Titania vs Aurelia vs Xenagos vs Elesh Norn EDH / CMDR game play for Magic: The Gathering

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[@MTGMuddstah]

Just a heads up, as I have done for the last few years, I'll be posting a *THIRD* EDH game weekly throughout December. The bonus games will be posted on each Saturday of the month, plus I'll have an additional game going up on December 25th.

[@xSpanishManx]

thank you for being such a dedicated content creator during this crazy year and for providing us with some additional games this month! One of the GOATs of EDH!

[@therubyskeleton1002]

Hey Mudstah! I was trying to build a Dargo and Silas partner deck, but I couldn’t find anything online to help. Any tips?

[@Devilish420]

Yay! Thats how you know its officially December! Will we be seeing any footage of the sen triplets? XD

[@kurowasanabe]

On the month of Christmas, the goblin gave to me FIVE EXTRA GAMES.

[@nzrbroadcasting1421]

Hey Muddstah is there a reason you didn't hit a 3rd target with your terastodon? You could've shot a land.

[@TxarlesN]

This is another classic case of why the Xenagos player should not be left unattended. Thanks for the video, Muddstah.

[@Kazz1187]

Truuuu kill xenagos player first or feel the power of the revels

[@ZerglingRushWins]

As a Xenagod player, yeah, we revel on little or no interaction.

[@sorret]

The threat assessment here was kind of weird. The Xenagos player was left alone until it was way too late.

[@tonnie901]

I had the exact same feeling. whenever i am facing a Xenagos deck in a game I make sure to take it out 1st, using politics to make sure my other opponents are aware of how dangerous of a commander he really is.

[@CeltiesSin]

Never leave xenagos alone 😬 it just eventually wins thru attrition

[@danielharrison2383]

Agreed.

[@Dumbidiotguy45]

Welcome to the channel

[@enoeht]

You answered your own question. Savage Ventmaw is never played "just for value" and if you see it, assume Aggravated Assault is coming along for the ride and play accordingly.

[@johannmdgarcia6796]

Me preparing to sleep, gets notification, sees EDH. Sleep is for the weak!

[@jamescampbell2353]

Sleep is for late game surprises when you still have a board state with blue

[@ncuco]

I run the combo so when u hit the survival I immediately thought "I would have taken out the ventmaw instead" Ventmaw usually exists in a deck for this purpose

[@Devilish420]

The beast within play was a great play. The problem lied within the other players not doing enough to stop the xenagos player from popping off.

[@stevenmermelstein7806]

I don’t know what this Aurelia deck was trying to accomplish but the one I used on the channel centered around her more .

[@RomanNumerDos]

That deck was just trying to screw everyone over apparently.

[@DarkEinherjar]

Stax-based control with Kiki-Jiki combos as the main wincon, apparently.

[@stevenmermelstein7806]

@@alejandrozurita3972 I wasn’t knocking the deck I was saying as an Aurelia purist I wouldn’t go this route .

[@DarkEinherjar]

@@stevenmermelstein7806 Maybe he didn't want to go for the standard Helm of the Host win because it would've been too obvious and require a lot of the deck's resources to focus on finding the Helm.

[@stevenmermelstein7806]

@@DarkEinherjar I don’t even use helm in my deck I use massive damage damage that goes well with her . Odric iroas the sort

[@Someblondeman]

That aurelia player needs some help, you cast a card that literally only hurt everyone except the one person who was a threat good job

[@Someone-lg6di]

I think the player didnt expect aggravated and used the wipe to change who xenagos player attacks

[@Schiedog]

Even before the game started I assumed Xenogas was going to win. The one player with G + another complimentary color, and no blue players.

[@whatsleftofus4753]

Last time I was this early we still had FNM

[@jeffnorris211]

Sad thumbs up

[@ModAnonMTG]

It's a tough call on the Survival. I think I probably would've held out longer on using the Beast Within myself, but I'd also have to assume that the Xenagos deck has a wincon that Survival finds, so it definitely presents itself as a big threat. But sometimes they just have it and there's not much you can do.

[@Nanot33]

Happy to see the XenaBro deck again! As per your question about Beast Within, I personally think you chose correctly targetting the Enchantment. Using it on the Ventmaw would just have him use Survival for another creature. The thing you shouldn't have done was swing at him for 1, it made you his target :P

[@suntitan4419]

So one question why did no one attack Matt was it like his birthday or something

[@DarkEinherjar]

Fear of retaliation, maybe? It's not wise to poke the person with giant hasty creatures if you can't stop their big attackers from coming at you.

[@Fearthecow792]

I cringed at the whole-ass monastery ramming andrew for 16 when Xenagos had been freecasting every turn

[@Nanot33]

I also think that before blowing up the Survival, you could've asked the table if they can answer the Ventmaw because you'll blow up the enchantment. or vice versa ask if they can get rid of the survival so that you can answer the Ventmaw. If neither can on either, then you did your part.

[@williamstotzkowski148]

Target what they tutored for, not the thing that let's them tutor. That logic is drawn from how you want to play counterspells RE tutors. But of course survival is repeatable so, eh?

[@michaelsagi202]

terry the terrastodon..... i love it so much

[@thengine7]

I didn't. He complains about getting criticized for his play, but then didn't pick a third target for destruction. It should have been a mountain to slow down xenagos.

[@michaelsagi202]

And that has to do with the nickname... How exactly?

[@dess8815]

@@michaelsagi202 nice :)

[@MTGTheStack]

Last time I was good early I had to have mana to play spells

[@billable1861]

You would have been safe if glacial chasm wouldn’t have been immediately ruined.

[@Darchias]

The instant I saw the tutor for Ventmaw I guessed he had AgAssault in hand. I can't say I wouldn't have made the same mistake and took out Survival though.

[@MTGMuddstah]

It was a tough choice for certain.

[@jeffnorris211]

Post watching. Beast within targeting survival was a good play and usually is. That being said, I can’t think of you knowing infinite combat steps with ventmaw would’ve been coming so it seemed justified.

[@Threadoflength]

I meant why else does the Xenagos player tutor for Savage Ventmaw if he doesn't have Aggravated Assault in hand? That said i don't think the beast within play was the problem here... the problem was Mike playing lieutenant for Matt, and Trevor's poor use of Swords to Plowshares.

[@atilalexander]

It is not usually a good play, you got to think Survival as a tutor or 2 in form of an enchantment. Once you got your combo creatures, Survival is just a "removal rod". What use do you get from the reserved list card when you can combo the table the next turn? But if the playgroup is somehow more tame and they use it for value, then yeah kill it with fire...

[@jeffnorris211]

I don’t run any combo wombo’s in my decks usually. That’s why I wouldn’t have seen it coming but I get what you’re saying.

[@AP-lf7xd]

Man savage ventmaw and aggravated assault is a dumb combo. And thanks for the heads up on the third video.

[@alexsmythe6815]

That opening hand with titania was WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@curtissearle6462]

Ya seeing the Savage ventmaw tutor would have rung some alarm bells for me I would just saved the beast within for the creature.

[@DETHofMAN]

Maybe I missed something but you could’ve cast the harrow the turn you first played Titania, then still have enough to cast Titania and get the land back.

[@DarkEinherjar]

The thing is, you didn't know the Aggravated Assault was in Matt's hand, and if you had waited to use BW on it or the Ventmaw, he would've still been able to use Survival of the Fittest to look for his next game plan, so I don't think there was really any right answer here.

[@HansHurin]

Concerning your question in the game recap. I was wondering why no one tried to remove Xenagos earlier. Now I know mono green can't do much about indestructible enchantments but I would probably have targeted Xeangos with the Declaration in Stone and the Swords after a recast since those creatures are a lot less scary if they don't hit for 10+ each turn. If Trevor had removed Xenagos before moving to combat in T9 his Elesh Norn would have wiped Matts Manadorks, which would have prevented a recast of Xenagos.

[@MTGMuddstah]

*I was wrong*

[@Fan101ish]

@@MTGMuddstah when declaration and swords were used devotion to r/g was at 7 and 9 respectively so it would have been a legal target. I guess xenagos also was never used as a creature so nobody registered it

[@Darchias]

One of the awkward things about using a Theros God as a commander is that even if you blow one of the few primo removal spells to take care of it, they still can recast from the command zone. I find it's often not worth the effort to remove them regardless of which Theros God it is, unless you have a repeatable way of killing them like Devout Chaplain

[@MTGMuddstah]

@@Fan101ish You're right! I guess we never really thought to count up the pips. Good catch.

[@HansHurin]

@@Darchias I know theros gods are a pain to deal with but I'd expect mono white and boros to handle an enchantment even if it's indestructible but maybe that's me talking after having watched the game.

[@ProRock3r]

What sleeves/inner sleeves do you use on your Titania deck? I really like how it looks and would like to try and emulate it on my decks!

[@jordankindred2]

missed the monastery mentor trigger at 3:59 just noticed this

[@Skydrawill48]

Was looking for this. Seems people still don't understand that vehicles are only creatures when crewed or turned into creatures with other effect in play. They're considered regular noncreature artifact spells on the stack

[@MTGMuddstah]

I believe this was one of the first times Trevor had played the deck. It was filmed January 11th, 2019.

[@Threadoflength]

So does Matt have like blackmail material on you guys or what? Must be nice to play a game of EDH without anyone looking at my crazy board state, then getting king made by the worst Ruination in the history of EDH... Trevor's decision to swords the dragon instead of the baloth when he was going to play the Elesh Norn the next turn was incredibly sus.

[@mmissing3]

doesn't Elesh Norn just insta-die on the dragon's next combat trigger though? you have to go for that first otherwise you wasted your turn. he was probly hoping another player could take out the baloth

[@Someone-lg6di]

Funniest thing I ever did with norn was shattered realities it. That player was not happy

[@kanvaros4451]

I’m hoping for an April fools day to be super jank decks ! Or all goblins ! Love every episode all the same !

[@kalestu_]

Question about the beast within is highly dependant on the hand size of the Xenagos player at that moment - and judging by the number of draw spells he cast all game, it must have been 1 or 2 cards

[@Nandel67120]

I really love Xenagos !!!! Soooo sweet 😍Thanks for the show

[@Charwhale]

Thank you for the upload, really enjoyed it!

[@LucasCotrim19]

Terastodon can target lands as well, choosing only two targets and not blowing up one of your lands for a 3/3 and an extra 5/3 elemental token from Titania was probably a misplay.

[@jeffnorris211]

Before watching.... Hurray No Blue!

[@90spepe]

Of couese everybody is going to say they would have held on to their "Beast within" to save it to stop the combo. That's easy to say in hindsight. But destroying the Survival of the Fittest when then opponent is out of green mana and can't respond to it was a good move, no doubt about it. It's the lack of removal from the other two players that allowed the combo to go off.

[@julianhugen8760]

Answering your question: Prioritize reactive play in response of what will make you lose the game, let the other players react for the rest. If you has more than one answer you can use the way you used, but in that situation where you was far behind is more thoughtfull keep only for critical situations. Obs.: You lose 8 instead of 12 for the Ventmaw. But dosen't matter. Huhahuahuahuau

[@marceloquejinho]

That is actually pretty good advice

[@phyrexian_dude4645]

I would probably took down Savage Ventmaw before combat step is declared. Even if we consider that Survival its a very strong card, that dragon gives way too much free mana and specifically looking for it first on a Xenagos deck gives a huge red flag of something big comming after it attacks.

[@ryanwielenberg9270]

I always hold interaction until I know I might lose the game. If you knew survival was going to make you lose, then it was the right call. If you just wanted to remove a value piece, I would have held it.

[@Gamerguy1793]

The beast within was correct as you had glacial in hand and did not expect the land destruction. If chasm was not destroyed then you would have been fine.

[@quietninjariot]

Aurelia player is such a noob. Using Ruination when the Xenagos player has a bunch of basic lands.

[@kyojitakenouchi9706]

I'm generally against using 1 for 1 spot removal in edh, but to a swee the question firing it off on the survival would be what I'd do. Ventmaw is a key combo card yes, but you didn't know that the assault was on its way. Could have gotten ventmaw to just start a value train

[@PDuddyGaming]

Taking out Survival of the Fittest was the right call, hindsight is 20//20 HAHA

[@timgaston154]

Stronghold would have kept you from ramping because you can’t search for the lands it happened plenty of times and no one noticed

[@briandear1401]

It was destroyed by the bane of progress

[@boneheadcycler1412]

I'm not sure there was a "correct" target for Beast Within. I, personally, wait to use removal until I absolutely have to use it. I'm not sure this is the best plan, as it occasionally leads to allowing someone too much space and time. In this case, the survival itself wasn't killing YOU. It was a threat to the whole table. I usually wait until something is going to kill me (or put me in an unwinnable position) before I fire off removal.

[@jepetto009]

I usually save spot removal for someone about to win the game or if threats are pointed my way. The Survival of the Fittest wasnt going to win the game but what he got could have.

[@MTGMuddstah]

My main worry with the Survival was Matt going to find something like Blightsteel Colossus which I just can't interact with.

[@jepetto009]

@@MTGMuddstah I think the consensus with removal is to save until the last possible time. Making guesses is less sure than actually seeing the cards being played. Perhaps another player couldve drawn into removal that would've handled a potential Blightsteel that takes multiple turns to end the game. You were thinking worst case scenario but if Blightsteel takes out everyone else before you then second place aint bad haha.

[@harounjusttrying6650]

You made the right choice. Both could have won the game and at that point you could not forsee what would happen after

[@brettsutherland8390]

Was this game from three years ago? No new cards at all. Still love it Muddy

[@MTGMuddstah]

It was filmed early January 2019.

[@rafaellumrodas350]

oldie but goodie!

[@RedBossTV]

As a mono white player I'm always rooting for Trevor's Elesh Norn deck, which has only won twice since his first appearance on the channel. I sometimes wish he was more aggressive with players which are the more dangerous for his strategy, but I think it's simply another case of the randomness of Commander.

[@BaneAlleyMagic]

Come on Mike! You never tutor for Kikijiki, reveal it, and then pass the turn! Might as well say, "Okay everyone go ahead and gang up on me now" 😆

[@maximiliangunther9597]

Survival was the right choice. Your line was to keep up glacial chasm to stop Matt from killing you. Matt also may choose to keep mike or trevor alive if it means them dealing with glacial chasm (which mike did preemptively) Survival could have grabbed an acidic slime or woodfall primus. If your reap and sow had been a crop rotation, you would have stalled the game for at least a turn.

[@tfdrago]

The ruination that ruined the game, what a bad call

[@ZypherWildfire]

The Xenegos player had lands, I would say with how dangerous a Xenegos deck can be in an instant, I don't think it would have been unfair to hit one or two of Matt's lands with "Terry".

[@VIPHaterZz]

he man, great vvideo and gameplay and stuff... but can you pls blend the cards in again that are yoused for abilitys and stuff? on youre mimeoplasm gameplays (for example) that i watch to better my deck you never show the cards that mimeoplasm become. they just end up in the graveyard somehow and then i have to look up the cards...

[@Roan.bot.]

I think he missed a monk token trigger at the beginning when he played that vehicle.

[@billable1861]

I may have asked you this before Muddstah, but what is Myth Unbound in Titania for specifically?

[@sclyze]

The enchantment draws you a card every time the commander goes back and it also reduces the cmc.

[@billable1861]

@@sclyze yeah I looked it up and I think it combos with food chain to draw the deck

[@sclyze]

@@billable1861 oh wow, that's awesome! Thanks for the tip!

[@afspeellijstnaruto]

Hm tbh i think you did a good job removing the tutor enchantment. I would not have w8ed probably. Nice combo with savage ventmaw though

[@sema512]

Can survival of the fittest fit in a titania deck? Or is it unnecessary for that deck? 🤔

[@jasons5916]

You don't really need to run a lot of creatures in Titania since the goal is to make a lot of tokens. Since you might not have creatures in hand, Survival is not as good in the deck. You usually run tutors to sneak out Craterhoof or if you really need something like Sylvan Safekeeper or Ramunap Excavator. So you use GSZ, Finale of Devastation, Natural Order, T&N, ect and Worldly Tutor.

[@sema512]

@@jasons5916 you absolutely right almost forgot the purpose of this commander😤

[@nomadthewolf8169]

To answer your question: Sadly you did nothing wrong with blowing up the SotF. Unless you have full knowledge of his deck and how it wins or what combos it likes to go off on, you never ever ever let a SotF stay in play. There was no way of even knowing the aggravated assault was in his hand, so you had no way of knowing. So how could you save it for something worse then SotF?

[@Leivve]

Always better to go after the thing being tutored for, not what is letting them tutor. That savage ventmaw could have just as easily been the next draw, making killing the survival equally useless. That's not to say killing it was bad in itself, as it absolutely is a problem card; but if you know you have an answer that can deal with anything, it's better to wait to see how the person is trying to win and stop them at the last second, then it is to just stop them from assembling pieces to begin with. If they can't complete the circle then all they did was waste resources and time, all you need to do is deny them the outlet

[@Someone-lg6di]

Anything he blew up could be recurred through the tutor keep in mind. Ie blow up ventmaw e witness brings it back

[@with_chase]

Wait MTG Muddstah is from Jersey? Huh. Maybe I've played with him without realizing.

[@MTGMuddstah]

Possibly. I haven 't lived there for 2 years now though.

[@with_chase]

@@MTGMuddstah ahh rip. Well I've been playing here for probably 10 so maybe.

[@mikeyboy6402]

Fun fact, you can target lands with terastadon.

[@MTGMuddstah]

Yep!

[@mikeyboy6402]

@@MTGMuddstah So you knew, you're just not that much of an ***hole. Well played.

[@chrisr9595]

They way that I see the choice with beast within is to threaten it very clearly but tell the other Xenagos you'll let him kill the other two players. This gets rid of two of your opponents and unless they have a heroic intervention or something similar you're protected.

[@AidanWR]

I think destroying the survival was fine. You may not have known that he had aggravated assault in the deck (or even hand), and if he had a hellkite charger (which he doesn't, in the decklist) he could have had the combo anyway. It's definitely a damned if you do damned if you don't type situation that doesn't really have a good answer.

[@Someone-lg6di]

Hellkite is 7 to get additional combat

[@AidanWR]

@@Someone-lg6di So? It's still a combo card with Savage Ventmaw and in a Xenagos deck it's still disgusting

[@HigherMammal]

I probably wouldn't have gotten rid of SotF right away, but I don't begrudge anyone for getting rid of it ASAP. I run it, and it's spookeh.

[@dess8815]

he is the GOD of EDH :)

[@gshallot]

Lots of miss play!!! But xenagos ia xenagos, make one vídeo with foil etched of him!!! Please!!!

[@boopthief2668]

I knew zena was gonna win with what the other players where playing

[@jonfischer6387]

Elisha norin plus overwhelming splendor...

[@dess8815]

i would have waited for the ventmaw if you killed it it would have gave the table a extra turn to live or you could have let him kill the others by makeing a deal with him and then kill his ventmaw i guess :)

[@aragonaut]

I may have missed something but why didn't the Darksteel Citadel die when Bane of Progress entered? Its an artifact land isn't it so surely it counts?

[@user-kf3rf]

it is indestructible

[@ChefBoyarBlump]

Where in jersey are u guys located?

[@MTGMuddstah]

I used to live near Princeton. I've since moved back to Canada, this is an old game.

[@nathanielh.6711]

Destroying survival was bad move. Matt could not win without assault. Survival gave him option to search for wurm or some kind of ulamog at best(one person would lose then) The best thing to beast within was ventmaw to be honest.

[@Jho-on]

I would also take Survival of the Fittest

[@RomanNumerDos]

Everyone registered you as a threat throughout the entire game and the Xenagos player was able to steal the win. Also the call on the Survival is justified but you can't predict the future on what a player is going to do. If you would have let the Survival go on then it could have also been a problem since he could have gotten E-Wit and got Ag Assault back from the grave. Also that land destruction spell was also uncalled for since Matt didn't lose anything from it.

[@odytoboman]

You do know terrastrodon can target lands, right?

[@MTGMuddstah]

I do! I've blown up my own in the past to get tokens even.

[@moonlight2870]

#nobluetable is back! Also #noblacktable? Yay

[@michaelrichards5253]

Ooooo Elesh Norn. 😀

[@coreysierchio4650]

Jersey!

[@CriticoDeNo0bs]

Holy moly, I'm early

[@hrevans83]

U are very early

[@FoxireGaming]

once again no one knows who the real threats are and loses to it. Sure Mike got kiki, but what could he go off on that with 1 card in graveyard. The clear threat was and always was the whole game the broken and overpowered Xenagos deck.

[@novaknight30]

So much questionable threat assessment this game

[@DarkEinherjar]

Terastodon didn't claim a land as its 3rd target? How kind of you.

[@theliving1037]

If it was me, it would have been 3 lands all from Xenagos player, I know how insanely powerful doubling the power and toughness is along with giving haste .

[@Devilish420]

@@theliving1037 I personally would have taken out 2 lands from the xenagos player and that luminarch ascension because it was active at that point, and we all know how dangerous a active luminarch ascension is.

[@theliving1037]

@@Devilish420 Actually yea, lum is a game winner by itself.

[@Devilish420]

@@theliving1037 facts. Lum has won me 80% of games I've played using my abzan angel token generator deck.

[@DarkEinherjar]

@@theliving1037 And letting Trevor have his active Luminarch Ascension to play with? That's suicide.

[@jeremy.oliver]

Blue and black exist to stop people that play Zenagos

[@edilsonrodriguesferreiraju7007]

Pls Trostani in next video

[@theingeniousone5141]

Big pp energy

[@hiddenleaf414]

Haha Xenagos player playing all basic lands came in clutch!!

[@horribleville]

More like aurelia kingmaking lol

[@argonnas2]

Killing survival didnt make that much sense

[@argonnas2]

You kill the threat not the tutor

[@simonisphording]

That logic doesn't hold up that well against Survival though. But still, it was probably wrong

[@MTGMuddstah]

Normally I'd be with you on that, but Survival is just such an engine.

[@TheMartianBotanist]

ban forest

[@Crazy13Morales]

That Aurelia gameplay was completely lame.

[@DETHofMAN]

All of your tables removal was wasted on the least threatening players. So to answer all of your questions at once. Kill Xenegos, or the player controlling it, or all the pieces around it. No one did that until way way too late.

[@night8883]

Tell Mike not to reach over a grab cards. Pandemic killed that.

[@Someone-lg6di]

This was recorded in 2019

[@hrevans83]

First?

[@HansHurin]

Looks like it :D

[@hrevans83]

What a shocker

[@behemoth1158]

Noice