Go Tuck Yourself!

A hot debate raging between Commander playgroups regards a certain type of effect nicknamed "tucking". Tucking is the act of placing a card into the library (not usually on top, as it's hardly "tucked away" then). It's a highly effective tactic to use on cards you don't want to see again, because if a card is on the bottom of the library, it's as good as gone - cards deep in the library are often much harder to access than cards in the graveyard or the command zone. The commonly used rules for Commander found on the official rules committee website only allow a commander to be moved to the command zone if it is placed in the graveyard or exiled - tucking the commander actually does not allow you to move it there, so tuck effects can severely cripple decks that rely heavily on the commander to win. Of course, you can always modify the rules in your own playgroup if you feel this hinders the fun too greatly, but be careful if you intend to play Commander with players outside your group! The committee's official rules are widely accepted and your opponents might not agree with the change as there are some very solid arguments to be made for allowing tuck effects to function properly.

In case you can't read English, this
is a Japanese tuck effect.

Before I get into the arguments, it might be helpful to get a list down of the most common tuck effects. These are the cards you are most likely to run into if you are worried - or the ones you should consider if you are looking to add some!

• Condemn
• Oblation
• Hinder
• Proteus Staff
• Spell Crumple
• Spin into Myth
• Chaos Warp
• Warp World

Some of these have recently been reprinted in the Commander preconstructed decks, and Chaos Warp and Spell Crumple are actually new cards made specifically for the format. So though it doesn't mean a whole lot, it does show that the people in charge of building the precons were aware of and supportive of the existence of tuck effects.

The biggest issue facing tuck cards is that many players dislike when they are prevented from doing something. This is the same reason that land destruction cards and counterspells are currently at a low in power level and/or population - a certain group of players just can't stand when they can't do something. They would mind casting their Commander again and again when it gets hit with destroy effects, but when you Spell Crumple it, it's like you gained an emblem that says, "Timmy Everynerd can't cast his commander". I can certainly understand the frustration, but I feel Timmy should consider his options before getting upset. I have a simple acronym for dealing with problems in Commander (or any casual format): CAR.

• Change: Change your deck so that you don't lose to one type of effect. If losing your commander kills you, change your commander or change the deck so it can stand on its own.
• Adapt: Modify your deck with cards that deal with the effects that are good against it. Against tuck effects, try including more search effects or protective spells.
• Reshuffle: Lose the game, shuffle up, and play again. It's a 100 card format, so even with all the tutors in the world your opponent won't always have the tuck spell, and if all he or she is doing is trying to tuck your commander, use that knowledge to modify how you play to try to win the next game. The great thing about casual formats is that nothing is ever on the line - you can always shuffle up and try again.

Now, of course, the argument from Timmy's side is: Why should I change my deck to deal with your unfair effects? As I stressed in my post on competitive-casual playing, someone  has to change their deck at some point if two players are going to get along and play nice. If both refuse to do so, the only option is to find a new playgroup. So either you have to take the tuck effects out of your deck to play with him, or he's got to find a way around them. So who is right? Let's look at the effects of both options. (The option to modify the rules for tucking commanders so that they may be put into the command zone has roughly the same effect as simply taking the tuck effects out of your deck for the purpose of this discussion.)

Not so enchanting when he's on
the opposite side of the table.

If tuck effects are removed...

Without tuck effects, Timmy is certainly free to cast and recast his commander as much as he pleases. However, Spike McPhearson to your right is playing Zur the Enchanter, and he also is free to recast Zur as much as he wants - until he wins. Anyone playing notoriously powerful commander decks will enjoy the freedom of not having to force their deck to work for them when their commander gets Hindered or Chaos Warped. So while Timmy gets to have fun casting his commander, your chances of winning against Spike are much lower now. So use CAR, right? Well, Adapt is out - Timmy won't play if we modify the deck to deal with Zur permanently. So we can either Reshuffle and try again - which against a "Tier 1" commander deck tends to feel pretty hopeless, but if winning doesn't matter and you just want to cast spells, maybe that's for you. Last, we can Change the deck - but the problem isn't spells that deal with our deck, it's the opponent's deck winning by playing solitaire. So can we play a deck that wins faster? I guess we're playing a Tier 1 deck now too!

If Timmy changes his deck...

Now Timmy's added Time of Need, Planar Portal, and Worldly Tutor to his deck. If we Spell Crumple his commander, he has a few ways to search it out. If we're playing with Spike too, we can still deal with Zur or Azami or whoever he's playing today. Nobody had to change decks, Timmy simply added a few already good cards to his deck so he can always cast Silvos when he really wants to. And he really, really wants to.

Interestingly enough, though, if we were playing with Timmy and Spike from the beginning, it's very likely that Timmy would've never dealt with the Spell Crumple at all because all eyes were watching Zur. Multiplayer formats already have a built in mechanism to deal with "unfair" effects, and it's effect is magnified in Commander where you only have one of each card in your deck. That mechanism is threat level - Zur was so much more threatening than Silvos that, if we even drew Spell Crumple, we'd be saving it to hit Zur unless Timmy played an entwined Tooth and Nail or something equally or more threatening. Since we've only got one Spell Crumple, as soon as we hit Zur with it, Timmy can let down his guard a bit because that's one tuck effect already gone. What it comes down to is this - unless you are playing a commander that needs tucking to exist to balance him, tucking probably won't affect you anyway! 

Tucking shouldn't be such a nuisance if your playgroup knows what they are doing. You can play a less powerful commander and worry about it less, or you can play a more powerful commander and deal with it. And as a side benefit, the existence of checks to powerful commanders means we keep the banned list smaller, because with no way to permanently deal with Zur and Azami they could go the way of Rofellos, leaving many players with useless Commander decks. So keep this in mind next time your commander gets Spell Crumpled (or Scrumpled, as I prefer to say), and never forget that you can always shuffle up and play again.

Until next time,
Day 2 Dan

Defining a Magic Collection

There seems to exist a divide between two types of Magic enthusiasts - Collectors and Players. Some people consider themselves Collectors but don't know how to play the game. Other players, and this is especially rampant at the professional level, hardly own any cards of their own and simply borrow decks and cards to play this game. I know I've personally lent many cards to Brad Nelson and his brother Corey Baumeister as they were taking their skills to higher level events with reasonable-to-high chances of success. These players often acquire many cards through drafting, but are often seen at dealer tables unloading them to get some cash back. They often don't have collections of their own cards for very long.

Alteration by Eric Klug

There is a large portion of the Magic fan base left unmentioned by these two extremes, though. The players who draft cards and put them in their binder once the tournament is done. The players who buy boxes or cases when a new set comes out in order to get the cards they need for the new Standard. The players who - like myself - love to play the game and look for cooler versions of cards to play with. These people all have aspects of collectors and players in them. Some lean more towards one extreme than the other - the player who buys 4x sets is collecting the cards only to have all the cards available for deck building. That one guy at your local gaming store with the Planeswalker collection still plays the game, he just chose to pick up all the coolest, most flavorful (in current Magic lore), and most powerful cards because he loves the game. The "card pimp" is looking more to show off the unique cards he or she has acquired, but often has found that the best medium for doing this is in the middle of a game. Because if there's one thing cooler than Andy Warhol Jace, the Mind Sculptor, it's beating someone with Andy Warhol Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

It's easy not to think of these people as "Collectors". You usually consider a collector "that guy with the binders" or, as was the case in my local gaming store, "that guy with the suitcase". But a collection can take on many more forms than a binder. Ultimately, a collection is any group of cards with a defined ending point - an ideal set of cards that completes it. Collectors that are not players - the far extreme - often have the loosest collections. They like cards that look cool, or maybe have Wizards on them. Not understanding the rules of the game makes the cards incomprehensible, so they go by what they can see on the card. If you have any bit of Player in you, though, often your collection will take a more defined shape. And it may not be one you even realized - a deck can be a collection, as can a Cube, or a stack for Type 4.

My Oros, the Avenger deck is my main collection. The ideal set of cards is defined by two components: The decklist, and where it falls on my "pimp hierarchy". Collectors who collect in deck form often have a hierarchy that helps them determine whether or not they have the cards they want - some people prefer simply English foil (especially if their collection is a Cube), others like all the cards to be altered, and some like foreign languages such as German, Russian, or Japanese. Even if they haven't totally thought it out, most collectors know what they are looking for in their deck. My hierarchy is very specific:

As I write this, there are two cards in my scans which don't fall into the ideal range - two Japanese nonfoil Commander precon cards, Chaos Warp and Command Tower. In a couple of weeks these will be altered by Klug and will reach the Ideal range. I no longer have any English foil, unaltered cards in my deck, so I included the image of a Judge promo foil Survival of the Fittest, by one of my favorite artists, Shelly Wan.

A deck isn't the only shape a collection can take, either. Some people will collect only Dragons, so their ideal set is, obviously, one of each of all the Dragons. There are many people who collect what is called a global set - they'll select a card, and their ideal set is every printing of that card in every language, including foils, nonfoils, and artist proofs. This is likely my next destination after "completing" Oros (I still have many cards to get signed to put them higher in the ideal range!) - I'll probably tackle a global set of Oros, the Avenger. And some people just like a card so much - either it's hilarious, terrible, or they just happened to start getting a lot of them - that their goal is to simply collect as many as they can. This is the one type of collection that is unable to reach an ideal set - the ideal set for it is basically all of them. Of course, these are rarely very serious - they'll get a few thrown into trades here and there. But then again, some of them can be frighteningly serious in reaching their goal:

Keep in mind those Mountains are worth somewhere around $30 USD each right now!

Having an ideal set helps the collector know when they're finished. It provides the goal to reach and let's them know when they've made advances or accomplished something. Every time you get a card to ideal, you are one step closer to finishing the collection. Mr. Puleo from the video above has a very impressive collection, but because his isn't defined he lacks the sense of accomplishment. He has no ideal cards - sure, he has 425 Mountains, but he could have 500! He does, however, have the benefit of enjoying the collecting experience practically forever. Collecting can be fun, and the feeling when you find a card you need is stimulating.

Fortunately, collecting cards in a deck for an eternal-casual format like Commander means as long as the game lives, the collection can grow. Each set could bring cards that modify your decklist, so you can keep collecting and finishing again and again. Innistrad previews should be starting in short order - and I've got my eyes on Liliana of the Veil. We'll see if she makes the cut! Likewise, those collectors of Dragons can enjoy adding to their collections for years to come, as Dragons are sure to be printed in nearly every set.

I hope I've helped provide a different perspective on collections and collecting, and I wish everyone who is working on a collection much luck and success!

Until next time,
Day 2 Dan

Card Spotlight - Poxy14 Alters

Out of all the cards in the deck, there is one that I can safely say will always get the greatest reaction, and that is the Maze of Ith.

This is an alteration done by Earl Grant de Leon, a card alterer from the Philippines who goes by the screen name Poxy14. For those unfortunate enough to be unaware, this is an homage to the movie poster for Labyrinth, a classic 1986 film starring David Bowie. Here's a poster-to-card flowchart for your enjoyment:

To add to how phenomenal this card already is, due to the positioning of the figure on the foil pattern of the card, his eyes shine. This card is by far my favorite in the deck because the idea was original, well recognizable, and included David Bowie, and the execution was beyond perfect. Poxy14 has a knack for close-up faces (though that is far from all he can do well - see his gallery here if you think your jaw could use a Power Tower ride) and his skill is further reflected in the other alters he did for the deck, all of which have their own stories.

I had conferred with several friends about exactly what to commission for each of these pieces. The Vampiric Tutor was one of the fastest decisions - there was just no way it couldn't be Twilight. Note that the opinions of every person who contributed to this decision, myself included, ranged from complete indifference to absolute hatred. But that was exactly why it had to be done - it's a shock value card. It's hilarious to see it when you draw it, and the reactions from the table are stellar and usually include a resounding, "Oh, God!". Check out Poxy's work on Edward's coat, too! Doing it in black and white was a great call on his part!

The Demonic Tutor was an idea that I was pretty set on from the start. I've always been a big Star Wars fan (who, among us, isn't?), and actually my first card game - my gateway game, as it was responsible for starting my cardboard addiction - was the very complex but super cool original Star Wars CCG by Decipher. Despite sharing the rather unanimous distaste for Hayden Christensen (though I do think he was much improved in Revenge of the Sith), this alter was too flavorful to pass up. Emperor Palpatine acting as the evil tutor of impressionable young Anakin Skywalker - it had my inner Star Wars fan tingling. Again, Poxy nails it - check out Palpatine's face! This one he was also going to do in black and white, though I intervened and asked for a red tone to be added as well, because I like to make references to the Commander's color identity as much as I can. After seeing the end result, I was very glad I asked for it, and Poxy was too. It gave it an awesome ominous feel.

The Swords to Plowshares is the one that is the most out-of-nowhere. The card name is a Biblical reference, so why is Gandalf on it? Originally, the idea was to take the farmer figure in the original card art and turn him into Gandalf, redoing his scythe as the staff and adding wizard garments and plenty of white hair. Poxy informed me that it would be very difficult to detail at that small angle, and it would turn out a lot nicer if he just did a close up. He sent me a mock up and I thought it still was pretty cool and went with it. It turned out very nicely! As an added bonus, I can now say, "You shall not pass!" every time I Swords something.

Volrath's Stronghold was the card for which I had the hardest time coming up with an alter idea. It's really difficult to make out what's going on in the original art, and the card is entirely soaked in Magic lore so there aren't a lot of clever puns to work with. I gave Poxy some idea of putting it in space or something, and basically let him run free with it and trusted his creativity. What came out is probably the most beautiful card in the deck that does not have David Bowie on it. I'm still not entirely sure what's going on in the art, but I definitely adore it.

Poxy14 is actively taking commissions, though he has a day job as well, so he can be pretty backlogged at times. His email to take commission requests is here. He's fantastic to work with and amazing at what he does, so if you are looking to get some alters done, I highly recommend him! And just in case you missed it the first time, here's another link to his gallery where you can find all his alterations and his other original, not-related-to-Magic-but-still-awesome works.

I hope these stories (and pictures of David Bowie) have entertained you as much as they entertain me!

Until next time,
Day 2 Dan

Todd Lockwood Signed Cards

I'm very excited to report that yesterday in the mail I received my package back from Todd Lockwood, which contained these beautiful signed cards:

Check out that awesome signature! Todd's a great guy, and it was incredibly kind of him to take the time to sign my cards. He's done some awesome and very iconic work for the game (in addition to these, some of his more popular cards include Niv Mizzet, Phyrexian Obliterator, Sun Titan, Alara Reborn's Meddling Mage, and Blinding Angel). Definitely check out his website if you get a chance!

These cards have been added to the scans pages for your future viewing.

Until next time,
Day 2 Dan

The Competitive-Casual Commander Player

Many of you should be familiar with Sheldon Menery. Sheldon is the face of the Commander rules committee - essentially the format's Mark Rosewater, in the sense that he speaks for the committee and takes the flak for the committee regardless of what he has or hasn't contributed to their decisions. Though I've been at several events with him, I still haven't had the pleasure of meeting him and taking him on in a game of our favorite format, and I think in the future I'm going to go out of my way to make sure that's an experience I can have.

That said, Sheldon and I are on nearly polar opposites regarding how a game of Commander should be run.

Sheldon is very much focused on the "fun" of the group. He encourages allowing players to play their spells, resolve their creatures, and not mess with others in a way which would preclude them from playing their decks the way that they want to. Now, in the abstract, this seems rather reasonable. However, though I have nothing against Sheldon himself, I think the idea doesn't actually conserve fun for all players.

The hidden goal of
Menery-style Commander games.

Let's start by looking at the basics of Magic - two players sit down to play a game, the goal of which is to determine a winner. This essentially entails one or more of the following:

• Playing your cards until you win.
• Playing cards that prevent your opponent from winning, buying you time to win.
• Playing cards that prevent your opponent's cards from preventing you from winning.

However, in the Menery-style of Commander, the second option is essentially taken away. Players are discouraged from preventing their opponents from playing their cards, which the players are (usually) playing because they help them win the game. With that option gone, our third option is also cut out, because you have no longer have anything to protect against. In the abstract, we are left with 2-5 players playing solitaire games until one of them attacks enough to kill someone, as instant combo-kills are also discouraged, especially fast ones that prevent other players from taking turns. Of course, attacking leaves you open, so with nobody preventing each other from casting spells, it's easy to get a mucked up board and let the game stall out for a long time (which seems to be encouraged - if players are discouraged from ending the game quickly, the game defaults to "long and grinding" every time), and it may as well just be a draw because winning fast is just too penalized.

Of course, this is all a bit exaggerated. Sheldon himself in his most recent StarCityGames article mentions that cards that destroy or punish nonbasic lands are necessary protection, so clearly interaction isn't completely discouraged. I'm sure there are a good number of other interaction cards he encourages using or plays himself - such as Draining Whelk, which he mentioned in another anecdote from his recent article. Specifically, he had  Twincasted an entwined Tooth and Nail, and opted not to put onto the battlefield a Draining Whelk with the audience being relatively split on whether or not to do it. The Draining Whelk, of course, would have countered the Tooth and Nail he had "stolen" and become massive, and prevented his opponent from getting some potentially game winning cards. Why would he not do that? There are many two card combos that would have taken control of the game for that player - Mephidross Vampire and Triskelion, Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite, Realm Razer and Avenger of Zendikar (a personal favorite), etc. However, this is where the distinction in playstyles becomes very apparent - my guess is that Sheldon had assumed the player wasn't going to search for a backbreaking combo. Sheldon sits down and assumes everyone else plays like he does, which is perfectly fine if that's truly how your playgroup is. But that's not how every playgroup is!

Dream wrecking since 1994.

I belong to a playgroup of what I would call Competitive-Casual Commander players. In this playgroup, entwined Tooth and Nails are cast in an attempt to outright win the game. Mimeoplasms are always 10+ power Skithiryxes. Time Stretch is a card you prepare for, not complain about. Sure, playing your deck is fun, and I think everyone should build decks that are fun to play. However, the thought behind Menery-style Commander games is that if you play cards that stop other people from playing their deck, you are reducing the overall fun. But aren't you stopping someone from playing their deck in either case? Unless everyone builds decks exactly the same - which boils ultimately to the aforementioned lack of interaction - someone is getting cut off from playing the deck how they want. Sheldon recommends a points system that punishes powerful combos and plays that stop other players. In a Competitive-Casual playgroup, this should never be necessary. These playgroups play more like a normal Magic format - if your deck is weak, then it's weak. Your options are to fix it, or play against different opponents. It's not a heartless Survival of the Fittest metagame, though - we all have decks that are weaker, but there is a built in balance of power in multiplayer formats. The weaker decks get interacted with less, giving them more time to build up power. If you sit down in our playgroup with Tor Wauki, and the other players have Teneb the Harvester, The Mimeoplasm, and Jhoira of the Ghitu, guess who gets targeted first? Hint: It's not you.

Yes, games can end quickly and brutally. Yes, creatures don't last long on the board. Sometimes you get hit with a Sundering Titan and it hurts. Sometimes you are playing Sedris, the Traitor King and someone started with a Leyline of the Void. But you don't whine and complain - you answer it! And if you can't, you might lose this game and then fix the deck so you can! It's Magic. That's how it works. That's how you do it in Standard, Extended, Modern, Overextended, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage, and Limited, and that's how we do it here.

What benefit is there to forcing players to adapt to a metagame rather than pandering to bad plays? When you Twincast a Tooth and Nail, you get the Draining Whelk almost every time. The plays are huge and game winning, and the stories are just as good as any other Commander game. But often the games take less time - so you can shuffle up and play again. I'd rather play four games of Magic in 4 hours than one. We play Competitive-Casual - our games are competitive, and we are trying to win at all times. But we're still having fun doing it. To our playgroup, it is fun to try to make the most powerful plays. I know not all groups are like this, and everyone still has their own preferences - I personally dislike Bitter Ordeal wins with Sharuum and would try to do crazier things if I had the deck. But we don't complain when someone combo kills, because winning and losing are both part of the Magic. We love to win, and losing sometimes makes the wins feel that much better. We still Embrace the Chaos, but we also Embrace the Game.

I hope this has provided some insight into how playgroups like mine operate. Please use the comments below with any questions or criticism. The worst that could happen is that I would have more material to use for a future post!

Until next time,
Day 2 Dan

Card Spotlight - CardKitty Alters

Though I'm glad I have it up now, the one thing that has been bothering me is I really wish I had started this blog earlier! It would be much more fun and interesting to detail the pimping journey from beginning to end. That doesn't mean I should deprive readers (do I have those yet?) of the stories and forget to give my regards to those who have contributed in some way to completing this project, though. Which leaves us with two options:

1. Acquire plutonium from Libyan terrorists to power time machine (risky, to say the least)
2. Actually use my memory (oh fine, if I have to...)

So welcome to the first of several spotlights on a card or more in the deck. I intend to write these whenever I feel like it, and the purpose is to give some insight into how the deck formed, explain why I have the cards I do, and to give some credit where it is due.

Today we're going to take a look at two of the more striking cards from the deck!

These two cards are none other than Oros, the commander himself, and Sol Ring, probably the first card that goes into every Commander deck! CardKitty is a duo of card alterers (Dereck and Eva) from Canada who are just stellar. If you haven't before, go ahead and browse their website. Their gallery is vast and they have a few great tutorials if you are looking to get into card altering! They are always taking commissions with competitive prices.

Only one of these cards was actually commissioned by me, and that was Oros. The Sol Ring, interestingly, was one of the first acquisitions for the deck and more or less solidified the plan of pimping it out. Two years ago around the holidays, I had started to search eBay for some of the cards I wanted in foil (I'm not sure if I was even seeking out Japanese at the time, though I was aware that I preferred to get those versions!) and I stumbled across a player who had basically pieced apart his or her Commander (EDH at the time, I suppose) deck and put them up for $0.99 starting bid auctions. I found the Sol Ring there and it was basically the first card alter I had seen. They weren't hot like fire like they are now - back then you didn't find several alterists hanging at their own booths and taking commissions at 5K tournaments! I've always been a big Lord of the Rings fan and was looking for a judge foil Sol Ring anyway with little luck finding it, so I sniped it and won. Of course, the Eye of Sauron Sol Ring variants are about a dime a dozen, however the depiction of Sauron on this one is pretty amazing. Even though I didn't commission it myself, I'm not sure I would have asked for it any differently if I had!

Oros, then, came not long after the Sol Ring arrived. I was totally hooked on card alters and was determined to get a CardKitty alter done on my general as well. First I had to find the Japanese Foil Oros - again, eBay was kind to me, and back then these Dragons didn't go for $50 a piece like they do now. I found one and bought it - I think in the $25 range - and arranged a deal with CardKitty. They've got some great burn effect cards, so the basic idea was to just add a burn effect and embellish Oros' birds - giving full art or borderless treatments to modern foil cards is actually a bit hard to do and can look pretty weird at angles, so they turned me away from that idea and towards the more simple alter. Cards sent, painting done, scan sent to me, money sent to them, card sent back, and I had myself a pimp Commander!

There's one more thing to these, though - you may have noticed that these both have artist signatures as well. In both cases, those came after the alterations were done. Some have heard horror stories about artists who are more strict with the use of their work and despise or even attempt to file lawsuits against the alterers. That's not always the case - I met Mark Tedin at GenCon 2010 and warily showed him the altered card - to my surprise he was just amazed at the alter and thought it was incredible! He gladly found a spot to sign the card, which is really simply a form of homage to his original work anyway. As for Oros, a few months ago I contacted Daren Bader and arranged a signing through the mail, and hoped for the safety of the precious cargo as it shipped down to Texas and back again. Daren also had no problems whatsoever with the alterations, stating that he'd simply have to find a different place to sign the card! I was pleasantly surprised with his great choice of white sharpie on the burn effect. He also signed the Scourge of Kher Ridges and did the fantastic alter on the MPS Plains - but I'll save that for another time!

Hope this has been an interesting read. Please use the comments below and let me know what you think!

Until next time!
Day 2 Dan

GenCon 2011 Upgrades - Praetor's Grasp, Blightsteel Colossus, Ajani Vengeant

This was my second year attending GenCon, and again I wish I had at least one more day to fully explore the exhibit hall. I got to meet up with Magic artists Steve Argyle (his third round signing my cards), Chris Rahn (whose card art portfolio has significantly improved since last year!), and Wayne Reynolds, who flew over the ocean to attend this year (and boy are his arms tired...)! Here's what I got from them:

Just because you are a cat-man from the jungle doesn't mean you can't have class.

A Site for Sore Eyes

I finally took it upon myself to make a blog for my deck pimping project. Now I just have to figure out how to make it work for me. If it looks relatively put together when you read this, then I must have figured it out. If all the pictures appear to be fading away, then I probably went back in time and stopped myself from ever pimping my deck in the first place. Great Scott!