Gavin's Designer Genes - EDH Gameplay Breakdown: Decked Out
Particular card designs resonate with different players: MTGNerdGirl enjoys value engines and nostalgic mechanics, AirballMTG favors powerful cards with heavy downsides, and VeggieWagon likes odd angles with unique flavor. Principal Magic Designer Gavin Verhey has had a hand in designing cards that fit all these styles, so in the latest episode of Decked Out, they invited him to play a pod with all Gavin-influenced commanders.
Yennet, Cryptic Sovereign
Gavin makes an odd choice and shuffles up one of his favorite pet designs, Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign. Almost every aspect of the card is odd, and if he hits an odd-costed spell of the top of his library on attack, it gets cast for free. The deck looks to balance high-cost bombs, like Rise of the Dark Realms, library manipulation, with Sensei's Divining Top, and an Esper suite of interaction to control the board. Is Gavin too powerful piloting his own creation, or will his monsters kill their creator?
Blim, Comedic Genius
Airball gets to show off his pet deck, inspired by his favorite card, Demonic Pact. He plans to weigh down his opponents with the severe downsides of cards like Captive Audience and Abyssal Persecutor while Blim takes care of their life totals. That is, of course, if they don't just lose to the effects of something like Forbidden Crypt. Will Airball make a deal with the devil to win, or the game be the only thing he gives away?
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate
Veggie's deck pales in comparison to the others. GET IT? Okay, I'm sorry.
Omarthis has two strong abilities to compensate for the limited colorless card pool for deckbuilding. He quickly accumulates counters to present a commander damage threat, and he leaves behind a manifested army when he dies. Fast colorless mana from Thran Dynamo and Basalt Monolith set up for expensive spells like All Is Dust and Rise of the Eldrazi. Can Veggie ex out the other players, or is he not manifesting hard enough?
Captain N'ghathrod
NerdGirl has a horrible secret: she loves mill! Her legion of Horrors include the dreaded pair of Hullbreaker Horror and Toxrill, the Corrosive. If these horrific creatures aren't getting through for damage, NerdGirl can mill everyone out directly with Traumatize or Jace, the Perfected Mind. And if even that plan fails, she can use her opponents' best creatures against them via Breach the Multiverse or Captain N'ghathrod's ability. Will NerdGirl rule the deep, or will the curse never be lifted?
How It All Went Down
GoodCards.dec - The Early Game
Gavin takes an early lead with some simple ramp and two of the best white one-drops in the game: Esper Sentinel and Giver of Runes. Airball puts some pressure on the table with Slicer, Hired Muscle, who makes the usual Slicer rounds. Gavin safely lands Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign onto the board, so Veggie follows up with a Wandering Archaic to capitalize on any big spells. NerdGirl gets Captain N'ghathrod online and starts swinging, stealing a Steel Hellkite from Veggie.
Pure Comedy - The Mid Game
Yennett finds Gavin a free Sheoldred, Whispering One (thanks to some help from Sensei's Divining Top). It takes everyone's removal to deal with the Yennett-Giver of Runes-Sheoldred trio, opening the door for Gavin's hard-cast Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant. Airball manages to find a card type that isn't countered and casts Captive Audience, passing it immediately to NerdGirl because she's next in turn order. She responds by adding another mean and scary creature to the board: Toxrill, the Corrosive.
The Turn to End All Turns - The End Game
Facing down the imminent doom of Toxrill and the lockdown of Jin-Gitaxias, Veggie burns a Spatial Contortion to give Airball an opening to find answers. He starts with Mana Geyser to net 20 mana and then counters his own Commander's Sphere with Tibalt's Trickery, cascading into Null Profusion. This fuels a Jeska's Will into a [/el]Share the Spoils[/el], hitting Time Wipe out of Gavin's deck. Veggie's Wandering Archaic copies the board wipe, ensuring that everything dies in spite of NerdGirl's stolen Cauldron of Souls. The Zombies from Captive Audience show up to finish Airball off, and Gavin presents a lethal attack to the rest of the table. Veggie responds with a life-saving Desecrate Reality... only to have it countered by Gavin, sealing the win.
By the Numbers
Gavin-influenced commanders cast: 4
Mean permanents donated: 2
Spells copied: 6
Tops spun: too many
Watch the full episode of Decked Out here so Veggie can play blue again.
