Yeah I had " I feel dirty" moments. There are few cards I've took out just because I felt it wasn't fair. For my Numot deck I never use the land destruction for non basic lands. It just feels wrong every time I do it.
On the other hand, I love those "Oh Snap!" moments. I remember a Hidengetsu deck that took out everyone in one shot with furnace of rath. Everyone just applauded and just laughed how easy we lost to 2 card combo.
In general, I think this is less about upholding a social contract and more about other players whining.
The Kemba list looks completely fair. Other than some powerful sweepers, the deck is primarily weenies + equipment + removal, so no one really has a right to complain about that.
It boils down to the strengths and weaknesses of each deck. This deck is mono-colored, and has a powerful early game that fades in strength as the game progresses. While on the other hand, decks that do nothing but fetch lands so that they have 10 lands in play by Turn 5 have a powerful endgame that will most likely dominate the table, provided that it is not a 5-on-1 battle. If they're going to leave themselves that wide open, they have no right to complain about dying to a general equipped with Quietus Spike. Especially since your deck has no acceleration, so if they can't deal with a lone creature by about Turn 5, they deserve to be taken out.
Yesterday I was playing a game with my Sol'Kanar junk deck. It's basically a bunch of cool cards that I have never used in other decks, no real theme or anything. Anyway, a Savra player was getting a dominant board position when I drew Hatred. I attacked Savra and used Hatred to knock her out with general damage on turn 6 I believe. The other 2 players were in complete shock, and the Savra player was a little annoyed to just get killed out of nowhere. I felt dirty afterwards, almost like I took advantage of a girl who had too much to drink (not that I have ever done that... It's just a joke people). I decided to take Hatred out, because I didn't like the feeling of just blowing a player out even if they were the most powerful on the board. I basically violated the social contract in my eyes.
Nice Kemba deck by the way. The benefit of going low creature build is the large amount of mass removal you can use. I've run into protocol's version in the past as well. Good times.
lolwhen it comes to the social contract and showing mercy or what not i'll be nice to people sometimes unless they are playing blue. then well f you buddy.
If monoblack doesn't draw something then it can just tutor for it.
Sometimes the getting ganged up on part of the card isn't relevant, for example someone cast it after using Myojin of Night's Reach at which point he obviously would have already been the target of everyone at the table. Same applies for necropotence in a Zur deck. Outside of such highly competitve decks it is probably not that good espacially if it is cast to early in the game like the one you displayed.
haha yeah I played a lot when SOM came out. I had the deck ready to go and just added kemba as soon as I played in a prerelease. I originally made a raksha deck and saw kemba. I think I had a nerdgasm when I saw her for the first time. I couldn't believe some people thought she was a second rate commander. To me she completed the cat/equipment theme started by raksha.
When I first played kemba, I remember there was another kemba player on the board. I never made so many cat/lion jokes like "THERE IS ONLY ONE KHA IN THIS PRIDE!!!" "RAWR!!!" etc
I had heartseeker to early on in my deck. But it just made me get targeted by everyone so much that I dropped it. It just drew too much attention from everyone for its power. I do understand not wanting to have nothing but tier 1 cards. That's not the spirit of commander. If I wanted the most efficient cards only, I'd play standard.
I understand not having too much tutors and making every single game exactly the same. But greaves is such an important card for kemba. Without it the chance of your kemba surviving is so low.
I remember playing something like
Heh, it just dawned on me, that I think it was from watching you play your Kemba deck, long ago when SOM was first released, that I was inspired to make my own Kemba deck. I doubt you remember everyone who watches your games, but I'm pretty sure it was you. =)
Anyway, Heartseeker to me is definitive of what I'm trying to do with Commander and what I think the format is about: big splashy spells that I don't get to play in any other format. Something like Sword of Fire and Ice (and its cousins) are tier 1 (or 1.5) Legacy cards, and although they're super powerful, they don't speak Commander to me. I mean, I also like and want to play good cards, but for me – as I said in the article – I like to try and find a balance of splashy spells and tier 1 "oh this again" type spells. Sometimes it's hard to strike the right balance because too far one way leads to impotence and too far the other way leads to dominance.
To that end, that's why I didn't include the tutors. Monetarily and CC wise they're cheap, but I kind of like the variance. That said, I may try them out and see how it goes. My biggest problem is Kemba has a huge target on her and part of the reason why I try to keep all CC relatively low is because of using all my mana to re-cast and re-equip. That may be eased by fetching Greaves, for sure.
With Commander decks, I find I'm tinkering around with them after nearly every game. So I'm sure I'll get around to trying lots of these different toys. =D
Planar Portal always ends up getting destroyed for me. It's fantastic if you get to use it. But you need 12 cc to use it right away. If I cast it on turn 5-6, 90% of the time it gets disenchanted and I wasted my turn. I lose tempo and not casting something game changing. By having more options, drawing a few cards usually gets me an answer. It makes more sense for your deck though. Since you are trying to make kemba have as many equipments as possible.
I just try to keep my hands full by other means.
For example, I run Kozilek instead. Not to use it as a eldrazi, but to draw 4 cards. To this date, I have never ever attacked with him. Board gets wiped 100%. Plus side is that I get to shuffle my destroyed equipments into my library so I can fetch them again. Also, one less wipe to worry about. And there is nothing like tunnel vision backfiring on a mono blue user. I use solemn simulacrum just to keep ahead of the card advantage. I use Dreamstone Hedron to drop lots of equipments fast and draw cards later.
I usually find that kemba always ends but all about timing your build up. You need one or two turns of kemba surviving to win. I try to draw out all the wipes and creature destruction before I go all out. Or I try to rush it early if I have a good hand.
You are right though your kemba deck is more focused on the commander. I noticed the lower budge constrain. Cards like sword of fire and ice is expensive and most of the recursion is pretty hefty too. But you could definitely try the cheaper cards. I'd drop heartseeker and invincible hymn for sure. so many better choices and people get scared of heartseeker. If you want to try more equipments, Kaldratron is nice too. Shield of Kaldra is definitely lacking though. I noticed the lack of tutor as well. Definitely include the cheap tutor like the common equipment fetching one. You really want lightning greaves on kemba.
Is that game good? I've been toying with the idea of buying either that or Dominion. I've never played either (my only real board game experience is catan and risk), but i have a few friends who like board games but don't like the idea of trading cards.
I figure a non-collectable card game might be good!
Yeah, as I said, I went for a minimum creature build. I don't know why, I just like it. I've seen builds like yours that have a lot more creatures, I just try to focus on my commander and fill the other things. I'm sure your deck is better, but I like the feel of an all-in commander battle and Kemba being nearly on her own. Of course, I'm really susceptible to tuck effects, but meh. "Live by the combo, die by the combo" is my motto for Magic and although this isn't a combo deck, I'll still die on my terms. ;)
I can't believe you're not running Planar Portal. ;) Seriously, if you can get it working, it's great for overcoming that problem you mentioned of running out of gas. You can fetch up cards like Mind's Eye and Journeyer's Kite to keep your hand full. Definitely worth the slot.
I'll try out some of your suggestions in my list and see how they go. I also have to state, that my list was on a semi-budget. I'm relatively new to Commander and MTGO so my staple base is small but growing.
Thanks for the time in this reply; it's nice to see another perspective on such a great commander! =)
One thing about mono white is that you need as much card advantage as you can get. I can't believe you don't have Raksha though. He's perfect with the theme and can be used as a backup commander against slower decks. If you thought quietus spike was nice, wait until you get to attack with flying vigilant double strike kemba with buffs on it doing 40+ dmg in one turn.
While global pump is nice, I find Ajani is better. Global pump usually gets taken down fast but Ajani's pump stays when he's gone. Also vigilance helps out a lot. One underrated card is Concerted effort. Nothing like flying vigilant cats to stomp your enemy. Also you can always find it with tutors. Akroma's memorial is one card I've been thinking about but you can't search for it with a tutor.
Also Sun Titan / Lightning greave is a really nice combo. (Martial's Anthem)->Reveilark->(Miren)->Karmic Guide-> Sun Titan -> Lightning greave in one turn usually makes the opponents drop their jaws. You need those recursion with very few card draw choices. Biggest weakness for Kemba is after a total wipe. When all the artifacts are in the graveyard, you need a quick way to come back. That's why I went with tons of recursion.
Can't believe you don't have Leonin Sun Standard. It's perfect with the cat theme and it pumps little guys as much as you want. I find that much better than global pump via enchantment
Leonin Shikari makes your other guys share Lightning greaves and other prot during off turns. Manriki-Gusari is a good meta game choice. Almost every deck runs lightning greaves and sword of fire and ice. It's great to be able to take them out easily and still use it on kemba.
I like to go for the kill asap with kemba. Usually there is one commander everyone hates(Zur,Jhoira Uril etc). Kemba can come back very easily with one wipe and a decent recursion card in hand. By 5-7th turn, kemba can have an army of cat bringing a player down. Playing slow just makes everyone get scared of you and destroy all your equipments.
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Argentum Armor
1 Arid Mesa
1 Austere Command
1 Avian Changeling
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Concerted Effort
1 Condemn
1 Crib Swap
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
1 Darksteel Axe
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Jareth, Leonine Titan
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Karmic Guide
1 Karoo
1 Kemba, Kha Regent
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Konda's Banner
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Land Tax
1 Leonin Abunas
1 Leonin Den-Guard
1 Leonin Shikari
1 Leonin Squire
1 Leonin Sun Standard
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 Mind's Eye
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mirror Entity
29 Plains
1 Quietus Spike
1 Raksha Golden Cub
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Return to Dust
1 Reveillark
1 Rout
1 Seht's Tiger
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Skullclamp
1 Skyhunter Cub
1 Skyhunter Patrol
1 Skyhunter Prowler
1 Sol Ring
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spirit of the Hearth
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Strata Scythe
1 Sun Titan
1 Sunspear Shikari
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Taj-Nar Swordsmith
1 Terrain Generator
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Tower of Fortunes
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Vesuva
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Whitemane Lion
A rant about a rant. I love the irony. But, seriously, while I have never played a Whitesun's Passage in an 8-4 against an infect deck, I am a new player who has made bad card choices and played a good deck poorly. I have never been bothered when an experienced player gave me constructive advice. You're obviously an experienced player. Why not identify the guys major mistake or one change he could've made and offer him that bit of advice so that he can improve his play? Remember when you first learned to play Magic?
I know that Sheldon has done it a couple times, and I might be in the minority, but I gotta say that I'm not a huge fan of the card by card breakdown of a Commander deck. I think for the most part that it is pretty self evident as to why a specific card is in the deck. You do break things up by their use, which is nice. But how many different ways can you say that Solemn Simulacrum is good? Of course it is always good to point out things that are unusual or not often seen. Stuff like Enshrined Memories, Death or Glory and Invincible Hymn are definitely worth discussing, as well as the overall themes of the deck.
With that said, however, this kind of breakdown does help newer players that are just breaking into the format who may not know about everything that's out there. On top of that you were able to pick out some interesting tidbits about the cards, so that was nice.
I'm surprised you haven't seen Rhys played more. I ran into him a bunch a while back, but he doesn't seem to be as popular now.
First, I just want to apologize to the readers for my poor editing. Usually I do a run through before submitting these and forget about them until they get published. But just glancing through this right now, there's some bad writing that was easily fixable. I'm going to try and make sure that it doesn't happen again.
As for Necro, like I said I've seen it both ways. Either people get ganged up on because they use it, or they just win with it. I like what Shard said about it though, using it in a mono-black deck with some lifegain effects is a good idea. Sometimes you don't draw the life gain though...
My experience watching people play the Necro decks, is that they ussually loose. They start spending life and becasue they played it, they get beat up on. it can be viable in the right deck, but that deck isn't suitable for social commander games.
Thanks, glad you like 'em! I've been finding Scars has been getting harder, at least at my local gaming store, as more players have been mastering it & the competition's getting tougher.
Next week I'm moving to San Francisco, so we'll see what the FNM crowd is like there, and how bad I can get my behind kicked whenever I find time to drive over to Superstars in San Jose. Hopefully I'll still make time to post more draft walkthroughs, since raredraft makes it a lot quicker for me!
I had a surplus of exclamation points left over from taking down the Christmas Tree, so I wanted to use some of them up here. (Some people use Candy Canes, but our family is odd.)
Anyway I got rid of most of them, so to show I take reader feedback seriously, I'll keep exclamation point usage low in the next article. Instead I'll be using (and mis-using) a ton of semi-colons; which I'm sure you will all enjoy;;;;.
After that, we discuss hyphens. I'm afraid I'm too lazy to look up whether they properly belong in "mis-using" or "semi-colons".
...and registered today just to say thank you for doing these. I know you enjoy doing them, and thought you'd like to know how much I have enjoyed your series over the last couple of months. The drafts are entertaining, and the Scars block constructed series has been my favorite. Keep up the good work.
thats not the point. I just 99% of the time dont like blue. Kind of like some people just dont like say...chinese food.
Yeah I had " I feel dirty" moments. There are few cards I've took out just because I felt it wasn't fair. For my Numot deck I never use the land destruction for non basic lands. It just feels wrong every time I do it.
On the other hand, I love those "Oh Snap!" moments. I remember a Hidengetsu deck that took out everyone in one shot with furnace of rath. Everyone just applauded and just laughed how easy we lost to 2 card combo.
In general, I think this is less about upholding a social contract and more about other players whining.
The Kemba list looks completely fair. Other than some powerful sweepers, the deck is primarily weenies + equipment + removal, so no one really has a right to complain about that.
It boils down to the strengths and weaknesses of each deck. This deck is mono-colored, and has a powerful early game that fades in strength as the game progresses. While on the other hand, decks that do nothing but fetch lands so that they have 10 lands in play by Turn 5 have a powerful endgame that will most likely dominate the table, provided that it is not a 5-on-1 battle. If they're going to leave themselves that wide open, they have no right to complain about dying to a general equipped with Quietus Spike. Especially since your deck has no acceleration, so if they can't deal with a lone creature by about Turn 5, they deserve to be taken out.
Yesterday I was playing a game with my Sol'Kanar junk deck. It's basically a bunch of cool cards that I have never used in other decks, no real theme or anything. Anyway, a Savra player was getting a dominant board position when I drew Hatred. I attacked Savra and used Hatred to knock her out with general damage on turn 6 I believe. The other 2 players were in complete shock, and the Savra player was a little annoyed to just get killed out of nowhere. I felt dirty afterwards, almost like I took advantage of a girl who had too much to drink (not that I have ever done that... It's just a joke people). I decided to take Hatred out, because I didn't like the feeling of just blowing a player out even if they were the most powerful on the board. I basically violated the social contract in my eyes.
Nice Kemba deck by the way. The benefit of going low creature build is the large amount of mass removal you can use. I've run into protocol's version in the past as well. Good times.
Not all blue decks are cut throat or break the social contract. Not everyone runs counters, bounce and infinite combo.
lolwhen it comes to the social contract and showing mercy or what not i'll be nice to people sometimes unless they are playing blue. then well f you buddy.
Putting the link to the deck on MTGOtraders so you can buy it = awesome.
Well Brian Kibler and other pros have done work on creating it so it can't suck.
If monoblack doesn't draw something then it can just tutor for it.
Sometimes the getting ganged up on part of the card isn't relevant, for example someone cast it after using Myojin of Night's Reach at which point he obviously would have already been the target of everyone at the table. Same applies for necropotence in a Zur deck. Outside of such highly competitve decks it is probably not that good espacially if it is cast to early in the game like the one you displayed.
Bloodchief Ascension imo suffers the same fate.
haha yeah I played a lot when SOM came out. I had the deck ready to go and just added kemba as soon as I played in a prerelease. I originally made a raksha deck and saw kemba. I think I had a nerdgasm when I saw her for the first time. I couldn't believe some people thought she was a second rate commander. To me she completed the cat/equipment theme started by raksha.
When I first played kemba, I remember there was another kemba player on the board. I never made so many cat/lion jokes like "THERE IS ONLY ONE KHA IN THIS PRIDE!!!" "RAWR!!!" etc
I had heartseeker to early on in my deck. But it just made me get targeted by everyone so much that I dropped it. It just drew too much attention from everyone for its power. I do understand not wanting to have nothing but tier 1 cards. That's not the spirit of commander. If I wanted the most efficient cards only, I'd play standard.
I understand not having too much tutors and making every single game exactly the same. But greaves is such an important card for kemba. Without it the chance of your kemba surviving is so low.
I remember playing something like
Turn 1 Land Tax (Basilisk)
Turn 2 Lightning Greaves
Turn 3 Kemba + equip
Turn 4 Konda's banner + equip
Turn 5 stompy stompy
That just makes me smile.
I can't wait for Mirrodin besieged. Mirrodin theme commanders have more tools to play with.
Heh, it just dawned on me, that I think it was from watching you play your Kemba deck, long ago when SOM was first released, that I was inspired to make my own Kemba deck. I doubt you remember everyone who watches your games, but I'm pretty sure it was you. =)
Anyway, Heartseeker to me is definitive of what I'm trying to do with Commander and what I think the format is about: big splashy spells that I don't get to play in any other format. Something like Sword of Fire and Ice (and its cousins) are tier 1 (or 1.5) Legacy cards, and although they're super powerful, they don't speak Commander to me. I mean, I also like and want to play good cards, but for me – as I said in the article – I like to try and find a balance of splashy spells and tier 1 "oh this again" type spells. Sometimes it's hard to strike the right balance because too far one way leads to impotence and too far the other way leads to dominance.
To that end, that's why I didn't include the tutors. Monetarily and CC wise they're cheap, but I kind of like the variance. That said, I may try them out and see how it goes. My biggest problem is Kemba has a huge target on her and part of the reason why I try to keep all CC relatively low is because of using all my mana to re-cast and re-equip. That may be eased by fetching Greaves, for sure.
With Commander decks, I find I'm tinkering around with them after nearly every game. So I'm sure I'll get around to trying lots of these different toys. =D
Planar Portal always ends up getting destroyed for me. It's fantastic if you get to use it. But you need 12 cc to use it right away. If I cast it on turn 5-6, 90% of the time it gets disenchanted and I wasted my turn. I lose tempo and not casting something game changing. By having more options, drawing a few cards usually gets me an answer. It makes more sense for your deck though. Since you are trying to make kemba have as many equipments as possible.
I just try to keep my hands full by other means.
For example, I run Kozilek instead. Not to use it as a eldrazi, but to draw 4 cards. To this date, I have never ever attacked with him. Board gets wiped 100%. Plus side is that I get to shuffle my destroyed equipments into my library so I can fetch them again. Also, one less wipe to worry about. And there is nothing like tunnel vision backfiring on a mono blue user. I use solemn simulacrum just to keep ahead of the card advantage. I use Dreamstone Hedron to drop lots of equipments fast and draw cards later.
I usually find that kemba always ends but all about timing your build up. You need one or two turns of kemba surviving to win. I try to draw out all the wipes and creature destruction before I go all out. Or I try to rush it early if I have a good hand.
You are right though your kemba deck is more focused on the commander. I noticed the lower budge constrain. Cards like sword of fire and ice is expensive and most of the recursion is pretty hefty too. But you could definitely try the cheaper cards. I'd drop heartseeker and invincible hymn for sure. so many better choices and people get scared of heartseeker. If you want to try more equipments, Kaldratron is nice too. Shield of Kaldra is definitely lacking though. I noticed the lack of tutor as well. Definitely include the cheap tutor like the common equipment fetching one. You really want lightning greaves on kemba.
Is that game good? I've been toying with the idea of buying either that or Dominion. I've never played either (my only real board game experience is catan and risk), but i have a few friends who like board games but don't like the idea of trading cards.
I figure a non-collectable card game might be good!
Yeah, as I said, I went for a minimum creature build. I don't know why, I just like it. I've seen builds like yours that have a lot more creatures, I just try to focus on my commander and fill the other things. I'm sure your deck is better, but I like the feel of an all-in commander battle and Kemba being nearly on her own. Of course, I'm really susceptible to tuck effects, but meh. "Live by the combo, die by the combo" is my motto for Magic and although this isn't a combo deck, I'll still die on my terms. ;)
I can't believe you're not running Planar Portal. ;) Seriously, if you can get it working, it's great for overcoming that problem you mentioned of running out of gas. You can fetch up cards like Mind's Eye and Journeyer's Kite to keep your hand full. Definitely worth the slot.
I'll try out some of your suggestions in my list and see how they go. I also have to state, that my list was on a semi-budget. I'm relatively new to Commander and MTGO so my staple base is small but growing.
Thanks for the time in this reply; it's nice to see another perspective on such a great commander! =)
Here is my Kemba list
I went with more cat theme and creatures.
One thing about mono white is that you need as much card advantage as you can get. I can't believe you don't have Raksha though. He's perfect with the theme and can be used as a backup commander against slower decks. If you thought quietus spike was nice, wait until you get to attack with flying vigilant double strike kemba with buffs on it doing 40+ dmg in one turn.
While global pump is nice, I find Ajani is better. Global pump usually gets taken down fast but Ajani's pump stays when he's gone. Also vigilance helps out a lot. One underrated card is Concerted effort. Nothing like flying vigilant cats to stomp your enemy. Also you can always find it with tutors. Akroma's memorial is one card I've been thinking about but you can't search for it with a tutor.
Also Sun Titan / Lightning greave is a really nice combo. (Martial's Anthem)->Reveilark->(Miren)->Karmic Guide-> Sun Titan -> Lightning greave in one turn usually makes the opponents drop their jaws. You need those recursion with very few card draw choices. Biggest weakness for Kemba is after a total wipe. When all the artifacts are in the graveyard, you need a quick way to come back. That's why I went with tons of recursion.
Can't believe you don't have Leonin Sun Standard. It's perfect with the cat theme and it pumps little guys as much as you want. I find that much better than global pump via enchantment
Leonin Shikari makes your other guys share Lightning greaves and other prot during off turns. Manriki-Gusari is a good meta game choice. Almost every deck runs lightning greaves and sword of fire and ice. It's great to be able to take them out easily and still use it on kemba.
I like to go for the kill asap with kemba. Usually there is one commander everyone hates(Zur,Jhoira Uril etc). Kemba can come back very easily with one wipe and a decent recursion card in hand. By 5-7th turn, kemba can have an army of cat bringing a player down. Playing slow just makes everyone get scared of you and destroy all your equipments.
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Argentum Armor
1 Arid Mesa
1 Austere Command
1 Avian Changeling
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Concerted Effort
1 Condemn
1 Crib Swap
1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
1 Darksteel Axe
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Jareth, Leonine Titan
1 Kabira Crossroads
1 Karmic Guide
1 Karoo
1 Kemba, Kha Regent
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Konda's Banner
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Land Tax
1 Leonin Abunas
1 Leonin Den-Guard
1 Leonin Shikari
1 Leonin Squire
1 Leonin Sun Standard
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 Mind's Eye
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Mirror Entity
29 Plains
1 Quietus Spike
1 Raksha Golden Cub
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Return to Dust
1 Reveillark
1 Rout
1 Seht's Tiger
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Skullclamp
1 Skyhunter Cub
1 Skyhunter Patrol
1 Skyhunter Prowler
1 Sol Ring
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spirit of the Hearth
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Strata Scythe
1 Sun Titan
1 Sunspear Shikari
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Taj-Nar Swordsmith
1 Terrain Generator
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Tower of Fortunes
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Vesuva
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Whitemane Lion
A rant about a rant. I love the irony. But, seriously, while I have never played a Whitesun's Passage in an 8-4 against an infect deck, I am a new player who has made bad card choices and played a good deck poorly. I have never been bothered when an experienced player gave me constructive advice. You're obviously an experienced player. Why not identify the guys major mistake or one change he could've made and offer him that bit of advice so that he can improve his play? Remember when you first learned to play Magic?
I know that Sheldon has done it a couple times, and I might be in the minority, but I gotta say that I'm not a huge fan of the card by card breakdown of a Commander deck. I think for the most part that it is pretty self evident as to why a specific card is in the deck. You do break things up by their use, which is nice. But how many different ways can you say that Solemn Simulacrum is good? Of course it is always good to point out things that are unusual or not often seen. Stuff like Enshrined Memories, Death or Glory and Invincible Hymn are definitely worth discussing, as well as the overall themes of the deck.
With that said, however, this kind of breakdown does help newer players that are just breaking into the format who may not know about everything that's out there. On top of that you were able to pick out some interesting tidbits about the cards, so that was nice.
I'm surprised you haven't seen Rhys played more. I ran into him a bunch a while back, but he doesn't seem to be as popular now.
Interested to see what you do with the deck.
First, I just want to apologize to the readers for my poor editing. Usually I do a run through before submitting these and forget about them until they get published. But just glancing through this right now, there's some bad writing that was easily fixable. I'm going to try and make sure that it doesn't happen again.
As for Necro, like I said I've seen it both ways. Either people get ganged up on because they use it, or they just win with it. I like what Shard said about it though, using it in a mono-black deck with some lifegain effects is a good idea. Sometimes you don't draw the life gain though...
My experience watching people play the Necro decks, is that they ussually loose. They start spending life and becasue they played it, they get beat up on. it can be viable in the right deck, but that deck isn't suitable for social commander games.
I liked it as usual, but a bit too short of a cast, thanks!
Thanks, glad you like 'em! I've been finding Scars has been getting harder, at least at my local gaming store, as more players have been mastering it & the competition's getting tougher.
Next week I'm moving to San Francisco, so we'll see what the FNM crowd is like there, and how bad I can get my behind kicked whenever I find time to drive over to Superstars in San Jose. Hopefully I'll still make time to post more draft walkthroughs, since raredraft makes it a lot quicker for me!
I had a surplus of exclamation points left over from taking down the Christmas Tree, so I wanted to use some of them up here. (Some people use Candy Canes, but our family is odd.)
Anyway I got rid of most of them, so to show I take reader feedback seriously, I'll keep exclamation point usage low in the next article. Instead I'll be using (and mis-using) a ton of semi-colons; which I'm sure you will all enjoy;;;;.
After that, we discuss hyphens. I'm afraid I'm too lazy to look up whether they properly belong in "mis-using" or "semi-colons".
Nice job man. As far as necropotence I used it in a monoblack deck but i had a lot of drain effects and ivory tower just in case
...and registered today just to say thank you for doing these. I know you enjoy doing them, and thought you'd like to know how much I have enjoyed your series over the last couple of months. The drafts are entertaining, and the Scars block constructed series has been my favorite. Keep up the good work.
That is seriously what you had to say about the article......I counted 10 btw lol!!!!!!!!!!