*Originally posted February 13, 2013

Cheese

Cheesy win conditions. Who loves 'em? Wizards sure does. There always seems to be one every few sets but there are 5 in the current standard block. What gives? Well, at the very least, it gives for a more creative play from players. And who doesn't enjoy that rare occasion where you self-mill to victory like a Laboratory Maniac. Or where you tire of your opponent's antics and show him the Door to Nothingness. I ran out of cheesy puns since Wizards has decided to use names that are more flavorful (Darn you Wizards! You've won this Battle of Wits). 

Biovisonary

The card I want to talk about today is the Biovisionary. It's not that it necessarily fits in any sort of standard deck that would be competitive, but it sure as hell fits in my Riku of Two Reflections commander deck. As a commander, Riku will take any creature or spell you play and allow you to copy it. Simic colors for a creature and Izzet colors for spells. Color combinations make sense, no?

Riku of Two Reflections

As I had begun developing this deck and then scrapping it and then rebuilding it, I had decided on a steal and copy focused Riku deck. With him out, I could play Zealous Conscripts, dupe it, and then steal 2 creatures. Or play Entwine, exile four sorcery/instants and turn the tide of the game. With this play style, I also realized very quickly it was a deck that relied on my opponents to play crazy spells and creatures that I could then steal and copy. Luckily for everyone, this is commander where you play nothing but the crazy stuff. 

So here I am now with Biovisionary. You have 4 of him and you win. With a cost of 1GU, I'm thinking this is a fairly simple and easy win. With commander, it's not uncommon at all for you to have 10+ mana and playing with my deck, I've been able to stall out games for quite awhile. With that being said, a simple kicked Rite of Replication would do the job nicely. Or if you want to work a little harder for it. Have Riku out, cast Biovisionary and copy it. Then Cackling Counterpart for the 3rd  and hell, Phantasmal Image for the 4th. Yes I know, these are very specific cards but with a deck focused on copies, ending up with these cards is not too difficult. 

Or if I have Kiki Jiki, Mirror Breaker in my deck. Add in the new equipment Illusionist's Bracers to shake up that combo a little bit. 

What's really nice about this cheese card is that it checks for the conditions at the beginning of your endstep which makes this much more possible than any of the beginning of your upkeep cards.

Of course, I'm not a fan of winning with these types of cards. Nobody wants to play with someone who wins with Felidar Sovereign or by playing Infect in the Commander/EDH setting.