When playing online, you tend to meet a slew of different characters. This is why I like playing MtGO over paper. Meeting and talking to people of all walks of life is amazing and sometimes life altering. You could be sitting across from someone who is from Alaska or Australia . Or they could be from up the block. You never know unless you ask. Magic players come in all different shapes and sizes, colours and ages, races and economic backgrounds. Taking the time out to get to know your partner is real easy, yes sometimes people can be crabs, but you don’t have to be. Go out of your way and introduce yourself. You never know, you could meet someone extremely interesting and they could become a good friend.
In this series of articles, I am going to introduce you all to some real cool members of the EDH community. Members who I decided to get to know. Each of these players bring their own twist on the fun format. Whether they’re playing an Aggro style, Control, or mass destruction, it’s no secret that these players love the game and play it to the fullest. Each interview will give you some insight into the mindset of these players. How they built their decks and why they decided to use the cards they did. What really made them want to play EDH, and drive to be on top of their game in a cutthroat, every-man-for himself format.
The first player I would like to introduce is gimmie, a regular face on the multiplayer scene. Online since version 2 of MtGO , gimmie is a big fan of alternative formats, such as Prismatic and Singleton. After hearing that EDH came online on version 2, he decided to look into it. After doing the research and learning all he could, he built is first deck around Zur, the Enchanter and an paper deck with Solkanar the Swamp King. As Magic released more sets, his decks evolved. In this interview he decided to share one of his favourite decks, a beast of a deck with Teneb, the Harvester at the helm. As you continue on, you’re going to learn a little more about the man behind the name and peek into the genius that is gimmie…
Stats: gimmie
Name: Jeff
Age: 38
Clan: Money N Ratings
Playing since: Unlimited
State: Kansas
Favourite Commander: Child of Alara
Favourite Colour(s): Blue and Black
Style: Control and Aggro
Likes: Meeting new people, creativity, and competition
Dislikes: Slow players, E-gangstas
Interview
When did you start playing Magic?
gimmie: Started playing with the release of unlimited.
How did you find out about EDH?
gimmie: In real life or online? I started playing it in real life after reading about it in articles. When it came online some buddies played it so I watched and tried it out.
Is EDH online similar to real life?
gimmie: Yes, very much except it doesn’t take 1 1/2 hours to finish a game usually.
Do you find yourself in being super-competitive in EDH?
gimmie: Honestly, I am super-competitive at everything. EDH is hard to be though because the quiet guy has a better shot of winning and I have a hard time with that. I find I draw multiple attackers quite often and that is hard to win against.
Tell me about your deck.
gimmie: The deck list I gave you was a culmination of getting tired of getting ganged upon. It plays as many board sweepers as I could pack in a deck and then creatures that survive this or bounce back. It also has some graveyard recursion also. T eneb doesn’t draw the hate that a lot of my other commanders do, so that is a big plus.
How is the consistency?
gimmie: It works pretty good, I have the best overall luck with it.
How many games do you think you win with it, say out of ten?
gimmie: That can vary a lot depending on who/what I am playing against. Against people that do not know me, playing random decks I would like to think between 40 to 50 % in my favour. Otherwise, its more like 25 to 30%.
What commander do you dislike to play against the most?
gimmie: Captain Sisay.
Why is that?
gimmie: : People tend to let that player live. Once they are setup, they are quite hard to take out.
What advice would you give to someone who is new wanting to play EDH?
gimmie: Watch a few games to get a feel for what is good/bad and then jump in. T he more you get a feel for it the better you will be at both playing and deck building.
You gave me your deck list. Would you allow people to copy it?
gimmie: Yes, I don’t mind.
Thank you very much for this interview.
gimmie: You are very welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, gimmie has given me permission to showcase his deck. So I present to you, his list as follows:
Teneb Rock- Commander!
Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt format(To load a .txt deck into Magic: Online’s Deck Editor, click “Load”, select “Local Text Deck”, find the location of the downloaded deck file and double-click the deck.)
From what I have seen as an opponent of this deck, the draw is very consistent. The land is stable and the deck can become a beast quite early in the game. Using heavy mana fetch, creature control, artifact and enchantment kill, this deck can be a great choice for tournaments and PREs(Player Run Events). A very consistent, defensive deck made to take on all three opponents if the player is ever put in a 3 vs. 1 situation. When in a free for all situation, such as causal EDH, making your deck defensive and 3 vs. 1 capable is the best way to go. The point of this deck is to keep the other players down while you build up an army. Once you get setup with the deck nicely, your opponents will start to focus their on you, so being able to protect yourself is a good idea. Now, with the introduction of the Eldrazi and annihilator, anything that makes the player sacrifice a creature or permanent will be very useful. Mass creature kill or land destruction will be a great choice to add to any deck. Catastrophe, Armageddon are nice crippling cards to play against big mana decks.
I know at first glance, this deck does look expensive, very expensive. Don’t worry, you can substitute some of them with a cheaper counterpart. For example, you can replace the expensive Vindicate with Necrotic Sliver or Desert Twister. Wrath or God with Winds of Rath. Damnation can be replaced with Mutilate. It doesn’t matter what cards you decide to run, with a deck list like this you really can’t go wrong.
Well folks that is all I have for you this time. Be sure to catch next month’s interview with …. Hmmm…well I really can’t tell you who because I have no idea who it is just yet. I do know that I’ll be scouting the multiplayer room for players and decks that stand out. If you would like to be featured in an interview you can contact me on Magic(Seductive_Nightmare or DarkPrincess83) or here. On Sundays, you can find me in /join Chaos hosting my EDH PRE. Y’all are more than welcome to join me. Sundays, 2PM EST.
Ta ta for now!
Kaya
Great piece!
Thank you sir. I think I’ve already found my next person!