“Magictating” is defined as getting into the zone with your Magic the Gathering collection--thinking, planning, organizing, reminiscing about past games, and imagining future games. It is a combination of hard thinking about the game and calm meditation, reveling in the joy it brings you.
I'd like to introduce you to the hidden build around commanders that just released in the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander decks. These cards deserve their own decks, so you will want to pick up some extras for sure. We all know that those decks are built with the face legend in mind, but we are also given another option of who can lead that deck. I'm here to say that building a whole new deck for that “alternative leader” is the best way to go. Why not just slot a new card into the existing deck you bought and start building a brand new beauty with a whole different approach? So, let's get brewing with….
Nihiloor
His name sounds like he's some sort of nihilist, but I prefer to think this guy is no coward. Nihiloor says he wants your stuff. No, really, Nihiloor wants your creatures because they're going to help us steal more life and in some ways…more creatures! I also want your creatures because my Commander is going to help me drain you for tons as I steal everyone's stuff and kill them with their own cards. This deck can leave people salty, but who doesn't like a well-seasoned loss? This sort of deck gets to be built around using other creatures with grabby effects as well like Beguiler of Wills, Callous Oppressor, Cytoplast Manipulator, Dragonlord Silumgar, Mind Flayer, Sower of Temptation, Thalakos Deceiver, Seasinger, Soul Seizer, and Merieke Ri Berit (speaking of alternative commanders). These creatures all let you steal other players' creatures, and then you can use those stolen creatures to steal even more cards when you cast Nihiloor. Don't forget to use spells like Blatant Thievery, Control Magic, Treachery, Mind Control, Dominate, Lullmage's Domination, Evangelize, Entrancing Melody, Corrupted Conscience, Dominating Licid (so much old school fun), Enslave, Illusory Gains (fun times), and Spirit Away. Once you've stolen people's fun, er…creatures, you can use them to drain away their lives with Nihiloor. You can flesh out the rest of the deck with mana rocks, removal, and a couple counterspells like Spelljack, Desertion, and Mana Drain! The hardest part of playing a deck like this is deciding which creatures to kill and which to steal!
Now, speaking of using other people's things…how about Lorcan, the Warlock Collector? I mean it's solid as a part of the 99, and even more so when you include it in mill style strategies to just snap up tons of people's creatures. You can also cheat it into play for a turn or so with cards like Goryo's Vengeance, Footsteps of the Goryo, and even Corpse Dance. Those low mana options combined with mill cards Fractured Sanity, Maddening Cacophony, and even Manic Scribe really allow you to pop off with stealing people's stuff while milling them out. Sure, when you play mill you want to mill to win, but using other people's stuff as a manner of insurance isn't so bad either! Lorcan, the Warlock Collector could also be a decent leader of a very strong Mono-Black Control (MBC) deck. A brutally effective removal engine combined with Lorcan's thievery is an excellent way to control a game and take gross advantage of everyone else's cool creatures. Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos combine wonderfully with cards like Fleshbag Marauder to grind out ridiculous value from your opponents' resources. It's a little similar to Sheoldred, but I feel this card allows you to do some sneakier and nastier things. The ceiling is a lot higher on Lorcan. A solid battlecruiser styled commander!
The alternate commanders are not all about stealing other people's win conditions. Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant is all about letting other people do the beat down for you. I have a Thantis, the Warweaver deck, and when I saw Karazikar I thought he'd be a great fit for the deck. As I've been thinking more I realized that I need to buy two Karazikars. One for Thantis, the Warweaver to command and one to allow this beholder to rule its own army. Well, other people's armies will be doing the ridiculous stuff. The most important part of Karazikar that I think most people are over-looking is that you don't have to attack with Karazikar. In fact, you can go ahead and let his trigger get used by throwing crummy goblins at people. Goblin Assault works nicely with this, and so does Bitterblossom. People see your paltry army of 1/1 chumps, but what you actually have are value engines driven to goad your opponents into horrible combat situations. Want to make combat even more of a nightmare for your opponents? Then toss in wonky cards other people have probably either forgotten or never even seen. Trust me, these cards will quickly become infamous once everyone lays eyes on them: Sorrow's Path, False Orders, Blood Frenzy, Dissension in the Ranks, Rock Slide, Warpath, No Quarter, and War Cadence. Using goad to set up attacks that no one wants to make is even more fun when you have repeatable effects like Sorrow's Path, No Quarter, and War Cadence available. Goading decks really move the game along much faster, and as long as you can keep a commander like Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant in play you'll never run out of cards! It's not quite stealing other people's creatures to win, so it shouldn't have as high a salt factor, but forcing the action can make slower control decks pay the price for being slow (which isn't always a bad thing).
Another legendary creature that I have to buy two copies of is Wulfgar of Icewind Dale. Strangely enough I think I need him for my Thantis deck as well. Just seems so good with Karazikar and all the other combat triggered abilities I have in that deck. I definitely need a second copy of Wulfar of Icewind Dale to have him helm his very own deck. This is the sort of deck that is going to be heavily creature based, and obviously will love to do plenty of attacking. Green and red are fantastic colors for doing this sort of thing. You can toss Wulfgar into so many decks that run these colors that he seems to just make all of those decks better! So how do we go about building his own deck? Well, a few cards with ridiculous synergies include Bear Umbra, Druids' Repository, Goldspan Dragon, and Captain Lannery Storm can make tons of mana to pump up other ridiculous abilities. Beast Master Ascension pairs nicely in order to go huge in a hurry. Blossoming Bogbeast and Cultivator of Blades both do a good Craterhoof Behemoth impersonation for a mere five mana. If five mana is too much, then consider using Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma to crank out the beatings even earlier. If you're not afraid to pay a little more then feel free to use Pathbreaker Ibex to demolish everyone at once, but be sure to say, “I must break you,” in your best Ivan Drago voice when you play this goat. Drakuseth, Maw of Flames combines with Wulfgar to do a ridiculous amount of damage right off the bat! Oh, guess what else is a combat trigger, Annihilator. So, yeah, run anything with annihilator and now it's double annihilator, “There's no such thing as overkill.” – Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Meanwhile, Fractal Harness and Fangren Firstborn bulk up your creatures in a hurry. Looking to cheat a few more creatures into play? Then make Hans Eriksson a sacrificial lamb, then get double the creatures, and use Ilharg, the Raze-Boar to drop bombs on people as early as turn 5! Kalonian Hydra is another ridiculous beater that becomes absurd with Wulfgar at the helm. Use Kogla, the Titan Ape to bash double the artifacts into oblivion. If you want some high mana value cards to bash in with as flashy finishers, then try out these beauties: Utvara Hellkite (best in a dragon sub-theme), Tyrant's Familiar (see previous notes), The Tarrasque, Siege Dragon (ditto), Tectonic Hellion, and Rampaging Brontodon. Whew, that's a massive list of cards that synergize amazingly well with Wulfgar of Icewind Dale.
I didn't even get into how good he can be in a green red goblin themed deck. That just seems so wrong, but maybe it's worth the flavor fail if we can convince ourselves he's there to point the horde in the right direction? Or perhaps he has been mind-controlled by some evil shaman and is leading the goblin hordes unwillingly? Either way, if you use him as a sneaky goblin commander I'm certain it will be incredibly gross. Additionally, he's solid as a dragon commander as well. He's so good I might have to buy a playset! He's probably one of the single best cards that works well in just about every Gruul deck out there. I'm a little disappointed that Drizzt isn't quite as ubiquitously powerful.
Evolving Wilds - Brian Snoddy
Well, I think you might start to see that there are so many possibilities for new adventures in commander with Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander Decks. I'm a little surprised that people don't see the beauty of these cards from the onset. I've heard more than a few commenting on how it's under-powered and basically a core set. I guess so, but the flavor and the synergy that is available for so many of these cards is what makes them so strong. Being able to build with cards like this that are not just simply auto-includes is the mark of truly good Magic card design. I'm still exploring all the good stuff from Commander Legends, Strixhaven, and Modern Horizons, but I have to say that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has some amazing potential as well. The fun factor that these cards offer is phenomenal. I hope you enjoy your new adventures, and may the cards be ever in your favor!
