EDH: Maelstrom Wanderer

Have you ever heard about Elder Dragon Highlander a.k.a. Commander? You must have! I would like to introduce my Commander - Maelstrom Wanderer.  

 It contains everything I want to do in a EDH game: a ton of mana acceleration, good draw spells and none of the card you will ever find in competitive constructed: big creatures, global bombs and huge effects. My gameplan is to play a quick Maelstrom Wanderer hoping to get a nice cascades. Even if they are poor, I can hard cast powerful spells right after. Thus, my needs are accelerations and powerful cards. This deck is very pleasant to play.

Let's see the decklists!

Commander: Maelstrom Wanderer

Lands:
9 Island
3 Mountain
13 Forest
Breeding Pool
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Temple of Abandon
Temple of Mystery
Sulfur Falls
Raging Ravine
Frontier Bivouac
Temple of the False God
Crystal Vein
Tectonic Edge
Alchemist's Refuge
Desolated Lighthouse
--38--

CC 0:

Everflowing Chalice
--1--

CC 1:

Sol Ring
--1--

CC 2:

Fellwar Stone
Fractured Powerstone
Prismatic Lens
Mind Stone
Izzet Signet
Simic Signet
Gruul Signet
Talisman of Impulse
Moss Diamond
Fire Diamond
Sky Diamond
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Wall of Roots
Rampant Growth
Farseek
Sylvan Library
--16--

CC 3:

Harrow
Compulsive Research
Cultivate
Kodama's Reach
--4--

CC 4:

Thran Dynamo
Sisay's Ring
Ur-Golem's Eye
Hunting Wilds
Ranger's Path
Explosive Vegetation
Harmonize
Concentrate
Careful Consideration
Plea for Power
Ruination
--11--

CC 5:

Ral Zarek
Urban Evolution
Reforge the Soul
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Devastation Tide
Evacuation
Gilded Lotus
--7--

CC 6:

Wurmcoil Engine
Frost Titan
Keiga, the Tide Star
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Inferno Titan
Hellkite Tyrant
Bane of Progress
Opportunity
Boom / Bust
Wildfire
--10--

CC 7:

Chancellor of the Spires
Diluvian Primordial
Dragon Mage
Pelakka Wurm
Temporal Mastery
Volcanic Vision
Gruul Ragebeast
Destructive Force
Sphinx of Uthuun
--9--

CC 8 and higher:

Treasure Cruise
Blasphemous Act
--2--

Mana base:

U: 9 (14) + 1 artifact,
R: 3 (9) + 1 artifact,
G: 13 (19) + 1 artifact + 1 Wall of Roots,
RG: 3 + 2 artifacts,
UR: 2 + 1 artifact,
UG: 2 + 1 artifact,
RUG: 1 + 1 artifact (Gilded Lotus),
Colorless: 4 + 9 artifacts (I consider Prismatic Lens as colorless)

Land searchers: 9

The manabase is stable and with the help of accelerations provides a regular cast of Maelstrom Wanderer on Turn Five. I don't want to play mana dorks (e.g. Birds of Paradise) because of the amount of sweepers played.

Draw spells:

Compulsive Research

Harmonize
Concentrate
Careful Consideration
Plea for Power (it's more often a draw spell more than a time effect)
Urban Evolution
Reforge the Soul
Opportunity
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Treasure Cruise

Total: 10.

The card drawers are the best ones I could find at their cmc. I need tchem not to stay with a hand full of blanks (e.g. lands and accelerations) when the game is being played. They fit the curve between accelerators and bombs. Urban Evolution is also a acceleration I haven't counted before.

Creatures:

Sakura-Tribe Elder - Counts as acceleration;
Wall of Roots - Counts as acceleration;
Arcanis the Omnipotent - Counts as a draw spell;
Wurmcoil Engine - Deathtouchers are always good at killing planeswalkers (Sacrifice a creature or a planeswalker dude!). This one leaves 2 creatures when killed as well.;
Frost Titan - Detains Disks, Stones and weird creatures such as commanders;
Keiga, the Tide Star - Control gainers are always welcome. I expect not to be attacked when Keiga's in;
Inferno Titan - Gets rid of dorks and weak Commanders. Also helps with Planeswalkers quite efficiently;
Hellkite Tyrant - Gain control of all the artifacts a player controls?! Whaat?!
Bane of Progress - A beater! A cleaner! I like!
Chancellor of the Spires - his ability might provide spells such as draws, extra turns or removals;
Diluvian Primordial - Chancellor's ability x3?!
Dragon Mage - Speeds up the game and provides fresh bombs. Once the game is peaced by someone's mass removal I can always recast the Maelstrom Wanderer;
Pelakka Wurm - 7/7 vanilla which is cycled when dead;
Gruul Ragebeast - Powerful removal! With help of others cleans the battlefield quite fast;
Sphinx of Uthuun - Draws are always welcome. This one is also tough and flies.

Huge Effects:

Ruination - I have quite a lot of basic lands in my deck. Why wouldn't I punish these ones who have greedy manabases?
Reforge the Soul - Single Dragon Mage's effect is useful once I play all the accelerators quickly. Counts as a draw spell;
Devastation Tide - Cleans the battlefield.
Evacuation - Returns all the creatures. I don't play many, so why would I bother?
Boom / Bust - Destroy all lands. Very powerful when cascaded.
Wildfire - Destroys creatures, slows down my opponents and doesn't kill my Commander.
Destructive Force - Destroys creatures, slows down my opponents.
Volcanic Vision - It usually returns a draw spell and cleans the board. Such effect!
Blasphemous Act - Wrath of God for R? Oh Yea!

Other spells:
Temporal Mastery - Time effect.
Sylvan Library - Sets up the library for a perfect cascade. Provides a lot of draws as the game starts with 40 life and prevents from drawing blanks (with searchers).
Ral Zarek - Being honest, I don't find him very useful although he might provide a little acceleration. I never ultimated but it might happen when cascaded together with a bomb effect.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage - Drawer with a powerful, never happening ultimate. Very useful when someone has a deck with a ton of creatures.

Cards I do own, but do not want to add:

Dual Lands: Taiga, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island
Even if I own these dual lands I won't add them to my decklist unless I attend a competitive tournament. The main reason is I want to play EDH mostly for fun and playing with people complaining "I lost only because you have more expensive cards" isn't pleasant at all. For this reason I don't really want cards over ~15$ in my EDH deck. The duals are the biggest threads in my deck though! What's more, they feel way better in my legacy deck(s).

Fetch Lands: I own 7/9 (except Arid Mesa and Verdant Catacomb)
Pricy and time consuming. My mana base is stable enough not to add them. I don't have Fastbond+Crucible of the Worlds in my deck, so I won't need them being honest.

Karn Liberated
RG Tron! That's the place where I want to keep them. The price is distracting as well. Won't add unless competitive.

Sensei's Divining Top
Time consuming. I play EDH mostly for fun. Making games last twice as long isn't fun at all.

Wasteland
Yet another expensive card.

Cards I don't own and I won't add to my deck because of price, even if they would be very good:

 Capture of Jungzhou

 City of Traitors

 Grim Monolith

 Mana Crypt

 Temporal Manipulation

Three Visit

Cards I want to add to my deck:

Ancient Tomb

Provides 2cmc accelerations on turn one!

 

Basalt Monolith
Acceleration! Accesses quicker Wanderer.

Brutalizer Exarch

I have already got a few hidden deeply in the box with craps, but I literally refuse to go through them or simply keep forgetting. I promise to add it soon! I find Exarch handy because of both effects, especially when cascaded.

Burning of Xinye

Wildfire #2 is always welcome.

Fact or Fiction

Yet another draw spell. This one is very tricky and powerful. Can you imagine what happens when it's cast during a multiplayer game? That's why I'm not 100 % sure if I want to add one.

Garruk Wildspeaker

You might have noticed I've focused on 2cmc and 4cmc accelerations. Thus, Garruk fits the suit. However, he's way more useful than Explosive Vegetation.

Jokulhaups

The bomb when cascaded!

Nature’s Lore

Yet another Rampant Growth/Farseek effect.

Panglacial Wurm

I have quite a lot of searching effects. Why wouldn't I take advantage of them in long games?

Quicksilver Gargantuan

I don't play other clone-effects because they might be blanks when cascaded. This one might be very useful and even as a blank, he's a 7/7.

Skyshroud Claim

Explosive Vegetation #4 which provides untapped lands. I'm hunting for one!

Tidings

I do need draw spells, because half of my deck is blank (lands and accelerations). There isn't any better 5cmc draw spell.

Time Warp

Having many draw spells and a bunch of acceleration, time effects are always welcome. Who doesn't like them? Uhm.. Opponents!

I hope you will give my decklist a try. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I do. If you already have experience with this deck (or EDH in general), feel free to share your thoughts and opinion.

-Endir

My story, why would I become a certified MTG Judge.

I'm 25 years old ('90). I live in Poland (Europe, between Germany and Russia). I'm a happy husband and father.

 

I'm an accountant by education. I work in a bus company which employs more than 160 people as a person concerning accountancy, analysis and inner control. It so happens I calculate UE projects. The biggest project I calculated had almost 4.000.000,00 PLN budget (over $1 mln).

 

I graduaded pedagogical preparation postgraduate studies and worked as a tutor during summer camps for children more than once.

 

I've got FCE and passed 120-h Business English course (C1).

 

I started playing Magic: the Gathering in 3rd grade, approximately when Invasion set was new. My adventure has begun with my brother ('86), who had started a very little before and my best classmate. His brother was my brother's age. Their neighbours ('89 and '87) were already in and I convinced mine too ('90). Such group let me put my first steps in friendly environment. Obviously, as in such stories, we obeyed more 'house rules' than 'Magic rules' and I was really impressed by '89 and '87 brothers' decks and collection.

 

Apart from visiting local gaming place twice, I didn't have opportunity to play against anyone out of the list. The place was closed soon after, the '89 and '87 brothers quit and as a result I was left playing only with my brother and the neighbour.

 

A few years after (about 6th grade) my brother discovered a wider group of wizards. The community I didn't know before survived. There was a local tournament upcoming and so I experienced my debut at the age of 12th. I finished 6th of ~15ish what was great as my deck was a slightly upgraded pre-constructed deck. My brother was 4th! My neighbour didn't attend as he didn't have his own deck at all then! I didn't need much time to become friends with all of the local wizards and to visit the battlefield regularly.

 

My first interest of judging occured when I was 13-14 yo. It was the time I was the best player in the world, but only in my mind. I thought I knew all the possible rules too. It wasn't a challenge for a local L1 to change my pride to disability. However, he did it carefully, not to extinguish my passion, but to fan my excitement.

 

Years passed and my skills and familiarity with rules kept on appreciating. At the age of 15 I was already familiar with all of the practical rules. I had a few tournament achievements, but only locally.

At the age of 16 I began my Magic Online adventure, which explained all my existing doubts. It happened so, because the local scene weakened and I didn't want to quit. I could say I was a true nerd.

 

I tried to motion the local scene in high school. Engaging the remaining community I even managed to organise two tournaments. However, they weren't sanctioned.

 

When I moved once I started the University, about 2010 I started entering the bigger community in Gdansk. Many members will confirm I'm not a Magic newbie.

 

At the moment, I'm away from Gdansk - in my hometown. I try to strengthen the local scene of ~10 members, but our meetings usually happen in group of 5-7. I'm obviously a local judge and tutor and explain all the possible doubts.

 

The thought of becoming a judge has already invaded my mind more than once. In 2013 I was almost ready for the exam (had more than 2 events judged) and had a bunch of serious preparations. However, I understood I couldn't become a judge extramurally. Thus, I gave up. Now I see how spontaneous it was.

 

I matured and my enthusiasm to play for a living calmed. The reason is obvious - becoming a father. My contact with Magic isn't as intensive as it was. However, becoming a part of the Magic community notably pleases myself.

 

Thus, I want to become a judge in a regular way and contacted the local L3. We've already arranged we'll judge together during the Battle of Zendikar prerelease (26th of September). If I feel well, I'll take the exam two rounds before the end. I'll pass it with the right engagement and preparation. For sure!

 

-Endir

Baltikon Modern Tounrament.

25.07.2015 was a Saturday in which I had an opportunity to visit a place I considered to be my local metagame for a last couple of years. I was really excited as I haven't been there for a while and I knew that only good things happened to the community because of a new store. I wanted to attend a modern tournament during the Fantasy Themed Event.

I had an access to following decks:
- Burn, which I managed to borrow from a friend of mine who was supposed to attend as well, but eventually he couldn't,
- Grixis Delver,
- UR Delver,
- Mono U Tron,
- UW Tron.

My choice was based on following rules:
- I've been very busy at work lately, so I don't want to abuse my mind totally. What is more, the tournament was supposed to be one of the attractions during a huge fantasy themed event called Baltikon which was organised in school. From my experience I'was convinced to notice that both oxygen and fresh air would be as scarce as hen's teeth. I was right.
- I wanted an easy and efficient deck, which I'm not new to. I don't like losing to missplays and wanted to punish my opponents for their's.
- I wanted a fast deck to have time for trades between rounds.

Thus, I chose Burn. Quick, fast, efficient and not demanding. I played it a lot online when Deathrite Shaman was legal and both Monastery Swiftspear and Eidolon of the Great Ravel haven't been released yet. Such change didn't make me feel I'm not familiar with the deck.

The tournament's place lacked fresh air as I expected. With a friend of mind we needed arround 15 minutes to find the right class. We passed a countless number of people dressed in either anime or fantasy themed clothes. Even some of them held huge melee weapons. I'm not used to such climate. It impressed me a lot. The tournament took place in gymnasium in which there was at least a hundred of different cardgames players.

My decklist was following:

Mainboard (60):
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
-19-

4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Ravel
-12-

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Skullcrack
4 Boros Charm
3 Searing Blaze
2 Shard Volley
-29-

Sideboard (15):
4 Destructive Revelry
4 Guerilla Tactics
4 Searing Blood
3 Dragon's Claw
-15-

The list was pretty much a boros burn. I wanted to have an access to Lightning Helixes and didn't want to have too many shocklands to have a better mirror matchup, which I expected to be present. I find Destructive Revelries to be the best sideboard card an aggro deck could ever have.

Round 1.
2-0 vs. Esper Midrange

My first opponent was a mate who accompanied my trip to the school and helped me face all of these strange people. I knew he played Esper Midrange based on Monastery Mentor, Tasigur and cheap attriction spells. I helped him with setting decklist, so I knew he wouldn't have a perfect sideboard against me.
I won a die roll, we both kept our first hands. I started both games with turn one Goblin Guide.
There isn't much to describe as I played burn. Who bothers whether I played more Lava Spikes or Lightning Bolts?

Sideboarding:
+4 Searing Blood
-4 Skullcrack

Round 2.
2-0 vs. RG Tron

I faced someone I didn't know at all. It shouldn't have happened as I thought I knew at least most of local players.
I won a die roll and started with turn one Goblin Guide followed by another Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear. Seemed perfect for a turn two sweaper, didn't it? Hopefully it led me to another game right after.

Sideboarding:
+4 Destructive Revelry
-3 Searing Blaze
-1 Eidolon of the Great Ravel

Revelries were obvious and so were Searing Blazes. I decided to side out Eidolon because I didn't really want to draw creatures than these which occur in my first hand. Late creatures are sad when I want to deal last 3 damage right after casting Wurmcoil Engine. They also suffer to Pyroclasm and this one suffer's to Nature's Claim as well.

Game two was started with a Goblin Guide as well. So lucky of me. During the game I faced double Feed the Clan and a Nature's Claim. It wouldn't be scary if didn't know he has a Platinum Angel in hand. It also kept me away from playing Eidolons which I had in number of two. Despite gaining 14 life he didn't manage to draw the full tron. Unlucky guy! He didn't manage to get the full tron in neither game.

Round 3.
0-2 vs. GW Aura Hexproof

I won a dire roll again, but didn't manage to force:
t1 creature
t2 Rancor + Spirit Link
t3 Ethereal Armor

Sideboarding:
+4 Destructive Revelry
-3 Searing Blaze
-1 Eidolon of the Great Ravel

Game two was full of mulligans. I started with 4 cards (Goblin Guide, Lava Spike and two lands) when my opponent had 6. As soon as turn two I had no cards in hand as the Swiftspear was my first draw. After revealing his top card during the first attack my opponent noticed "Oh, the creature! I kept the creatureless hand and wanted to draw one!" During his turn two he had a creature with double Ethereal Armor. My prays were simple: Destructive Revelry as I really want to get rid of every Daybreak Coronet or Spirit Link he would draw. My prays didn't work and in turn three I was attacked by a 10/10 hexproof, lifelink, vigilance monster. If I had drawn the Revelry, I would have won a game against this awful matchup.

Round 4.
1-2 vs. Grixis Twin

Game one - no t1 creature, combo kill in turn 6. By the time my late creatures were either burnt or blocked.

Sideboarding:
+4 Destructive Revelry
-4 Skullcrack

Game two started with Monastery Swiftspear followed by a turn four kill. During game three I had to face a double Dragon's Claw and double Spellskite. This is quite a lot, even for a good burn player.

I have to add that I hate Splinter Twin almost so much as I hate Show and Tell.
I find S&T to be the most brainless strategy in the world. You need to play a 3 cmc sorcery which with a help of an Omniscience, Griselbrand or Emrakul gives you a game. I know it doesn't work this way every time and there is a ton of hate cards, but from the seat of the S&T opponent this is exactly what I feel. And such is the Splinter Twin. As a Twin opponent I always have to face Remand, Deceiver Exarch and Splinter Twin sticked together. There is a legend that these three cards stick together between 10 am and 10 pm to spend the night seperately! This is pretty much the time when every Magic Tournament seems to happen. Conspiracy?
What's more, the Exarch is 1/4 what keeps him out of Bolt's range and Pestermite is never drawn when you keep one. The same legend says that Exarchs change their positions with Pestermites as only you get rid of Twins, to help the player outplay you with 2/1 fliers.

Statistics:
50% matches won (2-2)
60% games won (5-4)
100% die rolls won! (4/4)
66% games started with a turn one creature (6/9)
83% games won after playing a turn one creature (5/6)
0% games won after not playing a turn one creature (0/3) - the conclusion is simple!

Pros:
-I played Magic!
-Event's atmosphere! Every person was totally absorbed by the hobby. No matter if it was anime or cardgames.
-The hero opened windows in the middle of round 3. Applaused by the crowd!
-I bought a Dragon Ball Themed mug for my wife what gave her a ton of happiness. It's one of animes she really likes.
-2 new cards for my EDH Maelstrom Wanderer deck - Boom / Bust and Bane of Progress.
-1 new card for my legacy storm - Dark Petition number 2. I'm pretty sure I won't need more than one but I don't want to bother myself looking for missing ones in a couple of months.
-1 new card to pimp my legacy storm - S-Chinese Ad Nauseam traded for English one. Now i Have 1 S-Ch and 1 Eng instead of 2 English ones.

Cons:
-Payout - 36-10-5 in event with no top 4/8. It was very much a single-elimination tournament.
-No air until the middle of round 3.

-The number of participants. There were only 16 playes whereas regular torunaments are attended by 23s and more.
-Didn't manage to do any real trades. I took three binders and a few boxes but didn't manage to get more cards than written above. My shoulders weren't happy at all.

-Endir