Lighting the Torch Commander

Art by Volkan Baga

The last Elder Dragon Highlander deck I created had me twist my tongue to form aesthetically-pleasing sounds as I announced the name of each card I played during games. Now the "creatively-constrained Commander" torch is passing on and into the hands of my latest general: Tuktuk the Explorer.

The theme? Every card in the deck depicts a torch in its art (even the basic land).

Here's the decklist in text form then visual form. Below that, read about how this deck came to be.

Note: This deck is VERY weak in terms of power level. Don't play this if you like to win.

Commander (1)
Tuktuk the Explorer

Lands (40)
36 Mountain
Barbarian Ring
Hall of the Bandit Lord
Keldon Necropolis
Thespian's Stage

CMC 1 (7)
Blazing Torch
Goblin Balloon Brigade
Magus of the Scroll
Norin the Wary
Orcish Spy
Tunnel
War-Torch Goblin

CMC 2 (10)
Abbott of Keral Keep
Madcap Skills
Makeshift Munitions
Mogg Cannon
Reckless Reveler
Sanguinary Mage
Scent of Cinder
Subterranean Scout
Torch Fiend
Wall of Torches

CMC 3 (12)
Boggart Arsonists
Captive Flame
Deputized Protester
Enraged Revolutionary
Five-Alarm Fire
Ghitu Fire-Eater
Mark of Mutiny
Mudbutton Torchrunner
Orcish Cannoneers
Reiterate
Staff of the Flame Magus
Torch Song

CMC 4 (15)
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Dance with Devils
Fated Conflagration
Goblin Grenadiers
Goblin Razerunners
Hotheaded Giant
Impetuous Devils
Jeska, Warrior Adept
Pillaging Horde
Reign of Chaos
Talon of Pain
Tapestry of the Ages
Tooth and Claw
Vigilante Justice
War Barge

CMC 5 (7)
Blood Rites
Burn at the Stake
Eldrazi Monument
Pyromancer's Goggles
Storm Fleet Arsonist
Vulshok Battlemaster
Witch Hunt

CMC 6 (4)
Devils' Playground
Flayer of the Hatebound
Incite Rebellion
Inescapable Brute

CMC 7 (2)
Ignition Team
Vicious Shadows

CMC X (2)
Blasphemous Act
Kaervek's Torch

Lighting the Way

My previous execution of EDH restrictions with Rhys the Redeemed relied upon names of cards. For my second stab at creating a heavy constraint, I wanted to look elsewhere. Something that was, ideally, the opposite of text. That's when I moved my gaze from the top of the card toward the centerpiece of it: the art.

But what ABOUT the art? What am I supposed to care about? I didn't trust myself to be able to accurately determine consistently amongst cards I looked at whether or not a piece of art followed an art aspect that many might miss until they see a Magic Man Sam video or a Vorthos Mike tweet. I decided to only focus on literal depictions in the illustrations. That way, there'd be no dispute.

The theme I ultimately arrived at was: "a torch in the art." But what IS a torch? (Funny, I had to determine a specific definition for this deck just like I had to determine what made the cut for alliteration cards for my alliteration Commander deck.) Here's what I defined:

A static pole-like object with a flame-like source of light at one end used for means of illumination or destruction.

Here's what that means:

• The source of light doesn't have to be natural fire but should be fire-like
• I'm ignoring that flashlights are called "torches" in real life in parts of the real world and that flashlights don't meet the above definition since the light that emanates isn't "flame-like"
• Depicted torches don't have to be possibly portable. I'm not talking about torches mounted on dungeon-crawler walls. I mean ones that you can't feasibly pick up and carry around. See The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for an example of a stationary torch
• Torches sometimes are used to light your way but sometimes used to set fire to things. Both uses are embraced for this deck.
• Candles don't count
• Cauldrons of fire don't count
• The focus is on whether the depicted object FEELS like a torch more than other types of fiery and/or illuminating objects
• Humanoids are not torches
• "Torch" in the name or flavor text doesn't count

Torchling by rk post

I debated whether to count candles since a candle is a long, cylindrical object. I decided that the concept of a "candlelit dinner" was important enough of a feeling that a "torchlit dinner" couldn't fulfill (instead gives a different feeling) that the same should go for "candelight" versus "torchlight." Candles were out.

Cauldrons of fire. You see this at the Olympic games after the Olympic torch is used to light it. And in other places where a receptacle is HOLDING fire within it. This is no torch.

Let's talk "no humanoids." I'm looking mostly at Chandra, but also at Torchling. I decided that even though Chandra's silhouette, when she stands perfectly straight while enflamed could resemble a torch, using Chandra would kill the spirit of the torch deck. There's a LOT of artwork that uses Chandra. And, for at least the planeswalker cards, her presence in the artwork would be overpowering enough.

Like Mark Rosewater says about Magic design, "If the theme isn't at common, it isn't your theme." The reason that is the case is because folks see commons most often in a booster pack of any given set. Including Chandra means you'd see more of her rather than other kinds of art most commonly. The torch theme would take a hit.

...Sadly, as much as I want this power and despite the name "Torchling", that "alternate reality Morphling" is also out. The focus was more on it being a red Morphling than it being a living embodiment of torches (shout out to Wall of Torches for being that "living" embodiment).

Lastly, "torch" in the name is a no-no. Same goes for flavor text. The focus of this deck is torches in art. Not mentions of "torch" elsewhere. 

Trial by Fire

So, how did I go about building the deck? Oh, goodness. Lemme tell ya.

Before deciding on which torch commander to use, here were my possibilities: Tuktuk, Norin, Thraximundar, and Sedris. 

I decided Sedris' torches were more like burning effigies, which were their own feel, less of a torch. For Thrax compared with Tuktuk and Norin, I felt like there wasn't as strong of a torch connection for Thraximundar, even though I REALLY wanted to include blue due to Ixalan's Marauding Looter.

Marauding Looter by Jason A. Engle

Lastly, Norin was already its own novel gag as a commander and more popular on EDHRec. Tuktuk is the one that felt most like a champion of the torch (and the one that needs most a (torch)light shined upon 'im).

After deciding on this monored commander, the realization sunk in that I was super lucky to only have one color to deal with. Because the next task of finding cards with torches in the art is not an easy one. You can't filter card on Scryfall by "torch." So thus began, months ago, the arduous task of searching every single red identity card that exists in Magic - which includes artifact cards.

Luckily, Scryfall has a "save" feature that lets you save up to 100 cards, which I found was plenty considering just how few choices there are available in the "torch in the art" card pool. A life-saving resource as I spent many commutes on the train to and from work doing the manual work of scrolling through search results on my phone and scrutinizing card art for tiny little depictions of torches. 

As an aside, by happenstance, Cube April happened to mention the topic of filtering Scryfall results by depictions of things in the art while I had this blog post in its draft state (It's what spurred me to expedite finishing this post!).

So, after weeks of searching through every single red and artifact card that existed in Magic, saving cards I found using Scryfall's save feature, what was the next task? Doing it again.

You know that phenomenon that happens when you're reading a novel or otherwise a passage of text, and you catch your mind was elsewhere, resulting you in not actually absorbing the information you were reading and thus requiring you to re-read the text? I figured the same thing might have happened while I was scrolling through art after art. ...and the result of the second pass of red cards and artifact cards? I ended up finding MANY cards I missed during my first pass. Whew.

Throughout my two passes, I came upon some cards that, even with a definition above, I still couldn't determine if was an eligible torch card. Sometimes, I took to Twitter and asked. And in some of those cases, if the artist was accessible on Twitter, I just asked the creator of the art directly!

Like when trying to determine whether some specks of red above an archway in the background was a candle or a torch (remember: candles don't qualify) for the art of Blasphemous Act, and I really hoped to have Blasphemous Act count in my torch card pool for having access to a mass creature board wipe. So, I asked the artist of the card, Daarken:

After the two passes, and scrutinizing and asking questions, I worked on a list from my available card pool. Very little synergy to work with, I did manage to find a few cute little interactions. Even by now, I'm sure maybe there are some cards I cut that I didn't think counted that perhaps should be counted and, conversely, some cards I included that maybe shouldn't have.

Anyway, below are some of the highlights of moments I had during my torch commander journey. Thanks for reading, and you can catch me and this deck in action in games of Commander at Grand Prix Portland. :) See you there.

Illuminations

• "Chandra, Torch of Defiance", despite my two rules above against humanoids and word mentions, still was eligible. That's because the San Diego Comic-Con 2017 promotional art for Torch of Defiance depicts a person holding up a REAL torch to the wall art of Chandra.
• The Card Kingdom website listed Orcish Spy's set versions but not its art versions. I only needed the Fallen Empires version with specifically art #61c, and not the #61a that the site only displayed from Fallen Empires. I put in an order and mentioned in the notes of the order to grab that specific art I needed. They were able to fulfill the request. :)
• Norin and Vigilante Justice is a funny combo
• Ixalan was fantastic timing for providing torch cards since pirates like to hold torches
• Angry mobs of townsfolk like in Innistrad like to hold torches
• Devils REALLY like torches
• War Barge on opponents' creatures then sacrificing War Barge to Makeshift Munitions = LOL
• I'm PRETTY sure that orange glow at the end of protrusion of the silhouette of one of the three humanoids depicted in the art for the Basic Mountain I included in my deck means there's a torch depicted in the art. If not, no big deal: basic lands already have exception rulings in Commander.
• Subterranean Scout + Goblin Grenadiers is the kind of creature removal this deck is about
• Tunnel is my favorite card I hope I can cast one day in a Commander game

NaGaDeMon #03: Nongreen Faction Mechanic

Let's talk green. Green does varying things. But green absolutely does NOT do flying. Like, there's the five iconic large races: Dragons, Angels, Demons, Sphinxes, & Hydras. Green is the only one that doesn't get a flier.

On top of that, green goes out of its way to hurt fliers. The only thing that rivals green's hatred of flying is its aversion to artificial stuff. Specifically, artifacts. But let's not talk about artifacts. We just got Kaladesh happening. Let's do flying. Because every nongreen color does flying (yes, even red a little bit).

The nongreen mechanic focuses on "flying matters." It's supposed to encourage you to have flying creatures. What's the best way to do this? Time to brainstorm:

• As long as you control a creature with flying, EFFECT
• Whenever you attack with one or more creatures with flying, EFFECT
• Copilot (At end of turn, if this creature and another creature with flying attacked this turn, this creature gets a +1/+1 counter.)
• Whenever a creature you control with flying dies, EFFECT
• Whenever you cast a creature spell with flying, EFFECT
• Whenever a creature with flying enters the battlefield under your control, EFFECT
• Tailwind -- whenever a creature with flying enters the battlefield under your control, EFFECT
• Gust -- as long as a creature with flying you control attacked this turn, EFFECT
• At end of turn, if each creature you control has flying, EFFECT
• At end of turn, if a creature with flying entered the battlefield under your control this turn, EFFECT
• At end of turn, if a creature with flying you control dealt combat damage this turn, EFFECT
• At end of turn, if a creature with flying you control attacked this turn, EFFECT
• At end of turn, if a creature with flying you control died this turn, EFFECT
• Copilot - As long as you control two or more creatures with flying, EFFECT
• Flock - As long as you control three or more creature with flying, EFFECT
• Fleet - As long as two or more creatures with flying you control are attacking, EFFECT

Whew. Lots of possible designs. The type of effect we go for might depend upon what the other mechanics in the set are, whether we can set up some mechanical synergy (and determine via playtesting what isn't fun). Let's just design some cards now just generally supporting the flying matters theme:

Wingman

2W

Creature - Bird Soldier

Flying

Copilot (At end of turn, if this creature and another creature with flying attacked this turn, this creature gets a +1/+1 counter.)

Aeroclasm

1R

Sorcery

CARDNAME deals 2 damage to each creature without flying.

Ink and Quill

2U

Sorcery

Draw three cards then discard two cards. If you control a creature with flying, discard one card instead.

Bat Buddy

1B

Creature - Bat

Flying

Fleet - As long as two or more creatures with flying you control are attacking, this creature gets +1/+1.

Catapulting Goblin

1R

Creature - Goblin Warrior

When CARDNAME ETB, target creature you control gains flying until EOT.

2/1

Birds of a Feather

3W

Instant

Create two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying and copilot. (At the end of each turn, if a creature with copilot and another creature with flying attacked that turn, the creature with copilot gets a +1/+1 counter.)

(Man, Birds of a Feather was difficult to template. And it may not even be completely correct. But thank goodness for Hornet Nest existing giving a great example of how to write out reminder text for a keyword ability when multiple creature tokens are created that have multiple keyword abilities.)

'kay, that is all.

NaGaDeMon #02: Nonblue Faction Mechanic

When I last attempted to do a nonblue faction, I was preoccupied with the idea of doing vanilla creatures. Blue being the color that has the lower number of creatures and the highest number of flying creatures meant that it seemed like vanilla was at home being maximized with four colors but also still an identity with the exclusion of blue.

I moved on from that after listening to Mark Rosewater's Drive to Work podcast on vanillas. Going into that podcast, I was thinking that maybe I could listen to his argument and think of solutions around the obstacles poised. I ended up agreeing with his points in the end and dropped the crusade.

However, along the way, as well, while figuring out "What does blue NOT do that every other color does?" one answer was pointed out to me: blue doesn't destroy (for the most part).

If you were to do a search of all blue common cards that mention "destroy," you'd find there's only eight cards. EIGHT. In all of Magic. Compare that with white, black, red, and green. You'd find somewhere in the ballpark of 70 to 100 cards at common for each of these colors.

So, that's it: blue doesn't destroy (it bounces or counters) (except when blue polymorphs). The other colors do.

Let's try some mechanical wording:

• Whenever a permanent an opponent controls is destroyed, EFFECT
• Whenever one or more permanents not controlled by you or a teammate is destroyed, EFFECT
• If a permanent an opponent controlled was destroyed this turn, EFFECT
• EFFECT X, where X is equal to the number of permanents controlled by opponents destroyed this turn
• As long as a permanent an opponent controlled was destroyed this turn, EFFECT
• Whenever one or more permanents not controlled by you is destroyed, if this creature isn't destructive, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes destructive.

Destructive Rhino

4G

Creature - Rhino

Destructive -- CARDNAME has trample as long as a permanent an opponent controlled was destroyed this turn.

4/4

Destructive Burn Spell

R

Instant

CARDNAME deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Destructive -- CARDNAME deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead as long as a permanent an opponent controlled was destroyed this turn.

Destructionthirsty Vampire

2B

Creature - Vampire

Destructionthirst (At end of turn, if a permanent controlled by an opponent was destroyed this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)

Evil-Destroyer Warrior

1W

Creature - Human Warrior

Destructive (Whenever one or more permanents not controlled by you is destroyed, if this creature isn't destructive, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes destructive)

2/2

I have a concert to go to now. I'm now in designed-cards debt already. I owe a bit more in the future!

NaGaDeMon: The Gathering #01

To lessen the barrier to success, each of my blog posts for my run at National Game Design Month will be low-effort in prose and how informative they are. The focus of my energy is on the actual game designing. I'll be shooting for minimalist updates.

In one month, I plan to do this:

• Design all the commons in a "four colors matters" Magic: The Gathering set
• Design some non-commons (uncommons and/or rares)
• Have five built, playable decks that each showcase a four-color combination

Here's the schedule I have planned out:

Day 01: Set up common design skeleton
Day 02 - Day 06: Mechanical strategy and designed commons for each four-color combination
Day 07 - Day 08: Fill in rest of common slots with necessary designs
Day 09: Physically assemble playtest decks
Day 10: Playtest: Single Card Evaluation, Iteration 1
Day 11: Make fixes
Day 12: Playtest: Single Card Evaluation, Iteration 2
Day 13: Make fixes
Day 14: Playtest: Card Combinations Evaluation, Iteration 1
Day 15: Make fixes
Day 16: Playtest: Card Combinations Evaluation, Iteration 2
Day 17: Make fixes
Day 18: Playtest: Single Mechanic Evaluation, Iteration 1
Day 19: Make fixes
Day 20: Playtest: Single Mechanic Evaluation, Iteration 2
Day 21: Make fixes
Day 22: Playtest: Mechanical Combinations, Iteration 1
Day 23: Make fixes
Day 24: Playtest: Mechanical Combinations, Iteration 2
Day 25: Make fixes
Day 26: Physically provide finishing touches to the five decks
Day 27: Have a playtest with another Magic player using these decks

This gives me three days of wiggle room. Which, actually, is not even enough considering what I have planned for November: road trip, Grant Prix Portland, Thanksgiving

However, theoretically, I can meet my NaGaDeMon goal just by completing Days 1 through 9 and then Day 27. Ideally, I'd do more, of course. :)

Now for my update for Day 01: a common design skeleton set up:

W01: nonblue faction
W02: nonblue faction
W03: nonblack faction
W04: nonblack faction
W05: nonred faction
W06: nonred faction
W07: nongreen faction
W08: nongreen faction
W09: nonblue + nonblack factions
W10: nonblue + nonred factions
W11: nonblue + nongreen factions
W12: nonblack + nonred factions
W13: nonblack+ nongreen factions
W14: nonred + nongreen factions
W15: wildcard
U01: nonblack faction
U02: nonblack faction
U03: nonred faction
U04: nonred faction
U05: nongreen faction
U06: nongreen faction
U07: nonwhite faction
U08: nonwhite faction
U09: nonblack + nonred factions
U10: nonblack + nongreen factions
U11: nonblack + nonwhite factions
U12: nonred + nongreen factions
U13: nonred + nonwhite factions
U14: nongreen + nonwhite factions
U15: wildcard
B01: nonred faction
B02: nonred faction
B03: nongreen faction
B04: nongreen faction
B05: nonwhite faction
B06: nonwhite faction
B07: nonblue faction
B08: nonblue faction
B09: nonred + nongreen factions
B10: nonred + nonwhite factions
B11: nonred + nonblue factions
B12: nongreen + nonwhite factions
B13: nongreen + nonblue factions
B14: nonwhite + nonblue factions
B15: wildcard
R01: nongreen faction
R02: nongreen faction
R03: nonwhite faction
R04: nonwhite faction
R05: nonblue faction
R06: nonblue faction
R07: nonblack faction
R08: nonblack faction
R09: nongreen + nonwhite factions
R10: nongreen + nonblue factions
R11: nongreen + nonblack factions
R12: nonwhite + nonblue factions
R13: nonwhite + nonblack factions
R14: nonblue + nonblack factions
R15: wildcard
G01: nonwhite faction
G02: nonwhite faction
G03: nonblue faction
G04: nonblue faction
G05: nonblack faction
G06: nonblack faction
G07: nonred faction
G08: nonred faction
G09: nonwhite + nonblue factions
G10: nonwhite + nonblack factions
G11: nonwhite + nonred factions
G12: nonblue + nonblack factions
G13: nonblue + nonred factions
G14: nonblack + nonred factions
G15: wildcard
X01: WU
X02: UB
X03: BR
X04: RG
X05: GW
X06: WB
X07: UR
X08: BG
X09: RW
X10: GU
X11: WUBR
X12: UBRG
X13: BRGW
X14: RGWU
X15: GWUB
A01: mana fix
A02: mana fix
A03: mana fix
A04: mana fix
A05: mana fix
L01: mana fix
L02: mana fix
L03: mana fix
L04: mana fix
L05: mana fix
A/L: wildcard

The Fourth Tribe

Source: http://magic.wizards.com/en/products/commander-2017

Note: This is a speculation blog post.

TL:DR, here are my speculative claims:

• Mardu (Black-Red-White) Vampires
• Grixis (Blue-Black-Red) Wizards

(We already know Rainbow (All Colors) Dragons & Selesnya (Green-White) Cats from leaks.)

Here's the long version:

Previous to the time of this writing, Wizards & Gavin Verhey (lead designer of Commander 2017) announced that this year's Commander products would be tribal-focused. Also, by this time, leaks confirmed a couple tribes: Cats and Dragons.

Recently, the Commander 2017 product page was updated to contain four banners, one for each tribe.

The cat and dragon decks that were leaked are featured in two of the four banners. For the other two, a Vampire-looking man is depicted in one and a woman surrounded by what look like cultist men depicted in the other.

The Vampire-looking man probably means Vampires tribal. Which makes sense. When you look at EDHRec's most popular tribes, Vampires are 6th, out of 66 tribal decks. However, there isn't much tribal-focused support from among the available Vampire commanders. And, going down the list, starting from the most popular, there's already strong support for Zombies, Goblins, Elves, Dragons, & Slivers.

What about the final tribe? I'm guessing Wizards. Here's why:

• Dragons are five color (info gained from leaks)
• Cats are white and green (info gained from leaks)
• Vampires should be at least black. In Innistrad world, they're black-red. In Zendikar, they're black-white (along with Sorin). Combining all of this means Mardu (black-red-white) Vampires. But, also, color schemes of the art can tell you a card's colors. If you look at the art representing Vampires, you see a lot of black, red, and white. It's devoid of blue and green. Also, the possible narrative/story told of the moment depicted in the art gives a very white-potential feeling. A lord being outfitted and served sustenance in orderly fashion.

Source: http://magic.wizards.com/en/products/commander-2017

Wizards. Going beyond Vampires in the list of popular commanders on EDHRec, we have: Wizards, Humans, Allies, Eldrazi, Angels, Spirits, Elementals, Merfolk, Snakes, Clerics, Soldiers, and beyond.

Wizards only have one real commander: Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Thus, most of the tribal Wizards decks built has this creature as its commander. But it's VERY popular.

Going beyond Wizards, we have Humans. This is probably just by happenstance since there are TONS of Humans, only by coincidence, when Humans used to only be Soldiers, Minions, etc. Allies have great support. Eldrazi means probably no blue colors, which is no bueno. Blue players would be sad that Dragons is the only deck with blue in it. Angels would be white but Cats and Vampires are already white. There's already lots of Spirits-matters commanders. Elementals also have a good lord. 

Sadly, Merfolk also need help but there are four times as many Wizard decks as there are Merfolk decks. And Wizards are predominantly blue, same with Merfolk. And Merfolk's other colors are mostly green and white, colors already strongly represented in Cats and Vampires. Some other time, then, Merfolk.

Lastly, my last piece of support for Wizards: the Pokemon Contest theory.

In Pokemon video games, there is an aspect called Pokemon Contests. Pokemon have moves for battling but could also use moves in these contests. Each move is categorized into one of five:

• Tough
• Cute
• Cool
• Beautiful
• Clever/Smart

So, since tribal decks for Commander 2017 were announced to NOT focus on the color wheel so much, then what ARE the primary drivers? I say the above attributes are. If you're looking to buy only ONE deck, and you ignore colors (and MTG finance), you're going to want to choose the tribe that fits your personality most.

Cats are cute (and beautiful).

Dragons are tough (and could also be cool)

Vampires are cool (and could also be beautiful)

That leaves Clever (and Beautiful, but Cats and Vampires and even Dragons can be considered beautiful). Wizards one of the most Clever tribes. Wizards are mostly blue. Blue is Clever.

Wizards are the final Clever deck, then. We have Wizards tribal as the fourth tribe.
Bonus: "Wizards of the Coast" cheekiness, Harry Potter & Gandalf made Wizards all the rage

As for Wizard colors:

• Blue, obviously
• Black is the next most popular color for creatures that are Wizards. And there is only black in the three-color Vampires deck. Still enough room to include black in Wizards
• Red has less Wizards than White, but Red is the only other color besides Blue to CARE about Wizards. And white and green are both already well-represented in other tribal decks.

Lastly, the art for the face of Wizards shows a lot of black along with blues, purples. Purple is a combo of blue and red. The lots of black points me towards Black, along with the cultist hooded dudes vibe. The purple color points me toward representing red in there.

This was my hot take of a blog post. Thanks for reading. The end. :)

Alliteration Commander

Art by Steve Prescott

"Cast Time Stretch off the top of my library. It's copied because of Melek, so I'll get an extra four turns after this one."

This paraphrases a play I made at a Commander house party many years ago with people I haven't met before. Needless to say, this wasn't very fun for my opponents as evidenced by their faces expressing boredom and perhaps masking annoyance. This marked the only time in my Commander career where I made a hypothesis about an aspect of my deck not being fun (but fun for me) and then experimented anyway to see if the results turned out as expected. When Izzet goes bad, I guess!

When building a Commander deck without restrictions in place, you have enough cards at your disposal to push the envelope in terms of power level ...and how much you can violate the social contract of your play group. If you're trying to build a deck that you enjoy but don't want to do something like combo off on turn three or make all of your opponents go from 0 poison counters to 10 poison counters all at once ...then how much should you be pulling your punch? Social contracts vary among play groups, so you'll have a different answer depending on whom you're playing with.

"I will never again cast spells that grant me extra turns," I declared to myself. So then I had to determine what WAS appropriate socially for my Melek deck. I eventually just took apart the deck because I couldn't figure out a deck approach that I was happy with that also wasn't hurting others' fun.

Fast forward to years later, I was able to figure out how I can be happy as a Commander player but still optimize the deck I'm building without worrying whether I've "gone too far." The key to my happiness: build a deck around a theme that has a suffocatingly restrictive card pool.

Building Boundaries

Art by Eric Deschamps

The first deck I built following this rule was a Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh deck. Already locking myself into monored, I didn't stop there. I told myself, "You can only cast spells that a pyromancer can cast." This meant no earth magic or lightning magic. This also meant no non-fiery type of stuff like Sol Ring and Solemn Simulacrum (Magic Man Sam would be proud).

Aside for those wondering: despite Pathfinder & Ogre Battle 64 treating a combination of fire and earth to be "lava," and Legend of Korra treating lavabending as an advancement of earthbending; because Jaya Ballard flavor text appears for Wall of Lava and Lava Burst, I allowed myself to play with lavamancy as well like Volcanic Visions.

Yes, I lost the games I played while piloting the pyromancy deck. But I was happy in those games! I was able to showcase something cool I created but also not have to worry about whether I needed to have dialed it back when building the deck. A Johnny player satisfied.

This brings me to the present and my latest deck, having completed it last night in time for playing with it at Grand Prix Las Vegas. Instead of "only play with fire" as my restriction, I decided on "only play alliteration cards."

Looking over the available legendary creatures, I decided on Rhys the Redeemed. A popular commander, I know, and I'll inherently have a weaker deck than other Rhys decks. Sorry, Dragonlord Dromoka - you came close, though.

Before we go further, let's share the decklist:

Rhys the Redeemed Alliteration Commander

Commander (1)
Rhys the Redeemed

Lands (40)
Grove of the Guardian
Mystifying Maze
Saltcrustred Steppe
Secluded Steppe
Sejiri Steppe
Selesnya Sanctuary
Seraph's Sanctuary
Serra's Sanctum
18 Forests
14 Plains

CMC 1 (4)
Font of Fertility
Soul Snare
Sylvan Safekeeper
Weathered Wayfarer

CMC 2 (10)
Call of the Conclave
Captain's Claws
Devoted Druid
Metallic Mimic
Seeker of Skybreak
Selesnya Signet
Selfless Spirit
Sprout Swarm
Sylvan Scrying
Whisperer of the Wilds

CMC 3 (13)
Adaptive Automaton
Caller of the Claw
Emrakul's Evangel
Flash Foliage
Griffin Guide
Mentor of the Meek
Monastery Mentor
Scion Summoner
Sosuke's Summons
Soul Separator
Stasis Snare
Stonybrook Schoolmaster
Weirding Wood

CMC 4 (12)
Captain's Call
Captured by the Consulate
Carrion Call
Chameleon Colossus
Dawn to Dusk
Dusk // Dawn
Faith's Fetters
Sanctifier of Souls
Saproling Symbiosis
Seed Spark
Solemn Simulacrum
Summon the School

CMC 5 (10)
Cathars' Crusade
Consulate Crackdown
Gutter Grime
Herald of the Host
Kessig Cagebreakers
Privileged Position
Scatter the Seeds
Silklash Spider
Sphere of Safety
Splitting Slime

CMC 6 (1)
Argentum Armor

CMC 7 (2)
Silent Sentinel
Summoning Station

CMC 8 (1)
Silver Seraph

CMC (1)
Worldspine Wurm

CMC X (5)
Alliance of Arms*
Chord of Calling
Gelatinous Genesis
Hooded Hydra
Riptide Replicator

* Alliance of Arms technically doesn't have X in its cost, but it may as well since it's like "Group X" is in its cost

Art by Magali Villeneuve

Alliteration Amendments

For the longest time, I actually had a different commander in mind for my alliteration deck: Atogatog. Not only is that creature a cool one, but I would have access to all five colors, maximizing my alliteration potential. Along the way, though, I figured out two problems with choosing Atagatog:
1) All Atog creatures aren't alliterations ...and I don't like playing a commander that is only utilized for its colors.
2) Atagatog violated my alliteration rules.

The traditional rules for alliteration allow for card names like Sandsower and Coursers' Accord (apologies if either of those two examples are false - I wasn't an English major). Sandsower has the 's' sound twice within its one word. Coursers' Accord are two words that don't share the same sound at the beginning of each word, but the emphasized syllables both have the same sound.

In Sandsower's case, I looked at cards that was only one word. Like Mirari. It doesn't have any other word to form an alliteration with in the card name. But if I allow Sandsower, then these single-word cards would be an exception when other cards with more than one word, like Privileged Position, do not have alliterative syllables but still are alliteration cards themselves.

For Coursers' Accord, I realized I could make mistakes on whether a card fulfills alliteration as I try to sound out card names and determine which are the stressed syllables.

For simplicity's sake, and to avoid disputes on legitimacy of one of my cards while the deck is in action, I set some alliteration restrictions:

Rule #1: No single-worded (or zero-worded) cards
Rule #2: Non-capitalized words like "the" or "of" aren't factored into alliteration
Rule #3: Use the beginning sound of each word for alliteration fulfillment
Rule #4: Single words on split cards are fine as long as both sides of the split card are alliterative
Rule #5: Both the front and back of the card of a double-faced card must be alliterations
Rule #6: How I personally read aloud cards is the basis for checking for alliteration
Rule #7: Alliteration rules don't apply to basic lands (they are also the only cards that are allowed more than one of in commander, already setting a precedent that they're exceptions)

Art by Dan Scott

Fun Facts

• I didn't have a creature board wipe until Amonkhet released Dusk // Dawn
• Dusk // Dawn and Dawn to Dusk both exist and are in my deck
• Sosuke, Son of Seshiro was a serious contender until I figured out there's not enough in the card pool to support this triple-alliterative commander
• There's three alliterative Ooze token-creating cards
• I went back-and-forth on whether Alliance of Arms was legal for my deck. Ultimately, I was too hung up on how I say "Ally" (which has a different beginning sound from how I say "Alliance") and determined I was able to say "Alliance of Arms" to where it sounds alliterative
• Selesnya Signet and Selesnya Sanctuary are so luckily alliteration to contribute toward having a smooth mana base
• I hope Wizards creates a Bant commander that is alliterative because Seaside Citadel and Simic Signet are waiting for their time in the sun
• There's a whole heck of a lot of alliteration token-creating cards; is it something about the cuteness of tokens that makes card name writers want to alliterate? Or are there just so many token-creating cards that there's bound to be lots of alliteration cards?
• Sweet Synergy: Seraph Sanctuary, Herald of the Host, Rhys the Redeemed
• There were enough green and/or white enchantment cards that mattered that I was able to have an enchantment sub-theme that supports Sphere of Safety and Serra's Sanctum!
• Alas, Solemn Simulacrum is alliterative ...but this time I feel great including the card!
• I don't think I can now NOT notice, during spoiler season, when a new alliterative card is released

Art by Noah Bradley

Parting Paragraph

Thanks for reading. I had a blast creating this deck, both in finishing it but also while looking for cards that fit into my alliteration card pool. It's often a delight to discover cards that are perfect for the deck's gameplay but also still is alliterative. And I'll look forward to having a lot more fun as I read aloud the names of the spells I cast at Grand Prix Las Vegas. Hope to see you there!

Three-Color Amonkhet and Dominaria Return

Deep Analysis by Jesper Ejsing

Disclaimer: this is a speculation/prediction blog post on yet-to-be-released Magic: The Gathering products (as of the time of this writing). This was published before the Spring 2017 Announcement Day (March 31st, 2017). I have not obtained access to any sort of leaked information regarding Amonkhet or products releasing after Amonkhet. If something like this doesn't interest you, I wouldn't recommend reading further.

Too Long, Didn't Read

For those who want to get right into the good stuff, here's the list of predictions I'm making:

• Amonkhet will have three-color arc (shard) Gods
• Multicolor Traps and Curses will debut in Amonkhet
• Amonkhet will have Magic's first Naya-colored planeswalker
• Amonkhet will have a Simic-colored Nissa
• Garruk will return in Hour of Devastation
• Amonkhet block's Masterpiece Series will feature gold cards
• Duel Decks: Ajani vs. Tezzeret will release in the Fall
• Commander 2017 will be five decks of two-color ally combinations
• The Fall block will take place somewhere in Dominaria
• The third Un-set will either release in August 2017 or sometime in 2018 or 2019
• NOTE: If the third Un-set product will be releasing sometime between Spring 2017 and Spring 2018, then the announcement of the third Un-set may be on either March 31st, 2017 or April 1st, 2017

No predictions attempted for:

• From the Vault series
• Masters series (Modern Masters, Eternal Masters, Vintage Masters)

Read further for details on how I arrived at the predictions:

Three-Color Arc (Shard) Gods

Amonkhet marketing material mentions five trials of the five gods. Five means color factions. Gods means return of God creature type. We need something new for Gods. We need three-color Gods.

We just had four-color cards in Commander 2016. And monocolored and two-color Gods have already been done. This leaves three colors. Khans of Tarkir was more recent than Shards of Alara. Best to do Shards of Alara's arc colors.

I also arrived at this conclusion from three other vantage points: studying the art of the Gods, the marketing material regarding the trials of the five gods, and the booster packaging for Amonkhet.

For the packaging, a large set normally has five different types of art on booster packs. Amonkhet is no different. Usually, three of the five booster packs feature planeswalkers that will be in the set (An exception to this was featuring Elspeth and two gods for Theros packs).

But the hard(er) exception to the three-planeswalkers-out-of-five-booster-pack-wrappings is when there are five factions featured for the set. Return to Ravnica and Khans of Tarkir were five-faction sets that contained five different booster wrappings. When it comes to this case, non-planeswalkers are chosen for the booster pack depictions, one for each faction. When we look at Amonkhet's booster pack wrappings, this seems to be the case, supporting the claim for five factions for Amonkhet (in this case, five three-color arc factions).

Then there's the art of the five gods that have been released gives some clues. Studying the art for each of these gods reveals the kind of colors associated with these gods. Usually, art for a card tends to use colors or depictions within the art that tie themselves toward the color(s) of the card itself. Usually.

Let's take a look at them:

The Bird God is the one floating highest in the sky. Flying is attributed toward white and blue most of all. But black has flying at third. The colors of the background show whiteness to the clouds, and blue hues overall. But also some heavy shadows, to indicate some black mana.

As for Birds, most of them are marked for white, blue, then black.

This is an Esper-colored God.

The Cat God has the most troublesome art. There's not much greenery going on in any of the God art. There's a bit for the Snake God. And the art in this shows some black going on. And there's mummies. White-aligned zombies? Anyway, other vantage points clue me in to the decision to mark this as a Naya-colored God. For example, Cats are most prominent in red, green, and white. Another push toward Naya. Lastly, the top three colors for Archers (there's a bow wielded by this Cat God) is white, green, and red (red narrowly defeats blue and black).

Finally, there have been art that uses colors or depictions that you wouldn't think tie themselves toward the color(s) of the card the art is for. An example is Athreos, God of Passage. There isn't much that leads me to believe Athreos is a white god in terms of colors used (the blindfold it has gives the sense of white).  There's so much green color. You might also think it's a mono-black God, if not a Golgari-colored God.

The Crocodile God depicts zombies, yo. Some dark ones. And there's a huge overcast. There's some black mana going on here. There's a red dusk color. Red.

Crocodiles are mostly in green. Combine all these factors together, and you get a Jund-colored God.

The Hound God. Or, the "Jackal", most famous for being a God of Death. Appropriately, this is the darkest-colored piece of art. Lots of shadow intensity. There's also a red dusk color prominent in the art. Yet, some blue is coloring the sky to make some purple look as well. With black being the center for death, this makes sense as the Grixis God.

Interestingly, the creature type association here doesn't hold up for Hounds. There's only one blue Hound, and that was a bend to make it a part of a cycle of Hounds.

Laslty, the Snake God. This one is the brightest-hued of them all, leading me to believe that there is no black color in this. There's a waterfall. Blue. But Snakes are mostly green. Its organized command over the smaller guys has a sense of order and structure that white likes. This God is Bant-colored.

Lastly, there's the marketing material for the Trials of the Five Gods. The five trials are: Solidarity, Knowledge, Ambition, Strength, and Zeal.

Here's the breakdown I have:

• Snake God of Solidarity: Green, White, Blue
• Bird God of Knowledge: White, Blue, Black
• Hound God of Ambition: Blue, Black, Red
• Crocodile God of Strength: Black, Red, Green
• Cat God of Zeal: Red, Green, White

For Solidarity, I tied it to the Snake God because the card Solidarity is centered in white. But also that it seems to be standing together with its followers.

Zeal is most found in red and white. You get passionate about doing what's right, whether it's breaking free of the rigidity of law or enforcing order to prevent reckless negative infliction toward society. When you pair red and white, you can get green to meet in the middle. And when you have white, red, and green, you can have Cats. Or Archers. Tied to the Cat God then.

One way to attain strength is to collect in high numbers. That's what the Crocodile God is doing. And black values attaining strength, red using strength to solve problems, and green's natural "survival of the fittest". Strength belongs to Jund. It belongs to the Crocodile God.

The pursuit of knowledge can often be a solitary endeavor, especially as you attain higher and higher amounts of knowledge - you get less peers. The Bird God is far and away from its followers, seemingly in a state of philosophizing. Besides, blue is THE color for knowledge, which is the central color for the Esper-colored Bird God.

Lastly, we get Ambition. Black has ambition. The Hound God is most tied toward black. But, also, incidentally, for Theros - there was a similar marketing campaign, for the monocolored Gods of that world. And the black color's association? Ambition. Seeing as the Grixis Hound God has its central color in black, this one's a shoo-in.

Multi-Color Traps and Curses

Traps! Those debuted in the original Zendikar block.
Curses! Those debuted in the original Innistrad block.

So, why wheren't those brought back in the retun to the worlds of Zendikar and Innistrad? Well, besides only focusing on what was best and most memorable of the original blocks and cutting the rest (which is an important thing to do, especially when you wanna include new stuff and twists), not including Curses and Traps means you can save them for another appropriate time.

Pop culture Egyptian mythology includes traps that guard the tombs of dead kings. But also curses that can befall upon peoples. Amonkhet would be great for those to return to Magic. After all, there are TRIALS that the denizens of this plane train their whole lives for. It could be that the challenges involve traps and curses.

But what fresh twist can we do to make Traps and Curses exciting? Ah. Every Curse and Tap has been monocolored so far. Gold Traps and Curses it is!

The First Naya-Colored Planeswalker

Whenever we move to a plane focused on multicolor, it's an opportunity to have an abundance of multicolor planeswalkers. Shards of Alara block had its first Grixis planeswalker and a then a couple multicolor ones. Return to Ravnica block had Vraska, Domri Rade, and Ral Zarek. Khans of Tarkir is a little weird in that it wasn't designed to be a multicolor block. Even then, we got a Temur-colored Sarkhan Vol. As a surprise, Tamiyo became Bant-colored, which fills in yet more of the missing three-color combos for planeswalkers. And then there's this block.

When doing a three-color-focused set, we have a strong opportunity for this. Hour of Devastation will already have Nicol Bolas. And I feel having one three-color planeswalker per set of Amonkhet block would be best. So, Amonkhet - but why Naya?

I think the colors most far and away from Grixis would be good, to balance out colors across planeswalkers in the block. But also a focus on what HASN'T been done before. We're not doing wedge colors. Tamiyo did Bant. And Esper and Jund are both too close to Bolas' Grixis colors. That leaves Naya.

NOTE: When I say Naya-colored planeswalker, I just mean red, green white. Not from Naya. Though, it definitely is possible to have a planeswalker from Naya (see: Tamiyo)

Simic-Colored Nissa

When viewing the planeswalkers in any one particular block, the colors tend to try to be evenly divided across the colors. Gideon being white and Liliana being black, along with Nicol bolas being black, red, and blue. And when you take into account the Naya planeswalker mentioned above, you get the following for the number of colors represented:

White: 2
Blue: 2
Black: 2
Red: 2
Green: 1

There's some room for green for the remaining two planeswalkers. Now, let's look at something else:

If you look at each two-color combination and associate it with the most recent planeswalker card of that two-color combination,  you get this:

GREEN WHITE: Ajani (Aether Revolt, 1 set ago)
WHITE BLUE: Dovin (Kaladesh, 2 sets ago)
BLUE BLACK: Tezzeret (Aether Revolt, 1 set ago)

BLACK RED: Daretti (Conspiracy 2, 3 sets ago)

RED GREEN: Arlinn (Shadows over Innistrad, 5 sets ago)

GREEN BLUE: Kiora (Battle for Zendikar, 5 sets ago)
WHITE BLACK: Kaya (Conspiracy 2, 3 sets ago)

BLUE RED: Saheeli (Kaladesh, 2 sets ago)

BLACK GREEN: Garruk (Magic 2015, FOREVER AGO)

RED WHITE: Nahiri (Shadows Over Innistrad, 5 sets ago)

Now, you notice that a Golgari-colored planeswalker is the one that most needs a new planeswalker card. As it so happens, I'm predicting Garruk will come back, so more on that in the next section. That leaves Simic-colored planeswalker being due for a new card. And, in this case, Kiora is the only planeswalker to be Simic-colored. At least Vraska keeps Garruk company.

We need another planeswalker character to join the ranks of Simic. Could be a new character or an existing character getting a touch of blue, at least perhaps temporarily (see: Bant Tamiyo).

With Bant colors already done with Tamiyo recently, it's clear that a new Simic-colored walker is the way to go, which would still slot into Bant-colored decks just fine.

So, my guess is that Nissa will return but in Simic colors.

Garruk Returns in Hour of Devastation

Garruk the Slayer by Brad Rigney

Garruk's been away in the story a while. He's not dead. But he hunts planeswalkers. The most powerful ones. And who is more powerful than Nicol Bolas? Also, black-green needs a new planeswalker card. Lastly - who else is on Amonkhet besides the most powerful planeswalker? Liliana.

Recently, there's been a trend of four planeswalkers in the large set and two planeswalkers in the small set. The two in the small set tend to be related toward the main plotline. The large set has the most room for planeswalkers involved in a side plot. Since the new Simic walker I think would likely not be the most involved in the main characters, I'd put it in Amonkhet and Garruk in Hour of Devastation, to separate out the green walkers. And, besides - it could be that Garruk either redeems his monstrous form or harnesses it and the power of all the planeswalkers he's killed to become a very powerful force to face Nicol Bolas.

After all, both he and Bolas share the distinction of being the only two to be made a main villain focus in Core Sets (Magic 2013 for Bolas and Magic 2015 for Garruk).

Amonkhet Masterpiece Series Features Gold Cards

As of Kaladesh, Wizards announced that it would have a Masterpiece series for every block going forward, that has a theme fitting to the setting. Zendikar Expeditions was about land. Kaladesh Inventions was about artifacts. With both those colorless card types out of the way, what's the next most exciting thing that fits this gold-carded block? Oh! How about awesome gold cards?

This one's a more risky guess. It could be that desert oasis type of cards are featured. But... that doesn't seem as exciting as having awesome dual lands or utilizing those powerful artifacts. Gold cards are more exciting. We like gold. It's shiny.

Duel Decks: Ajani vs. Tezzeret

Duel Decks with planeswalkres duking it out feature the block that came before, usually. We had Nissa and Ob Nixilis fight each other in last year's Fall Duel Decks. This year's Fall Duel Decks would strongly be placed in Kaladesh.

Looking at Mind vs. Might, we already have Jhoira popping up. Saheeli would be yet another Izzet walker. And then there's red in both the Mind deck and Might deck. Best to leave out Chandra this time - to avoid yet another red-focused Duel Deck. And Nissa already had her turn recently.

With Mind vs. Might, we don't have white, green, or black represented for the year of 2017 so far. Ajani takes care of white and green while Tezzeret opposing him with blue and black would make for a nice rounding off of the colors so that any player looking at recent products might find something that appeals to them.

Sorry, Chandra. I know it's been a while since you've been in a Duel Deck. But you, Ajani, and Tezzeret have all been in Duel Decks once before. And Chandra is most likely to return yet again in a future block and might have another chance at getting included in a second Duel Deck.

Commander 2017 will Have Two-Color Ally Decks

Meren of Clan Nel Toth by Mark Wenters

This one's a really easy guess. The Commander series of products have featured each three-color combination, two-color enemy pairs, and four-color commanders. It's time to finish the pattern and put the last puzzle piece in and make Commander decks focused on two-color ally legendary creatures.

It's interesting that four-color jumped to last year instead of being the last in the cycle. There could have been multiple reasons. But it could be that it would be better to balance out the year of 2017 with three-color legendary creatures for the Commander players in Amonkhet followed by two-color legendary creatures later in the Fall (along with whatever the Dominaria-located block will have).

Speaking of Dominaria...

The Fall Block will Take Place Somewhere in Dominaria

This claim is being made for several reasons:

• Mind vs. Might Duel Decks features characters from Dominaria
• After two back-to-back blocks of new worlds, it might be time to revisit an old one
• Ravnica, Innisrad, Zendikar, Mirrodin have all been done. What's left for popular planes? Dominaria!
• Dominaria is long-overdue for a return; besides, where should a new Jace card appear in? (Last one was in Shadows over Innistrad whereas all the other Gatewatch members will have had new cards by the time the Fall set comes out.)

No Predictions for From the Vault or Masters Series

I haven't found a pattern to be able to puzzle out and confidently say what will come next for From the Fault. Some stuff like "Demons" seems obvious to do, but who knows when the correct timing for that will be.

As for the Masters series, the next year seems like a toss-up: will Eternal Masters 2018 happen or not? Did it get received well? Will there just be a focus on Vintage Masters for Magic Online? I'd rather not make a prediction.

However, the bumping up of Modern Masters to Spring is curious, which leads me to...

Third Un-Set in August 2017 OR Sometime 2018 or 2019

I know, a more broad prediction. This one's the wild card. As it should be.

Conspiracy 2 was last year. And we can't have a repeated Conspiracy 3 this year - at least not an equivalent. Will From the Vault try to fill in those shoes in August with something cool? Or will there be something else for the Conspiracy-loving crowd?

The players that love Conspiracy has some overlap with the players who love Unglued and Unhinged. And Modern Masters got pumped up to Spring this year. And Conspiracy was last year. What to do? Release Un-set 3. Also, Annoucnement Day is taking place March 31st, 2017 - in the evening. Which is awfully close to April 1st, 2017. April 1st has been a time when Unhinged was announced. Perhaps the same will be utilized here.

Keep in mind that, since Un-sets are unconventional, so may be the announcements. The announcement may be delayed until April 1st. But also may just happen during March 31st, to prep you for the site's update on April 1st, whatever that will look like (Daily MTG has had a joke makeover before for April Fool's Day). The announcement could also be quite hidden.

What makes me doubt whether the third Un-set will release in August 2017 is the full-art lands in Amonkhet. Un-sets are notorious for the full-art lands. Since Battle for Zendikar block and then Amonkhet block featuring full-art lands: it seems like we should wait at least a year for the third Un-set just because of the full-art land.

And if we wait for 2018, that's when Conspiracy 3 might take place. So then the off-year of 2019 would be great for it.

Lastly, 2018 would be Unglued's 20th year anniversary. It might be a good time to bring a third Un-set into Magic for that year.

But, yeah, if a third Un-set is coming this year, August 2017 is the time to do it.

Appropriately Long, Did Read

Some predictions I have more confidence in than others. But I figured I'd do a little bit of reaching anyway for some of the ones I'm not so confident in. Just in case it'd be a fantastic guess. Thanks for reading the lengthy part of this post. =)

Amonkhet Promotional Art, Artist Unknown