Go to Grand Prix. I’m currently in a phase in which I am not playing a ton of competitive Magic but the fire still burns to play. Grand Prix are events like few others—ones where I walk in and immediately see friends and other gamers.

My weekend started on Thursday when I met up with members of the coverage team (Brian David-Marshall, Marshall Sutcliffe, and Rashad Miller) to celebrate May 7, also known as Marsh Hulk Day. There was excellent food to be had and stories to share.

One such story involved my new tradition of bringing New York bagels to the coverage team. Coverage is a tough job, and after watching the team load up on dried fruit on Thursday, it just made sense to provide them with a little carbohydrate-loaded love.

There is nothing else like a good New York bagel, and the feedback I received led me to believe that those who give us insight into high-level play agree with that sentiment.

If you’re going to a Grand Prix, do the staff a favor and bring them some good food. Their days are long and the breaks are sporadic from what I understand.

I wasn’t only a harbinger of breakfast at Atlantic City; I also managed to sit down and grind out some great games of Commander. All of them were with my friend and fellow Gathering Magic staff member Carlos and general awesome people Becca and Andrew. We played four, I won one, and this is the story of that game and the card that sealed my victory.

Allow me to set the scene: Becca was piloting Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Andrew was on Ruhan of the Fomori—a deck based on manipulating combat—and then came me, followed my Carlos’s Ephara, God of the Polis. The game was progressing along at a pretty steady clip. I managed to bring out a decent number of creatures, including my commander. In fact, we all had a good number of monsters on the board except for Andrew. You see, Andrew is a very dangerous player and can often manipulate board states to a position where he is poised to win at a moment’s notice.

So of course, this game, we never let him get on his feet.

As always, Andrew had a plan. He cast Incite Rebellion, which would have left him victorious. As I was first to act, I sacrificed all my non-Xenagos creatures to Greater Good, including multiple creatures with 1 and 2 power just to prevent myself from taking any damage. My hand was sitting at a mere five cards when all was said and done.

Then, Carlos cast Fated Retribution, meaning my work appeared to be for naught.

Except I had drawn Kessig Cagebreakers, and my recent spat of going all Sanford on my team had left me with a graveyard full of creatures. I untapped and cast the Innistrad rare. Xenagos granted haste, and with my next two attacks, I took out three different opponents thanks to a legion of Wolf tokens.

Kessig Cagebreakers is my kind of card. It makes use of an already-expended resource and allows them to help turn the game around. Kessig Cagebreakers generates value from simply playing a game of Magic. Creatures are going to die—the Cagebreakers just capitalizes on this fact. The card features prominently in two of my decks. The first is the aforementioned Xenagos, God of Revels.

XenaGod ? Commander | Alex Ullman

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (55)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Bloodfire Colossus
• 1 Bloodshot Cyclops
• 1 Bogardan Hellkite
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Brutalizer Exarch
• 1 Caldera Hellion
• 1 Conquering Manticore
• 1 Crater Hellion
• 1 Deadwood Treefolk
• 1 Destructor Dragon
• 1 Dowsing Shaman
• 1 Dragon Broodmother
• 1 Drumhunter
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Foe-Razer Regent
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Gobbling Ooze
• 1 Gruul Ragebeast
• 1 Horned Kavu
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Kessig Cagebreakers
• 1 Llanowar Empath
• 1 Mindclaw Shaman
• 1 Mul Daya Channelers
• 1 Mwonvuli Beast Tracker
• 1 Ogre Battledriver
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Paleoloth
• 1 Pelakka Wurm
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Silklash Spider
• 1 Silverglade Elemental
• 1 Somberwald Sage
• 1 Stalking Vengeance
• 1 Symbiotic Wurm
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1 Viridian Emissary
• 1 Weatherseed Treefolk
• 1 Woodfall Primus
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Yavimaya Granger
• 1 Zealous Conscripts
• 1 Zhur-Taa Druid
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Palladium Myr
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Dragonlord Atarka
• 1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 1 Verdeloth the Ancient
• 1 Yeva, Nature's Herald

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Domri Rade
• 1 Xenagos, the Reveler

• Spells (6)
• 1 Worldly Tutor
• 1 Call of the Wild
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Impromptu Raid
• 1 Killer Instinct
• 1 Lurking Predators

• Lands (36)
• 8 Forest
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Fungal Reaches
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Kazandu Refuge
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Mossfire Valley
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Shivan Oasis
• 1 Slippery Karst
• 1 Smoldering Crater
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Winding Canyons
• 1 Keldon Necropolis
• 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

Buy This Deck

While not a primary plan, Cagebreakers works very nicely with Killer Instinct and Impromptu Raid—the cards that inspired the deck—and effects like Greater Good that help keep the deck moving forward. Ogre Battledriver is a lovely force multiplier here, and Warstorm Surge would absolutely fit . . . if I weren’t dead set on keeping the number of noncreatures to a minimum. So hey, Wizards, if you’re listening, print a creature with the Pandemonium ability—’kay? ’Kay.

Xenagos is an example of a deck that can use Kessig Cagebreakers as a secondary win condition. There exist decks, however, that can turn this 5-drop into a serious, offensive threat. When part of a primary plan, the Cagebreakers can be a dominant force. Such a deck would want to be able to put creatures into the graveyard at a rapid pace. Commanders like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Tasigur, the Golden Fang make sense. Cards like Hermit Druid, Buried Alive, and Corpse Connoisseur all feed the wolves.

If only I had a deck with these cards . . . 

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord ? Commander | Alex Ullman

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (41)
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Bloodgift Demon
• 1 Bone Shredder
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Corpse Connoisseur
• 1 Creakwood Liege
• 1 Dark Confidant
• 1 Disciple of Bolas
• 1 Disciple of Griselbrand
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Falkenrath Noble
• 1 Genesis
• 1 Grim Haruspex
• 1 Hermit Druid
• 1 Kessig Cagebreakers
• 1 Korozda Guildmage
• 1 Lumberknot
• 1 Masked Admirers
• 1 Mold Shambler
• 1 Nessian Demolok
• 1 Nighthowler
• 1 Nyx Weaver
• 1 Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1 Pharika's Mender
• 1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Satyr Wayfinder
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Sewer Nemesis
• 1 Shadowborn Demon
• 1 Splinterfright
• 1 Vengeful Pharaoh
• 1 Yavimaya Elder
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Pharika, God of Affliction
• 1 Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Garruk Relentless

• Spells (21)
• 1 Grim Harvest
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Gaze of Granite
• 1 Jarad's Orders
• 1 Life from the Loam
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Awakening Zone
• 1 Dark Tutelage
• 1 Deathreap Ritual
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Grim Feast
• 1 Oversold Cemetery
• 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1 Survival of the Fittest
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Bonehoard
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Nim Deathmantle
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Whip of Erebos

• Lands (36)
• 6 Swamp
• 9 Forest
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 Jungle Hollow
• 1 Jund Panorama
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Polluted Mire
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Slippery Karst
• 1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Treetop Village
• 1 Verdant Catacombs

Buy This Deck

This was the deck that made me fall in love with Kessig Cagebreakers. Jarad has always tried to generate value from the graveyard, and I was building this deck right as I started drafting Innistrad. With extra copies of Kessig Cagebreakers lying around, I decided to give it a shot. The card did so many things I loved. It generates tokens as sacrificial fodder and helps to close out games. Perhaps my favorite game-ender involved resolving the inspiration for this article with a Phyrexian Plaguelord and a Blood Artist on the table. The game ended shortly thereafter.

Kessig Cagebreakers is an unassuming card. At 5 mana, it has an unimpressive body and does not have an impact immediately. If one can untap with it in play, the texture of the game changes. This is the kind of card I love to play in Commander. While any deck will need to have access to cards that are true haymakers—ones that make their presence felt now—a card like Cagebreakers signals a change. In Jarad, it is simply one threatening element in the coils of constriction; in Xenagos, it is a failsafe device. Cards such as these are my favorite—they are the hidden gems.

And the fact that I am able to run Kessig Cagebreakers in two decks with two drastically different results . . . Well, isn’t that one of the things that makes Commander fun?

What is your favorite card that plays differently in two of your decks? Sound off in the comments!