#have some phyrexian unlife

[daggers-drawn-returns]

people on tumblr are really into guys covered in blood and the eroticism of the machine lately... what about machines covered in blood? [turns my microphone to the audience] how do we feel about machines covered in blood?

[favoritemtgcard]

Official Bracket Announcement

After more than 420 individual nominations, 64 cards have been selected to compete to be tumblr's favorite Magic: The Gathering card!

You can view a complete list of Divisions and seeds below the cut

Thank you to everyone who submitted a card and supported their favorites. There are over 30,000 cards printed in Magic's history, so this poll would have been literally impossible without your help. There were a lot of very tight calls when putting this together, and not every card could make the final cut, but hopefully this bracket reflects the majority of the popular picks as well as a few individual favorite contenders.

The first matches of Division A will be posted tomorrow, November 5th at 10:00am PST. Division B will be posted the following day, then Division C, and so on. You will have a full week to vote in these matches for your favorite card. (Reminder: seed number is only a best guess at how a team will perform in a given bracket, and exist to facilitate a more interesting tournament. It is not at all uncommon for lower seed cards to beat higher seeds, and it is not a reflection of the quality of the card in of itself.)

Thank you again for all of your interest and support! I am already excited to learn how some of these early matches play out.

Division A Begins November 5th

Bearscape

Savor the Moment

Phyrexian Unlife

Dark Ritual

Damnation

Baleful Strix

Massacre Girl

Emrakul the Aeons Torn

Murder

Colossal Dreadmaw

Waste Not

Surgical Extraction

Forest

Perplexing Chimera

Stasis

Elvish Visionary

Division B Begins November 6th

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Brainstorm

Selesnya Evangel

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Thallid

Rona, Herald of Invasion

Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Hot Soup

Phage the Untouchable

Earthbind

Cheatyface

Wedding Announcement

Storm Crow

Darksteel Relic

Rin and Seri

Madcap Skills

Division C Begins November 7th

Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

Bitterblossom

Mana Tithe

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Tragic Slip

Olivia Voldaren

Craterhoof Behemoth

Island

Enthralling Victor

Indestructible Aura

Llanowar Elves

Gush

Urza's Ruinous Blast

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

Mountain

Division D Begins November 8th

Lightning Bolt

Faithless Looting

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar

Gallia of the Endless Dance

Breach the Multiverse

Dark Depths

Heartbeat of Spring

Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Swords to Plowshares

Archangel Avacyn

Run Away Together

Tempt With Bunnies

Enter the Dungeon

Plains

Mantis Rider

[aflo]

none of the numbers on this quite add up right. i mean, a sorcery 6 mana draw 5 is about the right rate, though i have no idea what kind of deck would want to play that. then when your opponent attacks you on their turn, you have to discard some or all of those cards so it honestly isn't very good card advantage.

it keeps you alive if you go below 0, but only by a hair since you have to keep cards in hand or die. so it's not very good as a phyrexian unlife unless you have lots of draw power/life gain. (which if you have life gain, you didn't need a phyrexian unlife.)

then it has this lifegain clause. yeah, i guess this can draw you a lot of cards, lifegain is generally much cheaper than card draw, but it doesn't protect you from losing to an empty library. it's not even great as a combo piece since it gives your opponent random lines to make you discard your combo pieces through damage. and it doesn't even work with ad nauseum. you'll draw your library then discard your hand to the 100 lose life triggers and the grimoire will kill you. yuck, yuck, and even more yuck.

[sylvhem]

From the Vault: Phyrexia

When Wizards of the Coast choose to discontinue the From the Vault series, almost two years ago, many said it was inevitable because the company had finally run out of good themes for those products. I disagree and think that, on the contrary, there is still lot of cool themes that could be used to make new From the Vault. So I decided that, since I was constantly thinking about new ideas for them, I will periodically make posts presenting “custom” From the Vault, that is, lists of fifteen cards tied by a theme that I think would make a good From the Vault product.

And the first entry in this series will be From the Vault: Phyrexia. What a better way to start that with the classic antagonist of the series? Moreover, Phyrexia being around Magic: The Gathering lore since Antiquities, there is a lot of cards and sets to choose from. It’s more a problem of “too many cards” than “too few of them”. Also, this is the perfect occasion to reprint some of those cards with the Phyrexian watermark.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

I can’t possibly make a retrospective of Phyrexia without including the man who created it, Yawgmoth. A Thran physician exiled for his interest in eugenics as well as his support to a failed revolution, Yawgmoth traveled across Dominaria, experimenting on various species, often under the pretense of bringing medical help. He later took his revenge on the people who cast him away when, recalled to the Thran Empire to help cure a mysterious disease, he seized the opportunity to transform the sicks into mutants and use them as an army to overthrow the government. With the candid help of the planeswalker Dyfed, he traveled to an artificial plane long abandoned by its creator and immediately started to modify it to suit his needs, creating Phyrexia. Bounding himself to the plane’s core, he then became immortal and inherited god-like powers. Unfortunately for him, Rebbec, the chief architect of the Thran capital of Halcyon, trapped it there, making him and his follower unable to return to Dominaria. He then spent the next millennia perfecting his creations, conquering other planes and plotting to, one day, finally take over his birth plane.

On this card, Yawgmoth is depicted as his young self, before he ascended to godhood and maybe even before his exile. Nonetheless, we can see him wearing a phi-shaped tool to his belt, hinting to the fact he may already have some plans regarding his future creations. Even if it’s technically a card that predates Phyrexia, the facts that he is its creator and that he already started his “Great Work” made it an auto-include here.

Phyrexian Altar

This card, originally printed in Invasion, is a classic of the game. Not as well-know as some other cult cards, it’s still quite popular and is relatively used in Commander. Moreover, its original art have never been used on a modern frame and it would be the perfect occasion for this.

Priest of Yawgmoth

Not as well know, Priest of Yawgmoth is a card that come straight from Antiquities. Not as powerful nor popular as Phyrexian Altar, it’s an interesting card in that it’s a good representation of what the original mechanical take on the Phyrexians was. Also, it could really use a reprint, to have an occasion to see this art in a modern frame, but, more importantly, to have a version of this card with its much simpler Oracle text.

Phyrexian Arena

This card is too much of classic to not be a part of this set. Originally printed in Apocalypse, it has been reprinted numerous times, including in core sets, but still commands a higher price tag due to its popularity in formats like Commander. This would be the perfect occasion to have a version with the Phyrexian watermark.

Phyrexian Tower

Originally printed in Urza’s Saga, this card was then part of the same cycle of legendary lands that gave us Gaea’s Cradle, Serra’s Sanctum and Tolarian Academy. But unlike those three cards, Phyrexian Tower and Shivan Gorge were not put on the Reserved List.

Despite that and the popularity of this land in Commander, it has never been reprinted before Ultimate Master (if we omit its gold-bordered version). We could reprint it with its gorgeous new art, but I think it would be a good opportunity to use its classic illustration, never used in conjunction with the modern frame before.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

You can’t make From the Vault: Phyrexia without including at least one of New Phyrexia’s praetors. And none of them is as iconic as Elesh Norn, leader of the Machine Orthodoxy. Moreover, this card have been printed five times but always with the same illustration. A premium print like this one would be a good occasion to give it a new artwork.

Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

This card may be the most popular commander of all time. Besides, apart from its original printing in Commander 2016, it only has been reprinted once, in Commander Anthology Volume II. None of those printings have a Phyrexian watermark.

Phyrexian Unlife

This card is such a good depiction of what Phyrexia is that it would be sad to not include it in this set.

Phyrexian Obliterator

A really cool and flavorful creature card. It’s probably the most iconic card from New Phyrexia.

Birthing Pod

A staple of the Modern format before its ban, it gave birth to an entire archetype.

Gitaxian Probe

Banned in Legacy, Pauper and Modern, restricted in Vintage, this card used to be a staple in those formats when it was still legal to play it.

Surgical Extraction

This card is one of the most popular card in Legacy and commands a huge price tag because of it.

Dismember

A Modern staple and a useful card all around.

Gut Shot

This list lacked a mono red card and Gut Shot is a popular card in Pauper, played in numerous archetypes.

Phyrexian Scriptures

The Scriptures, Phyrexia’s sacred texts, have been referenced in numerous flavor texts through the years. That’s why it was cool to finally have a card to represent them in Dominaria!

And that’s it! What do you think of that list? Would you have done things differently? Does it convinced you other cool From the Vault could be made?

[foxgirlintestines]

Which one is the best monowhite budget commander? Can you build a list?

Well this is a tad bit vague. There is no definitive best budget mono-white commander as you can build white in different archetypes. Mono White is usually associated with aggro and equipment. There is a problem with those in budget. Good equipment can get expensive, same with their support cards. Stoneforge Mystic was just unbanned in Modern so that will definitely make Voltron White a bit less accessible. Aggro on the other hand is cheap, but also very soft in Commander. White weenies turning sideways often is just too slow to get there when you have three opponents and life totals start at 40.

(Decklist at the end)

That makes me want to build a Mono-White deck in one of two ways if I had a pretty low budget in mind: Stax and End the World control. Of these two options, Wrath tribal does not overlap witrh Modern in the types of cards you want so it will probably be cheaper. So, first off, we want our Commander to synnergize with the idea that every permanent is temporary, so there are three creatures that really catch my eye: Heliod, God of the Sun, Oketra the True, and Mageta the Lion (honorable mention to Avacyn who would be here if she was budget). The two gods are indestructible allowing them to safely live through the end of the world, and Mageta is a Wrath of God on legs. The problem Mageta runs into is the lack of card draw in white limits how well you can use him, you can simply run out of cards to discard. The other problem is since you are going to be running a lot of wraths he will be caught in the crossfire. That narrows it down to the two gods.

Heliod and Oketra operate pretty similarly. They are creatures that are basically turned off until you add permanents to the battlefield. One cares about white symbols, and the other cares about creature count. They both produce an army of creatures, but Oketra can animate herself while Heliod cannot. Heliod on the other hand makes larger creatures and has Enchantment synergies. You can honestly go with either one, but I will choose Heliod for the ability to have an enchantress subtheme as a way to keep him animated with permanents that aren't creatures and as another control element.

I'm going to try to limit all the cards in this deck to $5 or less unless they are important for the deck to function (some cards to save up for).

So, first off we need the removal suite. 1-for-1 removal should be kept to a minimum as you can't really keep up trading like that in a multiplayer game especially with less than ideal card advantage. Swords to Plowshares and Generous Gift will be the targeted removal suite outside of the ones that will come from enchantments. Next up is the big kaboom. We want to be able to really be the old testament god on one hell of a rampage. You should be able to control the board by having access to a wrath when needed after you hit 4 mana. Now to make the numbers work you need to kind of factor in how much card draw you have at any moment's notice and that will not be a super high amount. Somewhere around 10 with 12 being more comfortable is what you will need to have a wrath on hand at most times. If people are rebuilding fast and you need multiple wraths to stay on top of the board you'll need around 15. Lets just see how many we can fit in: Wrath of God, Austere Command (I found a copy for less than $5 so it counts), Day of Judgement, Rout, Fumigate, Cleansing Nova, Hour of Revelation, Akroma's Vengeance, Planar Collapse, Sublime Exhalation, Phyrexian Rebirth, Planar Cleansing, Myojin of Cleansing Fire, Nevinyrral's Disc, End Hostilities, Mageta the Lion, Martial Coup, Waking Sun's Avatar, Descend Upon the Sinful, Hallowed Burial, Urza's Ruinous Blast, Winds of Abandon, and Tragic Arrogance. Whats that? 23 but we only need about 15? I SAID THE OLD TESTAMENT HELIOD! If it bleeds it can die, and if it doesn't we'll send the whole fucking planet into oblivion! You made a black mage make a mono-white deck so its your fault for thinking this would end any other way.

Ahem... That seems decent enough. Some card draw, pillow fort, and mild stax should help round it out from there.

The enchantment package should be mostly defensive and geared towards stalling, but some heavy hitters to end the game should also be included. First off the payoffs for enchantments: Sigil of the Empty Throne, Mesa Enchantress, and Sphere of safety provide control, creatures, and card draw off of your enchantments giving you engines. Parallax Wave can temporarily mess with creatures, or save things from your constant wraths, it also forms an infinite exile combo with Starfield of Nyx. Oblivion Ring, Banishing Light, Ghostly Prison and Aurification provide you with some early defenses, and Phyrexian Unlife combined with Solemnity create temporary imortality. They can be peiced together with Plea for Guidance, and on their own they are decent though narrow. Rule of Law, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Curse of Exhaustion, and Spirit of the Labyrinth will help against the unfair decks that otherwise ignore your wraths. Overwhelming Splendor can help if someone really needs to just stop. Nevermore and Gideon's Intervention can pinpoint cards that might take you down or lock a commander thats problematic out of the game. Martyr's Bond can be a heavy Stax engine acting as a Grave Pact on steroids. Finally True Conviction, Starfield of Nyx animating the Enchantments, and Ethereal Armor on Heliod can close out games.

The deck has solid "meat" but will need support from card draw and ramp. Draw is limited, but Endless Atlas is pretty good and Mind's Eye is slow but solid for budget reasons. Mentor of the Meek and Skullclamp can turn Heliod's Activated Ability into card advantage but they are a bit slow. Staff of Nin is expensive but you can't get picky. Though it only grabs lands Thaumatic Compass is good for consistent mana and its flip side is excellent for a deck like this. Treasure Map will filter draws and provide cards after it flips. Sadly some of White's best answers to its limited card advantage are quite pricey. Your main advantage will come from depleting your opponent's resources with a single card answering their full boards and breaking up their own card advantage.

Ramp is also limited, but since the best ramp is actually artifacts it’s not that bad. Sol Ring is the always present auto-include. Smothering Tithe is one of the few out of budget cards but its honestly one of the best white cards for commander and synergizes as it’s an enchantment so it’s one of the few cards to go out of your way to get. Starfield Mystic will discount your Enchantments and Pearl Medallion will discount all your colored spells. Solemn Simulacrum just got a reprint and is a decent land ramp. Most of your ramp should take you from 2>4 though so you can get your wraths online so you should stick to 2 cost rocks like Mind Stone and Marble Diamond. Arcane Signet will be an option but it might end up a chase card from the brawl deck.

Finally we can use Sun Titan as a random finisher with value attached.

Lands will mostly be basic, but we will have Emeria the Sky Ruin (another budget stretch that you can justify), Myriad Landscape for ramp, Mistveil Plains for recursion, Flood Plain and Grasslands as extra cards for Sun Titan recursion and to find the Mistveil Plains. Arch of Orazca and Cryptic Caves provide a little flood protection. Hall of Heliod's Generosity will return your destroyed Enchantments or create a loop of apocalypses with Planar Collapse. You could add more utility lands as you like, but otherwise its a simple 28 plains from there.

I learned from this exaercise I am terrible at budget decks. I wanted thios onbe to be less than $100, but...

As for how to play, its pretty simple; it is tap out control. Cast your cards sparingly, ramp and get in card advantage when you can, but most of the time you are the demolition crew. Most of your wraths will be one sided as you run very few creatures andmost of your spells only hit creatures. There are a few that hit everything and that exile which will catch Heliod. Basically you want to either try to cast those before you set up other permanents or as a last resort.This deck is a budget deck, its obviously not going to dominate a table of competitive decks or your standard pub-stompers. However, it should be solid in a meta that is reliant on creatures and combat. Lower power pods tend to resort to creature strategies, so thats where this fits in as a control deck. Sadly, the lack of interacting with the stack makes this deck very weak to combo or some other types of control like Superfriends. Either way, if you enjoy seeing a nice orderly clean table with no pesky permanents on it you should have some fun with this.

Upgrading this deck would be pretty standard. Take out the clunkier wraths, and add in the higher power Enchantment cards like Serra’s Sanctum, Academy Rector, Idyllic and Enlightened Tutors, Greater Auramancy and so on. Start adding the heavier stax cards and the Armagheddons.I purposely did not include land destruction as budget groups have less options to handle them so its just going to make people not enjoy the deck, but as power level goes up its one of the few ways White can really contend with the other colors through mana denial.The deck should look something like this:

Commander: Heliod, God of the Sun

-Creatures:

Myojin of Cleansing Fire

Mageta the Lion

Waking Sun's Avatar

Mesa Enchantress

Eidolon of Rhetoric

Spirit of the Labyrinth

Mentor of the Meek

Starfield Mystic

Solemn Simulacrum

Sun Titan

-Artifacts:

Nevinyrral's Disc

Endless Atlas

Mind's Eye

Skullclamp

Staff of Nin

Thaumatic Compass

Treasure Map

Sol Ring

Pearl Medallion

Mind Stone

Marble Diamond

-Enchantments:

Planar Collapse

Sigil of the Empty Throne

Sphere of Safety

Parallax Wave

Starfield of Nyx

Oblivion Ring

Banishing Light

Ghostly Prison

Aurification

Phyrexian Unlife

Solemnity

Rule of Law

Curse of Exhaustion

Overwhelming Splendor

Nevermore

Gideon's Intervention

Martyr's Bond

True Conviction

Ethereal Armor

Smothering Tithe

-Instant:

Swords to Plowshares

Generous Gift

-Sorceries:

Wrath of God

Austere Command

Day of Judgement

Rout

Fumigate

Cleansing Nova

Hour of Revelation

Akroma's Vengeance

Sublime Exhalation

Phyrexian Rebirth

Planar Cleansing

End Hostilities

Martial Coup

Descend Upon the Sinful

Hallowed Burial

Urza's Ruinous Blast

Winds of Abandon

Tragic Arrogance

Plea for Guidance

-Land:

Emeria the Sky Ruin

Myriad Landscape

Mistveil Plains

Flood Plain

Grasslands

Arch of Orazca

Cryptic Caves

Hall of Heliod's Generosity

Plains x28

[commander-of-the-week]

Commander of the Week

Licia, Sanguine Tribune

It's been so long, and I have a really interesting take on Licia. Her ability hints a life gain build with the ability to pay life in order to make her more powerful. But what if we were to do the opposite of gain life and instead focus on getting to the lowest possible life in order to kill people with life manipulation effects. That is the Licia deck that I have in mind.

Throwing your life away

My original draft of this deck had many more ways to lose your own life but some of those methods weren't creature based or were really expensive to cast essentially leaving me open to damage from other sources which makes the win conditions even more unpredictable. I've found Wall of Blood, Erebos, God of the Dead and Treasonous Ogre to be very effective creature-based ways of losing large amounts of life. Each player's life can be quickly dropped with cards like Fraying Omnipotence, Torgaar, Famine Incarnate and Heartless Hidetsugu. Virtus the Veiled is also good for whittling life totals if he gets through.

Turning the Tables

I've confused many people with how this deck works, and then completely surprised them when they potentially die at the same time. Repay in Kind is the main win condition, but anything that switches life totals is good too, such as Soul Conduit, Reverse the Sands and Axis of Immortality. Of course Demonic Pact and Harmless Offering are also in the deck to quickly wipe out an unprepared player. Near-Death Experience is also in here just for lols but I don't think it'll ever win that way.

Going Sub-Zero

There may be a chance that you may have to go below zero life while playing this deck. So unless you have a way to prevent a loss from this such as Phyrexian Unlife, Lich's Mastery or Platinum Angel, it's going to be pretty miserable, but if you do, it will make the victory all the sweeter. Stunning Reversal, Worship and Angel's Grace can also stop the inexorable crawl towards death by giving you an extra turn or two to find a way to level the playing field.

Other Useful Cards

The usual suspects such as Ghostly Prison, Norn's Annex and Windborn Muse and True Believer can slow down external damage and give you a nice controlled decline towards zero life. Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs is another of my favourite cards because it deters ground based combat. Evra, Halcyon Witness is another super quick way to reduce your life total to potentially end the game that turn. And then anything that allows you to pay life for perks is also good such as Necropotence, Bitterblossom and Phyrexian Processor.

And Finally...

I've wanted to build a deck with this strategy since I found Repay in Kind when it was first released, I just wish there were more cards with this effect. Lands could include the pain lands such as Battlefield Forge, Caves of Koilos and Sulfurous Springs, as well as City of Brass and Mana Confluence that help that decline. Fetch lands also work, though they are expensive. I love the idea of this deck and hope I can find a way to make it work better. I do hope you find this both helpful and fun and until next time. Happy Deck Building

[beardfulstrix]

Monogamy is wood, not cardboard

If you read blog post #1, then you’ll know that what attracted me to Modern is the ability to play whatever I like.  In a reasonably small time-frame I became known at my LGS as the guy that doesn’t play the same deck twice.  I mean, that wasn’t wholly true - otherwise I couldn’t also be ‘the guy who plays Tron!’

But I have to admit, I did love the brewing process.  And rocking up - not necessarily with out-and-out jank, but with ‘my’ version of a certain archetype -became the thing I did.

One week I’d be on Big G-Tron.  Next it would be Eldrazi & Taxes.  Then Jeskai-Saheeli-control. Maybe Orzhov control (think Solemnity, Phyrexian Unlife, Lingering Souls and a lot of Gideons). I tried UW control`, Eldrazi-Tron.  I built the ‘Sigarda’s Aid’ / ‘Colossus Hammer’ combo deck and managed to Turn 2 kill a couple of people. I built a RG Eldrazi deck after Grzegorz Kowalski won GP Lyon with it.  How do you put Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Lightning Bolt AND Reality Smasher in the same deck and NOT win?

I was having lots of fun.  But I wasn’t winning much.

Part of that was due to the inconsistency in my decks.  I’d be playing a ‘version’ of the archetype, but if the ‘real’ deck had a card I didn’t like, I wouldn’t run it.  Or if there was a card that fit in the deck that I liked, I’d play that over something ‘stock’ and lose percentage points as a result. But the key reason for my lack of success was that I was making too many mis-plays.  Often they were out-and-out wrong plays, where I took the wrong line.  Other times, it would be a mis-play in not understanding the match-up properly ... because I hadn’t had enough reps with the deck to understand what I needed to draw to in certain circumstances.  When to hold certain removal for a better target.  When to use my life total as a resource to get me to the mid-late game etc.

Plus I’ve seen enough coverage on Twitch now to know the truth of the phrase, “in Modern, you get rewarded for knowing your deck”.

So, now I feel like my attitude has matured a little.  I’ve had my ‘adolescent’ fun - taking out a new deck every week.  If I want to be fulfilled, it’s probably time to think about settling down.  And whilst that’s unlikely to mean full-on commitment, with 100% fidelity to one deck or archetype, it will mean I’ll focus in on a couple of decks that I think will have some range in the current meta - and that retain enough creativity - either in flex-spots available, or play style - to ensure I don’t get too bored too quickly.

I think I’ve got a shortlist of 3.  Which for me is pretty good.  Keeping some variety means that the others at my LGS won’t always be able to anticipate how to sideboard for me.  And learning more than one deck will hopefully give me some flexibility to ride the ebbs and flows of the meta as new cards come into the format - and others leave.  So long OKO - you burned bright...but you were an absolute tool!

Tune in next time to see which decks I’m settling in on - and just how bad those choices are!

Beardful Strix

[blogging-phelddagrif]

Modern Deck Tech: Phyrexian Solemnity

[you can see every deck tech here]

Hello & welcome to this weekly deck tech! This week it’s time to talk about modern and since the new Hour of Devastation set just came out I thought I’d go over a brand new deck built around a sweet card from the set: Phyrexian Solemnity. The deck is built around assembling a 2-card lock that basically prevents you from dying; while having an amazing synergy with some other cards in your deck and eventually play out a combo to either gain infinite life or deal infinite damage to your opponent. The deck is super sweet and really janky, but it’s a lot of of and can get some good results. Let’s go over the cards and you’ll understand why it’s so cool. Also, you’ll notice a lot of redundance in the deck, which is to make it as consistent as possible.

Name of the Deck 1/2

This is the first part of the deck. This car has seen some play in various storm decks to prevent them from losing or just having 10 extra life to dig through their deck with various cards that cost life to play. In here it serves as getting you that extra life which is good in a format as aggressive and fast as modern, but also to prevent you from dying, at all, with the next card.

Name of the Deck 2/2

Here we have that brand new card from Hour of Devastation that makes the lock possible. This will prevent you from getting any poison counters (it just so happens to be amazing against the Infect deck, but that’s just a plus) so with a Phyrexian Unlife on the battlefield with this you cannot die. Period. As long as you have both those enchantments in play you cannot lose the game.

Combo Piece 1/2

The deck plays on top of the lock 2 ways of combo-ing off. The first one is this bad boy, making sure it can always come back and drain your opponent for 2. If you can get it to die consistently you can very quickly kill your opponent while gaining a bunch of life. Even on it’s own it’s a pretty solid creature to be honest.

Combo Piece 2/2

While the other combo kills of your opponent, this one just gains you as much life as needed. Being able to get a Finks back over and over again is ridiculous, which is why it’s just an expensive uncommon, as well as one of my favourite non-black cards! You can get so much value out of this it’s crazy.

Sacrifice Outlet 1/2

Having your creatures die by normal means, like combat & stuff is good since you get them back over & over again, but by having a free sacrifice outlet like this, you can essentially go infinite, or, just do it as much as needed to win. Want some life? Sacrifice your Finks 78 times to gain 156 life, I’m sure you’ll be safe with that much; want to kill your opponent? just sacrifice Messenger like 10 times to deal 20 damage. If you can get  a sacrifice outlet with the other pieces you will win on the spot, there’s no question about it.

Sacrifice Outlet 2/2

Same thing as Aristocrat, but this card also let’s you scry each time, so you can find whatever you’re missing. It doesn’t matter most of the time since you’re usually winning when you land this and have sacrifice fodder anyways, but it can be good in some situations.

Protection Through Discard 1/2

You need to protect your combo and lock, since you’re not playing blue you don’t have any counterspells and since you’re not playing green you don’t have graveyard recursion for your different card types. Having access to black let’s you protect your things with hand disruption. I’m personally more of a fan of Duress than Thoughtseize in this deck since you don’t care about taking a creature from your opponent’s hand anyways, you’re looking to take away any counterspells or enchantment removal, that’s it. Duress does that for 25 cents instead of 25 dollars.

Protection Through Discard 2/2

Since this card dropped a bit in price it’s fine to use, it does the job against any card you care about and doesn’t have any drawbacks. Having between 6 & 8 discard spells is great and makes sure you can go along nicely with your plan without getting screwed.

Mandatory Removal 1/2

You’re playing white, in a very aggressive and fast format; you need removal. You need ways to deal with decks that could kill you before you assemble your lock and the best way to do that is playing cheap removal spells like this. Just stay safe.

Mandatory Removal 2/2

Same as last one, but since you’re playing black this card is now mandatory. Like, it’s probably the most efficient black removal spell of the format. Between this and Path you have some nice protection and will usually be able to survive long enough to lock & combo as you please.

Wrap-Up

That’s it for this week! This deck is really fun and original, as well as sort of cheap (if you don’t play too many fetches and shocks) for a modern deck. It can do very well depending on the meta and people are not really prepared for it. I can see this gaining in popularity and become actual part of the meta to be honest. Anyways, if I missed anything let me know. I hope you guys enjoyed this deck tech as much as I did. I’ll see you guys next week for a Legacy deck tech!

[commandertheory]

Amonkhet 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. This review is obviously a bit late, as I was taking a hiatus from the blog when Amonkhet got released, but the review might benefit from having a few months to play with the set and get a more accurate impression of the cards.

The Commanders of Amonkhet

The token generation is pretty inefficient compared to some other white commanders, and although double strike will help her get to 21 commander damage, the limitation on her ability to attack keeps her from reaching her potential as a Voltron commander.

Seems like a strong commander for monoblue control. He allows you to hold up counterspells and cash in your unused mana for cards right before you untap, while also potentially serving as a late-game threat once you’ve got a full grip of answers.

The relatively low power and the weak effect of her activated ability makes me think that the payoff for building around her is not worth the effort. That being said, she’s easily one of the best commanders for breaking symmetry on The Abyss, Magus of the Abyss, and Spreading Plague.

Like Bontu, the rewards aren’t really worth the trouble of activating Hazoret or bringing her online. The life totals in Commander are way too high to waste time dealing damage 2 at a time (Purphoros notwithstanding).

His activated ability is not much of a reason to run this guy as a commander, and the Voltron potential implied by his power-to-cost ratio is, of course, diminished by his requirement that you commit to playing other creatures instead of focusing on dealing 21.

I try to keep an eye out for potential themes in need of a commander, but BG -1/-1 counters wasn’t really on my radar. Hapatra ended up being a pleasant surprise, as it turns out there was enough tech available for her that she added a new archetype to the Commander metagame.

Most effective tribal commanders are ones that take a tribe with a lot of borderline playable creatures and give them just enough of a boost to create a viable deck. The problem with Neheb is that most Minotaurs are not on the borderline; they are unplayable. +2/+0 and first strike is not going to be enough to make Cursed Minotaur and Gnarled Scarhide playable in a 40-life multiplayer format with tons of board wipes.

However, Neheb might do some good work as a discard outlet for madness/reanimator strategies and as a way to repeatedly trigger things like Geth’s Grimoire or Waste Not. Here’s a rough list.

Double strike and haste make for a strong Voltron Commander, so throw together some ramp to get her down early and some decent auras/equipment (Hero’s Blade, Grafted Exoskeleton, and any saboteur equipment will probably be good in this deck) and call it a day.

He can’t use his ability to help deal commander damage (even when he’s embalmed), so you’re stuck trying to eliminate multiple opponents with giant tokens (or ones with brutal saboteur abilities) sliding past their blockers. Overall, the plan seems kinda weak, but there are a few cute things you can do to make the unblockability more relevant.

The Maindeck Cards

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: 1

Power: 3

Banishing Light is good because it’s cheap and hard to get rid of. Angel of Sanctions trade those two advantages for the ability to deal three in the air and return once after it gets killed, which I think is a pretty raw deal. It also compares really unfavorably with Admonition Angel.

However, embalm does work well with populate, so Trostani ought to get more value out of it than most commanders.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

If your deck has a heavy token theme or your Commander makes tokens, this should be an easy inclusion.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

This card is great in token decks, hate bear decks, decks with lots of mana dorks, and Doran builds. 3+ power kills most of the threats in the format while protecting your little dudes. Plus, even if your (nontoken) weenies get killed later, the second half of this card regrows them for you. Great value.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

Maybe in some Ad Nauseam combo deck as the third copy of Angel’s Grace (with Phyrexian Unlife being the second)? He doesn’t do much since he’s pretty easy to remove later on in the game when people are actually winning.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

It’s obviously most effective in Kemba and Raksha. You might be tempted to run it in a token list or a blink deck, but I think in those situations it fares poorly compared to other options at the same price point.

Spread: 2

Power: 1

These types of effects often create combo potential, but the combination of an end step return and a limited scope of targets handicaps the Vizier to the point of unplayability.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

Assists with Persist combos and generates infinite mana in combination with Devoted Druid. Unfortunately, it doesn’t accomplish anything by itself, which makes it less appealing than other combo pieces in the same colors that are effective in isolation.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

It acquires counters too slowly to be of much use outside of decks with extremely low average CMCs, and only getting one free spell per turn is likewise pretty limiting. However, decks with lots of cheap counterspells that frequently cast them on their opponents’ turns ought to be able to milk much more mana out of this card than the other decks in the format. In Baral, Azami, etc, this could easily end up producing a great deal of mana if you can manage to get two or more counters on it.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Commit can keep just about anything from killing you and is basically an Utter End when you’re responding to a shuffle effect. I’m not sure how often you’ll pull the trigger on Memory, but having the option to refill your hand is sweet.

Spread: 1

Power; 3

There aren’t a whole lot of Blue decks that discard often enough to make Drake Haven worthwhile, but Baral control might be one of them.

Spread: 4

Power: 4

The strongest X mana draw spell in monoblue ever printed. I would play this in any deck already running Blue Sun’s Zenith and Stroke of Genius.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Sift is far too weak for most Commander decks, but this could do good work in Brago decks that were already blinking Oath of Jace.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

In decks that have enough self discard this card is comparable to Elesh Norn. It even cycles which makes it easy to reanimate and smooths out draws. Plus, if you’re playing it in a green deck, you can find it with Survival of the Fittest, cast it, and then use Survival to cycle through a bunch of creatures and pile counters on your opponents’ stuff.

Spread: 4

Power: 1

Very expensive, only hoses one person, and 5 life per turn cycle is not the fastest clock.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

She's a Zombify with a couple of tokens attached. That’s probably good enough for a Zombie tribal deck but I don’t think she’s good enough for decks that aren’t interested in Zombie synergies since cheaper reanimation exists.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Lumping these together because both of them are limited to Zombie tribal decks. I think both cards are a little on the weak side, but it’s not like Zombies were a strong tribe to begin with, so they ought to fit in just fine.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

Hapatra can use it to generate more bodies to power her sac outlets or swing with, while The Scorpion God can keep stinging scarabs to farm cards.

Spread: 5

Power: 2

If you want this effect, Hero’s Downfall is just a much better card, since being able to interact with your opponents on their turn is way more relevant to most games than a smidgen of graveyard hate and a 2/2.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This is a decent card that suffers from an abundance of strong competitors. It’s probably the fourth-best mono-Red artifact destruction spell (after Fiery Confluence, Vandalblast, and Shattering Spree), but that might be too low on the totem pole to make it into most decks.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Joins the long list of cards that infinite combo with Kiki-Jiki. Also goes infinite with other copy effects and is serviceable in aggro decks, as well.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

It’s flashy, but it’s mostly worse than Final Fortune, and it’s not like anybody was playing that card.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Repeatable red removal, even if every other turn.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

The only deck I can think of that would be interested in both the haste and the sacrificing would be Marchesa, the Black Rose.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

It’s a little reductive to call this a Cleaver Riot, but that’s the easiest point of comparison for evaluating this effect. I think most Red decks will pass on this card, but Heartless Hidetsugu needs damage doublers so he can eliminate any player foolish enough to let their life total settle on an even number. 

Spread: 5

Power: 3

Really good in metagames with lots of mana dorks and utility creatures. Plus, cycling means that it’ll never be a dead card. High ceiling + high floor = probably worth running.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

It mostly seems worse than Elvish Piper (and it’s not like Elvish Piper is that great), since it requires you to risk it in combat, it only works every other turn, and you can’t surprise anyone by dropping fatties in during combat/at end of turn. It's probably also worse than Frontier Siege in terms of total mana generation.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

There are plenty of Green decks that are dependent on mana dorks, and a decent number with token themes, but I still wouldn’t expect this to regularly ramp out more than two lands until you get to the late game (at which point the ramp is not very impactful).

Spread: 4

Power: 3

Comparable to Reclamation Sage. Manglehorn is stronger in metas where fast artifact mana is prevalent since it greatly slows down development in exchange for flexibility and a superior creature type. It’s pretty reasonable to run both. Also relevant is how it shuts off Winter Orb the turn it comes in, removing the surprise factor.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

I think this card could have legs in Enchantress builds. Enchantress builds tend to be Pillowfort-y and have a lot of mana lying around, so paying 8 mana to shut out flyers isn’t far outside of what those decks were already doing. Plus, Enchantress decks tend to be low on win conditions, which a steady stream of 5/5s ought to ameliorate.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Only good in creature-heavy decks, and especially strong in Animar and Momir Vig. Unlike Oracle of Mul Daya, you might not get immediate value out of him in the early game since the creatures will cost mana that you might not have and it’s harder to chain together multiple creatures. Solid in Monogreen since the creature density tends to be higher and ramp spells shuffle the deck for a redraw.

Spread: 4

Power: 1

Doesn’t protect itself, and it’s not guaranteed to get you card advantage unless you go through the trouble of setting it up. The ultimate is also pretty weak in this format.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

There aren’t a whole lot of Red/White Voltron commanders that don’t already have double strike, but I think Zurgo will be eyeing this as a means of shortening his clock.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Every new cycle of duals with basic land types makes fetches that much better, and obviously cycling makes these lands more useful in the late game than most other mana fixers. I’d consider these a staple part of a Commander manabase, although I’d be wary about running them in decks that desperately need all their lands to come into play untapped (decks with really tight curves and/or decks that need to get a lot done in the first few turns of the game, for example).

Wrapping Up

Let me know if you think I’ve misjudged any of these cards or if you’ve discovered any other cool uses for cards from Amonkhet that I didn’t think of. Thanks for reading!

[whirofinvention-blog]

The Penultimate Week

Everyone has their own preferred way to play Magic. This is true at kitchen tables where people may love to play their elf or discard decks and is just as true at the Pro Tour where you have players who almost always play control (Guillaume Wafo-Tapa and Shota Yasooka) or jam black-green decks whenever they can (Willy Edel and Reid Duke). When a new player starts the game, something pulls them in (maybe the art  or your friend plays or maybe the gameplay itself), but after they are drawn into the game, something else usually keeps them playing and for a lot of people that thing is finding a gameplay style that they love.

In general, there is nothing wrong with having a preference in how you play the game. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. If you love vintage and playing Sphere of Resistance, Thorn of Amethyst and Lodestone Golem off of your Mishra's Workshop, that's great. At the same time, if you keep bringing your vintage deck to your friend's casual kitchen table where they are playing rat tribal, then you are crossing the line into doing something that is a little uncool. This is the reason why format restrictions exist in a conceptual sense. The playing field is theoretically leveled by giving people restrictions on what cards they can use.

The existence of formats enters people into a tacit contract where they understand what other people are capable of doing and saying they are alright with them doing that since in theory both decks have the capacity to do powerful things. Wires get crossed every now and then which is unfortunate. A ten year old may show up to a modern tournament with a pile of unsleeved 6-drops and get stomped, but hopefully the community will make some effort to point that kid towards what will be better for him. Outside of those situations, everyone should be on approximately the same page about what their decks should be trying to do. The bigger the card pool, the more obvious this becomes. Standard players have to understand that Teferi, Goblin Chainwhirler, and Hydroid Krasis exist. Modern players deal with Arcbound Raver, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Primeval Titan. Legacy players have turn 1 Griselbrands and Force of Wills. Experienced players go into the format knowing these options are on the table.

Since I started playing at my LGS, I have made it pretty clear what my preferences have been in constructed formats. Traditional creature based strategies are not my go to decks in any format. In standard, I have played UW Cycling (zero main deck creatures), UR Paradoxical  Storm (4 main deck creatures), and Esper Dovin's Acuity (zero main deck creatures). In modern I have exclusively played Lantern and Whir Prison since they began running modern events in March. Though I have played creature decks at times, I acknowledge that my weakness as a player is in knowing when to be the aggressor in creature mirrors. My strengths tend to be knowing how to block my opponent from having a line to victory with creatures. If I go to a Standard Showdown and my opponents are all on green black and are consistently losing to my Teferi, then they need to understand their deck choice might not line up against mine. Both decks can be powerful, but paper beats rock in this scenario.

My modern deck choices have been contentious at the shop. The owner of the store as well as one of the regulars have given me a lot of grief for my deck choices. They complain about how Ensnaring Bridge and Chalice of the Void are not fun cards. At the same time, they have built decks in a format where those cards exist and are relevant considerations for deck building. Maybe they represent less than 3 percent of the meta, but there are plenty of modern decks that only represent a small percentage of the meta. Even ignoring the metagame percentages, artifact strategies as a whole are always somewhere in the meta, so it isn’t like they have no ways to interact with me post-board. People are aware the option to play an artifact deck of some sort is out there. I just happen to be playing a traditionally un-fun version of one of those decks.

Two weeks ago, I promised the store owner that I would bring a deck playing zero copies of Ensnaring Bridge in the 75 to FNM. This past weekend was that FNM, and I kept my promise. Instead of bringing Ensnaring Bridges, I brought Ad Nauseam for my first run at a tournament. The list was pretty close to a stock list with a few exceptions. Rather than running 3 Spoils of the Vault, I cut 1 to run a Mystical Teachings. Also my mana base is a travesty because I do not own any Gemstone Mines or enough Seachrome Coasts, so I ran additional City of Brass. If I can pick up the lands I will change things around. The Teachings are going to stay in the deck until I actually have the opportunity to cast it.

The meta at the shop is extremely small and inconsistent. Ad Nauseam as a deck has pretty polarizing matchups. Decks that can disrupt you with tax effects, discard and counter magic are hard matchups. Decks looking to play linear games are good matchups more often than not. The decks I have personally seen at events over the past month that present problems for me are: Grixis Death's Shadow, Bant Spirits, Jund and 8-Rack. Other than that the rest of the decks struggle to interact with Ad Nauseam, but there are still decks that can beat it. Turn 3 Karn is still great on the play. If you falter even a little, Burn will Bolt you to death. Bogles can race you and sometimes forces you to go for a Laboratory Maniac win which is susceptible to Path.

So, here is a quick little tournament report followed by my initial thoughts on the deck and the tournament in general

Round 1, Bant Spirits

Sitting down, I knew I was not going to have an easy round 1. The player is one of the ones who has complained about my normal deck choice despite playing a Jund deck half the time that runs like 12 different ways to kill a Bridge post-board. This week he was on his Spirits deck rather than his Jund deck. Game 1 started out with me suspending a Lotus Bloom and him starting on a Hierarch. For the next few turns I played lands and cantrips while he played lords and Spirits. Eventually, he had a large enough Mausoleum Wanderer and a big enough board presence that I could not realistically win. Game 2 we started racing again with me suspending turn 1 and him having the Hierarch. I played a turn 2 Prism while he played a turn 2 Thalia. Luckily for me I had an Echoing Truth in hand. I resolved a turn 3 Phyrexian Unlife and on turn 4 resolved the Bloom and bounced his Thalia on end step. On my next upkeep, I killed him with Pact backup. Unfortunately game 3 was pretty one sided. He had Thalia, Stony Silence, two Mausoleum Wanderers and a Lord. It became clear to me I could not resolve my spells before he killed me. For my first match with the deck, I felt good to have taken it to game 3, especially since the matchup is far from easy.

Round 2, Green Devotion

This was the shop owner. Though I have never heard him talk negatively about people who netdeck, he is a brewer. When his brews aren't good he complains. When his brews are popular, he stops playing the format. In standard, he stopped playing his Sultai Muldrotha deck when Sultai became a real deck. Modern is not his format, but he has built three decks (UB Tempo, a weird Tron Charge Counter deck, and Mono Green). The first

2 are pretty odd but the devotion deck is pretty close to what you would expect from any big green deck. His win conditions are playing massive Genesis Hydras early to find Garrk, Primal Hunters to draw his deck and find more threats. After this he usually either plays an Ulamog or Banefires you for lethal.

Game 1 started out pretty rough for me. He played a Utopia Sprawl on his first turn and on his second turn played a second Sprawl and an Eternal Witness for a fetch. By the end of his 3rd turn he had an 8/8 Genesis Hydra, multiple creatures and a Garruk Wildspeaker. Oh and he had drawn 8 cards off of a Garruk, Primal Hunter. In the interim, I had just cantripped and played a Phyrexian Unlife. On his fourth turn, he tried to Primal Command my Unlife which I had to Pact. I then went down to 0 life while having only 3 lands in play. On my upkeep, I tap two lands and exile three Simian Spirit Guides to Ad Nauseam for all of my deck besides two cards. I Angel's Grace, play a land and discard. For some reason my opponent scooped without attacking after assuming I had a second Angel's Grace and not understanding how it interacted with Unlife. Normally, I would scoop in these situations since my opponent had the win on board, but he was tilting pretty intensely and complaining about how I enjoy Magic. We will get back to this in a bit. Game two was a quick one where I won on turn 4. Nothing else to really say about it.

Round 3, BR Discard

The other brewer in the shop is a friend of mine. All of his decks are strange, but they are usually pretty cool. Definitely not close to tier 1, but they have game against pretty much everything if the draws line up. Game 1 was a turn 4 win with no interaction. Game 2 I cannot really recall much besides keeping a hand with Leyline. After I played the Leyline, it became quickly apparent that it didn't do anything. He did a bunch of looting early and made a large lineup of Zombies via Zombie Infestation and Shadow of the Grave. He was able to blow up my Lotus Bloom on upkeep to keep me from going off in my main phase (though I didn’t draw the Angel’s Grace I would have needed) and killed me on his turn 5 with tokens. Game 3 I mulliganed and kept a 1-lander with a scry land, Serum Visions, and half of the combo. I scryed to the bottom off my mulligan, then scryed to the bottom again off the land. Turn 2, I whiffed in my draw step and off the cantrip. The turn before I was about to go for the win off of a couple of Pentad Prisms and lands, my opponent cast Burning Inquiry leaving me with nothing in hand besides a Pact of Negation and two lands. After that, he Anceint Grudged my Lotus Bloom, and there was really no line where I could stay alive long enough to draw the combo pieces I needed. If I had found my second land in the top four cards of my library, I think the game was easily mind, but you can’t always get there. C’est la vie.

In the end, I went 1-2, but still got 3rd. The spirits player was the only 3-0 and Devotion got 2nd at 2-1. Everyone else in the 6-person event went 1-2, and I just had the best breakers.

Briefly, I want to talk about the second round and how game one ended. If you are going to bring a brew into a well established format, even one as diverse as modern, you cannot expect to win every match you play. The axis your deck operates on might not be well-suited to fight the deck you are playing against. That was the exact case of the second round of the tournament. Barring a timely Primal Command or a turn 3 Ulamog, there is not a way for him to interact with me most of the time. In game 1, he had a fast enough start that he was going to win, and I was put in a position where I had to make desperate plays to stay alive. The issue was how he chose to handle what I was doing. Instead of taking time to try and figure out what exactly was going on, he opted to start insulting the deck and me for how I like to play Magic. When he said, "Why can't you just play the game? Why do you hate real Magic and do shit like this?" it does not make me want to scoop to him. It makes me want to play it out. At no point did I obfuscate any information about how my deck worked or how cards interacted. He just tilted so intensely that he didn’t care about what was happening. After two years I know him well enough to not take this stuff personally, but he was being an ass, so I took the win and felt fine about it.

Overall the event went about as well as I could expect since I am new with the deck. Both of the games I lost, I do not think I could have played differently in a meaningful enough way to change the outcomes. My Sleight of Hands were easy choices, and there was no point where I scry-ed and wished the card was in my hand later. The draws didn’t line up for me. The deck was great. Right now my goal is to keep getting better at modern and let the wins follow organically from that.

I don't plan on changing my playstyle anytime soon, but I will be bringing Hardened Scales to their last Modern event until the summer. I'm not bringing it because they are begging me to; instead, I am bringing it because I want reps with the deck. Besides, if I win with it, I am sure someone will become just as tilted as if I had put them into a lantern-lock. Oh well.

[neingel]

Complete review of Aether Revolt cards for Commander!

Well as the spoiler season ends as a new set prepares to be released. Aether Revolt does look to me one of the most exciting sets Wizards have made in a long while. Many new toys for Standard as well as minor tweaks for various decks in Modern to enjoy. However I myself am a Commander player and today I’ll be looking as well as handpicking a group of cards. Yes but not only any ordinary group of cards, but more specifically cards to a format I call home, yes that’s right! It’s time for a good breakdown of the potential cards in Aether Revolt that could see play in Commander!

Starting off, it’s no surprise that with every new set, everyone is excited with what new Legendary Creatures are in the set as they could make strong generals in the Future. I must say among the 5 all of them are very unique and have strong abilities. Sram falls perfectly into decks that already run Equipment, Auras and even recently printed Vehicles (Yes I’m looking at you Depala), while Baral features a Goblin Electromancer v2.0 with extra cycling effects, though not as good as a general but very promising in the 99. Yaheeni does seem to me my favorite pick for this entire lot, she’s low costed,able to protect herself and fits perfectly with popular graveyard strategies in EDH . Kari Zev does admittedly look the weakest among the 5 but who knows what build she might fit in. Last but not the least Rishkar can either be an excellent General fr a new build or give decks that play around with +1/+1 counters a unique “Cryptolith Rite”-like ability. Overall, I feel that the Legendary Creatures in this set has been of great success!

Again, a new set comes with a new cycle of special spells to play with. Not only are these spells pretty flavorful when it comes to the storyline, but they are all very powerful for what they do at their cost, getting a sweet effect and being able to cast a card for free from your hand is always nice. As for Commander I’m generally in favor of both Yaheeni’s and Rishkar’s Expertise, reason being Yaheeni’s is a mini board wipe early game which would result you in placing a reasonable 3 drop afterwards, while Rishkar allows you to draw a lot of cards and being able to not worry about mana and place a 5 drop from what you’ve drawn. However what I like most about them is despite each having the same “free cast” effect, each of them are still very unique in their own way and would definitely find a home in many decks.

WHITE  

Do note, I might include the previously mentioned Expertises and Legendaries in these lists. Well in no order or ranking whatsoever, we shall start off the 5 best cards for each color in Commander!. 

Consulate Crackdown

Now Consulate Crackdown is an interesting card that caught my attention when it first got spoiled, it was not only expected to be quite strong in Standard but also in EDH. White has gotten a unique way to get rid of pesky, troublesome artifacts (yes Darksteel Forge is definitely something this loves looking at) without actually having trouble blowing them up, resulting in all artifacts being reanimated through something like Scrap Mastery. Also this card works insanely well with Myconsynth Lattice, serving as another combo piece for the artifact that is well dreaded in Commander, this neat little trick causes you to exile each and every one of your opponent’s permanents, leaving them with nothing but your board in play. Insane boardwipe for artifact themed decks and it also serves as a powerful artifact removal for others.

Exquisite Archangel

Well about this card..yes it isn’t very good on paper as they are more reliable cards that prevent you from losing the game, cards like Platinium Angel and Phyrexian Unlife are both excellent in Commander. However do keep in mind, this card is just another one of those ways to prevent you from losing the game. Especially when it’s a long game, everyone has either ran out of answers or resources. Your opponents would most likely not want to see this being played. Also, this could fit in some neat Angel Tribal theme or some deck that aims to recur it’s creatures for their powerful effects.

Call for Unity

Ah yes..a White Coat of Arms! Being in White has never been better when you can run 2 Coat of Arms! Call for Unity does stand out a little bit from Coat of Arms though, it does not require a tribe to be played and it’s an enchantment. White in Commander is well known for some of it’s aggressive synergies, in particular creatures and their enchantments. This card’s strength is no stranger to many players. However, with it’s Revolt ability, a lot and I mean a lot of decks that play around flickering their own creatures/permanents will adore this card. It will be interesting to see how players will build around this card and how it might grow to be the next Coat of Arms.

Sram, Senior Edificer 

Sram is a very interesting card. He could play effectively as a general but I feel he would be much better being in the 99 for decks playing Auras and Equipments, and boy there are a lot of generals that would love him in their deck! Zur, Kemba, Bruna Light of Alabaster, Krond, Aurelia, Jor Kadeen...the list just goes on! He is perfectly costed and acts as a very powerful draw engine for these decks.

Sram’s Expertise

Ah..token decks players are probably rubbing their hands in glee. Sram’s Expertise is literally a 4 for 1. Netting 3 tokens which make excellent blockers or simply piling them up to your already growing token army. The free cast for a ≤ 3 cmc card from your hand is just icing on the cake. Many token decks like Trostani, Rhys the Redeemed, Teysa Orzhov Scion and many more would have this auto-included.

BLUE

Mechanized Production

For players outside of Commander, seeing this Mythic might leave them a bad taste in their mouth. It does look quite horrible at times but Commander’s specialty is turning bulk rares into rock stars. This is just one of those fun cards Wizards prints once in awhile, Mechanized Production does remind me of Biovisionary but somehow easier to pull off due to it’s synergy with artifacts. You don’t necessarily need to copy a big fatty, but what you could do is to place it on “artifact tokens”. Thopters, Myrs, Golems...the list is endless, this card has quite the chance to shine in most artifact decks being a cheap and reliable copy generator or just simply a win-con in decks that produce a lot of tokens!

Whir of Invention

I clearly remembered when this got spoiled, I just started sharing with my friends about this “artifact chord”. While Improvise is slightly worse than chord, it does give artifact decks a strong instant speed tutor for any artifact in their deck. Also cmc isn’t really an issue with the amount of mana rocks artifact decks run, they can just improvise away~. Overall, solid card, not too over or under powered.

Disallow

As a control player and someone who adores counterspells...FINALLY! Like..it’s hard to put it but Disallow is literally the blue Voidslime. Heck, it’s an even better Voidslime for the ability to splash with colors outside of Green. It’s the same mana as Cancel but strictly, no I mean really - many blue players have wanted a Voidslime outside of Simic colors, and we finally got one! *Fist pumps like crazy* 

Trophy Mage

Is that you Trinket Mage? Oh no? Oh but you do have better stats! Yes, it is Trophy Mage whom supposedly is the cousin of Trinket Mage except she is from Kaladesh. Anyways, Trophy Mage is just like Trinket Mage except she searches for only cmc of 3. But in Commander, cmc 3 often means Chromatic Lantern, Static Orb, Phyrexian Altar, Thousand-Year Elxir....the list is endless and you can see why this card makes it to this list.

Baral, Chief of Compliance

Well well well, I spy with my little eye a new addition to my Melek spellslingers deck as well as a potential powerful general. Yes, Baral is probably the card Goblin Electromancer should be. He is just strictly better than Electromancer, they both have the same effect, but he has looting and he’s not restricted to Izzet colors. I see him being a powerful addition to any spellslingers deck and he would make a good rival to the next mono-blue spellslingers general: Talrand.

Black

Herald of Anguish

This is probably one of the best demons I’ve seen printed in a Standard set in a long time, don’t get me wrong, Demon of the Dark Schemes back in Kaladesh was an all round solid card. But Herald of Anguish is a really powerful card. Improvise makes this potentially an unexpected early drop for your opponents, the discard ability is very relevant in black and it also has reliable removal that require some artifact synergy. I would love to see how artifact decks play around this card as it simply is a value-bomb.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Yahenni is pretty much what everyone is hyping about right now. She works too well with reanimation/sacrifice synergies in Commander. The fact she is almost a nightmare to deal with when combined with Grave Pact/Dictate of Erebos, she can buff herself and she can make herself immune to boardwipes is ridiculous. She is pretty solid in the 99 but I feel even more powerful as a Voltron general. Overall the best legendary in this set so far!

Yahenni’s Expertise

One of my personal favorite cards in this set that i expect to see Modern play, Yahenni’s Expertise is still quite strong in Commander. It does set itself up as an early boardwipe in Black following up with a creature or..Demonic Tutor :P it also gets rid of pesky, small hexproof/indestructible creatures. And for it’s cost, it’s normally alot of creatures and a free spell for 1. 

Gonti’s Machinations

This is actually a very unique card in a unique spot. For just 1 mana, Gonti’s Machinations can be quite the trouble for opponents from the very moment it’s been cast. Black does have ways to lose life easily, 2 simple examples include Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence. Also it is easy to regain back the life lost since Commander is a multiplayer format, a simple activation of this in a 4 player game means you gaining back 9 life with just this cheap and simple enchantment. Overall, its a very unique and cool card I want to see being played.

Battle at the Bridge

I honestly wasn’t really excited for this card when it was spoiled, but then again I realized that again artifact decks in EDH can simply pay 1 Black to kill a fatty if they had enough artifacts. Sure it’s a sorcery but the life gain here is quite the bonus. Imagine over-tapping your artifacts to help cast this card help you stay in the game. This card is pretty underlooked but I’m sure it’ll have a few decks running it.

RED

Indomitable Creativity

Now, it is not the first time seeing a red “poly-morph” effect but this card can be used to yourself. You could basically set your deck up with Selective Memory/Doomsday, this card could basically be a card to set up the win with lesser mana than required. It could also mean a “Chaos Warp”-ish boardwipe for your opponent. Overall Vandalblast would be better but this is here for it’s combo potential.

Release the Gremlins

Despite it’s funny name, this card is actually pretty funny when played against your opponents. It is especially more hilarious when you already have some form of infinite mana combo together with Myconsyth Lattice and you basically wipe out your opponent’s board and leaving you a massive amount of Gremlins. +1 for flavor and name!

Pia’s Revolution

Now again for all the artifact lovers, I can imagine this card being in a mono-red artifact deck like...Daretti of all generals. Where he doesn’t really cares where the cards go to and opponents would definitely not want certain artifacts to be in the graveyard, in this case they would normally take the 3 damage. Another one worth mentioning is when Breya starts activating her ability for damage, this might actually push 4 damage to 10 out of nowhere.

Freejam Regent

Again, another solid bomb for artifact decks imo, a less than 6 cmc for 4/4 with flying and fire-breathing makes it a solid finisher. Other than that, this card is quite the value it speaks err as it breathes I suppose. Although many might disagree this card getting this spot as it is competing with other red dragons such as Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Hellkite Igniter and the biggest daddy of them all Hellkite Tyrant. But I still feel this card has a certain place for some decks in Commander.

Lightning Runner

A potential combo breaking card that could basically mean the win for you. Lightning runner does require a steep energy cost, but this might be the card that could break energy into Commander. 8 energy might be slightly hard to pull off whenever this attacks but some builds have started to show up building around generating massive/infinite energy. We will have to wait and see how strong energy will perform now with the addition of this sweet thing.

Green

Aetherwind Basker

And now as you can see, Elfball decks have a new toy to meddle around with. Aetherwind Basker can be quite a terrifying creature to drop earlier than usual due to ramp in Green. This gigantic lizard is a close mimic to other big finishers such as Craterhoof Behemoth as well as Decimator of Provinces, though not as powerful as the latter two,Basker does work terrifyingly well when either is cast. Basker does reward players when casting him on a board full of your creatures. Add in a Lightning Greaves/Concordant Crossroads and he is guaranteed to get in there for a lot of damage.

Rishkar’s Expertise 

Rishkar’s Expertise does feel a lot like Soul’s Majesty, Momentous Fall or Regal Force. However, almost any green card with the ability like this all suffer the same weakness. Which is the case after you draw, you would normally not have the mana to play almost anything you drawn. Rishkar’s Expertise however allows you to play a reasonably “big” card at 5 cmc! And while you compare Rishkar’s Expertise to other Green cards that draw a massive amount of cards, Rishka Expertise is probably the best for it’s cost. That free cast for a cmc 5 card is just too good. I personally feel this has a slight edge over my other favorite Expertise, Yahenni’s.

Heroic Intervention

Everything about this card is awesome, the art, the fact Ajani is in it, the cost and most importantly the ability to basically counter a boardwipe/mass targeted removal. More importantly for 2 cmc and at instant speed? That is just absolutely bonkers when you think about it. Definitely will see play with the high amount of threats to permanents in Commander.

 Rishkar, Peema Renegade

Rishkar is rounding out the last of the best Legendary Creatures in the set (Sorry Kari Zev :/). Rishkar does bring an interesting inclusion to generals playing around the +1/+1 counters mechanic. He does come in helping out 2 other creaures, for a 3 cmc 2/2, that is already quite good. But the real fun begins when most of your creatures with counters get to produce mana on their own. He is a great boost to many existing builds but also quite independent and strong on his own as a general.

Lifecrafter’s Bestiary

Now I know this isn’t an entirely Mono-Green card but we’re still in Mono Green and all of the cards mentioned here are still splashable in Gx colored decks. Anyways Lifecrafter’s Bestiary does look like a card many creature based decks would want to put in. A low costed artifact with a free scry every upkeep does sound interesting, but it acts as a earlier game Zendikar Resurgent that requires 1 green mana per draw activation. Overall, it’s low costed, packed full with value. Solid card just for Commander play.

Multicolored

Ajani Unyielding

Though Ajani has received some criticism around his speed and playability, I personally feel that he is actually good enough for Commander. He has the ability to get multiple cards into your hand fast, get rid of annoying creatures and his ultimate if you do get to a stage to use it, is literally a steroid pump to both your creatures and planeswalkers. All round very solid and I feel his abilities go very well along with his colors. Especially for the super-friends builds like Atraxa.

Tezzeret, Master of Metal and Tezzeret the Schemer

Now, I actually had a hard time choosing which of these 2 were going to take this spot, but I figured out that both were very powerful. Even if they aren’t as good as the original Agent of Bolas, both are still very solid in Commander. Let’s start off with the “heavy metal” version of Tezzeret, it does have a strong digging ability which is quite relevant in Commander, his 2nd skill can act as a way to ward off opponents or host a major lethal damage threat late game. Whereas his ultimate is very devastating, being able to take someone’s best creatures and artifacts is no laughing matter at all. Now onwards to the “scheming” version of Tezzeret, he does not provide any form of digging but he does produce an extra artifact that acts like a Lotus Petal. He has strong, solid and reliable creature removal while his ultimate though not as terrifying as the heavy metal version, does quicken your clock fast by turning any artifact you control during combat on your turn into a 5/5 creature. A time bomb ticking for your opponents if you will, sweet effect nonetheless. Tezzeret does have a thing for turning artifacts into 5/5s...why doesn’t he just make them slightly bigger?

Dark Imitations

A tuned-down version of Cruel-Ultimatum that targets each opponent, but does come with the added ability of returning either a creature or Planeswalker from your graveyard to your hand. What’s interesting is the synergy with the “Bolas” Planeswalker spell, this not only helps decks that already run the Nicol Bolas Planeswalker card but it also does give clues to the next set Amonkhet, the home plane of Nicol Bolas whom might have recruited other Planewalkers for his evil plans. All these hinting at more Planeswalkers printed with the “Bolas” keyword in their Planeswalker type. Overall, this card might be bound to seeing more improvements and playability.

Oath of Ajani

Well if Wizards was trying to push Planeswalkers in Standard, they forgotten that Atraxa Super-friends IS a very powerful deck in Commander. But outside of that particular topic, Oath of Ajani is the dream card for many Super-friends decks. It’s low costed, gives early buffs to a few creatures, reasonable when played mid-game. Again another solid card in this set overall.

Winding Constrictor

If you thought the invasion of cards having synergy with counters wasn’t enough in Aether Revolt, this little angry noodle does stand out a slight bit from it’s other counterparts in the set. The fact that it does give extra counters on both creatures and artifacts alike is very unique, it also has a 2nd ability which allows you as the controller to receive an extra counter of any type. I can certainly see this being placed in a very wide variety of decks. From +1/+1 counters to charge counters and loyalty points on Planeswalkers. This danger noodle will be guaranteed to be seen in decks far and wide.

Colorless

Metallic Mimic

Ah finally! I have no idea how long it has been where Wizards finally print a form of global tribe support. Metallic Mimic does seem to to be the new kid on the block, matching Adaptive Automaton’s popularity. Mimic does have a few differences from Automaton, it cost 1 less than its fellow robotic cousin and it also buffs your chosen creature type with counters. This means even if your Mimic dies, your creatures are sure to remain buffed with a counter.

Crackdown Construct

Ah.every once in a while a new awesome combo piece Wizards prints comes out of literally nowhere. While this awesome robot won’t be seeing much play in Standard. It will see immense amount of play in Commander. If you were wondering why this card is so hyped up for do take note. The equip rule states you can use an equipment to equip to the same creature as many times as possible so long as you can pay it’s equip cost. This means if u equip Lightning Greaves to Crackdown Construct, and naming an infinite amount of times equipping to it, you’ll have an infinite power and toughness robot flying at your opponent.

Inspiring Statuary 

Well another interesting and potentially powerful piece of artifact that could bust Commander. Inspiring Statuary basically makes artifact decks have the confidence to run a bit more non-artifact cards. Simply because it would be much easier casting them with this card on the field with full of artifacts. It’s reasonably costed and I can see this card enjoying a good amount of play in Commander.

Paradox Engine

Probably the most ground-breaking, nerve-wrecking card in the entire set *hands down*, many are already comparing this to staples in Commander like Doubling Season, Seedborn Muse and somewhat a close resemblance to Prophet of Kruphix. I can guarantee almost any decks playing a untap/tap synergy such as Phenax,Ezuri Elves and Azami would go bonkers with this card. Sitting at 5 cmc which I feel is very low for a card with such a high power level. This card will change Commander as a whole, it’s effect is really too significant to ignore and when I mean too significant. When this hits the table...

Like literally man!

Land

As for lands goes, unfortunately only one card makes this list and that’s the new rainbow land in the entire set 

Spire of Industry 

Another card for artifact decks yet again! They finally have a City of Brass/Mana Confluence just for themselves. Spire does remind many of a less harsh Glimmervoid. But even though there are many rainbow lands available for artifact synergies in Commander. This is one good inclusion for many of them alike.

Conclusion

Aether Revolt is one of the most exciting sets we’ve stumbled across in a very long time! With powerful and unique “build-around-me” cards popping up, it is no surprise quite a number have made it into this list. The power level of Commander is certain to be on the rise as the player-base brews new strategies for each individual card in different decks or will we see a new archetype coming out on it’s own? It is still unknown but just look at the set so far! Despite the overwhelming amount of Artifact/Planes-walker/Counters support, many cards have been printed in good measure to bring new toys for a wide variety to play with.

If so, that’s all of the time I have for you today, be sure to follow the blog for more updates and such. And stay tuned for the next article as well, I’m hoping to see you there!

[manascrwd]

FNM 36-2020

Friday was Modern FNM and I decided to bring a more competitve deck to the party. It did not go as planned, and I ended up 1-2 in the loosing bracket.

1-2 - Ad nauseam

I mulliganed to 5 two times and was not able to put a clock. There was nothing exciting about the games. He just scry-d a little, shuffled a little and went for the win game 1. In game 2, I sided in the spell pieres to counter a key spell. When he played [[phyrexian unlife]] with 1 mana up I went for it but he had a shaman to pay for the extra mana cost. I continued the attacks but his sidebord black fog prevented damage for a turn. I finally went for the kill we no answer from me possible. We played some pioneer after that

0-2 - Martyr proc (prison)

Game 1 and 2 whent pretty much in the same direction.

Game 1, he gained a ton of life with two [[Martyr of Sand]] and I did not put a fast enough clock. I tried to clear the board and attack but he gained life in the 20s and I burned him in the 3s. His one of [[Chalice of Life]] finished the game promptly. Game 2 did not go much better. I attacked and reduced his life total quite a bit. I had a few burn spell exiled with [[Light up the stage]], which he managed to dodge thanks to the sac ability of [[Ranger-Captain of Eos]]. He had a [[Path to Exile]] for each of my [[Stormwing Entity]]. A hawk squadron to refill his hand and a few [[Martyr of Sand]] later he was completely out of reach. He added a [[Ghostly Prison]] and flipped his [[Chalice of Life]] swiftly to end the game in a timely manner. We played some other decks after that.

2-1 - Dredge

This was not an optimal build as he was missing the [[Shriekhorn]]s and the [[Life from the Loam]]. I don't remebmer exactly how the two first games went but they where pretty much unilateral. I sided in [[Smash to Smithereens]]] that I kept in my hand as I discovered he did not have the [[Shriekhorn]]s so I sided them out on game 3. Game 3 I mulliganed to 4 and drew 7 lands but his dredges where abysmal. He started to get some creatures on the board which I cleared and got me to one with [[Creeping Chill]] one more and I was dead. In an unexpected tour de force I managed to stick a [[Stormwing Entity]] and two [[Sprite Dragon]] and went for letal the next turn with a few [[Lava Dart]] from my hands and flashed back for letal. That was exciting

Takeways

I mulliganed quite a bit with the deck and I don't know if I always should have. The way I see it is that I need one drops, a land or two (preferably two) and spells. The hands that where given that night did not look anything like that. I'm not sure in wich measures I can keep a hand with all spells and cantrips but I believe it is correct to ship them. I didn't play any [[Mutagenic Growth]] and I really did not like the [[Opt]]s, I'm thinking of changing them for [[Crash Trough]]

[jeskaim]

FNM 1/12/18 - To Affinity and Beyond!!

I don’t even know how long I’ve waited to write that blog title (even though it’s a little corny I’m proud of it).  Ever since I started playing Magic I’ve HATED Affinity with a passion and to this day I’ve never beaten it.  Back then I didn’t know about its weaknesses like Stony Silence or Hurkyl’s Recall which could have come in serious handy when I played at my old hobby store (I played with a homebrewed Jeskai Prowess deck because I thought the Jeskai monks were cool).  Affinity has been a dream deck of mine (even though Storm would be more my style) and tonight I finally got to play with one.

I decided to build Affinity about a month ago and made a deal with my parents where I could get the cards I needed in exchange for my birthday presents next month.  I spent the last few weeks watching MTGO matches of Affinity decks to get some helpful tips in playing and sideboarding to prepare and tonight I felt ready to take it for a spin.

I initially looked for a build that came with a sideboard guide and this was one of the best I could find so I built it.

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/cranial-sideboarding-modern-affinity-guide/

My first round I played against Grixis Death’s Shadow with an opponent who normally plays burn and I won.  First round I won by attacking with an Ornithopter and sacrificing a bunch of creatures with Arcbound Ravager for the kill and second game he couldn’t draw any lands so I won.  For some strange reason whenever I play against Death’s Shadow that always seems to happen.

Second round I played against BW Control and lost both games.  He just kept getting rid of my stuff and I couldn’t keep up.  On the plus side I was able to counter a Stony Silence in the second game with Spell Pierce which I was happy about since it’s an Affinity killer.

Third round I played against Bl/B Faeries and lost in three rounds.  The last game he played four Fatal Pushes (WHY DOES THAT CARD EXIST) and cast it a fifth time with Snapcaster.  That match and the second made me wish I had some Blood Moons in my sideboard because they would have came in serious handy.  I have them along with some other cards so I definitely plan to change my sideboard around.

Fourth round I went up against a Boros homebrew and won.  The second game my opponent cast a Phyrexian Unlife and I attacked with an Inkmoth Nexus equipped with two Cranial Platings and two other Artifacts for the win (I’m pretty sure that’s how it works).

In between rounds I played a few games with Luke and I brought two decks, my “Merfolk Lite” deck I was going to use for the tournament last week (which BTW I couldn’t play in because I’m not a beginner) and a Dinosaur deck I build for him.  We played three games and I let him win all three times and I could tell he had fun.  I definitely plan to bring them every week.

So I went 2-2 like always but I have to say I like playing Affinity.  Some of my earliest decks were aggro so I feel like I’m going back to my roots.  I definitely plan on switching sideboards to help me against different decks like I played against tonight and learn how to sideboard without using a guide.  I think I’m getting better but I think it just takes time.

Next week is the release of Rivals and as a Merfolk player in both modern and standard I’m so stoked.  I already have changes made to my standard deck and I can’t wait to try it out.