
Welcome back to the wonderful world of Commander multiplayer, as told by SUNCOM, the PRE I run every Sunday at 15:00 GMT (more info about it here). You can read about the Origin of It All in the first article of this series.
JACKPOT! The challenge to play 10 different commanders in as many events has been met, and by two players at once! Both Edison_88luckyplayer and Frenzy277 hit the magic number simultaneously at SUNCOM 42 — while another SUNCOM aficionado, _BIG_BROTHERS_ (who shares with Edison the greatest number of appearances in the tournament, 29) ended just short of 1. This resulted in the 10.5 tix prize to be evenly split between Edison and Frenzy, while BIG will get a door prize. Here's the sequence of our multi-commandering heroes:
Frenzy277:
- Riku of Two Reflections (SUNCOM 31, Finalist)
- Horde of Notions (SUNCOM 33, Finalist)
- Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro (SUNCOM 34)
- Kresh the Bloodbraided (SUNCOM 35)
- Animar, Soul of Elements (SUNCOM 37, Finalist)
- Scion of the Ur-Dragon (SUNCOM 38)
- Child of Alara (SUNCOM 39)
- Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (SUNCOM 40, Finalist)
- Sliver Queen (SUNCOM 41, Finalist)
- Bosh, Iron Golem (SUNCOM 42, Finalist)
Edison_88luckyplayer:
- Sheoldred, Whispering One (SUNCOM 31)
- Kaervek the Merciless (SUNCOM 32-33-34, Finalist in SUNCOM 34)
- Adun Oakenshield (SUNCOM 35)
- Eight-and-a-Half-Tails (SUNCOM 36)
- Nicol Bolas (SUNCOM 37, Finalist)
- Kemba, Kha Regent (SUNCOM 38)
- Sliver Overlord (SUNCOM 39)
- Ezuri, Renegade Leader (SUNCOM 40)
- Anowon, the Ruin Sage (SUNCOM 41)
- Savra, Queen of the Golgari (SUNCOM 42)
And now it's time for a new challenge! I give you... drum-roll... the ORIGINAL ELDER DRAGONS!

Dragon breeding improved quite a lot since those times, uh?
That's right, the new challenge, which will be evidently faster (but I'll make sure the Jackpot will be at least 5 tix in any case) is about bringing each of the 5 Elder Dragons to one SUNCOM event. The order is not important, but Nicol Bolas needs to be the original, nerdy one from ME3, not the cool one from FTV (since he's the only good one of the lot, you'll have to suffer a bit when playing him). And you need to play them at least once during a table, and keep them in play for at least one full turn (which means you have to play the upkeep at least once). To prove this, just hit print screen after you paid the upkeep, and then send me the 5 pictures when you claim the Jackpot. Good Dragon-taming!
TODAY'S COMMANDERS (click to go directly to the decklists): Sliver Queen, Thada Adel, Acquisitor, Oona, Queen of the Fae, Bosh, Iron Golem, Captain Sisay.
SUNCOM 41
Our Brazilian wonder raf.azevedo has been on a roll recently, winning 4 events between SUNCOM 31 and 36, and he's now back to the top place thanks to his Maelstrom Wanderer deck from SUNCOM 35. Wedge Blue is a combination that misses both white and black, the best colors for problem solving, but the other 3 colors together make up more than enough for it. In particular, adding red to a Simic build ensures some reset buttons/end of the world finishing moves like Jokulhaups, Obliterate, Wildfire, and even Burning of Xinye (the latter is still bugged — it gets an undue Overload — and therefore currently banned).
On the final table with him, Frenzy277, whose Jackpot-worthy rotation landed him on a 5-color, "everything you need" Sliver Queen build, and justcanceled, piloting a devious Thada Adel, Acquisitor build that would go on to become the currently most feared after a commanding win the following week. Here's Frenzy's list:
And here's justcanceled's super-annoying little Merfolk thief:
A quick deck tech for Thada.
Time Walk effects: Capture of Jingzhou, Savor the Moment, Temporal Manipulation, Temporal Mastery, Time Stretch, Time Warp, Walk the Aeons, Lighthouse Chronologist. That's pretty much all the mono-blue can use, except, curiously, Beacon of Tomorrows (not counting things that need specific support like Time Vault, Notorious Throng, and Wanderwine Prophets, or oddities like Second Chance, Magistrate's Scepter, Timesifter and Magosi, the Waterveil).
Effects that cause you to dig into the deck: Brainstorm, Impulse, Ponder, Preordain, Ancestral Vision, Fact or Fiction, Jace's Ingenuity, Blue Sun's Zenith, Sensei's Divining Top, Sword of Fire and Ice, Jace Beleren, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Consecrated Sphinx, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Remand, Dismiss, Cryptic Command, Into the Roil, Overwhelming Intellect, Expedition Map, Muddle the Mixture, Trinket Mage, Relic of Progenitus, Spreading Seas, Dreamstone Hedron, Lonely Sandbar, Tolaria West. Most missing: bigger Jaces.
Counter magic: Counterspell, Hinder, Muddle the Mixture, Remand, Dissipate, Dismiss, Rewind, Cryptic Command, Condescend, Overwhelming Intellect, Commandeer, Draining Whelk, Into the Roil, Capsize. Most missing: Spell Crumple.
Stealing effects: Thada Adel, Acquisitor, Blatant Thievery, Take Possession, Commandeer, Mindslaver, Sower of Temptation. Most missing: Bribery.
Effects that duplicate all of this: Twincast, Rite of Replication, Snapcaster Mage, Phyrexian Metamorph.
Mana ramp: Sol Ring, Expedition Map, Everflowing Chalice, Gilded Lotus, Caged Sun, Dreamstone Hedron, Drain Power, Crucible of Worlds, Sword of Feast and Famine. Just the essential, Thada will provide a constant supply of the best mana rocks available on the black market, anyway.
Other stuff: Lightning Greaves, Sword of War and Peace, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Diluvian Primordial, Wurmcoil Engine. I'm honestly not so sure about the War and Peace here (possibly because I'm not a big fan of it, it's the only Sword that might even do nothing at all, even if that's unlikely in multiplayer.) Lifegain source, maybe?
SUNCOM 42
As mentioned, the justcanceled-Thada pairing dominated the 42th event (as if the sneering answer to the Ultimate Question about Life, Universe and Everything was "stealing all your Sol Rings"). I was there, almost killing justcanceled in the preliminary table, as documented below. And _BIG_BROTHERS_ was also there, dreaming of a Jackpot that didnt materialize while piloting a quite rarely seen (why? She's amazing!) Oona, Queen of the Fae.
And also there was the very committed Frenzy277, celebrating his 10th different commander in a row with an almost colorless deck, the red-allowing Bosh, Iron Golem.
My own deck? This quite obvious but quite fun Captain Sisay build.
Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
1 Duplicant
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Genesis
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Lieutenant Kirtar
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
1 Reki, the History of Kamigawa
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sun Titan
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Wood Elves
1 Yavimaya Dryad
30 cards
Other Spells
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Aura Shards
1 Austere Command
1 Champion's Helm
1 Chord of Calling
1 Cultivate
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Gideon Jura
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mana Vault
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Nature's Lore
1 Predator, Flagship
1 Privileged Position
1 Shield of Kaldra
1 Skullclamp
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Sol Ring
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Sylvan Library
1 That Which Was Taken
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Umezawa's Jitte
34 cards |
Lands
1 Brushland
1 Command Tower
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Gavony Township
1 Khalni Garden
1 Krosan Verge
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Savannah
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vesuva
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Hollow
6 Forest
6 Plains
35 cards
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Things that Sisay can fetch in this build:
Lands: Eiganjo Castle, Flagstones of Trokair, Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers, Miren, the Moaning Well, Yavimaya Hollow.
Artifacts: Umezawa's Jitte, Champion's Helm, Shield of Kaldra, That Which Was Taken, Akroma's Memorial, Predator, Flagship.
Creatures: Reki, the History of Kamigawa, Saffi Eriksdotter, Omnath, Locus of Mana, Lieutenant Kirtar, Mangara of Corondor, Dosan the Falling Leaf, Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant, Glissa Sunseeker, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Arashi, the Sky Asunder, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Reya Dawnbringer, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre.
So, if you need mana, fetch a land, Omnath, or (later) Vorinclex. If you need to kill something, fetch Mangara or Kirtar, Glissa for artifacts, Arashi for flyers, Elesh for armies of tokens, Predator if you have the mana, and Jitte in most cases. If you need to protect Sisay, fetch Saffi (it might be a good move to always start this way), or Champion's Helm, Shield of Kaldra, and That Which Was Taken (in hindsight, I might have included too many of these), and if you still meet the condition, fetch Rune-Tail. To hose the opponents, fetch Dosan, Linvala, and Iona. If you need a finisher, fetch one of the Angels or Ulamog (again, this section might be overpopulated). And Reki is a way to draw into more cards while you keep doing Sisay's trick.
Sisay will be able soon to start having fun with the Gods, too, but I'm not sure if she really needs them. Maybe Heliod, to fill the board on occasions. I've considered using the white Honden as a free source of life, but in the end didn't seem too likely to be fetched before any of the other legendary cards. And the green one is overcosted.
WHAT ABOUT SOME ACTION NOW?
Focus on Thada and justcanceled this week, via two 3-man tables both featuring all lady commanders. The first video is from SUNCOM 41, with justcanceled facing Rufa with Jhoira of the Ghitu and your truly accompanied by Prime Speaker Zegana. I was managing to make a nice comeback after an unfortunate Turn-1 Reflecting Pool (d'oh!), made worse by not finding any other land except for a Yavimaya Hollow. My mana rocks were, well, rocking, though, but in the end the Sower of Temptation stole my Vorinclex (on top of Thada's many other "acquisitions"), and things went downhill from there.
And this is SUNCOM 42's battle between just's Thada deck, my own Sisay deck, and Beaubafett with a classic Kaalia of the Vast build.
This was a nice fight, despite the ending where justcanceled take control of the game in that special, obnoxious way that only blue's "nearly infinite extra turns" shtick enables. At the beginning, Beauba was definitely the "bad guy", thanks to a turn-2 Luminarch Ascension (it's weird how this game is filled with annoying things, and yet it was fun to play). My Elesh defused the situation (even preventing Kaalia to join the party), turning the bunch of Angels into more bearable 2/2s, while just was taking care of the Ascension with a Capsize. Arashi was getting ready to finish off the rest, and I also had a nice Scryb Ranger laughing at Thada (no Islands to walk over this time!), when suddenly... well, I won't spoil you the finale! Watch the video!
And that's it. See you in the SUNCOM room next Sunday at 15:00 GMT, and with the Chronicles here on PureMTGO in two weeks! Commander ho!