Spoiled to Death - Graveborn Spoilers Wave 1

Wizards recently released a picture of the new Premium Deck line, Graveborn.  At first I thought it would be mono Black, since Fire and Lightning was needlessly mono Red, but I am happy with the decision they made here.

FAT STACKS Inaugral Edition up at TCGPlayer.com

Okay, so this is something new I am doing where I pull decks from the TCGPlayer submissions and give them a quick review to make them better.  It will be a recurring segment, and I already have a crossover with Calvin in the works (as in, partially written) and my fan Joao from Portugal has agreed to send in  adeck list as well.  Who will show up in the future?

If you have a deck you would like to submit, email me at CSilver85@gmail.com with the link and a short description of what you would like the deck to do and any other concerns/comments.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=10139

SUCK ON MY BAN HAMMER!

The new banned list is out form WotC AND the EDH Commander crew-

EDH first! 

HOLY BALLS - COMMANDERCAST.COM is UP and READY TO VIOLATE YOUR EARS!

Just checked out the re-launch of CommanderCast's website.  SO AWESOME!  Check it out, right now!

http://www.commandercast.com/

The site isn't polished cause I got no visual skillz.  Anyone who wants to help out with that, let me know!

All Hail the Reaper King! on TCGPlayer.com.

Good afternoon! 

My newest article entitled - All Hail the Reaper King! - is up at TCGPlayer.com right now!

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=10008

A New Breed of EDH Tournament - Commander Triathlon

Howdy!

As I mentioned in my previous article, there was a Commander tournament held at New Game in Town in DeKalb, IL.  Now, I live in Chicago, but I have family out there (as in, my whole family) and a good chunk of us play EDH. 

I go to the EDH tournaments at New Game in Town if I can - usually they had been a three week league system with achievement based points.  Though it was fun, the achievement system was easy to break, especially when you build deck designed to stay in the game and perform ridiculous combos to get the points.

This time around was different though.  This time, the tournament was a Triathlon style Iron-man competition - three rounds of Commander brutality to choose a winner.

Bolas/Animar Article is Up and I am Exhausted!

Hey all,

My article is up over at TCGPlayer.com - this week I talked about a Bolas creatureless deck, an all creature Animar deck, and an updated Omnath list for an upcoming FtV Legends Commander tourney.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9994

It was a super long day - my 8 month old Milo is in that clingy/cry constantly mode and its not condusive to putting the pen to paper (or fingers to keys in this case.)  I have a bunch of drafted posts for the blog but my brain is still tired from the beating it took yesterday and I'm not sure what will come out of the current slow drip. 

With that said, I will definitely have a few posts done by tonight, so check back regularly! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Draftng Deja Vu and Animar's Hydras

So I meant to tell this story in my last article, which was themed on competition, but the thing was long as hell by the time I finished discussing the Skithiryx deck (which I barely did anyways) so I decided to write a little blurb about it here, in the Blogosphere.

As I have mentioned before, we tend to do FNM drafts, and this past week I was seated next to my EDH buddy Richard for an M12 draft - I’ve had bad luck with M12 Limited so I was not expecting much.

That was until I was passed a Foil Primordial Hydra, after I first picked Overrun.  

Boy, I love Green!

As I drafted, I wavered between GR and GB, though I knew from experience that Jund would be too dicey to run.

All that changed yet again, when I first-picked a Frost Titan.  Richard and I ended up drawing for first (he had Gideon, so F that) and like any good Commander-er, we went into some crazy 99's.

I tell you all this not to brag, but to establish the point of repetition, the anchor to the deja vu of the weekend.

Fast forward to the Sunday, and another M12 draft, this time for the FtV Legends box down at Evil Squirrel.  Again, I was seated next to Richard.  He must be a good luck charm.

My first pick - Primordial Hydra.  

My first pick from booster 2- Frost F'ing Titan.

I lost in the last rounds to a Boros Weenie deck (even after I boarded in a Mountain, 2 Circle of 

Flames, AND I played both in game 2) but in all fairness, I had 5 lands in hand end of game 1 after a Hunter's Insight and a Ponder.  GG.

Anyone else ever had a repeat draft like that?  It was crazy!

It also inspired my latest in-the-real builds - Animar's Hydras!  I don't have many straightforward stompy decks, and this one has been performing admirably, even before I had a second look at the beginning build!  

Here it is!

Animar

1 Clone

1 Utopia Tree

1 Spellbreaker Behemoth

1 Yavimaya Elder

1 Acidic Slime

1 Man-o'-War

1 Urabrask the Hidden

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Vigor

1 Azure Mage

1 Terastodon

1 Oracle of Mul Daya

1 Draining Whelk

1 Spearbreaker Behemoth

1 Siege-Gang Commander

1 Phantasmal Image

1 Brutalizer Exarch

1 Riku of Two Reflections

1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

1 Shrieking Mogg

1 Coiling Oracle

1 Magmatic Force

1 Surgespanner

1 Tradewind Rider

1 Forgotten Ancient

1 Primeval Titan

1 Primordial Hydra

1 Brawn

1 Protean Hydra

1 Fierce Empath

1 Sylvan Ranger

1 Phyrexian Ingester

1 Garruk's Horde

1 Frost Titan

1 Farhaven Elf

1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Bogardan Hellkite

1 Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

1 Regal Force

1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Ivy Elemental

1 Fallen Ferromancer

1 Deadwood Treefolk

1 Vexing Shusher

1 Feral Hydra

1 Krakilin

1 Green Sun's Zenith

1 Cloudstone Curio

1 Mimic Vat

1 Red Sun's Zenith

1 Loxodon Warhammer

1 Simic Signet

1 Hull Breach

1 Izzet Signet

1 Darksteel Ingot

1 Mind's Eye

1 Gruul Signet

1 Swiftfoot Boots

1 Birthing Pod

1 Lightning Greaves

8 Island

11 Forest

10 Mountain

1 Vivid Grove

1 Vivid Crag

1 Vivid Creek

1 Rootbound Crag

1 Evolving Wilds

1 Tolaria West

1 Fungal Reaches

1 Novijen, Heart of Progress

Still need to find a replacement to my cubed Inferno Titan, and my brother traded away the  Apocalypse Hydra I was going to use, but now it has Man-O-War and all sorts of snazzy shizzle.

Peace!  And War.

Cassidy

Commander in the Modern Age - Get Down With the Skithiryx! Available at TCGPlayer.com

The new article is up, ready for everybody to read over the weekend.  Lemme knw what you guys think about it over at:  http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9977

NEW NEWS - Articles, Commandercast, Modern, and the Knowledge Pool

Once again, been a while since I have updated the blog, half from being busy with life and half from playtesting the shit out of Modern. 

So some updates - My latest article actually came out a week ago and I only now realized I didn't post about it.  Cheggit out at http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9932 .

Just recorded on another episode of Commandercast with Andy, Justin and Byron.  The topics were really cool and I think we recorded a little bit of Commander history right there.  Not exactly sure when the episode will go live but you know ill be keeping y'all informed. 

This weeks article will be partly about the Modern format.  I was extremely happy when Melira was spoiled and now I have a format to abuse her in without feeling like a douche. 

Just wanted to bring up the Knowledge Pool.  Its a members only shin dig created by Commandercast Andy and has been a super useful resource for help with editing and ideas.  Also, its rare to find a forum with a select membership so it has a very friendly community tone to it.  Trolling is strictly prohibited.

Friend me over on Facebook at my Cassidy silver page, and like You Can't Handle the 'Nath on Facebook for the updates I know you are all drooling over. 

Im gonna drop some knowledge about Innistrad in another folloowing post.

Thanks for reading!

New article- Kiki-Jiki Goblins!

Sorry folks, been busy with a lot of stuff., but the Kiki-Jiki article was put up earlier this week and I love the build! 

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9916

Celestial Kirin Stax on TCGPlayer.com!!!!!

Went over a lesser known general, Celestial Kirin, and built a Mono-White Stax deck from it.  Also went over some M12 cards for Commander.  Enoy!!!

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9876

Finessing Power- Omnath Explosive Control on TCGPlayer!

Finessing Power- Omnath Explosive Control on TCGPlayer!

Campaign EDH

This is a current pet project of mine that is a WiP – a Commander League that starts off with Pauper-style decks that get better as the games go by.   

Last Commander Deck Reviewed- Kaalia of the Last but Not Least

For this week's article I bring a run of the mill agro/control Kaalia deck and the updated forms of my Ghave and Damia deck to show how a deck evolves as you play games- I use Role-Playing metaphors to illustrate what i really love about Commander.

Cheggit out!

Kaalia of the Last but Not Least

Political Puppets- RUHAN SMASH! available on TCGPlayer.com!

I take things in a new direction and turn this bland 'political' deck into an all out stomp fest with plenty of CAPITAL LETTERS!  RUHAN LIKE CAPITAL LETTERS!

READ OR RUHAN WILL SMASH!

THE 'Nath Approves- Commandercast s3e7 is READY FOR YOUR AUDITORY ELATION!

The title explains it all.

I would like to say that I was a little intimidated by the Skype format as I have become somewhat of a Thrun since I started full-time dadditude and my interaction with "human beings" has been limited to my wife, son, and magic friends.  If I come off as a douche, well then suck it!

I want to say that the scalable strategies was meant to address 1v1 and League style play as well where a deck may need more or less power.  Holding back with power cards was a strategy I picked up in league play, for which I used Omnath exclusively.  Hard to remember all the points I wanted to make even when I had them written down.  Should have paid attention in Speech class (not!)

I really liked the way it turned out, mostly got my point across!
Check out the cast at- Commandercast s3e7- Like a M-F'ing Hurricane

Thanks to Byron, Justin, and of course, Andy, for welcoming me and attempting to decipher what the hell I was trying to say. 

PEACE OUT Y'ALL, EH?

You Can't Handle THE 'Nath- Updated Deck List.

Hey all,

I am writing up an updated Omnath deck list so Andy can post a link to it in the Commandercast notes, so here goes.  Note that I am saving a fullblown deck breakdown for an article so i will just go over it briefly.

THE 'Nath Approves- Mirror Mastery on TCGPlayer.com

I have a double article for ya.  Well technically even 3, as Split Decision has an alternatable commander.  Check it out and leave some comments!

Mirror Master; Split Decision and Master of Espionage

Updates- Commandercast Recorded; Mirror Mastery Written

Hey folks,

Finished recording my new podcast tonight, and I only sort of sucked at it.  Much better than the total suckitude I expected.  Hopefully Andy will be able to make something out of my ramblings.  Next time I will be much better at it.  Learning curve and all.

Just sent this weeks commander article to Frank at TCGPlayer.com, I am really happy with what I came up with and really can't wait to drop some ninjas.  Make sure to go and comment!