that when my horrors from the deep Commander deck is complete and it hits the table in anger, I will be meming the heck out of it. Especially with stuff like the following…

Yesterday I ended up in Huntingdon library playing 1v1 Commander. Not my favourite way to play Commander, it’s missing the political element. But still it was fun and gave me a chance to try a couple of the new 2018 Commander decks, and also give my Wizards and mono red decks a spin.

The two 2018 decks I sleeved up to play with were the Lord Windgrace – lands matter “Nature’s Vengence” and Estrid, the Masked – “Adaptive Enchantments” decks.

I played these decks against Bob’s unsleeved Saheeli, the Gifted – artifacts “Exquisite Invention” deck that I had picked up for him the same time I picked up my decks.

Our first game saw Windgrace square up against Saheeli, and stomp his way to victory. Estrid was up next and did ok, but got her butt handed to her and lost.

We then took our own decks for a spin. I look at my Wizards deck and think “what’s the win condition?” One of the games Bob had me milling the top 3 cards of my deck at the start of his upkeep. He needed lands. But I didn’t mind the milling, with Kess’s ability, and other cards I had, milling was not an issue for me. I could still play the spells.

I stole creatures from Bob, frustrated him with counter spells, took extra turns, basically abused the blue side of the deck, and won both games with it.

Mono red (now with a foil Etali) did its thing in it’s first game, and fought its way to victory with multiple combat rounds and doubling up its damage at the right moment. The second game saw it going up against a black aggro deck.

That game was swinging in Bob’s favour especially after his Chainer’s Torment hit the third age and created a 21/21 Nightmare Horror token. I had one creature on the battlefield, it wasn’t looking good. A matter of a couple of turns at most before I was toast.

But then on my turn after that monster token was created I top decked a Captivating Crew. I checked my mana, double checked, and then triple checked it. I had enough to not only cast the card but to also pay for its activated ability. So that’s what I did. I took control of the 21/21 and swung in for the win. Phew what a blooming top deck. I think I had 2 other cards that allowed me to steal a creature(s) for a turn. I have to admit before I drew the card, I had no clue how I was going to get out of the situation, and was hoping to delay things long enough to think of a solution.

Our final game was back to the 2018 decks. Lord Windgrace once more squared up against Saheeli. The Saheeli deck failed to get any real creature presence on the battlefield, so my deck was able to get swinging without taking any repercussions. I don’t think I took any damage in this game before getting the win.

I think the 1v1 format did favour my Wizards deck in those 2 games. But this 1v1 format in no way means that the decks are really good, I just had better draw than Bob. It’s fun, you still get to play those cards you couldn’t in formats like modern or standard. But part of the fun for me in Commander is the social/political side.

Ok what did I think of the two new 2018 decks I played? They were fun. Lord Windgrace is really easy to pilot. Estrid less so in comparison. So if I was a noob to Commander and MtG I’d probably get Lord Windgrace. I have to admit I’m not overly sold on the Planeswalkers themselves. They seem a little underwhelming. Especially the ultimates. Take Lord Windgrace I could see him fitting in with the Muldrotha deck with his +2 and -3 abilities. Don’t think I’d ever ultimate him.

The decks do seem missing some good reprints that would enhance them. Lord Windgrace is screaming for Crucible of Worlds and Scapeshift. Why Sensei’s Divining Top isn’t in the top of the deck matters deck I don’t know.

And those are reprints that could have, no should have been in these decks that I can think of off the top of my head (with my limited knowledge of cards). Especially considering the increased cost of the decks.

I don’t think there is one deck in particular so far that I would like to upgrade and play, like I did with the 2017 Wizards and Dragons decks. There are some cards I’d like to use in other decks, some existing ones, some in the planning stage.

The themes I like a lot. And the deck builder side of me would like to take the themes and build decks around them. Not sure more than a handful of cards from these decks would make it in to any new deck built round the themes.

As I said these are fun to play. I don’t think as the decks stand warrant the price increase. They stink a little of WotC price gauging a popular product. Compared to the other Commander precons I’ve played/own (2017, and both Anthologies) if I had to buy a Commander deck tomorrow I’d be going with one of the 2017 decks first if I could get it for rrp.

I’m really proud that my ex-students have continued to play MtG since I left, and now have this regular Saturday event at Huntingdon Library going on.