Command of the Situation

Hi,

As I mentioned the other day, Wednesday night also saw my first games of Magic in the Commander format.  Basic rules are the same, but for the following exceptions:

1. Starting life is 40
2. Decks are 100 cards
3. You can only have one copy of each card, other than basic lands
4. One of your cards is your commander; it must be a legendary creature, and you can only use colours in your deck that correspond to those of your commander.  When not in your hand, the battlefield, or exile, the commander resides in the command zone, and can always be cast from there; each casting beyond the first adds 2 to the mana cost.
5. In addition to the usual win conditions, if your commander does 21 points of combat damage to an opponent, they lose.

Also known as Elder Dragon Highlander, the format started as a casual thing among long-time Magic players, and the rules are maintained by a cabal of "senior" players, rather than Wizards of the Coast.

The format is insanely fun.  Games are longer, more lands and mana are played, and as a result, you get to play fun, ridiculously mana-costly cards that from what I gather, simply don't see play in "normal" formats.  Basically, you get to do all the cool stuff that attracts some people (like me) to the game in the first place, and that I was disappointed to find out I didn't generally get to do.

My kind of fattie.

To put this into perspective, I played two games Wednesday night, lost both, and had a terrific time playing both games.  The second game looked like I had it in the bag, then Otherdave played a creature that made it impossible for me to block, and while I had responses in my deck, they weren't in my hand.  One massive swing later, and OD had the game.  That kind of "out of the blue" swing seems pretty common in the format, is a guaranteed recipe for gits and shiggles.

Otherdave was running a Sliver deck, which basically means he had ridiculous synergy (every card in his deck, pretty much, does something to buff every other card in his deck).  I was running a deck commanded by this guy:

He's pretty straightforward, rewards aggressive play, and I've tried to build a deck that capitalizes on that; lots of recursion, sacrifice, and creature enter / leaves mechanics in the deck.  I'm doing this on a budget (another fun thing, you can build a reasonable deck without having to pay for premium, high-demand standard / modern cards), so I'm sure there's more expensive and effective cards I could play, but most of the cards fall into the $.10 to $.50 range.  

Both Otherdave and I have been nosing around ideas for other decks as well.  I can't see myself actually buying one for a while, but I've had a few ideas, (leaning towards R/W or R/W/U.  There's some Theros cards that are intriguing me, and I've got a pile of penny cards in those colours from the stuff the Beloved got me at Christmas.  Building / designing these decks is almost as much fun as playing with them.

I'll close out with my current list.  There's a pile of cards I could add here, starting with lands, to improve the deck, and over the long term, no doubt I'll be making some additions.  I'm really looking forward to playing more of this.

Commander

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper

Creatures

Corpse Blockade

Corpse Hauler

Dawntreader Elk

Death Cultist

Garruk’s Horde

Garruk's Packleader

Gatecreeper Vine

Golgari Guildmage

Harvester of Souls

Hythonia the Cruel

Korozda Guildmage

Liliana’s Reaver

Lobber Crew

Manaweft Sliver

Molten Primordial

Nearheath Stalker

Purphoros, God of the Forge

Sepulchral Primordial

Smolder Initiate

Sporemound

Sylvan Primordial

Terrus Wurm

Trestle Troll

Tymaret, the Murder King

Vastwood Hydra

Voyaging Satyr

Woodborn Behemoth

Artifacts

Ratchet Bomb

Gruul Keyrune

Other Spells

Act of Treason

Alpha Authority

Breath of Malfegor

Burst of Strength

Dark Prophecy

Devour Flesh

Diabolic Tutor

Doomblade

Grim Return

Ground Assault

Harrowing Journey

Horncaller’s Chant

Howl of the Night Pack

Into the Wilds

Life and Limb

March of the Returned

Mind Rot

Natural End

Pit Fight

Plummet

Portent of Betrayal

Prey Upon

Primal Visitation

Ranger’s Guile

Rescue from the Underworld

Rise from the Grave

Spider Umbra

Tin Street Market

Vandalblast

Verdant Haven

Land

13 Forest

7 Mountain

14 Swamp

Encroaching Wastes

Ghost Quarter

Golgari Guildgate

Gruul Guildgate

Rakdos Guildgate

Opal Palace