Commander Clash S5 E10: Planar Commander! (Edgar Markov vs. General Tazri vs. Lin Sivvi vs. O-Kagachi)
Welcome back to Commander Clash! This week is Planar Commander, where each of us pick a plane from Magic: the Gathering and all the cards in our deck must depict that specific plane. For example, if someone picked the plane of Ravnica, they could run all cards from Ravnica: City of Guilds block, Return to Ravnica block, and any card outside of those blocks that specifically depict the Ravnica plane like Krenko, Mob Boss and Mizzix of the Izmagnus. Here's what we picked:
- Richard picks Zendikar, forming an Ally Tribal deck united under General Tazri
- Seth chooses Mercadia (yes, it's a plane), fetching up Rebels that can fetch up Rebels that can fetch up Rebels, led by the most rebellious Rebel of them all, Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
- Tomer returns to Kamigawa yet again, this time to play a super slow Arcane Spirits deck that will start doing things on turn 10, led by O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami
- Vincent picks Innistrad, coming out of the gates swinging with an aggressive Vampire Tribal deck led by none other than Edgar Markov
Can the crappier planes hope to match up with the more popular ones? Let's find out! But first, a quick reminder: if you like Commander Clash. and other video content here on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up with the latest and greatest.
Richard's Deck (General Tazri)
Seth's Deck (Lin Sivvi)
Tomer's Deck (O-Kagachi)
Vince's Deck (Edgar Markov)
Post-Game Thoughts
It sucks when someone doesn't get to play the game: everyone is here to have fun, and we all spent time building decks hoping they get to perform how we hoped they would. So it's hard not to feel bad for Vince getting shut down in game one. However, targeting him is 100% the right call, since he's piloting Edgar Markov. If you don't know what Edgar is capable of, well, you see it in game 2. Edgar is one of the strongest aggressive commanders in the format and if you leave him alone for just one or two turns he'll be swinging at you for lethal. Edgar is in the same camp as Najeela, Blade-Blossom, Kaalia of the Vast, and a few other commanders where either you shut them down and they don't get to play the game, or you leave them alone for just a few turns and they sweep the board. There's no middle ground with them, so if you don't want to lose, you gotta be harsh. I think the results of game 1 and game 2 illustrate this.
As for my deck, yikes. I really, really think this deck is better than it performed. I have 7 sources of early ramp, including format staples Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kodama's Reach but also great theme cards like Loam Dweller and Elder Pine of Jukai to act as serious engines. I didn't see a single source of ramp in either game. It's always going to be a slow deck, but it's usually not going to be that slow! The biggest problem that I couldn't avoid was the mana-fixing: 5C decks generally need color fixing to cast their spells, but the color fixing in Kamigawa is just atrocrious. Literally all the mana-fixing lands are garbage outside of Forbidden Orchard. I ended up running mostly basics instead, which isn't consistent but better than running those awful dual lands.
I think Arcane Spirit has great potential as an archetype, especially the synergies between cards like Through the Breach and Reweave with the Dragon Spirit cycle like Kokusho, the Evening Star. And splicing Horobi's Whisper on a Kodama's Reach is just sick value. There's a lot of sweet plays in the deck but holy moly is the deck mana-hungry! I'd like to revisit this deck in the future, just with a better mana base.
Viewer Submitted Decks Are Back!
That's right, it's time once again for Viewer Submitted Decks! Submit a deck that you want to see us play in a future episode. Leave a link to the deck in the comments section below or the YouTube comments section. Here's a guideline on what we're looking for:
- The following cards are house banned: Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Cyclonic Rift, and any card currently worth over $100 USD
- We prefer decks that are around our normal group power level, so no CEDH decks please
- We're looking for decks that will foster an entertaining game for you, the viewer, to watch. So we will avoid Stax/Prison decks that prolong games for hours, or decks that try and combo off within the first 15 minutes.
- Don't skimp on basic deck necessities like ramp, card advantage, and removal. We love janky concepts but only if they actually function.
And that's it! Looking forward to see what everyone submits this time!
