May was such a busy month for me, with Grand Prix: Washington and Pro Tour: San Juan on adjacent weekends. I scheduled most of my summer holidays to be able to attend both events, making sure I also would have time to do some sightseeing. Most of you have probably already read reports and seen pictures on Facebook, so instead of writing a mere report, I would like to share with you one of the goals I set for myself for these two events: Build my first EDH deck, and play it as much as possible!
The idea behind my deck was to put together lots of destruction effects in Doran, the Siege Tower’s colors and pack them with mana ramp, tutors, and recursion engines. For reference here is the list I finally played:
General
Doran, the Siege Tower
Creatures: 21
Kor Sanctifiers
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Twilight Shepherd
World Queller
Dimir House Guard
Dread
Nezumi Graverobber
Shriekmaw
Eternal Witness
Genesis
Indrik Stomphowler
Krosan Tusker
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Viridian Shaman
Wood Elves
Woodfall Primus
Divinity of Pride
Harmonic Sliver
Qasali Pridemage
Loxodon Hierarch
Solemn Simulacrum
Spells: 41
Akroma’s Vengeance
Austere Command
Day of Judgment
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Final Judgment
Hallowed Burial
Luminarch Ascension
Martial Coup
Path to Exile
Wrath of God
Barter in Blood
Beacon of Unrest
Damnation
Decree of Pain
Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor
Doom Blade
Innocent Blood
Phyrexian Arena
Promise of Power
Profane Command
Terror
Vampiric Tutor
Farseek
Harmonize
Hunting Wilds
Kodama´s Reach
Krosan Grip
Recollect
Rampant Growth
Regrowth
Survival of the Fittest
Crime // Punishment
Debtors’ Knell
Maelstrom Pulse
Mortify
Putrefy
Pernicious Deed
Vindicate
Mind’s Eye
Oblivion Stone
Lands: 37
Barren Moor
Bayou
Fetid Heath
3 Forest
Godless Shrine
Golgari Rot Farm
Horizon Canopy
Krosan Verge
Maze of Ith
Miren, the Moaning Well
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Orzhov Basilica
Overgrown Tomb
3 Plains
Reflecting Pool
Reliquary Tower
Savannah
Secluded Steppe
Selesnya Sanctuary
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
2 Swamp
Temple Garden
Temple of the False God
Twilight Mire
Tranquil Thicket
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Vesuva
Vivid Grove
Vivid Marsh
Vivid Meadow
Volrath’s Stronghold
Wooded Bastion
These may not be the optimal card choices. There are surely a lot of debatable slots in the deck, but this deck wasn’t meant to be a perfect control engine. I just wanted to play the cards that I like!
For example, there are no fetchlands. The deck has already a lot of search effects, and making your table wait for you to find the appropriate land more often than needed is not a good idea. The actual manabase is consistent enough, and so far I’ve had no problems of mana or color screw.
EDH is about fun, about social interaction, and (of course) about cool cards doing awesome things. Big spells are fun, weird combos and unusual interactions are fun; EDH is a cohesive tool, a way to enjoy time with friends and to play in a more relaxed and casual environment. Surprisingly, winning in EDH is almost meaningless to me. Or is it?
Honesty? I love winning. When I was a player and used to travel to GPs and PTQs, I was totally into it just for the adrenaline rush you get out of the competition, just for the sweet taste of victory… but obviously, in Magic you sometimes have to lose.
How do you accept failure? How do you improve on your own mistakes? How do you manage frustration? These are difficult issues to address, and ultimately my inability to accept failure was the reason I lost interest in playing the game some years ago. If I go to an event and my chances on having fun depend on the result, then it’s likely I’ll return home feeling miserable far too often. I need to win to have fun. I need to feel I accomplished my goals in order to be happy and satisfied, and honestly, that is the reason that got me interested in judging in the first place. What if I can play in a team with some of my best friends, and I am sure we will NEVER lose? What if I manage to have fun at every event I attend? What if judging is exactly what I need to come back home feeling happy after an event?
That is why I judge. We always win.
Fortunately enough, winning games in EDH was not my main goal. As I said, I just wanted to play some of my favorite cards in the game while hanging around with some of the top judging personalities in the world. I played quite a few games during my trip to Washington and San Juan (I also played one game at Grand Prix: Lyon), and I have to say I’m quite happy with the results. The deck has the ability to turn everyone against you as soon as you play ultra-powerful cards like Debtors’ Knell. It can manage almost any threat by recurring spells and utility creatures. And, of course, it can turn the game in your favor in a couple of turns with creatures like Divinity of Pride.
If there is one game worth mentioning, it is the epic battle I had with Seamus Campbell, Noel Helgesen, Toby Elliot, and, as you are about to learn, my new secret Arch-Nemesis: Nicholas Fang.
Seamus was playing Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, a deck whose plan is simple: make or take dragons and hit people with them, reducing their life to zero if possible. There’s also a moderate amount of board control in his deck, in the form of Earthquake, Starstorm, etc. Seamus didn’t last long. He was short on mana. He went first, but he remained stuck on 5 lands and died early to Noel’s flyers.
Noel’s general was Isperia the Inscrutable; his deck was a flying creature toolbox with lots of flash creatures and very big flyers. He managed to cast his general on turn 5, followed by a Djinn of Wishes on turn 6. On turn 7 he stole my Twilight Shepherd, and on turn 8…
Oh noes! An Admonition Angel!
He started exiling my army, but luckily the table recognized the threat and joined efforts to take him down quickly.
Toby’s morph deck is quite unique. Child of Alara gives him access to over 60 morph creatures, and its game plan is really straightforward: Cast morphs. Cast more morphs. Cast All is Dust. Cause general chaos. There is an Ixidron in there as well, just for added awesomeness.
As I did, Nick built his deck specifically for this PT. Kaervek the Merciless wasn’t chosen for effectiveness or for color. It was simply the first good-looking general Nick found in his drafted cards box. The rest of the deck was constructed the same way overnight the PT, throwing one dollar rares in there until he reached 100 cards. As you can imagine, this didn’t lead to a particularly powerful deck, and also ended up meaning a bunch of crazy 15th-pick rares made it in. This surely is the reason the deck only had basic lands. Apparently, the deck won some games out of nowhere. Its strategy is to keep safe from aggression by being non-threatening and suddenly use cards like Molten Disaster or Soulblast to end the game. Confusion in the Ranks, Grip of Chaos, and Mycosynth Lattice in play all at once means funny business. Ah, and the deck also included Norin the Wary. I have a bad feeling about this…
For me, the game went in a true beatdown style: turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder, turn 3 Loxodon Hierarch, turn 4 Doran and Farseek, turn 5 Twilight Shepherd… I was bashing faces all around. Toby was holding defense behind some unknown morphs, and Nick was happy keeping attacks at bay with his “improved” Aether Membrane, thanks to Doran’s ability. After Seamus and Noel left the game, I had to reset the board a few times to avoid things getting out of control. Toby’s Dwarven Blastminer was punishing me really hard, but my Divinity of Pride kept my life total in a safe range. After some Pernicious Deed and Crime // Punishment action, the dust settled and there was Doran, ready to take the game. Toby died to Nick’s Earthquake, and so did Doran. I kept casting creatures and recurring spells, after some struggling Nick drew his card and said “Meh, it is not even worth it playing it now”. I looked at him as Toby seemed really amused with the scene, but nevertheless I kept attacking relentlessly. Thieves Auction… Okay, this balanced things a bit, but I kept Doran and Phyrexian Arena.
Nick was about to die next turn. One more attack and he would be done, he drew and… Nick and Toby burst in laughter. “You are about to die to the worst card in the game,” Toby said. Indeed, it was the end for me; there it was the ultimate bizarre combo: Confusion in the Ranks and Norin the Wary. I kept casting spells to try to sneak in the last few points of damage, but eventually my own Arena finished me off.
As we were picking our stuff, Nick told me I should have won this game, and indeed he was right. I missed a Mana Flare on the battlefield at some point, one that would have allowed me to also cast several spells in a turn, namely a Regrowth getting back a Mortify, and still have mana to cast it and get rid of the Ranks.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this particular game. In retrospect, I have the feeling that it is not possible that a deck full of powerful effects loses to a tiny creature, allegedly “the worst card in the game.”
How is this possible? With all the power within my deck, I fell to a silly combo! How is it possible that, being prepared for every possible contingency, I failed to eliminate such a weak threat? This sounds unfair to me. Extrapolating this situation to real life: it does not matter how powerful you are, and your knowledge, work, and preparation does not matter either. The final outcome for a given event does not appear to be determined by merit or skill. Either there is something really wrong about the universe, or I am making a huge mistake here. Occam’s razor says it has to be the later.
The truth is that sometimes I tend to forget the real goal behind my actions. The truth is that sometimes in life you have to give in a little to accomplish an overall better result. Maybe it won’t be the optimal ending for you, but both in life and in judging, we are not alone, we always have a team supporting us. This team, whether it is your family and friends or an actual team of judges, is the one that should be benefitted by your actions in the end. Some humility (not the card) comes in handy here, because the team is the goal.
These games I played were full of win. Nick may have been the last one standing, but it was an absolute blast for all of us. Now I’m back home and I feel happy and satisfied because, even though I lost that game, spending the time with friends makes me feel like I won.