Off Color Cast: General Issue 1: In which I Create and Play my own version of Tag Team Commander

           Tag Team Commander is a rules variant of a rules variant, a niche product for a niche market; Magic-playing wrestling fans. It may or may not be for you.

           In a beautiful example of convergent evolution (or great minds thinking alike), at least three groups of players developed similar rules sets at almost the exact same time. Inspired by Off Color Cast's Episode 19, I brainstormed a batch of rules, and sent them off in an email to the hosts of the show. Captain Red Zone responded quickly to my email; I was not the only one to develop Tag Team Commander rules.

           The very next day, Commander Cast: S6E12 recounted their own version of the rules and their first experiences with the format. Two days after that, Off Color Cast shared their own thoughts in Episode 23.

        I've been lucky enough to make two groups of Magic-playing friends, one in Flint, Michigan and the other in Lake Orion, Michigan. During my two-week leave from Iraq, I played in an Alara-block draft at Flint's Gamer's Sanctuary, and all three of my opponents turned into great friends.

     The Flint group mainly plays tournament Magic, mostly FNM and Prereleases, with the occasional 1K or 5K. We play multiplayer Commander, usually with low-to-mid-powered decks, as an alternative to the cutthroat, optimized, decks we play in tournaments.

           In the Lake Orion playgroup, I have the only DCI card. My collection is larger than every other player's collections combined. The other players have known one-another for years, but have only played Magic for a year or two. They also play one-on-one.

           Here's a classic tag-team match to get you hyped, and I mean classic! 'The Rock n Roll Express' take on Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan providing color commentary. Sure, it's 26 minutes long, but if you were in a hurry, you wouldn't be reading shit about Commander, you'd be doing something productive.

With top-down flavor in mind, here's the version of the rules I've been playing with:

1. Your tag team shares Color Identity for deck construction purposes.

2. Both Commanders share a Death Tax as well.

3. A player loses if they take 21 combat damage from a single Tag-Team.

4. Players may refer to 'the battlefield' as 'the ring'.

5. You may only have one Commander in the ring at a time. That Commander is the Legal Man.

6. If you have no Legal Man in the Ring, the next Commander of your team to enter the Ring becomes the Legal Man. This is a rule taken from Lucha Libre tag-team wrestling.

7. If you have a Legal Man in the Ring, and your other Commander somehow enters the Ring, the referee shoves him back into the Command Zone. The referee catches the Illegal Man before he can interact with the game in any way. This does not add to the Death Tax.

8. Tagging-Out is a Special Game Action. It is handled like playing lands, in that it can only be done on your own turn, when the stack is empty, and that it does not use the stack.

9. To Tag a Commander in, pay its Mana cost (plus Death Tax if applicable), that Commander becomes your Legal Man, and the referee pushes your other Commander back to the Command Zone (without adding to the death tax).

I suppose I ought to illustrate the Lucha Libre Rule. Enjoy this six-man tag team match, booked by ECW in 1997. The match between six Japanese wrestlers, combines Mexican, Lucha Libre, style of aerial moves and high spots with the Japanese style of taking incredible beatings. Also note that the Great Sasuke, the dude dressed like a fucking ninja, went on to become a masked politician in Japan. He's partnered with the Power-Ranger-looking dude, as well as Gran Hamada (who is worth a search on Youtube). Japan is awesome!

           With those rules in mind, I set about building six decks for the format. I built all six with the same ideas in mind; the shared concepts of fun of my two playgroups. Here's some easy-to-read bullet points!

1. I built decks which were all focused on creature combat as their main way of victory.

2. I minimized the number of tutors for things other than basic land.

3. I did not include game-ending combos. Wrestling matches don't end with explosions or fireballs outside of the craziest parts of Japan (or parts with Terry Funk in them).

4. Decks are likewise light on mass removal, though every deck has some pinpoint permanent removal.

5. I play 1-on-1 Commander with 30 life. I played multiplayer with 40 life.

6. Commander is a broken format. Commander with two broken commanders would only degenerate the format further. All those powerful commanders get their chance to shine in Singles EDH; my tag team division is not for them.

7. Games do have to end, so all decks include fatties and alpha-strike enablers.



       On the first evening of Tag Team Commander, I booked a Championship Series between “The Bearded Menace” and “Active Women”. That best-of-five match was for the inaugural reign of my imaginary Intergender Tag Team Commander Championship Belt. The match was not between the two decks I thought were the best, rather, the match was between two gimmick decks.

           My beard-wearing friend immediately identified with “The Bearded Menace”, the team of Brion Stoutarm and Vhati il-Dal, which has a beard or moustache in the art of nearly every card (though the [Darksteel Ingot] has a sharpie 'stache). “Active Women”, the team of Captain Sisay and Gwendlyn Di Corci, was a female-centric deck with a mechanical theme of activated abilities. Those decklists will be the topic of Issue 2.

           “Active Women” swept the match, mostly on the strength of “Captain Sisay”, who rolled with a posse of Legendary women.

           Here's another wrestling match, in case you need a break from reading. Hamada in this match is the daughter of Gran Hamada from the ECW match earlier.

           While “Active Women” won the Championship in a blowout match the first night, we also played four more games with the other four teams. Locke (my friend) had fun playing a few matches with the smallest team in the bunch; Norin the Wary and Sygg, River Guide. The following week, the Championship Commission (myself, Locke, and Paul, who was also present) declared that “Active Women” must defend their championship during Wednesday Night Magic, or forfeit.

           Locke appealed to the Commission on behalf of Norin and Sygg, citing their victories the previous week over Eron the Relentless and Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. The match was booked, one fall for the Title.

           The match started just as had all of “Active Women”'s previous matches; with Sisay fetching lands and legends. This time, the women were on the offense the whole time, and beat Sygg mercilessly. Eventually, I, piloting Sisay, passed the turn with more than lethal damage on the board.

           Locke untapped, drew, and said “Warp World, I can play this, what does it do?”
           “Oh shit,” I said. He had eighteen permanents. I had twenty-four. I flipped into twenty-four permanents. He flipped into fifteen.

I had twenty-four life. He revealed Warstorm Surge, Denizen of the Deep, Bogardan Hellkite, Flickerwisp, and enough other dudes to deal far more than lethal damage. After her unexpected defeat, Captain Sisay turned on Gwendlyn di Corci, coshed her about the head with a Gorgon Flail, and declared her intentions to combat only the most elite of singles competitors. She was just too good for the tag-team division.

           To give credit for my inspiration to even try Norin out, I have to cite this Abe Sargent article;

The Kitchen Table: 382 Norinmonium

The deck started with a small Norin the Wary package:  Pandemonium, Warstorm Surge, Genesis Chamber, and Obsidian Battle-Axe. After that, Norin ran thin.

           Then, I decided to add Sygg, and make the team of little guys who jump in and out of the ring. That made me realize that  Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge would be just gravy with a helping of Momentary Blink. I made the entire deck on that mechanical theme, and now I'll let the decklist speak for itself.

Norin the Wary and Sygg, River Guide

Creatures: 35

Soul Warden
Planar Guide
Shrieking Drake
Mistmeadow Witch
Whitemane Lion
Stoneforge Mystic
Suture Priest
Augury Owl
Vedalken Mastermind
Pilgrim's Eye
Duergar Hedge-Mage
Sea Gate Oracle
Trinket Mage
Azorius Aethermage
Flickerwisp
Galepowder Mage
Hammerheim Deadeye
Flametongue Kavu
Sawtooth Loon
Glimmerpoint Stag
Slithermuse
Archaeomancer
Knight-Captain of Eos
Mulldrifter
Ancient Hydra
Izzet Chronarch
Cloudgoat Ranger
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Duplicant
Conquering Manticore
Phyrexian Ingester
Chancellor of the Spires
Denizen of the Deep
Kederekt Leviathan
Bogardan Hellkite

Non-creatures: 26

Darksteel Axe
Meekstone
Curfew
Saving Grasp
Genesis Chamber
Izzet Signet
Boros Signet
Coldsteel Heart
Flicker
Liberate
Turn to Mist
Momentary Blink
Otherworldly Journey
Peel from Reality
Familiar's Ruse
Obsidian Battle-Axe
Cloudstone Curio
Loxodon Warhammer
Sword of Vengeance
Ghostway
Ghostly Flicker
Pandemonium
Glory of Warfare
Minion Reflector
Warstorm Surge
Warp World

Lands: 38

6 Plains
3 Mountain
10 Island
Cascade Bluffs
Calciform Pools
Rupture Spire
Bant Panorama
Izzet Boilerworks
Sejiri Refuge
Celestial Colonnade
Nimbus Maze
Coastal Tower
Azorius Chancery
Battlefield Forge
Boros Garrison
Esper Panorama
Terramorphic Expanse
Adarkar Wastes
Vivid Crag
Boreal Shelf
Naya Panorama
Vivid Creek

The deck is mechanically-themed around enters-the-battlefield creatures, and has spells to synergise.

Trinket Mage fetches the always-respectable Darksteel Axe or the luchadore's favorite, the Meekstone.

Stoneforge Mystic, in addition to the aforementioned Axe, only fetches Loxodon Warhammer and Sword of Vengeance. Dealing 21 with a geared-up Sygg is not unthinkable against Island-playing opponents.

That's all for today. Coming up next, Duel Decks: Chicks versus Dudes.

Jason Poupard

Off Color Cast

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Friday, September 7, 2012

General Issue 1: In which I Create and Play my own version of Tag Team Commander

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