Unsavory Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [EDH]

[Oversoul]

Last month, it was announced that the West Coast Commander League would run events online through webcams. I set up a Discord server to help with the administration of these events and the League organizer looked into the Spell Table site for running the actual games. We did some testing in the next couple weeks and I had a deck ready to go for the upcoming December online meetups. This was the deck I built for December 6th. Unfortunately, no one else was ready for the December 6th session, and then the League apparently forgot about our webcam Magic plans for the rest of the month as well. It's the last Sunday of December and I haven't heard from anyone since then.

Here are the points that would have been implemented, based on the last message the League organizer sent out on the subject of December points...

Regular League Points (non-rotating)
Let's Do This (+1): Participate in a game.
Last One Standing (+2): Eliminate all other players in the game.
Kill shot (+1): Be directly responsible for eliminating an opponent.
The Scary One (+1): Be the first person eliminated.
Ride of the Rohirrim (+1): Be directly responsible for saving an opponent from elimination.
Regicide (+1): Eliminate the player with the bounty.
Cool Point (+1): Awarded by opponents (+1 for each opponent awarding you that player's cool point).
Legendary Legends (+1): Your commander is one of the 55 original legendary creatures not yet played in the League and you cast your commander at least once. Scholarly General (+3): Attack with a creature, block with a creature, tutor for a card, draw more than one card on your turn, discard a card, and activate a non-mana ability.
Too Soon (-3): Eliminate a player before that player's sixth turn (cumulative for each opponent).
Solitaire (-1): Take more more than one consecutive extra turn (cumulative for each consecutive extra turn after the first).
Stalling the Apocalypse (-1): Cause an unmodified basic land to leave the battlefield (-1 for each instance; see notes on back of points sheet).
Woah, Slow Down (-1): Play more than one mana-producing artifact on your first turn.
Deny Reality (-5): Concede the game strategically.

December Monthly League Points
New Legends (+1): Your commander or both of your commanders have only been printed in Commander Legends.
Partner up (+1): Cast both of your partner commanders from the command zone at least once each (bonus +1: cast both of your partners twice).
Cascade Go Brrrr (+2): Cascade 4 or more times.
Take the Crown (+1): Take the monarch from an opponent (bonus +1: you were the first person to become the monarch).
Celebrate Six Times (+1): Cast 6 or more spells with CMC 6 or more.
Reshape the Land (+1): Successfully search for and put into play 10 or more lands.

This was the second time this year that I built a deck themed around points for an event that didn't actually happen. The first time was way back on January 19th, with Axelrod's Bonfire.

Commander:
1x Torsten Von Ursus

1x Abundance
1x Annoyed Altisaur
1x Anvil of Bogardan
1x Arid Mesa
1x Ash Barrens
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Beast Within
1x Captured Sunlight
1x Constant Mists
1x Court of Bounty
1x Court of Grace
1x Crop Rotation
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Crystal Vein
1x Cultivate
1x Defense of the Heart
1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
1x Earthcraft
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Entourage of Trest
1x Eternal Dragon
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fabled Passage
1x Flooded Strand
7x Forest
1x Gaea's Blessing
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Genesis
1x Glacial Chasm
1x Greater Good
1x Harrow
1x Kami of False Hope
1x Karmic Guide
1x Khalni Heart Expedition
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Life from the Loam
1x Maelstrom Colossus
1x Mana Vault
1x Manabond
1x Marsh Flats
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mirari's Wake
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Mother of Runes
1x Mox Diamond
1x Natural Reclamation
1x Nyxbloom Ancient
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Palace Jailer
4x Plains
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Protector of the Crown
1x Rampaging Baloths
1x Regal Behemoth
1x Regrowth
1x Roiling Regrowth
1x Savannah
1x Seasons Past
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Serra Ascendant
1x Smothering Tithe
3x Snow-Covered Forest
3x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Sol Ring
1x Spike Weaver
1x Spore Frog
1x Strip Mine
1x Sun Titan
1x Sweet-Gum Recluse
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Sylvan Library
1x Sylvan Safekeeper
1x Throne of the High City
1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
1x Tragic Arrogance
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1x Wayward Swordtooth
1x Winds of Abandon
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Wrath of God
1x Zendikar Resurgent
1x Zuran Orb

 

[Oversoul]

In-store gameplay at my usual LGS still isn't an option, but there's a newer store about the same distance away in the opposite direction, and they're doing informal EDH on Wednesday evenings. I still had this deck together. So while I won't play a Torsten Von Ursus deck in the West Coast Commander League anytime soon, and if I do play one it will be different from this list, I did finally get to have some fun with this at another venue.

I played three games tonight, and this deck was the first one. My opponents were running these commanders...


I recalled that this was a Loam deck, but couldn't remember the specifics of the Cascade theme, the Monarch theme, and the emphasis on big spells. Ultimately, the game lasted for about three hours. Much of that time was dominated by some chaotic arrangements of stacked spells, thanks to The Great Aurora and Tidal Barracuda, both deployed by the Phelddagrif player. The game got horribly bogged down as every attempt by one of us to do something led to other players responding and stacking their own effects above the existing ones.

Fueled by ridiculous cards, I was able to set up a Seasons Past loop and recast Swords to Plowshares on my own tokens repeatedly, gaining infinite life. But the game kept going from there. I eventually won after the Phelddagrif player decked out.