Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Back at it with my usual shenanigans in the West Coast Commander League. As usual, points are to be had for...
Oh, how I wish WotC had managed to more often combine such superb artwork and flavor with legendary creature design that actually made sense. So, 2GGRR for a 4/4 is deplorably overcosted by today's standards. She's got first strike, which is nice and could be a good start for some other abilities that make her formidable in combat. But instead, her other ability is the virtually unique "Legendary landwalk." In blue, that ability could almost be exploited by using a land-swapping spell, as I showcased with my Rubinia Soulsinger deck last month. But that has no synergy whatsoever with first strike, and you're still talking about a merely medium-sized attacker. She's in red/green anyway, so that's out. As it happened, I got to make use of Livonya's landwalk ability zero times today. I got to make use of her first strike once, though.
Now, getting the "Ninjutsu" point would ordinarily seem to be a black/blue thing. But I was tired of not having green for the "Winter Wonderland" point (snow permanents). I might have mentioned here at the CPA that blue/black/green or "Sultai" is probably my favorite color combination for casual Magic decks. Of course, there are no blue/black/green legendary creatures in Legends. To my permanent chagrin, there are no Sultai-color commanders with the old card frame at all. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. They were "enemy colors" and didn't get legendary creatures of any kind until 2007.
So until a few days ago, I was thinking of just going back to one of my favorite commanders I've played so far: Savra, Queen of the Golgari. And some day I will return to her. She's super-fun. Instead, I got the idea of staying in green, but using non-ninjas that still fulfilled the clause of dealing combat damage with creatures that weren't on the battlefield at the beginning of combat. Red/green can pull this off. Here's my list...
Commander:
1x Livonya Silone
1x Abundance
1x Arid Mesa
1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Balefire Dragon
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Boartusk Liege
1x Boreal Druid
1x Boundless Realms
1x Combustible Gearhulk
1x Constant Mists
1x Crop Rotation
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Cultivate
1x Decimate
1x Destructive Revelry
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fires of Yavimaya
1x Flamerush Rider
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Hanweir Battlements
1x Hanweir Garrison
1x Harrow
1x Highland Weald
1x Hull Breach
1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
1x Inexorable Blob
1x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1x Khalni Heart Expedition
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Lotus Cobra
1x Manabond
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain Valley
1x Mox Diamond
1x Natural Order
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1x Ohran Viper
1x Omnath, Locus of Rage
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Rampaging Baloths
1x Regrowth
1x Rime Tender
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Scrying Sheets
1x Seasons Past
10x Snow-Covered Forest
8x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Sol Ring
1x Spike Weaver
1x Splendid Reclamation
1x Springbloom Druid
1x Strip Mine
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sylvan Library
1x Sylvan Safekeeper
1x Taiga
1x Terastodon
1x Thermopod
1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1x Warcry Phoenix
1x Wasteland
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wood Elves
1x Wooded Foothills
1x World Shaper
1x Worldly Tutor
1x Wrenn and Six
1x Zuran Orb
Even though it felt underpowered and probably was, this deck was a blast to play. I got to constantly ask my opponents if they'd play any legendary lands for me. I used Hanweir Garrison, Inexorable Blob, and Warcry Phoenix to pseudo-ninjutsu my opponents. I landed attacks with swords. I won two out of my three games, one with Titania tokens and the other with Rampaging Baloths tokens. This was fun. I'd actually consider something like it again.
- Winning games
- Eliminating opponents
- Getting "first blood"
- Saving an opponent from another opponent
- Being eliminated first
- Eliminating the player with the bounty (usually me)
- Being awarded "cool points" by opponents
- Eliminating an opponent before that player's 6th turn
- Taking more than one consecutive extra turn
- Getting rid of opponents' basic lands
- Playing more than one mana-producing artifact on your first turn
- Conceding from games "strategically"
- Controlling either 4+ nontoken creatures with the same creature type or 5+ different creature types among your creatures (changelings only count as 1)
- Controlling 4+ nonland snow permanents or 10+ total snow permanents
- Dealing combat damage to an opponent with a creature that is equipped with a "Sword of X and Y" artifact
- Casting 3+ spells with keyword mechanics from Modern Horizons
- Sacrifice 5 or more lands
- Deal combat damage with at least 2 creatures that weren't on the battlefield at the beginning of combat
Oh, how I wish WotC had managed to more often combine such superb artwork and flavor with legendary creature design that actually made sense. So, 2GGRR for a 4/4 is deplorably overcosted by today's standards. She's got first strike, which is nice and could be a good start for some other abilities that make her formidable in combat. But instead, her other ability is the virtually unique "Legendary landwalk." In blue, that ability could almost be exploited by using a land-swapping spell, as I showcased with my Rubinia Soulsinger deck last month. But that has no synergy whatsoever with first strike, and you're still talking about a merely medium-sized attacker. She's in red/green anyway, so that's out. As it happened, I got to make use of Livonya's landwalk ability zero times today. I got to make use of her first strike once, though.
Now, getting the "Ninjutsu" point would ordinarily seem to be a black/blue thing. But I was tired of not having green for the "Winter Wonderland" point (snow permanents). I might have mentioned here at the CPA that blue/black/green or "Sultai" is probably my favorite color combination for casual Magic decks. Of course, there are no blue/black/green legendary creatures in Legends. To my permanent chagrin, there are no Sultai-color commanders with the old card frame at all. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. They were "enemy colors" and didn't get legendary creatures of any kind until 2007.
So until a few days ago, I was thinking of just going back to one of my favorite commanders I've played so far: Savra, Queen of the Golgari. And some day I will return to her. She's super-fun. Instead, I got the idea of staying in green, but using non-ninjas that still fulfilled the clause of dealing combat damage with creatures that weren't on the battlefield at the beginning of combat. Red/green can pull this off. Here's my list...
Commander:
1x Livonya Silone
1x Abundance
1x Arid Mesa
1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Balefire Dragon
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Boartusk Liege
1x Boreal Druid
1x Boundless Realms
1x Combustible Gearhulk
1x Constant Mists
1x Crop Rotation
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Cultivate
1x Decimate
1x Destructive Revelry
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fires of Yavimaya
1x Flamerush Rider
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Hanweir Battlements
1x Hanweir Garrison
1x Harrow
1x Highland Weald
1x Hull Breach
1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
1x Inexorable Blob
1x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1x Khalni Heart Expedition
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Lotus Cobra
1x Manabond
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain Valley
1x Mox Diamond
1x Natural Order
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1x Ohran Viper
1x Omnath, Locus of Rage
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Rampaging Baloths
1x Regrowth
1x Rime Tender
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Scrying Sheets
1x Seasons Past
10x Snow-Covered Forest
8x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Sol Ring
1x Spike Weaver
1x Splendid Reclamation
1x Springbloom Druid
1x Strip Mine
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sylvan Library
1x Sylvan Safekeeper
1x Taiga
1x Terastodon
1x Thermopod
1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1x Warcry Phoenix
1x Wasteland
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wood Elves
1x Wooded Foothills
1x World Shaper
1x Worldly Tutor
1x Wrenn and Six
1x Zuran Orb
Even though it felt underpowered and probably was, this deck was a blast to play. I got to constantly ask my opponents if they'd play any legendary lands for me. I used Hanweir Garrison, Inexorable Blob, and Warcry Phoenix to pseudo-ninjutsu my opponents. I landed attacks with swords. I won two out of my three games, one with Titania tokens and the other with Rampaging Baloths tokens. This was fun. I'd actually consider something like it again.
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