Morska, Undersea Sleuth
With the full set spoiled for Phyrexia, All is One, here are some of the cards I am looking at.
Phyrexian Vindicator - I just like this as a big beater that can help kill some stuff that we need to die. The stats are above average though getting 4 white mana is a little tougher in a 3 color deck. Since this deck is primarily just running good creatures, I might be willing to throw this in and see what happens. It does offer a deterrent to attacking me or a way to get in for some decent damage. I like the card overall.
Tags:
Here are my thoughts regarding March of the Machine, March of the Machine: Commander, and March of the Machine: Aftermath. I am also potentially including cards from Warhammer 40k Commander since I got behind a little:
Excise the Imperfect - An instant timing answer to basically anything. The main issue is that I am not sure on the power/downside of providing an Incubate token. I think in most cases I would probably rather deal with a 4/4, 5/5, 6/6, or whatever token than I would with whatever it is I am trying to remove. The main downside is simply that if it is stopping one from dying to combat damage, the token probably ends up being enough to deal the killing blow next year anyway. But that is a fairly small issue considering all the powerful permanents that exist out there.
Faerie Mastermind - Not entirely sure this fits the deck but the power level is high enough that it is tough to ignore. The main thing is that I should have plenty of mana to activate it when I need to. I am not sure how much the activated ability would be used however since it is fairly difficult to break that symmetry. But it seems like a pretty good card overall.
Biophagus - I like this as another option for the list. It is 2 mana so it is a little slower than other options and also can't produce more than 1 mana. I will think on it to see what I want to do, but it might not be quite enough for the list.
White Cards
Blue Cards
Green Cards
Not much I want to add right now, but I do want to try out the new Faerie Mastermind:
I decided to cut Evacuation as 1) I don't really want this to be going too far into a defensive mindset and 2) even if I wanted something to clear the board, I should just have Wrath of God. But I feel like this deck is the one that is really going to the aggressor so if the board needs to be cleared, someone else needs to do it to stop my board. That is the idea of course. So, I feel like this is the more obvious cut.
I decided to cut Evacuation as 1) I don't really want this to be going too far into a defensive mindset and 2) even if I wanted something to clear the board, I should just have Wrath of God. But I feel like this deck is the one that is really going to the aggressor so if the board needs to be cleared, someone else needs to do it to stop my board. That is the idea of course. So, I feel like this is the more obvious cut.
I played this deck the other night against Traxos, Scourge of Kroog, Zacama, Primal Calamity, and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait.
I started the game with 3 lands but no green mana. I had some ramp in hand so I felt that it was worth the risk. It paid off as I drew into green mana on turn 3 or 4. I then was able to ramp a bit from there. However, Traxos was going off and attacked Zacama on turn 4 for 20 commander damage thanks to a couple equipment. This put Zacama on the back foot almost immediately. But Traxos left him alone after that for a while.
Zacama was building up their board as well with things like Fiery Emancipation (which I considered countering) and a couple others for increasing damage. But no creatures to speak of. They did get Xenagos on the field but were often 1 mana away from turning him on.
Aesi was able to get a few engines going but sort of sputtered out a little into the game. They still had a good board but not as overwhelming as I think they were hoping. So, for a little while we were all sort of at a stalemate as I didn't have big enough creatures to attack profitably, Zacama didn't have any at all, and the other two were leaving their few big creatures back for blocking.
Traxos was still the biggest threat I could see while I was the biggest threat for everyone else so there was a little going on to try to knock me down but I wanted to keep Traxos in check. I did get Spellseeker to get Path to Exile and this gave me a way to deal with Traxos as needed. I also ended up using Ephemerate to blink Spellseeker to get Cyclonic Rift as a failsafe. I did end up casting it but it wasn't enough on its own to give me the win since my board wasn't too fleshed out yet.
After a few more turns, I did get Craterhoof Behemoth but I didn't want to cast it yet as I felt that this would have been a poor end to the game for all we were doing. And it wasn't like we were at 2 hours or something; we were only about 30-40 minutes into the game. I tried to win and get people down with my board as it was and Jenara, Asura of War and Sun Titan were helping there. Jenara did end up getting removed after Endbringer kept her tapped down but she was still a threat.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite was the big haymaker I got down to whittle people down more. Zacama did eventually get rid of her after casting their commander and activating the burn ability a bunch of times thanks to Mirari's Wake. They could, and probably should, have burned away my entire board since every activation was for 27 thanks to their damage increasers but they chose not to. This eventually led to them to lose as I felt we had gotten to a point where Craterhoof was necessary to win without it feeling like the game ended too soon. So, that is what I did to finish off Aesi and Zacama. Traxos had been killed by Zacama earlier thanks to their fear of dying from one more Commander hit.
Other than not wanting to win "out of nowhere" with Craterhoof, the deck is performing very well. Of course, that isn't even a deck problem and is more of a "me" problem. But the deck is able to get some ramping going and the creatures on the board are doing a lot. I do have to keep in mind to sequence things correctly sometimes with regarding to Ilysian Caryatid as I did have a couple situations where I neglected to tap it for 2 mana before the 4 power creature I had went away. But I didn't have any cards I felt weren't pulling their weight nor do I think there are any glaring omissions in the strategies. And I thought the game itself was balanced enough that we were all playing well and had a stake in the game at different points without anyone feeling overwhelmed or left out. It was one of the better games I have been a part of in a long while.
Start of Summary
Zacama was building up their board as well with things like Fiery Emancipation (which I considered countering) and a couple others for increasing damage. But no creatures to speak of. They did get Xenagos on the field but were often 1 mana away from turning him on.
Aesi was able to get a few engines going but sort of sputtered out a little into the game. They still had a good board but not as overwhelming as I think they were hoping. So, for a little while we were all sort of at a stalemate as I didn't have big enough creatures to attack profitably, Zacama didn't have any at all, and the other two were leaving their few big creatures back for blocking.
Traxos was still the biggest threat I could see while I was the biggest threat for everyone else so there was a little going on to try to knock me down but I wanted to keep Traxos in check. I did get Spellseeker to get Path to Exile and this gave me a way to deal with Traxos as needed. I also ended up using Ephemerate to blink Spellseeker to get Cyclonic Rift as a failsafe. I did end up casting it but it wasn't enough on its own to give me the win since my board wasn't too fleshed out yet.
After a few more turns, I did get Craterhoof Behemoth but I didn't want to cast it yet as I felt that this would have been a poor end to the game for all we were doing. And it wasn't like we were at 2 hours or something; we were only about 30-40 minutes into the game. I tried to win and get people down with my board as it was and Jenara, Asura of War and Sun Titan were helping there. Jenara did end up getting removed after Endbringer kept her tapped down but she was still a threat.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite was the big haymaker I got down to whittle people down more. Zacama did eventually get rid of her after casting their commander and activating the burn ability a bunch of times thanks to Mirari's Wake. They could, and probably should, have burned away my entire board since every activation was for 27 thanks to their damage increasers but they chose not to. This eventually led to them to lose as I felt we had gotten to a point where Craterhoof was necessary to win without it feeling like the game ended too soon. So, that is what I did to finish off Aesi and Zacama. Traxos had been killed by Zacama earlier thanks to their fear of dying from one more Commander hit.
End of Summary
I got in a game online tonight against Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings, and Titania, Protector of Argoth.
I started off having to mulligan to 6. The first 2 hands only had 1 land each so I couldn't keep them. The hand I kept gave me 2 lands but also Faeburrow Elder which I hoped would help. I ended up drawing Bloom Tender which worked with the land I drew the next turn to be able to cast Spellseeker to get Farseek to then cast Farseek right away.
Elesh Norn got their Commander down and Authority of the Consuls but not much else at first. They did eventually get Shattered Angel on the board and this would get them up to 130+ life at some point. Atraxa got down Rites of Flourishing and Veteran Explorer so I assume they were trying to do some sort of group hug type deck. But they never got much else so they didn't do much. Titania really got a lot on board but was sort of slow. And I just got small creatures down along with Chulane, Teller of Tales but Chulane didn't ramp me much. Drawing cards was good of course.
Using Chulane to draw kept my hand full to the point where I was discarding cards quite often. I was able to get Silverback Elder and Elder Gargaroth as well which gave me some threats. Brokers Ascendancy was able to start getting everything bigger as well.
One turn I attacked Elesh Norn with Silverback Elder and Gargaroth and Atraxa for some reason scooped. They were not doing a lot so I sort of understand it. The timing was odd though. Elesh Norn just took it of course since they could not profitably block.
After that attack, Titania went off. They had 2 Field of the Dead (one was a Thespian's Stage) and they ramped and got Hour of Promise and Scapeshift (the latter with Titania on board) so they had a ton of tokens. They were all tapped but they didn't have Haste anyway so it didn't matter much. They did get Glacial Chasm off the Hour of Promise. So, after they did what they wanted to do, I just cast Cyclonic Rift and then Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce Chasm.
I swung at them with everything, and used Kamahl, Fist of Krosa to pump everyone. They tried to Constant Mists but I countered it.
This left me against just Elesh Norn. They cast Authority of the Consuls again and Angel of Destiny but no way to attack yet. So, I just moved to my turn, cast Earthshaker Giant and attacked. Then I used Kamahl twice to deal nearly 200 damage in one attack and win the game.
I think this shows that the idea behind small utility creatures is paying off but it does mean I do have to wait a while early on before they can be truly useful in combat. So far, that hasn't been a problem but it is something to consider as I am often using mass pump effects to end the game as the bulk of my creatures often aren't good enough to even get potshots in.
Start of Summary
Elesh Norn got their Commander down and Authority of the Consuls but not much else at first. They did eventually get Shattered Angel on the board and this would get them up to 130+ life at some point. Atraxa got down Rites of Flourishing and Veteran Explorer so I assume they were trying to do some sort of group hug type deck. But they never got much else so they didn't do much. Titania really got a lot on board but was sort of slow. And I just got small creatures down along with Chulane, Teller of Tales but Chulane didn't ramp me much. Drawing cards was good of course.
Using Chulane to draw kept my hand full to the point where I was discarding cards quite often. I was able to get Silverback Elder and Elder Gargaroth as well which gave me some threats. Brokers Ascendancy was able to start getting everything bigger as well.
One turn I attacked Elesh Norn with Silverback Elder and Gargaroth and Atraxa for some reason scooped. They were not doing a lot so I sort of understand it. The timing was odd though. Elesh Norn just took it of course since they could not profitably block.
After that attack, Titania went off. They had 2 Field of the Dead (one was a Thespian's Stage) and they ramped and got Hour of Promise and Scapeshift (the latter with Titania on board) so they had a ton of tokens. They were all tapped but they didn't have Haste anyway so it didn't matter much. They did get Glacial Chasm off the Hour of Promise. So, after they did what they wanted to do, I just cast Cyclonic Rift and then Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce Chasm.
I swung at them with everything, and used Kamahl, Fist of Krosa to pump everyone. They tried to Constant Mists but I countered it.
This left me against just Elesh Norn. They cast Authority of the Consuls again and Angel of Destiny but no way to attack yet. So, I just moved to my turn, cast Earthshaker Giant and attacked. Then I used Kamahl twice to deal nearly 200 damage in one attack and win the game.
End of Summary
That is true. For some reason I never cast Jenara last game (I think I always had other stuff to do) but she can certainly be the beater the deck ends up needing as games go on. It is interesting in that I felt Jenara didn't add much to the deck in terms of direction but it might make more sense to think of her as simply an addition to the deck rather than a commander to build around. There are almost always situations where I have extra mana to just dump into her and perhaps I should get her out and let her do more.
Here are my thoughts regarding Lord of the Rings and the LOTR Commander set:
Delighted Halfling - This is the one deck that I actually use mana dorks in and I don't know that I actually want this. The uncounterable is pretty good but in most cases it isn't ramping me into what I want. Not producing colored mana in a lot of situations is less than ideal. And it can only ever produce 1 mana where most of the dorks I have can get me two or have other benefits that I think outstrip this.
Entish Restoration - This seems like a pretty good ramp spell especially since I should almost always have a creature with power 4 or greater. Sacrificing a land is a bit of a bummber but being an Instant and 3 mana puts this ahead of most in my book.
Radagast the Brown - This can really help keep my hand full and ensure that my hand is creatures. I think this is a good enough card to try out in a few decks.
Green Cards
Entish Restoration - This seems like a pretty good ramp spell especially since I should almost always have a creature with power 4 or greater. Sacrificing a land is a bit of a bummber but being an Instant and 3 mana puts this ahead of most in my book.
Radagast the Brown - This can really help keep my hand full and ensure that my hand is creatures. I think this is a good enough card to try out in a few decks.
I am going to try out this change:
I can't really find a good spot for Entish Restoration so I am just going to try out Radagast. I feel like Radagast can provide more consistency with ensuring I have creatures in hand than Gargaroth's one card per turn. Granted, Gargaroth can get me noncreatures if I needed them but Radagast can get me more than one per turn. I hopefully have enough of a variety of creature types so Radagast can trigger more often.
I can't really find a good spot for Entish Restoration so I am just going to try out Radagast. I feel like Radagast can provide more consistency with ensuring I have creatures in hand than Gargaroth's one card per turn. Granted, Gargaroth can get me noncreatures if I needed them but Radagast can get me more than one per turn. I hopefully have enough of a variety of creature types so Radagast can trigger more often.
Here are my thoughts regarding Wilds of Eldraine and the Wilds of Eldraine Commander set:
Moonshaker Cavalry - This is another Craterhoof Behemoth but I am not entirely sure I need it. This deck does want small creatures out that are then pumped up with things liek Craterhof and even Kamahl. This might end up being a better option than Earthshaker Giant, trading off the Trample for Flying.
White Cards
Here are my thoughts regarding Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Murder at Karlov Manor, their Commander Decks, and the Doctor Who Commander set. I know I have not been keeping up so hopefully this covers all the sets I have missed:
Get Lost - This is actually one of the better white destruction spells in recent sets in my opinion. It can hit 3 card types and the trade off doesn't seem that great for the controller of the permanent that was destroyed.
Unexplained Absence - 4 mana instant to exile up to 3 permanents (most likely wouldn't exile anything I control in most cases) seems like a pretty good rate. I realize they get a 2/2 back, and possibly bigger depending on what is face down, but I still like the versatility of dealing with multiple threats at once. I think I might give this a try in a couple decks.
Reverse the Polarity - The "counter all other spells" mode probably isn't going to do much beyond what a normal counterspell would do. After all, if I am in a counter war, I don't want to also counter my own stuff. The "creatures can't be blocked" mode though seems like it could be pretty good. I don't think it is great here but it can be a pretty devastating effect.
Archdruid's Charm - This is probably the biggest "auto-include" card I can find from these sets. Jenara has other options for a lot of these modes but baking them all into one card and allowing for a simple ramp spell in a pinch is enticing.
Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth - I really like this card just for the fun it can bring. It has Trample so hitting someone should be a bit easier and getting a free creature and/or land is pretty good. I generally have a few creatures that sit in the 5-6 mana range that offer a bit of power that aren't necessarily on theme and I think this is another. I might see if there is something worth cutting for this.
Morska, Undersea Sleuth - She may finally be the Legendary creature to take the helm for this deck. She is still realtively generic but I feel offers a bit more than Jenara. No Max Hand Size is nice and she has built in card draw, even if a bit slow. And I should be able to get her last ability to trigger fairly often, even on other players' turns. I know it doesn't really push the deck in any specific direction but I am fine with that.
New dual typed lands - More fetchable lands is always good and I don' think these are too bad. However, I am wary about the effect entering tapped all the time would have. I will probably pick some up but I am not sure I will ever get to the point of actually playing them considering all the better alternatives.
White Cards
Unexplained Absence - 4 mana instant to exile up to 3 permanents (most likely wouldn't exile anything I control in most cases) seems like a pretty good rate. I realize they get a 2/2 back, and possibly bigger depending on what is face down, but I still like the versatility of dealing with multiple threats at once. I think I might give this a try in a couple decks.
Blue Cards
Green Cards
Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth - I really like this card just for the fun it can bring. It has Trample so hitting someone should be a bit easier and getting a free creature and/or land is pretty good. I generally have a few creatures that sit in the 5-6 mana range that offer a bit of power that aren't necessarily on theme and I think this is another. I might see if there is something worth cutting for this.
Multicolor Cards
Colorless and Land Cards
2/19/2024
Approximate Total Cost:
These are the main cards I want to try. I am sure there are better cuts (Silverback Elder was on the list) but these are the things that stand out as being reasonable to get rid of. Radagast was one that was a test add and I never got around to playing much so I am just going to cut him. Yeva is a good card but Alchemist's Refuge does it better (at a higher cost each turn). Ascendency has its uses but I couldn't come up with anything else to cut.
Unexplained Absence is one I am trying out in basically all my decks I can. It seems good but the drawback could be big enough. I doubt it but it is possible. Charm is another card I am trying in a lot of decks due to its versatility and flexibility. Ojer seems pretty good and I want to try it out.
Morska is a new potential commander. I am going to swap them online and see how much more I like Morska over Jenara.
After switching the commander, I wanted to give this deck a try. I played against Kamahl, Heart of Krosa & Akroma, Vision of Ixidor partners, Sen Triplets, and Surrak and Goreclaw.
I started off with a couple lands but no ramp. I decided I would let Morska try to shine with the Clues. I did get a Clue out of her and was able to draw into more lands. But she did die fairly early as a board wipe happened. Then another and another.
I ended up having to cast Hour of Revelation to clear the board again but from there I attempted to rebuild. A couple turns later I cast Winds of Abandon to clear the board and attack Sen Triplets. Right after this, Surrak cast Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to blow up my Alchemist's Refuge. Luckily, they went after Akroma and Kamahl first. I went after Sen Triplets to get the Monarch and then Kamahl and Akroma took them out and killed my Garruk, Caller of Beasts.
Luckily, I had cast Spike Weaver which deterred them from attacking me and since Akroma and Kamahl were building quite the board state, Surrak went after them with Ulamog. They also cast Blightsteel Colossus but partners attacked them and were able to just barely kill them.
They then scooped. I am not sure why but they did have 0 cards in hand and I did have Craterhoof in my hand so most likely the game was done either way.
I think Morska was a good change for the deck. Even without changing anything else to make it work better with Clues, the card draw made it a little better. And I like this direction over the fairly generic commander that is Jenara. She is still powerful and adds a bit of a closer to the deck, but I am liking Morska for now. Unfortunately, I didn't draw any of the other cards I added so I can't speak to them yet.
Start of Summary
I ended up having to cast Hour of Revelation to clear the board again but from there I attempted to rebuild. A couple turns later I cast Winds of Abandon to clear the board and attack Sen Triplets. Right after this, Surrak cast Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to blow up my Alchemist's Refuge. Luckily, they went after Akroma and Kamahl first. I went after Sen Triplets to get the Monarch and then Kamahl and Akroma took them out and killed my Garruk, Caller of Beasts.
Luckily, I had cast Spike Weaver which deterred them from attacking me and since Akroma and Kamahl were building quite the board state, Surrak went after them with Ulamog. They also cast Blightsteel Colossus but partners attacked them and were able to just barely kill them.
They then scooped. I am not sure why but they did have 0 cards in hand and I did have Craterhoof in my hand so most likely the game was done either way.
End of Summary
Here are my thoughts regarding Outlaws of Thunder Junction and the associated Commander set:
I didn't really find anything that stood out as being worth including. Granted, since Morska is basically a goodstuff deck, it is tougher to recognize something as just goodstuff versus playing into the theme of the deck. I might go back through later and see if there is anything that stands out as being just a good card in general.
I didn't really find anything that stood out as being worth including. Granted, since Morska is basically a goodstuff deck, it is tougher to recognize something as just goodstuff versus playing into the theme of the deck. I might go back through later and see if there is anything that stands out as being just a good card in general.
