DECK TECH: Talrand, Sky Summoner Commander/EDH

I FINALLY put together a new Commander deck!  My first go-round' with Commander didn't go so well... I put together what I thought was a pretty awesomesauce Sisay deck that won with lifegain and that stupid-fresh goat (Felidar Sovereign).  I loved it... Until my friends in my playgroup rained all over my parade and said that for the goat to win, "you need 80 life, cause that's only fair."

Meh.  What a bunch of salty ball sacs!  I broke apart my deck, sold the cards individually on eBay, then found out 3 months later that the playgroup at my local shop (Anime Imports in Pacifica) would've totally been okay with the 40-life limit!  Geez!

So, it's been about 14 months, and I thought and thought and thought about what I like to do when I play a fun game of Magic:  I like to a) play cards and b) draw cards... LOTS OF 'EM!  Playing Talrand in BV has made me develop a soft-spot for creating armies of drakes, so he seemed like the perfect choice.  Check it :)

Talrand, the Sky Summoner
a Commander deck
by
Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata

Commander

1.    Talrand, Sky Summoner

1cc Instant Cantrips

2.    Brainstorm

3.    Disrupt

4.    Fleeting Distraction

5.    Leap

6.    Mental Note

7.    Obsessive Search

8.    Opt

9.    Peek

10. Quicken                                   

11. Sapphire Charm

12. Shadow Rift

13. Stream of Unconsciousness           

14. Thought Scour

15. Twisted Image                                   

16. Visions of Beyond

17. Whispers of the Muse

1cc Sorcery Cantrips

18. Cloak of Feathers

19. Gitaxian Probe

20. Ponder

21. Preordain                                               

22. Serum Visions                                   

23. Sleight of Hand

24. Sorcerous Sight

Creature

25. Snapcaster Mage

More Draw

26. Ideas Unbound

27. Frantic Search

28. Windfall

29. Three Wishes

30. Time Spiral

Alternate Win Conditions

31. Runechanter's Pike

32. Altar of Dementia

33. Coat of Arms

34. Rite of Replication

35. Omniscience

Protect Talrand

36. Darksteel Plate

37. Swiftfoot Boots

38. Lighting Greaves

Mana Multipliers

39. Gauntlet of Power

40. Caged Sun

41. Extraplanar Lens

42. Doubling Cube

43. High Tide

44. Drain Power

Creature/Permanent Steal

45. Legacy's Allure

46. Control Magic

47. Treachery

48. Gilded Drake           

49. Desertion

50. Bribery

51. Spelljack

52. Volition Reins

53. Dominate

Permanent Bounce

54. Into the Roil

55. Capsize

Mass Effect

56. Propaganda

57. Nevinyrrals Disk

58. Evacuation

59. Wash Out

Counter (their) Commander

60. Hinder           

61. Spell Crumple

Artifact Tutor

62. Fabricate

Lands

Strip Mine

Reliquary Tower

Cephalid Coliseum

       Island (x35) ---------------------------------------------


OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE
The goal of this deck is to get Talrand into play, play a brazillion spells, then kick back and send your army of a brazillion drakes smashing into the face of your enemies :)

ENGINE
The deck runs 29 cantrips [cards that, when cast, draw (at least) another card], 23 of which are 1cc cost instants or sorceries.  Get a butt-load of mana, get/have Talrand out, and CAST AWAY!!!

CARDS
-Coat of Arms:  Because eighteen 20/20 flying drakes is fuck you.

-Altar of Dementia:  Because sacrificing eighteen 20/20 flying drakes and milling your opponents for 360 cards is fuck you, too.

-Runechanter's Pike:  You thought Delver decks made this sucker big? :p

-Hinder and Spellcrumple:  Because some dudes deserve to have their Commander countered to the bottom of their deck.

-Snapcaster Mage:  Let's be honest... It's still a creature-less deck :p

-35 White-bordered 5th-Edition Islands:  Because, yes... I'm a BOSS.

OTHER NOTES
Don't take the deck too seriously... As in all Commander games, have fun, talk a lot of shit, eat bad food, and laugh at everything .  Oh, and bring at least 50 drake tokens! ;)

(Drake Token by Svetlin Velinov)

DECK TECH: Mono-Green Tree (Get'er Dungrove)

Played the M13 Gameday tourney at Anime Imports yesterday and made Top-8 (5th place with a 3-1 record) with this Mono-Green Dungrove deck (congrats to my Boy, Kevin Gleason, who took the whole thing -and the wicked Champion Playmat- with his awesome B/W Tokens build, which I hope to do a future "Deck Tech" on :) ).

The deck isn't very different from the Get'er Dungrove net-decks, but I felt I should post up my version because it's the most consistent deck I've ever played.  It may not win every match, but it doesn't "scrub-out" too often and does well against Delver decks (I'd say 5-5 to 5.5-4.5 in Dungrove's favor).  It's also a pretty simple deck for sideboard substitutions, something that really helps me out while in a tourney situation.

Without further adieu,

(Dungrove Elder by Matt Stewart)

TREE!
by
Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata

2x Ulvenwald Tracker
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Strangleroot Geist
4x Dungrove Elder
3x Predator Ooze
1x Viridian Corruptor
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Thragtusk

4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Rancor
1x Dismember 
3x Revenge of the Hunted

24x Forest :)
---------------------------------------------
Sideboard
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Wolfir Silverheart
1x Thragtusk
2x Corrosive Gale
2x Sword of War and Peace
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Dismember
1x Bellowing Tanglewurm
2x Beast Within

OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE
A ton has already been written about this deck in terms of play-style and objective (see Carrie Oliver's Channel Fireball articles for some great insight on how the deck is played).  Basically, it's a hyper-aggro beatdown deck that looks for a 1st turn mana dork followed by a second turn Tree or Ooze.  From there, it's about finding a Rancor and going to town!

ENGINE
TREE!  gains its consistency from the use of Green Sun's Zenith, the best green tutor in the game. Need a dork?  Get a dork.  Got no lands to make it safe to grab a Tree?  Get an Ooze.  Need life?  Get a Thragtusk... You get the point.

CARDS
-Dungrove Elder:  This guy has to vie for the best creature in Standard.  Yes, you have to play mono-green to use him effectively.  Yes, you probably have to play 23+ lands to make him worth it.  Yes, when he hits the board with 4 Forests and you strap a Rancor on him, you DO win the game.

-Rancor:  Bringing this bad-boy back was a happy day for Green Mages everywhere; thanks Wizards! :p  Rancor is THE card that takes this deck to the next level.  Like Frank's Red Hot Sauce, "You can put that Shit on anything!!!".

-Ulvenwald Tracker:  I love this card in terms of powerlevel, playability, and design!  He is a 1 drop that opponents have to kill (or they'll pay), acts as a repeatable source of creature kill, and has incredible synergies with Strangleroot Geist and Predator Ooze.  Don't be afraid to use him to fight HIMSELF vs. your opponent's mana dorks.  On turn two he's as good as a Doom Blade.

-Viridian Corruptor:  As much as I want Acidic Slime to go in this slot, 6 mana for a GSZ is too much, too late.  The artifact you need to kill -Swords, Trading Post, Metamorph, Birthing Pod- you need to kill them the turn after they get cast.  Turn 5 is often too late, so the Corruptor is the way to go.  Too bad Uktabi Orangutan isn't still around :p

-Revenge of the Hunted:  So good.  And you WILL be able to hard-cast it... Don't worry :)

-1x Phyrexian Metamorph, 1x Wolfir Silverheart, 1x Thragtusk, 1x Dismember:  This is the opening configuration of "tools" spread out for maximum flexibility in game one.  There are mirror copies of each of these guys in the sideboard to maximize effectiveness for game two.

SIDEBOARDING
Rule 1: NEVER CHANGE YOUR FOREST COUNT.
Rule 2: NEVER CHANGE YOUR MANA DORK COUNT.

Now, with that out of the way (haha)...

vs. Delver
-3x Predator Ooze
-1x Wolfir Silverheart
-1x Phyrexian Metamorph
---
+1x Thrun, the Last Troll
+1x Thragtusk
+1x Dismember
+2x Corrosive Gale

vs. Wolf Run
-1x Thragtusk
-1x Viridian Corruptor
-1x Dismember
---
+1x Wolfir Silverheart
+1x Phyrexian Metamorph
+1x Thrun, the Last Troll

vs. Pod
-1x Thragtusk
-2x Predator Ooze
-1x Dismember
---
+1 Wolfir Silverheart
+1 Phyrexian Metamorph (copy their Pod!!!)
+2x Beast Within

vs. Frites
-1x Viridian Corruptor
-1x Dismember
-2x Predator Ooze
---
+3x Surgical Extraction
+1 Phyrexian Metamorph

vs. Tokens
-1x Viridian Corruptor
-1x Wolfir Silverheart
-1x Phyrexian Metamorph
-1x Thragtusk
-1x Predator Ooze
---
+2 Sword of War and Peace
+2 Corrosive Gale
+1 Bellowing Tanglewurm

vs. Zombies
-1x Wolfir Silverheart
-1x Dismember
--
+1x Thragtusk
+1x Phyrexian Metamorph

vs. RDW
-1x Ulvenwald Tracker
-1x Phyrexian Metamorph
-1x Dismember
---
+2x Sword of War and Peace
+1x Thragtusk

OTHER NOTES
The first deck I ever won a tournament with was a Mono-Green Overrun deck with Fyndhorn Elves, Pincher Beetles, and good ol' Stompy himself (Rogue Elephant)... One of the wonderful things I love about Magic is that now matter how many new cards and strategies get pumped out every few months, some things -like attacking your opponent with a 13/13 trampler- NEVER GET OLD. ;)

(Revenge of the Hunted by Christopher Moeller)

Let Your Soul Glow: Custom MtG Spirit Tokens

With Lingering Souls and Moorland Haunt being two of the biggest cards in the format, 1/1 flying spirit tokens are everywhere, and my decks are no exception.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, the 1/1 Spirit tokens from Wizards are oogly, and I like playing with pimped out cards whenever I can.  I asked my good friend and Ah-Chinese Soul Brother #1, KEVIN ANG, if he could do some Photoshop work for me and, like the pro he is, turned these out for me in about an hour.  Kevo, lunch is coming soon, Brother! Thank you! ;)

Without further adieu, here's my BLACK SOUL SPIRITS token collection:

 

Whitney Houston

 Aliyah

 Biggie Smalls

 Donna Summer

Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopez

 Luther Vandross

(my favorite :) )

Michael Jackson

 Nate Dogg

Tupac Shakur

There is nothing like beating down on your opponent with a 1/1 flying Luther Vandross... ♫♬ Neva too much, neva too much, neva too much, neva too much ♫♬ ...

DECK TECH: Secret! (U/R Talrand/Burning Vengeance)

I've been playing Burning Vengeance (BV) for a few months now and I LOVE IT!  It's totally "my style" in that it's a grindy, weirdo-control deck with lots of little decisions and funky interactions.  M13 just came out and I wanted to try Talrand in BV... It works INCREDIBLY well!  I can't wait to continue testing and tweaking this deck; Talrand/BV seems like my it'll be one of my Standard go-to decks as Scars rotates out in a few months.

(Talrand, Sky Summoner by Svetlin Velinov)

SECRET!
by
Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata
(You can find the TCG Player link to this deck along with card descriptions and sample hand generator here.)

4x Burning Vengeance
2x Secrets of the Dead

4x Faithless Looting
4x Think Twice
2x Desperate Ravings

4x Geistflame
3x Slagstorm
4x Vapor Snag
2x Mana Leak
1x Ancient Grudge

4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Talrand, Sky Summoner

4x Sulfur Falls
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Desolate Lighthouse
2x Evolving Wilds
1x Forest
7x Island
7x Mountain
---------------------------------------------
OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE
Secret!, named after my probably-shouldn't-be-in-the-deck secret tech -Secrets of the Dead-, is my ultra-grindy-graveyard-dump-creature-control Burning Vengeance deck.  The object is to get a Burning Vengeance online and cast a butt-load of cards from your graveyard to kill your opponent's creatures and, eventually, your opponent.  M13 brings a card that has great synergy with BV, Talrand, Sky Summoner, who, in a deck filled with instants and sorceries, creates massive armies of 2/2 flying drakes to supplement your attack.

ENGINE
You need access to massive amounts of cards in your hand and in your graveyard both to 1) draw your BV and 2) to power your BV.  Faithless Looting, Think Twice, and Desperate Ravings along with the flashback power of Snapcaster Mage do the job nicely.  Secrets of the Dead is a pretty amazing card drawing engine on its own.  Talrand also provides an alternate-win source of seemingly never-ending drakes... So long as you can keep drawing and burying instants and sorceries. 

CARDS
-Burning Vengeance:  Secrets! doesn't win without it.  Your primary objective is to get one online as early as possible and start controlling the board.

-Faithless Looting, Think Twice:  your two best BV enablers.  4 copies of each is a must.

-Desperate Ravings:  in terms of cantripping, DR does the same job as Think Twice and, if your hand is filled with cards you can afford to lose to your graveyard, is actually better than TT.  So, why am I not playing with a full playset of Ravings?  The answer isn't the Ravings' fault; it's my inability to play it correctly!  It seems every time I have a DR in hand or the graveyard, I also have a card I really want in my hand (like a BV or Slagstorm), so I chicken-out and don't feel comfortable pulling the trigger and "just doing it."  Honestly, I SHOULD have 4x copies of DR, but my playstyle doesn't support it, so I've swapped out 2 copies for the namesake of the deck...
  
-Secrets of the Dead:  this card is probably not as good as DR in terms of immediate value, but if you can get this thing online early, over the course of the game, the card advantage it accrues is unbeatable.  I like it because whenever I draw it, I play it and don't have to think about it anymore.  Secret!

-Geistflame:  BV players are either on one side of the fence or the other when it comes to Geistflame.  I LOVE IT and think it's indispensable.  Kills mana dorks and one drops early, becomes an Incinerate with a BV online... Cheap and good and an auto-4-of in my deck.

-Slagstorm:  I can't decide whether Slagstorm or Bonfire of the Damned is better for this deck, but right now, Slagstorm works better with my playstyle and in my meta, so I'll rock the rockslide so long as it's legal.  However, theoretically, Bonfire works MUCH better with Talrand... We'll see how this goes with more testing :)

-Mana Leak, Vapor Snag, Snapcaster Mage:  it's been the core of the best deck in Standard for over a year and it's just as strong in BV.  Long live Ken Jeong!

-Talrand, Sky Summoner:  a weakness of BV decks is that BV is usually the ONLY way to win.  While this is still pretty much true, the Legendary Merfolk is a step in the right direction as he works incredibly well with your existing (and re-useable) spell-set.  Theoretically, he is now a win condition on his own, but more realistically, he just makes your BV that much stronger.

-Ancient Grudge, Rootbound Crag, Hinterland Harbor, Forest, Evolving Wilds:  a single copy of Grudge can help you deal with pesky Swords, Batterskulls, Metamorphs, and the BV deck killer, Grafdigger's Cage.  M13 brings back Relic of Progenitus, but what 'cha gonna do?  Just sideboard in more Grudges and let it fly :)

OTHER NOTES
Burning Vengeance decks require a specific kind of "sickness" to play; if you like (virtual) creatureless decks that draw and play lots of cards, BV might be for you.  It's a weird deck, but once you get that Vengeance online, you feel pretty damn awesomesauce ;)

As Scars Block rotates out, this deck only loses 3 cards, two of which (Slagstorm & Vapor Snag) have pretty much exact analogs for substitutes (Bonfire of the Damned & Unsummon).  Mana Leak is sorta on the way out anyway (because of Cavern of Souls), and maybe that's the 2-of slot I'll finally fill with the last two Desperate Ravings.

(Secrets of the Dead by Eytan Zana)

**(7/28/12) Played 2 long sets against Red Deck Wins and U/B Zombies today and did well (broke even against RDW and swept Zombies).  I finally overcame my fears and subbed out the 2x Secrets of the Dead for +1x Talrand, Sky Summoner and +1x Desperate Ravings.  The deck is much more streamlined and it's really nice to have the extra copy of the Sky Summoner.  Talrand has turned out to be every bit as good as I thought... He's AMAZING!  Now all I need to do is make Drake (the rapper) and Sir Francis Drake tokens :p

DECK TECH: Mr. Roboto (R/G Liquimetal Coating Permanent Destruction)

I got this idea from my friend Marcel White (Monday Night Magic) back on Christmas of 2011.  I absolutely love this deck, from conception to execution... DISCLAIMER: if you play someone with it -and it works the way it's supposed to- they probably won't like you very much.  You have been warned :p

(Liquimetal Coating by Johann Bodin)

Mr. Roboto

by

Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata

(You can find the TCG Player link to this deck along with card descriptions and sample hand generator here.)

4x Liquimetal Coating

4x Ancient Grudge

3x Faithless Looting

3x Birthing Pod

4x Manic Vandal

3x Huntmaster of the Fells

1x Oxidda Scrapmelter

3x Zealous Conscripts

1x Acidic Slime

3x Inferno Titan

2x Whipflare

1x Slagstorm

4x Bonfire of the Damned

4x Copperline Gorge

4x Rootbound Crag

9x Mountain

7x Forest

---------------------------------------------

OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE

Mr. Roboto, so-named because I like to use Liquimetal Coating (LMC) to turn my opponents into titanium-coated robots :p, is a Red/Green Permanent Destruction deck that looks to destroy relevant permanents -especially lands- using the power of LMC in combination with artifact destruction cards like Ancient Grudge and Manic Vandal.  The deck is very slow and you will often find yourself taking 10-15 points of damage before your first sweeper, but if you survive the initial onslaught, some pretty ridiculous boardstates begin unfold such as the ultimate "I just killed you and you have no permanents on the board" endgame.

Your basic opening should look something like this:

Turn 1: land

Turn 2: land, LMC

Turn 3: land, use LMC to turn one of their lands into an artifact, cast Ancient Grudge and destroy that land

Turn 4: land, use flashback Ancient Grudge to destroy another land, cast a sweeper (Whipflare, Slagstorm, or Bonfire of the Damned)

Turn 5: land, cast a creature, ideally one that can destroy another permanent w/LMC)

Turn 6... Their board has 0 creatures and probably less than 3 lands, you have 6 lands and are threatening to run all over them.

One thing that's painfully obvious about this deck is that it doesn't do so well WITHOUT drawing a Liquimetal Coating.  Unfortunately, there are no good tutors for the 2cc artifact in Standard, so in order to play this deck effectively, you have to mulligan pretty aggressively.  Rule #1: Do not play a starting 7 (on the play or the draw) without either an LMC or a sweeper in your hand.  Rule #2: Only play the mulligan 6 if you have an LMC, sweeper, or Faithless Looting.  Otherwise, go to 5 and pray :)

ENGINE

The core of this deck is, of course, the interactions between LMC and the various artifact destruction cards in the deck.  In order for you to win, you have to be able to provide a constant stream of destruction effects.  This is where Birthing Pod comes into play.  Mr. Roboto has Birthing Pods in it, but it is not a Birthing Pod deck: the Pod is not used to find "answers in the toolbox" (as a traditional Pod deck would), rather, the Pod allows you to tutor through your chain of destruction creatures getting turn-after-turn use of your LMC and end with your Inferno Titan finisher.

The destruction chain is as follows:

Manic Vandal --> Oxidda Scrapmelter --> Acidic Slime

CARDS

-Faithless Looting:   gives the deck extra "dig" when you need that LMC, sweeper, or next destruction creature.

-Huntmaster of the Fells:   the card, itself, is just so powerful and gives so much value that a R/G deck can't afford to NOT play it.  The life-gain is super-relevant in this deck due to its slow start and life-loss from Pod use.  And while it's not an artifact destruction creature, it's still a destruction creature on the flip and probably the best mid-range card in Standard.

-Zealous Conscripts:  this card is so broken in decks that run Pod... Not only can you steal with impunity and Pod from 4cc to 6cc (Huntmaster to Inferno Titan is pretty good :) ), you can steal your opponent's creature and Pod the plunder!  Destruction?  Yes, Sir!

  

-Inferno Titan:  Mr. Roboto's finisher.  Outside of an opponent playing their own Zealous Conscripts, there isn't a better 6-drop suited for this deck.  It wipes the board of its remaining creatures and does a specifically great job against Lingering Souls.

-Whipflare, Slagstorm, Bonfire of the Damned: 7 sweepers gives you a good chance to have one in your opening hand.  Against aggro decks, a turn 3-5 sweeper is essential to your stabilization and control of the board state.

OTHER NOTES 

Mr. Roboto came out of my desire to build a dedicated Type II Land Destruction deck but has turned into basically a Desert Twister control deck with oppressive flair.  I placed 2nd with this deck at my local shop's Dark Ascension Gameday Standard event with a 3-1 record, the highlight of which was my 3rd round matchup against a Lingering Spirits deck.  I went Turn 1 land, Turn 2 land + LMC, Turn 3 land + Ancient Grudge their land, Turn 4 land + flashback Grudge on their land + Slagstorm away their flipped Delver, Drogskol Captain, & Phantasmal Image (copying the Captain).  I eventually won when he conceded on turn 8 with zero permanents on the board :)  Domo arigato, Liquimetal Coating!

(Manic Vandal by Christopher Moeller)