<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor" href="#" target="_blank">Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CLie+Setiawan%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art">Lie Setiawan</a></em></p>
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<p>Hello, and welcome to <em>Am I the Bolas</em>?<strong> This week, what if my jank is too jank?</strong></p>
<p>This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some <em>Magic </em>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?"</p>
<p>I'm ready to hear you out and offer advice. All you have to do is email amithebolas@gmail.com 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?</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AmITheBolcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">THIS PODCAST!</a> Do us a favor a subscribe to us. We've got some fun stuff in the works and it would mean a lot to Michael, Morgan, and I if you did! Become a Bolcut and get into the Bolcast!</p>
<p>I'm Mike Carrozza and, if you play this against me, I'm just going to believe you.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mathemagics"></div></div>
<p><i>Whatever you say, draw as many cards as you say it is. I'm trusting your math!</i></p>
<p>(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)</p>
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<h2>SUBMISSION</h2>
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<p><em>Hey,</em></p>
<p><em>My name is Buddy and I play in a friend group of about ten folks who meet up a few times a month to play mostly <a href="https://edhrec.com/guides/edhrec-guide-to-commander-brackets">Bracket 2 to 3</a> decks. The terrifying decks in our pod are decks like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuriko, the Tiger&#039;s Shadow" href="#" target="_blank">Yuriko, the Tiger&#039;s Shadow</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Ninja typal, a brutal <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Yuna, Hope of Spira" href="#" target="_blank">Yuna, Hope of Spira</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> enchantment deck, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait" href="#" target="_blank">Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> </em>Landfall<em> good stuff. Nobody is running very many Game Changers, and our games reliably hit that turn 8-ish sweet spot for lower power games.</em></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yuriko, the Tiger&#039;s Shadow"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yuna, Hope of Spira"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait"></div></div>
<p><em>Enter <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor" href="#" target="_blank">Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. I'm a huge Vorthos and I have loved </em>The Brothers' War<em> for a long time, so I built a somewhat Vorthos Tocasia deck mostly out of bulk rares that I've found at my LGS. There are no Game Changers in the deck, and a handful of cards are there more for the lore than the synergy (like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Lord Protector" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Lord Protector</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>). The deck focuses around Tocasia's ability to give a ton of creatures the ability to tap to surveil, so you can flood the board with tap-enablers and rip through your library to game-winning cards.</em></p>
<p><em>Technically, Tocasia has the ability to loop extra turns because <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nexus of Fate" href="#" target="_blank">Nexus of Fate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is in the deck, so it's a Bracket 4, but most of my games end another way: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Most of the time, I'm looking to find <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hedge Shredder" href="#" target="_blank">Hedge Shredder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to surveil a ton of lands into play, then if I have a few creatures, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar" href="#" target="_blank">Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and something that will draw me a card, I can <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> twice in one turn to win the game. I like this win condition because it's fragile and finicky and feels like a cool, interesting payoff to the deck's surveil/mill shenanigans. It also takes about ten seconds to pull off, since if the win is properly protected, I can walk through the game actions really efficiently.</em></p>
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<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Approach of the Second Sun"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Craterhoof Behemoth"></div></div>
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<p><em>My friends think this win condition sucks. Recently, we had a friendly argument about the deck, and I posited: I could replace <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Craterhoof Behemoth" href="#" target="_blank">Craterhoof Behemoth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and get a win that way, too. The deck already goes wide, so it'd turn those creatures into 10/10s that trample through and win that way. Frankly, I recognize it'd be a much better wincon because it doesn't require 15 lands, six creatures, Tocasia, and a draw enabler, but that's exactly why I don't like it: that's the boring way to win with Tocasia that doesn't play into her unique strengths as a commander. My friends seem to think that winning with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is dishonorable skulduggery while winning with Craterhoof is honorable combat damage. <strong>Am I the Bolas for refusing to put a Craterhoof in Tocasia and insisting on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> wins?</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Buddy</em></p>
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<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor"></div></div></span></p>
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<h2>VERDICT</h2>
<p>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 amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here.</p>
<p>I love that you have a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor" href="#" target="_blank">Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck. I think it's such an interesting card, and I never see it out in the wild. I'm thrilled there are folks out there building this for Commander. I, too, am a huge fan of a win that requires many pieces to make happen. It's a slow, drawn-out inevitability if left untouched, and I think that's interesting.</p>
<p>First, I'd say, personally, I'd nix the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nexus of Fate" href="#" target="_blank">Nexus of Fate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to keep it out of Bracket 4 and because looping extra turns is a bummer. I have a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rassilon, the War President" href="#" target="_blank">Rassilon, the War President</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck that runs <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Alrund&#039;s Epiphany" href="#" target="_blank">Alrund&#039;s Epiphany</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and I'll say two extra turns is plenty to get the table to groan or even scoop. I prefer a pod with a fighting chance instead of simply running turn spells until the table throws their hands up. That's why Epiphany's been on the chopping block for that deck lately.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nexus of Fate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Alrund&#039;s Epiphany"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rassilon, the War President"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a beautiful card. It's a control player's finisher, gift-wrapped in Vorthos goodness. I think the most fun part of this card is that it's an impending win. It forecasts that not only will we be seeing this again, but it's going to end the game with just this card on the stack, turning the game into survival mode for the next seven draws. When it's gamed to win on the spot, it can feel a little anticlimactic, certainly, but it definitely requires a ton more work than <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Craterhoof Behemoth" href="#" target="_blank">Craterhoof Behemoth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>What you illustrated in your breakdown versus a board of creatures and a single beefcake from <em>Avacyn Restored </em>shows that the Hoof is a little less effort for a win. The combat step is more basic to the game and therefore where I believe the "honorable" comment comes from. A board of 10/10s can be blocked, damage can be prevented, and creatures can be removed. Sometimes a player has so much life that the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Craterhoof Behemoth" href="#" target="_blank">Craterhoof Behemoth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> buff makes it still impossible to take out all opponents at once.</p>
<p>But with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, it hits the stack and your opponents have to have a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Counterspell" href="#" target="_blank">Counterspell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Angel&#039;s Grace" href="#" target="_blank">Angel&#039;s Grace</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> handy. It's narrower and more secure of a win condition when you have it all set up, which is where this argument stems from, I'm assuming.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Angel&#039;s Grace"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Craterhoof Behemoth"></div></div>
<p>All that said, I think Craterhoof is <em>just</em> as - if not more - boring! I think if there's a deck that can take advantage of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> it should get to do so, but I'd expect that to get old for everybody pretty quick. You included! I have never been a big fan of alternate wincons. Anything that goes "you win the game", count me out, for the most part. If <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Revel in Riches" href="#" target="_blank">Revel in Riches</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> didn't have that dumb second line of text, do you know how much more I'd play that thing? Ugh, it makes me angry just thinking about it! What a cool card otherwise!</p>
<p>Anyway, it's your deck. You decide how you want to play it, build it, and so on. However, if your playgroup is getting tired of the Approach and it's putting a strain on game nights, then maybe it's time to retire the combo win with it and find another way. You're not the Bolas for playing the card and having a way to get that win quickly, but if people aren't stoked to play against the deck and there's other ways to pull out a win, I'd prioritize those outs to this one.</p>
<p>Thanks again for writing in!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Approach of the Second Sun"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dig Up"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor"></div></div>


alt win cons

Am I the Bolas? - To Approach or to Hoof?