Safana, Calimport CutthroatSafana, Calimport Cutthroat | Art by Wisnu Tan

Hello, and welcome to Am I the Bolas? This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some Magic and wondered if you were the bad guy. I'm here to take in your story with all of its nuances so I can bring some clarity to all those asking, "Am I the Bolas?"

I'm ready to hear you out and offer advice. All you have to do is email [email protected] with your story, a pseudonym you want to use, and of course, only include details you don't mind in the column! You might see your story below one day. You might even hear it on the podcast. Which podcast?

THIS PODCAST!

I'm Mike Carrozza, aka Mark Carbonza, and it seems like my real name got out...

WHO TOLD!?!?!

This week, do you stop playing your slow deck your playgroup dislikes?

(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)

HEY, MIKE

First, thank you for the Am I the Bolas? series, I learned a lot over time just being exposed to new problems and new cards and being more aware of potential pitfalls at the table. Now, I have a problem of my own - maybe you have some advice.

Among my Commander decks (way too many at this point... ) is one I rarely dare to pick up anymore, and that is my Safana, Calimport CutthroatSafana, Calimport Cutthroat / Dungeon DelverDungeon Delver deck. I once played in an Adventures in the Forgotten Realms draft game where we had tons of fun messing around in the dungeons, and when the Baldur's Gate set dropped I immediately fell in love with Safana. Also, as a regular green player, I really wanted to build a Dimir deck for once.

The majority of the deck is very much the stuff you also see on EDHREC, but I've added a few more treasure token generators and Revel in RichesRevel in Riches as a secondary win condition. No tutors, though. There's also a trickery subtheme with cards like The Trickster-God's HeistThe Trickster-God's Heist or Ertai's MeddlingErtai's Meddling or one of the bigger hitters being Sower of DiscordSower of Discord.

The problem is that the deck takes too long to do its thing in the eyes of the table and people are visibly annoyed when I pull it out. And I get that, in principle. Having to look up what each card does when you advance two or more rooms in the dungeon each turn, with trigger doublers galore, isn't super fun as an observer when it doesn't impact the rest of the table. I've tried to smooth the process as much as possible, played tons of test games, learned the ins and outs of all my cards to not get stuck looking up stuff on Scryfall. Still, not exactly fast gameplay compared to a green stompy deck where you ramp and trample in like five seconds.

But it's not like I'm the only one having to go through a bunch of triggers when playing my deck. My pod is super casual, Commander isn't the main hobby for any of us, so people regularly ask rules questions or have to math their boards state for a minute. Yet, whenever I want to play Safana, eyes are being rolled. I asked if the deck was being maybe perceived as too unfair/powerful/something and if I should rebuild it, but apparently it's just too slow, which I think is patently untrue within our pod's meta.

Am I the Bolas for wanting to continue playing Safana?

- Arne

HOWDY, RAVEN!

Thank you for writing and asking me to weigh in on your story. As I mention every week, if folks don't write to me, there's no column, so if you, the reader, want to send me a story, whether it's your own or one from Reddit or a friend's, please send it to [email protected] and I'll get to it here.

Let me begin by admitting a little bias: I love Safana, Calimport CutthroatSafana, Calimport Cutthroat. I think the handful of legends that care about the initiative without granting you the initiative were neat design space in the Baldur's Gate set. I've drafted that set a decent amount and also built Safana once, but with Street UrchinStreet Urchin. I really think that set is so much fun and recommend everybody draft it at least once.

I will say that I have a difficult time understanding where the bottleneck is here. I'm not sure the trickery subtheme is the culprit. Is it needing to look something up on Scryfall? Is that something a dungeon or The Undercity? If you're looking up what each dungeon does while you play your deck, I would also get a little tired of seeing you pull out your phone and look up something you probably should know, only to put the phone away and do it again the next time you venture. If this is the case, I highly recommend you purchase the tokens for the dungeons and copies of The Initiative / The Undercity. You'll cut down on time and confusion there for sure.

For what it's worth, something I've been doing a lot lately is adding five copies of The Initiative / The Undercity to the Quiver I use for the accessories I need for the game - Life counters, Infinitokens, markers, too many dice, and of course, a package of tokens that come up all the time (e.g., Treasure, Clue, etc.). I love the initiative and I'm a big fan of the cards that bring it along!

That said, if your opponents are just upset you're in the tank, that's a bummer. Everybody gets to go in the tank! It's one of the most complex games, even when you're just goldfishing a deck - now add three other decks trying to disrupt and tussle; it's not easy! I think there's an element of perception to the types of slower play. Because you're likely going through multiple chains of small triggers, it seems like you're doing many things in a short time and it feels like you're taking a long turn. Whereas an opponent trying to figure out an attack to find the win can take the same amount of time, but because it's one crucial action, it seems like less so.

If your playgroup doesn't enjoy playing against it and you've surveyed them for ways to improve the experience to no avail, then I reckon it's a deck that doesn't get played much. That's a bummer! If you have another outlet for games, like an LGS or a Discord for Spelltable games, maybe scratch the Safana/Delver itch there and spare your playgroup the long game. But otherwise, if they'll keep allowing it and you do enjoy the deck, then keep trying to find a way to make it work for everybody. Come prepared, goldfish the deck, and make sure that your actions aren't just wheel-spinning. Have a win-con or two you can get to when your opponents start whining.

You want to keep playing this deck and that does not make you the Bolas. Keep asking your friends and make sure they're aware they can say no. If people don't want to play against this one, drop me another line and I'd love to play against it.

Not the Bolas. If you force the issue when folks say no, then you'll cross that line. But not the Bolas!