Operation: Mindcrime

With a blue/black discard theme, coming up with a theme song to name this deck was easier than it usually is.

3 Expunge
2 Impulse
2 Countersquall 

3 Condescend
3 Serum Visions
4 Lobotomy          

4 Ravenous Rats
1 Blizzard Specter
3 Doomsday Specter
4 Arctic Merfolk
3 Nightscape Familiar
2 Ghastlord of Fugue
4 Man-o'-War

9 Island
4 Underground River
9 Swamp

I already have one U/B discard deck but it's very spell oriented. My attempt with this build was to give it a more creature-oriented theme, using Enter the Battlefield effects to really push it forward, instead of a spell-centric build. This was in part because at the time, spells were the way decks like this were made: the support for creatures just wasn't there yet. Over time, this deck has evolved with some better creatures, more focused on the theme while still allowing me to get an early game in (especially with Ravenous Rats and Arctic Merfolk.) Plus, this build allowed me to put in spells like Lobotomy, which just wouldn't fit in the other U/B deck.

Hidden Fees

Even though I've been playing a long time, I still forget how certain abilities play out in a game. Testing the Name of the Game has been a reminder of what some cards actually cost, as opposed to the converted mana cost.

The offenders: Raven Familiar and Hystrodon.

In two matchups against stonethorn, I found myself unable to really do anything with Hystrodon: the card was coming out on turn three, being Vapor Snagged or worse, or chump-block material. Why? Because I'd try to play it as a morph, not being able to easily get to five mana, and the cost to play then morph the Hystrodon ate so much tempo that it didn't matter: That was two full turns of me not doing something.

Raven Familiar follows a similar arc but at least I'd get a card draw out of it and a flying blocker for a turn. That immediate payoff means that I am running a Ponder that blocks, instead of hoping for a 3/4 that may draw me a card after six mana and may pay off on turn 4 or later.

I've been keeping Hystrodon in the deck because I thought that would be my path around the Symbiotic Deployment, should I get stuck with it. But Patagia Viper costs only one more and gives me a flyer with two creatures I can tap for cards, if I need to. On top of that, those two tokens get huge from the Murkfiend Liege; that's a much better deal.

Finally, this deck is a bit mana shy. It doesn't really do much until turn 3 and that is just too late. So: Hystrodons are out.

The new deck will be:

4 Symbiotic Deployment
2 Verdant Embrace

3 Trygon Predator
4 Murkfiend Liege
3 Raven Familiar
3 Patagia Viper
3 Wirewood Elf

3 Temporal Spring
3 Ponder
3 Fallow Earth
3 Plow Under
3 Donate

11 Forest
11 Island

1 Simic Growth Chamber

Why Wirewood Elf? Because who is going to play that card otherwise?

OK, it's also because I own them and My Money > Less of My Money.

Hoist the Name of the Game

This will be a new thing:

Hoist 2 Jhessian Infiltrator 2 Vedalken Heretic 4 Mystic Snake 4 Shorecrasher Mimic 3 Murkfiend Liege 3 Pygmy Hippo 4 Coiling Oracle 3 Snakeform 2 Nature's Will 4 Favor of the Overbeing 3 Bear Umbra 4 Winter Orb 9 Forest 9 Island 4 Tropical Island

Name of the Game 4 Symbiotic Deployment 3 Urborg Elf 3 Trygon Predator 3 Selkie Hedge-Mage 2 Murkfiend Liege 4 Hystrodon 4 Raven Familiar 3 Temporal Spring 3 Ponder 3 Fallow Earth 3 Plow Under 3 Donate 11 Forest 11 Island

Two green/blue decks. One of them trying to use Murkfiend Liege and Shorecrasher Mimic to quickly win a game, the other wanting to Donate a Symbiotic Deployment to cut off an opponent's draw step, then bounce things to the top of their library and win through attrition.

I've had Name of the Game built for quite some time. I owned Donate but did not want to build an Illusions of Grandeur deck, because everyone was doing it, so I thought it would be more amusing to give someone a Symbiotic Deployment. And it was, until I had an opponent drop a Verdant Force on me and proceeded to outdraw the table.

Fast forward a few years: I make Hoist and it's a Liege decks (which everyone ought to know I love) but Lieges are expensive and with Winter Orb, I don't really want to spend my mana on a 5 casting cost creature that untaps my creatures. I need to untap my lands.

Also, the secret of enemy colored Liege decks is this: they aren't Liege decks, they are Shapeshifter decks. Hoist cares a lot more about Shorecrasher Mimic than it does about Murkfiend Liege.

So if I want to take Murkfiend Liege out, what to do? Well, in this case I decided to revamp the Name of the Game into a deck that still wants to cut off the opponent's draw step but if I can't do that, I can make tokens and draw cards with them, giving me an overwhelming advantage.

Hoist now has -3 Murkfield Liege, +2 Jhessian Infiltrator, Veldaken Heretic.

Name of the Game is now - 3 Selkie Hedge-Mage, -3 Urborg Elf (this elf belongs in a U/B/G deck), -4 Raven Familiar, +2 Murkfield Liege, +2 Verdant Embrace, and 4 yet to be determined mana producers. Still processing that one but something good will come of it.

The bonus is that I know Hoist works already. It's been performing well before I made changes. Name of the Game will bear more watching but the upside is: I can test both decks and occasionally get a win when I'm feeling disgruntled.

In Threes

I suffered some beatdown with Argus Kor.

Now, I should say that I consider that to be a good thing, overall. In a 4 person game I managed to make myself a big enough threat vs. Kiki-Jiki, Jenara, Asura of War and Gwafa Hazid that the Jenara player decided I had to be taken down first-despite Kiki-Jiki comboing us out. Twice.

Nevertheless, being able to put up some game at Red Castle always feels good. Those players are gunning for bear when they play Commander so when I've got something that can weather that assault I figure I'm on the right track.

Both the Gwafa Hazid and Jenara player suggested what Indigo.Righter did: Rise of the Hobgoblins. I'm not sure if I undervalued that card or just missed it but it does seem like it would be worthwhile. Marshall's Anthem might be cut for that. Something certainly will: When three people agree on the same card, it's time to give it a chance in the sun.

Powerstone Minefield was another suggestion and while I do like it, I'm not sure the Commander format is too concerned with dissuading tiny creatures from attacking. Still, it plays nice with Argus and might be something I can combine with other cards to make this deck stronger. It might also be something to keep in mind for a future deck. You just never know when something is going to be the perfect fit.

There's also Captain's Maneuver, a card I love but is more defensive. It's perfect for this format though; if I've got another deck that can use it and I don't have it in another deck already (though I think I do) I'll pull that out of the binder for sure.

Commander: Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran

I built this as my first Commander deck. It definitely represents that kitchen sink kind of design I tend to go for when playing Commander. First: the man himself. Next: the deck.

Brion Stoutarm  Springjack Knight  Aven Mindcensor  Blade of the Sixth Pride  Blood Knight  Detritivore  Dust Elemental  Dragon Whelp  Eron the Relentless  Valor  Wildfire Emissary  Razia, Boros Archangel  Sunhome Enforcer  Araba Mothrider  Hand of Honor  Patron of the Akki   Silver Knight  Jareth, Leonine Titan  Flowstone Charger	Goblin Legionnaire  Flametongue Kavu  Laccolith Grunt  Devout Witness  Goblin Marshal Crater Hellion  Knight of Dawn  Soltari Guerrillas  Dwarven Berserker  Archangel  Zhalfirin Crusader  Storm Shaman  Bloodmark Mentor  Belligerent Hatchling  Hearthfire Hobgoblin  Hobgoblin Dragoon  Nobilis of War  Kor Sanctifiers  Victory's Herald  Angelic Overseer
Artifacts Serrated Arrows Sword of the Paruns Skullclamp
Sorceries Fireball  Pillage  Retribution  Spectral Procession  Waves of Aggression Alpha Brawl	Enchantments  In the Web of War Ghostly Prison Fervor Glory of Warfare Marshal's Anthem
Instants Lightning Helix Shining Shoal Soulblast Retaliate Orim's Thunder Fault Line Reflect Damage Gorilla War Cry Fire at Will	Lands 16 Plains 16 Mountain Boros Garrison Forbidding Watchtower Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep Ghitu Encampment Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion

Lots of creatures in this one but unusual ones. With Argus giving the kind of boost he does, my goal was to find red creatures with power less than toughness and white creatures with toughness less than power. For those colors, it's usually the other way around.

There's the red and white creatures as well: there's no sense in ignoring a good synergy. I just don't think I have enough red and white creatures to support a whole Commander deck's worth of offense. That might change after Ravnica, but for now things are what they are.

I don't know that there's anything too interesting to talk about here but I can tell you that I think it's a fun deck to play. Let's go with that.

All the money in the world won't keep the diggers from my grave

We start our day up against a R/B bloodthirst deck. I managed to have a Thermal Glider in hand to hold off the turn 1 Vexing Devil and from there, I got a Cho-Manno and Angelic Voices to utterly stall the ground war. Soon after I began swinging for 4 in the air and that was that..

In game 2, he started with an Aether Vial which I Abolish. Follows up with a Duskhunter Bat and I respond with Lin Sivvi. After I take one in the air, a Vampire Outcasts arrives, which  I'm able to shut down with Bound in Silence.

Let's hear it for Bound in Silence.

But after another swing for 1, I face a Blood Ogre and I don't have multiple copies of Bound in Silence. I'm concerned that I'm going to be taking a lot very soon, however he's unable to kill Lin Sivvi and once I've got Nightwind and Thermal Glider up and my army just amasses and swings.

In the next game, I'm up against zombies and I get blown out in game 2 because I cannot get the 5th Plains to cast Hallowed Burial. Recurring Gempalm Polluter does me in. I started off strong with a turn 2 Shared Triumph and Ramosian Sargent but I couldn't follow up on that and I got a second Hallowed Burial instead of a Plains on his alpha swing. Hard to die that way, especially after holding out for quite a few turns, holding off the swarm with pro-black creatures dug up by Lin Sivvi but sometimes that's the way it goes.

Next game starts off a little better for me at first but a Zombie Apocalypse removes my early advantage. I remove his advantage with Hallowed Burial and we start over.

Whew! With a Crusade on the board I start to use my Squadron Hawk to get another Lin Sivvi in response to it meeting a Nameless Inversion. At that point, I'm digging by pro-black creatures back up and he can't stop it.

Better lucky than good, sometimes.

Finally, facing a G/B undying deck, I once again found myself looking for my pro black creatures to pull me through. Hallowed Burial once again was an all star until game 2 when he dropped Griselbrand on me.

Holy crap that card is good. He was nearly able to rebound because of it, drawing a fresh seat of 7 and quickly rebuilding the army. Nevertheless I still managed to overcome, which was just as much luck as skill. In my favor: He didn't have a way to gain life due to pro-black creatures to block, so recovering from his draw was pretty difficult.

White Vision Blowout

Once upon a time there was a band called Course of Empire and this song was, for what will be obvious reasons, picked as the title.

1 Crusade
1 Angelic Voices
1 Shared Triumph
4 Hallowed Burial

1 Reinforcements
1 Bound in Silence
3 Abolish
1 Ballista Squad
1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
1 Jhovall Queen
1 Nightwind Glider
2 Ramosian Captain
2 Ramosian Sergeant
1 Reveille Squad
1 Riftmarked Knight
1 Shield Dancer
1 Steadfast Guard
1 Thermal Glider
2 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
1 Amrou Scout
4 Defiant Falcon
1 Defiant Vanguard
1 Outrider en-Kor

2 Eye of Singularity   

18 Plains
1 Ruins of Trokair
1 Remote Farm
1 Kor Haven
2 Mistveil Plains
1 Secluded Steppe

The resilience of a Rebel deck coupled with the exclusionary tactics of an Eye of Singularity. That's it.

In some respects, this deck is hard to improve: what rebels am I going to include that I haven't considered? On the other hand: a third Eye could help this deck. Against some decks, Eyes are like playing a second copy of Wrath, except it hits any nonbasic land permanent. So...like Wrath of God plus Balance? Something like that. It certainly is able to do a number on decks that strive for consistency or want to generate a lot of tokens. I don't know what I'd cut for another Eye though. Rebels are mana hungry as a strategy so removing a land is a bad idea. Bound in Silence might be too cutesy but it is a searchable way to control creatures. Potentially handy when facing down a big bad.

We shall see. Time to take this on a ride.