Seky Seky Five Dolla: Sek'Kuar Lands Primer

Commander / EDH* Philoctetes

SCORE: 60 | 70 COMMENTS | 7327 VIEWS | IN 21 FOLDERS

Game Report —April 3, 2018

Hey all!

I did some playtesting this weekend, and the deck performed admirably. I ended up winning a 4-player pod in the game I pulled this out.

Players - Anafenza, the Foremost; Tana/Tymna partner deck; Rubinia Soulsinger; me

Game started out with explosive draws from both Rubinia and the partner deck, establishing early board and clear rivals for table control. Anafenza came out slowly but kept pinging down opponents.

My game plan revolved entirely around an early Strip Mine I pulled combined with Entomb -> Life from the Loam and Sakura-Tribe Scout to threaten multiple activations per turn. I played politically - the Tana/Tymna player in particular had gotten stuck on lands early and had a Karoo land in play. By threatening the Karoo if he targeted me I was able to prevent loads of early damage and force confrontation between the two table alphas, multiple times causing Rubinia plays s a result and forcing player's hands.

The Anafenza player was really holding any winning plays I had in check, as the GY hate ability counters Sek'kuar's triggers. I continued to threaten mana production and mill away with Life from the Loam, eventually milling an Insurrection. I stopped milling at some point as Terra Eternal (really???) hit the battlefield and I needed to pray for something solid. I top-decked Eternal Witness, cast EOT with Winding Canyons, returning Insurrection and then cast Sek'kuar. Untap, cast Insurrection, cast Life with an active Goblin Bombardment in play and proceed to win the game with Anafenza now on my side!

A couple of takeaways -

The Lands package is legit. Between Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Tectonic Edge the ability to threaten the mana base in a meaningful way is a very political move. Even with nothing else going, and GY hate neutering my entire pressure package, I was able to hold my opponents accountable.

Insurrection is just fantastic in this deck! Mana is trivially easy to produce, and I often have multiple sac outlets in play. That was my first time drawing the card in this deck, and it did exactly what I hoped it would.

One change - I am removing Birthing Pod to fit in Burgeoning. At some point my Sakura-Tribe Scout got removed and it just made my deck infinitely less efficient. Burgeoning may not allow us to play lands on-turn, but Strip Mine a land, Loam -> Strip Mine off of an opponent's land drop is still a powerful play. Count iut double if we have another variant like Wasteland.

Birthing Pod I have been thinking of cutting for awhile now. On power level, it belongs. But it does make for some clunky, long in the tank turns, and I really try to avoid cards that make me sit and think for too long. I prefer smooth game flow, and this deck has enough lines as is that adding the ability to tutor every turn makes for some real clunk in the play patterns.