Image credit: Praetors For Change

This past weekend, the Magic: The Gathering streamer group Praetors For Change held a charity fundraiser benefiting Stream for a Cause, a charity helping out multiple organizations.

The event ended up making over $2,700, a great amount for one weekend for charity! I participated in one of their pods' time slots on Sunday, July 20th. Here's what I took from it!

The Setup and Podmates

To start, as expected, Phyrexians were the theme for the first game every pod of Commander played that day. I decided upon using my Ria Ivor, Bane of BladeholdRia Ivor, Bane of Bladehold deck for this event.

While I certainly could make a totally new deck for this stream, I didn't quite have the time to whip something up with the notice I had. Ria Ivor would have to do.

Despite not having played this deck in a good while, I managed to soup it up with some great new cards. The decklist I played is below!

My Opponents and Their Commanders

On the day of, I faced off against the following creators. Below are their social handles and the commanders they used, respectively:

• Fredo (@virtue): Fredo was a very cool player. In my learned opinion, I think he was probably the scariest of my opponents that day. He used Omnath, Locus of AllOmnath, Locus of All as his Phyrexian commander. For the second game we played, Fredo ran Dogmeat, Ever LoyalDogmeat, Ever Loyal.
• Macready (@MacreadyMusings): You quite possibly know Macready from his writings on this very website! This creator had an interesting Ezuri, Claw of ProgressEzuri, Claw of Progress deck, adapted from a different, non-compleated blue-green Commander deck. Later on, he ran a Dragon's ApproachDragon's Approach deck headed by Garland, Knight of CorneliaGarland, Knight of Cornelia.
• Abigail (@MissBunFee): Abigail was nothing if not consistent for this pod. She ran Solphim, Mayhem DominusSolphim, Mayhem Dominus for both of the games we played over our two-hour timeslot. The deck was most notable for its own dangerous Dragon's ApproachDragon's Approach theme.

Notably, only the first game had to be Phyrexian in nature. The second game we played was, in essence, anything goes, as far as deckbuilding.

All of this to say, I piloted my Tetsuo, Imperial ChampionTetsuo, Imperial Champion deck for the second game.

With our first game set to go, 1:15pm Eastern time quickly approached. It was time to stream, and stream we did!

The Praetors For Change Games

You can find our pod's VOD on Twitch by clicking here!

Game 1

The first match went smoothly for everyone. Everyone did something impactful with the decks they piloted, and everyone got a chance to revel in the limelight of that situation.

Fredo was the first, managing to cast a Genesis WaveGenesis Wave with its X-value being a staggering 14! This ultimately ramped Fredo's landbase a ton, but only got him two creatures.

The rest of the table took Fredo down soon thereafter, and then all eyes were on Abigail's Solphim deck. Macready and I were at dangerously low life totals, and Solphim was a problem that needed solving.

She had a Twinflame TyrantTwinflame Tyrant and a Terror of the PeaksTerror of the Peaks on the battlefield at one point, which could have absolutely spelt our collective doom.

Fortunately, I had an ace up my sleeve in the form of Final ShowdownFinal Showdown. Paired with a total glut of Mite tokens, which under normal circumstances cannot block, for I removed all abilities from each creature in play and proceeded to block with Mites, stopping a lot of the carnage that could've otherwise ensued.

On Macready's turn, I could see that I could've been kneecapped by an attack from his Bloomvine RegentBloomvine Regent, so I offered him a deal. If he were to swing at Abigail, I wouldn't attack him on my next turn. He accepted and swung at Abigail.

The attack didn't defeat her, but Macready soon thereafter took Abigail out. By that time, his life total was a little too low to survive my attacks from there. I swung with a massive board of Mite tokens and other creatures to take the game!

Game 2

We swapped decks around for game 2 (for the most part, with Abigail retaining Solphim). As mentioned above, I used Tetsuo, Imperial Champion, Macready used Garland, Knight of Cornelia, and Fredo used Dogmeat, Ever Loyal.

For this game, I was severely mana screwed for the brunt of my time. I kept an opening hand with just two lands; that's on me. However, I was allowed to tutor up a land later on by the grace of the table to keep the momentum up.

This was a kind gesture and one I really liked for the match. However, by that point it was far too late to see any real results from me. Fredo's Dogmeat deck was amazingly strong, fast, and consistent. Abigail was already defeated by the time my board could have come close to stabilization.

When Macready and I were faced with our collective demise at the hands of a buffed-up Dogmeat and an equally boosted Sram, Senior EdificerSram, Senior Edificer, the game was basically over by then.

So, I did the most Phyrexian thing I could fathom at that time and cast Tainted StrikeTainted Strike on the attacker that took me out, thereby going down on my own terms. Mmmm... Oily!

With that, the pod concluded and went to break time. We thanked each other and went on our merry ways.

How do I Feel?

Praetors For Change was a delightfully entertaining stream to participate in. The stream event ultimately made over $2,700.

The event is over, but if you want to donate to their cause, they have a webstore that is currently open. There, you can buy a playmat with the Phyrexian Praetors in drag on it, among other goodies!

Image credit: Praetors For Change and illustrator legdotegg

And now, I'd like to open the floor to you, dear readers! Have you ever streamed a tabletop Magic: The Gathering game? Have you ever watched one on Twitch? How do you feel about Spelltable? Sound off in the comments below!