#+7 power + trample + lifelink is. a lot

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than flooding

Big fat combat trick to pump all your excess mana into!

Cards used as example for balancing the modes:

[jones-friend]

Legendary Commentary: War of the Spark

The guildless are monocolor creatures looked down upon for not belonging to a guild. There’s a lot of them in this set, and to start we’re goint one set backwards:

The Haunt of Hightower has a few different avenues to go. If Atraxa taught us anything its lifelink on a counter based commander is always good. Sanguine Bond can score extra lifeloss. Your counters build through three ways: mill (Dread Summons, Shared Trauma), discard (Creeping Dread, Struggle for Sanity), or kill (Fleshbag Marauder, Ravenous Chupacabra). You have a variety of ways to amass your counters for commander damage.

Fblthp is... not a commander props to you if you can run him as one but he is not a very strong commander. So here I’m going to talk about why Fblthp is legitimately good as part of the 99. He’s a draw 2 for 2, a Sign in Blood or Night’s Whisper on a body. We just need him to come out from a library. We have cascade effects (Maelstrom Nexus) that can do the job, casting Commander’s Sphere and cascading into a Fblthp for 2 cards and a body seems good. There’s also effects like Possibility Storm and Sunbird’s Invocation that allow us to toss him out from the library specifically. In my cast triggers EDH he’s always been welcome draw after an Esper Charm or something similar.

Krenko 2.0 isn’t immediately as strong as 1.0 and I think a lot of people passed by his potential. Monored doesn’t really do counters, but don’t misread his ability. Gonlins equal to Krenko’s POWER, not COUNTERS. That means you can load him up with Argentum Armor for 7 goblins and a vindicate per swing. If goblin equips isn’t your cup of tea he fits in most boros augments and boros equipment decks very easily. Remember, its about boosting his power, extra counters are incidental.

This is not a commander. This fits into all of one commander deck: Noyan Dar. And even then there’s better cards to run. Ral your BF is orzhov trash (I mean Ral IS izzet trash, maybe its meant to be).

Massacre Girl brought us Last Laugh as a legendary creature and its crazy. Essentially you’d be running removal as your commander. To make the boardwipe work you’re making sure toughness is a set of stairs. We got 1 toughness, 2 toughness, 3 toughness, and so on so they domino effect each other. Beware, effects like Blood Artist will not help you here. Blood Artist dies, resolves, causing the next Massacre Girl trigger to hit.

LOOK AT THAT GOOD BOYE!!!!!!!!!!

Neheb 3.0 (Neheb 1.0: Rakdos, Nebeb 2.0: Afflict) fits into WAR’s counter theme. Like Krenko the more power you have the better the effect and I don’t think Neheb gets the attention he deserves. Even as a commander he seems good, discarding for filter and mana to make sure you’re landing the cards you need. He even comes with Trample and a STACKED 5 power on a 4 drop. He’s definitely worth revisiting and tinkering with if you don’t run one, its potent stuff.

That wraps up the guildless. We have one more series to work through to wrap up Ravnica. Safe planeswalking.

[mtg-brokentoken]

Because in the Knight, we save the day!

So I’ve been working on a black/white Knight deck, and was just about finished, but looks like I will be needing some updates when Eldraine releases. Deckbox is just because it matches colors and Knights == Cavalry == Chivalry, it’s funny.

Arvel, Knight of Windgrace is a great Knight Tribal commander. It’s in two of the main Knight colors, creates tokens with good value, and can use Knights in a meaningful way, moreso than just “attack with creatures that happen to share a type. As such, I made her my commander.

Danitha Capashen is also a Legendary Knight, but mono-white. Has first strike and lifelink in addition to vigilance, and compliments Auras and Equipment well. Still, needed a multi-color commander, but a good compliment to the deck.

Josu Vess, Lich Knight is mono-black with Menace and a pretty hefty Kicker cost. He’s great for a late-game rush of creatures, and as a 4/5 creature he’s pretty sturdy, but again, mono-color Commander just wouldn’t have quite enough support.

Odric, Master Swagtician Tactician isn’t a Knight, but both versions of Odric can really take a deck using combat to the next level. This version has First Strike, and when attacking with at least 3 other creatures, you can choose what creatures block and how they block. First Strike really shines in this manner, because you can make sure what does block it will die, and whatever Knights you need to get through can as well. The other version of Odric works well with a lot of the alphabet soup you can find on Knights, sharing abilities to the other Knights (or even non-Knights) you have.

Other Odric and Kwende recommended, but they’re not in the deck-to-be currently.

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Kabira Vindicator starts as a 2/4 for 4, but can work up to a 4/8 that gives other creatures you control +2/+2.

Caravan Escort costs just one white mana, starts as a 1/1, which is a pretty reasonable first turn drop. For 10 more mana (potentially spread over multiple turns) it can be a 5/5 with First Strike.

Knight of the Last Breath costs 7 and is a 4/4. In a pinch, it can change some of your nontoken Knights into Spirits with Flying, though, and becomes 3 Flying Spirits itself, in case you need the evasion.

Wingsteed Rider costs 3 for a 2/2 Flyer. It also has Heroic, which gives it a +1/+1 counter when targeted by a spell you cast. Which might come in handy if we start seeing some white or black Adventures in Eldraine.

Dawnstrike Paladin costs 5 for a 2/4 Vigilance Lifelink creature. Vigilance pairs pretty nicely with Lifelink because you potentially gain the life when attacking as well as blocking, meaning most opponents won’t want to attack into it unless they can deal enough damage to kill it or negate the lifegain. Not a spectacular option, but again I’ll likely be updating (and finishing the deck) once Eldraine releases.

Accorder Paladin. A 3/1 for two mana and it doesn’t have First Strike, so it’s likely to die when it does attack. To make that attack have a little bit more value, it also has Battle Cry, pumping the attack of your other creatures. Giving this card a little bit more toughness or other routes to not die in combat can add a lot of value very quickly, especially if you’ve got a wide board state.

Inspiring Captain is a 3/3 for 4 that does pump your creatures when it comes out. No haste on it, but strong when you’ve already got a handful or so creatures out.

Parhelion Patrol costs 4, 2/3 with Flying and Vigilance, and when it attacks you can put a +1/+1 counter on another creature with lower power. Vigilance means potential blocker, Flying is a great form of evasion so you should be able to use Mentor again, and though Knights are normally 2/2 (too big to get buffed) there are a few cards that start small enough to get some buff. Or you can increase Parhelion’s power so it can give those counters to creatures with more power than it has originally.

Ledev Guardian, costs up to 4 but has Convoke, and is a 2/4. Convoke doesn’t give it Flash, but sometimes worth taping a few other creatures to get another body out. Another card likely to be switched once I get my hands on some Eldraine.

Knight of New Benalia is another 3/1 for 2 mana. This one is just a vanilla creature, but still has the Knight creature type.

Benalish Honor Guard costs 2 for a 2/2, but can pump itself up if your commander (or any other Legendary creature) is on your field. We’ve only got 3 others currently, but seems Eldraine might have some fruits ripe for the picking. ...because it has Food tokens. Is joke. You laugh, yes?

Knight of Malice costs two, one of which is black mana this time. First Strike is still nice, Hexproof from white is a nice little bonus, even moreso if your opponent is trying to use your own tools against you, and it gets +1/+0 if anyone controls a white permanent which most of this deck is.

Cabal Paladin costs 4 for a 4/2, and deals 2 damage to each opponent when you cast a Historic spell (Reminder text: Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic). Not many Legendaries currently, though a commander is repeatable. The deck has one saga we’ll get to after creatures, and artifacts can be your mana rocks, equipment, and some tribal support.

Cavalry Drillmaster costs 2 for a 2/1, but gives +2/+0 and First Strike the turn it comes out. Doesn’t have flash, so it isn’t a combat trick, but it can make the difference between attacking or not.

Gallant Cavalry 4-mana 2/2 with vigilance, but it also has you create another 2/2 with Vigilance. Sometimes two heads are better than one, but in this case each is only half as good... 1 4/4 can pretty safely block a 3/3, but two 2/2 still lose half the power after state-based actions. Still, we have a few Anthem effects, so going wide tends to be better than going big. Two 3/3s are better than one 5/5, for instance... again circumstantially.

Knight of the White Orchid costs two white mana and is a 2/2 with First Strike. The other ability of it is a bit of a quirky one, though. This card is often a great turn 3 play, so that an opponent has 3 lands out. Play this Knight before you play your land for the turn, that way an opponent has more lands than you, and you put a Plains out, and then you can still play your land for the turn. You played a 2-mana card on turn 3 and still have 2-mana available!!

Knight of the Pilgrim’s Road is 3-mana 3/2, but if it deals combat damage to a player it becomes a 4/3. Nice little boost, but otherwise not much to talk about. Still dies to a Bolt, but something like Odric can help it get through.

Knight of Dusk is 3-mana 2/2, but you can pay BB to destroy target creature blocking it. You do this after blockers are declared, but before combat damage. Great with Odric, but honestly pretty nice even on its own. Your opponent has to decide between overblocking it and compensating for your mana, or not blocking it so you can’t use its ability.

Craven Knight. ...It says block. It’s a typo. (No, it’s not really a typo, just updating wording. It just can’t block and is a 2/2 for 2. Might be something to switch out, gotta review things like mana curve).

Black Knight, 2/2 for 2 with First Strike. It also has protection from White, but this means you also can’t target it, enchant it with white cards, or (if it’s used by an opponent) block it with white creatures.

White Knight. See Black Knight, but reverse the colors.

Dauntless Bodyguard only costs 1 for a 2/1, but you probably don’t want it to be your first-turn play. When it comes out, you choose another creature you control, and you can sacrifice Dauntless Bodyguard to make that creature indestructible for a turn.

Lone Rider is 2-mana 1/1, but it has First Strike and Lifelink. There’s a few other Lifelink creatures we’ve mentioned, to help it transform. When it does transform it gets another 3 power and toughness and adds Trample to the list of abilities. Also stops being a Knight, but it looks really cool.

Speaking of Lifelink, Faithbearer Paladin is a 3/4 for 5 with it.

Capashen Knight is a 1/1 with first strike for two mana, but also has the ability (Firebreathing) to increase its power by 1 for two mana. Works well with First Strike.

Knight of Cliffhaven costs 2 for a 2/2, which isn’t bad, but you can invest more mana to get it to a 4/4 Flying Vigilance. If I do get the other Odric in this deck, these creatures with Flying could start pulling more weight, but even now a little evasion can be good.

Skulking Knight costs 3 for a 3/3 but it has Flanking, so basically needs to be blocked by a 4/4 to trade. Blocked by 3 1/1s? They die before combat damage. Blocked by 100 1/1s? Same thing, they dead before combat damage. But it does have the Illusion/Skulking ability that if targeted by a spell or ability it dies. Even a Giant Growth would kill it. Clarification: It’s sacrificed, so no Dauntless Bodyguard shenanigans, either.

Fallen Askari costs 2, it’s a 2/2, and has Flanking. Can’t block, but with Flanking you probably want to be attacking anyway.

Pentarch Paladin costs 5 (3 of it white!) and is a 3/3 Flanking. When it comes out you can choose a color and later use a tap ability to destroy permanents of that color. This can be devastating to a mono-color deck, or, outside of this deck, if you pair it with Painter’s Servant, EVERY permanent can be the chosen color. Yep. Even lands.

Cadaverous Knight costs 3, has Flanking, 2/2 that can regenerate.

Femeref Knight costs 3, also has Flanking, and for one white it can have Vigilance. Make sure you use that on your main phase, because once it’s declared as a blocker, it’ll tap if it doesn’t already have vigilance.

Knights of the Black Rose. 5-mana 4/4 but you put the monarch token into the game and you should be drawing a card at the end of the turn it comes out. If someone wants to be drawing that extra card, Knights of the Black Rose has them lose two life and you gain the two life. If you’re the monarch and they’re low on life, they might not even be able to attack you (unless they have enough to kill you before the monarchy moves)!

Order of Yawgmoth costs 4 for a 2/2 with Fear. It also has a saboteur ability (something that triggers when it deals combat damage to a player) to make them discard a card. Sorta helpful for card advantage, but they’ll likely pick the card they can afford to sacrifice... or something like Nullhide Ferox.

Relief Captain pumps up to three creatures with a single +1/+1 counter when it comes out, and otherwise is a 3/2.

Chieftan en-Dal gives all attacking creatures (when it attacks) First Strike until end of turn.

Knight Errant is a 2/2 for 2. Vanilla creature, can help to round out your mana curve. Will something in Eldraine replace it? Plenty more previews could change that answer.

Knight Exemplar costs 3 and is a card that finally rewards our tribal theme! Yes, like so many others it has First Strike, and a +1/+1 Anthem effect limited to other Knights... and it makes those other Knights indestructible!! Protect this, once you get it out. Many creatures have Vigilance and/or Lifelink, how much better do those get when on an indestructible creature?

Cloud Crusader costs 4, 2/3 Flying First Strike. Not bad.

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In Garruk’s Wake - It’s a great Wrath effect, though it is expensive. Also gets planeswalkers but leaves your stuff alone.

Profane Procession is a nice way to get some targeted removal, and maybe turn tools against their masters. Or maybe recur some creatures of your own, but less likely. Hmm. Gotta wait for more information about how/if this interacts with Adventures.

Valorous Charge - +2/+0 but only for white creatures... and not even just yours. Still, it works well with a lot of First Strike. Also sorcery speed, so not a combat trick.

Forebear’s Blade adds a little extra power and Trample, which is basically lacking from the deck. Vigilance is also nice, all pairs well with First Strike.

Behind the Scenes gives your creatures Skulk, making it a little easier to attack people with bigger creatures, and after blocks are declared you can use the Anthem ability to get in some extra damage. Btw, if you have the mana for it, feel free to spam that ability, too!

Orzhov Locket is a nice little mana rock, works well for the deck, and late game can be used to refill a dwindling hand.

Declaration in Stone is quite handy against a token deck, but could really shine against a Relentless Rats or Persistent Petitioners deck. Still, you can’t choose what your opponents bring, and a two-mana targeted creature removal spell isn’t entirely bad. Especially since you get a Clue for each nontoken.

Zealous Persecution is a rather nice combat trick, not only giving your creatures an anthem effect, but giving creatures your opponents (yeah, opponents, plural. even the ones not involved in combat or minding their own business can lose their creatures with only 1 toughness) -1/-1.

Gideon’s Phalanx creates 4 2/2s with vigilance, which isn’t a great deal for 7 mana, but also gives your creatures indestructible if you have spell mastery, and it’s an instant so you can use block with those 4 2/2s. Especially with the buffs in this deck they could be bigger, and maybe you’re just playing it at the end of your opponent’s turn to get some more bodies on the field.

Knight’s Pledge just gives +2/+2, but it has Knight in the name so... there’s that.

Unquestioned Authority has art of a Knight (I guess Knight’s Pledge did, too) and gives protection from creatures, so you can attack without worrying about it getting blocked.

Adamant Will gives +2/+2 and indestructible at instant speed, so kinda nice for just 2 mana.

Charge is a one-time instant-speed anthem effect, only costs 1 mana, so can be used for offense or defense.

Dub makes something a Knight, not that many creatures I have in here would need it. Also gives +2/+2 and first strike.

Call the Cavalry is a sorcery that grants 2 2/2s with Vigilance.

History of Benalia is an amazing Tribal card for this, boosting your ranks at first before giving +2/+1 for your Knights for one turn.

Pay No Heed is just a bit of damage prevention in case one big creature swings at you, or use it to protect some of your creatures, whatever you need. It only stops one source of damage, though, so not great against a go-wide strategy. Does kinda give “first strike” though.

Acolyte’s Reward works great in a mostly-white deck like this, redistributing damage to a place more fitting.

Gift of Orzhova gives flying, lifelink, and a little boost and can be cast with either colors of mana.

Cruel Feeding can help you get some life back when needed, helping you make it to the long game with a better board state.

Necrobite not only gives a creature deathtouch, but it also regenerates it. A creature that would die anyway can take out a larger threat this way.

I’m not gonna continue into the lands I have picked out or haven’t yet, but that’s the 62 non-lands in my Knights deck that’s still in progress. Looks like Eldraine might be a good reason to finally finish it up!!

[frogtownhobbies]

Let’s start with the top 10 and get to the honorable mentions and longshots after….

Top 10:

10. Tectonic Giant

(Frequency = Low, Impact = Low) Possible Homes: Temur Elementals

A hard-to-deal-with threat that an opponent must deal with has possible applications in Pioneer but 4 mana is lot for most of the decks that might want this. Temur Elementals is one possible home but I would definitely expect that if I do see this card it will be paired with green accelerants.

9. Woe Strider

(Frequency = Low, Impact = Medium) Possible Homes: Aristocrats (of some color combination)

Aristocrats is a deck that is perpetually on the fringe of playable in both Modern and Pioneer. There are already more than enough playable cards for the archetype in BR, BRW, BGW or even some more obscure color combinations so the thing that will make the deck better is finding cards that can double up on roles to increase the card quality. Woe Strider fills the two most important roles in an Aristocrats deck; extra bodies in the form of goats and a sac outlet as well as also providing some reach and card selection. I feel sure enough about Woe Strider making Aristocrats playable that I moved it from the “If…then…” section to my top 10. Depending on the best color combination for the deck, Slaughter-Priest of Mogis and Alirios, Enraptured may also see some play.

8. Ashiok, Nightmare Muse

(Frequency = Low, Impact = Medium) Possible Homes: UBx Control

Makes the list on the power of having a plus ability that makes blockers to protect it while threatening an ultimate in only two turns. If you play Ashiok while ahead you will probably win the game. It’s closest competition is probably The Scarab God, and in parity and while ahead this card is close to that power level. Its worse when you’re behind but has less deck-building restrictions so overall I like this card and I can’t wait to win some games with my opponents’ stuff.

7. Staggering Insight

(Frequency = Low, Impact = Medium) Possible Homes: UW aggressive flying decks like Spirits

I feel like people are sleeping on this card but as Curious Obsessions number 5-8 that also grant lifelink I think it’s pretty good. Mono-red doesn’t want to see this on a spirit if you also have Selfless Spirit in play and I know that control decks don’t want to get hit by it. The card on this list that’s probably most likely to miss (along with Tectonic Giant) but I think it will see some play.

6. Storm’s Wrath

(Frequency = Medium, Impact = Medium) Possible Decks = Jeskai Fires, RB Control

Great rates on red’s Wrath of God that also hits Planeswalkers means you will be seeing this card. It does come with some heavy deckbuilding constraints but the value is there for those who can fit it in to their strategy.

5.  Phoenix of Ash

(Frequency = Medium, Impact = Medium) Possible Decks = Phoenix, Mono-red agro, Dredge

A recursive hasty threat is just what many mono-red decks want as the top-end of their threats and it also plays nicely with a lot of the cards in UR Phoenix, although it fights with Treasure Cruise. Making sure you can interact with graveyards is starting to seem like a priority in Pioneer just like it is in older formats.

4. Kunoros, Hound of Athreos

(Frequency = Medium, Impact = Medium) Possible homes: BW midrange, Abzan Midrange, 5c Niv to Light

This set’s best “pile of abilities creature”, Kunoros packs a lot of punch into a 3/3 for 3. Having a bunch of abilities on a creature doesn’t always lead to a successful Magic card (see: Savage Knuckleblade), but Having abilities that are particularly good against two disparate kinds of decks makes Kunoros intriguing. If 3 toughness in Pioneer is truly akin to 4 toughness in Modern (outside the range of the most common removal) then I think Kunoros will be giving aggro decks and graveyard decks fits for the foreseeable future.

3. Polukranos, Unchained

(Frequency = Medium, Impact = Medium) Possible Homes: Hardened Scales, Escape Strategies (Sultai?), BG Midrange Strategies

Polukranos provides a lot of undead beef for its mana cost, both at cmc=4 and cmc=6. I expect to see the big Zombie Hydra augmenting an already good Hadened Scales plan of attack as well as enabling a few other midrange strategies to finish off their game plans. Bonus points if you can utilize the counter aspect or give Polukranos trample and/or Haste but even by itself this is a fine creature.

2. Heliod, Sun-Crowned

(Frequency = Medium, Impact = High) Possible Homes = Mono-White Devotion, Soul Sisters, Collected Company Decks, Hardened Scales Decks, Any deck that already plays Walking Ballista

The boogie man cometh. Heliod is a card so scary that lots of people are already talking about a Walking Ballista ban in Pioneer’s future. While the combo is obviously scary and something you have on your radar any time you’re playing Pioneer I don’t think it’s quite to that level. Outside of winning the game on the spot, Heliod slots in nicely next to Benalish Marshall in a White Devotion/Beatdown strategy, perhaps utilizing other Theros cards; Favored of Iroas and Taranika, Akroan Veteran (which are both soldiers as well). The other white devotion deck possibility is probably more of a “pillow fort” kind of deck utilizing white’s many enchantments that make it hard for your opponent to win. That deck has the added benefit of wanting to play Walking Ballista alongside Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx already and also likes the lifegain Heliod can provide.

1. Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

(Frequency = High, Impact = High) Possible Homes = UG Ramp Strategies (including Devotion), 5c Niv to Light, Escape Strategies, Maybe Soulflayer

My pick for the card that will have the biggest impact in Pioneer, Uro packs a lot of value into one card. UG ramp strategies with and without devotion will love this card and it slots perfectly into Niv to Light as a ramp spell which also gains you some life early and gives you more reach late. Uro will probably also spawn some new strategies all by itself like UGx control or some sort of escape deck that includes some self-mill. Expect to see a lot of this card going forward and expect to die to it eventually if you can’t deal with it permanently.

Honourable Mentions

Playable Removal Spells:

Eat to Extinction and Drag to the Underworld will both compete with the format’s best removal and will see some play but I don’t think they are appreciably better than Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Vraska’s Contempt, Murderous Rider or even Murderous Cut. Keep in mind that Drag to the Underworld’s upside is a one mana break on Murder, have you ever thought about playing Murder in Pioneer?

Cards to Help you Out Against Mono-Red:

Erebos’s Intervention, Shadowspear and Setessan Petitioner provide more ammunition for decks that have trouble with mon-red or other aggressive decks. The Petitioner is definitely a sideboard card whose cmc probably makes it an upgrade over Nylea’s Disciple. The other two may be maindeck cards in the right deck (perhaps UR Ensoul for Shadowspear) but probably also head to the sideboard.

“If _________________ is a good deck then this card will probably see play in it.”

Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea is a good body for blue Devotion strategies along with Thassa, whose blink effect is proving to be better in testing then I expected. Green devotion decks may want Omen of the Hunt and some will probably try Nyxbloom Ancient but that card definitely screams “win more!” to me.

Longshot Squad

Could any of these have a chance? Probably not, but crazier things have happened.

Gaalia of the Endless Dance

Firedrinker Satyr, Satyr Hedonist, Boon Satyr and the new Careless Celebrant….You’re right, those are not the cards a good Pioneer deck are built around but it’s too bad, this card is efficient and a cool effect to have in an aggressive tribal deck. Maybe when we go to Theros next time we’ll be able to complete this deck. Gaalia might just be good enough to get there on its own in a Gruul agro deck but usually if you’re attacking with three or more creatures in that kind of deck you’re already winning anyway.

Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders & Nyx Lotus

There isn’t a precedent for a three cmc mana-producing creature to be good in the format but I can’t help but wonder if this card can do something with Paradox Engine. Nyx Lotus could go in that deck as well. Maybe mostly blue with a red splash and including Emry, Dalakos, Saheeli, Mox Amber (Which Dalakos helps out), Nyx Lotus, Paradox Engine….

Storm Herald & Mantle of the Wolf

Could Storm Herald spawn an aggressive combo deck? Prodigious Growth and Spectra Ward are probably the two best creature auras to use with Storm Herald and you probably need something like Battle Mastery and/or one of the lifelink enchantments. We have a lot of red rummaging effects like Cathartic Reunion, Tormenting Voice and the new Thrill of Possibility as well as perhaps Thirst for Meaning out of blue to set things up. It’d be nice to be able to bring back Control Magic effects and enchant your opponent’s creatures but, c’est la vie, there may be something here.

Nadir Kraken

Look man, I don’t know why I like this card, but there’s just something about it. Maybe because Squirrel Opposition is my all-time favorite deck and this card makes me nostalgic for constant token generation. I’m at least 95% sure this won’t be a playable card in Pioneer but I’m also 95% sure I will own too many foils of it for the chance that it becomes playable.

Underworld Breach, Aphemia, Calix & Kroxa

What do we do with these cards? I don’t know, but someone is going to try. Underworld Breach obviously has the most potential but may need the larger card pool eternal formats to really shine. If you squint really hard Aphemia has Bitterblossom potential. Calix is a really interesting build around for enchantment-heavy strategies. Kroxa might want someone to introduce them to Davriel to really make opponents miserable.

            - Stephen K Timmons

[wolfthebard]

War of the Spark: Mythic Review

Greetings and salutations peeps. This week, many Magic the Gathering players will get to experience that joys that is Pre-release: War of the Spark. This set has 36 Planeswalkers, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. As a Commander player, I’m excited. So I’m going to list my thoughts and such on the Mythics, Rares, and Uncommons (with a handful of commons). This will be broken into multiple parts. Also, these thoughts for these cards are strictly on how they impact the Commander format. Today, we’ll be looking at the 15 Mythic cards of the set! Without further wait.

Ok, so this is not Green Sun’s Zenith. Zenith gives us ramp in the form of Dryad Arbor, this doesn’t. Now, this has a built in finisher. To pay 10, search a Craterhoof. Well one that’s magical holiday land, but it’s an almost guaranteed end for most players. I’d consider this a alt-second copy for Zenith, and it should find a home in many creature based decks.

I was going to end it here for this, but there’s more. This also reanimates. This is green reanimation. So this finds a home and is a great way for mono green decks to revive a Craterhoof, or something else. More applications, means more decks can play it. Rating 4/5: Not the first choice for many decks, but has a small tool box that we can use.

Ok, so this card is alright. It’s a 12 mana, significantly worse Rise of the Dark Realms.  While the Green Finale is a worse Zenith, it does something more. Eternity here is a worse removal spell, and unlike Realms, it only gets your creatures back from the grave. Mono black has better answers for both targeted and board removal. I don’t see too many decks needing this. Rating 2/5. There are better options for everything this card wants to do, but if your play group doesn’t have a lot of graveyard hate, and plays low curve creatures. Maybe use this? I’d pick up a foil one, cause the art is sweet.

Oh my, this is a Decree of Justice call back. In tokens this card is great, also paying ten nets you a total of 60 power. Also, if you’re playing a competitive tokens deck, it’ll probably net you more. Paying 10 isn’t a replacement...it adds!  Not much more to say, card is great for late game, and in tokens. Rating 5/5: Good card is good. Flavor text depicts the fear your opponents will feel. While this could have been an instant, I think it’s still a great card.  

Man, red I think got one of the crazier cards here. The and/or clause is great. Just by paying 2, you can get a total value of (4) mana. Getting to ten, which is easy for Izzet decks, heck even mono-red decks. Allowing us to copy those spells twice is nuts. This is a real finisher, and if it resolves, you can probably K.O someone, if not the entire group.  Yes, those spells go into exile, but we have cards like Ral, Izzet Viceroy can still utilize them. Rating 5/5. This is what finishers should look like. That and/or clause, it’s what makes this card good. Any spell heavy deck is going to love this card. 

The last Finale. A blue, sorcery-speed draw spell. Ok, so the x makes this card cost 7, not 12. Yes, we draw 10 cards, shuffle our graveyard, and have no max hand size. I think this card is good, but we have cards like Blue Sun’s Zenith, Sphinx’s Rev, all are instant-speed, with Rev gaining us life. I feel like decks that take a lot of turns will like this card, just for the no max hand size. It’s just a bit too slow. Still, it will see play in blue decks. Rating: 3/5. While there are practical uses, there are still so many better options that can stall games, save yourself, or instant-speed. Not a bad card, but with the other options in the same budget, I’d go to those first.

First Planeswalker! Gideon deserves to be honored! Ok, reviews...breathe... 3 mana, 4/4 that can’t die on your turn, good. The fact his +1 allows us indestructible is a great trick. Yes, lifelink and vigilance is great, but I like swinging in with a big buff creature that can’t die. The -6 is nuts. Yes it takes three turns to get there, but this answers so many things; Eldrazi and other planeswalkers we don’t want to see.  Rating 4/5. He’s not the best White Walker, but he has his uses. Budget voltron decks can use this, and the +1 allows us to work within a frame of getting some damage in...or you know, protecting our Commander, if only on our turn. 

Pick a God and Pray! We got beef with our 5/6 with Menace. Token decks playing black...you have a new toy to draw things. Mono black decks have a card that lets them get around pacified creatures, and artifacts that they may not need anymore. As a general, it’s kinda neat that Bontu never dies really. I’d rather play Bontu in the 99, as a general it can cause people to focus their removal on us, which leads to feel bad moments.  Rating 4/5: Black has a lot of draw and sac outlets, Bontu is the best of both worlds, as a general they’re a bit slow. They shine in Aristocrat decks and the like. The reasoning for not a perfect score is, it doesn’t just end the game. 

This bird gives you the word. Ok, I need to point out this is like giving everything in your deck Miracle...it’s going to be annoying that your opponent has to pause draw like a character in Yu-gi-oh, so they don’t miss a trigger and or seem like they’re cheating. I love this card. So you don’t play the card, you just show it off, and pay two less. Now I am assuming that if you draw on your opponents turn, and draw a sorcery you can still cast it on their turn. I think I’m reading that right. Still the fact you can reduce the cost, keep the drawn card. This card is a great mono-blue general, or in the 99 of spell heavy decks (Niv has a friend!) The big body on this bird means it’s not going down easy. Rating 5/5. This card enables finishers, allows combo decks to go off early, and it’s “build around me” ability makes this a great general. 

This is what Pusheen prays to. Creature based white decks, Heliod is a false prophet. Oketra is the God you’re looking for.  Ok, it does 6 damage cause of Double strike. Cool, as a general this card is ok, but the ability to make 4/4s with vigilance is nuts. Those late game early drop creatures now pack a punch. Not much to say. You play creatures? You want more creatures? Go pet this cat...or offer it up the sparks of an Elder Dragon? Rating 5/5 Great general, great in the 99. Go for that voltron theme for whatever reason cause Oketra has double strike, or just play a bunch of low curve creatures to give you a big field.

Hello Rhonas, how are you doing? Ok, I wish it gave trample over vigilance, but I mean. It just doubles everything...and those things probably have Trample already. This is like the Green Finale. It might just be the end game right here.  Rating 4/5. If it gave trample, it would be perfect. As it stands, it’s still a great finisher. I’d probably just play them in the 99. Great finisher, if you’re looking to remove things like Over-run....or just put it in an infect heavy deck...That’s just evil. 

Boar God! Ok, this here is a general. Like the other Gods, if it dies somehow, it goes to the deck. Putting out free creatures will never not be good. also 6/6 trample for five mana is amazing value. Mono-red decks, you got a good general. Any creature heavy deck that plays red. Find room for this Boar. Think of all the fun stuff you can do....like just ending the turn...you know..to keep the creature. If you want other fun stuff. Cards like Panharmonicon is going to be great with all the ETB effects. Games can end quick with Illharg. Listen, this little piggy doesn’t even need to be your commander. Playing Nikya, and just don’t feel like tapping mana? BAM! Pig~ Playing Narset? BAM! Pig~ Enjoying getting them dummy thicc creatures out on the field. Rating 5/5: Where’s the Beef? It’s right here~ 

Bitch, I lived~  6 mana is ok for a 6 loyality walker. Her triggered ability is amazing. We’re in the color of sacrificing our own creatures. She has two forms of built in protection, and while her Ult takes four turns to set up, it’s  worth it. This is a more fair Karn Ult, and if we get there, oh boy did something bad happen. As a general (because Planeswalkers should be generals). She’s solid. With the right cards we can get her out by turn three. Even on curve, she does everything we would want. As the 99, I do miss the ability to search for a card and the discard, but gaining board presence and drawing cards is solid. Rating 5/5. She fits into so many decks. From mono black, to Golgari midrange, to anything that has creatures. Liliana shines so bright.

The big bad is here. You ready? Five mana for a 4 loyality walker is ok. The static ability to have all Planeswalker abilities is great. Noting, this goes for your opponents walkers too! Yes, there’s a build around me superfriends vibe Bolas is giving off, but, let’s break him down. His first ability is ok. The exile clause  can mess with our opponents, but in Commander, we’ll lose a land and not be hurting. His second allows us to get rid of pesky cards. While not hitting artifacts or enchantments is kinda meh, it can still get rid of immediate threats. His ult is game winning, no seriously it’s in the text. I love effects that punish players for not playing their commander. Yes, this takes 5 turns (depending on if you don’t have a +2 walker out on the field). So this gives your opponents time to bring out their Commander, but Bolas is an immediate threat. Having the two of the same ability is great. Double Jace? How about Double Liliana of the Veil? Grixis walkers can really be a thing. As a general, this is flavorful. In the 99, and in the right build. This is a toolbox. Rating 4/5. Really needs supporting walkers to make Him a “God”, but still a solid card. 

Reborn into what exactly? Ok, This really is a “Build” around me general. If we’re talking generals, Scion of the Ur-Dragon is the boss. Niv-Reborn can do some cool stuff, and the flavor of caring about the guilds is great. Even in the 99, I can’t see why you’d put him in a five color deck. Most already have better tutors/draw/etc. Niv is ok, but not really the “boss” we’re looking for in a general. Though I’ll admit, I’m going to brew him. Rating: 2/5 Requires a heavy build around them, that doesn’t net you a winning advantage. Art is sick, and the foil will look amazing.

It’s a bird! It’s a Human! It’s uh...cool looking? Roalesk is a neat little card. a 4/5 for 5 is solid stats for a Commander, and evasion and trample is great. The ETB to pump your guys is great and fits into already solid strategies. Ok, and when he dies you get an effect. Hm...if we send Roalesk to the Command Zone, we won’t get that effect. But, in the 99, and with a whole bunch of “Counters Matter”, this is amazing. Teaming up with Rishkar can generate a lot of mana. Also Atraxa has a new friend with all her walkers. Seriously, this set gave Atraxa so much. Rating: 4/5 A solid card in the 99, and an ok general. Has many applications, and can win games of their LTB trigger. Overall War of the Spark has some great Mythics, that help established decks and may diversify for some new ones. With a total of three lack luster ones, this set is gonna hold value.  Thanks for reading. In the next article, we’ll be focusing on the rares of this set! See you then!

[commandertheory]

Ixalan Commander Set Review

For each new set, I write an article discussing the new legendary creatures and the nonlegendary cards that I think will be relevant in Commander.

In this set review, I’ll be using two five-point rating scales to evaluate the nonlegendary cards, one that measures how many decks a card is playable in (we’ll call that “spread”), and one that measures how powerful it is in those decks (”power”). Here’s a brief rundown of what each rank on the two scales means:

Spread

1: This card is effective in one or two decks, but no more (ex: The Gitrog Monster). 2: This card is effective in one deck archetype (ex: self-mill decks). 3: A lot of decks will be able to use this card effectively (ex: decks with graveyard interactions). 4: This card is effective in most decks in this color. 5: Every deck in this color is able to use this card effectively.

Power

1: This card is always going to be on the chopping block. 2: This card is unlikely to consistently perform well. 3: This card provides good utility but is not a powerhouse. 4: This card is good enough to push you ahead of your opponents. 5: This card has a huge impact on the game.

The Commanders of Ixalan

In this section, I’ll be analyzing the new legendary creatures, offering some ideas for decks build around them, and discussing their potential for inclusion in the 99 of other decks.

Gets you a ton of value from the sort of cards Green wanted to run anyway, like mana dorks and cheap utility creatures. Very strong commander.

In the maindeck:

Spread: 4 Power: 4

Lots of UGx decks run Regal Force, and she’s mostly a strict upgrade.

The best non-token non-Voltron aggressive decks find ways to mitigate the archetypes inherent weakness to board wipes (see Xenagos, which only requires you to commit a single threat to the board, or Kaalia, whose mana-saving ability breaks the symmetry of mass land destruction). I’m a little wary of Beckett Brass because she does just the opposite: she encourages you to commit lots of real cards to the board and the reward she offers for jumping through her hoop does not adequately offset how devastating it will be to trade 3+ Pirates for a single Wrath of God. 

There’s also the problem of Pirate quality; in order to hit the threshold of 25-30 Pirates needed to regularly draw enough to trigger Beckett, you’re going to have to run some very sketchy cards. Basically every Pirate with evasion that costs 3 or less is going to make it into your deck, which will be a huge liability if your opponents can keep Beckett off the field. Without Beckett on the battlefield to give you a payoff for beating down with buccaneers, your 1-power flyers do nothing, and you’re gonna fall way behind players running actual Magic cards. Hopefully Rivals of Ixalan will have more disruptive Pirates and card-generating Pirates so that you can replace the more embarrassing cards that you currently have to run out of necessity.

Sample list

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Dinosaurs got really hosed in Ixalan and Gishath does not do enough to make up for it. Gishath’s combat damage trigger is powerful, but only if you run at least 20 members of the (terrible) Dinosaur creature type. Most Dinosaurs are expensive creatures without evasion, and almost none of them are able to generate value at a rate that comes close to what Commander players expect of their 5-, 6-, and 7-drop creatures. Drawing these huge idiots at almost any point of the game is going to be a disappointment, as casting them is usually going to be worse than trying to ramp into Gishath or increase his damage output once he’s on the field. 

In fact, given that Gishath has 7 power, haste, and trample, he’s probably most effective when you just run him as a Voltron commander. The deck’s strategy will be basically be the same but you won’t have to spend dozens of slots on bad cards.

A solid Goodstuff commander. She synergizes with some of the big lifegain cards in her colors but doesn’t need them very much; lifelink and a high starting life total will get you a lot of Vindicates before you need to reload with a Gray Merchant or whatever.

In the maindeck:

Spread: 3 Power: 2

I think she’s too fragile and slow to justify giving her a maindeck slot.

As a commander, Mavren is a weaker Brimaz with less useful typing, since there aren’t any monowhite Vampire tribal effects.

In the maindeck: 

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Edgar Markov will happily take a solid Vampire producer. I think there are a few White token decks that run Brimaz (Jazal Goldmane, perhaps), so there’s probably room for Mavren in those lists.

As I mentioned above, board wipes are the primary concern of most nontoken, non-Voltron aggressive commanders. Kopala’s abilities might discourage your opponents from casting spot removal, but spot removal is a minor problem compared to the threat of losing all your fish to a sweeper.

In the maindeck:

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Tribal merfolk isn’t really a thing (in the sense that there is no commander that effectively rewards you for committing to Merfolk), but if it was, I still wouldn’t recommend running Kopala for the same reasons he’s not good as a commander.

There are only a handful of good artifact sac outlets in monored, so I don’t think you’ll be able to reliably do clever things with the treasure Storm generates. Haste and a way to pump power (as well as a way to break symmetry on mana denial) suggest a Voltron direction for her.

In the maindeck:

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Seems a little sketchy, but you could potentially use her to generate sac fodder for commanders that can do more interesting things with it, like Slobad or Shattergang Brothers.

The Maindeck Cards

Pirates

I don’t want to waste time classifying every Pirate relevant to Admiral Beckett Brass and exactly zero other archetypes, so I’ll give you a rule of thumb that’ll let you evaluate them for yourself. If a Pirate costs four or less and has evasion or a way to generate card advantage/selection, then you’ll probably be running it in Beckett Brass. 

Dinosaurs

I also don’t want to have to run through every Dinosaur that’s relevant to Gishath, so here’s what you need to know: all the Dinosaurs aside from Wakening Sun’s Avatar and Burning Sun’s Avatar are bad, so it doesn’t matter which ones you use to fill out your Gishath deck. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

White Crovax and Selenia are both able to spend down their life totals as much as they want, so this could be useful as a way to drop opponents down to one or two. I’m pretty skeptical about using it outside of that context, though; nobody plays Reverse the Sands and this is just a slower (albeit cheaper) version of the same thing.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

It’s pretty sad compared to Sun Titan, but there is something to be said for redundancy in singleton formats. I think it’s worth testing in lists with lots of cheap utility creatures, especially those with ETB triggers.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Without the mana denial, I’m not very interested in this version of Thalia 2.0.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

This is only going to hit a tiny subset of the threats at the table and it gives away a lot of cards in exchange. It’s a cute Sunforger target but I wouldn’t consider running it outside that context.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

More fragile than Torpor Orb with a worse body than Hushwing Gryff. Really not in love with this version of the effect.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

Helps Tazri to set up infinite Wolves with Turntimber Ranger and lets Higure find more targets than the four other Ninjas in his color identity. I don’t think Sliver decks run many non-Sliver creatures, but this could potentially allow Sliver Overlord to find them.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

4 mana is one more than this effect is worth, especially when you consider that you’re on color for stuff like Fabricate, Reshape, and Whir of Invention. Skip it unless there’s some equipment that’s really crucial to your deck’s strategy that you need many ways to find (Blade of Selves in Keiga, perhaps).

Spread: 1 Power: 2

As I said above, there’s not really a great Merfolk tribal commander at the moment. However, if one gets printed, this card will probably make the cut, since the tribe has many lords but few good token generators to spread the buffs wider.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

If the popularity of Dominate is any indicator, this card won’t see much play; there are just too many efficient ways to steal creatures in this format.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Self-mill decks are usually faster than this, but mill decks are weak enough that they might be interested.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Great in Marchesa 1.0, Atraxa +1/+1 counters, and potentially Ezuri 2.0 infect.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Doubling Season combos aside, this card is not Commander-playable. It doesn’t protect itself particularly well and it doesn’t generate much in the way of cards.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

It compares really unfavorably to other sorcery-speed Blue draw spells like Windfall, Recurring Insight, or Rush of Knowledge. Its ratio of cards drawn to mana spent is just not good enough.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

It’s cheap, it’s easy to flip in a spell-heavy deck, it ramps you, and it can generate cards if you need it to. Probably deserves a slot in any Blue deck that can reliably get threshold.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Definitely worth running in Beckett Brass and Edric, maybe worth running in Azami, too?

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Compares unfavorably to Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena, Greed, Dark Confidant, Graveborn Muse, Erebos, etc etc etc. There are way too many good alternatives to consider running this.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

I think I’d rather run Sepulchral Primordial as my big reanimator finisher, even if it can’t hit my own graveyard.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

It’s slow as graveyard hate and unreliable as a value engine; seems like the worst of both worlds. It won’t be a format staple, but Beckett Brass will happily snap up a 1CMC Pirate that can potentially generate cards.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

This card will be a champ in Rakdos 2.0, but I’m not sure there are many other non-Voltron Black aggro decks that are interested in this guy.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Nekusar probably wants this as Megrim redundancy; Neheb 1.0 might be interested, as well.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

In most decks, it looks like a bad Black Market. However, there are a few builds that can make use of artifact tokens; Treasures subsidize Breya’s Grasp of Darkness effect and allow the Shattergang Brothers’ first ability to feed into their second ability.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

Dark Confidant is great in decks with a low average CMC, and Ruin Raider’s Raid condition is not that difficult to meet. Should be a strong addition to low-curve Black aggro decks (I’m thinking something along the lines of Tymna hate bears).

Spread: 1 Power: 4

Edgar Markov looooves this guy. It’s like a repeatable Malakir Bloodwitch!

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Another addition for Edgar Markov. Curving out is very important in that deck, and the suite of 1-drops is soft enough that a Vampire that deals 4+ damage per turn should slot in easily.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

I like this better than Red’s many symmetrical damage doublers, but seven mana is a lot. Heartless Hidetsugu would grudgingly run this because this effect is so crucial to that deck’s functioning, but I suspect that most other decks will skip it.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Gives a way for Zada to cash in all her tokens for cards if she’s low on gas.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

It’s definitely worse than Blasphemous Act and I suspect that it’s worse than Starstorm and Rolling Earthquake because they’re cheap when the threats are small and you can break their symmetry if you have large creatures. I think Star is about as good as Hour of Devastation, and which one you choose to run is going to depend on how big the threats usually are in your playgroup.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

I think the only deck that is really set up to exploit this is Neheb, the Eternal, since he has access to a ton of mana but needs more ways to generate cards. This helps you skip past lands and other cards you don’t need to find more gas.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Kazuul is the first commander that came to mind when I saw this card, but O-Kagachi is probably also interested in provoking some attacks. The repeatable artifact token generation could also come in handy for commanders like Breya or Shattergang Brothers.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Unlike Outpost Siege, it only generates a card 60% of the time. That seems too unreliable to really interest me as a source of card advantage, and while the backside seems strong, the Cannons don’t flip as easily as most of the other enchantment DFCs in Ixalan. This card is a maybe if you’re a slow mono-Red or Boros deck and a no just about everywhere else.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

The front half costs one more mana than I’d like, but it’s still card selection, an easy flip condition, and a boatload of mana. Likely to be an autoinclude for any creature-heavy Green deck.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Both of these seem like powerful ways for Marath and Ulasht decks to convert counters into cards.

Spread: 5 Power: 3

Likely to become one of the stronger UB multicolor cards in the format. Stealing a Sol Ring is a massive tempo swing and stealing threats is pretty sweet, too. You can also blink or reanimate her later on to take more things!

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Making a 3/3 isn’t a great way for a planeswalker to protect itself and lifegain is a blank. Your best-case scenario is zapping three mana dorks with an overcosted Arc Lightning.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

She’s not great at protecting herself, but she’s a big upgrade over her last iteration since she can Vindicate twice in a row and her plus ability is no longer a blank. I think she’s a little expensive for Goodstuff purposes but board control is exactly what Superfriends decks want in a planeswalker, so there’s probably room for her in Atraxa or 5C Planeswalkers.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Given that nobody plays Jayemdae Tome, I can’t imagine there are many decks that would be interested in this card. Depala, perhaps?

Spread: 2 Power: 2

The overlap between decks that have an evasive commander or lots of evasive creatures and decks that want to ramp hard is not very large, but there are probably a few decks that can meet the criteria; Breya and Thada Adel come to mind.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Four charges makes this one of the one of the most difficult flip conditions in the set, and it doesn’t help that the front side’s effect is only worth about two mana. I think Mizzix will skip this because she can get the same effect from casting an instant or sorcery, but WU Taigam might be interested, since rebound gets you double counters off of every spell and he runs tons of extra turn effects that are great when copied. Melek and Wort 2.0 could also want this card, since they’re already running lots of spells that like to be copied.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

This effect is somewhat dependent on the commanders and archetypes common in your playgroup. If Pithing Needle has been good for you, then I think it’s worth paying an extra mana for more information.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This is a strict upgrade over Journeyer’s Kite for the decks still running  it (mono-Red, mono-White, and mono-Brown, maybe?).

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I could imagine running this in some deck that really cares about the top card of its library (e.g., Melek, Sapling, or Intet). Otherwise, the rate is too inefficient to be worth a slot.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I’d pay 2-3 mana for the latter effect and I’m not very interested in the former effect at any price (I generally prefer noncreature anthems that pump for at least 2 power). I don’t think the two of them together are worth five mana.

Wrapping Up

Please let me know if you think I misjudged any of these cards, missed any interesting uses for them, or if I left out any Commander-playable cards from Ixalan. Thanks for reading!

[loreleywrites]

Command Zone: The Legends of Ixalan

Ixalan offers ample opportunity to explore, from sailing the vast white-capped sea to wading through the deep jungle bogs. And, like any other new Magic set, it offers new legendary creatures to explore in Commander.

This is a tribal set built around four creature types: Dinosaurs, Pirates, Vampires, and Merfolk. Each tribe gets a legendary creature in their colors at mythic rare, while Pirates, Vampires, and Merfolk get an additional monocolored creature at rare.

Today’s article is going to explore the possibilities of each of these new commanders. It’s a wide-open world for them out there, and each one is eager to hunt/loot/conquer/protect with every ounce of their being.

Welcome to Gishathic Park

No joke caption. I’m just so excited to build a Dinosaur Commander deck.

DINOSAURS.

Now that that’s out of my system, meet Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. They’re the full manifestation of the Sun Empire’s triplicate solar deity, and it’s not surprising that this theropod is a being fit for worship. Vigilance, trample, and haste on a 7/6 mean that as soon as Gishath hits the battlefield, they’re ready to bring the pain. They even have 7 power, the magic number to knock out an opponent with commander damage in only three hits.

The trick is that Gishath costs eight mana. That’s a lot! You’ll want your deck to have plenty of mana ramp (Other Dinosaurs are also expensive to cast.) It also makes Gishath the perfect place for Command Beacon, which lets you get another shot at a (relatively) cheap Gishath when commander tax adds up. Since you won’t be casting this Dinosaur many times, you’ll want to make the most out of it each time. While they already have haste, Gishath still benefits greatly from the protection offered by Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. Just make sure to find a cobbler that can adjust them a few sizes larger.

Oh, have I not mentioned the part where Gishath brings a bunch of friends along whenever they smash face into an opponent? Because Gishath does that. They’re damage trigger is what fuels them as a tribal commander. You don’t just want to beat face with Gishath, you want to play all the Dinosaurs. And you’ll really need to play almost all of them. Gishath requires you to hit Dinosaur cards with their ability even when you’re only revealing a few cards. In your 99, you’ll probably want twenty-five to thirty Dinosaur cards. Ixalan can support that right now, but there are quite a few underwhelming creatures there. Free cards are still good; don’t let overall Dinosaur quality get you down. Also remember that Rivals of Ixalan will be expanding their roster in just a few months.

If you’re looking for a ramp deck that can spew out more creatures than typical slower decks, then don’t ignore Gishath, Sun’s Avatar. They hit hard on their own and prove that yes, Dinosaurs do move in herds.

[pirate phrase]

[pirate joke]

Pirate puns are pulpier than a dead horse by now. I will not make them. Gonna play this one straight.

You know who plays nothing straight? Admiral Beckett Brass, who loves looting so much that it’s how she interacts with the entire Pirate tribe. Smashing three (or more!) Pirates into a single player’s face is going to be difficult. It’s not like the Admiral is sneaky about it; her ability is right there! Your opponent know what you’re up to. This is where her anthem effect is tricky too; Break Through the Line would be the perfect card is she didn’t help get your Pirates above 2 power!

Flying seems like the best way to take advantage of Beckett’s kleptomaniacal proclivities. Even cards like Levitation solve this problem. And remember, she counts as one of the Pirates too!

Pirates tend to be smaller creatures, so other than the awkward card interactions, the anthem effect is great at helping this tribe compete in Commander. Evasion mechanics like flying and menace also help them chip in for damage. Many of the Pirates in Ixalan have you drawing cards, so expect to be able to sculpt good hands. Consider playing redundant copies of cards that eliminate your hand size too, such as Reliquary Tower and Thought Vessel. Pirates also have you discarding a lot of cards, so you can tap into Black for a bit of graveyard shenanigans.

Finally, Pirates make those fancy new Treasure tokens. Blue and Red have lots of Commander-worthy cards that care about artifacts, so that might be a subtheme you build into your Pirate deck.

Admiral Beckett Brass knows who she is (a thief), but the rest of the Pirate tribe is a hodgepodge of peeps doing their own things. How you put all those pieces together is up to you, but the result is sure to be a flexible, and underhanded, concoction that always keeps your opponents guessing what happens next.

I Vona Suck Your Blood

She is legit Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas.

The Legion of Dusk conquered the continent of Torrezon using the power of the Immortal Sun before it was stolen from them centuries ago. Now they’re sailing to Ixalan’s shores to get it back.

Vona, Butcher of Magan is a war hero from those vampiric wars across the sea. Her new task is to lead the Legion’s conquistadors on an expedition to find the lost city of Orazca, the rumored location of the Immortal Sun. Let’s hope she dies trying.

Five mana for a 4/4 vigilance lifelink already has me excited. Vigilance is one of the best keywords to have in multiplayer Magic, which Commander usually is. Vona gets to swing at your enemies while also dissuading you from cracking back. That also makes lifelink twice as good, as you can gain life on offense and then have the opportunity to gain more on defense.

And if you didn’t get to block with Vona? No biggie. Just tap her and pay 7 life to Vindicate a nonland permanent. This is an ability you’ll probably activate less often than you think. Simply the threat of activating it will persuade your opponents to hold back on their better cards until Vona is dealt with. In the meantime, it’s a great deterrent against attacks. Not only will opponents have to swing into your large lifelinker, they risk a retaliatory strike against their board.

At this point, you might be wondering what this has to do with Vampire tribal. The answer? Not much. Vona is a great card on her own. She doesn’t have to lead a tribal deck. If she does, Vampires have lots of lifegain effects. Use those to fuel her ability.

It’s all a little awkward after Commander (2017 Edition) gave us a bunch of Vampires with a whole other color in them. Edgar Markov is more powerful for Vampire tribal, while Licia, Sanguine Tribune does the whole lifegain thing too. If you want to use Vona, Butcher of Magan as your commander instead, I’d recommend making the most out of her tap ability in order to differentiate her from more colorful options.

Thunderstruck

I’m guessing it’s “thundering waves” thunder, since she’s not a Red card.

Like Vona, Tishana, Voice of Thunder doesn’t specifically interact with her tribe (Merfolk). In fact, the best Tishana decks out there probably don’t run many Merfolk at all. What we have here is a Green/Blue commander that does generic good Green/Blue stuff. You know, like most Green/Blue commanders.

Let’s break down what Tishana cares about. First, her power and toughness beg you to have a lot of cards in your hand. She even alleviates you of your maximum hand size. Thanks, Tishana! Second, she helps fill your hand by drawing you a bunch of cards depending on how many creatures you control (at least one, since she counts herself).

Drawing cards is no problem for this color pair. Whether you draw them over time from Howling Mine or in one shot from Blue Sun’s Zenith is up to you. If you do happen to build a Merfolk tribal deck for Tishana to lead, Kindred Discovery will be one of your best cards. Green has plenty of effects that draw cards equal to the number of creatures you control, which is a thing you’ll probably be working to maximize anyway.

The answer to, “How do I get a bunch of creatures?” is almost always the same: tokens. Green is a master at this, sprouting Saprolings and brooding Insects. Blue is…not as great. It can pump out some Eldrazi Scions (Green can too!), and Homarid Spawning Bed is always sweet tech. If you’re in Merfolk tribal, the new Deeproot Waters can double down on your creature count. Lullmage Mentor is similar, snowballing once you achieve a critical mass of Merfolk.

“Play creatures and draw cards” is fairly open-ended. I can see a lot of different decks being built around Tishana, Voice of Thunder. Merfolk tribal? Tokens? Creature-based control? Her generic abilities give her a ton of flexibility, so feel free to experiment off the beaten path!

Shake Your Booty

Because gold makes a pretty jingling sound.

It’s a shame that Captain Lannery Storm can’t take full advantage of all the Treasure-finding cards in Ixalan. Getting a power boost by doing something you want to do anyway, spend mana, seems like an excellent way to make your opponents dead. Thankfully, Captain Storm is capable of finding her own Treasure.

I love cheap commanders with haste. You can get so many more attacks in with them over the course of a game, which is exactly what this Pirate wants to do. You get a Treasure token whenever she attacks, so extra combat steps are especially profitable.

While you can just sacrifice your Treasure tokens to pump Captain Storm, it’s generally better if you actually give them a purpose. Red has gotten more cards that care about artifacts recently, so that’s a great place to start. Pia and Kiran Nalaar turn that Treasure into extra damage (You cannot use a Treasure to pay for the ability though.) Trash for Treasure can use your Treasure tokens to reanimate much better artifacts (Wurmcoil Engine comes to mind.) Maybe you just want to feed your Ravenous Intruder a shiny meal.

Treasure tokens are also great at ramping you into bigger cards. Using Lannery to crank out more expensive spells in mono-Red is a fine deal. Also, every mana counts for spells with X costs.

I think my favorite thing about Captain Lannery Storm is that she’s a 2/2 that can gain more power mid-combat. Red has a ton of cards that make creatures with power 2 or less unblockable, and those can let her attack in the mid and late game without fear of being blocked by larger creatures. Then you can sacrifice all your Treasure tokens and hit for a whole pile of damage!

Apostle’s Creed

Wow robes. Many humid. Such sweat.

Look, I don’t know why we’re now looking at another 2/2 for three with an attack trigger that creates a token. That’s just how Ixalan rolls, I guess.

Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle is a religious leader in the Legion of Dusk. He’s a mono-White Vampire with a tribal ability, which is a bit awkward since the only mono-White Vampires are in Ixalan. Thus, I think the best way to evaluate him isn’t as a tribal commander, but as a standalone creature that creates tokens when he attacks.

Thankfully for Mavren, he fits into a classic archetype: mono-White tokens. It’s an aggressive deck that wants to fill the battlefield with oodles of creatures. New cards like Anointed Procession and perennial all-stars like Cathars’ Crusade can help this Cleric evangelize his way into leading a bloodsucking army to victory.

I really don’t have a lot to say here. Mavren Fein doesn’t do anything new or original. He’s got unique flavor for the Vorthos fans out there. I think he’s better as part of the 99 in a Vampire tribal deck. But if you like him, then go ahead and build a tokens deck for him. Make sure he’s indestructible or has protection from something so that he can keep attacking. Good luck, and may the quest for the Immortal Sun light your way.

Do the Wave

But also, like, hang ten, brah.

Kopala, Warden of Waves clearly got the 2/2 for three memo. Seriously.

He’s totally aimed at Merfolk tribal decks, granting them a bit of protection against enemy spells and abilities. Taxing your opponents means they’ll have to dedicate more resources to dealing with your threats. That leaves fewer resources available to cast their own threats.

Here’s the problem: in multiplayer Commander games, anyone can deal with your threats. And, as a big-mana format, the game will reach a point where your target tax doesn’t matter anymore. Kopala is definitely geared for play in decks like Modern Merfolk, not Commander. I think he’s an OK addition to the 99 of a Merfolk tribal deck, but I certainly wouldn’t choose him as a commander for one. Especially not when there are multiple legendary Merfolk that give you access to a second color.

Sorry, Kopala, but you’re just not gnarly enough for this format.

Faction Fun

While tribal decks in Ixalan are a nice follow-up to Commander (2017 Edition), not all of these new legendary creatures are restricted to leading their respective tribes. Gishath may want you all-in on Dinosaurs, but Vona is fine just leveraging the broad mechanical identity of her people. Tishana and Lannery Storm don’t even have to command tribal decks at all. No matter how you enjoy playing Commander, Ixalan has a new leader for you.

I’ve already made my plans for Gishath known, Planeswalkers, so which new legendary creature are you looking forward to playing with the most?

[nehebthewordy]

EDH Budget Picks: Greven, Predator Captain

Welcome back for another budget list. Tonight we’re taking a look at a new card for a classic Magic character. While paying life to deal damage may seem risky at face value, Commander’s high starting life total and granting your general lifelink can easily mitigate this and even end up with more life after combat ends. As always, we won’t be looking at any cards above $5, and no more than three above $2.

Greven is an aggro deck, but his built-in card draw can help you stay relevant even into the late game making him a difficult deck to combat. You’ll want to include a lot of other ways to pay life to make Greven huge, as well as ways to regain that life to maintain your presence in the game. Auras and equipments can help get your damage through to your opponent’s face and even granting effects like first strike can help him survive blocks.

#1: Loxodon Warhammer / Sword of Vengeance While these two equipment have slightly different effects, both give trample as well as other relevant bonuses. Sword’s first strike and vigilance can keep Greven alive and able to block even after hitting for major damage, and Warhammer’s lifelink can help regain the life you lost to empower your general.

#2: Whip of Erebos The Whip serves essentially the same purpose as the Loxodon Warhammer. Deal damage, gain life.

#3: Reckless Spite Doom Blade is a somewhat narrow removal spell and Reckless Spite is similarly useless against a fellow black deck, but instant speed double removal is certainly effective and paying 5 life to cast it is just an additional boon with Greven.

#4: Phyrexian Delver With Greven sacrificing a creature each turn, you’ll want enough recursion to keep your assault going and this Delver can empower you in two separate ways. Putting your large creatures directly back into play is an immensely powerful effect, and like many of the other inclusions on this list it pays life to do it.

#5: Relentless Assault Speaking of assaults, Greven’s effect applies to life you’ve lost during the entire turn. Relentless Assault gives you an extra combat, allowing you to repeat your effects before passing turn.

#6: Sangromancer Not much can be said about this one. More lifegain, and you’re in perfect colors to remove creatures for it.

#7: Fall of the Hammer This is a basic red damage spell, but dealing that damage based on your creature’s power can turn it into another great removal option. With Greven’s power regularly sitting around 8-12 during combat, Fall might as well be hard removal.

#8: Dark Tutelage While it’s often regarded as a worse Phyrexian Arena, Dark Tutelage may actually be a more powerful draw enchantment for the deck. Elsewhere, paying more life makes it riskier than its more popular counterpart, but Greven loves seeing that life loss.

#9: Curse of Disturbance Curses like this one can lead to some of the most fun player interactions in Commander, but with your general you get the additional value of a free creature to sacrifice to Greven when you attack.

#10: Captivating Crew We have the name of a specific card for our number 10 slot, but really I mean any Act of Treason effect. Temporarily stealing an opponent’s creature is so small in commander, but with Greven you have the option of using your opponents’ creatures to fuel your attacks, turning a basic theft effect into kill, draw, and damage. The advantage you gain from the Crew specifically is an easily repeatable effect.

As a whole, you’ll want to include many other trample, first strike, and lifegain effects. Don’t forget to keep attacking: Greven only says you may sacrifice another creature, so at the very least you can deal that 5 damage. Also don’t forget recursion for your creatures so you have more to sacrifice.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to send in your own budget deck ideas and suggestions for what you would put into one of our lists. As always, see you on the battlefield.

[mtg-brokentoken]

Favorite card: Stuffy Doll

Card to Combo

Step 1: Find a card

-Done! It’s Stuffy Doll, my favorite card.

Step 2: Break it down

Stuffy Doll only has 4 abilities, but each builds upon each other.

“As Stuffy Doll comes into play, choose a player.” — This is two parts. First, “when it comes into play” means that if you have something enter as a copy it will work, but something like Infinite Reflections falls short. This also means bouncing or flickering Stuffy Doll is a valid tactic. Second, you’re choosing a player, not targeting, so Hexproof won’t protect them. Note as well it doesn’t say opponent.

“Stuffy Doll is indestructible.” Pretty straightforward, damage and destruction won’t do much. This matters more for the next ability.

“Whenever damage is dealt to Stuffy Doll, it deals that much damage to the chosen player.” Okay, lots going on here. First, it doesn’t say combat damage, so fight, burn, etc are options. Second, Stuffy Doll deals damage in return, so Infect sounds like an option (less so with the next ability, but possible). Last thing, it’s damaging the chosen player, so you can play some politics.

“Tap: Stuffy Doll deals 1 damage to itself.” This is a way to send a damage to the opponent, fairly blunt, tapping is instant speed and naturally only once a turn.

Also worthy of mention, Stuffy Doll is an Artifact, a Creature, and colorless. Artifacts have a lot of ways of untapping and being copied, creatures can be untapped pumped etc, and colorless means it can go in any deck.

Step 3: Build it up

I’ve mentioned a few things, but let’s talk a bit about colors of your deck.

Colorless - There’s Affinity for Artifacts, but that only makes it cheaper, so not a huge difference. Darksteel Forge is redundant as this is already Indestructible. Clock of Omens can untap it equal to roughly half the number of artifacts you control. Pariah’s Shield reroutes damage to Stuffy Doll, triggering the third ability, but keeping it around due to the second. With Pariah’s Shield, you might not even block when attacked, so it’s great for politics. Speaking of politics, Stuffy Doll loves an Assault Suit, so everyone can attack or tap with it (more on that later, since some opponents will simply abstain). Sculpting Steel makes a functional copy, Mirage Mirror makes a good blocker but it won’t redirect damage (since you never chose a player). Helm of the Host can be used to spread the love, so more opponents make deals to attack you so you can redirect damage. Even something as simple as Acorn Catapult can get some damage to the Doll while solidifying your board position.

White - Lifelink is a great ability, you gain one life when it hurts itself and another when it hurts a player. White has a lot of damage redirection, can ping attackers/blockers, and does a lot of equipment support. You could arm Stuffy Doll with some pins and needles (or Feast and Famine swords) and swing hard, using your opponents’ creatures to hurt Stuffy Doll when they block. Speaking of blocking, even an instant can be a great help, with Valor Made Real (or enchantments like High Ground) letting Stuffy Doll “chump block” in a very hurtful way. Outrider en-Kor and other damage redirection go from being defensive to offensive tactics. As mentioned before, flickering is a great option for changing what player is going to get hurt. Your opponent is casting Star Of Extinction while it will deal 20 damage to you, a mutual opponent chosen by Stuffy Doll, and Stuffy Doll, so in response you Cloudshift the Doll and choose Mr/Mrs Star Of Extinction and they’re suddenly regretting the decision. Pariah is an option very similar to Pariah’s Shield, but Guilty Conscience is the shining star in white, starting an infinite loop that will need to be addressed (you’re in white, damage prevention is abundant). Felidar Sovereign is also a noteworthy option, if you’re getting Lifelinked.

Blue - Blue has a lot of artifact synergies, clone effects (to get multiple Dolls and be able to have more options for who gets hurt), and Alluring Siren. Blue has a lot of ways to untap a creature, allowing your Doll to do more damage in a turn. You may also want to enchant with something like Curiosity (or Ophidian Eye, or both) to get a few extra draws. Don’t forget Rite Of Replication, Followed Footsteps, or Mechanized Production, so there are enough Dolls to share. Fabricate can be used to make sure you have higher likelihood of getting your Doll out.

Black - Most Black tends to focus on life loss, rather than damage, but Corrupt and Tendrils of Corruption are both viable options. Black also has more tutors than most colors, so you can find whatever pieces you need from your deck. As with white, Lifelink is a great option, Stuffy Doll may hurt itself a bit, but it’s when it starts taking more damage that it really shines, so feel free to use something like Pestilence or Pestilence Demon. Stuffy Doll makes a pretty great blocker unless Evasion, Wither, or Infect are on the table, so use Indestructible to your advantage by having board wipes. Damnation goes right over the Doll like a refreshing breeze.

Red - So, this is probably one area with the most to offer to Stuffy Doll. Whether using Dictate of the Twin Gods, Furnace Of Rath, or one of the various others with a similar template, Doll can get pretty intense (see also: [this previous post] Spoiler: 7 Of these make for 4096 damage). And red is the color most likely to be able to damage the Doll on a whim, with plenty of burn spells doing more than just one damage. There are 7 cards with “Bloodfire” in the name, and 4 of them are good for hurting your Doll. War Elemental can be unlocked by Stuffy Doll, and grows quickly, especially with Pyrohemia (deal one damage to Doll and opponent, then Doll damages opponent, so Elemental triggers twice). Red also has a few ways to duplicate spells. As far as enchantments, red does have a lot that can punish any players, for instance Manabarbs, but then you need something like Pariah’s Shield to redirect the damage to the Doll. Zada, Hedron Grinder and Harnessed Lightning used in conjunction can use almost all of your energy (depending on how you stack the castings) to deal 3x the number of creatures you have as an amount of damage to Stuffy Doll. Aether Flash deals 2 damage to any Stuffy Doll entering the battlefield (for instance if you have one equipped with Helm of the Host). Another great option, though with a couple hoops to jump through, is getting Stuffy Doll to be controlled by another opponent with big or many creatures (Harmless Offering, Bazaar Trader, etc) and then using Alpha Brawl so all those creatures bring the pain onto Stuffy Doll. Red alone does have a lot to offer, but shines most when mixed with another color, typically white. Just to name a few commanders as example: Firesong and Sunspeaker, Razia Boros Archangel (you can even route damage from your attackers to a non-attacking Stuffy Doll), and Gisela Blade of Goldknight.

Green - The main tactic in green is actually to pump Stuffy Doll and attack. If you don’t have Lure or trample, your opponent can just chump block, so don’t let that be an option. Vigilance isn’t as much of an option in green (3 equipment give Vigilance and trample, so the Doll will be blocked but still available to block. Sword of Vengeance has First Strike, which could reduce incoming damage. Haunted Cloak and Forebear’s Blade), but untapping creatures is something green excels in. Rite of Passage makes Stuffy Doll slowly grow just by hurting itself, or if you’re looking for tokens instead of counters, Druid’s Call is a great option.

Boros allows a great option for dealing, rerouting, or preventing damage (think Spitemare, Boros Reckoner). Orzhov has less options, but more lifelink and board wipes. Izzet can use Fatal Attraction and Paradox Haze, and Nin the Pain Artist keeps your hand full. Selesnya would love to wrap Stuffy Doll in an Armadillo Cloak. Going Simic? Ezuri, Claw of Progress would love to make Stuffy Doll into a beater, and things like Evolution Vat. There are options in just about all mixtures of colors for Stuffy Doll to be a great card.

Bringing Infect up again for just a moment. It’s at odds with Stuffy Doll. Poisonous is great, but if Stuffy Doll uses its ability to hurt itself with Infect, it reduces its toughness and negates the point of Indestructible. Also, if you’re attacking with the Doll, you’re reducing the power of your opponent’s creatures, so diminish the value of attacking. If you do have a way to ensure the Doll keeps getting hurt (Pariah, Pyrohemia, Pestilence, Lightmine Field), that damage goes to the player as poison counters... but you’re turning off the self-harm.

Step 4: Rev the engines

Guilty Conscience is typically the best option, but you need a third card to eventually prevent damage.

Damage doubling effectiveness increases a lot, since one damage to Stuffy becomes 2, and then it deals 2 damage to an opponent, which becomes 4, and there are enough options to increase this significantly.

Lure is amazing, but should be used with vigilance or ways to untap so you can still block.

——

So if you made it this far, the reason Stuffy Doll is my favorite is because unlike so many other cards in Magic, it can be a centerpiece of a deck without broadcasting almost anything about your deck. It’s almost too bad it isn’t Legendary.

I did post about Stuffy Doll back on Sept 22, 2017, but due to having created the “card to combo” article since then and Wizards Twitter recently asking about favorite cards, I decided it would be worth going over.