"EDH Battles: The Price of Aggression"

"EDH Battles: The Price of Aggression"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

EDH is a political game. In a setting where players can attack anyone the key is to have enough threats or deterrents before you could unleash your fiendish master plan. I break this mold though by playing a very aggressive commander in the form of Skull Briar. Since my Commander literally grows when he hits an opponent , players are usually wary of the General Damage that they could get from him. 

He does not seem very threatening at 2/2 or 3/3 so most players are happy to let him slip through. Once he becomes 7/7 though then opponents do tend to take notice especially if there was already enough damage on them that could already consider lethal. 

This is a double-edged sword for me in the sense that some opponents tend to focus more on taking care of my Commander that they sometimes fail to notice the combo pieces that I am now laying down on the battlefield. People are to busy not dying from Commander damage that I have already managed to put an It that Betrays in my graveyard and could reanimate it at any time or that I have already cast a Mikaeus the Unhallowed on the board giving Skull Briar another +1/+1. Sometimes they expect the Triskelion after Mikaeus makes an appearance sometimes they totally miss it. It lands on the battlefield and pings everyone to death! Talk about dying while being distracted by the prospect of dying!

"Ping Ping Ping...Ping"

The other side of this coin is when all my opponents happen to assess me as the only viable threat on the table and decide to take care of me as soon as they could. It gives me an ambivalent feeling.  Happy that I am being considered the most powerful one in the entire table not so happy because I might die from consistent attacks before I could even cast a mass removal on the board. EDH games go on for a long time and it does not really feel good watching from the sidelines as the play continues without being involved in it.

Oh well , at least in the game I can do as I please. Die fast. Die Hard!