Fate Reforged, DARGONS, and How Sarkhan Fucked Up

FRF has been out for a while now, long enough that we've got a full spoiler for the next set, Dragons of Tarkir, wherein Sarkhan Vol goes back in time and creates an alternate present. More on that in a sec; right now I'd like to make a friendly PSA regarding FRF cards in Commander.

Ahem.

PLAY UGIN.

Thank you.

Seriously. I try to avoid throwing the word "staple" around, on the grounds that there are tens of thousands of cards, and the vast, vast majority are legal in Commander. Sure, there are cards that probably deserve the term, and I feel that there are decks that can't maximize Ugin's full potential, but it is really hard to lose when you land Ugin. Play Ugin, use his second ability to maximize the hurt for your opponent, and then Ghostfire the bad guys until they die. His ultimate can be backbreaking, but as with any planeswalker, you ought to avoid running him for his ultimate. He's a removal machine, and that's how he should be played.

The new set, Dragons of Tarkir, has a number of cards that I'm excited about for Commander. In addition to nine new legendary creatures that can serve as commanders, we've got two new planeswalkers, an awesome new Clone variant, a new Command cycle, and a Biorythm on legs (that the Rules Committee likely won't ban!). It's a lot to take in, so let's go into a few of the highlights.

Legendary Creatures:

Dragonlord Ojutai: I'm not usually a fan of guys that come into play and have to wait to make an impact. Half-hexproof helps, but there's very little stopping your opponent from making our illustrious dragon philosopher eat instant-speed removal before combat damage. Only costing 5 is an advantage, but I don't expect this version of Ojutai to see too much play as a Commander.

Dragonlord Silumgar: Silumgar misses the hexproof he had in his younger days, but for six mana you get a hell of a flying blocker and you get to steal their best creature or a planeswalker (bonus points if it's ready for its ultimate!). All said, it's a pretty good deal, and bonus points for making this wheezing fatass actually do something.

Dragonlord Kolaghan: This... is not a good card for Commander, because textbox. Move along.

Dragonlord Atarka: 8 power for 7 mana, with flying (obviously) and trample. Not bad. As for its ETB ability, it's a bit worse than Bogardan Hellkite, but still useable. There are better RG Commanders, but Atarka is probably fine.

Dragonlord Dromoka: Here we have possibly the best of the five Elder Dragons. Comes in as a Draconic Baneslayer that bad guys can't counter, and limits your opponents to casting spells on their turn. All for only 6 mana! While I'm unsure that Dromoka will be a popular Commander, I can see her going into Captain Sisay toolbox decks, Mayael decks, hell; I have a Bant list that'd probably use her. Very solid card.

Anafenza, Kin-tree Spirit: Well, she's no Foremost, but still a reasonable card for fast white weenie strategies. Maybe in a GW Hatebears-style deck?

Sidisi, Undead Vizier: Okay, this is pretty cool. With Lifeline and another creature, this turns into a Demonic Tutor every turn. Plays extremely well with creatures that net you some benefit when they die, and is a 4/6 for 5, which is a good size for the cost. Not sure if she's general material, but a pretty neat combo piece.

Zurgo Bellstriker: Tarkir's own Biff Tannen. Of some value given that it appears you can raid him from the command zone. Could be cool. He'd better put two coats of wax on Sarkhan's car. Lazy orc motherfucker.

Surrak, the Hunt Caller: Our old friend Surrak is back, and with a pretty powerful win-more ability. You're likely better of with Xenagos, God of Revels, but Surrak does curve nicely onto a Hero's Blade for self-haste, and 8 damage. For only 4 mana. Christmasland? Perhaps. But mono-green can surprise people.

Planeswalkers:

Sarkhan Unbroken: I have issues with Sarkhan as a character, but this card is awesome. It does everything I love to do- draw cards, ramp, and make guys. Flying blockers are, like Switzerland's flag, a big plus, and while I don't really run dragons, the -8 will be of some use to someone out there. I'm most excited for this card.

Narset Transcendant: Ah, the [Name] [Adjective] formula. Classic. Narset will likely see play in Commander, where I feel her best use will be in Narset decks, which tend to cast a bunch of noncreature spells anyway. Doubling down on said spells is pretty good, as is kind-of drawing a card. She doesn't defend herself, which is actually a flavour win, as it's a reference to her Ben Kenobi manoeuvre that enabled Sarkhan to go back in time. Instead, she counts on her high loyalty to stick around, but that might not be enough as she has a particularly nasty ultimate. The vaguest threat of not being able to cast noncreature spells at all will attract a lot of hate.

Other Awesome Spells:

Damnable Pact: Here's how I imagine this card's creation:

WotC: Whatchu want, fool?

Player: My group doesn't hate Nekusar enough.

WotC: Say no more, fam.

Shaman of the Forgotten Ways: A lot of people were upset when this card was spoiled, due to it's Formidable ability. Nevermind that it cost eleven and requiresa creature with 8 power, which puts it on roughly the same level as Door to Nothingness, and doesn't even guarantee the win. This isn't Biorythm; this is a Somberwald Sage that can, given a huge amount of resources, possibly, maybe win the game. Did I mention that the damn card has three toughness? It won't die to Elesh Norn, but it dies to almost anything else.

Secure the Wastes: Well, that's efficient. And it's an instant. Damn.

Assault Formation:

WotC: What'll it be?

Player: My Doran got tucked!

WotC: I got you.

Clone Legion: Well, it DOES cost nine, but I imagine that it'll see play in Riku decks.

So those are some of my Commander picks from DTK, so let's talk briefly about Sarkhan's trip back to the past.

For those that follow the story each week, we know that in the original timeline the clans didn't exactly have it made. Each clan save for maybe the Sultai had perks for membership, and life for humans was good overall. Surrak could could take down a goddamn rhino. Anafenza was, well, alive and badass. Narset was fun and well-adjusted.

And then Sarkhan kind of wrecked things.

To be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault. After Narset pulled a Ben Kenobi, Sarkhan was sent back in time, where he had the good fortune to meet Yasova, Khan of the Temur. Bewitched by Nicol Bolas, Yasova saved the Elder Dragon's ass by turning Ugin's posse againt him. Sarkhan KO'd Yasova, and somehow used the hedron shard from Zendikar to put Ugin into some kind of stasis.

Seems good.

And then Sarkhan is sent back to the alternate present to find that he'd never been born at all (wat), and that because the dragons emerged from the storms unchecked for ~1000 years, they now ran shit. Sarkhan, being Sarkhan, thinks this is great, and flies off to do... something. His only goal was to silence the voice in his head, and he did. Job done!

Meanwhile...

Anafenza, Khan of the Abzan in another timeline, is now a ghost. Rather than acquiesce to Dromoka's ban on ancestor worship, Anafenza practiced in secret. Once she was found out, she was tortured and executed. It's admittedly kind of cool to see a little more of the dark side of GW as a colour combo, but Anafenza was a well-liked character that successfully lead the Abzan, and the Dromoka are worse off for her loss.

Narset had the passion taught out of her by the UW Dragonlord, Ojutai. The impact on her character is a little harder to assess. Doug Beyer recently revealed on his Tumblr that Narset is canonically on the autism spectrum. This doesn't come as a surprise, but whereas in the original timeline she had the freedom to do whatever she pleased and grow in whatever way she chose, she spent her youth in this timeline under strict tutelage from Ojutai. This tempered her somewhat, though it didn't stop her from ascending. I guess this had something to do with there being no forbidden knowledge in the original Tarkir? The shocking revelation that Ojutai was kind of a dick in his youth was enough to help Narset ascend, and Ojutai entrusting her with the knowledge, and teaching Narset that the search for knowledge, even forbidden knowledge, is not a bad thing helped finally quell the impulsive part of Narset's personality... somehow.

Zurgo went from hulking boss to scrawny cowbell player. Two coats of wax, Biff.

Sidisi died and was brought back to unlife due to her usefulness. The rakshasha's influence has decreased, the naga are forced into the background, and zombies and lazy humans are everywhere. Not the change in management folks were hoping for, fatass.

Surrak, while still in a position of some prominance among the Temur, is not a big as he was. He's devoted to Atarka, but his people are starving as their Dragonlord eats everything and melts the glaciers. The Temur have perhaps the most complete history of Tarkir at this point, thanks to their secret shamans, but how this information will come into play remains to be seen.

As for the Ugin side of things, Sorin does the same stuff he did when he arrived, including find a guide, kill a few guys, and climb a mountain. All the lore he learns is about dragons rather than khans, and sees a series of hedrons rather than Ugin's glowy skeleton. He somehow knows the spell to free Ugin, and does so.

As you'd expect, Ugin has no idea what the hell is going on. Sorin lies to him a bunch, and Ugin dismisses him. Notably, Ugin is likely not aware of the Mending, and will likely attribute his diminished abilities to him waking up from a coma. Sorin also heavily implies that he's responsible for something bad that happened to or with Nahiri, and now has to go fix it. There's a lot of speculation on what this is, from "Nahiri is Avacyn" to "Sorin turned her into a vampire because kor aren't immortal." I do hope we find out soon, since our next stop lore-wise is back to Zenidkar (hype!).

Overall, at least Sarkhan saved Ugin. Perhaps at the ultimate cost of his own plane, but that remains to be seen.

Realism on the Battlefields of Imagination

There are a lot of misconceptions about the concept of realism.

 

Often, folks tend to think of realism in terms of the observed, as the concept of receiving reality. It can be a tough concept to fully articulate, but you might be surprised that almost every decision you make while playing a game of Magic can be considered realistic in nature.

 

For students of history, philosophy, and politics, you might know of realism as a school of thought in international relations. Some of the same concepts that you unconsciously recognize and base gameplay decisions on can be found in Hobbes’ Leviathan, or in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Without necessarily being cognizant of the fact, we apply a framework first articulated nearly 400 years ago to help us make decisions while playing Magic, particularly multiplayer varients.

 

Think back to a game of Magic you’ve played recently, particular a multiplayer game. I’m a Commander player, and so most of my own examples will be drawn from such games, but ultimately, the format doesn’t matter.

 

Can you recall an instance where you managed to convince someone not to attack you? Maybe a bluff, maybe misdirection, maybe convincing someone that another player was a bigger threat. While I’d argue that the method in which we approach doing these things can matter, all of the begging, pleading, bluffing, eyebrow-raising, and knuckle-cracking we do comes from a basic understanding of realism, and the four beliefs that exist at its heart.

 

These are:

 

1.      The world exists in a state of chaos, or anarchy.

 

This one is pretty straightforward. The game of Magic contains a set of rules, and so the argument can be made that a game of multiplayer Commander isn’t pure chaos, but I’d liken the game rules of Magic to the physical laws of the universe (gravity, relativity, cause and effect, etc.). Earth obeys the laws of physics, but the nations of the world go to war, oppress their subjects, or attempt to improve the world in which we all reside. So while we’re all bound by the physical laws of reality, each part of the world tends to perceive the world differently. So we have natural order, but people add a layer of chaos to a game. This segues nicely into the next point:

 

2.      States are the actors.

 

If a game of Magic is “the world,” and the rules (“the laws of the universe”) apply, then each player is a sovereign “state.” Each player has their own reason for playing, their own philosophy for deck construction, their own definition of “fun” (a hotly debated topic). They also bring things to the table that aren’t Magic-related per se. Some people are quiet, and others have a tenuous grasp on the rules. Others still are confrontational and openly hostile, and some people can adapt the way in which they’re perceived to great effect and greater benefit. Others bank on their reputation in a given "meta," a metaphor here for the international community. Each player is unique.

 

While the game's rules apply, the format is determined, and everyone is playing with legal cards, we sometimes cannot adequately prepare for our opponents themselves. And for the unprepared, differences in conduct and perception can impact how effectively we can play Magic together.

 

3.      States are self-interested and pragmatic.

 

This is what players tend to forget, in my experience, often after losing a game. “Why did you attack me and not him?” is a common line. The person who asks often forgets that they had no creatures, or a suspended Kozilek with one time counter, or had antagonized the winner the entire game. That individual would often make the same decision you did, and yet criticizes you for making it. Players can forget that all players tend to act, wherever possible, in their own best interests.

 

4.      The number one goal of states is to survive.

 

Survival is often in one’s best interest. If convincing the active player that attacking a third player is a better choice than attacking me, then I’d certainly consider it, if it kept me alive. Now, as I mentioned before, the way in which we approach influencing others can matter, as we don’t want to hurt feelings. Intimidating somebody over a card game is going too far. But if we can keep these four points in mind, all of us, then losing might not hurt so badly. It’s worth remembering that it’s just as okay for your opponent to try to win as it is for you to try to win. I’ve played against some people that focused so hard on their own enjoyment that when I countered a key spell or flashed in a blocker they reacted poorly. The spectrum is a broad one, and ultimately doesn’t matter, but the game is interactive, and it’s worth keeping in mind.

 

So, with all of this in mind, how do we use this knowledge for our gain?

 

Well, I’d suggest remembering that people come from different backgrounds, learned to play in different ways and at different speeds, and have different ideas of what “fun” and “fair” are. While this sounds obvious, it can be easy to forget. For years, I played Commander with the same 5 guys. We had our unspoken rules, and had a mutual understanding for what was okay (giant boss monsters, ramp, spot removal) and what was not okay (Sundering Titan. He’s gone now, and good riddance). Now, we recognized that removal of lands is necessary, but going overboard was unnecessary. And we had established what “overboard” meant. Going from this group to another group (across Canada, even!) was a bit of an eye opener. It wasn’t a huge shock, but it really drove home that different people, and playgroups, have their own views. I ended up fitting in, after a while, but understanding this concept helps keep you flexible. If a deck is poorly received, then you can switch it up for the next game. If you're too aggressive, you can adjust. While it's unfair to constantly be the only one to adapt, on a short-term basis this flexibility will enable you to at least play Magic.

 

Of these 4 core concepts, it’s the last of the four beliefs that I’ve personally struggled with. More accurately, my fiancée struggled with this, and I didn’t know how to rationalize it in a way that helped, so it bothered me, too.

 

The ultimate goal of states, or players, is survival. We’ve talked about convincing players who to attack; this, and “peace-offerings” (allowing players to draw cards, untapping the occasional creature, etc.) are the two most often-cited examples of tabletop politics. Politics is generally considered a part of multiplayer Magic, and rightly so. Subtly suggesting to Player A that Player B has larger creatures than you, or that Player C just tutored for a hand of answers with Conflux is fine, and a good laugh can be shared over such antics. Allowing a player in a good position to draw a card with Jace Beleren’s second ability? Maybe you just convinced them to attack someone else.

 

But the understanding that players will do anything to survive often focuses on legal and sportsmanly lines of play, and we don’t often stop to consider that our opponent might attempt something unsportsmanlike. A deck full of Counterspell-effects? Fine, do what you must. Derevi Stax? Sure, why not?

 

But lying? Not fine. Drawing extra cards? Nope. “Forgetting” to tap a creature (without Vigilance) to attack? Not okay. Granted, such actions are "realistic" in nature, as they can help ensure that a given player wins the game. But while I'd argue that realism is a critical concept to understand in the context of multiplayer Magic, the goal is to play Magic fairly and in line with the game rules.

 

Cheating to win, even understanding that it’s “realistic,” is wrong and must not be tolerated. So when a less-honest player, playing in a Commander pod with my fiancée used creative license to explain what his foreign cards did, and she told me about it after, I didn’t know what to say. The realism framework explains why he did what he did, and it serves as a useful tool for understanding the players in a Commander game, but in the context of Magic: the Gathering, realism does have its limits, and should not be used, as Machiavelli alludes to in The Prince, as the defining principle of one’s day-to-day life. So, don’t accept the rationale of “prizes were on the line” when they try to explain away their behavior. Outside of the game, realism becomes much less acceptable.

 

I hope this piece helped to shed a little light on why players make certain decisions, and pointed out things you can remember to put player behaviour into context. Everyone’s trying to win, so if we’re all on the same page, we can keep the salt to a minimum. At least, up until the point someone crosses a line in the name of winning. Realism shouldn't be used to rationalize unacceptable behavior, but understanding one's opponents is the first step in defeating them, and so should be consciously understood.

Gottacon!

Gottacon took place this past weekend in Victoria, BC, and my fiancee and I got to go and check it out. Here are some things we noticed:

1. People are actually buying promo Ugin for $200. Wut.

2. Magic judges put up with a LOT of abuse. For no discernible reason.

3. Ironically, those that preach diversity in gaming do not appreciate "non-minorities" supporting the cause.

4. Going to a convention where vendors can set up shop is a potentially bad thing for a collector of foils.

5. Less honest vendors will overcharge for said foils by upwards of 50%. Fuck those people. $240 for the Onslaught foil Windswept Heath I need? Even I have limits.

6. It's not a bad plan to have a diverse sales plan. For example, a guy there to sell a board game he created himself made more money selling hand-knit wrist warmers his mother made than he did convincing people his game was awesome. Gotta make that bank.

7. Wait, wrist warmers? WTF?

8. Apparently, we're buying a pair of wrist warmers. FML.

9. It's important to inform the police that your group is doing a "medieval skill-at-arms competition" on public property. Before you repeatedly hit a guy with a mace.

10. Finding a treasure trove of inexpensive foils for all your Commander decks = ballin'.

11. Acquiring a sealed box of Lorwyn or Shards of Alara may be much easier than we thought!

12. Associates will Facebook you with offers of amazing Eternal cards. They will do this at some ungodly hour.

13. The Spectator pass is the better deal by far. BY FAR.