Thanks to the awesome folks at North of Exile, four new Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks showed up at our door Friday morning.

Christian had been looking forward to this release ever since it was first announced. What can be better than the combination of two his of his favourite games? He had already left for class so I texted him to let him know that there was something awesome waiting for him when he got home.

Christian knew that he would pick up at least one deck as soon as they were unveiled. When further details emerged, he changed his mind and decided to go for two: The Chaos and Tyrannid decks. We chatted some and I told him that I would buy one and it was not long before Noah joined in the fun. Noah opted for the Necron deck and I went for the Imperium one.

North of Exile was able to hook us up with the four decks at a great price even as the decks began to surge in price as previews began.

When Christian got home Friday evening, we immediately cracked open our decks and got ready for war. Christian played his Chaos deck. It was a relatively short game with Noah going out first without ever really being able to mount a credible threat. After a slow start (shuffling new decks is very important I keep telling myself), I was pretty happy with my board state. Then Christian pulled a board wipe and things changed instantaneously. It was still a close affair but in the end, the forces of the Imperium were overwhelmed by Abaddon and his Chaos army.

For our second game, Christian switched to his Tyrannid deck. It was his turn to suffer a slow start. A few turns into the game, I was given the choice of eliminating him or deal with at a growing Necron threat, which included 14 Necron tokens. Christian offered a deal in which he would deal with Noah if I let him live. With a board wipe in hand, I opted to finish off the Tyrnannids, knowing I could deal with the Necrons as well. I turned the deal down and took out Christian. The board wipe then decimated the Necron threat thanks to my having an Assault Intercessor to inflict 2 points of damage for each creature Noah lost. His Psychomancer dulled that damage but when the smoke cleared, he was down to 3 health. Noah was able to rebuild a bit on his turn, showing how powerful the Necron deck can be. Fortunately, on my next turn, I drew a Knight Paladin and the game was over.

For our third game, Christian switched back to his Chaos deck. He opted to bring his Commander out early while Noah and I slowly built up. I drew a number of ramp cards and quickly found myself with an abundance of mana. For his part, Noah had plenty of removal and used it deal with Abaddon not once but several times. The last time Abaddon came out, he cost 11 mana!

While the brothers fought each other, I built up a strong position using all that mana now at my disposal. A very frustrated Christian conceded and Noah turned his attention to me. But by then it was too late and the Imperium once again swept the Necrons out of this part of the universe.

As this is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I’m hoping we can squeeze a few more games in. Perhaps we will switch through the decks to get a feel for the different flavours. But I also have to go build more Tau’s for my army! And there’s turkey still to be eaten!