Xantcha: Once More, With Feeling
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 5 | 2 COMMENTS | 833 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS
Report from some games yesterday —Sept. 2, 2018
-Against Thada Adel, Acquisitor and Taigam, Sidisi's Hand:[/b] Taigam player had multiple Omen Machine in play (because of Sculpting Steel) before resolving Teferi's Puzzle Box. Thankfully the turn prior I'd used Demonic Tutor to grab Stolen Strategy and resolve it, so I didn't care that I'd no longer have a hand.
Stolen Strategy got me an Acquire from the Thada player, which nabbed his Caged Sun. It was surprisingly effective.
I began activating Mirage Mirror, targeting Omen Machine, during my upkeep to stack those triggers, eventually flipping Wound Reflection, which sped the game along to a death-by-Xantcha-activation conclusion.
-Against Ruric Thar, the Unbowed and Mimeoplasm (precon list, no changes, heh): I did not win this one, but it was interesting nonetheless. Basically, there was a lot of punishment going on.
Ruric Thar player ramped into a turn three commander. I took the 6 damage to kill it with a Terminate. That same opponent resolved and was able to get renown on a Scab-Clan Berserker, so the damage continued, mostly against me.
Eventually I resolved Polluted Bonds and Painful Quandary, which I noticed sped up the Mimeoplasm player's ability to reanimate stuff (who would have thought?).
Ruric Thar player ran out of gas and the Mimeoplasm player took him out. Being dead in a turn, I set aside enough mana for the Blasphemous Act I hoped to draw, then activated Xantcha three times. Drew into...Phyrexian Scriptures, a good example of why many times this should just be Damnation. Noted.
Next turn, I died. Still was nice to have the down-to-the-wire chance. Also stock Mimeoplasm precon 2strong4me. This is a joke, of course.
-Against Tatyova, Benthic Druid and...Mimeoplasm again, I think?
Vedalken Orrery is ridiculous if it sticks. Hit an end of turn Phyrexian Scriptures (now, suddenly awesome), which turned Xantcha into a 6/6 artifact creature. Then triggered the second lore counter on my draw step, clearing the board of blockers, with the Tatyova player sitting on 15 commander damage. He died soon after.
Mimeoplasm player played a few creatures, then I end-of-turn resolved Master of Cruelties. On my turn, played Dauthi Embrace, then swung with a newly shadow'd Master of Cruelties. Opponent conceded after his next turn.
This game wasn't a good test for Xantcha, especially when the cards I drew were all the more powerful because of Vedalken Orrery. Master of Cruelties needs some sort of surprise factor to be most effective, otherwise he's a costly (though still good) rattlesnake effect. And Phyrexian Scriptures has already proved to be a turn too slow when I'm close to dying. It is more interesting though, overall, than simply running Damnation. So I'm torn on cutting it.
More thoughts: I'm still the one activating Xantcha's ability the most. I don't actually care to incentivize it. Giving Xantcha to the player least likely to have a sacrifice outlet (hopefully whoever is to your immediate left) and then clearing the path to take out another player is a valid strategy that I like a lot more than giving Xantcha to that player and then hoping everyone will use the ability enough to kill them.
Most players try to remove Xantcha within combat (as expected). I don't think a single player has used targeted removal on her, which is good to know. She's a threat but not worth spending one removal on.
Virtus, the Veiled continues to disappoint each time I draw it. It's honestly too slow to make much of an impact in the early game, and then a non-entity in the late. Suffers from a lot of the same issues as Master of Cruelties, except without the automatic first strike to make it an effective blocker. It plays well with a few cards in the deck, but not enough to be impactful each time I draw it. Might sub it out and put Praetor's Grasp back in. I realized that even without being able to easily play off-color spells, snagging an opponent's Sol Ring is a valuable use of a three-mana tutor. Or I can target the black or red player and steal some removal.
I took Revel in Riches out last week and put The Immortal Sun in its place, expecting planeswalkers to be popular at the shop. So far I've yet to resolve it.
Also cut Void and Custodi Lich to fit in Rings of Brighthearth and Sculpting Steel. No Basalt Monolith yet, though I did find room for Deserted Temple so I could have one infinite mana combo. I don't know if I want to go the big mana route all-in yet, as that would require some significant tweaking.
Rings of Brighthearth plays well with a ton of activations in the deck, and Sculpting Steel contributes more to the use-your-stuff plan. Never disappointed to draw it.