Riding high with two back-to-back victories, Ironroot Chef Mike Linnemann finally had a break as a new challenger appeared: Neale Talbot. Coverage reporter for Wizards and a member of the infamous-for-losing Magic Online Community Cup team of 2012, Talbot took aim at the apparently unstoppable Ironroot Chef Ant Tessitore to battle over Ring of Three Wishes.

Challenger Talbot has his work cut out for him: Chef Tessitore has yet to lose in the battle to see whose theme will reign supreme. Further, dealing with wishes is always a tricky step. Can you wish for more wishes? Will a djinn or efreet appear?

Our wildest Ironroot Chef questions are about to be answered.

Challenger Neale Talbot

My idea for the Ironroot Chef challenge was a built on a powerful ring that convinces the wearer he or she is invincible—so Lord of the Rings it is! I concentrated on mainly the fellowship, with a few cameos from evildoers. The deck has two major themes: counters (as in +1/+1 counters) and tokens. And it has various ways of producing both. It also has a small Elf theme—and rings, lots and lots of rings.

Battle Ring of Three Wishes ? Ironroot Chef | Neale Talbot

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Battleflight Eagle
• 1 Clone
• 1 Council of the Absolute
• 1 Dearly Departed
• 1 Dwarven Grunt
• 1 Field Marshal
• 1 Figure of Destiny
• 1 Giltspire Avenger
• 1 Guardian of Cloverdell
• 1 Hoarding Dragon
• 1 Juniper Order Ranger
• 1 Kithkin Daggerdare
• 1 Kithkin Shielddare
• 1 Mosquito Guard
• 1 Sages of the Anima
• 1 Selesnya Evangel
• 1 Silklash Spider
• 1 Stormsurge Kraken
• 1 Workhorse
• 1 Angus Mackenzie
• 1 Balthor the Stout
• 1 Brago, King Eternal
• 1 Darien, King of Kjeldor
• 1 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1 Gaddock Teeg
• 1 Lavinia of the Tenth
• 1 Rhys the Redeemed
• 1 Stangg
• 1 Yeva, Nature's Herald

• Spells (33)
• 1 Downpour
• 1 Dramatic Rescue
• 1 Narrow Escape
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Rise to the Challenge
• 1 Valorous Stance
• 1 Voyage's End
• 1 Siege of Towers
• 1 Silent Departure
• 1 Spectral Procession
• 1 Citadel Siege
• 1 Invisibility
• 1 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Aladdin's Ring
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Jinxed Ring
• 1 Magebane Armor
• 1 Ring of Evos Isle
• 1 Ring of Gix
• 1 Ring of Kalonia
• 1 Ring of Ma'ruf
• 1 Ring of Three Wishes
• 1 Ring of Thune
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Sisay's Ring
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of Nin
• 1 Sword of the Meek
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Viridian Longbow
• 1 Obsidian Battle-Axe

• Lands (36)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 1 Ancient Tomb
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Encroaching Wastes
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Plateau
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Rustic Clachan
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Savannah
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Shimmering Grotto
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Taiga
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Tundra
• 1 Urza's Mine
• 1 Urza's Power Plant
• 1 Urza's Tower
• 1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Dark Depths

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Ironroot Chef Ant Tessitore

When Nate revealed this secret ingredient, I immediately knew the story I wanted to tell. The summer before we all went away to college, my D&D group decided to meet three times a week for the remaining months leading up to life at our new schools. We were all heading to different locations across the country, and we each knew the odds of us all remaining friends was not in our favor (though none of us would dare voice these concerns at the time). It became an unspoken agreement between the four us that this was our last hurrah, a final adventure together before our characters would forge separate paths in unknown lands. With three freshly rolled PCs, my friends embarked on what would end up being my last adventure as a dungeon master.

Long before the Ring of Three Wishes was a Magic card, it was an extremely powerful artifact in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Over the course of our adventures, my friends’ characters had raided the tomb of a powerful undead lich. Littered among the spoils of their successful campaign, the paladin of the group would find one such ring encased in a block of etched amber. The party would come to learn that the artifact was cursed. Though the ring contained three unused wish spells, it could only be used once by any single person.

“Three wishes, three party members,” our druid would say. “One wish for each of us!”

“Of all the curses, this one isn’t so bad,” the paladin would agree.

Little did my merry band of adventurers know that the cursed ring hid a far darker secret.

Growing up, none of my friends were into Magic. Try as I might, I could not spark their interest in the collectible card game that had so captivated my imagination. In an attempt to try to get them addicted to the many flavors offered by my favorite game, I would often inject Magic into my D&D games.

Some of my all-time favorite lines of flavor text exist on the Wish cards in Magic. Each line teaches the reader to “be careful what you wish for” in its own creative way. I decided to test my party by including a second subtle, yet powerful, curse on the Ring of Three Wishes. Each wish made would be “incomplete” and come with an unexpected price (similar to the flavor text of the Wish spells). The first wish made was by the paladin who found the ring. In his desire to become king of a vast and noble empire, he wished for land to rule, but not for a means to defend it.

My friends spent many nights defending the land, exhausting valuable resources as they rallied forces to fend of barbarian hoards attempting to conquer their newly acquired “kingdom.”

Still unaware the ring held a second, secret curse, the druid decided to make his wish. Up until this point, the druid of the party had built his character around his ability to wildshape, and he desired to become the most powerful shapeshifter the world had ever known. In the version of D&D we were playing at the time, druids were only able to shapeshift into a single type of chosen animal. Using the ring, the druid wished to shapeshift into any animal, but not for the ability to control it. In granting the druid’s desire, I cursed his wildshape ability so that it would change the character into a randomly determined animal form.

At this point, the party caught on to the fact that there was something up with the ring, and they decided to refrain from using up the last wish until they could figure out exactly what it was. As the summer came to a close, the party was no closer to discovering the ring’s insidious secret. A number of rash decisions left the adventurers in a situation in which there was little chance for escape, leaving the mage of the group no choice but to use the final wish. In an attempt to save his friends (and himself), the mage wished for a powerful spell that would annihilate their enemies, but not for the ability to survive it.

The resulting empowered, enlarged, heightened, maximized, quickened fireball spell incinerated everything in the surrounding area, including the party. This deck is meant to recreate that final adventure, with each card selected meant to represent my friends’ three characters and the dangers they faced after looting the Ring of Three Wishes.

I chose these three legendary creatures to represent my friends’ three characters: the paladin, druid, and mage. Sir Shandlar or Eberyn’s flavor text serves as a reminder of the many lives the paladin would have to rally in order to protect his lands. Sunastian Falconer’s flavor text is fitting because, at one point, the mage’s character attempted to multiclass as a wizard/fighter. All three are from the Legends set due to my attempt to bring the supertype full circle. As we learned from Mark Rosewater in his Legends Drive to Work episode, the “legendary” type was actually inspired by the D&D characters of the set’s designer. Now these legendary creatures are being used to represent the D&D characters of my friends’ adventurers. The remaining ninety-six cards (and three sideboard cards) are meant to showcase these three characters’ equipment and spells, the perils they faced, the wishes they made, and the Ring of Three Wishes itself.

Last but not least, we come to the commander: a multi-headed, multitasking Hydra whose imagination served as the soul of the adventure. I present to you the dungeon master himself.

Image found here.

Our Last Adventure Time ? Ironroot Chef Commander | Ant Tessitore

• Commander (0)

• Sir Shandlar of Eberyn (18)
• 1 Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
• 1 Living Wish
• 1 Adventuring Gear
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Explorer's Scope
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Shield of the Righteous
• 1 Magebane Armor
• 1 Veteran's Sidearm
• 1 Rally the Righteous
• 1 Righteous Blow
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Divine Deflection
• 1 Armored Warhorse
• 1 Holy Armor
• 1 Smite the Monstrous
• 1 Protective Sphere
• 1 Divine Verdict

• Lord Magnus (18)
• 1 Lord Magnus
• 1 Golden Wish
• 1 Behemoth Sledge
• 1 Slagwurm Armor
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Druid's Familiar
• 1 Druidic Satchel
• 1 Druids' Repository
• 1 Heal the Scars
• 1 Healing Leaves
• 1 Healing Salve
• 1 Alabaster Potion
• 1 Lone Wolf
• 1 Golden Bear
• 1 Windreaper Falcon
• 1 Storm Crow
• 1 Horned Turtle
• 1 Silvercoat Lion

• Sunastian Falconer (17)
• 1 Sunastian Falconer
• 1 Burning Wish
• 1 Spellbinder
• 1 Isochron Scepter
• 1 Specter's Shroud
• 1 Alchemist's Vial
• 1 Darkness
• 1 Fireball
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Obstinate Familiar
• 1 Chain of Acid
• 1 Fire // Ice
• 1 Flight
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Orbs of Warding
• 1 Spellbook
• 1 Sleep

• Ring of Three Wishes (6)
• 1 Ring of Three Wishes
• 1 Amber Prison
• 1 Curse Artifact
• 1 Balduvian Horde
• 1 Conquer
• 1 Lich Lord of Unx

• Lands (40)
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Bayou
• 1 Plateau
• 1 Savannah
• 1 Scrubland
• 1 Taiga
• 1 Tropical Island
• 1 Tundra
• 1 Underground Sea
• 1 Volcanic Island
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Forest
• 4 Island
• 4 Mountain
• 4 Plains
• 4 Swamp

• Sideboard (3)
• 1 Worldfire
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Contested War Zone

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The Vote

Below, you can read the judges’ scoring to see how Nate and Stybs cast their ballots. However, this is your chance to score the winner of Battle Ring of Three Wishes.

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The Judging

Nate’s Judgment

Nathan Holt @walktheplanes

Nate’s the host of Walking the Planes, a documentary series about Magic: The Gathering with a healthy dose of sketch comedy (for value).

What an interesting coincidence! Both of our chefs brewed up five-color Commander decks that are themed on fantasy epics. Neale chose JRR Tolkien’s ever-popular Lord of the Rings saga while Ironroot Chef Ant chose a D&D campaign, inspired by the work of Gary Gygax, who was in turn inspired by JRR Tolkien. It is said that great minds think alike. But there can only be one ring to rule them all. Two chefs enter the arena. One will make like an Ent and leave.

Challenger Neale Talbot

I need to ding you for adherence to the theme. It’s true that Sol Ring is the 1-drop ring to rule them all, but shouldn’t the deck be centered on Ring of Three Wishes? It’s a bit disappointing to see the latter relegated to one of the seven, crappy-ass, un-special, dwarf rings. What’s up with that?

A note about presentation: I don’t expect challengers to rise to Ironroot Chef Ant’s level of peacock plumage with respect to how you showcase your deck. But I’d omit the admissions to mechanical necessity of a certain ingredient (“I needed this for mana reasons,” etc.). A good showman keeps these things secret. Everybody knows Mario Batali cheats by adding extra butter to his pork dishes, but that’s not where he wants to draw the focus.

Creativity: 3

Boldness: 3

Adherence to the theme: 1

Ironroot Chef Ant Tessitore

Furthermore, I’m growing weary of a growing trend between you and Ironroot Chef Mike Linnemann: the use of tear-jerking personal stories to persuade your audience about your deck’s flavor. You’re both excellent writers. We get it. I cannot and will not forbid you from writing these stories. By all means, give the people what they want. Just know that I will not fall prey to your charms. I want to taste your creations in the decklist. The cards should tell the story on their own.

Your siren song aside, your deck (surprise surprise) is great again. Unlike Neale, who focused more on the rings, you focused your story on the wishes. Good move. I also love the subtheme of Equipment, which evokes D&D so well.

However, Neale chose a bolder task in subjecting himself to the judgment of analogies that are known to the public—and therefore more vulnerable to scrutiny. One cannot examine the veracity of your D&D epic in the same way. You are asking us to suspend disbelief on many of the details. Are you using this leeway to make sloppy creative decisions? I don’t know.

Creativity: 2

Boldness: 2

Adherence to the theme: 3

Adam’s Judgment

Adam Styborski @the_stybs

Adam is the Content Manager for Gathering Magic. He's a casual player at heart and weekly columnist for MagicTheGathering.com. He also travels the country for Pro Tour and Grand Prix coverage, and he shares his Pauper Cube everywhere.

Neale

Commander decks are hard. While the openness of having access to almost every card in the game and having one hundred slots to fill seems easy at first, building a cohesive deck from so many disparate pieces is challenging.

You asked for the challenge, but I feel you fell short of your called shot.

There is huge potential to explore wishes and the essence of tapping directly into desires. Feeling powerful and mighty is one fantastic avenue I was excited to see you jump on, but going into Lord of the Rings was disappointing. The One Ring grants some parlor tricks to the bearers, but it’s only in Sauron’s grasp does its full power become manifest. It’s a story about how power tempts and corrupts—comparable to cards like Jinxed Choker or Jinxed Ring.

Ring of Three Wishes is all upside, all the time. I see the connection you wanted, but it isn’t as strong from this side of the table.

While I found your reasoning for commander (colors over flavor) lacking and choice of theme off taste, you did a fantastic job scouring Magic for one-to-one correspondences for arguably the most influential fantasy novels of all time. With the Elf subtheme, that pays off for the commander, and there’s plenty of mischief to be had with lords and rings, though I have to say cutting Tom Bombadil from your vision of the story was as unforgivable as when Peter Jackson did it.

My scores for you reflect the wonder of your attention of Tolkien that didn’t matchup to the challenge Ring of Three Wishes was asking for.

Creativity: 1

Boldness: 3

Adherence to theme: 2

Ant

Let’s say your story of running a campaign was totally false and that each turn of your story was faked simply to sell your flavor. It wouldn’t matter: You captured something rich and wonderful, even if Ring of Three Wishes doesn’t have the dramatic drawback the ring in your story did. (See my commentary for Challenger Talbot above.)

Top-down, your deck is internally consistent. DMs do have protection from everything—at least from players—and function like a multi-headed hydra. While it’s still convenient to use a five-color commander, your rationale is at least satisfying for the allegory you present. Capturing each step of using the ring—from acquisition to wishes to regret to ending—is through and just as impressive as Talbot’s take on Lord of the Rings.

My scores for you reflect the wonder of the tale you concocted—for us or truly for your friends—with the slight mismatches to the way Magic’s Ring of Three Wishes works:

Creativity: 2

Boldness: 3

Adherence to theme: 2

Voting closes midnight Thursday, and the first winner will be announced Friday (7/31/2015). Follow @IronrootChef on Twitter for the final score, for the victory announcement, and to share your ideas for secret ingredients. Chairman Holt will continue to use your suggestions to challenge our chefs to the core.

Next week, we’ll have a break, as all eyes should be on Pro Tour Magic Origins happening this weekend in Vancouver, Canada. It wouldn’t be fair for the chairman to be disturbed during his hour of need.

And if you think you have what it takes to challenge the chefs, send an e-mail to IronrootChef AT gmail DOT com with all of your flavorful qualifications. We’re looking for new Ironroot Chefs and competitors, and you could be the next to take a shot at impressing the judges.