Hey Mike,

I've submitted before, but it was about two years ago. I've been reading the page since, and I still love it.

Here's the situation: I'm playing for the first time on Convoke, which is a Spelltable alternative. I'm playing Bracket 3 and my commander is Gretchen TitchwillowGretchen Titchwillow. I'm on a quest to build my favorite 1v1 deck from each format in Commander. This one is Pioneer Nexus Fog, so I can understand how it can get a bit salty. I had built the deck on Wednesday and this game was happening on Saturday, so I didn't have the correct amount of experience to assess my deck's salt levels.

In turn order, the other three were playing Drana, the Last BloodchiefDrana, the Last Bloodchief, Ognis, the Dragon's LashOgnis, the Dragon's Lash, and Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries (the Dance of the Elements Lorwyn Eclipsed precon). I was last in turn order on Gretchen. The game had been going well for everyone. It was largely even, except Drana was mana-screwed for a few turns and was stuck on five mana until turn seven. From my deduction, the Ognis player was the primary threat for most of the game, although it wasn't a three-on-one situation type of threat. I had played a few FogFog effects and so the others knew what I was doing, although they didn't know my win condition.

I'll admit that I probably should've told the others that the deck usually plays solitaire for about five to ten minutes before winning the game, as it isn't a 100% win until about ten cards remain in my library. I had a Wilderness ReclamationWilderness Reclamation on the board that let me tap out with impunity. On turn seven, the Drana player removed Gretchen on my end step in response to the Reclamation trigger. I didn't really do much that round, but on turn eight I recast my commander and drew enough cards to reduce my library to roughly 30 cards. I didn't have the Nexus of FateNexus of Fate yet. It had been milled by a Tamiyo, Collector of TalesTamiyo, Collector of Tales uptick earlier, so the others knew it was in my deck.

I had a Jace, Wielder of MysteriesJace, Wielder of Mysteries in hand, giving me another win condition besides bouncing all my opponents' creatures and then winning with infinite turns and random creatures like Lotus CobraLotus Cobra, Azusa, Lost but SeekingAzusa, Lost but Seeking, and Eternal WitnessEternal Witness, which were my creatures at the time. I passed the turn on turn eight and had to FogFog twice that turn rotation to avoid dying to the Ognis player and the Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries player. It got back to my turn, and on the Mass player's end step, I activated Gretchen four times, which drew me into the Nexus of FateNexus of Fate.

I untapped, played a few inconsequential cards, and then cast the Nexus. At this point, the Ognis player sighed and muttered something that I couldn't hear. I drew some more cards with Gretchen on my end step and then went into my extra turn. I now had about 20 cards in my library and one of them was Nexus of FateNexus of Fate. I run 40 lands in that deck and I had almost 30 of them in play. I drew into the Nexus on the end step of turn nine (my turn ten because of Nexus) and cast it, taking yet another extra turn. At this point, I knew that I was almost guaranteed to win, and told that to the other players. They wanted to see me play it out, so I did. I started playing much faster because I knew the pace could become annoying or boring for the other players. On turn 11, I cast Nexus again and the Ognis player started cussing me out. Eventually, he said my deck was boring and stupid, and left. The other two stayed in and I cast my Jace to actually win the game. After I showed Jace, the Drana player and the Mass player also started cussing me out, saying my deck was way too powerful for a Bracket 3 pod. I disagreed, because I only run two Game Changers, which were value engines, and my deck followed all other rules for Bracket 3.

The philosophy behind the deck also wasn't to win as fast as possible, but to accrue value over the game and then win with a chain of extra turns and card draw. The Drana player told me that chaining extra turns isn't allowed in Bracket 3, but they were wrong. Chaining extra turns isn't allowed in Bracket 2, but it is permitted in Bracket 3 as long as it is a game-ending chain and not just for mid-game value. I kept getting cussed out and didn't know what to do because from my perspective, I had won with a perfectly fine win condition on a turn that could have been a winning turn in a Bracket 2 game. Additionally, I tried to speed up play so that the other players didn't have to watch me play solitaire for as long. On the other hand, I can understand their perspective, as I hadn't told them exactly how the deck won, only that it could play some solitaire towards the end of the game. I'm wondering if I did something that I can't see from my perspective or if the other players were just salty. I won somewhat unexpectedly because it probably looked like I was on the back foot before I started my winning sequence. I can understand the others' perspective, but I don't think I actually did anything wrong, nor did my actions warrant the reaction I received. Am I the Bolas?

Thanks for this column. It's entertaining and provides good insights.

Wesley.