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entropys-embrace-robes · 6 months ago

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so while im here im just gonna like. compile every current appearance thing for people who don't have the power to grind it or just want to know lore

will try and keep it updated with every update (latest update - cursed captain's addition)

~ ~ ~

Barbarian

Roughhewn Raiment - A set of rugged, handcrafted armor. Made for the wild, it offers sturdiness without compromising the Barbarian's agility. (Standard Appearance)

Rageforged Harness - A manifestation of relentless rage. Each piece fuels the Barbarian's fury, turning him into a living storm. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Pyromancer

Emberweave Sorcerer Attire - Sorcerer attire woven with embers. Each piece resonates with the Pyromancer's affinity for fire, turning her into a living conduit of scorching heat. (Standard Appearance)

Infernal Dragoncaller's Robes - Calling the power of infernal dragons, with these robes the Pyromancer can command flames that devour all in her path. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Hound Master

Huntsman's Jacket - Attire crafted for a gunpowder huntsman. Each piece allows the Hound Master to wield his blunderbuss and deploy explosive traps with deadly precision. (Standard Appearance)

Alpha Houndmaster's Regalia - Regalia befitting an alpha houndmaster. Each piece signifies the Hound Master's ascendancy, his hounds now alpha predators, fed on the harvested essence of fallen foes. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Spellblade

Arcane Battlemage Plate - Each piece resonates with the Spellblade's mastery of the arcane, turning the battlefield into a canvas of magical might. (Standard Appearance)

Celestial Aegis Vanguard - This armor set allows the Spellblade to become a celestial guardian, wielding his magical blade to channel astral powers against any that dare stand in his path. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Arcane Weaver

Arcanist's Vestments - Simple, yet enchanted robes for the novice Arcane Weaver. Infused with subtle magic, offering basic arcane protection. (Standard Appearance)

Archmage's Garb - Imbued with the essence of mana, this regalia enhances her arcane might. A manifestation of ascended power, it pulsates with mana's glow. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Sentinel

Verdant Huntress's Shroud - This shroud allows the Sentinel to become a huntress of the forest, her bowstring singing a song of swift justice against intruders. (Standard Appearance)

Wild Pathfinder's Attire - An attire worn by the most experienced pathfinders, allowing the Sentinel's bow to be guided by the wisdom of the forest, her panther companion a silent ally. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Paladin

Divine Guardian Plate - Plate of a divine guardian. Adorned in this, the Paladin stands as a guardian of divine light, wielding shield and mace to repel all that threatens the sacred. (Standard Appearance)

Seraphic Crusader Armor - Crusader armor blessed by seraphic forces. With this set of holy armor, the Paladin is a beacon of divine wrath, striking down the unholy with righteous fury. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Chaoswalker

Nebulous Shroud Attire - A nebulous attire, shrouded in chaotic mists. The Chaoswalker, clad in this, embodies the elusive and ever-shifting nature of chaos. (Standard Appearance)

Entropy's Embrace Robes - Robes that cradle the essence of entropy. Each thread mirrors the entropic dance, allowing the Chaoswalker to wield chaos like a lord of the void. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Beastmaster

Druidic Wraps - Light attire adorned with natural motifs. The Beastmaster, connected to the wild, wears it for agility in harmony with nature. (Standard Appearance)

Beaststalker's Mantle - This mantle signifies mastery over the wildest creatures. The Beastmaster commands nature's elite in the battlefield. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Assassin

Shadowstalker's Silks - Silks worn by shadowstalkers, that allow the Assassin to meld seamlessly with the shadows, becoming a master of silent strikes and lethal ambushes. (Standard Appearance)

Nightshade Infiltrator Attire - Each piece allows the Assassin to become a living shadow, slipping through the darkness to dispatch foes unseen. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Elementalist

Stormcaller's Robes - Thunderweave resonating with the power of storms, allowing the Elementalist to unleash lightning with every gesture. (Standard Appearance)

Thunderlord's Arcanum Shroud - The shroud crackles with electrifying power, elevating the Elementalist, who can now command the elements with unwavering authority. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Legionnaire

Shieldbearer's Plate - Plate armor of a shieldbearer. Adorned in this, the Legionnaire is a shielded sentinel, ready to absorb and deflect any onslaught with his tower shield. (Standard Appearance)

Divine Centurion's Panoply - An armor set reserved only for the most prestigious centurions. Each piece is a symbol of the Legionnaire's divine ascension, embodying the might of his gods. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Necromancer

Cryptmaster's Attire - Each piece resonates with the Necromancer's control over the undead, a dark conductor of the afterlife. (Standard Appearance)

Lichlord's Abyssal Regalia - Regalia forged from the abyss. Each piece signifies the Necromancer's mastery over the darkest depths, commanding the creation of abominations. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Death Knight

Dreadplate Armor - Formidable full plate armor exuding an aura of dread. The Death Knight, clad in this, instills fear in foes while embracing the cold touch of death. (Standard Appearance)

Apocalyptic Soulsteel Regalia - Each piece resonates with the Death Knight's mastery over souls, a conduit for summoning his fellow Ebon Knights. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Monkey King

Vest of the Trickster - This light vest allows the Monkey King to move swiftly, and is ideal to play tricks on unsuspecting foes. (Standard Appearance)

Immortal's Battle Plate - This armor set allows the Monkey King to find the perfect balance, using his clones to quickly dispatch of any who dare stand against him. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Engineer

Engineer's Uniform - These functional vestments are perfect for a hands-on engineer, with loads of pockets and sockets for tools, and of course, room to store a nuke or two. (Standard Appearance)

Technomancer's Regalia - This armor set is reserved only for master engineers, capable of creating machines so advanced that others believe are magic. (Full Ascension Appearance)

~ ~ ~

Myrmidon

Myrmidon's Armor - This light armor allows the Myrmidon the mobility necessary to fight both under and above water, wielding her trident with deadly precision. (Standard Appearance)

Abyssal Battleplate - Only the most distinguished myrmidons will ever wear this armor, that proves not only their prowess in combat, but their unwielding loyalty. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Demon Hunter

Voidstalker Armor - This dark, gleaming armor channels an immense reservoir of corrupted power, empowering the wearer with the strength to annihilate even the most formidable demons. (Standard Appearance)

Demonslayer Regalia - The blackened armor of the ascended Demon Hunter radiates power, signifying their ability to channel demonic energies without succumbing to them. (Full Ascension Appearance)

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Cursed Captain

Kraken's Cursed Vest - Forged from the remnants of creatures from the ocean's abyss, the set of armour grants the wearer doomed strength, evil resilience and a connection to the dark depth nightmares. (Standard Appearance)

Leviathan's Heart Tunic - Raided from the darkness of the deep sea, this armour gives the ability to face enemies as the creatures of the abyss, devouring their soul, forever bound to the eternal storm. (Full Ascension Appearance)

#entropic thoughts #soulstone survivors

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flecks-of-stardust · 2 years ago

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take three:

somehow beat my score from last attempt LMAO

this isn't a fully legit run cause i used dev tools twice (once to correct for rain timer rng cause i wanted to keep going to see how fast i could go, once to get past the pink lizard corpse i made the mistake of creating cause we were in a tunnel...) and beastmaster once because i wasted my spear in pebbles' chamber. but still, close enough! real time was 56:16 :D so in theory if i do everything perfect i can actually do a sub hour ascension run.

still a ways off from 39 minutes, unsure if i'll ever get there without learning some movement tech (which, meh, not right now), but i'm quite proud of this progress.

#rain world #speeeeed #seriously i shouldn't have killed that pink but i was getting impatient #it was fighting with a white lizard in that little tunnel leading up to the CC gate from IC #it was a short ish cycle so i wanted them to leave #at least the white was too injured to bite me once i got past the pink's corpse lmao #the second death was somewhere in CC. yet again #happens a lot lol #i let it happen because i wanted to finish a run #and i wasn't too far into that cycle anyway #dying on the wall last time cost me way more time

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existential-eevee · 11 months ago

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I could wax poetic about Magic for actual ages, mostly because my favorite deck right know is based on Rowan, Scion of War due to the flavor of turning all the pain we experience into power

I have two commander decks. One is blue-green, led by Vorel of the Hull Clade, and focused around building up as many +1/+1 counters as possible on a single evasive creature. I love it on a philosophical level because all the art and flavor text is about the freedom and power you can get through bioengineering and bodily transformation and, as a trans woman in the early stages of feminizing my body through hormones, I jive with that.

The other is a white-green, led by Sythis, Harvest's Hand, and focused around buffing creatures with auras, with a sub-theme of token generation. I love it on an aesthetic level because all the art is of elves and dryads and lady-knights, with a sprinkling of cute fey creatures, and it's all very lush and cottage core and divine-feminine, so basically my transition-goal mood-board as a commander deck.

I told all of this to a friend from my commander pod as I tried to decide which one to bring to our next game night, and after I got through all that florid description, he asked me, "Well, which one is better?" And that's when I had to admit that, in terms of actually winning the game, they're both utter shit.

#also vorel goes really good with simic ascendancy #and beastmaster ascension is a good finisher for sythis #sorry I couldn’t help it I have an encyclopedic knowledge of thirty years of cardboard

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niuttuc · 2 years ago

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Another overlooked card, this time coming from the silly space carnival set from which most of the exciting cards aren’t legal to play in commander, that many people may have tuned out for among the many releases (and Warhammer 40,000 precons that released on the same day.)

A go wide deck needs finisher, and there’s always been plenty of them. From Overrun to Coat of Arms, pumping your entire board huge is easy, but most of them come with downsides. This one does, too, only some of your creatures will grow big and you need a wide board for it to do work, but unlike most of them, this one will work immediately AND multiple turns in a row if need be, and doesn’t require extra work after it like a Cathar’s Crusade would.

In effect, it’s adding n*(n-1)/2 power to the battlefield on your combat, where n is the number of creatures you control. Summoning sick creatures included, so you can put those first and just buff up your creatures ready to attack the most.

Really, that’s about it, it does one thing, but it does it well. It’s not quite an Akroma’s Will, but it’s currently selling for about a dollar or less. If you go wide with tokens, it might even be more effective at killing people, double strike doesn’t work as well on 1/1s. It’s the white Beastmaster’s Ascension, but with a higher floor.

#mtg #edh #commander #Starlight Spectacular #unfinity #sleeper

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nehebthewordy · 4 years ago

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EDH DECK TECH: Numa + Kamahl

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another EDH deck tech. This week we’re looking at two of the new partners from Commander Legends: Numa and Kamahl leading Double-Green Elfbal. As always, priority will be given to lower-cost alternatives to popular commander cards.

Though Kamahl isn’t an elf and both of our commanders are green, these two complement each other quite well. Between Numa’s mana sink and Kamahl’s ability to end the game quickly once he hits the board, they play well into elf strengths.

First up, let’s take a look at RAMP. This will be mostly the same as most green decks, but with an added focus on creatures. Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, and Springbloom Druid can each fetch lands directly into play, while Rampant Growth and Nissa’s Pilgrimage are efficient noncreature means of doing so. Additionally, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, and Elvish Archdruid are all fairly standard elf dorks; Incubation Druid, Marwyn, the Nurturer, and Rishkar, Peema Renegade also play well with both our theme of +1/+1 counters and our tribe. Additionally, Blighted Woodland and Myriad Landscape are both must-have lands for any green deck.

Next, we need ways to DRAW into more creatures. Beast Whisperer is absolutely at the top of this package, followed shortly by Vanquisher’s Banner, Sylvan Messenger, and Harmonize. Armorcraft Judge and Inspiring Call both play well with our counters theme to refill our hand, the latter of which also protecting from a board wipe, and Voice of Many and Realmwalker further add to our draw power. Finally, Masked Admirers draws on ETB and can self-recur whenever you cast a creature, and with Numa you can expect Colossal Majesty to come online.

Now for green’s big struggle: REMOVAL. Artifacts and enchantments are easy with Reclamation Sage, Krosan Grip, Slice in Twain, Beast Within, Unstable Obelisk, and Desert Twister, the latter three of which hit creatures as well, but additional creature removal is more difficult. Thanks to Numa’s mana sink, this can be filled in with cards like Nature’s Way, Nissa’s Judgement, Ambuscade and Zendikar Rising’s Khalni Ambush. Additionally, Vow of Wildness and Brittle Effigy can present more steady removal.

With our core out of the way, we need to take a look into how to put COUNTERS on our creatures. Ivy Lane Denizen, Durable Handicraft, Immaculate Magistrate, and Loyal Guardian are effective at spreading counters around, aided by Path of Discovery and Gladehart Cavalry. Finally, Evolution Sage is an absolute powerhouse in any deck that throws counters around, and Oran Rief, the Vastwood can distribute counters on turns where it isn’t used for mana.

Next, let’s look at a combined package for TRIBAL shenanigans and FINISHERS. Lys Alana Huntmaster, Elvish Warmaster, and Imperious Perfect are exceptional at producing token bodies, while Dwynen, gilt-Leaf Daen consistently proves me wrong when I think about cutting her from the deck. Your post powerful single finisher, other than Kamahl himself, is Cultivator of Blades. For this section we do have two honorable mentions that exceed the price at which buying them is recommended, but if you happen to have them lying around they would be spectacular: Beastmaster Ascension and Joraga Warcaller.

Finally, you need to PROTECT your board. While direct protective measures like Heroic Intervention are too expensive to make a special trip for, Cauldron of Souls can protect your board from multiple wipes in conjunction with your counter abilities and Tajuru Preserver protects you from forced sacrifice. Additionally, Creeping Rennaisance, Gaea’s Blessing, Elvish Soultiller, and Seasons Past provide mass recursion while Bala Ged Recovery and Once and Future are effective spot recursive tools.

Though elf tribal decks have been around since the beginning of Magic, the partnership of Numa and Kamahl brings a fresh new take on the classic tribe. Just be careful not to advance your board too quickly: sitting down to the table with elves is enough of a target on your back. Thanks for sticking through another deck tech. If you’d like to see more, or even a particular commander, send in an ask. Until next week, see you on the battlefield.

#Deck Tech #commander #Numa #Kamahl #MtG #magic the gathering #nehebthewordy #long post

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commandertheory · 5 years ago

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C19 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.

The Commanders of C19

There are 38 cards with madness in this color identity, which means that an Anje deck is essentially 61 cards when you’re running all of them. Having 61 cards in your maindeck makes it much more likely that you’ll be able to assemble combos, and the best one for this commander is probably Worldgorger Dragon + Animate Dead (note that Dance of the Dead and Necromancy also work here).

The way the combo works is this:

Have Worldgorger in your graveyard (Anje can help with this)

Cast Animate Dead targeting the Worldgorger

Worldgorger returns to the battlefield, exiling all your permanents, including Animate Dead.

When Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, it forces you to sacrifice the Worldgorger.

When Worldgorger leaves the battlefield, it returns all of your permanents.... Untapped.

Target Worldgorger with the Animate Dead when it returns to the battlefield, but before it brings back Worldgorger, tap your lands and activate Anje.

Repeat the loop for infinite mana and rummaging.

As long as you have a mana sink somewhere in your deck, you’ll win off of this combo.

The deck is very fast and consistent; check it out here:

Sample decklist

Although the deck is quite strong, I think it’s worth talking about her value as a madness commander. She certainly encourages you to play as many madness cards as possible, but she doesn’t really encourage the madness style of gameplay because it’s much slower and grindier than the efficient path to victory Anje and her Dragon can offer you.

When you play the deck (and I encourage you to goldfish with it), you’re almost never casting your spells for their madness cost. If Anje said menace instead of madness, the deck would play out exactly the same.

Does that make for a good madness commander? I don’t really think so. But it’s a new archetype, so I’ll give her a pass.

The easiest build of this deck treats Atla as a Jalira, Master Polymorphist and just runs a single copy of Blightsteel or some other heinous beater.

But there’s a more interesting angle of attack if you try to build it a little more like Egg tribal. You can run a bunch of changelings (they’re all eggs) and once you have two eggs on the board, you can sacrifice them until you’ve cycled through all the Eggs in your deck and hit Ulamog 1.0. Then you can sacrifice Ulamog to recycle all your used up changelings. Normally, this process would operate at a net loss of one egg per cycle, but Irregular Cohort (and potentially Summoner’s Egg) up your egg count and make it so you can go through the loop as often as you like, netting whatever your sac outlet generates. You’ll also generate infinite Dragons and Birds.

Sample decklist

This might be the commander to use if you actually want to cast your madness cards. An activation that has discarding as a cost will make you want to minimize the downside--which is exactly what madness cards will do. The haste will work if you cast a critter from exile (which is where madness creatures are cast from), and you can discard a card on an opponent’s turn to get the madness cost reduction/timing cheat EVEN IF you don’t intend or are unable to cast a creature from your graveyard. Nice that you don’t have to commit to casting any particular creature when you discard, too. The floor on this is to pitch a creature, then cast it from the graveyard to give it haste; that’s definitely not nothing.

Sample decklist

This just seems like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain but with White added. This deck runs as many 0-mana artifacts as possible to decrease your effective deck size and draw into one of your combo pieces.

This has a cute (and powerful) interaction with Sensei’s Divining Top; with a 1-mana cost reduction to the Top (Cloud Key, Etherium Sculptor, Foundry Inspector, Helm of Awakening, Jhoira’s Familiar) you can have as many cards drawn (and that many prowess triggers) as you want.

Also, Thought Lash is essentially a one-card combo.

Sample decklist

Gerrard can be used defensively to protect your stuff from your opponents’ board wipes or offensively to break the symmetry on your own. He can also be used with artifacts and creatures that sacrifice themselves for value (or that can be fed into sac outlets) to get a bunch of free stuff.

Some key categories of cards in this deck:

cards to help return Gerrard to your hand or the battlefield when he dies so you can get his trigger without having to send him back to the command zone (e.g., Gift of Immortality, Loyal Retainers, Nim Deathmantle)

a bunch of mass destruction effects that Gerrard can break the symmetry for (of which Nevinyrral’s Disk and Oblivion Stone have the most synergy with Gerrard)

a bunch of sacrifice outlets so can trade your creatures or value and then use Gerrard to buy them back (Ashnod’s Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Goblin Bombardment), and

a bunch of artifacts and creatures that either generate value when they ETB or when you sacrifice them.

The list could use some polish but it’s got a lot of potential; spinning Nev’s Disk every turn is not difficult to pull off.

Sample decklist

Ghired has similar problems to Anje in that the fun thing is not the most effective thing. While the addition of red to a populate deck means that you can make temporary copies of things with Kiki-Jiki or Flameshadow Conjuring, duplicate those copies with Ghired, then keep the duplicates!

Unfortunately, that’s usually slower and less effective than just copying the enormous Rhino he enters the battlefield with. It’s hard to make the case for durdling with copy effects when the alternative is accelerating him out on turn three (thanks to Sol Ring, Joraga Treespeaker, Generator Servant, Mana Crypt, etc etc) and then attacking for 10, 14, and 18 on the three subsequent turns. It’s not even that great to make 5/5 and 6/6 Wurms, as the spells that make them for 4+ mana and you can easily run Cloudshift effects to recharge Ghired’s Rhino for a single mana (often while dodging removal).

It does, however, work very well with other populate effects, since the Rhino is a good enough target most of the time.

Sample decklist

The deck feels like a pretty typical black/red control list with Greven as your finisher (and he’s quite a good one; it’s not hard to build your mana base and suite of control cards so that he reliably attacks for 10 or more without ever having to sacrifice anything). There are a couple of weird cards like Lupine Prototype, Rotting Regisaur, Cosmic Larva, Phyrexian Soulgorger and the Ball Lightnings that are worth running because they’re just such a good ratio of cards to mana.

Sample decklist

I don’t think this adds much to the format. If you want a beatstick commander in Green/Black, Hogaak is much larger and is virtually immune to the command tax. Tech for this guy includes Illness in the Ranks, Plague Engineer, Night of Soul’s Betrayal, and Engineered Plague.

This seems very good with flash granters like Leyline of Anticipation (newly encheapened by its M20 printing), Vedalken Orrery, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, and Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, as you can cast four free morphs per round of turns and draw four cards.

In addition to flash granters, cost reduction effects are pretty good here, especially ones that reduce the cost of your morphs by two or more. Heartless Summoning and Semblance Anvil are big games, but I would also try to make room for Dream Chisel, Obscuring Aether, and Earthcraft.

You don’t need me to tell you that Aphetto Runecaster and Secret Plans are good here.

When choosing which morphs to fit in the deck (and to really get the engine running, you’ll need at least 40), I first prioritized morphs that flip for 1 or 0 mana, to make it easier to combo off with Runecaster and Secret Plans. Then I prioritized Morphs with useful effects and cheap morph costs, like Nantuko Vigilante, Den Protector, etc.

It’s notable that Kadena’s triggered ability works with manifest, so you can hit with a Jeskai Infiltrator and draw multiple cards.

I also like Beast Whisperer as another card draw engine. Unfortunately, draw engines that care about creature type, color, or power aren’t very effective here. Interestingly, morphs have no name, so Guardian Project will always trigger off of new morphs entering the battlefield, even if you already have other face-down creatures.

Win conditions: Triumph of the Hordes and Beastmaster Ascension.

Sample decklist

He’s harder to break than he looks because he can’t cover colorless costs. As long as you build your deck in a specific direction, he effectively generates mana at the cost of life. The life payments can be subsidized with an Aetherflux Reservoir but in order to really go off, you’ll need a way to draw cards (there aren’t that many black card draw spells without generic mana in their costs, other than greed).

The best ways to do this are Null Profusion, Vilis, and Bolas’s Citadel. Let’s ignore the Citadel since it makes our commander unnecessary. Null Profusion can probably get there if you supplement it with lots of card draw spells to make it so you can still combo after hitting a land or two. Vilis works well, but like the Citadel, is so powerful on its own that K’rrik is barely necessary.

Worth noting: there are a couple cards (Shade’s Form, Shade’s Breath) that turn K’rrik into a shade. If you then slap on a Fireshrieker or Inquisitor’s Flail, you can pay a bunch of life to pump him up, then gain it all back with his lifelink.

Anyone remember Basandra, Battle Seraph? She’s one of the least popular commanders in one of the worst color identities, but apparently someone at Wizards thought they could redeem her by shaving off a mana, adding Green to her color identity, swapping flying for an extra point of power, breaking the symmetry on the casting restriction, and changing up how the forced attack ability works. Is this card different enough to succeed where the previous version failed? I don’t think so, but I’m prepared to be wrong.

This could be a pretty solid superfriends commander, as it’s really good at protecting your planeswalkers and the colors offer important effects like extra turn effects, proliferate, Jokulhaups effects, efficient board wipes, etc etc.

Sample decklist

This is an enormous amount of work for what amounts to a voltron commander. I am willing to bet cold hard cash that this will be the second-least popular Sultai commander of all time, if not the least popular.

First off, I love that he breaks symmetry on Earthquake effects.

Second, it’s worth noting that although this is a flashback deck, the ability works pretty well with Aftermath and Retrace cards, as well.

Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many Commander-playable cards with flashback, retrace, and aftermath in this color identity.

Cards that do work: Secrets of the Dead, Finale of Promise, Goblin Dark Dwellers, Mission Briefing, Snapcaster, Torrential Gearhulk, Chandra, Acolyte of Flame) These all point to generic value though, and don’t offer a cool “build” other than Pariah and Pariah’s Shield. The first spell clause means that if you run flash granters, you can get the spell copy effect multiple times per round of turns.

Adding menace makes him unblockable and if you can give him an extra 2 power, 3 players can gang up to ice the 4th. There’s not a whole lot of tech to this guy; just run standard Voltron enablers and you’ll do fine.

Infect creatures and Cold-Eye Selkie, Cephalid Constable, Dreamstealer, and Needle Specter are all pretty good when they have 7 power. The tricky part is, many of those creatures have 1 toughness, which means Volrath’s built-in counter generation isn’t going to cut it.

Unspeakable Symbol, Tetzimoc, Llanowar Reborn, and both Oran-Riefs are decent ways to counter up your dudes, but even a simple Gaea’s Anthem will also do the trick.

The Maindeck Cards of Commander 2019

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.

Spread: 3 Power: 1

That this needs to both tap and sac makes it seem too clunky to be a stand-out; it compares unfavorably to Selfless Spirit and Mother of Runes.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

The juice isn’t worth the squeeze until you’ve cast your commander at least twice. I would for sure run this card in a go-wide aggro deck running partner commanders, but this doesn’t seem great in other builds because it’s so bad in the early game, when aggro decks should be capitalizing on their advantages.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

This is slow and weak, even in white decks that want sac fodder. The most interesting thing about this card is the fact that it introduces the Sculpture creature type.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Despite the timing restriction making it more narrow than Time Stop (and nearly useless against Storm-esque combo decks), it could serve as a pretty effective means to tilt a player off an important turn. At worst, it’ll play as a Fog, and given that it falls short of the “truly excellent” mark, it will likely catch people by surprise when used effectively. In a pinch, you can keep your opponents from casting spells in your second main, too.

Generally, however, I don’t think this effect will be worth a card in most games of Commander.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

This doesn’t have the long-term potential of Sun Titan but it has a couple things going for it. The initial reanimation comes at a much cheaper cost than the Titan’s and flashback reanimation is extremely powerful in self-mill decks. Teshar, for example, runs Mesmeric Orb and the possibility of milling Sevinne’s Reclamation and some key combo pieces that aren’t easily recurred (i.e., noncreature artifacts, like sac outlets) seems pretty good.

Unfortunately, Teshar is the only white deck that’s particularly interested in self-mill. This card would have been a very powerful tool in blue or black decks but it has less to do in this color identity.

This card is best thought of as a narrower Nature’s Spiral that will likely offer a discount on the card you recur.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

It’s expensive and does nothing without (a) a spell to cast, and (b) a powerful token to copy. There aren’t that many cards that produce tokens so strong they can justify this 6-mana enchantment; certainly, there’s not a critical mass of them.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I am very wary of cards with multiple hoops. This card not only requires you to be casting a ton of spells from you graveyard (which is rare for most decks) but it needs some token support and/or spirit tribal. I don’t believe there are currently any commanders that fit the bill, although Kykar might be a possibility.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

I wouldn’t run this outside of Kadena or an Animorphs deck, as morph/megamorph are still generally bad in Commander and this effect is not worth the five mana you’re forced to pump into it.

Spread: 5 Power: 2

Worst-case scenario, it cycles, but even with a relatively high floor I’m not very excited about this card. Blue has more efficient spot removal (Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Reality Shift) and in tuned lists, the mana saved is worth more than the card. That being said, this is a pretty solid answer for commanders with shroud/hexproof/indestructible/protection/etc.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

Polymorphist’s Jest sees play in Silumgar 1.0 and Tibor and Lumia decks, and this should also slot into those decks.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

While playing precon Magic at Vegas, I used this to trade a vanilla creature for an In Garruk’s Wake, so I’ve already seen the absolute best-case scenario for this card. Even after having experienced the apex of its power, I think it’s going to be worse than a Negate most of the time. Holding up 4 mana is pretty onerous, and there are plenty of spells for which changing control won’t prevent a negative outcome for you (i.e., mass creature destruction, mass land destruction, etc.).

I will do some more testing with it and see if screwing two opponents at once may be worth the price of entry, but that still seems pretty narrow.

Spread: 3 Power: 1

This is not good. If an opponent drew enough cards to make this vanilla beater a “great savings” you better have a sac outlet otherwise you’re still gonna lose. It doesn’t have evasion of any kind either and is still a dies trigger. Plagiarize is just SO MUCH BETTER.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

A great answer to commanders with shroud/hexproof or good tap abilities, clone redundancy for the decks that need it, and a useful defender for Arcades decks. It doesn’t go in every deck but it’s a solid role player in the right playgroup or build.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

It has madness, keep it in your Anje precon.

Spread: 1 Power: 4

This could be really good in Varina, Lich Queen, since it has a relevant creature type, the tokens are also of the relevant type, and you can use the free mana to activate Varina. I don’t think any other decks are able to discard as many cards as consistently as her, though.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

It’s an autoinclude in Anje because it has madness and it goes infinite with Vilis. Other than those two decks, I don’t think anyone else can use this card.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

A cool take on morph, a weird sac outlet. Will probably only see play in Kadena and black voltron lists, as you often have some floaters to get a bit of gotcha cost reduction and instant speed safety.

Alex: The pseudo-Split Second that the “As you unmorph…” ability gives this card the ability to sneak protection onto your commander without your opponents having a chance to respond. Most opponents will not necessarily think they need to remove your high-priority target in response to you casting a morph.

This could be good in Olivia Voldaren and Judith decks as a way to enhance your pinging and protect your commander. Neither deck should care about the unmorph cost much; as they’ll both have plenty of sac fodder.

And yeah, you’ll run it in Kadena.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

This card does not get there as Black enchantment removal. It’s too easy to keep a creature on the field in Commander and I doubt this is going to be able to come through for you when you really need to remove a Humility or an Omniscience.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

A little strange that it can’t kill creatures with power equal to the number of cards in your hand. Black decks are good enough at filling their hands that I think this could easily be a viable wrath; Black does not currently have a critical mass of board wipes that cost 5 or less so I think it could definitely make the cut in Commander.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This card looks a lot like Verdant Force, but don’t stop thinking there. According to EDHREC, Verdant Force is mostly played in Slimefoot (played in 600+ decks), Ghave (played in 300+ decks), and Thelon decks (played in 100+ decks), so a lot of its power appears to come from Saproling synergies. This may be similarly limited to decks that have synergies with what it’s doing (Kadena, mostly).

Spread: 3 Power: 2

I talk a lot about how much I love cheap rummaging effects, so you might be surprised to hear that I’m down on this card. To cast it for its madness cost, you need to jump through the hoop of finding a discard outlet, and your reward for doing so is… another discard outlet.

There are diminishing returns to these types of effects, as a hand can only get so sculpted, and losing your entire hand, as opposed to one or two bad cards, is a steeper cost than it looks. It’s also unfortunate that you don’t have control over when it attacks and therefore you have no control over whether you’re discarding your hand each turn.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

If you have anything in your graveyard that’s good this becomes a must-kill target. That said, it’s got to stay alive to attack, and you have to have good stuff in the yard to cast. As just a value engine this seems clunky, but there are very few ways to actually cast cards from graveyards, so I welcome this slow dragon value machine.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

It’s a ritual, it’s ramp, it’s a Goblin, it’s a Pirate. It’s very good in combo decks for which mana is often the limiting factor (e.g., Zada), it’s good in Brudiclad as a cheap source of tokens, it goes infinite with Deadeye Navigator, it just does a ton of stuff for a bunch of different decks. Great card.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I wouldn’t run this if you’re making a random 3/3 (or smaller) token. But if your metagame has lots of small utility creatures and you’re populating huge monsters like Ghired’s Rhino or Omnath 2.0’s Elemental, I’d be into it. I also like this for the commanders that can make weird tokens, like Gyrus, Inalla, Kiki-Jiki, Feldon, Brudiclad, or Riku.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Pretty good in Ghired and Brudiclad, pretty mediocre everywhere else.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

The Red Harmonize. This seems great in any Red deck that doesn’t have access to Blue/Black/Green card draw, especially those that can realistically generate enough mana to flash it back (e.g., Neheb, the Eternal).

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This doesn’t happen that many times in a game, so if I’m looking for self-recurring sac fodder I’d rather run something like Flamewake Phoenix. Also, if I care about sac fodder, I’m probably also in Black, in which case I get a million better options.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I can’t think of a deck that would want this card. Please let me know if you’ve got an idea of where this could fit into the format.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Well, it’s free value and there probably aren’t that many bad spells being thrown around (although hitting counterspells is pretty painful). I would try running this in a slower red deck with lots of spells looking to grind out long-game card advantage.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

This card is notable because it gives Green a critical mass of mass creature removal. Prior to the Altisaur, Green had Ezuri’s Predation, but it didn’t have any ways to tutor it out, so it was unlikely that you would be able to find it when you needed it. However, because Altisaur is a creature, it can be tutored out by Green’s many, many tutor effects, so whenever you need an answer to multiple creatures, you’ll be able to find it. The fact that you can choose to end the fight-chain, allowing this to survive, and then restart it any time this blocks or becomes blocked definitely adds to its effectiveness. But for nine mana, I suppose it had better be effective!

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I’m going to evaluate these new populate cards as if I’m making Rhinos. 3 for a Rhino seems weak, 5 for 2 ain’t great, 7 for 3 compares unfavorably with lots of other green cards at a similar price point.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

I would happily run this in any green token deck, since your attacking 1/1 is going to pick up a card no matter what. I’d probably also run in green decks that are good at vomiting lots of (nontoken) creatures onto the battlefield, like Sachi, Seton, Reki, both Ezuris, and less competitive Edric lists.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Nature’s Spiral doesn’t see a ton of play, but putting a commander from your command zone into your hand is a rare enough ability that this might see play for that half of the entwine alone.

It is worth noting that, per the rulings on Command Beacon: “If you cast a commander from your hand, the additional cost based on the number of times you’ve cast it from your command zone (sometimes referred to as the ‘commander tax’) doesn’t apply. Additionally, that casting won’t add to the tax if you later cast the commander from the command zone.”

So not only will this let you cheat the command tax if you’ve been heavily taxed already that game, but if you have a spare slot in your seven-card hand earlier on in the game, you can cast this preemptively to dodge the first round of command taxation.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I don’t love this card. It does nothing in the early game and it’s still pretty situational in the late game, as you have to have a token worth copying and graveyards have to be stacked.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I wouldn’t jam this in every Green deck, but in decks like Ezuri or Seton that care about its creature types, I would happily run it as “+1 relevant creature, draw 1 or more cards”.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

With Prototype Portal/Mechanized Production, you can swap between an opponent’s turn and your own and lock everyone else out of the game.

However, I don’t think there are many decks that can assemble that combo easily, and most of the time this will be a slower, bad Time Warp.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This effect is just not worth a card.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Prismatic Geoscope is fairly analogous, and sees play in over ten percent of certain 4- and 5-color decks (the decks in which it shines the most). In decks that can manipulate the number of counters or are interested in untapping artifacts often (Atraxa, Vorel, lists running both Voltaic and Manifold Key) this is worth taking a second look at. An easy heuristic might be: most lists wanting Astral Cornucopia will probably also want this.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This seems like a great rate in any deck where your commander talks about tokens. Once you have drawn three times, this card is really overperforming. Around 20 commanders that are dragons have a >10% play rate for Dragon’s Hoard, and this is offering a comparable incentive. The Eldrazi token is probably flavor text, but it is a nice populate target if you get to it.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This might be the worst Tempting Offer card ever printed. Most tempting offers give you something even if nobody takes the offer. This gives you nothing unless your chosen opponent decides to spend two mana activating this. Why would they ever do that? Probably only good in Zedruu, and only because it saves you the trouble of donating it.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

If it cost three I would seriously consider running this in some colorless, monowhite, and monored decks as a value engine, but casting it on T4 and not getting your first trigger until T5 is painfully slow.

There are enough scarecrows and changelings with CMC 3 or less that I don’t see this making the cut for Reaper King, but both King Macar and Emmara, Soul of the Accord have a bunch of ways to tap this guy so you can put the Tiller to work every turn without risking him in combat. I’ve also heard people talking about putting this in Derevi for repeated tapping and untapping, but I feel like Derevi has better things to do.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

Helps you get an extra Kadena trigger each turn, great with blink commanders as it can help you cheat big mana costs. and it’s essentially a flash granter for decks that don’t care about ETB triggers.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

It’s a solid bounce engine for ETB commanders. Note that it goes infinite with Zacama.

Wrapping Up

Do you disagree with any of my evaluations? Do you see other ways to build around the commanders of C19? Let me know!

#set review #c19 #commander #mtg #edh

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rhystique-study · 6 years ago

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Altersleeve of Beastmaster Ascension!!

#mtg alter #altersleeve #altersleeves #magic the gathering #border extension

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daily-mtg-tarot · 6 years ago

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Concentrate upon your question, and draw from a deck of 141 rare Zendikar block cards...

The Past

Beastmaster Ascension

{2}{G}

Enchantment

Whenever a creature you control attacks, you may put a quest counter on Beastmaster Ascension.

As long as Beastmaster Ascension has seven or more quest counters on it, creatures you control get +5/+5.

The Present

Wolfbriar Elemental

{2}{G}{G}

Creature — Elemental

Multikicker {G} (You may pay an additional {G} any number of times as you cast this spell.)

When Wolfbriar Elemental enters the battlefield, create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token for each time it was kicked.

4 / 4

The Future

Thought Gorger

{2}{B}{B}

Creature — Horror

Trample

When Thought Gorger enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on it for each card in your hand. If you do, discard your hand.

When Thought Gorger leaves the battlefield, draw a card for each +1/+1 counter on it.

2 / 2

#tarot #magic the gathering #mtg

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paladin-andric · 6 years ago

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Faces of History: Geralthin Monarchs

The Kingdom of Geralthin is a very old nation with an ancient identity. Starting as a province in the heartlands of the ancient Human Empire, the region reformed into a kingdom after a lengthy “Dark Age” and stood for the rest of history.

Throughout this extreme march through time, many rulers held control over it, each having many stories to tell of their leadership, achievements, and personalities. Here are a sampling of some notable monarchs that have ruled over the Kingdom of Geralthin.

King Godfrey

Honorifics: The Great, The First

Rulership Period: Transitional, Dark Age into Early Middle Ages

Dynasty: of Euirdland

Once a member of an influential noble family holding onto a lone duchy, Godfrey used political maneuvering, espionage, military knowledge and raw charisma to unite the cities of Geralthin while inventing a false conspiracy involving the dragon nobles taking sides against one another, all plotting to become the sole ruler of Geralthin. He played to the paranoia generated by this by pitting the dragons against each other until they were too divided and weak to resist the united armies of mankind. With the discovery of newfound magic and the advent of sorcerers and dragonslayers, humanity finally managed to drive the great, mythical beasts from their cities and establish self-determination.

Geralthin was simply a region before Godfrey. He declared it a kingdom, and crowned himself king. He is the founder of Geralthin, and hailed as the father of the nation.

He did not exterminate the dragons. In addition to many of them going into hiding deep in the wilds, in great caverns, and fleeing to neighboring nations, some were benevolent. Many continued to live near the cities, though no longer holding political power. He is notable for taking on a dragon, Gira, into his service under the role of Royal Advisor and Lady Protector, titles she has kept to this day. She thus offers the reigning monarch advice as needed, and temporarily takes control of the kingdom in the event of a regency, relinquishing control once a monarch is crowned. This has occurred many times over the millennia-long history of the nation, so she is highly trusted for her incorruptible, loyal nature. Due to the lifespan of dragons, she shall serve the kingdom for much, much longer. Godfrey did all this after Gira healed him of leprosy with her powerful, innate draconic magic. His reign, and the Kingdom of Geralthin, would likely have ended in disaster without her, and for that he was eternally grateful.

King Godfrey reigned all the way to his death at the age of 93. His passing was legendary, nearly the entire kingdom coming to mourn him. Gira locked herself away for many years, heartbroken. His son reluctantly took his place.

Godfrey’s bloodline survives to this day. While not currently in power, it has both fallen and risen back to power several times, so you never really know...

King Rufus

Honorifics: The Wise, The Calm

Rulership Period: Early Middle Ages

Dynasty: of Euirdland

The son of Godfrey, Rufus spent most of his adult life as a prince, with his father lasting to a shockingly old age. All other monarchs of Geralthin would go on to have surprisingly high life expectancies as well...that was likely due to Gira’s incredible healing powers offering them the cure to any illness, injury or disease.

Rufus picked up where his father left off. With the kingdom’s safety and independence secured, King Rufus decided to focus his reign on stabilizing the nation, and building up its power base. He passed laws, centralized power, reformed the tax system, built roads, reformed the military, and directly invested in the kingdom, using both the treasury and his own personal funds to build hospitals, trade depots, schools, farms, and mines.

His father may have created the idea of Geralthin, but Rufus made it a reality. By building up trade, agriculture, health, and industry, King Rufus transformed the war-torn rural heartlands into the most prosperous place on Deaco.

He earned his honorifics for his prudence, diligence, and stoicism. He knew what the kingdom needed to thrive, and he always maintained a strong, noble presence, no matter how bad things seemed.

With his only son dying tragically during a military operation against a few rogue dragon lords, the aging King Rufus put into place the current law of rule. Called “Majesty’s Choice”, the king is allowed to designate any eligible relative of their choosing to be their successor...and also allowed women to inherit the throne. Due to having a daughter and no sons, he wished to avoid any turmoil or civil wars resulting from a disputed succession, and reformed the succession laws accordingly.

King Rufus abdicated at age 75, wishing to see how the kingdom reacted to having a queen. There were no issues, and so he advised his daughter until his death at age 84.

King Connor

Honorifics: The Brave, The Hammer, The Dragonslayer

Rulership Period: Early Middle Ages

Dynasty: Ó Flannail

Connor began his life as a soldier, rising through the ranks until he became the most distinguished and highly ranked general in the kingdom. Due to a deal between his House and the Royal Family, he would inherit the title of king until his death, upon which the title of King or Queen would go back to the ‘of Euirdland’ family.

It was his great strength and courage in the face of crisis that led to this strange turn of events. He was famous all over the kingdom for his great deeds. A coalition of many dragons led to a “Second War for Geralthin”, where many dragons, long hiding away and gathering strength and minions, launched an attack on the kingdom.

Connor was thoroughly a “Warrior King”. Like many kings, he commanded armies on campaign. Unlike them, he TRULY fought, standing along his men in the front line, charging head-first into the enemy. He lost count of how many kobolds he had slain, but he had personally slain at least ten dragons...well, contributed at least. He had successfully harmed ten dragons. With an entire army attacking them, it was hard to tell who dealt the killing blow.

He was mighty, he was courageous, he was no-nonsense...Connor was an inspiring presence and a feared and beloved leader. He was seen as the savior of the kingdom, a superhuman dragonslayer and legendary warrior. He has been likened to Geralthin legend William Ironside many times throughout history.

He died quietly at age 91, the title of king passing back to Godfrey’s dynasty...though his house won great glory and fame from his ascension. None would forget his rule.

Queen Rosa

Honorifics: The Magnanimous, The Beastmaster

Rulership Period: High Middle Ages

Dynasty: Tudirin

Queen Rosa came to power due to her siblings’ incompetence and sloth. Seeing her as the best future ruler, her father named her his heir.

Rosa is well known for her love of art, culture and all things exotic. Under her rule, the Royal Castle underwent significant construction and restoration, transforming it into the work of art it is still considered today.

Her love of all things lavish didn’t hold to just her castle, however. All throughout the kingdom, she commissioned the rise of many architectural wonders, from cathedrals to statues to reformed city planning, modernizing the Geralthin way of construction for centuries to come.

She also loved exotic animals and creatures as well. Not content with being a “mere” falconer, she spent over a decade learning from the greatest available beastmasters. She personally tamed a griffin, the beast becoming so docile that it was permitted to lounge about in the throne room, often resting beside Rosa. It stayed by her side all throughout its life.

Rosa passed away peacefully at age 78, having left behind a legacy in stone.

King Flinus

Honorifics: The Conqueror, The Hawk

Rulership Period: High Middle Ages

Dynasty: Angelus

Flinus began his life as a general before his brother died, leaving him the heir to the kingdom. An avid warhawk with many ties to the army, Flinus decided that Geralthin should expand outwards, regaining lands lost to the other races during the collapse of the Empire.

While there were a few contested cities on the border with human majorities or large human minorities, Flinus didn’t stop there. He used the kingdom’s might to shatter the less prepared armies of the dacuni, koutu and pona nations, gaining large swathes of land for his efforts.

By the time his many conquests were finished, Geralthin went from a small but highly developed kingdom to the most powerful nation in Deaco, stretching far in all directions. He had to stop eventually however, as the less humans there were in each city captured, the harder it would be to pass off as a legitimate part of Geralthin. Combined with getting too far from the heartlands, there was potential for rebellion ending in disaster for the kingdom. Flinus didn’t push his luck, and instead consolidated and integrated the already conquered lands into the kingdom. With just laws, fair and compassionate rule, and careful monitoring, the captured cities would be content.

King Flinus died at age 48, owing to a sudden heart attack while away from the castle. Due to his far-away death, Gira could not be reached to revive him in time. After Flinus’ reign, no other sovereign of Geralthin would conquer land again.

King Bohem

Honorifics: The Statesman, The Visionary

Rulership Period: Transitional, from High Middle Ages to Late Middle Ages

Dynasty: Caggiano

Bohem began his tutelage with a vested interest in math, reading, writing and finances. He grew into a very intelligent man who found himself ready to govern Geralthin in a radically new way.

He discarded imperialism and aggression in favor for his new vision. Bohem dreamed of the might and power of Geralthin stretching all across Deaco...but not through conquest. No, he instead put into planning the transformation of Geralthin into a great trading empire.

Bohem’s reforms and personal, hands-on approach to trade brought forth the rise of Geralthin Mercantilism, something that would push the kingdom’s economy into unprecedented might.

King Bohem died at age 78. The brilliant administrator and diplomatic genius left behind a kingdom that held a monopoly of several resources, and access to the goods that every other nation had to offer. It was under him that the alliance between the humans and reptilians transformed into both a business and personal friendship. Geralthin would forever have a trustworthy and honorable friend across the sea. The peace and trade also brought several innovations, advancing technology and bringing Deaco further into the future together.

King William

Honorifics: The Mender, The Just, The Redeemer

Rulership Period: Late Middle Ages

Dynasty: Cavania

The eldest son of King Salign, William was in many ways looked down upon with suspicion and annoyance by the Royal Family, along with the nobility. William was in many ways a “tub-thumper”, an extremely passionate and direct man who spoke plainly, as commoners would. He cared not about what was “right”, regarding taboos and law, but about what he himself considered right.

When his father outlawed all non-humans from the kingdom, William was up in arms immediately. His closest friend was not a human, and so when he was forced away, the prince fumed. He often burst into lengthy tirades about the injustice of it all whenever his father or court would approach him on it. He riled up the citizens whenever he left the castle, and so Salign encouraged him to stay within, thought William payed him little heed.

When his father died, William got to work. Immediately after he was crowned king, before the ceremony could continue, William asked everyone to wait as he went back into the castle. He reemerged with the Expulsion Edict, ripping it up right there on the balcony, in front of thousands watching the coronation, and declared it repealed as the bits of paper flowed off into the distance.

He was a populist and a champion of minority rights, doing everything in his power to reverse the consequences of his father’s actions. He founded the Bureau of Reclamation, a government organization whose mission was to track down all those affected by the Expulsion and compensate them, granting them their lands, possessions and titles back if possible, and paying them or granting them replacements when available. Those who were granted lands and titles stolen from non-humans had them revoked, with force if they refused to give them back.

The commoners and non-humans adored him, seeing him as the savior who brought Geralthin back to its wonderful golden age, in charge by a monarch who worked to better the lives of his people.

With all of this happening, the horribly damaged relations with the other nations began to mend, as they saw the king do everything in his power to right the wrongs of his father, treating their kin with honor and respect.

King William passed away in his sleep at age 83. He is regarded as the spiritual savior of Geralthin. While the kingdom wasn’t at risk of being lost by normal means, he DID recover its lifestyle, culture and identity; a melting pot, and the trading center of the world, where anyone could come for a shot at a new life. The other nations pay him patronage, with statues, paintings and plays of him being produced by non-human artists all over Deaco.

Queen Abigail

Honorifics: The Brave, The Saint, The Martyr

Rulership Period: Late Middle Ages

Dynasty: of Euirdland

Abigail was an extremely unique sovereign. Before being declared her mother’s heir, she became a Paladin of the Order of God. She was ferociously pious, and incredibly disciplined. Her kindness, diligence and humility made her well liked, and the people celebrated when she rose to the throne.

She spent her first few years building and restoring churches and cathedrals. She also began the creation of basilicas, some of the largest and most beautiful churches the kingdom has to offer.

Everything changed however when the wolfmen invaded. They raided occasionally, but now many tribes united under a mighty warlord, entire armies crossing the border to raze and conquer.

She may have been a queen, but she was still a paladin, and so she set off to lead the armies of Geralthin personally.

Her divine powers, incredible courage, tactical knowledge and great martial prowess made her a champion to the army. She turned the war into a crusade, zealous holy warriors volunteering to join the Royal Army in operations together.

She was eventually ambushed and captured, and held captive. She was tortured for months, the wolfmen trying to force her to renounce her faith, not out of religious reasons, but to have her do so publicly, to erode the morale of her forces.

She refused, sitting in silence as agonizing torture continued on. Eventually it became clear she wouldn’t break, so the wolfmen brought her to the front lines and forced the Geralthin armies to watch as she was executed.

This had the opposite of the intended effect. The army went into a mad frenzy, driven by fury and vengeance to deliver retribution for the murder of their hero and Queen. The Order declared her a saint and martyr, as she dedicated her entire life to the church, and refused to break or relent in the face of agony and horror. Songs would be sung of her for ages to come.

The wolfmen were soon after crushed, the army counterattacking and destroying several tribes before accepting payment for a ceasefire.

Queen Abigail was executed at age 32, leaving an inspired but grieving populace behind. Her legacy as an unbreakable saint and a Warrior Queen is one Geralthin takes great pride in. With no children and no clear heir, the throne was granted to a distant cousin.

Queen Anne

Honorifics: The Mystic, The Silent

Rulership Period: Renaissance

Dynasty: Tudirin

A lover of myth and magic, Anne decided to eschew standard schooling in favor of magic. She learned all about magic and the rules surrounding it, deciding to see if having access to such power could help a monarch.

It most certainly could, for she decided to learn spells that she thought would be helpful in diplomacy. She used enchanting magic to read and alter minds, ensuring bizarrely friendly relations with all. Several wolfman tribes who had been raiding Geralthin for ages suddenly decided the kingdom was worthy of praise and friendship, to be treated with respect.

She looked into the future, predicting and preventing disasters wherever possible. She even extended this to the kingdom’s neighbors, warning them of natural and man-made disasters.

Her fascination became institutionalized, causing a great revival of the study and experimentation of magic. All around Geralthin, sorcerers and would-be-magicians dived into studies of the unknown, trying to work out several long held mysteries of magic. This resulted in the innovation of new schools of magic, and many new spells being brought into use.

Queen Anne lived until age 63, the overuse of magical experimentation causing complications in her body. Though Gira did her best, the magic had left permanent alterations in organs that caused non-magical or disease-related health complications. Some organs were too large, some things didn’t work as required, and she began to shut down. She would have needed surgery, something that wasn’t at the technology level required to save her at that point.

To this day, Queen Anne is used both as a symbol of learning, and to warn magicians of the dangers of overusing magic they do not know the effects of.

Queen Maria

Honorifics: The Kind, The Righteous, The Servant

Rulership Period: Industrial Age

Dynasty: Cavania

Ascending to the throne at the age of 16, Maria had the responsibility of running the most powerful nation in Deaco thrust upon her before she was truly ready. Thankfully, the advisors, Gira included, were there to give her the guidance she needed.

Under Gira’s tutelage, she grew to have similar morals, believing the monarch was to serve the people, not the other way around. The comfort and happiness of the people were her primary concern. She was often called “The Servant” due to this.

The common folk flourished under her rule, as she curbed the aristocracy and ensured all were under the careful protection of the Queen. She undertook many reforms during her time as Queen, though none as great as the Worker’s Act.

With the industrial revolution in full swing, a tragedy in a mining operation brought the dangers and horrors of factory work to Maria’s attention. She undertook extreme measures to counteract this, forcing many regulations and government oversights into the workplace to ensure the lower class were not being taken advantage of.

The commoners absolutely loved her, and though the businesses grumbled, to most it was just another layer of papers and examinations. If they only kept their employees in mind, the businessmen had little to fear.

Maria died at age 106, having ruled as Queen for a staggering 90 years. She is the longest living monarch in history, and one of the most beloved. Countless people filled the streets weeping as she was brought to the Tomb of Kings. Her legacy enshrines the kindness and benevolence Geralthin Kings and Queens are known for.

King Charles

Honorifics: The Cavalier, The Victorious

Rulership Period: Great War Era

Dynasty: Cavania

Charles was the grandson of Maria, and chosen to be her successor as her children had little interest in ruling. He undertook the acceptance of strife, plunging Geralthin into The Great War.

Many tensions arose before the war, though none could seem to be calmed. The insecoids, longtime subjects of the reptilians to the south, began demanding independence. The Kingdom of Abinsil refused, stating the fact that there were many of their own kind in their cities, and they refused to hand them to a foreign power or drive them from their homes.

This erupted into a full-blown war of independence. With a longstanding friendship and official alliance between them, The Kingdom of Geralthin officially declared war as allies of the Kingdom of Abinsil. At the same time, paranoia in the north led to the murders of several wolfmen by paranoid mobs. Despite the kingdom doing everything in their power to deliver justice to the killers, the wolfmen saw their chance. The Unified Dacush Empire declared war on Geralthin. At the same time, the Pona Federation saw their chance to finally reclaim Liberty Point from the humans who had taken it. They allied with the Ducuni, longtime rivals, and attacked from the east.

Though they had little to gain, the Koutu Kingdom decided to join Geralthin and the Abinsil Kingdom as allies, citing their friendship stretching across millennia as reason for doing so.

This continental war was horrifying. With newfound technology, trench warfare and horrific experimental weapons caused misery and death to reign, all the nations getting stretched thin and growing tired as time went on.

King Charles knew how bad things were, but he refused to make peace. He saw the alliance and friendship between them and the reptilians as one that was unbreakable. Together they would win or be destroyed, there was no abandoning them. Besides, the Koutu had entered the fray trusting the humans to aid them, it would be extremely cruel to leave their friends to be destroyed.

His majesty personally joined the trenches often, delivering speeches to inspire the troops. He enlisted the help of a descendant of Alexander as well, Sir Gilbert, to inspire the men. Both of them fought in battle, bravely leading by example, and both miraculously surviving the war despite their heroics.

They eventually defeated the wolfmen and forced a surrender, and from there the opposition crumbled. Without multiple fronts the humans and koutu easily overran the Federation’s defenses before traveling across the sea to join the reptilians to defeat the insectoids.

The alliance prevailed, and the status-quo was maintained. The bonds of friendship between the humans, reptilians and koutu only grew stronger. Meanwhile the alliance between the shellbacks and wolfmen, though pragmatic and fleeting, did much to help ease the strained tensions between them from centuries of fighting. Perhaps there were some upsides to this horrid war after all...

Charles was sure to be magnanimous in victory, offering very relaxed terms for the Ducush Empire and Pona Federation, not wanting to sour relations further. The war was behind them, and they should begin the lengthy process of reconciling.

King Charles died at age 93, the same age as the First King. His courage, determination, and cavalier attitude brought a resurgence of romanticism of the older times, people wistfully remembering when kings fought alongside their men in glorious battle, just as Charles had.

King Patrick

Honorifics: The Dragonchaser, The Reconciler

Rulership Period: Modern/Information Age

Dynasty: Cavania

Patrick found himself king as his father died. He wasn’t particularly interested in ruling, though after some thought he decided he could do some good.

As a child, Patrick had always been fascinated by tales of beasts and dragons. He decided to make them the focus of his reign. As weapons became deadlier, dragons became less feared. Their decline started with guns and cannons, and now with artillery, bombs and missiles, they could be killed easily by an organized force. The dragons, ever prideful, still tried to exert their laws and influence on the land surrounding their lairs. With modern age weaponry like mobile infantry, jet fighters and long-range surface-to-air missiles, they were stricken down with ease.

Their population fell dangerously low, the few remaining dragons going into hiding in the darkest corners of the lands. They hid away from humans, only seen extremely rarely by wandering explorers.

This would not do. They were great beasts of wisdom, grace and honor. They should be treated as such.

Patrick undertook a lengthy legal and PR campaign, intended to warm relations between humans and dragons. It paid off, some of the bolder and friendlier of the behemoths breaking their isolation. It was a wonder to many, to stand beside these beasts of myth and legend, and take pictures and videos of them, and have conversations with those who lived for millennia...

Dragons began to reenter popular culture, even becoming part of both mainstream and niche media. Books, online videos, games, movies and even podcasts began to feature them as speakers, guests and topics in and of themselves.

There was much confusion and upheaval, but the changes and adjustments to popular culture and society itself brought forth by these great changes have seemed to settle in, the future seeming all the brighter for it. After all, the dragons couldn’t misbehave anymore, and they knew it. Only those genuinely interested in living among humans show themselves.

Patrick still reigns, his legacy seeming to be assured as the one who brought back the dragons. He seems quite content with this accomplishment, relaxed in his day-to-day duties as king.

So what does the future hold for Geralthin? Few know, but the future seems bright. Peace and prosperity reign throughout the lands, the people never having been happier. Geralthin has seen so much, and gone on triumphantly for so very long...whatever may come, the kingdom will rise to the occasion, and the people shall prevail.

Thank you so very much for coming all the way through to this! I wanted to break out of all the constant short stories and try something a little different. I hope you enjoyed this brief look at the history of the Kingdom of Geralthin!

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