It used to be that, every Monday evening, a group of mages would meet in a basement bar in Manhattan’s West Village. Those who arrived early would be able to avoid paying a meager cover charge and were tasked with ensuring a favorite table—nestled between ping-pong and billiards, not one dozen feet from the bar—was secured. Play mats would come out, beverages would be acquired, and the commanders would be selected.

Eventually, the group stopped convening at the spot. There were many reasons. People moved, and jobs changed; a game cafe opened not far away, and people (including me) grew tired of the atmosphere. However, the effort to find a new spot fell a tad flat. Sure, we could go to the game cafe, but our group enjoyed playing with each other. These were just games—it was a chance to catch up with friends. After completing last week’s article, I had the itch and decided to shoot a signal flare to see who would be interested in some multiplayer action. People responded, and a location was selected. Turns out we were heading back to the bar.

After stopping off for a slice of decent pizza, I ran into Zach. A member of my Draft league team and Draft fiend Zach was going to be borrowing my Xenagos, God of Revels deck for the evening. We arrived early enough to avoid the cover charge and found Joe and Micah already seated. Drinks were set aside, and commanders were selected—Micah won the roll with Zurgo Helmsmasher, I piloted a reactive Vela the Night-Clad deck, Zach had XenaGod, and Joe had his take on Sapling of Colfenor. As we were about to start, our pal Dustin arrived and sat down with a Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed deck.

Some part of me began to regret my choice of Vela. While a powerful deck, it is not the kind of deck I want to play when I want to end games quickly. The itch I was trying to scratch wanted multiple games, and with five players, this one could take an entire evening.

True to form, it did. The early turns saw Micah stall on mana while I was able to hit every land drop and then some thanks to Wayfarer's Bauble and Burnished Hart. Zach slowly played lands and creatures before resolving a Xenagos, God of Revels. Joe did what Sapling does well and accelerate mana and brought Sapling into play.

After the reset, things ground to a halt. A copy of Sunken Hope emerged from my deck, keeping the board rather bouncy. Zach was able to regrow threats and start attacking again. Joe had other commitments that evening and had to leave while Dustin quickly rebuilt his board with Abhorrent Overlord and a horde of Harpies. Micah cast Zurgo three or four times only to have it dealt with each time.

Eventually, Zach swung at me while my defenses were down, and I took my lumps. Zach was next to fall to Dustin’s army, and Micah soon followed. While not numerous in turn cycles, the game took over two hours, and my hope for multiple battles ended when Dustin’s Harpy stole Micah’s last points of life.

If some part of me regretted selecting Vela earlier that evening, the rest of me caught up after the game. I have other decks that can act as an aggressor for games, forcing others into battle through the application of pressure. Vela does no such thing and also ended up drawing many reactive cards and those designed to slow down the game (see Crystal Shard plus Fleshbag Marauder).

Vela appealed to me because of her many facets. There was a reasonable evasive body, and with the ability to push other creatures through, an aggressive saboteur deck became an enticing option. Yet, the black mage in me saw the second rider—leaving the battlefield triggering life-loss—and it resonated. However, considering my love affair with all things Carrion Feeder, I decided that Vela would not rely on the graveyard nearly as much as my other decks. Rather, the creatures would leave the battlefield, but only for a brief moment.

Vela is a deck seeking to abuse enters-the-battlefield triggers. The core of this revolves around Crystal Shard, Erratic Portal, and Deadeye Navigator—these three make it easy to reuse creatures while needling everyone else at the table. Vela also encouraged me to go deep on cards that enable zone changes. This led me to pick up foil copies of Footsteps of the Goryo and Conjurer's Closet while adding cards like Void Stalker and Corpse Dance. It was this research that also led to the inclusion of Sunken Hope for some slow fun and Kederekt Leviathan for some big-time swings.

The spell suite of Vela revolves around playing tricks. Dominate and Spinal Embrace can create mid-combat blowouts. Ghostly Flicker can reset blockers while playing on theme, and Far // Away earns a spot for its versatility.

Here is Vela in all her night-clad glory:

Vela the Night-Clad ? Commander | Alex Ullman

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Abhorrent Overlord
• 1 Body Double
• 1 Dark Impostor
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Dinrova Horror
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Evil Twin
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Havengul Runebinder
• 1 Kederekt Leviathan
• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Mist Raven
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nekrataal
• 1 Nephalia Smuggler
• 1 Nevermaker
• 1 Raven Familiar
• 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1 Sepulchral Primordial
• 1 Shadowborn Demon
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Shrike Harpy
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Siren of the Fanged Coast
• 1 Slithermuse
• 1 Slum Reaper
• 1 Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1 Undead Alchemist
• 1 Void Stalker
• 1 Willbender
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
• 1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep

• Spells (25)
• 1 Corpse Dance
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Dominate
• 1 Far // Away
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Grim Harvest
• 1 Soul Manipulation
• 1 Spinal Embrace
• 1 Spite // Malice
• 1 Undying Evil
• 1 Bribery
• 1 Footsteps of the Goryo
• 1 Life's Finale
• 1 Psychic Intrusion
• 1 Confiscate
• 1 Equilibrium
• 1 Sunken Hope
• 1 Claws of Gix
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Crystal Shard
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Erratic Portal
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble

• Lands (38)
• 12 Island
• 12 Swamp
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darkslick Shores
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Dreadship Reef
• 1 Esper Panorama
• 1 Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Salt Marsh
• 1 Tainted Isle
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Tombstone Stairwell

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Vela also includes a minor theme of messing with opponents’ stuff, but that is more a function of Vela being blue and black than of Vela being Vela.

Mardu Shadowspear is a small, seemingly outclassed creature, but that has never stopped me before. When combined with Vela, Shadowspear can easily be dashed out resulting in 2 life gone for every 2 mana. Mardu Strike Leader is not as efficient in mana cost, but it does leave behind a token, which is simply more fodder to feed to Vela for more stings—Alesha's Vanguard, well, not so much. I would also love to find a home for Marang River Prowler in this deck if only to combine it with a homeless copy of River Kelpie. That being said, I want to keep Vela separate from other decks of mine and keep graveyard-based shenanigans to a minimum.

Vela the Night-Clad’s is a reactive deck that is at its best when it can manipulate the battlefield. To Vela, permanence is a fleeting state, and that transience is what gives she who walks in the night her strength.