The Safari Zone

Commander / EDH Free_Iona

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Match Report + Card Additions + MAJOR QUESTION —June 24, 2019

IMPORTANT QUESTION: Should I remove Razia's Purification? Is it a fundamentally "unfun" card? It may put me ahead, but does it go against the spirit of EDH in general with what it forces opponents to do?

First game was a four player game, against an awesome Wort, the Raidmother deck, with used lots of mana to storm off and burn us all to death, a Feather, the Redeemed deck which was incredibly difficult to play against, with its commander returning pump spells to its owner's hand again and again, and finally, a Vaevictus Asmadi, the Dire primal surge deck. All three opponents were great, and we played out a good series of games.

First game started off slowly, with me being mana screwed, and the Vaevictus player and Feather player setting up their board. The Wort player was ready to explode, however, and had almost half his lands on the field, and Zendikar Resurgent. He was ready to win the game next turn, so I played Razia's Purification to even the battlefield. Unfortunately, this left all of the players screwed. The game dragged on as everyone tried to recover back their lands and board state, and even though I recovered quickest, this meant the Feather played targeted me for lethal commander. I slowed them down with Gideon of the Trials, and a few flying blockers, but never really managed to stop the onslaught as the Feather deck slowly wore me down. And in the end, the Wort deck won the game anyway. So, I have an important question for those of you following: Should I consider cutting Razia's Purification? I know in this game it definitely saved the play, but at the same time, it did so at the cost of slowing the game to a drag -- so what is the correct call? I felt bad after playing it, because even though it saved us all, it slowed the game to such an extent, and the Vaevictus player never even drew another land, so it left a kinda bad taste in my mouth, even the other guys assured me it was a good play. Any input would be good.

Second game was a 3 player game (Vaevictus went home) against The Reaper King and Karlov of the Ghost Council. This game was over in the blink of an eye, as Reaper King destroyed all our lands and creatures again and again as he copied more and more reaper kings, and destroyed more and more lands. Even he admitted he had a god hand.

Third game, and another 3 player game, this time against Karlov again and Roalesk, Apex Hybrid. This time, I was in control. Ramping to 8 mana before t6, playing Xenagos, the Reveler and Garruk, Primal Hunter ahead of curve, and getting plenty of blockers. I used Xenagos's Ultimate, and dropped 6 big creatures, including God-Eternal Rhonas, who doubled everyone's power, and let me alpha strike both players for lethal. I think the Roalesk, Apex Hybrid player let me get away with this, however, as he could have swung at Xenagos with Roalesk when I had no fliers, and chose to sac him for a Vorel effect before re-casting. Instead he let me ultimate and do something cool, which is definitely in the spirit of commander. I would love to write about this interaction more :)