No One Controls Grimlock

What the heck do you do when Tooth and Nail is a questionable card in a giant monsters deck?

Seriously. Nine mana to just drop to giant monsters into play, or seven to get them either into or out of my hand? How is that bad?

It's bad because two of my best answers to problems, Wakening Sun's Avatar and Zacama, Primal Calamity both hinge on being cast from hand. Is it worth keeping a seven mana tutor for two cards? Or would it be better to just draw cards, period.

Also, why is Carnage Tyrant $20. The card is good. It is not worth that much, is it? It's not making an appearance in Standard champion decks that I know of...(Short research later-yes, it is).

But I am getting off track; the point is that T&N doesn't do what I hope it will. Belbe's Portal might be the better option, especially when it comes to rebuilding after the inevitable board resets.

So would Darksteel Plate.

But I just went over these things last week. What's the difference? Well, in one of my last commander games, Sydri just took over the game-despite an Aura Shards on the table.

This is partly my fault: I thought the Sydri player might be problematic but with the Shards in play, I didn't worry about it. Also, my commander-and lesser extent, deck- is vulnerable to that form of removal so now I was holding onto vehicles I couldn't play and a commander that couldn't boost my creatures.

But I didn't push the advantage when I had it and I should have. Eventually, a Darksteel Forge appeared and after that it was just a matter of time. The Sydri player didn't push the advantage I thought they could, which gave me time, but I didn't have any outs.

Which brings me to the next piece of business: I should get outs. Rogue's Passage and (sigh) Wave of Vitriol are heavy contenders.

I've been cold on the Wave because it has a significant impact on Grimlock. But if I win a game where I cast Wave, then who cares? Because I already know I'm losing games where I can't cast Wave.

However, I am starting to think that what I really need is some form of card draw. Because one card that has been absolutely killing it for me is Conqueror's Galleon.

Of course, one of the things that I did with that Galleon was recur Thrashing Brontodon over and over again...

I swear I'm going to figure this out.