Welcome back to the wonderful world of Commander multiplayer, featuring decks and games from Sunday Commander, the PRE that I run every Sunday at 16:00 GMT. Enjoy!

Table of Contents

COMMANDING NEWS

The first piece of news is: this series changes name and becomes monthly! Yay? Well, there's a lot of stuff going on here now, so it'll be more organized this way. It's a new beginning! You can see from the table of contents above how the various sections are structured.

In this news section, I'll talk about something that's been happening in the world of commander as of late. And what's happening right now is that the (somehow misnamed) Commander 2013 line of products is still getting sold at the store, and we're starting to see the new ones among those cards being played in Commander decks online. Which are the hottest, though? While I write, this is the ranking of the most expensive C13 cards (MTGO Traders prices, $3.00 or more):

So, as far as these top cards go, the count for each deck is as follows (the actual total value is of course different, considering there are a few reprints that so far retained solid prices, like Homeward Path and the Karmic Guide with the new, sweet art):

Evasive Maneuvers (Derevi): $35.74 (5 cards)

$35.74 (5 cards) Power Hungry (Prossh): $35.00 (5 cards)

$35.00 (5 cards) Eternal Bargain (Oloro): $32.01 (3 cards)

$32.01 (3 cards) Mind Seize (Jeleva): $28.61 (1 card)

$28.61 (1 card) Nature of the Beast (Marath): $25.75 (4 cards)

TRY THIS AT HOME

So you want to sweep the board with black cards ? I surely do, as I've just rebuilt enough of a card pool (after my Collection Selling Event from late last year) to put together a decent good-stuff, mono-black deck (more on that below). Which brought me to consider, among other things, all the available Black Sweepers. Just in time for this new section where in each installment I'll compile a list of cards covering one specific tech as much exhaustively as possible.

So here they come the swampy sweepers, in increasing order of CMC ( NOTE: I didn't include limited/situational sweepers, like Infest, Perish or Extinction, only the ones that could be reasonably expected to remove every creature at once on at least one opponent's side of the table. Also, the evaluation is given with Commander in mind):

So, the Best in Show are: Black Sun's Zenith, Damnation, Decree of Pain, Plague Wind, Toxic Deluge, Living Death, Mutilate, Overwhelming Forces, Pestilence, Rain of Daggers, Kagemaro, First to Suffer, Pestilence Demon.

THE SUNCOM CHRONICLES

Over the course of the last few Sunday Commander events, justcanceled, he of the punny deck names, has definitely emerged as the new player to fear (and probably hate. But, you know, in a sportsmanlike way). He took by storm both SUNCOM 55 and SUNCOM 56, the former with this very aggressive Rakdos, Lord of Riots list:

It's a deck that focuses on doing damage and doing it fast and furiously, by using red to both kill things and engage life totals (Molten Disaster, Incendiary Command, Chain Reaction) and black to ensure itself some card advantage, both through usual (Necropotence, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Promise of Power) and unusual ways (how often do you see Dusk Urchins played?).

One week later, the kind of aggression slightly shifted but remained overwhelmingly brutal (is justcanceled going through some stuff lately?), thanks to the always dismissed, always regretted to have dismissed Ruhan of the Fomori, which mostly means white and red, which translates into massive land destruction galore.

In the same event we saw our first Prossh, Skyraider of Kher list, courtesy of the_arend.

It's a list with some room for improvement, but it's already impressive. And scary. Prossh is one scary fella.

At a preliminary table where justcanceled's Ruhan ended up performing a ritual massacre, I was playing my newly rebuilt Visara the Dreadful deck, and had actually managed a great start, annihilating both my opponent's hands with a well-timed, early Myojin of Night's Reach, fueled by Liliana's Shade into Caged Sun. Right before justcanceled draw into the decisive one-two of Sun Titan (with a Sword of Feast and Famine on the board) plus Ravages of War. Moan.

This Visara is definitely nothing more than a "good stuff" build, but to play these kinds of decks as mono-colored builds is interesting to me, because they help me evaluate the state of the color in question. For instance, this list pushed me to consider all the most generically useful high-end mono-black fatties. I ended up with these 11 (on top of Visara herself, of course, who's just the greatest targeted creature removal on a stick):

Geth, Lord of the Vault: In a deck whose commander embodies repeatable removal, Geth's recursion is just too invaluable to miss out.

Helldozer: Visara kills dudes, Helldozer kills lands. Both are important things to do.

Kokusho, the Evening Star: There's a reason the black Kamigawa Dragon is still banned as a commander. The reason is that "each opponent" clause. On its own it only generates a one-time unbalance of everyone's life total. But a mono-black deck like this one comes with enough sacrifice outlets and recursion effects to make Kokusho extremely worth its while.

Midnight Banshee: She's not so popular, but she does kill stuff. Slowly, but assuredly, and most importantly, one-sidedly. Plus a 5/5 wither isn't a bad thing to have on your side.

Necropolis Regent: This is in the realm of pure beating, but tactically so. Plus, let's talk about inevitability.

Nirkana Revenant: She's mostly there as a high-profile mana ramper. As such, she's a staple. But she can also deal a nice ton of damage, in a pinch.

Butcher of Malakir: Granted, he's more at home in sacrifice intensive builds like Savra or Jarad. But the Grave Pact effect is never not welcome, and even if he's a bit on the expensive side, he gives you a 5-powered flyer as a bonus.

Rune-Scarred Demon: This is probably one the five cards every deck with black has to include. As much of a staple for the color as Consecrated Sphinx is for blue.

Sheoldred, Whispering One: She could have been the head of the deck, but all in all , I live Visara better: the Gorgon comes faster, and is more direct and versatile. Still, what Sheoldred does is something you want to spend 7 mana for.

Myojin of Night's Reach: The most unfair card of the lot. But hey, I have to pay big mana for that! (And when I do, as mentioned earlier, it doesn't even mean I'm going to win or anything).

Pestilence Demon: He costs a lot, but you either deal with it, or he'll kill you all along with your unprotected creatures (hopefully not me, too).

Most notably left out: Grave Titan, as I felt like he was just an expensive token generator in a build that doesn't particularly care for those; Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, who didn't seem especially useful here; and Avatar of Woe, who does the same thing Visara already does, but costs more to cast in most cases.

WHAT ABOUT SOME ACTION NOW?

Why is the saved games server hating on Commander? I wanted to propose my Visara vs. Ruhan game (with Gq1rf7's Sen Triplets as mostly a watcher), but it's gone from the server. Bummer.

Anyway, this is the section where I'll put a juicy Commander game replay from now on. I will, I promise!

COMMANDER RESOURCES

And that's it. See you in the SUNCOM room next Sunday at 16:00 GMT, and with the Commander Chronicles here next month! Commander ho!



