Crazy Plays in Commander

[wildfire393]

New site, new "Crazy Plays in Commander" thread. Post your notable games here!

I'll get us started off.

Let me set the stage here. I'm playing Teysa Karlov, to my left is my buddy playing a Silas Renn, Seeker Adept/Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Morph/Saboteur deck, to his left is Kami of the Crescent Moon, and to my right is Chainer, Dementia Master. Kami has been milling us all game, including a Windfall for 11 with Sphinx's Tutelage out, and he's got a pair of Venser's Journal in play keeping his life up. Silas-Sidar just Ghastly Conscriptioned a huge pile of creatures, including Willbender, Kheru Spellsnatcher, and Phage, the Untouchable. He's also got a Demon of Dark Schemes out he's stolen from Chainer, and a Secret Plans. Chainer has a Whip of Erebos, an Extractor Demon he's stolen from my graveyard, and another beefy dude, but he's sitting pretty at 2 life. On my turn, I play a handful of afterlife-type creatures with Teysa and Elenda, the Dusk Rose and Pitiless Plunderer out, and culminate with an Altar of Dementia.

End of turn, Kami tries to cast an Evacuation to fend off the impending manifest-storm. In response, I decided that since I was going to lose all my tokens anyways, I was going to mill Kami completely out with Altar and Chainer's Extractor Demon assistance. I sac a pile of creatures and tokens, then Elenda, then some of her tokens, and mill him out completely. The Evac goes to resolve, but before it does, Silas-Sidar realizes that he can flip up Spellsnatcher for the 3U he has up and counter it.

Silas-Sidar then untaps and drops Sidar, making his army largely unblockable. He sends enough at Chainer to kill him through his lifelink and a handful at me, including a Phage that is flipped up after no blockers are declared. I realize that with Secret Plans' trigger on the stack, if I can mill him out completely as well utilizing Extractor Demon, he'll lose to the Plans draw, sparing both me and Chainer. I I have just enough fodder, including getting two sacs from everyone's board with Abyssal Gatekeeper, that we can mill him to zero. He gets down to a handful of cards in his library, and decides to figure out if there's any way he can survive using Demon of Dark Schemes. Eventually, he realizes that if he reanimates Sepulchral Primordial, he can grab a Blood Artist effect and a sac outlet (with the only viable one being Yawgmoth, Thran Physician) and kill Chainer before the last Extractor Demon triggers resolve, sparing him. He ends up with 4 cards left in his library and I eat a Phage-touch.

Silas-Sidar then passes the turn to Kami, who will then deck out - except Kami endphases a Blue Sun's Zenith for 0, untaps, redraws it, and points it at Silas-Sidar for 5, decking him out instead.

[WizardMN]

Very nice and your plays with Altar reminded me of a game.

One of my more recent games I was playing Nicol Bolas, the Ravager (superfriends) against Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and something else. An early play was to steal Sidisi's Altar of Dementia with Dack Fayden. Being Superfriends, I obviously had no real synergy with the card but I wanted to stop Sidisi from milling themselves to build up an army. So, it sat on my field doing basically nothing for a bunch of turns.

Later in the game, after Sidisi had been using other things to self-mill, they attempted to drop in something that cared about the number of creatures in their graveyard so I cast Crypt Incursion to exile their creature cards and gain 42 life.

In the mean time, I had cast a Grave Titan and now had it and 6 tokens. A few turns later, I board wiped and sacrificed the creatures to mill out Sidisi down to 4 cards. They tried to save their graveyard by activating Perpetual Timepiece but I countered it with Disallow. I then cast a couple creatures next turn and milled them out the rest of the way with their own Altar.

I ended up milling them out, and killing them, using their own Altar that really should not have done much in my deck against them.

[Candlemane]

I was playing in a four player game against a Phenax, God of Deception deck, and that player eventually mill us all out. He got killed on the swing, but it left the remaining three of us with zero cards in deck. On my upkeep, I tried to do something, but failing, I passed the turn and lost. That left two players, and the next player had a Bloodgift Demon in play. Now, an often overlooked part of the text on the demon reads "target player draws a card and loses 1 life", and that's what he did. He won on his upkeep by default because he force the last player to draw his no-card. It wasn't the most spectacular play, but it was quite entertaining.

[tstorm823]

Gotta get a Zedruu game into this thread, but I was waiting for a good one.

Rather controlly Lord Windgrace, me as Zedruu the Greathearted, and Urza, Lord High Artificer.

The game started off real slow. Urza was casting mana rocks but missing land drops. I was taking Windgrace's bounce lands with Vedalken Plotter. Windgrace was killing my toys with Shenanigans. But eventually we all got something going. Just before my 6th or 7th turn, I bounce a 5/5 Scute Mob with Venser, Shaper Savant (mostly for more Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx devotion). On my turn, I cast some blue things for devotion, then Time Spiral to refresh my turn and neuter Windgrace who has a beefy graveyard. Unfortunately, I draw 4 lands, Knowledge Pool, Leyline of Anticitipation, and Catch // Release. I play Leyline and a land and pass with 10 mana up.

Next turn, Urza starts doing Urza things. He gets like 10 extra mana in one turn, plays Urza, plays and equips Illusionist's Bracers, and then plays Dramatic Reversal with 1 blue floating. Windgrace had tapped out for instants in response to my Time Spiral, so he's got nothing to interact, so I play the only thing I have that matters: fused Catch and Release. I sac Leyline, Urza, and a land, Windgrace actually loses exactly all nonland permanents, and Urza loses some inconsequential things. But I also had an artifact, and had to decide whether to use it or not. (This is the first crazy part)In response to my own Release, I activate Mirror of Fate with only Time Spiral to put back in my library. Urza isn't recastable because he only has 1 blue, so he passes the turn. Windgrace fills his board with Rampaging Baloths and pass back to me.

On my turn, I do a quick replay of the turn before: draw and cast Time Spiral. Shuffle in 4 cards from hand and 4 cards from graveyard and draw 7. I know the last card in my library is Mirror of Fate. I replay the Leyline and a land and pass just like before. The Urza player moves to do the same as last turn: toss out a ton of artifacts from hand, play Urza, move to equip Illusionist's Bracers. And just like the previous turn, I've got instant speed Catch // Release to answer him. But this time I don't fuse it. This time is winning time!

(This is the second crazy part)I Catch Urza to use for myself. With the added 2 devotion from Urza, I can make 10 mana with my remaining lands. I activate Urza and flip Mirror of Fate into play. 5 mana left, I sacrifice Mirror of Fate to put two exiled cards into my library (I've got most of my library in exile from the first activation). I choose Time Spiral and Turnabout. I activate Urza again, and hit Turnabout first. Untap my lands, 13 mana available. Activate again casting Time Spiral, 19 mana available, exactly 7 cards to draw. Cast Mirror of Fate and Turnabout, down to 10 mana, then up to 23. Activate Mirror of Fate choosing 4 cards (Sakashima the Impostor, Detention Sphere, Opalescence, and Pandemonium make an infinite damage combo), then activate Urza 4 times to play them all and win the game.

[toctheyounger]

So, not the most epic of all time, but this was a fun game that came together perfectly.

Bruna, the Fading Light (me) vs Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Dragonlord Ojutai and Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest.

Early game we all hit some ramp, and Dragonlord spends the first few turns mana screwed. Shu Yun drops 3-4 signets, and I let the table get ahead of lands so I can drop Gift of Estates and keep the land drops coming. Otherwise my only board presence is Sword of the Animist.

About turn 6-7 Shu Yun has enough to cantrip with Reckless Charge, activate Shu Yun's ability for double strike and punch Dragonlord out of the game, with nary an action played other than to counter my Serra Ascendant. He scoops.

Next turn I drop Gisela, the Broken Blade for blocking the monk, but he turns on Grimgrin and swings for 9, who to this point has a Kami of the Crescent Moon and a few weenies. Grimgrin's next turn he drops Windfall for 7, and I end up with Sol Ring, Sun Titan, Emeria Shepherd and Magus of the Moat in hand with 3 lands. My next turn I drop a land and the Ring, play Magus and swing with Gisela and the sword for a land drop and 5 damage then pass turn. The monk cantrips Cloak of Feathers and swings at Grimgrin again for commander damage, leaving him and I then passes turn. My next turn I draw into Resplendent Angel, cast Bruna, the Fading Light (I fully expect countering here) to reanimate Serra Ascendant, swing with Gisela for 5 and a land drop, go to end step and hit a Resplendent Angel trigger and meld into Brisela, Voice of Nightmares then pass turn.

It took me pointing out the first cantrip Shu Yun tried to cast for him to scoop. I don't meld into Brisela very often because it puts a target on me and only stops certain scenarios, but this one just came together perfectly, and even if he had removal I had so much gas in hand he wouldn't have stood a chance.

[TGambitG]

I had a good one a couple weeks ago...

I'm playing my Chandra Tribal deck (already silly, I know)

The commander is Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh, and she's already flipped to Chandra, Roaring Flame, and she has 7 loyalty counters on her.

I tap Pyromancer's Goggles, cast Doublecast, then cast Repeated Reverberation. So I have 4 copies of Repeated Reverberation on the stack, and I use Chandra, Roaring Flame's ultimate. Needless to say, I won.

[Mookie]

Had a pretty entertaining (and long) game, which almost had a pretty spicy conclusion.

The game is me (Thada Adel, Acquisitor) vs Yarok, the Desecrated, Marchesa, the Black Rose, and Tuvasa the Sunlit.

Marchesa starts out by becoming archenemy - T1 Sol Ring + Signet, T3 Necropotence. Yarok also has a strong start, with a T2 Sol Ring into T3 Yarok. I'm displeased by both of them having their Sol Rings so early, and they maintain their lead for pretty much the entire game, until late in the game when Marchesa burns out Yarok with Vindictive Lich.

One of the main contributors to Marchesa being so difficult for the rest of the table to deal with is that no one else at the table seems to be running any grave hate (and I did ask the other two players if they had something like Relic of Progenitus to steal, but neither seemed to have anything). Another contributor is that Tuvasa has been manascrewed pretty much the entire game, but around the time Yarok gets taken out, they start being able to function.

Lategame, I'm low on cards in had, and have Thada and a Stormsurge Kraken out. Tuvasa has a few random enchantments. Marchesa has Marchesa and a few other small creatures as blockers.

Tuvasa casts Rest in Peace. I'm very happy, since this is the first grave hate that has happened all game. Marchesa loses a bunch of stuff in their graveyard.

Tuvasa casts Grasp of Fate. Starts to target Thada and one of Marchesa's creatures. I negotiate.
"If you don't target Thada, I can take out Marchesa on my next turn."
"And you'll actually do it?"
"Assuming I untap, yes."
Tuvasa agrees, and rescinds their targeting of Thada.

Turn passes to Marchesa. They're concerned, so they sacrifice a creature to Sidisi, Undead Vizier and tutor up an answer. However, they're concerned by my threat, so they don't attack with anything (they almost have lethal on the Tuvasa player, but not quite).

Over to me. I declare attacks - Thada at Tuvasa, and Kraken at Marchesa. Tuvasa can't block (they have an island) and Marchesa blocks Kraken with Sidisi. They then read the Kraken, realize I'm about to draw two cards, and attempt to cast Domineering Will (the card they tutored for), only to realize that it doesn't quite work. Kraken trades, and I get a Thada trigger.

Tutor up one of the two artifacts I know to be in Tuvasa's deck (I stole their Sol Ring earlier), which is Helm of Obedience. Cast it and activate, targeting Marchesa to exile their deck.

....which would have been an epic conclusion to finally take down the player that had been archenemy almost the entire game, except for one thing: remember how Marchesa almost had lethal on Tuvasa? Thada's attack took Tuvasa down to 2 life.... and one of the remaining cards in Marchesa's hand was Soulblast. Unfortunately, player removal is, as always, the best counterspell.


I died a few turns later to Marchesa tutoring up and looping Gray Merchant of Asphodel with Razaketh, the Foulblooded. Almost had lethal commander damage on them the turn before I died (from Strata Scythe + Fireshrieker), but was foiled by the fact that Marchesa had avoided playing an Island the entire game, which meant I couldn't connect with Thada. Alas!

[toctheyounger]

It's been a long ass time since anyone posted here, so I assume everyone is having underwhelming games,

Anyway, I don't have a thread for this deck, so I want to get the play down somewhere for posterity or to reference later. It was badly sequenced but still kinda nuts. I may well get a thread going for it at some point so I want a record of how well the deck just comes out of nowhere.

Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded is the deck, and about turn 7 I have 5 lands in play, with my commander out and Fires of Invention and Ogre Battledriver in play.

Turn passes to me, and I draw Gratuitous Violence, and cast it and Mana Geyser for 7 off of Fires. I then use my commander's ability to sneak in Fanatic of Mogis for 16 damage, followed by Inferno Titan and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames.

With two opponents left I swing in with everything for 36 damage from Fanatic, Titan and Ogre to one opponent, and with just Drakuseth, Maw of Flames hit the other for 14 combat and 8 direct as well as 6 to each of 2 of his token generators. Not quite dead, but 3 life vs 40. Would have been an emphatic knockout win if I'd waited on the Fanatic, but there you go.

[if4ko]

I'm playing Lord Windgrace annoyance tribal. It's a midrange deck that can aggressively get out creatures with Titania, Protector of Argoth and Omnath, Locus of Rage, or it can stax down the game. My friend was on Thrasios, Triton Hero / Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker goodstuff. My other friends are on their other decks (I believe one other guy was on Windgrace squirrels and the other was on Dromoka fatties).

I pitch an Omnath T1, reanimate it T2, and draw into Exploration T3. Before you know it, I have an Omnath and Titania on the battlefield and I'm generating a lot of tokens. I take out the other Windgrace player, and it's just me, Thrasios, and Dromoka left. I have an Omnath, 4 Omnath elementals, a Titania, and 3 Titania elementals. I'm in the pole position and everyone's begging for a boardwipe.

Thrasios decides to dig through his entire deck for one. The very last card he draws is a boardwipe that the table needs. At the very worst, someone's taking 24 damage, and he figures he'll jump on the sword. With no mana left, he casts Supreme Verdict. I tap my City of Brass for mana, confusing the table that doesn't think I understand the uncounterability of the card.

"Oh no, I'm tapping for a black. Tainted Strike ke targeting Omnath?"

Everyone's scratching their heads, until they realize what I just did. It resolves, and I kill the rest of the table.