I'd actually thought Prossh would be able to do some sort of counterattack this time But it turned out that Marath is just too damn fast. 

Both players mulligan down to 6. Marath keeps a Mosswort Bridge (which can Hideaway) and a Rakeclaw Gargantuan. Prossh keeps Fell Shepherd and a Scarland Thrinax. Prossh goes first. The first few turns are just land drops. Marath's first draw was Voyaging Satyr, and first land drop was the Mosswort Brige, which hideaways a Behemoth Sledge ( remember this for later).

By, turn 3, Marath is summoned, just on-curve. Prossh summons a Scarland Thrinax, even though that would just be easily burned by Marath. Figured it'd be better than taking 3 commander damage and still have Marath on the field. By turn 4, instead of sacrificing Marath to the Thrinax, a Spellbreaker Behemoth is summoned instead.

Prossh's next few turns were unpleasant. He was stuck at five lands, so he could not summon Prossh. The Fell Shepherd and Spine of Ish Nah both cost 7, so they weren't useful either. Passing the turn to an ever-growing Marath was dangerous. Dangerous indeed: for if only Prossh was on curve, he could've had a fighting chance. 

By turn 7, Curse of the Forsaken has been cast, and Marath gained 4 life by attacking Prossh last turn with the Spellbreaker Behemoth. Life totals are now 44-28, in favor of Marath. This turn Marath is returned, deals 2 damage to Prossh's Huan Tuo, attacks for 6 and gains 3 life. Marath is gaining life as Prossh is helpless against the onslaught. Curse of the Forsaken's life gain would also become significant, later on.

Before that, on Prossh's turn,  he didn't draw the land he needed, but he did draw something that could tilt the scales to his favor. He drew a Vile Requiem, the only thing within reach that can deal with Marath. Prossh also summons Huan Tuo, but that was destroyed come Marath's next turn. So after that, and after casting Curse of the Forsaken, Prossh sacrifices the Vile and destroys the Spellbreaker Behemoth and Marath. That clears the board a bit, however Marath has enough mana to revive himself beyond Prossh's capacity to kill him.

Now, I should tell that a few turns back a 0/1 Plant Token was summoned from a land (forgot the name), and after Marath is played, the remaining 1 mana is used to make the 0/1 become a 1/2. That token and the elemental spawned by Marath attack for 2, gaining 2 life from the Curse. The next turn brought the Opal Palace to Prossh, making him able to summon his commander, along with the 6 tokens. Unfortunately, all mana was spent, and so a turn was passed almost easily. 

Marath draws an unbelievable card at this point in the game. The Darksteel Mutation that locked Prossh down during the first match. He casts it along with Savage Twister, where x = 1, clearing Prossh's board ( and turning Marath's Plant Token 1/2 to a 1/1), and unfortunately, since the Mutation makes Prossh invulnerable, he is still on the field. With enough mana left, the Hideaway card is cast for free: the Behemoth Sledge is now on the field. 

Prossh casts Goblin Bombardment and Fecundity, sacrificing Prossh and draws a Llanowar Reborn. To answer, the Sledge is equipped to Marath, boosting the token, Marath and the 3/4 plant attacks for 10. A fireball is cast for 5 damage, dealing 15 in total.

Prossh concedes with a 54-2, as summoning on the 11th turn is not an option, and the Spine of Ish Nah will deal with Marath, but the Plant Token is still a 3/4 and can still directly attack.

So I've recently played with my Marath Commander Deck against the Prossh Commander deck ( only a bit  of tweaks and alterations made, not really much that changed the deck), and the latest match was certainly an eyeopener. Not only was I surprised at the result, but the path taken to that result was really, really, amazing. 

Here's what went down.

I should mention first though, that both players muliganed their hands down to six. Marath's hand showed a Krosan Warchief and a Sol Ring, the ring alone enough to keep the hand. Prossh meanwhile drew a Shattergang Brothers and enough lands to get to Prossh one-land each turn, until the sixth. Both were looking good so far. Marath goes first, drops a forest then taps for a sol ring. 

The plays were pretty much normal until the fourth turn. By then Marath has already spent his first three counters for three 1/1's, and a Krosan Warchief was on the field. Prossh on the other hand had Han Tuo on his side and a Sakura Tribe Elder ( quite slow, I know!). Due to some forgotten circumstances, the three 1/1's were wiped from the board.. By the fifth turn, Marath drew Omnath, Locus of Rage, and that's where all hell broke loose.

Thanks to the Sol Ring, Marath summoned Omnath at turn 5, and by Prossh's turn, he summons his commander, along with the six tokens. By the sixth, I was supposed to summon Marath, if I hadn't drawn such a great card: the Conquering Manticore. With Omnath at the field, another land in my hand, and the Conquering Manticore, the path was set. First, play the Mountain, triggering Omnath's landfall, generating a 5/5 Elemental. Next, summon the Manticore, then take control of Prossh. Using Prossh's ability, sacrifice the new 5/5 Elemental, triggering Omnath's Bolt ability and pumping Prossh at the same time! Since all that was on Prossh's field were tokens, Han Tuo and the Tribe Elder, Omnath bolts the opponent to the face, dealing 3 damage. Prossh attacks for 6 damage, dealing 9 damage for the first combat of the match. 9 damage! 

What was more brutal was that Marath had enough mana left to cast Darksteel Mutation on Prossh, turning him into a 0/1 indestructible, rendering him unable to utilize his sacrifice-pump ability. To counter this, he summons the Shattergang Brothers on his turn, and uses that to sac Prossh. Marath sacrifices the Krosan Warchief, raising his mana cost back to 5. 

By turn seven, Marath began the onslaught. I couldn't exactly remember the details but the Omnath-Marath combo was unstoppable. Stand-alone, Marath distributed counters and just kept sending damage to Prossh's face. Omnath generated 5/5's like wildfire. The fun part was, Marath will often generate small tokens, 2/2's or 1/1's, then will either use those to block or burn them with Marath himself, triggering Omnath's Bolt ability, as the tokens created are elementals too. Before he knew it, Prossh was at a dangerous 21 life, while Marath stood firm at 40. Prossh was unable to attack because he was the only one on the field capable of defending his territory. 

As the game went on, Marath kept returning from the Command Zone, but with each return his cost rose up, so he was not able to do the burns and tokens on the same turn. Desperate for defense, Prossh casts a Vile Requiem (hoping to target Marath and or Omnath, or both), then alter a Blood Rites, to be able to use the excess 0/1 tokens. To do that successfully he needed two more turns. First for the mana to be available to sac the tokens to Blood Rites, the second to gather enough counters to take out Marath and Omnath with the Requiem. But alas, this was not to be. 

In those two turns Marath lowered Prossh's life to a very low 12 life, with the threat of 4 5/5 elementals and Omnath itself. By the second turn, Prossh had a very huge problem. Taking out Marath and Omnath would still deal 3 damage due to Omnath's self-triggered Bolt, and that would also make Marath stronger with the next return, and fighting at 6 life would be useless, as Marath could easily burn him to the face. So instead, the Vile Requiem skips Omnath and targets one elemental and Marath instead ( sadly this brings him down to 6) , so now Marath's cost was at 11. 

The Blood Rites could have been triggered twice, but there were no good targets at all, as all creatures on Marath's field had 5 toughness and higher. By my ninth turn, Prossh was basically good as dead. I could cast Marath and wait an additional turn to kill Prossh, or I could cast Xenagos, God of Revels. And that's what I did. Remember the Manticore? Well, that's still alive, and was given a +1/+1 counter by Marath early in the game. By Xenagos, it got boosted to a 12/12. With Prossh in the Command Zone, the tokens couldn't block, and so couldn't the poor Sakura Tribe Elder. 

Marath won 40-0 (Life totals, not number of games).

TWO WORDS: 

GHOST. TOKENS.

Err... Spirit Tokens, if you suppose. So I've recently got in touch with the duel decks Sorin vs. Tibalt that were released sometime in 2013. To refresh your memory, here is the concept art for the duel decks. 

Art by Chase Stone. 

I am completely captivated by the art, by the way. Especially by how Tibalt poses in the light of the flames, and how Sorin basks solemnly in the moonlight. Magic Art is the best art. But anyways.

DECKLIST:

Creatures: (19)

2x Doomed Traveller

2x Banisher Priest

2x Vampire Nighthawk

1x Wall of Omens

1x Twilight Drover

1x Fiend Hunter

1x Voracious Null

1x Gatekeeper of Malakir

1x Athreos, God of Passage

1x Butcher of Malakir

1x Sengir Vampire

1x Cliffside Lookout

1x Mesmeric Fiend

1x Phantom General

1x Mausoleum Guard

1x Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Enchantments: (2)

1x Retreat to Hagra

1x Field of Souls

Planeswalkers: (2)

1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Instants: (6)

1x Sorin's Thirst

1x Mortify

1x Altar's Reap

1x Vampire's Bite

1x Zealous Persecution

1x Unmake

Sorceries: (6)

2x Spectral Procession

1x Lingering Souls

1x Ancient Craving

1x Absorb Vis

1x Death Grasp

Lands:

12x Swamp

9x Plains

2x Evolving Wilds

2x Tainted Field

I edited the deck a bit, to focus more on the support and generation of tokens. Not much was changed, except for the addition of some key players (Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Elspeth, Sun's Champion). 

Basically, with all the resources I had, I focused on making the deck do two things. One, generate tokens (Spectral Processions, Lingering Souls, Sorin, Elspeth, Teysa, Mausoleum Guard, Doomed Traveler, Twilight Drover, and Field of Souls) and two, make the other cards either enhance those creatures (Cliffside Lookout, Sorin, Elspeth, Retreat to Hagra, Phantom General, and Zealous Persecution) or benefit from having tokens, i.e. sacrifice effects or dying (Butcher of Malakir, Voracious Null, Altar's Reap). 

The other cards are for early game control and defense (Wall of Omens, Vampire Nighthawk (very efficient in combat), Banisher Priest and Fiend Hunter ( getting rid of the pesky creatures), Mesmeric Fiend ( kind of like the Priest and the Hunter, but takes a more futuristic approach). Athreos is there just in case the token-plan fails and the deck is forced to stick with the rest of the creature base. 

Absorb Vis, Sorin's Thirst, Mortify, Unmake, and Vampire's Bite all help with control and removal. Bit if it comes to it, hopefully during the late game, if you need to deal that last bit of 7 or so damage, there is Death's Grasp. A very good finisher for a very good cost.

  Tiny Leaders!

I've completely moved to making Commander decks and Tiny Leaders decks! In case you don't know, Tiny Leaders is a modified version of commander (it is actually based from commander), with some slight differences:

• Starting Life Total is at 25
• Maximum deck size is 50, including the general
• The tiny leader must have a CMC of 3 or below
• Every spell in the deck can only be of CMC 3 or less
• Commander damage is removed
• There are no free mulligans

Currently, I am focused on Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest as my Tiny Leader. Focusing on instants/sorceries empowerment with Wee Dragonauts and Gelectrode, plus enchanting Shu Yun with enchantments, my deck was able to win as early as turn 6 once during all of the test plays I have done so far.


View the complete decklist (only text) here! Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest Tiny Leaders Deck

The Anti-Deck

Recently I have played against a U/B control/mill deck (note: U = Black, B = Blue, W = White, R = Red, G = Green) that is centered on milling cards (from the deck straight to the graveyard). This strategy works because it cuts the opponent's power at the roots; that means he/she can't draw burn spells because those might have been milled, nor even counterspells because those also could have been milled. It also presents a threat in mana generation, as lands might also get milled by the Anti-Deck.

But that's not all. The deck includes really annoying cards like Nemesis of Reason ("Whenever Nemesis of Reason attacks, defending player puts the top ten cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard") and Jace, Memory Adept (" {0}: Target player puts the top ten cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard"). Not to mention Curse of the Bloody Tome, which enchants target player, and gives that player a cumulative upkeep of milling two cards.

I don't even know if there is a possible counter for the deck (the Anti-anti-deck-Deck I would call it), but I have tried constructing a burn deck, but that didn't do anything useful. One focus would be flashback cards and dredge, but flashback requires a lot of mana (as I said above, the Anti-Deck stalls a huge amount of land production), and dredge mills your deck even faster.

There is one hope though. This secures one color of mana is needed for the Anti-anti-deck-Deck: Blue. If I build a deck around this card, I might be able to turn the tide even for just a bit (assuming the creatures on the Anti-Deck's side of the field hasn't ended the game yet): Reminisce. Reminisce's effect is to shuffle the graveyard of target player back into the deck. Also, assuming I get out enough creatures and defenses to destroy the Nemesis and Jace ahead of time, Reminisce might be the one card to counter this deck, albeit the only one.