Elder Dragon Highlander: Learning from Mistakes

TooSarcastic Wednesdays? It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it does it? I woke up on Tuesday and wondered, “Hmm, who’s posting today on the blog? Oh shit. That would be me.” So Fugie grabbed the opportunity to throw in another post and kindly let me post a day late.


Today we’re discussing a little more multiplayer wisdom, mostly things that I am picking up as I go along. The format is Elder Dragon Highlander, but the lessons should be broadly applicable elsewhere in multiplayer settings. Because the last few months have been the first time I’ve played multiplayer in years, I was forced to start with a top-down strategy- all theory, no practice. Hence my theory-driven bias toward power over utility. So now that I’ve been playing for little while I’ve done a lot of learning, made some stupid mistakes, and seen some cards that I thought would be great turn out to be mediocre. So let’s talk about some things that didn’t quite pan out. Let’s talk about some failures.

Failure #1: Manlands.
Early on I actually had some success with Faerie Conclave and Forbidden Watchtower. They killed Fugie in a game after a board sweeper removed his blockers. And that was the point of including them, after all. They do great impressions of lands while Wrath of God does its thing. They also are assets that don’t clog up your hand waiting to be played. Those are all positives. The downside? I would rather be doing just about anything else with my mana than pumping up a manland. They are the absolute last resort, either on offense or defense. Hardly appealing. But what got them removed from my deck was the fact that the Xth edition manlands come into play tapped. I really underestimated how important it would be to have that mana available the turn it comes down. I figured this format more than any other, wouldn’t care about fast mana. Multiplayer is slow as hell right? Yes and no. Games go longer, but (and this will be an important theme throughout this topic) with so many other players, more happens that affects your board with less opportunity for you to react. It’s really painful to have no plays for a turn in a five person game, because there’s a very good chance another player has some plays in store for you, if catch my meaning. Four other people get an opportunity to harass you before you get to draw a card or lay another land, or whatever it is that you hope will get you back in the game. So CIP tapped lands are no fun to rip off the top when you really, really need to play your Platinum Angel to have a shot to stay in it.


Failure #2: Expensive reusable effects
In my “Scalpel vs. Hammer” post I asked the question “Why play a tutor spell when you could be casting Whispers of the Muse with buyback every turn?” Now I know why. Because if I play Whispers with buyback, that is all I will be doing. Maybe our playgroup plays with more land destruction than normal, or maybe I need to work on my manabase, but I have never been able to cast Whispers and play another spell the same turn. Land just doesn’t stay in play that long. The best thing about Whispers of the Muse is that I can burn it turn one as a cantrip. It has never gained me the overwhelming card advantage I had sought. There just aren’t enough turns in a multiplayer game for that kind of return. This is same problem with Urza’s Factory (if I have eight mana on board, I guarantee there will be stronger plays than making a 2/2), Spell Burst (I never got to cast it- even without buyback), and to a lesser extent Sacred Mesa. The Mesa is the closest to being playable, but my deck is full of better stuff to do than spend four mana a turn to get a 1/1 flyer. Sacred Mesa could win a group game, given enough time, but come on, nobody has a way to deal with a bunch of Pegasi? They’re Pegasi!! If three or four other players combined can’t kill me and my army of weenies then I guess they deserve to lose. One more example. In the last EDH game I played, I had a Shattering Pulse in hand. I was killing an artifact every turn I didn’t have a more relevant play (let’s say once every three turns or so). Swizz Dizzle was dropping artifact mana accelerants like there's no tomorrow. I had an Armageddon in hand and knew that I would end up coming out worse off if I played it, despite having the so called “answer” to his artifacts. Again, multiplayer games just don’t last long enough. Never before have a wished more for a Shatterstorm. It would have netted me just as much card advantage, but for about 16 less mana. That’s the better hammer card.

Failure #3: Cards with a heavy color commitment
Okay, so I don’t have to play a three color deck. I just really like the flexibility. And I have enough duals that I can make the mana work, amiright? No, TooSarcastic, you are wrong. I don’t know how many games I have needed a board sweeper AND had my budget Wrath of God (aka “Hour of Reckoning”) sitting in my hand, just thinking, “You know, I wish I could get a third white source. Or a white creature to help with the convoke.” Similarly I have stopped seeing Shard Phoenix as reusable because I know that if I have three red mana available during my upkeep, there will inevitably be a more important play that I must use that mana for during my main phase. Let’s not even talk about Pyrohemia. I love you, red Pestilence, but in my three color deck you just aren’t going to be taking down the 5/5 dragons that I need to you to destroy. We’re just better as friends, Pyrohemia. Sorry.

So if these cards are the mistakes, what are the correct answers? I’m still trying to find that out, but I have some ideas. Or, more accurately other people in my playgroup have had some ideas that I have seen and will be copying. Shatterstorm is in for Shattering Pulse since CBG continually complains that he should be playing it (but doesn’t). Deep Analysis is in for Whispers of the Muse because seeing Fugie and the Dizzle draw four cards in one turn for six mana beats my one card for six mana. Momentary Blink gets in there, not because it is super abusable in my deck (like it is in Fugie’s- Duplicant and/or Sundering Titan FTWs) but because it beats trying to actually counter targeted removal spells. Swords to Plowshares is a one for one trade, but (just like Major_Luck) at one mana it’s a trade I’m willing to make.

There are also a few experiments I’m trying out myself. Quicksilver Amulet is an Elvish Piper that gets in any deck. I like the idea of flashing out Duplicant, or Ixidron. During an attack step perhaps? It also inadvertently mana fixes and accelerates. Maybe that Blazing Archon will finally hit the table, at instant speed no less. And Mizzium Transreliquat will copy the best artifact on the table, even if it’s just a signet. (My newest “cute idea” involves the Transreliquat and a Darksteel Ingot on the table, with Jokulhaups in hand). Finally, I have some super secret mana-fixing tech. Can you think of a three mana enchantment in White Blue or Red that will make mana of any color? With any six land a guy could play Desolation Giant and still play Guile the next turn. I’m pumped by this possibility. But who knows? Maybe it will be awful. I’m still learning.

T