made out of several really powerful morphs.

Luckily there are cards that support face-down creatures and/or offer additional effects when turning them face up:

It's like magical christmas land for face-down creatures. And while all that value is going for you, you get the additional pleasure of knowing that your opponents will try to figure out which morph is which and what might hide under there. You'll draw additional cards, scry through a bunch of cards and maybe you can even use your morphs multiple times. All that will of course use up quite some mana but since we're running green that shouldn't be too big of a problem.

And since we're playing Animar you shouldn't forget the auto-includes of the deck...

...among other things. The internet contains the rest of them, but I think they're not too relevant for our theoretical discussion. 

Well, that's all you need to know for building your personal morph-army.dec and while it may seem innocent at first I can see it being really potent.

Next time, I'll be talking about Dash and the deck I have in mind with it, since I'm afraid all that brainstorming has gotten out of hand.

See you around!

PS.: The searches I would use as well as the primer where you can goodstuff for Animar

Morph-Query

Support-Query for Flipping

Support-Query for FaceDown

Animar-Primer

Dashing in! #1

Just to explain what this "Dashing in" is all about: 

Whenever I find something really funny I want to share it with you people, but most of the time it is not enough to fill an entire post. The "Dashing in" series will simply contain a video/link/picture/etc. with a little explanation and that's it.

Who is the guy being interviewed?
A lobbyist working for Monsanto

What is he interviewed about and why?
The product "Roundup" sold by Monsanto which is a "broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds." (from Wikipedia) He is asked about the product as many studies have stated that it is dangerous for humans and can cause cancer among other things.

Mmmhmm Piiizza!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, yet another time!

All that thinking about cards and mana and stuff has made me and other beings hungry... Just look at those guys...

All they want is some easy to make food. How about we make some pizza then?! But normal pizza isn't something Zombie-Fishes and Yetis eat, they want Onion Pizza!

Onion Pizza

What you need for about 3 people (Gurmag Angler, Hungering Yeti and you):

• 500g Flour (wheat/rye/... whatever you like)
• 21g fresh yeast OR 42g dry yeast
• 2 cups of WARM water (not hot but not cold either)
• some olive-oil
• 6-7 big onions
• curry
• salt
• oregano
• basil

If you managed to get all that at the grocery store you've basically mastered the skill-intensive part. What you gotta do next is mix the yeast with your water until it has dissolved completely. Mix the water and flour together. You might want to add a bit of water or flour to get the proper dough-y-ness. If you've finished making the dough it will need about 40 minutes of rest in a warm place. I recommend your radiator. Just put the bowl with the pizza dough on it, cover the surface of the dough with olive-oil and put a dish towel over it. 

If you've done everything correctly you should now have something like this

Next up are the onions. Simply cut them into small to medium sized pieces - like in the picture below - and roast it while adding curry, salt and other seasoning which was in my case basil and oregano. You might want to add some water in order to prevent the onions from getting burnt.

Once the onions are ready its time for the dough to shape up. Flour a wooden board and knead the dough for some time until the whole surface is covered in flour. Then get your baking tray, cover it with baking paper and roll the dough onto it. The only thing left to do now it to spread the onions over it and put it into the oven for about 30 minutes at 200°C.

Before.....

......and after!

Since I've used red oninons and due to wierd lighting effects the pizza looks a bit burned but I can assure you that it wasn't.

I hope I could help in the battle against your hunger! If you liked the recipe leave a comment and if you didn't or if something didn't work the way I described it leave one aswell!

See you around!