Estrid, Wrapup

Alright, I think I've had enough.

And no, it isn't because I think that this take on Estrid is bad. But three Commander decks in a row have burnt me out a bit on the format.

Just in time for the NEW Commander decks! But that's OK; it's a good time for a break.

More importantly, the final changes are working, at least 1v1.

In games against Fuz and Noah, I was able to put some solid resistance up, and my toolbox of cards finally gave me the options I was hoping to find..

There is, however a little glitch that Noah pointed out in our game: Starfield of Nyx doesn't play nice with Ground Seal.

Which is a bummer, because Ground Seal is pretty useful against a lot of strategies in Commander and the Starfield represents one of my win conditions. However, I have an option: Night Soil is available and could handle a lot of problems common to the format.

I'm liking another suggestion, though, from Matt; Mirari's Wake. Solves mana issues at any stage of the game, is a boost to my creatures and could give Helix Pinnacle a massive boost. Seems like a pretty good deal, right?

But as always: Why not both? So out comes Aura Gnarlid (sorry little feller, you can be huge but sacrifices must be made) for the Wake.

Finally, as much as I love Loyal Unicorn (that card just messes with everyone's combat math) it is, thematically, incorrect here. Heliod, God of the Sun makes more sense, and is another fantastic mana sink, should I need it. That leaves me with this:

Instant 1 Dismantling Blow 1 Bant Charm	Artifacts
Enchantment 1 Estrid's Invocation 1 Ever-Watching Threshold 1 Octopus Umbra 1 Myth Unbound 1 Sigil of the Empty Throne 1 Bear Umbra 1 Enchantress's Presence 1 Night Soil 1 Mirari's Wake 1 Righteous Authority 1 Sage's Reverie 1 Unquestioned Authority 1 Eel Umbra 1 Vow of Flight 1 Dawn's Reflection 1 Fertile Ground 1 Overgrowth 1 Snake Umbra 1 Wild Growth 1 Unflinching Courage 1 Fool's Demise 1 Market Festival 1 Starfield of Nyx 1 Enchanted Evening 1 Pollenbright Wings 1 Verdant Haven 1 Helix Pinnacle 1 Sphere of Safety 1 Vastwood Zendikon 1 Wind Zendikon 1 Bounty of the Luxa 1 Seal of Primordium	Sorcery 1 Empyrial Storm 1 Martial Coup 1 Phyrexian Rebirth 1 Winds of Rath 1 Kruphix's Insight 1 Plea for Guidance
Lands 9 Plains 6 Island 8 Forest 1 Forge of Heroes 1 Azorius Chancery 1 Blossoming Sands 1 Command Tower 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Krosan Verge 1 Meandering River 1 Seaside Citadel 1 Selesnya Sanctuary 1 Simic Growth Chamber 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Thornwood Falls 1 Tranquil Cove 1 Tranquil Expanse 1 Woodland Stream 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity	Creatures 1 Bruna, Light of Alabaster 1 Eidolon of Blossoms 1 Kestia, the Cultivator 1 Tuvasa the Sunlit 1 Heavenly Blademaster 1 Ajani's Chosen 1 Celestial Archon 1 Silent Sentinel 1 Boon Satyr 1 Herald of the Pantheon 1 Elderwood Scion 1 Heliod, God of the Sun 1 Archetype of Imagination 1 Yavimaya Enchantress 1 Rootwater Matriarch 1 Hypnotic Siren 1 Flitterstep Eidolon 1 Archetype of Endurance 1 Aura Thief 1 Archetype of Courage

Siege II

So there's going to be a Trypticon pack in every box.

As someone who buys a box: that's pretty exciting and a nice way to guarantee getting a character!

As someone who cares about the retail aspect: I wonder how those stores are going to deal with things?

Still, this is pretty amazing and I look forward to the Trypticon v Metroplex clash!

The Two Hour Limit

Wednesday's Commander game went two hours and for one of those hours, I did nothing. This was because a player who was certain that I was going to be a problem enchanted Estrid with Imprisoned in the Moon before I could enact the ultimate and, somehow, neither myself nor any of the other two players were playing with enchantment removal.

(I'd burned a Reclamation Sage on an Arcane Laboratory earlier and that was that.)

What a drag this game was. Even when I had a Starfield of Nyx out, there was nothing in my graveyard to salvage this situation. No appropriate creature removal, no enchantment/artifact destruction and despite having three board wipe effects, none of them appeared.

When my Aura Thief got exiled by an opponent's Undead Alchemist, I had no way to disrupt my opponent's enchantments, (most notably Aura of Silence, Astral Slide, Phyrexian Unlife or Solemnity) I knew the game was over. When another player's Nekusar, the Mindrazer's triggers finally ousted me from the game, I was thankful.

On the one hand, I suppose the player who Imprisoned Estrid was right: with one card, he effectively removed me from the game and whether I was a threat or not at the time, it no longer mattered. I had no outs and was now reliant on other players to get me out of a jam.

This is a terrible position to be in.

On the other hand: wow, did this deck get exposed. While I was miserable for roughly forty five minutes, one thing became perfectly clear to me: I need recurrable artifact and enchantment destruction.

In combination with Enchanted Evening, this would allow me to destroy any permanent, and if I can find an enchantment to do my dirty work, then Starfield of Nyx and Hall of Heliod's Generosity can both help me remove those troublesome things frequently.

Fortunately for me, Seal of Primordium and Seal of Cleansing exist. Heck, Seal of Removal might even be solid here.

However, this is why I hate Commander games. Honestly, how does ANYONE have fun for 120 minutes when they cannot interact for over half that experience? It's not as if I was alone, either: the player with Nekusar had mana-restrictive issues, meaning he could play a little but not a lot, which left the Zur, the Enchanter player (who might have it out for me, because whenever we play, regardless of my commander, is certain I am "a problem"), and the Teysa Karlov player, who had a deck that functioned even under Zur's reign.

Well, fuck: Why not just have two 2 player games and let me and the Nekuksar guy duke it out!

I suppose it's my fault for not scooping when I realized I had no outs. Again: Relying on other players to get me out of a jam is a terrible position to be in.

What's keeping me in those games? Sportsmanship? Is it worth it to say in a game where I'm not having any fun, just to be polite?

Yet, I also started thinking about what I needed to fix Estrid and I think I've hit on some elegant solutions, too.

Plus, I've started thinking about other steps I need to take: I've got over 200 decks and some of them suck. Sure, the idea is to make them better, but am I really mining new territory when I try and fix a R/W Bull Cerodon/Cerodon Yearling deck? Is that where my energies should go?

These benefits shouldn't be overlooked. However, there's got to be a way to exit something unfun without making a big deal.

Estrid, Aggro?

"I don't think you're using Estrid aggressively enough," Fuz told me after a few matches.

He hadn't brought any decks with him, so he was playing some of my Commander decks. It can be a little strange seeing a deck I built come at me. Kitchen table Magic decks are often so personalized that handing one over to someone else looks odd, at first. But it's a great way to see a deck from a unique perspective!

That aside, it seems he's right. I think that getting Estrid out and using the ultimate should be done every time I cast that card, as quickly as I can. Mana frequently isn't an issue, especially now that I've upped the Auras that enchant lands to make mana.

I've also realized that I cannot really make this deck without adding Hall of Heliod's Generosity, Skull of Orm and, possibly most importantly, Sphere of Safety. The first two cards should have obvious applications, but only one of them existed at the time of Estrid's printing. Why wasn't the Skull in the deck instead of Sol Ring?

The last card... OK, I can understand why Sphere of Safety isn't in the deck. Propaganda or Ghostly Prison, should probably have made it but Sphere of Safety is an oppressive card in this deck and I can't wait to shut down attacking decks with it.

Still, I've been complaining in multiple games that the deck is just boring, and the new cards just haven't changed that.

"What about Helix Pinnacle?" Matt asked me.

Hmmmmm.

What about Helix Pinnacle?

These came out:
Nylea's Colossus

Dictate of Heliod

Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle

Starfield Mystic

And these went in:
Helix Pinnacle

Sphere of Safety

Wind Zendikon

Vastwood Zendikon

Bounty of the Luxa

More defense and more mana. Plus, the Zendikons do two things for me: increase creature density as needed, and let me tap the land for mana, then untap it with Estrid's first ability to create more mana.

Bounty of the Luxa seems like some neat tech; a little extra card draw, a little extra mana. Sure, there's some bookkeeping involved but one thing I like about the card is that it feels harmless and thus is the kind of effect that will fly under the radar of opponents. That is the sort of card that will help keep me in games.

Now I've got something to look forward to: A proactive strategy and a unique win condition!

On Participation

This weekend, there's going to be a "learn to play" event at Red Castle Games for the Transformers TCG. The weekend after that, there's going to be a draft.

I'm thinking about going for a little while, even though I already know how to play, just to see if I'll meet new people. I definitely want to go to the draft, to show I'm interested in playing and maybe making some connections. That is, in the end, why I play these games: to have fun with someone and make friends, if possible.

So I enjoyed this article's perspective on community building. It's a reminder that I shouldn't be afraid to go to the Magic Legacy events around me either. The worst that happens is I go 0-X and head out for a pint, right?

Maybe it's time to step up a little more.

8 Power Guidelines For Commander

I liked this article-even though it's old, it's new to me-as a guideline for power levels for Commander decks.

I'm not saying that all Commander decks should hit the 75% power level mark, but that it's a good guideline and these suggestions are a good way to get there. Plus, given that I'm hip deep in trying to make Estrid a thing, these guidelines are good to keep in mind. 

Not that I will pay attention to those guidelines all the time, but I think they're worth shooting for, both as a metric to improve decks and as a way to know when a deck is very powerful and giving the playgroup a heads up is appropriate.

Estrid: The Cuts

Here's what I took out:

Sol Ring

Genesis Storm

Loyal Guardian

Loyal Drake

Epic Proportions

Dismantling Blow

Daxos of Meletis

Ravenous Slime

Dictate of Kruphix

Hydra Omnivore

Whitewater Naiads

Cold-Eye Selkie

Creeping Renaissance

Spawning Grounds

Finest Hour

Soul Snare

And to replace those cards:

Pollenbright Wings

Archetype of Courage

Starfield Mystic

Enchanted Evening

Aura Thief

Starfield of Nyx

Archetype of Endurance

Dictate of Heliod

Flitterstep Eidolon

Hypnotic Siren

Rootwater Matriarch

Market Festival

Fool's Demise

Plea for Guidance

Rootwater Matriarch and Pollenbright Wings were both suggestions from Matt, Aura Thief was something I saw in action (paired with Enchanted Evening), Starfield of Nyx and Dictate of Heliod are both card that should've been in the deck to start with, as should Plea for Guidance.

There's some interesting, maybe even good choices here, ways to go wide via tokens, ways to steal opponent's creatures, and ways to search for needed answers. I don't know if this is a wise direction to go in and I know that my creature density still isn't what I want it to be.

Worse, I just don't know that 'building a creature deck, but with enchantments' is what I care about. There's nothing to catch my imagination! What is this doing that isn't what any other deck does?

Things Have Come A Long Way

I saw this picture at Reddit and wow, what a fascinating comparison, right?

First, just the basics of the card (name, mana cost, power/toughness, etc) are far, far more readable. The Dominaria version is still utterly recognizable as a blue card, though I think the set symbol for Antiquities stands out more. Papers could be written on how the visual language of the game has changed.

That all said; how about those text boxes?

The first thing I think of is; how far Magic has come in regards to codifying the language of the game. How do activated or triggered abilities work? What does sacrifice mean? The word 'tap' isn't even involved in the Dominaria card! There were so many language issues with the early years, as Wizards attempted to clarify a game that was clearly spiraling out of control with its rules minute.

Thinking back on it, the internet absolutely saved Magic. It was been pointed out by people smarter than I, that the Antiquities Sage is trying to answer all the rules questions someone might have about how it works. In 1994, there is no reference for Magic and everything it presents, much less a detailed rule book. So the card itself has to try and answer all the questions someone might have.

By the time Dominaria Sage comes to visit, not only has the rules language of Magic been set down so that words like 'sacrifice' mean specific things, but Gatherer exists and everyone has access to it. If there are rules questions, we can instantly look them up and that is huge when it comes to a game like Magic. If Magic was just 'rules lookup, the game' nobody would want to play.

But now; we have far more elegant systems and the works that Wizards did to improve the game really shows, when you compare the cards.

Estrid's First Outings

The goings have been rough.

I played against a tuned enchantment themed deck-running Tuvasa of all things as the commander and had the combo of Calming Verse and Enchanted Evening.

Having one's permanents destroyed is a less than optimal way to lose the game, but it is a guaranteed way to do so.

That happened twice.

Matt played his Jorael, Empress of Beasts deck and I lost to that. Lynn played a tuned Lord Windgrace deck-which I also lost to in a grinding brutal fashion; once again my mana base was savaged.

Even games I won with Estrid felt more like games where my opponent got unlucky, not games where I successfully executed a strategy. Game after game, I either could do all the things, but never feeling like they mattered, or I was stuck doing nothing at all.

The upsides: the totem mask from Estrid was almost always meaningful, when I got it out. I didn't feel color screwed, despite the deck having an emphasis on green. The obvious include of Winds of Rath is in the deck that should have it. And there are some directions to go in and explore.

So I'm trying to be hopeful about what could be done here. I'm not just a little tired of these decks, however; the going nowhere aspect. Yes, I get that the idea is that now you can really customize them, but the commander decks of the past felt like you could play them out of the box and they had some identity. These continually feel like amorphous blobs that I have to mold.

Why would I bother with that, when I can just build a deck of my own?