Gibraltar By Night by Ivan Aivazovsky (1844). Woe Strider by John Thacker.

Here I go again. I'm going to write up another "Game of the Month" column based on a game I played last week. Last month I wrote a column about the first Commander League game I played in February and called it a way-too-early "Game of the Month," so I think this is going to be a thing. Consider this my GoTM for February and that first installment my GoTM for January.

I enjoy shifting from a slightly more dry and structured deck spotlight to a narrative format. It lets me spin a tale of a game I played that was memorable, entertaining, and might even have had a "teaching moment" or two. Today's entry is all that and more.

PAX East 2020

Last December I took a few days off from work, booked a hotel room and enjoyed one of the most entertaining weekends I've had in a long time at CommandFest DC. It was fantastic, so when I decided I was going to hit PAX East this past Sunday, my expectations were set much, much lower. I was going for only part of the day and just figured to get in as many games of Commander as possible. It's what I love and I've wandered the PAX East expo hall before. It's fine, but I'm not big on crowds or waiting in line and I don't play enough different tabletop and video games to make it worth that much jostling.

I brought a modest array of decks with a decent top end and a few decks that might quality as "beater" decks. A "beater" deck isn't an aggro deck. Think of cars. A "beater" car is a "clunker." It can probably run, but it's unlikely to win many races. A "beater" deck is a deck that you might enjoy or even love, but which isn't likely to run away with a game. Power levels are always meta-dependent and also dependent upon your own experience in the format, but your "beater" will always be closer to the weaker decks in your collection.

As I headed off to Boston for the day, my gym bag was filled up with Narset, Enlightened Master, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Ramos, Dragon Engine, Grumgully, the Generous, Kenrith, the Returned King and Grismold, the Dreadsower. I like to have lots of options, but as it turned out I was over prepared and only wound up playing two games.

Game 1

The first game of the day wasn't my Game of the Month. I played Ramos, Dragon Engine, as nobody at the table wanted to deal with Narset (turns and steps) or Muldrotha (combo). My tablemates wanted a more casual game, so I went with Ramos. It's capable of winning games, but isn't particularly fast or consistent.

I wound up having a strong early game and was able to deal more than 21 commander damage with Ramos. The problem was that it was spilt between two opponents. I have the bad habit of doing that in casual games-I'll spread the damage out so nobody gets knocked out early and hopefully everyone will have more fun.

A Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves tokens deck was my first target and I clearly should have just kept hammering away at them until they were dead. My early ramp just happened to be mana dorks-Birds of Paradise, Sylvan Caryatid and Utopia Tree. The tokens player drew into an Hour of Reckoning and destroyed all non-token creatures I was wiped out and never got back into the game.

The high point for me was probably using a Bioshift with Pir, Imaginative Rascal on the field to move "any number" of +1/+1 counters from my Sylvan Caryatid over to Ramos, Dragon Engine as I went to block an attacker that would have traded with my Commander. Both were 4/4 at the time, but Bioshift is two colors and with Pir on the battlefield it turned into a 7/7 and was able to kill an attacker that the tokens player really didn't want to lose. It was one of those moments that felt somewhat clever because the number of +1/+1 counters I moved with Bioshift was zero.

I never hit a tutor or a combo and never got Ramos out again after the Hour of Reckoning. Shame on me for not playing to win, but I think the table had fun. We were splitting prize tickets evenly so there was no extra incentive to be cutthroat about winning. I do like to win games with Ramos, but I only had myself to blame and figured I'd get a chance to play a better deck or have a better game before the day was over.

I wasn't that upset about getting blown out when I possibly could have won the game, but I was definitely left wanting more, so I skipped lunch and headed back to the registration table to sign up for a second Commander On Demand game.

Game 2

At CommandFest DC, the wait for each On Demand game was relatively short. My wait at PAX East was longer, but after 15 minutes or so, my buzzer buzzed and I made my way over to the gathering point where a Judge brought me and three strangers to a table and set us up for our game.

This pod had myself, a guy playing a Ramos, Dragon Engine deck, a younger player on a causal mono-black deck led by Visara the Dreadful, and a cEDH player.

I found out that the Visara player was from the town I grew up in: Lexington, Massachusetts. He was keen for me to mention that his home store was Omar's World of Comics and Hobbies, a pretty nice little game store that I've actually visited. When I think I might write about a game I make sure to let the table know ahead of time. I generally don't use players' names, but just knowing I write about Commander for CoolStuffInc tends to spark conversation. It can also put a target on my back, so I try not to make a big deal about it.

Our competitive player only had one deck with him: a tuned Selvala, Heart of the Wilds list.

He said that he needed an extra ticket, so he really needed to play to win rather than have a casual fun game. Nobody else but me had a deck that might be able to stand up to a true cEDH deck, and I'm probably being kind to my own chances. Selvala is brutal when built and played right, and this guy seemed to know what he was doing.

With my other tablemates clearly wanting a casual game, I wound up just giving this guy one of my tickets and loaning him a deck so we wouldn't wind up having an unsatisfying game. He didn't seem to want to pub stomp and happily shuffled up my Golos, Tireless Pilgrim deck. It's strong but not particularly fast so I figured it might be enough of a step down from Selvala to make for a decent game, but also a good enough deck that he wouldn't hate it.

Our pod was set: I was up against a pretty good Golos deck and two wild cards in Visara the Dreadful and Ramos, Dragon Engine.

I wanted to play a good deck, but yet again nobody had any interest in seeing my Narset, Enlightened Master (turns) or Muldrotha, the Gravetide (combo) deck in action. After some initial interest in my Grumgully deck, they learned that it was a persist combo build and one of the guys clearly wanted no part of having to play against combo. Grumgully can be hard to deal with, so I set aside any hope of playing one of my favorites.

I wound up going with what I felt was my "fairest" deck: Grismold, the Dreadsower. It's got zero combos that I'm aware of, and very much of a "hope for the best" game plan. It has won games, but is about as far from a sure thing as I had with me that day.

The Selvala (Golos) player let us know that he would probably have to leave early as he had something else he had to go do. My guess is that he was used to games not lasting very long. With that in mind, we jumped into our game.

The early turns saw me play out a few creatures including a Blood Artist, but nothing immediately impactful. The Ramos deck was built around legendary creatures and permanents. They got out an early Lightning Greaves and had Ramos on the field on time. The Golos player and the mono-black players also had a minor board presence, but the first big moment in the game that I remember was when I played Tempt with Discovery.

To play a Tempt with Discovery in a Commander game is rarely a good plan.

You should generally refuse to be tempted. A Golos player, however, should always be tempted because there's always going to be some sweet utility land they can grab based upon what direction they're going in. The Golos player was used to playing cEDH so I decided to cut any discussion about everyone saying "no" off before it even began.

I made my best sales pitch to the table.

"I know you're always supposed to say no when someone plays Tempt with Discovery, but if you all say yes, I promise to only tutor up basic lands. You can go get whatever you like. I'll just get basics, but only if you all say yes."

That's a compelling argument, and tables are usually taken aback by that kind of politicking.

Why would anyone play Tempt and not go get the most awesome land(s) in their deck?

Well, my secret is that I'm not running awesome lands. It's an easy offer that seems impressive on the outside, but is really just a craven attempt to have my four-mana land tutor actually get me four lands. It's also very much of a YOLO (you only live once) decision, where I'm counting on my opponents keeping each other in check if someone does try to do something really broken. If they don't and I wind up being the reason someone else won the game, then oh well. It's just a game and someone's got to win, right?

They all said yes.

I may be a wily old bastard, but I didn't break my word and go get four non-basic lands. I tutored up two swamps and two forests, putting me ahead of the curve by a pretty good margin. I don't even remember what two of the other players got, but I distinctly remember that the Golos player tutored up Dark Depths. In my combat step I swung at the Golos player, figuring it might be my last chance to do so.

I knew I was asking for trouble letting the Golos player tutor up a land, but he was already playing on a borrowed deck when he could have been stomping us with Selvala. On the Golos player's turn he naturally played a Thespian's Stage and created his Marit Lage creature token.

At CommandFest DC, we were all there to play Commander. There wasn't a lot of other distractions to pull us away from our tables, and I don't recall ever having someone leave a game to go do something else. PAX is pretty much the exact opposite environment. There are a million things to see and do, so putting the time aside to play a game of Commander isn't easy for everyone.

I don't think our Golos player ever got the chance to swing his 20/20 flying indestructible creature token at anyone. If he did, he didn't swing it at me because I would have remembered that. He had to go do something at 1 pm, made his apologies, thanked me for loaning him a deck and scooped out of the game. He had warned us ahead of time, so there were no hard feelings. I felt a little silly wasting an attack on him the turn before when I could have swung elsewhere, but it was fine. In fact, it was awesome that he let us have a real game instead of aiming for a turn five (or earlier) Selvala combo win.

My Grismold had been out for a few turns and had been handing out plants at the end of each of my turns. My deck packs lots of ways to kill those creature tokens but I hadn't drawn into anything useful. I had hit a bunch of my Eldrazi Scion and Eldrazi Spawn generators, but nothing that felt game-breaking.

I did still have my Blood Artist still on the field and for a while I was spreading the occasional Blood Artist damage between my opponents. The Ramos player was clearly in a better position, but I didn't want to draw his attackers so spreading it out seemed like the way to go.

The Ramos player had been playing out flyers and eventually had a Heroes' Podium on the field, so things were starting to look dire. I remember his attackers all had +5/+5 or something like that and I didn't have much in the way of reach or flying blockers.

Fortunately for all of us, the mono-black player was able to wipe the board and I was forward-thinking enough to direct all the Blood Artist triggers at the Ramos player. It was only 15 points of damage, but the Ramos player had been taking damage and it put him down at something like 4 life.

I wasn't drawing into anything very useful, but drew an was able to play a Rogue's Passage. At some point in the late game the Ramos player cast and gave me control of Xantcha, Sleeper Agent. I didn't want to swing at the mono-black player as his continued presence in the game gave the Ramos player someone else to swing at other than me. I had a decent little army of plants, a few minor Eldrazi and Xantcha. I was able to cast a Bloodspore Thrinax and devoured three tokens and two minor Eldrazi. From that point on, I'd have my creatures enter with five extra +1/+1 counters.

My next play was to cast the tutor Diabolic Intent, sacrificing Xantcha to keep from having to attack the mono-black player. I needed to find an answer to the ridiculous board state to my right. I pored through my deck and for the life of me I couldn't find anything that would be particularly helpful. I could have grabbed Toxic Deluge but wouldn't have had the mana to play it that turn. What I should probably have grabbed was Bitterblossom, as those 1/1 flying tokens would be a significant threat with an additional five +1/+1 counters, but I didn't think it was going to be fast enough and didn't want to draw extra attention.

I wound up grabbing something and apologizing to the table for taking so long and to the Visara player for not having found an answer that would save us. I didn't want to lose my board and I wasn't quite dead yet. I actually had a decent life total thanks to Blood Artist, but only had 2 mana open. I also didn't want to give the Ramos player a reason to focus his attention on me. I was flying under the radar to some extent and I was fine with that.

Anytime you play against a planeswalker or Legendary themed deck, you always need to keep an eye out for Primevals' Glorious Rebirth. It will put all the legendary permanents from the caster's graveyard back onto the battlefield. The board wipe had only just happened and we had barely started rebuilding when the Ramos player got their entire battlefield back with a well-timed Rebirth and was once again poised to win.

The Ramos player was sure they had the game. I don't remember if his creatures had haste, but whether it was that turn or the following turn when he'd be able to swing, we hadn't been able to solve our problem. The Ramos player offered the "Good Game" handshake before even counting up the damage and was confident enough that I almost congratulated him on the win. I've also played a lot of Commander games. I've played enough Commander to not assume anything until your last life point is gone, so I asked him to figure out his attackers and count up the damage.

The mono-black player was clearly dead. The Ramos player had enough attackers to deal with him, and proceeded to send everything else at me. I still had no answers to flyers, so we counted up the damage in the air first. It was a big chunk, but I had been gaining life from Blood Artist.

I was able to block with everything except Grismold and survive.

A few turns earlier I had dropped that Rogue's Passage, announcing it to the table as you do, but not going out of my way to make a big deal about it. "Land for turn: Rogue's Passage." It had been clearly announced but had also gone relatively unnoticed.

The Ramos player was riding the wave of some very strong plays and a feeling of inevitability about winning the game.

Unfortunately for him, he was also at 4 life.

I even double-checked, asking if his previous attack had any life gain triggers that we'd want to catch up on so his life total was correct. He had come achingly close to killing me, and if given another turn, he would win the game.

I was able to pay 4 mana, tap my Rogue's Passage and swing Grismold through to kill him. Grismold had enough +1/+1 counters to deal lethal damage, though he wasn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

Takeaways

Looking back at the game, I wound up handing over a prize ticket to try to make sure we got a satisfying and enjoyable game of Commander in my second game of the day, and I lent out one of my more powerful decks so that the cEDH player would have a fun deck to play with. I also set aside my own desire to play one of my own more powerful decks (not quite cEDH but still strong) to play a "beater" deck for the sake of having the table enjoy the game more.

I didn't "deserve" the win any more than anyone else at the table, but I like to think I had a little good karma coming my way.

After our game was over, everyone still at the table said that they had really enjoyed the game. It was fun. There were shifts in the balance of power at the table and while the Visara player was never really out ahead, he had a clear impact on the game and what he did at various points mattered a lot. Nobody got pubstomped and while the Ramos player was clearly ahead for most of the game, the story of our game had a twist at the end.

I made sure to tell the Ramos player that he probably deserved the win. I like to do that when someone is out ahead for much if not all a game and then loses in the last moment. Not everyone takes such losses well, so showing a little sympathy is both kind and easy to do. He seemed to appreciate that, though I don't think he needed it. Experienced Commander players are familiar with the thrills and disappointments that go along with playing our amazing format, and he seemed like a veteran of the format.

If being kind to your tablemates outside of the game is one takeaway I'd leave you with, the other is that you can absolutely play Tempt with Discovery in Commander and get everyone to be tempted.

You just have to temper your greed and be willing to make a deal with your tablemates about what you're going to tutor up. Maybe you'll only have to make the "basic land" deal with one person. Maybe you'll have to agree to only get basic lands. There will always be players who will steadfastly refuse to be tempted, but there are ways to get more out of this dicey little ramp card. Use your words. Make a deal. I've found that players will usually be happy to get their favorite utility land if they know you're just getting a basic land, and more often that not you're really just looking for ramp anyways.

My last take away from this game is to never give up. Hang in there. Don't concede, don't scoop and even if you don't think you've got a way to win it's worth learning how to stick with the game until your very last life point is gone. It's just a game, and while it might be frustrating to be 99% sure you're going to lose, there's nothing wrong with making your opponent play it all the way to the end. Sometimes you'll pull a rabbit out of a proverbial hat and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. When you do, it will feel awesome and you'll remember that game for a long, long time.

The Grismold, the Dreadsower Commander Decklist

Since I last wrote about Grismold, the Dreadsower, I've changed it a fair amount. I've got a lot more creatures, more ways to kill small creatures, and I've added in some ways to make Grismold unblockable.

Grismold, the Dreadsower | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Blisterpod
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodspore Thrinax
• 1 Brood Monitor
• 1 Catacomb Sifter
• 1 Clackbridge Troll
• 1 Crypt Rats
• 1 Dread Drone
• 1 Epicure of Blood
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Eyeless Watcher
• 1 Falkenrath Noble
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1 Kozilek's Predator
• 1 Merciless Executioner
• 1 Minister of Pain
• 1 Mycoloth
• 1 Nest Invader
• 1 Pawn of Ulamog
• 1 Pestilence Demon
• 1 Plaguecrafter
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scion Summoner
• 1 Slum Reaper
• 1 Smothering Abomination
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Whisper, Blood Liturgist
• 1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Instants (5)
• 1 Grave Birthing
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Windgrace's Judgment

• Sorceries (14)
• 1 Call the Scions
• 1 Caravan Vigil
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Diabolic Tutor
• 1 Growth Spasm
• 1 Hex
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Syphon Mind
• 1 Tempt with Discovery
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Witch's Vengeance

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Awakening Zone
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 From Beyond
• 1 Primal Vigor
• 1 Tombstone Stairwell
• 1 Virulent Plague

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (35)
• 11 Forest
• 11 Swamp
• 1 Blighted Woodland
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 High Market
• 1 Nurturing Peatland
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Woodland Cemetery

Buy This Deck Export text format

My favorite thing about this deck is the synergy between Grismold and the Eldrazi Spawn and Scion creature tokens. They're serviceable blockers, you can pop them for mana and you can do that at instant speed to pump Grismold if an opponent sets up a block that they think will be even or just barely in their favor.

Final Thoughts

If you've got a spot in your deck collection for a deck that's not going to combo off, isn't likely to overpower a table, will occasionally hand someone else the game, but which can also steal the occasional game; I definitely think Grismold is worth a look. If nothing else, the occasional time when you can play a Tombstone Stairwell with a decent graveyard and Grismold on the field will always be a lot of fun.

Before I sign off, I've got some exciting news. It looks like I might be a recurring guest host on the Commandercast podcast! Before you (or I) get too excited, I should note that Mark Mahler and I will be recording episodes that will be used as filler for those inevitable weekends where their normal schedule gets screwed up and they would otherwise not have anything to post. That means that in theory my appearances could be few and far between, but it's still a pretty big deal to me.

Our first recording should wind up being the Monday evening that this article is posted on CoolStuffInc.com. We'll be covering "evergreen" topics so that if it's months before a "filler episode" is needed, it should still be somewhat relevant. Our plan for this first one is to talk about Commander Damage.

If you've never heard of Commandercast you can check them out at www.commandercast.com. They're just the longest running Commander podcast in the world, though they'll be the first to admit they don't have the biggest audience and as of this writing they likely have the fewest advertisers (none). Check them out, and I'll keep you updated when I've got more news about this exciting new development in my Commander content creation!

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!