Welcome back to the wonderful world of Commander multiplayer, as told by SUNCOM, the PRE I run every Sunday at 16:00 GMT (more info about it here). You can read about the Origin of It All in the first article of this series.
TODAY'S COMMANDERS (click to go directly to the decklists): Azami, Lady of Scrolls, The Mimeoplasm, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
COMMANDING NEWS
Today's news is: it's Christmas! Merry Christmas, everyone!
Wait, why am I here writing this at Christmas? And more importantly, why are YOU reading this at Christmas?! Like, don't you have gifts to unwrap and candies to eat and people to kiss under the mistletoe? Oh well, since this week is also Planeswalker Week, here's a Christmas-themed Liliana by Steve Argyle and me. Enjoy.
And since we are all here, I may as well do the SUNCOM article, right? I had a whole thing planned about our poster lady Kaalia of the Vast, with a video from one of the recent successes Beaubafett collected thanks to her. But you know, it's Christmas, so apparently the video didn't arrive in time. I guess I'll publish it in the next installment. Along with all the smart things I had to say about Kaalia, provided I'll remember them. Or they were actually smart.
I do remember there was something about Kaalia really liking Avacyn, which, okay, is proof enough I wasn't going to say anything particularly smart in this case, but considering we're making kind of a pictorial article at this point, with all that rum eggnog already giving us too much of a headache to read (it's actually Moscato for me, which is quite less alcoholic, but I'm just a lightweight that way), here's a nice visual aid to the concept:
This is from an amazing Canadian artist named Sonellion (aka Clockwork Cadaver), who I discovered on deviantART a few ago, and among other things makes these contemporary reimaginings of Magic characters. Like, Kaalia and Avacyn as two college students with a penchant for the goth style (and each other). Notice the details like the symbol on Avacyn's cup, or Kaalia's medallion being the Quicksilver Amulet.
See? Kaalia really likes Avacyn! She feels like nothing can harm her when they're together.
So, that was sort of another present. And by the way, we actually got a Commander-related present these days (one of those we actually have to, you know, pay for), in the form of the Commander 2013 decks having been finally released online. And we have already a card that's worth the entire deck it's in ("Mind Seize", the one headed by Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge). I'm talking about this guy, also known as Fish Progenitus:
It looks like the design/rule team was already drunk on eggnog (or a LOT of Moscato) when they made/ruled on this, because they decided that "protection from player" means that Mr. 25 Bucks here is also entirely unaffected by that player's creatures (that can't block, target, nor damage it), which if you ask me, could have gone in either direction, since nothing ever established before that a restriction on the player applies to that player's creatures as well. Guess what every Merfolk deck in the universe will add now? And it's not even that useful for Commander. This is like the Grinch of this article.
SUNCOM 53
So, let's look at some decklist now, pretending we understand what all those tiny characters mean. SUNCOM 53 had a big turnout (16 players! Are you guys finally finding out that competitive Commander is still fun?), and justcanceled beat them all with his Azami, Lady of Scrolls build, giving the Japanese wizard lady her first victory in what I believe was her first attempt.
Among their opponents at the final table there was Smaug piloting The Mimeoplasm, which I always like to showcase because The Mimeoplasm rocks. Yes, even when poison-based!
It was also the event where the Elder Dragon Challenge finally ended. Edison_88luckyplayer got a last chance to try and stop raf.azevedo from clearing the last of the five Elder Dragons for the challenge, but to no avail: raf managed to keet Vaevictis Asmadi on the battlefield for a full turn, too, so the 20 tix of the Jackpot (accumulated in 11 weeks, and even thanks to a win of my own) went the way of Brazil. I'm not gonna put yet another Elder Dragon list here, so just look it up from Gatherling if you like. I'd rather show a few snapshots from the history of the biggest single win since when I host PREs. Chromium didn't have a clear screencap, but I assure you it was unlocked just like the others. Congrats, raf!
SUNCOM 54
All right, those two decklists reeked of combo, uh? And yet the balance is still in favor of more straightforward, ass-whuppin' builds, like my own Kamahl or Beaubafett's Kaalia, who's been at a final table in almost every event she was entered lately (earning Beaubafett a place in the next Table of Champions, come May 19). I'd put in the same non-combo category the appropriately graveyard-themed Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord list that gave longtime SUNCOM aficionado Hopachi his first victory in the event. And it was about time!
WHAT ABOUT SOME ACTION NOW?
Yeah, what about it? Oh, wait, I was supposed to provide it, right? Okay, so, the planned Kaalia video isn't there, unfortunately, so, uhm, I should at least put something in this section. Let's see, the other day I had a conversation with a fellow player that should remain unnamed about the best Magic card one could use to represent Santa Claus in a hypothetic "Santa Claus, Planeswalker" card or something. (Yeah, these are the kind of strategic conversations I have in-game, even when sober.)
And to me, that wasn't about finding an old man with a white beard who's uncannily agile despite some definite weight issues. I mean, if it's a planeswalker, it can be anything. Plus, we aimed for something creative. Something different. At first I thought that Garruk would make for a perfect Santa, because he's kind of grouchy but benevolent, and lives in a forest surrounded by friendly animals. But then I focused on the signature red cape, while still leaving the forest druid thing in the picture. So, forest-dweller, Celtic undertone, sort of intense, wearing a red cape... and looking through the database, this is what I ended up with:
Yep, I'm completely drunk now. Merry Christmas!
(But also: next Saturday there will be the first edition of The Art of War right after Tribal Apocalypse! Come and play with one-artist decks! Maybe you want to try a Cynthia Sheppard deck – you know, the artist of Scorned Villager, Sublime Archangel, and now Jeleva fame. She's kind of fabulous!)
And that's it. See you in the SUNCOM room next Sunday at 16:00 GMT, and with the Chronicles here on PureMTGO in two weeks! Commander ho!
