Eric here, with an EDH FNM report

I was able to convince Mike to take a break from Standard and play EDH FNM at Gotham with me last night.  Yay!

I was looking forward to playing my U/W Blink deck, formerly commanded by Rasputin, and now lead by the new Isperia from Return to Ravnica and updated with a handful of the new cards.  With the change in commander, the top end of my curve shrunk with Eldrazi and Storm Herd getting the axe.

I got to Gotham early and played some standard with Mike using his decks.  I liked his Bant deck I was piloting though I think it needs Avacyn's Pilgrim and Farseeks.  Chromatic Lantern not so much.  On to the tourney!

Round 1 vs Dayne w/ Sen Triplets and  Chris w/ Jarad, Glolgar Lich Lord

I'd never seen Sen Triplets before and was very scared of him.  I actually misread him, so some of my fear was probably unwarranted (I thought I wouldn't be able to play spells on my turn).  Still, Sen would most likely target me every turn possible since Dayne would be able to cast any card in my hand.

I would go on to dominate the match however with Galepowder Mage blinking Duplicant and Phyrexian Ingester to exile every opposing creature - literally.  By the end I felt a little bad about taking out Dayne as fast as possible when it turned out he had a Sphinx themed deck and was in hindsight not nearly as much of a threat as I treated him as.  He was a good sport though, as was Chris who played lots of cool equipment but couldn't find enough creatures to get things going.  One play of note: I did Ghostaway + Supreme Verdict one turn :)

Round 2 vs Jack w/ Maelstrom Wanderer and Tom w/ Isperia, Supreme Judge

So I'm playing against the RUG combo deck that took a 15 minute turn 5 in the last round, knocking Mike out, and a U/W control that I witnessed dominate his first table.  I felt a little underpowered having cut my explosive Rasputin powered starts and top end haymakers in Storm Herd and Eldrazi before the tourney.

I copied Jack's Magus of the Library with Phyrexian Metamorph in hopes of ramping a bit and I was able to steal a Grand Arbiter Augustine with Gilded Drake early, but Supreme Verdict from Tom ended that.

I then rebuilt my board quickly by copying Tom's Sun Titan with Rite of Replication, returning Gilded Drake and stealing the actual Sun Titan, then blinked Drake with Galepowder Mage and let it be sacrificed as neither other guy had any creatures left.  Readying drake to be returned by either Sun Titan if they played any creatures.  Unfortunately, another sweeper from Tom knocked me back down.

I pointed out that while Tom and I were battling each other, Jack was appearing to get close to going off... He had Eladamri's Vineyard in play with Garruk (the one that untaps two lands) and a full seven cards in hand thanks to the early Magus and multiple Fact or Fictions.

I pass a couple turns in a row having run out of gas after two awesome "starts".  Tom then casts Hive Mind followed by.......................................... Shahrazad!

me: "Um, what do we do now?"

Jack: "JUDGE!"

Judge: "You guys are gonna be here 'til 2AM!"

Tom: "I don't have anything to do tomorrow"

me: "me neither.  but I have to take a picture of this"

Jack: "Fuck this!  I have a fucking life!" throws hand across the table and onto the floor, packs up his stuff and is literally out the door within minutes.

Tom is looking a bit regretful at this point, but there's little I enjoy more in EDH than one of my opponents rage-quitting.  I can't stop laughing at Jack.  This lightens the mood for Tom who also starts laughing which only sends Jack further over the edge.  The judge rules that we only have two subgames to play since Jack scooped and Jack actually argues with him that Tom and I have to play three!

Anyway, with Jack gone Tom and I push our cards to the side, I switch to the other side the table and we start subgame1 (at 40 life each!). I get stomped as I stall on two islands and a colorless land with Wall of Omens and white blink instants in hand.  The game lasts maybe 10 minutes.  On to subgame2!

I keep a one land hand and Enlightened Tutor for Land Tax, determined not to get land screwed this game.  We both skip land drops a couple turns until I get Tom to play a land by telling him I have an infinite combo in my deck, and Land Tax goes to work.  I can't remember what happened the next 5 or so turns, but no one had any board advantage until I played Venser, the Sojourner and blinked Wall of Omens for a couple turns. Tom gets a flier on the board to try to control Venser, but I play Angel of Serenity (with Cavern of Souls), take out his flier and the Mulldrifter in my yard.  With Venser a turn from his ultimate Tom scoops.  The game lasted only about 15 minutes.

We go back to the original game with each of us halving our life totals.  I'm also short on cards in hand and permanents in play. After Tom casts Kozilek and draws 4 I'm able to Overload Cyclonic rift while I have zero non-land permanents in play (so Hive Mind doesn't effect me).  He discards Kozilek to use the shuffle effect. Disaster averted! Trinket Mage for Pithing Needle to shutdown his Sensei's Divining Top slows down his card advantage (he also has Future Sight). Isperia joins the table and starts drawing me cards while Tom is beating me down and Maze of Ith-ing whoever Isperia blocks.

I'm dangerously low on life now (having come back to this game with only 19 life instead of 38).  Isperia has drawn me into Blasting Station and I cast Enlightened Tutor unsure if I should get Scroll Rack and try to dig for Karmic Guide and Reveillark/Body Double, or if I should just grab Parallax Wave and stall.  I decide to stall and it works for a couple turns.  But Tom plays Chancellor of the Spires and plays my Rite of Replication 9000 times (while I have Grafdigger's Cage in hand :'( ), with the last Chancellor targeting my Enlightened Tutor, grabbing Phyrexian Metamorph, playing it off the top with Future Sight, copying my Blasting Station, then casting Wipe Away on my Parallax Wave (that has zero counters left) and shoots me three times with his cloned Blasting Station.

 A very cool way to finish a very crazy Commander game.

-Eric