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mishas-workshop · 5 years ago

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32 Commander Decks

I mentioned some reasons as to why I have been absent lately in an earlier post. What I did not mention was I have also been working on a very large scale Magic: the Gathering project. Over the 20ish years that I have been playing Magic, I have mostly played commander. I tried standard and modern and pauper and while all of those formats are great, they lack the multiplayer aspect, which I find very appealing about the commander format. Not to mention, when I was a kid, I didn’t have access to a lot of money, or even online card shops. Everything I got was from trading with friends and scouring any LGS I had heard about.

Over the years, and once since I started this blog, I have attempted to narrow down my collection of commander decks. Making lists about which ones I like the best, how to condense less powerful ones into a single, optimized power-house. However, I always find myself wanting to make another, wanting to create something new. I had thought about the idea of sleeving all of my cards in the same color, so that I could continuously tinker and swap cards around from deck to deck, but instead, chose a different path. I decided to build a commander deck of every color combination possible.

Truthfully, the cycle is not 100% complete and this is due to the lack of diversity in commander decks that are of four colors and colorless. In theory, I could make all six of those decks, but the world doesn’t need ANOTHER Atraxa deck. Maybe if they make more four-color and colorless legends, but not until then. However, I have multiple five color decks, and at least one of every three, two and single colored decks.

Part of why I did this is so that, in the future, I can just swap out the commander and some key cards if I want to make a change. Another reason is that, I like trying out different strategies, finding new ways to play the same game that I was playing as a child. On top of that, all of my decks are at varying power levels. At my LGS, the play group is ever expanding, and there are often people who are new to Magic as a whole, who wish to learn. I can hand them a more straight forward and simple deck and teach them as we play. It also helps if someone forgets their deck, or would like to try out a new strategy. These decks aren’t just for me, but for my friends.

Now, comes the list. I am not going to go into major detail about all of my decks. That would make this arricle so long, I would possibly break this site. The decks will be rated on the 1-10 power scale, along with a very short description of what the strategy it uses. So, without further ado, here are all of my commander decks:

W - Avacyn, Angel of Hope - 8

Angel tribal with mass boardwipes

U - Taniwha - 7.5

“Big Blue”, mass bounce tempo

B - Bontu, the Glorified - 7

Aristocrats

R - Lathliss, the Dragon Queen - 7.5

Dragon Tribal, fast aggro

G - Gargos, Vicious Watcher - 5

Hydra tribal, mass ramp

UW - Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun - 4

Tokens and copies

UB - Oona, Queen of the Fae - 9.5

cEDH combo/control

BR - Xantcha and Chainer - 7/7

Xantcha is a politics and control deck

Chainer is reanimator

RG - Hallar, the Firefletcher - ?

Kicker synergy, have not played it yet so no rating.

GW - Dragonlord Dromoka - 8

Stax control/midrange

WR - Tiana, Ship’s Caretaker - 6

Voltron equipment

UR - Jhoira of the Ghitu and Adeliz - 6/4

Jhoira is suspend big nonsense

Adeliz is pauper spell-slinger wizard tribal

BG - Ishkanah and Slimefoot - 8.5/7.5

Ishkanah - dredge/graveyard combo (favorite deck)

Slimefoot - Fungus tribal, token combo

WB - Tymna & Ravos partners - 5

Cleric tribal

UG - Experiment Kraj - 7

Combo and +1/+1 counters

WUG - Angus Mackenzie and Phelddagrif - 8/how do you rank group hugs?!?

Angus - Bant Superfriends

Pheldagriff - OLD SCHOOL group hugs

WUB - Varina (upcoming, Alela) - 7

Tribal Zombies (Tribal Faeries)

UBR - Admiral Beckett Brass - 5

Vorthos Pirates

BRG - Wasitora, Nekoru Regent - ???

Dragons/goodstuff (too early to rate)

WRG - Zacama, Primal Calamity - 6

Dinosaur tribal

WBG - Doran, the Siege Tower - 6

Tribal Treefolk

WUR - Pramikon, the Sky Rampart - 5

Chaos and group interaction. Walls

UBG - Yarok, the Desecrated - 8

ETB value, Primal Surge

WBR - Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - 8

Reanimator combo with ETB value

URG - Animar/Omnath, Locus of the Roil - 6

Elemental Tribal (still debating commander)

WUBRG

Sliver Overlord - 8.5

Sliver Tribal, combo, toolbox

Reaper King - 7

Scarecrow Tribal, artifacts, control

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim - 5

All foil, lands matter

So there we go! All 32 of my current commander decks ranked. I still have some cards I want to acquire for these decks, but for the most part, I don’t see myself building a new commander deck from scratch in the future.

#mtg #mtgcommander #mtgcommunity #edh #magic the card game #magic the gathering

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commandertheory · 5 years ago

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M20 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 Core Set 2020

There are a lot of cheap multicolor creatures that generate value (Harmonic Sliver, Knight of Autumn, Qasali Pridemage, Renegade Rallier) in these colors, as well as a ton of strong sac outlets like Evolutionary Leap, Birthing Pod, and Greater Good. Basically, you’ve got everything you need to make a sweet recursion engine, plus you can use all the sac outlets you’re already running to enable sac fodder combos like Karmic Guide/Reveillark, Karmic Guide/Saffi, Reveillark/Saffi, Sun Titan/Saffi, Sun Titan/Gift of Immortality, Boonweaver Giant/Gift of Immortality, Renegade Rallier/Saffi, etc etc etc.

Sample list: Rienne, Angel of Rebirth

I’m really not a fan of ETB commanders since they all run the same cards (blink engines, sacrifice+reanimation engines) and if you don’t draw your engines they don’t do anything. Say what you will about the original Kaalia, but at least she fixed the weaknesses of her tribe; this Kaalia just gives you a handful of cards you can’t cast.

She is, however, quite good in the maindeck of a Kaalia 1.0 deck.

Self-mill is super important in this deck. The more you mill, the more likely it is you’ll have some fodder to exile, so I’d run Mesmeric Orb, Hermit Druid, Deadbridge Chant, Life from the Loam, Undercity Informer, and Altar of Dementia, for sure.

Legendary lands are great in this deck, and there are a ton of cheap legends in these colors that interact with the graveyard, like Storrev, Teshar, and Meren. There are also some great sac outlets on legendary creatures, like Yawgmoth, Krav, the Unredeemed, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, God-Eternal Bontu, and Izoni, Thousand-Eyed. Finally, there are just a ton of value commanders in these colors like Azusa, Captain Sisay, Reki, Tymna, The Gitrog Monster, as well as a ton of powerful planeswalkers like Elspeth 3.0, Ugin 1.0, Liliana Dreadhorde General, etc.

Sample list: Kethis, the Hidden Hand

Cheap red cantrips and looting spells are very good here, since they’re card neutral and usually mana-neutral. Other cards that trigger when you cast noncreatures, like Monastery Mentor, Saheeli Sublime Artificer, and Young Pyromancer are also solid. I really like Bident of Thassa, Coastal Piracy, and Kindred Discovery in a deck with so many evasive tokens, and Cathars’ Crusade, Coat of Arms, and Shared Animosity will help you kill people really quickly.

There are a couple of Spirit token generators that are worth running because they’re so efficient that they are either mana neutral or mana negative, like Midnight Haunting and Promise of Bunrei. Tectonic Reformation is good for dumping excess lands and helping you find more gas.

Jeskai Ascendancy does literally everything.

Sample list: Kykar, Wind’s Fury

These rewards are not good enough to incentivize committing to Elementals. Shooting something once and a Retreat to Kazandu will not make you feel smart for forsaking the other 300 creature types in Magic.

It doesn’t help that the most powerful part of the card has nothing to do with Elementals, as the smart way to build this guy seems to be Tatyova + Red. It’s also a little weird that the best reason for adding Red to this deck’s color identity is Omnath, Locus of Rage; if you really want to make 5/5s, why not run that Omnath as your commander?

I think this is a combo commander masquerading as a value commander. You can spin your wheels for a while by controlling the board with Reclamation Sage and Shriekmaw, but eventually you’re going to draw some combination of Peregrine Drake/Great Whale/Aluren/Cloud of Faeries and Shrieking Drake/Cavern Harpy/Dream Stalker/Cloudstone Curio/Deadeye Navigator and get infinite mana and bounces for your other ETB creatures. Or you can just draw Palinchron.

Sample list: Yarok, the Desecrated

There are some solid flying token generators in monowhite (although probably not as many as you’d expect), as well as hate bear flyers like Hushwing Gryff, Linvala 1.0, Aven Mindcensor, Remorseful Cleric, Selfless Spirit, flyers that generate value like Pilgrim’s Eye, Bygone Bishop, Skyscanner, and anthem flyers like Archangel of Thune, Celestial Crusader, and Angel of Jubilation.

Because Sephara has 7 power, you also have the option to try to go for a Voltron win using haste granters and cards that grant double strike.

The 6 CMC, 5 toughness, 4 power, 3-cost activation, draw 2, discard 1 is super cute. I think this deck is mostly counterspells, cheap cantrips to sculpt your hand, mana acceleration, and ways to grant him haste, and I don’t think it’s that hard to fix the list so that the proportions of different mana costs make it easy to find Exodia without gumming up your development.

Black has 15 ways to pay life without restriction (i.e., without requiring you to pay mana, tap the card, or do anything else), most of which you could justify playing in this deck.

You don’t even have to worry about protecting this guy, as once he resolves and turned your life outlet into a Yawgmoth’s Bargain, he’s done his job and you will probably win that turn.

Sample list: Vilis, Broker of Blood

Like Sephara, the 7 power pushes me towards a Voltron strategy, and Red has waaay more haste granters than White does. The free board control is a nice way to help your deck interact with your opponents even as you devote most of your resources to the Voltron plan.

The combination of 17 life per swing and the ability to kill anything with Drakuseth’s flame breath makes Basilisk Collar an attractive addition to this deck, but I’m not sure I’d run equipment that only granted deathtouch or only granted lifelink.

Most Green hydras become playable when they cost four less, so it’s not hard to fill out the tribal theme. The rest of the deck is ramp to help you get Gargos down early and effects that target your creatures to enable Gargos’s trigger. Effects that grant Gargos hexproof or indestructible are great because they protect him from spot removal while also getting you a fight trigger, and cards like Hunter’s Insight, Hunter’s Prowess, and Soul’s Majesty, while normally great when you have an 8-power commander, get even better when they also let you eat an opponent’s creature.

Sample list: Gargos, Vicious Watcher

This guy is useful if there’s a specific land you want access to every game. Imo, the best lands to build a deck around are Volrath’s Stronghold, Academy Ruins, and Hall of Heliod’s Generosity, but the one people seem to be most interested in is Maze’s End.

In addition to helping you get to the End every game, Golos can help you hit 10 gates pretty quickly if you run a bunch of blink effects (in this case, I think I would run the instant-speed ones, rather than build around repeatable blink engines). Note that although there is a danger of hitting multiple Gates if you activate his ability, potentially preventing you from winning with Maze’s End, you do get to be unlucky once, thanks to the 11th Gate, Gateway Plaza. You can also reduce the danger by running additional land drop effects or by waiting to activate him until you’ve blinked him, activated the Maze, or otherwise thinned your deck of Gates to reduce your odds of a bad flop.

I’m not sure what the rest of the deck will look like once you fill out the blink spells and extra land drop effects. Bog standard 5C control with a little bit of land recursion?

The Maindeck Cards of Core Set 2020

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: 2

Power: 3

The 0 ability will not be that hard to pull off in Karlov or Kambal or Oloro, but even in those decks, it’s not that much better than a Tragic Arrogance or an Hour of Revelation, and those cards will always work.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

At first, I was ready to dismiss this guy, but then I realized that he’s joining the ranks of a very strange sort of combo enabler. Most things that produce tokens when things die say “nontoken”, but Bishop is one of a handful of cards that specify a creature type (the others being Rotlung Reanimator, Xathrid Necromancer, and Requiem Angel). This means that if you can overwrite the type of the token (via Conspiracy, Xenograft, Arcane Adaptation, or by editing the token maker’s text with Artificial Evolution), you get infinite sac fodder (note that xenograft and arcane adaptation don’t work with Requiem Angel). It’s also worth noting that Divine Visitation serves as an additional overwrite effect for both Bishop of Wings and Requiem Angel, although it doesn’t combo with the Reanimator or Necromancer.

Unfortunately, we don’t currently have a critical mass of this type of creature converter, nor do we have a critical mass of the creature overwriters, but both categories are worth paying attention to because they bring this creature sacrifice combo deck closer to viability.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This isn’t worth it if you are just holding up two white to save some guys in case someone wraths, but it could be good if your deck has easy access to a sac outlet. G/W decks can combine it with Eternal Witness for a recursive loop, while W/U decks can use Archaeomancer.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

Love seeing White getting ways to remove things that aren’t just more O Ring variants. I’ll happily play this for the ETB trigger in many White decks, but it’s especially good if you have a way to blink or reanimate it; it’s especially good in B/W with Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, and Necromancy. When Cavalier dies, get back your reanimate enchantment from graveyard, use that to bring this guy back, get his ETB trigger again, rinse and repeat. With a sac outlet, it’s 1B: Beast Within.

In monowhite, it also works pretty well with Gift of Immortality and a sac outlet, since you can keep sacrificing it and returning it with the Gift to Beast Within a ton of permanents and recur a bunch of artifacts/enchantments. Then if your opponents ever kill it for real before the Gift returns itself, you can get back the Gift to use on another creature.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis have huge asses relative to their mana cost, and might be interested in trying for big butt voltron. They’re also on color for Assault Formation, High Alert, uncommon Huatli, Treefolk Umbra, and Arcades, the Strategist.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

If you’re running enough steal effects to reliably get the end step trigger, you can go ahead and run this guy (Thada Adel seems especially good, since stealing Sol Rings helps you cover this guy’s huge mana cost). He also works really well with blink/reanimation engines. However, if you’re not running any engines and he’s one of your only steal effects, then I dislike him because he compares so poorly to Gilded Drake.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

The fact that Blue has other cards that do the same thing without preventing sac outlet recursion makes me low on this card. Also, unlike the other Cavaliers, abusing its ETB trigger doesn’t do much unless you also have access to some shuffle effects, since you’re going to be seeing a lot of the same cards over and over.

However, this is decent in Yennett, since it can set up the top of your library and is itself an odd card.

Spread: 2

Power: 1

I’d probably run this in Naban, might run it in Azami, wouldn’t run it in Inalla.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This card seems pretty sweet. Getting to drop the first card after a board wipe is a huge upside, and although it’s no Cyclonic Rift, it seems like a decent way to reset the board while putting you a little ahead of everyone else.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

The first option is terrible, but the second could be useful. March of the Machines is a liability on your opponents’ turns because it opens them up to board wipes, but this card offers a one-shot March by turning all your mana rocks and crappy tokens into copies of your biggest artifact creature. Also, if your Urza deck is having trouble winning the game, you could use this to make all your 0-mana artifacts into Karnstructs and kill everyone.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Crystal Shard/Erratic Portal redundancy for bounce combos (e.g., Archaeomancer variant and Time Warp variant).

Spread: 2

Power: 1

The main purpose of running an Archaeomancer variant is so you can combo off with Time Warp effects; adding extra value and P/T for extra mana does not make the card better; it makes it significantly worse because the cost of operating a bounce engine loop goes up significantly.

However, this can itself be the engine if you have a cheap blink spell like Essence Flux. Rasputin Dreamweaver and Lavinia of the Tenth sometimes run these types of cards and it’s not a huge burden to run extra turn effect, so there may be a pretty low-cost way to set this combo up.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

A cheap, evasive Pirate works well in both Edric and Beckett Brass.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Although this can always hit commanders, I still think this is a bit too situational to be worth running in most decks. However, if your commander needs Stifle effects really badly (Lord of Tresserhorn, for example), it’s nice that there’s extra utility stapled to this one.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

It’s not a very interesting card, but the rate is good; I’d run this if I had a cheap blue commander with flying.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

So the base case is really good, as there is lots of sac fodder (and ETB floaters) in black, as well as some powerful creatures with CMC 3 or less (such as Fleshbag/Merciless Executioner/Plaguecrafter).

If you’re in Blue/Black, there’s also combo potential with Phantasmal Image or Mirror Image, since these creatures can enter the battlefield as the Cavalier, get sacrificed to a sac outlet, then bring themselves back with their own death trigger. Repeat for infinite of whatever your sac outlet generates (as well as infinite free Bone Splinters).

Spread: 2

Power: 3

If this were just swampfall - draw a card it would be quite playable, but the ability to control the board really pushes this over the top. I would happily run this in any monoblack deck.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

I’ve considered running Necromancer’s Assistant in Hogaak as a way to get delve fodder while providing a body for convoke; this is a solid upgrade for that role.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

Sorcery speed all but guarantees your opponent is going to draw the card they tutored for before you get the thing you wanted, which is a nightmare scenario.

Fortunately, reader stormcrowlegend pointed out that this card is awesome in my Circu Citadel Combo list, since top-of-library tutors are actually better than tutors that put cards into your hand if you’re in the middle of comboing off with Bolas’s Citadel. Plus, you can use Circu to mill your opponent’s top card once they stack it with Scheming Symmetry.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I’m a little skeptical that this is going to be good in Edgar because that deck favors a low curve and this is one of the most expensive Vampire lords, but it could push out a worse 4-drop.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I don’t like this in Horde of Notions or Omnath, Locus of Rage, since they have better options for ramp and their elementals are big enough that they don’t care that much about the anthem. Marath is better at going wide with elementals, but I’m still skeptical that you would play this card when your deck has access to all the great anthems in Naya colors.

However, I think this card could make sense in Valduk, since he doesn’t have access to green, and he ideally makes a bunch of elementals each turn, so the buff could go pretty wide.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

There aren’t that many elemental token generators out there, and this card is cheap, makes elementals every turn, and kills them off. I think Omnath, Locus of Rage might play her just for the double Bolt action, and the -2 won’t be totally dead in a deck that favors land ramp spells over permanent-based ramp.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Six mana is a lot, and although the -3 is nice, the -X is not very relevant and the emblems are more annoying than powerful in a 40-life format. I think she’ll create a lot of ill will among your opponents without being strong enough to adequately protect you from them.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

This card rips. It sculpts your hand on the way in so you can avoid flood and dump reanimation targets, grants itself and the rest of your team haste if you’ve got extra mana lying around, casually hoses planeswalkers, and burns the heck out of your opponents. This card is going to be best in decks that can abuse both the ETB and dies trigger (Feldon of the Third Path being the deck it is most suited to), but I think I’d happily run this card for the ETB and activated ability in most monored and Red/White lists.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

Only discarding mountains and red cards means that I would only be comfortable running this in monored decks, but I’d probably run it in every monored deck. It prevents you from flooding out, it’s a discard outlet for decks that care about it (such as Feldon of the Third Path), and it gets rid of worse rummaging effects that you’re probably running, like Tormenting Voice and its ilk or Throes of Chaos.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

This card seems generally good in monored lists, and specifically good in Neheb 3.0, where you can farm the discard trigger pretty easily. I’d also run this in both Beckett Brass and Neheb 1.0, since he’s one of the best Pirates and one of the best Minotaurs.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

It might be solid in Omnath 2.0 since it represents 3 lightning bolts in addition to the 1/1s. It could also be good in Zada, Purphoros, and other Red decks that just need a lot of bodies.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

There are only 10 guys that are really worth getting back in Horde of Notions, but Omnath 3.0 can easily grow this guy big enough that he can get back practically anything.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

A five-mana ramp spell is pretty far below the curve for Green, and I still don’t understand why it exiles itself for its Reclaim effect when the White and Black members of the cycle are way more combo-riffic but aren’t similarly nerfed. The self-mill is nice, but it’s not enough to bridge the gap between this card and the many more powerful Green value creatures at a similar price point.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

It’s no Weathered Wayfarer, but this card still kicks ass. If your deck has any lands that are important to its functioning (e.g., Gaea’s Cradle, Volrath’s Stronghold), this card is a must-have. It’s especially good in decks like Gitrog and Lord Windgrace that can recur lands from the graveyard or get value when they go there.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I think I like this guy in Sidisi 1.0 and Tana, since he can help you get them down on turn three and then, conditions permitting, taps for two on turn four.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Until Wizards atones for Ulrich, the only deck that will want this is Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Most token decks and elfball decks ought to be able to make use of the first ability. As for the second, Anthousa and Gargos explicitly reward you for targeting your creatures with spells, and Rhonas the Indomitable decks tend to run lots of fight/punch spells to make use of his deathtouch and indestructbility.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This card is really useful for assembling combos, but the rate is not great. If you’re just trying to toolbox, I’d run one of the many more efficient green creature tutors instead.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

This may be a good option for monogreen decks that can’t easily deal with creatures, and of course you’ll run it in Gargos.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Bird tribal is terrible and Spirit tribal doesn’t exist, so there’s not much room for this card. If we ever get an apology commander for Kangee, this card will probably make the cut.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

The format has gravitated away from 5-mana do-nothing enchantments over the years, but there are certainly a lot of BG decks that can farm its trigger.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

I think it may be good enough for the Everything Tribal deck I cooked up recently. It generates value by itself and the deck has a ton of other Elementals in the form of changelings.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

This could be sick nasty in commanders that can easily discard a ton of cards, like Neheb 3.0, Varina, Malfegor, Borborygmos 2.0, and Kozilek 2.0.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Nahiri the Lithomancer, Balan, and Nazahn will probably run this because they can cheat it onto something. Sram might want this because it’s a cheap equipment, and he draws so many cards that eventually you’ll find your Puresteel Paladin or Sigarda’s Aid to cheat the equip cost.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

I’ve enjoyed using Voltaic Key as an additional mana rock in decks with lots of rocks that tap for two or more mana; this provides some redundancy and the second ability may be useful in decks built around the Kozileks and Ulamogs.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Amazing in mono-brown lists, and rad in mono-white/red lists trying to fill in the gaps with artifacts. It also seems very good in Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, since it drops your chance of whiffing down to almost zero.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Combos with Teshar, a sacrifice outlet, and a 0-CMC artifact creature.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

I would find room for this in any monocolor deck and in select other decks that care about lands (such as the Gitrog Monster or Lord Windgrace).

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Monocolor decks are running too many basics to get 7 lands with different names, and the heavy multicolor decks that have lots of different lands are going to be unwilling to give up a land slot for something that only produces colorless. Monobrown decks, which run almost 100% utility lands and don’t care about colored mana, are in the best position to use this.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Lotus Vale sees play in a surprising number of decks, including Titania; Hokori; Gitrog; Teferi, Temporal Archmage; Lord Windgrace; Muldrotha; and Derevi. Estrid the Masked can also get extra value out of her untap ability if she’s masked a land that taps for a bunch of mana,

This card is mostly an upgrade, so I imagine it’ll replace or complement Vale in those decks.

Wrapping Up

Please let me know if you think I missed any relevant cards or if you disagree with any of my ratings. Thanks for reading!

#set review #edh #commander #mtg #m20

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mtggoldfish · 5 years ago

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#mtg #mtgo #edh #commander #budgetcommander

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doctor-roman · 5 years ago

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Right now my favorite commander is Gargos, Vicious Watcher. It started as hydra tribal, but morphed into a big mana deck. I've thought about switching to mono-green Selvala for that reason, but I like specific themes and am afraid it'll get too generic and become just another goodstuff deck. But the way I win is usually to get a lot of mana, draw a lot of cards, and play as many big things as I can. Protect them for one turn and then swing. I once got a Heroe's Bane to 12228/12228, which is fun

(I personally like themes too, but there’s nothing wrong with good stuff!!)

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lindwur · 5 years ago

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How to Planecation in Ixalan

Turn 0: Leyline of Abundance on the field from opening hand. Have two Forests and two Lanowar Elves.

Turn 1: Get Treasure Token, play forest, play two Lanowar elves

Turn 2: Get Treasure Token, play forest, play Gargos, Vicious Watcher, an 8/7

Two Lanowar Elves tap for 4 mana total with Leyline. Two forests already on the field. Go a lil nuts and use the extra treasure token to play Giant Growth or smth

#mtg #Magic the Gathering #WHY YES I DID VERY MUCH WANT THAT FULLART MOUNTAIN PRIZE #AND I TOOK NO PRISONERS TO GET IT

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snowyfoxxo-draws · 3 years ago

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A Really fun match I just had on MTG: Arena’s 100-Card Historic Brawl event, opponent piloting mono-green Gargos, Vicious Watcher on aggro agaisnt my mono-blue Talrand, Sky Summoner control deck. Perfectly timed River’s Rebuke draw won the match in the end, but well played opponent, really fun, tense match!

Match breakdown under the cut!

Opponent played the game really well, they had me on defense the entire match the way aggro should be checking control down. The only reason I did so well in the early game was because of the Nadir Kraken in my opening hand, the 1/1 tentacle tokens were really valuable chump blockers for their big, non-trampling creatures, which their tramplers is where most of my interaction was spent so they couldn’t stomp over my blockers.

Two of my opponent’s cards gave my deck a real hard time, Wandering Archaic and Arasta of the Endless Web, both were really powerful cards against my deck’s spells strategy. I had the Mass Manipulation stuck in my hand for a good portion of the match just because it was hard to get enough mana for a good enough cast of it without letting them be able to copy it with Archaic and most likely steal my commander or Kraken, or even both, which would’ve hurt me hard. Arasta made it hard for my drakes from Talrand to get in, since her spider tokens are great reach blockers, they could’ve kept me 1-to-1 on blockers for my fliers, so the board was just grinded to a halt until one of us could draw an impactful enough play.

Opponent had a pretty strong start with Woodland Mystic into Llanowar Visionary, giving them a ton of mana and casting their commander turn 4, which put a really hard clock on me quick. Luckily I had the Kraken out turn 3 and had already made a token turn 4 - Match started with me on the play, opponent on the draw. Although they didn’t really do much in terms of value for the deck, Nezahal, Primal Tide deserves a mention for being a clutch blocker, opponent had cast a Wildwood Scourge as a 7/7 and I had to use Nezahal to trade, but it was worth it to get a massive threat off the board soon. I actually got really lucky in this match by drawing a lot of the creatures from my deck, so they couldn’t get as much value from their Archaic or Arasta, their deck was actually really well stacked against my strategy.

Ultimately the game came down to who could make the most impactful play first, one of us needed to draw a finisher as to close out the game. I’m assuming my opponent had some kind of card like Craterhoof Behemoth or even just Overcome, some kind of effect to pump the team and give them trample until end of turn. If they had one or two more turns to play, they very likely could’ve won, depending on if they could find the finisher.

My deck was hoping for one of my two “sweeper” effects; Either Sleep, or River’s Rebuke, the card I ended up with. Both would’ve effectively had the same result, letting me swing in with all my creatures without fear of blocks, then get to do it again next turn for lethal. Another card that didn’t get to live up to its full value but still turned out to be invaluable in the end was The Magic Mirror, I only got three extra cards from it by the end of the match, but River’s Rebuke was the card I drew after the second trigger of it, so it dug me deep enough to find the finisher I was waiting for, if I hadn’t cast it earlier my opponent might’ve had the time they needed to find their finisher instead, so it deserves a lot of credit for helping me win the match in the end.

In the end, it was a really fun game, a great match up for the rivalry of the aggro and control archetypes. Both my opponent and I had to make some tough calls throughout the match, and I can fairly confidently say nobody made any mistakes in their sequencing, maybe the opponent could’ve played more aggressively, but I was also keeping up mana a lot of the game so understandably they were probably worried about some kind of interaction I had for combat. Both of us were playing our decks to their strongest, just the raw value engine of blue’s card draw and efficient spells won out in the end. Opponent played great and kept me against the corner for a good chunk of the match, played aggro very oppressively and safely in order to stop me from getting too far ahead with my creatures, was glad I got to play them.

My decklist - Probably not the strongest Talrand deck out there, but with what I have available on Arena it’s definitely a pretty powerful deck. Talrand was one of the first legendary creatures I ever saw in Magic and quickly became a large reason of why I love control or spell-slinger strategies so much, so it was less a deck I made to win and more of just a deck I made for the personal satisfaction, aggro decks are pretty popular in 100C Historic Brawl, and this deck struggles pretty hard against early aggro decks. Still was a really fun deck and I was glad to get a fair win out of it against aggro.

#snowyfoxxo-draws #mtg #mtg arena #mtg historic brawl

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housebeleren · 5 years ago

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Core Set 2020 Prerelease Recap

Prerelease season is always super fun. We get our first taste of learning the new format, speculations run wild about how formats will be impacted, and there’s an overall sense of freshness and rejuvenation in the community.

But above all, we get to crack some new packs and play with some new toys! I’ve got to say, after my first foray with Core Set 2020, this seems like a super good format, and surprisingly deep for a core set. The gameplay was easy to parse, but with lots of decision-making and plenty of intricate interactions.

Art: Igor Kieryluk

When it came to my prerelease pool, one thing was perfectly clear, and that was that Black would figure prominently into it. Even though I had no Black Rares worth playing (though I did get a Leyline of the Void that’ll be useful for other formats), my pool was filled with strong playables in the color. Two copies of Bloodthirsty Aerialist were strong pulls, and they seemed like the perfect compliment to Vampire of the Dire Moon. Gorging Vulture is another good flier, and also gains some life for the Aerialists, as does Agonizing Syphon. Black also gave me two recursion spells with Soul Salvage and Blood for Bones. I tend to value graveyard retrieval pretty highly, and even more so in sets with good ETB effects to reuse, which this one definitely has.

The next question was what to pair my Black base with. White was the natural compliment. I had some lifegain effects like Dawning Angel, plus some great removal in Aerial Assault and Pacifism. There were also several other great playables with Herald of the Sun, Master Splicer, and Steadfast Sentry. For my third and final color, I was torn between Red and Green. (Blue was right out, with a few playable Commons but no removal and nothing exciting.) Green gave me Rabid Bite plus Silverback Shaman and Thicket Crasher, while Red gave me Chandra’s Outrage & Reduce to Ashes, plus Skyknight Vanguard and a somewhat ambitious bomb in Drakuseth, Maw of Flames. In the end, I went with Red because I had better fixing for it (2 Wind-Scarred Crags), threw in a Meteor Golem, and was set.

The deck performed great. I basically never got Drakuseth out, but when I did, he ended the game on the spot. The all-star performers, however, were the performance artists themselves. Bloodthirsty Aerialist overperformed for me in each & every game, very reliably becoming a 3/4 or 4/5 flier that dominated the board unless dealt with. And having 2 of them, plus 2 graveyard retrieval spells, made it so I landed them in every single game. My removal could take out enemy fliers or Mammoth Spiders, and with my numerous ways to gain life, racing me was difficult. I won the night 3-0, with only a couple game losses on the occasions I got mana screwed or misplayed. The deck performed beautifully, despite not having tons of bombs and only one Rare.

General Format Notes

Core set formats often tend to be about the individual strengths of cards and setting up a smooth curve. Core Set 2020 is surprising in the depth of interactions that are possible. There are some strong synergies, many involving the graveyard. I saw people setting up loops with Scholar of the Ages and Pulse of Murasa. There’s Sanitarium Skeleton & Bladebrand at Common for grindy value. Lots of tiny interactions are hidden in this set, so there are lots of goodies for advanced players to pick up on, and surprises for new players to discover.

That said, despite being more synergy-dependent than other core sets, the curve still matters. Curving a 2-drop into 3-drop into 4-drop is the type of line of play you want to achieve a good advantage to push to victory.

The format seems like it’s likely to be smack dab in the center of midrange. Aggro decks seem possible, and it’s unclear as of yet if a control deck will emerge (they often take some time to get discovered), but the midrange threats are plentiful and strong.

Fliers seem powerful in this format, as there are several well-costed ones, and several have good ETB effects or additional value. Accordingly, there are a number of creatures with Reach in Green, but they’re easily cleared out of the way with removal.

Removal is very strong. Pacifism, Murder, and Rabid Bite are all efficient and clean answers at Common, and the Uncommon color hosers are fantastic sideboard answers. That said, many creatures have extra value through ETB effects, so even if your threat gets removed, it’s likely a reasonable trade.

Individual Card Notes

Gargos, Vicious Watcher is insane. In my initial reading, I didn’t notice that it triggers off of any spell, not just spells your opponents control, and that makes this way better. One particularly gross trick is to target this with Moment of Heroism to give it Lifelink, then take out basically any threat and gain a pile of life in the process.

Scuttlemutt does work. Yes, it ramps, but it also can change the colors of your cards in response to one of the targeted color hosers or to trade with a creature with protection.

Don’t forget that Reduce to Ashes exiles the creatures it hits. This is especially relevant against Black, given the amount of recursion the color has. It also stops Silverback Shaman from drawing a card, which is a relevant plus.

Don’t forget that the Common Taplands, like Scoured Barrens, gain a life on ETB. This is one of the most reliable ways to trigger lifegain payoffs like Bloodthirsty Aerialist or Epicure of Blood.

Aerial Assault is good, but it’s not premium removal. A number of creatures in this set have Vigilance. In the fliers deck, or in a deck with the aforementioned lifegain payoffs, it gets better.

Pacifism is still amazing. No surprises there.

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