Commander

Weapon of Choice: Brewing a Storm

When I was 14 I played in the Scourge pre-release tournament. This was long before the dawn of Commander, so when I was shuffling up with friends, I reached for my 60-card White Weenie deck. It wasn’t an awful deck, it was based around [card]Whipcorder[/card] and [card]Deftblade Elite[/card] and it had carried me to an 8th place finish at the Junior Super Series tournament in April.

There were a few goodies I was looking forward to in Scourge. I was hoping to leave the tournament with two copies of [card]Dawn Elemental[/card], one [card]Decree of Justice[/card], and the card I was most excited for – [card]Wing Shards[/card].

Storm was just too cool. One of the dominant decks at the time was U/G Madness and I loved the idea of punishing them for casting all of their discounted [card]Arrogant Wurm[/card]s. I would make them sacrifice their precious attackers. The dreaded [card]Circular Logic[/card] would even have trouble saving their dudes because it could only counter one copy! Man, [card]Wing Shards[/card] was awesome.

Ever since those earliest days, my infatuation with storm has remained strong. I kinda wish that I had been playing during the reign of [card]Time Spiral[/card] block. If there was ever a deck that would have made me want to kick the can of Standard again, it would have been [card]Dragonstorm[/card] Combo. Since starting with Commander, I have wanted to build a deck that incorporated storm into its heart.

Storming the Gates

When I thought of storm in Commander, I immediately thought of [card]Mind’s Desire[/card]. Both Narset and [card]Maelstrom Wanderer[/card] were tested as combo generals and sadly both proved to be too powerful. While I firmly believe that you are responsible for no one’s fun but your own, it turns out that a lot of my fun is derived from the enjoyment of others. So, when my deck selections were eliciting groans instead of excitement, I went back to the drawing board.

The problem with using [card]Mind’s Desire[/card] as the primary combo piece was that the decks otherwise played like generic “good stuff” decks. Desire wasn’t a win condition on its own, it was simply a really powerful enabler. Victory was usually secured by something like [card]Craterhoof Behemoth[/card] or [card]Insurrection[/card] – the same things every other deck was using. *YAWN*

But my heart yearned for storm and eventually a solution presented itself. What if I chose a different card as the mechanical heart of the deck? What if I lived the dream my absence during [card]Time Spiral[/card] had kept from me?

What if the kind of storm I needed was a [card]Dragonstorm[/card]?

[deck]
[Commander]
1 Intet, the Dreamer
[/Commander]
[Lands]
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Forbidden Orchard
10 Forest
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Hinterland Harbor
7 Island
7 Mountain
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Mystery
[/Lands]
[Spells]
1 Brainstorm
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Dig Through Time
1 Dragonstorm
1 Dream Fracture
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Explore
1 Faithless Looting
1 Frontier Siege
1 Gamble
1 Grapeshot
1 Guided Passage
1 Harmonize
1 Ignite Memories
1 Jace Beleren
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mana Geyser
1 Manamorphose
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Mirri’s Guile
1 Nature’s Claim
1 Nature’s Lore
1 Plasm Capture
1 Recoup
1 Regrowth
1 Remand
1 Rude Awakening
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Seething Song
1 Simic Signet
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Slice in Twain
1 Temporal Fissure
1 Temur Ascendancy
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Turnabout
1 Vision Skeins
1 Aether Spellbomb
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
1 Atarka, World Render
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Burning-Tree Emissary
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Hunted Dragon
1 Hypersonic Dragon
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Palinchron
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Progenitor Mimic
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Rattleclaw Mystic
1 Scourge of Valkas
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Tyrant’s Familiar
1 Wall of Blossoms
[/Creatures]
[/deck]

I reached for Intet because there was no way I was going to build this deck and not have a dragon leading the charge. Intet came with the added bonus of possessing an ability that fits a storm-centric strategy like a glove. Free spells mean bigger storms.

I wasn’t going to do this by half-measures either. If I was going to be building a storm deck, it was going to be all-in. Where possible, I trimmed on mana costs and included cantrips. Choices like [card]Slice in Twain[/card] and [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] for artifact/enchantment removal were made with this in mind. My permission selection was also determined by cantripability or, in the case of [card]Plasm Capture[/card], the ability to score me extra mana.

While spells like [card]Turnabout[/card], [card]Rude Awakening[/card], and [card]Seething Song[/card] were obvious choices, things like [card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card] and [card]Shaman of the Great Hunt[/card] only worked because of the large number of dragons flying around the deck.

The choice that was hardest for me to make, and the choice that I think sets this deck apart, was the choice to play cards with storm over similar, more conventionally powerful options. [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card]? Naw, [card]Temporal Fissure[/card]. Banefire? Pfffft, [card]Ignite Memories[/card]. [card]Rite of Replication[/card]? Are you drunk? – [card]Empty the Warrens[/card].

Will It Blend?

The risk a lot of wacky, all-in Commander decks embrace is falling short against more competitive builds. When an entire play group is devoted to brewing off-the-wall lists, things will usually go fine for quirky decks – but the moment someone sits down with a Mimeoplasm deck filled with [card]Prophet of Kruphix[/card], [card]Craterhoof Behemoth[/card], Skithyrix, and [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card], the oddballs will just roll over and die.

I find that watching my deck roll over and die really takes the joy out of brewing the strange. Luckily, this deck doesn’t just fold when the pressure is turned up. The cantrips and little dudes can gum up the board long enough to either get the combo engine rolling or enable a pretty solid mid-range plan. It turns out that when your back up plan is playing reasonably costed fatties with haste you can still do okay, even without your combo.

But when your combo gets it done, there is nothing more satisfying than ripping 9 dragons out of your deck and attacking for the win. My selection of dragons was chosen for either their “enters the battlefield” ability or the fact that they come with haste. The only one that doesn’t fit either of these categories is Atarka, and she’s in here for reasons that should be obvious. If [card]Dragonstorm[/card] resolves, the aerial assault that follows should usually be enough to end one player entirely.

The power concerns that plagued my earlier uses of [card]Mind’s Desire[/card] don’t hang over this deck in the same way. When I get a [card]Mind’s Desire[/card] off with this deck, I usually end up casting the likes of [card]Elvish Visionary[/card], [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card], and [card]Guided Passage[/card] which are all way less offensive than the [card]Frost Titan[/card]s, [card]Blasphemous Act[/card]s, and Craterhoofs that I was searching up before.

Fond Memories in the Making

Storm is not a balanced mechanic, but it is a fun one. Creating a deck that properly weighed the power of storm against the well-being of my playgroup was a challenge, but so far my Intet list has proven to be equal to the task.

There is a point where one can reach exhaustion with Magic. All games seem to feature the same cards, the same strategies, the same winners, and the same losers. The excitement and sense of exploration have left the game. I have run into this wall, and I am sure a lot of you have as well. My solution to these doldrums has always been to go back to what made the game fun for me in the first place and try to reconnect with that enthusiasm.

My love affair with storm was rooted in an attempt to bring the nostalgic joy of ye olde Magic to life and, to an extent, it worked. Every time I successfully cast [card]Dragonstorm[/card] with 4+ copies on the stack, I crack a little smile as my inner 14-year-old punches the air. The next time you need those jade coloured glasses settling over your eyes, dig up that old kitchen table deck and remember why you loved it so much. It’s never too late to bring the magic back to the game.

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