It’s that time of year again. The Ravnica sets, including War of the Spark, and Core Set 2020 are out, and Zendikar Rising is now in. That’s right: Standard Rotation has occurred. And though many powerful spells have left, still many more remain.

Having said that, it’s also time to beginning experimenting with new decks for this bold new frontier. And while I’m not convinced it’s the most powerful deck in the rotation with four-color Omnath out in the wilds, seeing a viable Rogue tribal deck coming together, and in my favorite two-color combination, how I could possibly play anything else.

That’s right. It’s time to play Dimir Rogues!

There are several different formulas for the deck, but all of them utilize two key pieces: Thieves’ Guild Enforcer and Soaring Thought-Thief. Both of these cards have a ton of traits in common.

• Both cards have Flash, which allows us to play them on our opponent’s turn and hold up mana.
• Both have effects which mill cards off the top of our opponent’s deck
• Both have bonuses that activate once we reach a threshold of our opponent having eight or more cards in their graveyard.

From what I’ve seen, the deck takes those two as a skeleton, and can go in one of two different directions. The first utilizes the triggers from both cards to keep an opponent’s graveyard full with at least 8 cards, and rush them down with a small army of rogues. You’ll see cheap one-drops like the Merfolk Windrobbers and Zulaport Duelists in the deck I played in these lists, because they aim to move quickly. And though I didn’t run any copies of it, it would make sense to run Nighthawk Scavenger is this style of rogue deck because it becomes a powerhouse extremely quickly.

The other version leans more into the flash ability, turning into something akin to the Simic/Sultai Flash decks people who have been here for a while might be familiar with. They use cards like Slitherwisp and Cunning Nightbonder to both accrue resources from and protect our instant-speed plays. And now that Teferi, Time Raveler is gone, we no longer need to worry about losing access to our ability to play at instant speed.

Either way, cards like Brazen Borrower and Drown in the Loch have quickly become cards that are non-negotiable, as both formulas are different types of tempo decks that need bounce spells and counter magic to keep our opponent off balance while we sweep in with our own tactics. In fact, cheap removal like Eliminate also forms another aspect of the deck’s backbone no matter how it’s built. We can also use cards like Jwari Disruption and Hagra Mauling in these slots to shore up our land drops, but I am unsure how effective that will ultimately be.

Lastly, the question exists as to whether or not Zareth San, the Trickster earns a slot of two in the deck. It’s a difficult quandary, which depends on how the meta shakes out as time marches on. In some of the games we played, it turned the tide in such a major way that our opponent had no choice but to surrender to us. On the other hand, we does little when our opponent isn’t committing to the board and we aren’t hitting many useful permanents in our mill strategy. That said, he does still have flash, which allows us to choose when would be the best time to cast him. Additionally, he has an effect similar to ninjutsu which allow us to place him on board so long as one of our forces aren’t blocked.

But again, no matter how you build it, and there are several ways to do so, it’s a fun deck that combines flavor and effectiveness. And as a start to post-rotation meta, it’s exciting to see a deck like this doing well, even if it might not make the cut once the meta solidifies.

Now that Zendikar Rising has officially released, a new set of legendary creatures has been released upon us for our amusement. And naturally, that meant it was a good time to have a theme night. Each of us built a deck based around one of these new legends, similar to how we had our Ravnican Guild Night a few weeks prior.

Just as before, we each rolled for the order we got to choose our commanders. While I didn’t go first, I did get the commander I was most interested in. Oddly enough, the creature that stood out most to me as an interesting build around was Akiri, Fearless Voyager. Obviously, the deck focused on the use of equipment to power up and protect my creatures.

The other players chose Yasharn, Implacable Earth, Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager, Charix, the Raging Isle, and, of course, Omnath, Locus of Creation.

While I hesitate to say that I took an “early” lead, I definitely drew first blood. On the turn after Omnath hit the board, my Akiri was ready to attack, and when Omnath moves to block I was able to use my Embercleave to take it out and deal some extra damage while keeping my own commander alive. Unfortunately, Grakmaw had nature lay claim to it at the end of my turn, but it was still an extremely satisfying play.

That said, I wasn’t one of the three big players making waves. Yasharn played Wolfcaller’s Howl extremely early on, which kept him swimming in wolf tokens since the rest of us were either accumulating enough cards in hand to keep, or unable to play enough cards (raises hand) to get below that four card threshold. For a very long time, it served as a very intimidating presence. And with Seedborn Muse giving them pseudo-vigilance, it was difficult to do anything about it.

Grakmaw, on the other hand, approached it in a different way. While they weren’t going as wide as Yasharn, but they were going tall as well. Through a combination of effects like Winding Constrictor, Loyal Guardian, and Path to Discovery, their creatures were growing far strong than most of the rest of ours. And unlike the rest of us, they had flying Thopter tokens to soar over the rest of us.

Omnath, meanwhile, was doing the exact same thing you would expect a commander with a Landfall trigger to do. Using Field of the Dead and the new Felidar Retreat, those land drops translated to a bunch of extra tokens of their own. And with creatures like Azusa, Lost But Seeking and Oracle of Mul Daya, those land drops were accelerated.

That said, for some reason they kept neglecting the second mode of Felidar Retreat. If they had, they would have had their own powerful, vigilant force to attack with and more quickly close out the game. Additionally, their forgetting to use that second mode was starting to make Yasharn the biggest threat. Perplexingly, when I tried to remedy this problem with an Austere Command, they countered it with Dovin’s Veto, another move they would later admit was a mistake.

The only reason Charix, was able to survive all of this chaos was through a deluge of mass bounce effects. From Scourge of Fleets, to Cyclonic Rift, and Devastation Tide to keep the board clean. And during the chaos, that’s when he struck.

Since Yasharn attacked him earlier, he used the empty board state to get revenge with his weapon-master crab. Equipped with a Grappling Hook and an Inquisitor’s Flail, combined with Charix’s own ability, he swung in for well above lethal at a completely empty board. Realizing that he couldn’t win with the meager 2 life he had left, he took me out next with a Sword of War and Peace. Thanks to the protection from the only two colors I was running, I had no defense.

Of course, Omnath’s third landfall trigger finished him off afterwards, which left it to a one-vs-one Between the remaining two players, it was no contest. Omnath has way more cards and mana, and quickly overwhelmed Grakmaw through sheer value.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t make a bigger splash, but I think that mostly just came down to bad luck. It happens sometimes, especially with a new deck and playstyle.

Our favorite little dragon had to retire back to the Dragon Realms: Something about Gnasty Gnorc coming back for the umpteenth time. Nonetheless, Team Newdarkcloud still needs a new driver to continue our efforts to win the right to face Oxide for the fate of the planet.

Fortunately for both myself and my Marvelous Duo cohort, Acharky, we had another lined up for just such an occasion. Everyone’s favorite unreasonably muscular, top-heavy gladiator, Tiny Tiger, is ready to represent!

In the first post I wrote for this series, I promised that I would talk about the weapons and how I feel that the Nitro Fueled remake changed them. Those changes, and their consequences, aren’t something one’ll notice unless they start to really focus on the minute aspects of the game.

Like many kart racers in this genre, the weapons serve as a way for players falling behind to close the gap that separates them from those ahead of them in the competition. The further one falls in the standings, the more powerful the weapons they receive. This is still mostly true, and you’ll see that it’s not until I’m in fifth place or lower that N Trophy’s Clock or the Warp Orb start to spawn for me.

What seems to have mostly changed is that spawn rates for certain weapons in the higher positions, particularly second and third. First place seems right: When we’re already in front of everyone else, we really only want weapons like Nitro crates and the beakers, which can be laid behind us to protect ourselves from missiles or to lay traps for the competition, keeping our lead. 

In second and third, we still want this same protect because there are people in the back who want to get ahead of us, but it’s not as urgent as taking out the person in the lead. This means that we want a healthy mix of forward facing projectile weapons like missiles and bombs and more defensive items. However, the remake appears to skew that balance more towards the later than the former. And since forward facing items spawn less frequently, those looking to get ahead find it difficult to take out the person currently winning the race, entrenching their position.

This effect is made even worse since missiles appear track a lot worse than they used to. Back in the PS1-era, I remember that no matter how far ahead for with respect to the person who launched a missile, they did a fantastic job of navigating the obstacles of the track in order to home in on their targets. With the exception of the Warp Orb, they’re still far and away the most effective weapon in the game, but that effectiveness appears to be diminished significantly. 

It’s something you may have noticed while watching me play, but it’s even more clear once the game goes online: The person in first place, once they get sufficiently far ahead, becomes impossible to interact with to the point where we might as well concede the race. I don’t recall having this same problem in the PS1 original, so I have to assume there’s something that was lost in translation, even if I don’t have exact knowledge of what was changed to cause both of these effects.

That said, it’s only a small blemish in the grand scheme of things, and doesn’t overly impact the quality of the game as a whole.

Most of the commanders you’ll see played against you in a match have an obvious direction or set of directions the deck could go: A Yuriko deck is probably going to swarm the table with unblockable ninjas. A Teysa Karlov deck is likely to have some token element and some aristocrats element to out-value the rest of the table. A Korvold deck is going to end your friendship with its pilot. Whatever the case, it’s easy to see what it’s trying to do.

Other commanders require a little more thought in how they operate. Such was the commander I opted to run at the head of my deck in this last round: Mishra, Artificer Prodigy. I didn’t get to show off just what kind of tricks can be pulled with him in this game, playing one of the most fair matches I have ever played. That said, I need you to trust me when I say that despite how the text reads, there are tricks one can pull with him in EDH. Hopefully, I’ll be able to show off some of those tricks in the future.

Naturally, my opponents had ploys of their own. One of them was recently enchanted by Homura, Human Ascendant, and opted to build a mono-red deck utilizing him. My fellow graveyard-loving compatriot brought Kathril, Aspect Warper to the board. And last, but not least, the Melek, Izzet Paragon player from before was continuing to break in the deck and grow more comfortable with it.

Kathril was the first to make a big splash. After casting a Buried Alive on turn three to stack with graveyard, they quickly created a graveyard filled with many powerful keywords to distribute among his forces. Though he chose to bequeath most of the other keywords to non-summoning sick creatures, the thing to note is that Kathril became a 10/10 with Flying, Trample, and Double Strike when it was summoned on turn 5.

Some of us thought about scooping since it wouldn’t be hard for Kathril to wipe us out, but we all chose to play on regardless. Homura, in particular, had to act quickly since he was clearly the first target. Luckily for him, he had the exact tools he needed to take charge, with some timely aid from the rest of us.

With Homura already on board, his pilot uses a High Market to sacrifice him to transform him into his enchantment half. Then, we played a Tempt with Vengeance, dumping the rest of his mana to do so. In most circumstances, giving your opponent a bunch a 3/3 hasty flying elementals is a bad idea, but this was not one of those times. It was true that none of us had the tools to deal with Kathril at the ready, so we had to settle for the next best thing… killing the player who chose to run it.

And with one problem taken care of, we were still left with an entirely different problem: That of eighteen 3/3s with flying. Fortunately for me, Melek had a plan in place, since he could order the top cards of his deck with Sensei’s Diving Top. Using his commander’s static ability, he casted, and copied, a Mana Geyser from the top of his deck, followed by a Fiery Confluence on top as well. I lost a few artifacts, but nothing of import. I was mostly just breathing a sigh of relief that the field of attackers had been dealt with.

Then, Melek managed to luck into a Mystic Confluence on the top of his deck, dumping his remaining mana into it and copying it with a Twincast to draw 9 cards. With his Thought Vessel, he figured having all of those cards would be beneficial for him, and it’s not a bad thought. However, he forgot that I had 6U open. As I couldn’t just let him keep those cards, which meant is to time to play a Cyclonic Rift. And since I waited until he had moved to the end step to do it, and he was all tapped out, he had to make some hard choices.

Following that, I took a turn off to play a Darksteel Forge, and in order to reestablish his board Homura put down Krenko, Mob Boss and a spell that created goblin tokens to start doubling. I couldn’t allow that to persist either, especially since it wouldn’t be hard to make an unstoppable army, so I used a Meteor Golem to kill Krenko. While he still managed to get 11 tokens out before I could do it, I felt very good about my choice once Purphoros, God of the Forge reared his ugly head the very next turn.

Unfortunately for Homura’s pilot, both Melek and myself were growing scary in our own ways, and he didn’t have enough mana to both cast and sacrifice his commander to bring his swarm online. Before he could, Melek launched a Mizzium Mortar. Most of my creatures were artifacts, and therefore indestructible, but it still dealt with the goblin horde.

On the following turn, Melek attempted to close out the game by using Comet Storm, copied by Reverberate and Increasing Vengeance. Unfortunately, the math didn’t add up. Though the 20 damage Kathril inflicted upon Homura made that lethal for him, I was able to push through since my life total was scarcely affected for most of the game.

And even though he could use a Mystic Retrieval to bring back the Comet Storm, he ultimately still didn’t have enough mana to deliver the killing blow, and my small force of artifact creatures was enough to swing the game back in favor to net me the win.

Yet again, I manage to sneak by mostly by making a few decisive waves when I needed and letting my opponents take center stage at all other times. I was never one to hog the lime light, so I’m quite happy watching everyone else turn into the “big threat” while I slip by largely unnoticed.

Move over, bandicoot! A new protagonist has seen fit to take the reigns. You could even say that he intends to reignite the race track and set the competition alight. That’s right: Everyone’s favorite purple dragon has made his way into a crossover than my childhood self could only dream of.

But I tire of dragon my feet. This week, let us continue our adventures in CrashSpyro Team Racing.

Sadly, as much as I would love naught but to revel in the joy of a dream come true, there are other aspects of the Nitro Fueled remake that I must hold in contempt.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this stream, before we dove back into the game, this game’s system for unlocking costumes, characters, and other customization features relies on an in-game store called the Pit Stop. By completing races in game, both in single player and online (though more is gained from the latter), players obtain Wumpa Coins which may be used on the Pit Stop’s rotating stock.

Obviously, this system raised eyebrows at the time of release, but since there was no way to purchase coins or cosmetics with real money, the only complaints were regarding how slow Wumpa Coins could be accrued unless playing online. Then, Activision changed their mind by adding microtransactions, allowing users to buy Wumpa Coins directly.

Combined with the rotating stock and the seasonal events that introduced FOMO, this almost instantly transformed the game into the exact type of live-service game that almost immediately puts me to sleep. As you saw in the first episode, I had not patched the game since Christmas last year, and I had not played it for months prior.

Now, post-release support has concluded, but the damage has already been done. I’ll still gladly play this remake, because it’s still expertly brought to life in high definition. And yet, this dark stain remains. Worse yet, Activision will obviously have conclude it’s worth it despite what it’s done to player trust.

The best side-effect of the recent bans that we talked about the last time we entered the Arena was that it forced experimentation and cracked open a standard that had remained pitifully stagnant despite the influx of new cards from Core Set 2021.

As a result, we’re seeing decks that just didn’t get played enough due to the homogeneity of the pre-ban environment, like Izzet Tempo and Control decks that actually run counter spells. But we’re not here to talk about those decks today. 

Rather, I chose to focus on this rad Temur Elemental concept that’s been making the rounds. The elemental-tribal package isn’t going to be in Standard for long, since Zendikar Rising is due to come out soon. But since the tools are all here, let’s enjoy the moment and play with them while we still can.

Sorry about the hiccup during the final match. Although it was a fantastic game, my internet, specifically on my wired desktop connection, crapped out midway through and I had to both reset both Arena and OBS just to get back into the match. Thankfully, you didn’t miss too much. At most, you missed me scrambling to react before the timer expired.

As for the deck, it’s got a very interesting play pattern. Essentially, our goal is to ramp in the early game, using cards like Arboreal Grazer, Risen Reef, and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, to rapidly accelerate our land drops. And once we do, we hope to the win the game using an explosive Genesis Ultimatum, to cheat out either and Omnath, Locus of the Roil with some landfall triggers or an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, or just to hard cast said Ugin.

And it’s in both of those axes that this deck appeals to me. When Core Set 2020 was released, one of the first decks that drew my attention was the Temur Elemental Ramp deck. Both Omnath and Risen Reef were fascinating for the way they interacted with other elemental creatures to create really intimidating board states.

But I also love playing big, splashy spells. Cards like Ugin, the Ultimatums, and Cavalier of Thorns appeal because they feel incredibly impactful once they hit the board. There’s something inherently appealing about dump a bunch of mana into one card and practically winning off it’s resolution alone. To be blunt, running this deck was mostly an excuse to use those cards without feeling like the deck was weaker as a result.

I was curious why it ran Yorion, Sky Nomad until I ran the deck. When I found while playing is this deck both draws a lot of cards, and sends a lot of them directly to the graveyard. Even in that last match, I had 7 cards left in my library when I finished the opponent off. It needs that extra buffer just to avoid being milled out, and at that point we might as well include Yorion to reset Ugin’s loyalty or activate all of those incredible ETB effects on our creatures.

It’s a fun deck, and it plays well, despite the fact that it’s not long for this Standard. That’s really all I can ask for.

Recently, EDHREC added a new page to their website, detailing the most common and popular combos in the format. And, naturally, as one does when exposed to a new resource of valuable information, I perused it.

Two particular combos, both in Dimir colors, caught my attention, because they resulted in a victory via infinite mill. As someone who loves alternate win conditions (I ran Exodia in my old YuGiOh days), mill is always a strategy that holds my attention. Armed with this knowledge, my reptile brain immediately set to work building a mill deck that I could bring to bear against my Cockatrice playgroups.

To do so, I must of course worship at the altar of Phenax, God of Deception. Answering my prayers, the god jumped to the helm of my deck to help lead my forces into their unconventional battle.

The first of my adversaries ran Heliod, Sun-Crowned. Next, the player who ran Rakdos, Lord of Riots during the Ravnican Guild Night opted to pilot the deck again since he enjoyed running it last time. And finally, Bruna, Light of Alabaster brought up the rear.

The pace and tone of the early was set in round two, when I played my Mesmeric Orb. To be honest, I expected the card to be blown up almost immediately, but it took several turns for it to get destroyed. And because of the untapped I and the other players were doing, I ended up drawing far more attention to myself than I expected to. Fortunately, that was the only real danger on my board. I played creatures like Consuming Aberration, but rarely did they ever stay on board overlong.

Heliod was a wildcard, attacking things seemingly at random, but Rakdos was able to use his discount to consistently build strong board states with demons like Pestilence Demon, Abhorrent Overlord, and Overseer of the Damned, the latter two of which I was able to resurrect with cards like Animate Dead to build my own token defense. 

Bruna was summoned twice, but each time she was killed before she could swing in for the trigger that would spell doom for the rest of us. At the same time, since her pilot was my priority target, his deck was the one being milled. I understood the risks inherent to attempting that strategy, because even one swing would turn Bruna into a near unstoppable voltron. However, it was my only real shot at taking her out of commission. Considering how much land I milled away to prevent her owner from accumulating enough mana to play her, I think that was ultimately still the right call.

The most interesting aspect of the match was the endgame. At that moment, my only cards on board were Phenax and Syr Konrad, along with a contingent of mana rocks. On top of that, I was top-decking, with no other cards in hand. It was extremely good fortune for me that I managed to draw Eater of the Dead. With naught much else to risk, I threw it onto the board and hoped my gambit would go unnoticed.

While Heliod was in a much better position in terms of life, they weren’t much better off. On top of their commander, they had a Rhox Faithmender and an Archangel of Thune on board. Unfortunately for me, they were still sore about the vast quantity of cards that had been milled prior and swing both at me. I blocked with Syr Konrad to stem the bleeding, but the Archangel brought up down to a meager six life.

Rakdos, on the other hand, untapped with a Lord of the Void. Since Heliod dropped their shields to swing at me, Rakdos took the initiative, swinging their flying forces towards him. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the card taken was Avacyn, Angel of Hope. And with that mighty layer of protection, Rakdos set about to establish his own victory. Since they had the prerequisite number of demons on board, they played Liliana’s Contract in the hopes that the indestructibility would ensure that nothing would die and he could defend himself from any threat.

And I have never been so grateful that someone else posed an immediate, overt threat in all the time I’ve played EDH. When Bruna untapped, she had a Lighting Greaves in play, and she only needed a single land drop in order to come out. Lo and behold, they managed to saw into the very land they needed.

I asked Bruna’s player after the match if he would have attacked me with it if circumstances were different. He told me that he would have absolutely done so, but the immediate, obvious threat of Liliana’s Contract caused him to change his plans. For that reason, Rakdos was attacked, and Bruna’s triggered ability turned her into a 40/40 with every conceivable keyword known to man thanks to all the milled enchantments like Eldrazi Conscription, Spectra Ward, and Battle Mastery. Rakdos obviously fell to this extraordinary.

Regrettably, a side effect of playing on Cockatrice is that I lack the ability to look my opponents in the eye. If I could, I would have as I informed them that in allowing me to untap, they had both lost. Those familiar with Phenax might have have already realized that this was the “gambit” I referred to when I dropped Eater of the Dead. Along with Phenax himself, Eater of the Dead forms one of the two infinite combos this deck is capable of pulling off.

Since Eater of the Dead was no longer summoning sick, I could tap him to activate the ability that Phenax bestows upon him to mill an opponent for four cards. Then, by exiling a creature card from any graveyard, even my own if need be, I could untap the Eater and repeat this process until there are no more cards to mill or creatures in graveyards. My earlier efforts had left the grave choke full of creatures to exile, so I could deterministically end the game at this point.

Ironically, when my friend piloting Bruna was questioned further about why he would’ve targeted me with Bruna first absent the threat from Rakdos, he said that I have an annoying tendency to bounce back from tight spots and eek out a win by slipping under the radar. He did not see the combo I had on board, but he was suspicious due to previous experience. I dislike giving him reasons to keep an eye on me, and yet I cannot help it in I can work a table to my advantage.

Of course, being a 4-player format, I lose far more games than I win. Being the writer of the series, I just get to be more selective with the games I talk about. In there’s a lesson to take from this, it’s to be more attentive about the cards on the table. While Bruna could have taken me out, Rakdos had enough power on board to finish the job as well if he so chose.

Anything can happen in a game of EDH, so sometimes a big risk can pay out in dividends.

Start your engines, ladies and gentlemen. We’re getting started with a new adventure starring the orange blunder from down under: Crash Bandicoot. Only this time, rather that scaling walls and leaping over bottomless pits, we’re dodging missiles and bombs as we out-drive and outwit our competition on the race track.

I know I said we were done with PS1 nostalgia when we completed Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but I lied. Fortunately, I’m (mostly) not alone. Once he was finished watching Netflix, my good pal Acharky deigned to join us for these little go-karting escapades.

When it comes to cart racers, there’s usually three names heard in talks over which is the best. Mario Kart obviously has the hearts and minds of many, not just for it’s appeal to Nintendo fans, but also for it’s mechanics. Likewise, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed has the favor of a loyal fanbase it terms of both cast favor and depth of gameplay.

I didn’t grow up with the same fondness for Nintendo that most people my age had. Not to say that I dislike Nintendo games, nor that I don’t respect their place as pioneers in the industry. I was just more of a PlayStation kid, so that’s where my nostalgia drifts. Naturally, that also means that Crash Team Racing was the game of choice when my neighborhood friends got together to play.

And while, as furry, I’m obvious game for this game’s eye candy, the truth is that as both a Crash fan and a player, this game is doing everything right to gain and keep my attention. Seeing Crash and the rest of the cast, especially now that Spyro is a playable character (which is a childhood dream come true for me), immediately makes me smile. More than that though, there’s a high skill ceiling with the game, that even I haven’t managed to hit yet despite all the many times I’ve played it. With perfect power sliding and turning, players can achieve and maintain breakneck speeds without sacrificing mobility. You see a little of it in the gameplay for this episode, but I would hardly call myself a pro compared to the sharks that populate the online modes.

Naturally, the weapons are also a big aspect of the game, because they allow us to interact with the other racers on the track. By laying traps and lobbing projectiles, we can slow down the competition in the aim of catching up to and eventually passing them, or maintaining our lead if we’ve already done so. I have some complaints about the weapon drops and how they feel different compared to the previous game, but we can talk about that in the next episode.

Until then, take care and drive fast!

PS: You can check out the video Chris mentioned, of the guy that played this game with hitting the gas, here.

PPS: And I looked up the Golden Eggs, and it turns out they are the key to unlock a new racer in the Nitro-Fueled version.

It’s been over a year since we last adventured upon the high seas. Rusty I may be, the ocean nonetheless calls to me. And I was not the only one to hear the call. The crew may be different (and fuzzier) than before, but no less prideful. 

The SS Pride is no worse for wear. Hoist the Rainbow flag and shove off for fortune and glory!

I can’t help but chuckle ever so slightly at how, even after all of this time and all of the updates that have been made to Sea of Thieves, the Merchant’s Guild remains deeply unsatisfying compared to the other organizations. Not only are their quests the least interesting, but they’re also timed, with isn’t the case for other factions. In a game that’s otherwise so low stakes/pressure, introduced that time crunch is extremely off-putting. On top of that, I would just rather be spending my time hunting for buried treasure or dispatching a horde of undead pirates.

That aside, it cool to see how much has been added to the game in my absence. The fundamental loop might still be the same, but it never really needed to change. What the game really needed was things to do, which they’ve been correcting.

Especially when it comes to special events and thing to discover in the game world. We didn’t take part it in here, but Kobuld mentioned the Ashen chests players can get as part of the current event for dragon-themed cosmetics. Those chests spawn in areas where volcanoes are prone to erupting, which can severely damage the ship, making expeditions high risk, high reward. With other activities like fishing, new factions I’ve yet to ever meet, and a whole campaign I still need to experience, Sea of Thieves is moving in the right direction.

It’s good to see a game like this game the love it deserves.

A good way to spice up a Commander playgroup is to run a theme night to force everyone out of their comfort zone in some way. When someone in my Tuesday night crew ran the idea by the rest of us, we were all enthusiastically on board. Voting on a list of options, we unanimously chose a Ravnican Guild Wars night.

Each of us rolled a die, and from highest to lowest roll we chose which guild we would represent. The rules were that our commander had to be in the color combination of the two-color guild. Additionally, it must also be a legendary creature from one of the Ravnica blocks. (Ravnica, Return of Ravnica, and Guilds of Ravnica)

• The high roller chose Orzhov, with Teysa Karlov leading his deck.
• I was the next to pick with Golgari, and while I was torn between Savra, Queen of the Golgari, and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, I ultimately chose Savra because I didn’t see as many decks built around her as I did with Jarad, and I didn’t want to build a combo deck.
• The third player in line went with Simic, and specifically Vorel of the Hull Clade.
• Izzet was selected afterward, represented by Melek, Izzet Paragon.
• Last, but certainly not least (that would be the Azorius), we have the Rakdos guild, with their eponymous guildmaster at the helm.

While I didn’t have any land ramp early on, my land drops were consistent. As a result, I managed to curve nicely into a turn two Bitterblossom, followed by a turn three Bastion of Remembrance. This allowed me to start off with a healthy barrier that keep me relative safe from attacks compared to the other players. In particular, the Bastion remained in play for the vast majority of the game.

But the real big threat on the board was Teysa. Early on, her player managed to hit some early triggers with Priest of Forgotten Gods, which kept the rest of the board empty. Even once that was taken care of, they managed to maintain their lead with Bontu’s and Oketra’s Monument, keeping their tokens and life in large supply.

Worse than that though, once Teysa herself was on board, she started doubling many of the powerful death triggers in her arsenal. Requiem Angel was creating two spirit tokens for ever one token warrior killed, and Blood Artist was triggering twice per kill. Since I was the only one able to mount a defense in any way, those triggers were also aimed in my direction. This grew worse once Athreos, God of Passage hit the board, since Teysa doubled those triggers as well and I didn’t have 6 life to pay each time one of his creatures died.

Rakdos was able to apply some pressure with a Mayhem Devil, but both of them were summarily knocked out by a crappy internet connection booting them from the game. 

Ironically, it was Melek who saved me. Earlier, he has managed to stick a Twinning Staff. With it, he was able to cast Devil’s Play, where X=11, and copy it with a Twincast to deal enough damage to Teysa’s face to finish them off in a single blow.

Unfortunately, that didn’t leave them with enough damage to kill *me*, so I managed to win just by attacking with little army of 1/1s, using that and a combination of Bastion and Dictate of Erebos triggers to finish him off.

To be honest, I was surprised that I managed to win that match. And after we looked back at what everyone had, we realized the Melek could have won because he has a Primal Amulet he forgot to flip into Primal Wellspring, which he could have used to copy his Devil’s Play an additional time to finish me off.

Remember to read your cards to make sure you don’t forget your triggers. It could easily become the difference between victory and defeat.