Commander 2013 Review: Utility and Mana

Hello and welcome! I am Grandpa Growth and this is the final installment of The General Zone's review of Commander 2013. If you missed the previous two segments, then I encourage you to go back to the archive and check them out. So far we have looked at nearly every new card in the Commander 2013 decks, but we still have a few to go. Today we will be looking at the utility and mana cards.

Mana cards generally produce some type of mana, but this category also includes things like search based ramp cards, color fixers, etc. Utility cards are slightly harder to define. They expand the functionality of your deck, allowing you to do different things. Sometimes they draw cards or tutor. Sometimes they form a combo or engine. This is the catch all category; for all intents and purposes everything that isn't a threat or an answer will be included here. So, let's check them out.


First up we have another member of this ridiculous curse of blahblahblah cycle. I don't ever play straight up lifegain cards. There isn't really a reason too, but when it starts gaining you genuinely absurd amounts of life (i.e. Beacon of Immortality) a single card can make it very difficult for certain types of decks to win. That being said, this card needs additional help in order to even do anything. If you have a ton of attackers, don't worry about gaining four or five life a turn, just go ahead and kill your opponent. Once, again, never play this kind of garbage in multiplayer. There is no reason to invest a card to the board AND let your opponents gain life. Group Hug isn't a strategy, it's a mockery.

Ahh, the worst of the new "choose a direction" cards. I am going to gloss over the fact that multiplayer is inherently unstable and that there has been virtually no research and development, or design for that matter, put into the design of cards and mechanics for multiplayer. When I do play multiplayer, I have frequently suggested that we just have this card in play from the get go. Establishing a direction or general schematic for how battle goes in a multiplayer game helps control the flow and more clearly defines the goals. Free-for-alls tend to get kind of silly because there is a lack of established guidelines for good strategy. They often become purely political contests where the 'strategy', if you can call it that, is to STRATEGICALLY CHOOSE NOT TO TRY AND WIN. I prefer variants like Emperor or Star for this reason. I am perturbed that this card even made it to print. It is insulting to both 1v1 players and multiplayer fans. If you wanted to play in a 'screw to the left' game then do it. You don't need a card to tell you (and you shouldn't have to basically discard a card from your hand and pay 5 mana for this privilege either). If we agree to play a free-for-all and then some jerkus magerkus plays this card...it isn't going to go over well with me.

There is a term in R&D: 'rule-making cards'. Permanents that change the fundamentals of the game; they just say something that is now true about the game state. Timmy gets twice the tokens. Jimmy gets two combat phases. If Johnny, draws out, he wins instead of losing. Rarely, though, do these cards actually impose changes to the format that you are playing. In fact, this may be the first (and I hope the last).



Tempting offer is an interesting mechanic. It seems well balanced to push aggressive behavior in multiplyaer games by rewarding you for taking advantage of passive situations. It also punishes people for being greedy and/or making poor strategic choices. Now, this card...is a bit of a different story. It is just too expensive. Basically every deck that wants this also plays Green, which means you should just play Beastmaster Ascension, some Overrun variant, or Collective Blessing, instead of this. Conveniently, those cards are strong in 1v1 and multiplayer...jeez. Go figure. The new hot tech that was SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR MULTIPLAYER SUCKS IN MULTIPLAYER? Thanks, Obama.



Uhhh...do you remember what I said about designing cards for multiplayer? About how Wizards doesn't ever do this and as a result is horrible at it? Yea...luckily this card isn't even close to playable in any format of Magic that has ever existed so you won't be tempted to do something stupid, like put in into a deck.




The price of this card is TOO DAMN HIGH! Especially given that this is basically just an Ebony Owl Netsuke at best. If someone goes deep and draws a boat load of cards, chances are they are going to win on the spot or at the very least find an answer for your 7 mana do nothing Enchantment. Please, I am begging you not to play this.

More like Curse of bad cards. Heh...double puntendre! Aside from its modest comic value, this card is horrible. I can't recommend playing this.



This is pretty brutal. I don't know if you keep count, but people tend to shuffle their libraries about every 2-3 turns in Commander. More so in the early turns, but if you are on the play you can put this onto the board at a time where it severely punishes your opponent. Having to put cards back on top of your library is often worse than just being forced to discard them.

This is like one of those 'my face when' pictures. In this case, this is the reaction I had when reading Diviner Spirit. I hate to beat a dead horse, but then again...I hate being FORCED to beat dead horses even more than choosing to do it. Wizards needs to form a specially chosen team of designers to research and test new multiplayer mechanics. It is more important that a card actually be playable and, you know, worth casting in multiplayer. If you are only making cards that have the novelty of: "Oh, it says any player? I guess it must be for multiplayer," then you aren't doing your job. Part of game design is actually getting people to WANT to play your game, or in this specific case, play with your cards.



The fixed Doubling Season is still pretty sick. It is much better than Parallel Lives and definitely worth playing in addition to the original. I haven't ever personally cast a Doubling Season because I avoid token decks like they are the plague...because they are. The losing plague. Still, this card is good and the decks that want it will remain popular no matter how much evidence piles up to prove how bad they are.



This is an extremely powerful spell. Do not underestimate the flexibility that this offers. It can be ramp. It can be a mana fixer. It can give you a shuffle effect. It can be a Sinkhole. Most of the time you are just going to be digging back a fetch land that you used early on in the game to try and get ahead on mana. In case you haven't heard: fetch lands are insanely good in this format and should be played even in monocolored decks. This spell is positioned perfectly to capitalize on the juicy graveyard available in Commander. Strip Mine can win games on its own. Getting a second copy in the same game is just insanely powerful AND THIS DOESN'T EVEN COST YOU A LAND DROP.

This flavor text is a little absurd. If I am interpreting this correctly, and I like to think that I am, Mayael is telling us that the land has built the structure we see at the focus of the art....but that is shenanigans. This is clearly a man made structure, thereby rendering the flavor text completely nonsensical. Dear Wizards, please try to do better.



Finally, we have a Tempting Offer card that is actually just strictly inferior in single player games. Searching for any land is certainly powerful, but not worth four mana. Getting two lands and giving your opponent one isn't very enticing and probably just worse than Skyshroud claim. Getting 2-6 lands at the cost of giving your opponents one each is a much better deal. This can immediately set up something like Valakut or Emeria. Getting more than two lands that sac to destroy other lands can essentially shut one player out of the game entirely.



I am unsure what the point of this is. A card that only gets you land when you are behind on land...and does nothing else? Planning to be behind on lands in Commander is a bit like planning to die in a zombie apocalypse. You are supposed to use planning to stay ahead. Grim Monolith makes mana too, and you don't have to risk losing altogether in order for it to do anything. I have a friend, who is somewhat new to the game, try to explain to me that this card is good because it acts like mana screw insurance...which is asinine. If that was your plan you'd have been better off if this was just a land. Imagine this scenario: your opening hand contains one land, Surveyor's Scope, and five random cards.  Would you keep that hand? Would you expect the Scope to buy you out of land screw? Do you think you actually have a shot at winning that game? No. You would mulligan and get a better hand.



From a flavor perspective this card is equally silly. This is not a surveyor's scope. Those look like this ->
Modern iterations may not be stylistically appropriate for a fantasy game, but this somewhat dated model is perfectly suited for adaptation into the world of Magic. Secondly, the terrain shown in the background of the art doesn't actually match up with what is shown on the device. That is really an oversight by the artist, but the creative team allowed it. This looks like it should be a compass or heck, let's call it what it is. A VIDEO GAME MINIMAP.




In the first Commander release, we got Command Tower, which is probably in the top five most played cards in the format. This card isn't quite as good and won't be quite as ubiquitous, but I think that is a good thing. Here's why, this card requires you to care about your commander's combat stats. Not every deck does. The fact that this card doesn't tap for any color unless you are casting your commander is a significant drawback when you need to cast other important cards in control based strategies. Wrath, Counterspell, and the Ultimatum cycle come to mind in this regard. Many popular decks like Norin the Wary, Azami Lady of Scrolls, or the RtR guild paruns just can't use this card. The benefits are minor and the cost is heavy. That being said, decks that do care, like Jenara, Asura of War, couldn't be happier with this card. Although, even in that example, having this in your opening hand makes the prospect of casting a Jenara on time somewhat dubious. Overall, I think that this is a solid card and it will see some play. Shimmering Grotto is a weak fixer, but Shimmering Grotto with a relevant upside is worth exploring even in multicolor decks. In my opinion, Command Tower was too strong. A land that taps for any color, comes into play untapped, and has no drawback is just too powerful. Wizards would never release a card like that into a tournament environment, it would be the single most sought after card in the modern game. The fact that R&D is okay with doing things like this in a Commander product shows me that they aren't serious about supporting the format and just want to cash in on what the EDH community has been building. This is a strong sign that there is no hope for support of Commander as a tournament format. Wizards is just going to milk the players' enthusiasm for all that it's worth and then move on to the next format de jour. I for one hope that I am wrong.

Thanks for sticking with me all the way to the end Zoners. I'll be back to my regular position next Sunday. I hope you enjoyed the review. Let us know what you think about the new cards, the article, or anything else you want to talk about in the comments below. Stay tuned to TGZ for more exciting stuff this week.

-GG

Commander 2013 Review: Answers

Welcome back to part two of the Commander 2013 review. I am your host Grandpa Growth. If you missed it, be sure to check out the previous installment to see analysis of all the new threat cards. Today however, we will be looking at the new answer cards. An answer is what you use to stop your opponents threats. This includes a variety of different cards such as removal, counterspells, land destruction, and hand disruption, and some more niche things like archetype hate (Kataki, War's Wage) or color hosers (Chill).

Good answers define the flow of a game and set the standard for what threat cards are good enough to actually see play. Let's jump right in and see what the new Commander decks have to offer.

RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH! This card is reasonable. It is an expensive and slow removal spell that has a targeting restriction that I am not a big fan of, but this card does have some good things going for it. First, it exiles the target. This is a big step up, particularly when you think about how many more Indestructable Enchantment Creatures just got added to the format.

Second, it has the potential for card advantage. Removing multiple choice threats or pieces of equipment is a big game. Should they so choose to kill one of your things and send it back to you then you get an opportunity to re-use it. This can get somewhat more complicated in multiplayer, but I would just say: don't play this in multiplayer...and what I really mean by that is: don't play multiplayer.

Third, if you lose the Act then their stuff doesn't just pop back into play like it does with Oblivion Ring-style effects. This means an opposing board sweep is less likely to result in you being even further behind. Lastly, this is a permanent. It can stay in play until you need it. You can sacrifice it to Annihilator triggers. You can bounce it to your hand. The promise of repeatable value is truly seductive. I have played much worse cards in the name of getting value.

Finally! Now I can build my own Darksteel Myr! I have been waiting so long. This isn't a horrible removal spell, but it isn't impressing me either. I'd pretty much always rather have Swords or a Swords substitute. For me to play a Sorcery speed removal spell that costs two mana it has to be basically infallible. This can pretty easily go wrong and loses hard to board sweepers. It also makes your opponents Artifact/Enchantment removal into ex post facto counterspells, which I am not a fan of.


UNEXPECTEDLY ABSURD?! Yes. No doubt about it. This is the most powerful card in the set by a landslide and this will go straight into Legacy. You want to crack your fetch land? Yea...just go ahead and shuffle your planeswalker, Commander, Jitte, whatever I say along with your dignity...bury it deep down in there with your middle school diary.

Even when this works in the most 100% fair manner, you still trade cards 1 for 1 and get a reprieve from the most dominant threat on the board. This is particularly strong against planeswalkers because their value is both: quantized and time-sensitive. If the opponent ever tries to tutor, use search based ramp, or crack a fetch land though, then you have the straight up two mana instant speed Vindicate. It tucks Commanders. It embarrasses opponents. It wins games. Not joking here guys, get as many of these as you can.

Bruce Lee finally has a Magic card. I am down with this. I think this is a very sick update both in terms of modern gameplay and a hike in rarity. I will also add that, by having this, Guard Gomezoa, and Fog Bank in the Commander 2013 lists, new players can see how this niche style of creature evolved and gain an appreciation for the game's history and development.

On its own, this card actually kills the things that attacks into it...so it is much better than previous iterations and basically every card with Defender. This can attack. This can suit up and I can dig that. Creatures with Defender serve no real purpose. Designers would tell you that you need to make it obvious to new players that this creature was optimized for use on defense.

However, not EVERYONE is a moron and the fact that this card has no power makes it virtually useless on offense unless it carries equipment...but given the fact that this is the one instance where you do really want to battle with him it will be obvious that you should. This is good design. The master and Spellskite are welcome to hang out in all my decks. Wall of Derp? You aren't invited.

This is a little discount over typical Wrath effects, but you make up for that cost in life. Mana becomes more available as the game goes on, while life typically goes the opposite direction. This means that the true cost and effectiveness of this card will vary widely based on when you draw it. It will be excellent at killing mana dorks and utility creatures early on, but 7-8 life is a much larger cost when your opponent can threaten lethal in just a few swings.

Point of fact: a toxin is a harmful chemical substance that is produced by biological organisms, including for example, the bacteria that constitute a plague. However, it is not literally, a toxic deluge, but more of a deluge contaminated with potentially harmful bacteria. That might be knitpicking, but based on this art it looks like it is raining SPEARS so I don't even know what I should be thinking.

Speaking about powerful effects...we have another card that was specially designed for multiplayer. BUT WAIT! It doesn't absolutely suck? I can scarcely believe it. This card is strong and has flavor that makes since. It is the kind of swingy nonsense that Commander fans can't get enough of. It is a real pity that this card is just a worse Fog in single player, but oh well. I can't win them all. Or I can...as long as I stay away from junk like this.

Alright, next up from the 'Ambi-turner' cards. This one is pretty sweet. It is almost always going to be ganking something for nothing which is a sick deal at four mana, even on a Sorcery. In 1v1 this is almost as good as Control Magic. In multiplayer this card is...Well. It is interesting isn't it? The net effect of your opponents trading around a bunch of creatures is going to be marginal in aggregate, but the specifics of the board state will decide both how complex and how beneficial this card can be.

Flavor complaint: What does this card have to do with the planeswalkers, who are playing the game inside the game, choosing a successor. Long live... bad flavor?

This card is very tempting indeed and is probably the most powerful of this cycle, although that doesn't necessarily mean it is the best one to actually cast in a game. If something is worth copying, then having a bunch of copies of it on your side of the table is going to be a big game.

What I said in the previous segment about being selfish is very important here. The consequences of each opponent getting a copy of the best threat on the board is very severe, particularly if one of those people has multiple copies. Thus, players will almost always choose to get a copy, lest they will immediately be behind on board. This leads to an interesting consequence of how effects are placed on the stack. Since all the copies enter the board as part of the resolution of this single spell, none of the resulting ETB triggers will be put onto the stack until ALL of the copies are in play.

At this point, the active player, which is most likely you since this is a Sorcery, puts ALL of their triggers on the stack in the order of their choice and has to announce all relevant targets at that time. Then it proceeds along to the next player in the turn order. Because of this Active Player -> Non-active Player order, the person immediately to your right gets the benefit of knowing about all of his opponents' choices before he has to make a decision AND his triggers will resolve FIRST. This is of course most relevant when copying variants of Nekrataal and Acidic Slime. Things will get very crazy if somebody has tricky tech like Faith's Reward.

What the what the double bubble butts? This is so much worse than Armageddon that I think I am going to cry. It only kills nonbasics which is already enough of a handicap for me to to not really want to play it. Ruination is fine, but far from unfair. This let's them find replacement lands and thins 3+ lands out of their deck. It is the only land destruction spell that I can think of that doesn't actually limit your opponents mana! This is just silly. I can't believe that they cut down 300 trees just to print this. A crying shame.

Bonus: I am going to call this Tfis-pacs because it is just Scapshift in reverse. (which is much worse)

I kind of dig this. One way Wraths are still solid even when they are expensive because you tend to win unless they get countered anyway. At X=7-8 this is a reasonable "I Win" card, but nothing to write home about. If it also somehow went to the face this card would be the business. I don't know what the templating would look like on that one, but I am sure that Wizards could figure it out. They are professionals after all.

Why is everyone in your entire clan climbing the same mountain at the same time? That doesn't make a whole lot of practical sense. More importantly, if your entire extended family on back through the generations were mountain climbers why do you suck at it? Shouldn't you have trained or learned the ancient Chinese secret to sick climbing skills? At the very least, you should be aware of the risks.

It's like the creative team is a bunch of nerds who never go out and have no sense of the real word...but there is just no way that could be true...It is also a little confusing that they have chosen to make a Skifsang Sea and the Skyfang Mountains. Even though one exists on Zendikar and one on Innistrad, they could be a little more creative with their names.

Holy convoluted text box Batman! This is a new take on an unpopular style of Green card that has come up in the last 4-5 years. If they are going to kill your dude, you point this at it and try to leverage some value out of the situation.

Curiously, the templating of this card allows you to select the same creature that just died, which doesn't seem like a reincarnation so much as a regeneration, but I am not complaining. Unlike, Autumn's Veil or Avoid Fate, this card allows you to retrigger ETB effects or upgrade to a better creature, which is probably worth the increase in cost. Three is a lot of mana to be wasting every turn, but in general, if your threat is worth buying insurance on, it will probably win the game if they can't ever kill it so...congrats! Victory is yours.

This card is very weird. It is worse than a spot removal spell because it leaves you at a disadvantage on cards. It is worse than something like Executioner's Capsule because it is much more expensive. AND it is worse than Oblivion Stone because it doesn't have the potential to save your board while damaging the opponents. I just don't understand the point. This is another one of those don't ever play it/ I can't figure out why they designed it cards. Fairness is overrated.

Well, that is all of them. Pretty short article today. I hope you will join us next time, when we take a look at the remainder of the new cards from the Commander 2013 decks. Be sure to let us know how you feel about these cards and more in the comments.

-GG

Commander 2013 Review: Threats

Hello and welcome to The General Zone's Review of Commander 2013. I am Grandpa Growth and I will be walking along with you through the new goodies in the set. First, let's discuss the ground rules:

• Were going to be breaking it down like this: the review is split into three parts: threats, answers, and utility/mana. In today's section we will be talking threats. A threat is something you use to win the game. Most of the time these are creatures, planeswalkers, flashy spells, and some engine cards, but good threats often serve multiple functions.
• We are not going to talk about any of the reprints. IF those cards are important to Commander, then we already know about them anyway. Although I may come back around in the future and do an article just about all the new art. There sure is a bunch.
• We are not going to talk about any of the new legendary creatures. That may seem like we are skipping the most important part, but you can check out Uncle Landdrops and the others for discussion of the new generals. That is all citizens. Let's jump right on in.

I like me some graveyard hate. I love it when targeted hate cards come with extra value. I really love when your extra value can attack and block. There are plenty of other good graveyard hate cards that you can choose from to be sure, but the value of colored permanents is at an all-time high right now. Devotion is so powerful and is going to have such a large impact on Commander that just having a mana symbol on your creature is going to make it worth more than Tormod's Crypt in many decks. Previously, this format was largely defined by colorless permanents (mainly Artifact mana) and Sorceries (Kodama's Reach, Bribery, etc.), but this is changing rapidly.



What in the world? Have you read Treachery? Bribery? Azami? Tamiyo? This is not what you want to be doing with your five mana in a Blue deck. Everything about this is bad...including its flavor text, but the worst part:

IT DOESN'T FLY? Are you serious? How does it get around? It isn't an ooze. It isn't a snake. You tell me guys. I literally have no idea.

FLAVOR FAIL PART II: This is called Diviner Spirit. So it should tell you something about the future right? The flavor text however, points to a completely separate interpretation of the flavor behind drawing cards, i.e. experiencing a stream of consciousness. This card repulses me. Considered in terms of flavor, mechanics, design, art, playability, and general flashyness factor, this is the worst card I have seen in the last ten years.



This ability is crazy powerful. Left unchecked you will probably win the game and the closer the board state was to parity, the more valuable this is going to be, which is a good quality for a game-winning card to have, sadly though, I don't think this is going to make it into any real decklists. Too expensive, too risky, too vulnerable, and worst of all it is a 2/7 for SIX. Where is the beef?

I dig the art and the flavor text here, but the name seems a little bit over the top. INFINITE DECEITS? Come on. Nobody likes a braggart.

Commander 2013 brings us the resolution of a super cycle that is more than a decade in the making, beginning with Verdant Force all the way back in Tempest. He was a powerhouse. One of the first true fatties. The O.G. of the overgrown. The Sultan of Saprolings. His legacy is one of glory in battle. His backwards Blue cousin seems to have his head up his keister though. Unfortunately nowadays, this effect simply isn't worth eight mana. There are much scarier things you can do. In multiplayer this does allow you the advantage of locking down several threats throughout each turn cycle, but this will work out in such a way that it isn't great for promoting attacks...except against you. Without evasion or protection from removal this cycle is bound to languish in mediocrity while the real work gets done by more impressive threats...except for maybe the Black guy. Or the Red one. That card is pretty good.

So...this is obviously the SECOND most powerful card in the set. For three you get a three power attacker that can't be blocked, can't be targeted, and can't be damaged. It basically just dances around on the board yelling "CAN'T TOUCH THIS" at your opponent. In an FFA this card really isn't all that bad either. What incentive does a third party have to waste a kill spell on a threat that can't really do anything to them? This is eventually going to force the named player to Wrath or try to race, but since this can carry a Sword (and they can't do anything about it) they are most likely going to have to pull the trigger. Overall, this is an excellent card. This has a high power level, interacts favorably in almost every board state, isn't susceptible to the common answers, and is priced aggressively.

I do have one question though...why Blue and why a Merfolk? I guess that is technically two questions, but I feel like this is a Black or Black/White card and probably a Horror or a Demon/Angel. What do you guys think?



The aforementioned Black guy. So, here is one way to think about this: You love Phyrexian Arena. This is like getting two for the price of one and you get a 7/7 for four extra mana. That sounds like a sick deal right? Now here is another way to evaluate it. It is more expensive than Consecrated Sphinx, draws less cards than Consecrated Sphinx, doesn't have a 'may' trigger, causes you to lose a bunch of life for no real benefit, and it doesn't Fly. Will it see play? Sure. Is it tier 1 Gosu tech? No.



 All things considered this isn't a half bad token generator. Every turn you get a 2/2 for a three mana down payment? I can live with that. Sure, you have to battle them and it comes into play tapped, but whats the difference if you have a bunch of zom-buds to hang out with? I can't recommend playing this card in multiplayer. Even though the cycle was specifically designed to be used for that purpose. There is no real benefit to giving your opponents free tokens. Yes it incentivizes people to attack other players, but you have a token generator! You should have more stuff than your opponents if you are playing a token deck.




So the dream is to sac all your dudes to kill all their dudes and then bash to get all your dudes back. Cool. This card can certainly provide ongoing advantage in a grindy game, but it seems like an awful lot of work. It has decent stats for a seven drop and the ability means it will likely trade favorably in every combat situation, but something about this still rubs me the wrong way. It could be the art, which looks like it was ripped straight out of a promo for Outlast, but I just don't see this happening in big boy Commander, but what do I know? It's not like I write about it for a living.



In the hood, this is how we roll. So let me get this straight: When you are behind on board, your guy becomes unblockable, so you can attack...and fall further behind in the race? But what if you have this and Empyrial Archangel...you're like...totally unstoppable...

Not much of a surprise, but I think we can do better for five mana.





Okay, compared to the Curse of Shallow Graves we get: a 2/2 body to battle or block with, the tokens are smaller and have a less relevant creature type BUT have Deathtouch, and we only ever get one if we don't have one...wait what? What is that jank all about? We don't just get a bunch of snakes like we wanted, we only get to keep one? This is b.s. Sorin would not be fascinated with this garbage. He can make a bunch of tokens and still be home in time to blow up their best threats for dinner. This is sketch tech at best.



I am tempted to play the absolute snot out of this card. You get the best threat from your bin and if they choose to get their best guy you get your second best guy too? Deal. If that game state doesn't favor you then you are playing a pretty horrible reanimator deck. Try to get your skills up and come back later.

Keep in mind that this doesn't target. You make the choice on resolution, so it can't be foiled by targeted removal like Surgical Extraction. Just like the other Tempting Offer cards, all the Creatures come into play as part of the resolution of the spell so any related effects will trigger at the same time for all creatures.

This falls way short of my expectations. You can pay a bunch of mana for a equally sized bunch of silly 1/1 tokens at Sorcery speed. Maybe you end up with a truly bananas amount of tokens if your opponents are bad and/or bad at math, but that still doesn't seem like that great of a deal for 8+ mana. Storm Herd will probably give you an equivalent number of tokens, but they will Fly and, importantly, your opponents won't get anything but a beating.

Now imagine this: This card just costs one Red mana and you got one token plus another for every person who takes one too. Then we would have a card that ACTUALLY plays well in multiplayer and scales to the amount of people in the game instead of the amount of mana we pump into it. Keep in mind that having a bunch of creatures is way cooler BEFORE your opponent(s) have mana for a Wrath of God.



I think it is funny (sad) that the design team on this product, which included several prominent Commander players by the way, managed to come up with half a dozen new cards that will NEVER get played in Commander. The experience and expertise of their dojo is in question.

It doesn't look like this card is an elemental. It looks like this is a cow that is:
1. Falling off a mountain.
2. Actually on fire and more than a little upset about it.



I don't even know what this is so I am just going to leave it here in the threat article. Technically, it can kill an opponent, it just never will. This is another plant for multiplayer and, once again, it is horrible, even in multiplayer.



Ehhh, this isn't so bad. You smashed a Grizzly Bears onto a Shatterstorm...type thing...and then you get to make it big. YAAAAAY. Don't get me wrong, this is powerful and probably undercosted, but blowing up your own things is too much of a cost. You don't want to be killing your opponents mana rocks on turn six...you want to be the guy with the mana rocks. Preferably on turn one or two.



Shout out to all my James Brown fans. This card has got soul and it is SUPER BAD.

I have a rewrite for this card. Each player reveals until they see a nonland card. All the lands go back on top of those libraries and you exile the nonland cards. This thing gets counters equal to the converted mana costs just like before, but this new card gets Trample AND the non-green pseudo-shroud. For eight mana? Come on, this thing should at least buy you dinner before it screws you.




Oh boy...what do I even say about this? After that tasteless rant I just finished about Naya Soulbeast being a horrible 8 drop I don't think I have it in me. Just do me a favor: destroy every copy of this that you see so I never have to talk about it again. My legacy will be this card reaching $100 dollars because I have burnt all but two copies.

Well there you have it folks. All the shiny new toys from Commander 2013 have arrived and are ready to get sleeved up. Grab yourself a True Name Nemesis and get the beatdowns on. In the words of Vicente Valtieri: "Spill some blood for me, brother."

-GG

The Stack #32- Looks Like New Mexico

Heya Zoners-

Much like Theros, New Mexico is referred to as the "Land of Enchantments." Hence the title, and the theme of today's Stack installment.

Enchantments are becoming a much bigger part of the EDH metagame, thanks to this newest plane in the multiverse, and it's about time we had something to rival what has been traditionally the "weakest" card type, minus big namers like Land Tax, Exploration, and the rest of the Enchantment Elite.

We picked some of our favorites today, for your enjoyment. So let's get to it.

THIS IS THE STACK!

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Maybe it's because I'm all about Azorius. Maybe the first good deck I built was Blue/White. Maybe it was all the copies of Isperia Classic and the Geist of Saint Traft my buddy traded to me. Every time, this card is a game-winner. Maybe not every time, but you get my point. No greater amount of damage, no better life-gain have I gotten than with this on a big U/W bruiser. Granted you need a creature to really make this card effective, it still is worth the effort.

Lifelink alone is fantastic. Unblockable is superb. I've never seen a scoop as radical as the time I slapped this onto GoST (who wasn't my commander, but in retrospect, should have been). Tables weren't flipped, but I was knocked out of every multiplayer game first for about two weeks.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I enjoy netting +2/+2 Lifelink and unblockable on my new Daxos general. Steel of the godhead is a good mix of abilities. Id prefer vigilance but since daxos seems to be a late blomer I cant complain during his initial test runs.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I played this card in Big Pauper Zur. It was pretty good there, but I doubt I'll be found playing it anywhere outside of that deck or in another format. Also, there's a lot more enchantment hate at the kitchen tables these days.

Grandpa Growth-THUMBS DOWN
No, I don't think so...I have a U/W deck that is SPECIFICALLY DEDICATED to slamming auras on a genuinely busted creature. That deck does not play this card. Mainly because there really isn't a reason to small ball. If you are going to play a snapped card like Bruna, or Zur, or Geist why bother playing fair enchantments? If you are going to violate the social contract of EDH you might as well do it proudly.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Yep. I did it. The OG. The skull. Necro. It established some very important strategic elements within the game. Cards are worth more than life. Card advantage wins games. Card advantage enables you to find combo pieces. Perhaps the most important lesson that we learned from Necro is this: when you play a threat and your opponent answers it, the game doesn't always return to parity. Sometimes one party can get ahead on tempo or mana. Perhaps your deck is threat-light, so you only have a few creatures and it is important to keep them alive or else you can't ever win. In the case of Necropotence, you play it and you are ALWAYS up on cards no matter when or how they answer the necro. This residual value makes it pretty much impossible to lose in a grindy match up. Hince why I like necro...since Commander is the grindiest format ever devised by man.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
First of, to say that I would never play this card would be a lie, If I had this card it would be in Karador and Sylvan Library would be removed for a tutor spell. I've seen it's power, I've known the advantage it brings, and I'm all for it.

It's tough to hate on a card that you would love to play, but it's probably the most broken card that I have ever played against. The moment it resolves you've got nothing really short of Split-second to save you from a painful and quick end.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I wouldn't say that this enchantment has won me over. I wasn't initially going to give this card the thumbs up, but GG makes some very important observations. First off, card advantage is almost always more important than life... in combo decks. Some decks are really built around life and creatures, so this is a very niche card. The BBB mana cost also makes it pretty damn niche.

My problem with the card is the fact that the cards set aside are not given to you instantly. You have to wait for your next discard phase, so if you're looking for a quick response, let's hope you pulled it last discard phase. Also, skipping one's draw phase seems a little risky considering the long spiel on card advantage.

After a lot of thought, and seeing this card used in sacrifice/life gain decks, I've decided that it's a good enchantment. That being said, you won't find me using this card in any of my current decks.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a card I've played, and as usual, that's why it gets a thumbs up. It's a challenging card, not only because it keeps you ahead, but also because it is not an easy card to manage- especially if you're behind.

Buyer beware though- Necro is a great enchantment for most decks, but not for one of black's biggest archetypes; Reanimate. At least, it's really awkward when you draw a bunch of cards that have to go to exile.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
This card is so much fun to have around. Sun titan approves, It's super tutorable in Black/White, and it has Flash. Toss in a "any graveyard" and pass a glass- I'm here to cheer for Necromancy!

I have used this for revival denial, my own creature recursion, Combining it with a Kill-Steal spell mix, and everything in between. It's a card that if I could have any foil, I would have this.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
Sick card is sick. One of the best reanimation effects ever printed. It has gone through some ups and downs as updated rules and errata tweak its functionality, but it is still strong. Having an Animate Dead/Shallow Grave Split card definitely makes combat interesting and Commander players know all too well how to capitalize on a stocked graveyard.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
Having an enchantment you can play at instant speed is pretty interesting. Being able to choose a creature from any player's graveyard is great flexibility. So it seems like this is a pretty neat enchantment, huh?

I'm not so sure. I can't say I've ever seen this in play and in theory, this could make for some solid graveyard recursion, but I just can't get over the fact that it can become an instant, and thus lose the ability to gain a useful creature. The mechanic is just bizarre. So you can play it as an instant, grab a creature out of someone's graveyard, then because it's an instant you have to bury Necromancy, and once that leaves play you have to bury the creature you chose? Seems a bit too convoluted to me.

Why not just use Cremate to stop a potential re-animate? Plus Cremate nets you a card!

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I'm playing this card. It's sweet. The art is some of the scariest, and it has some versatility for the desperate times. I wish more enchantments had even this much flexibility, even if its not an optimal play. It can at least get you out of the danger zone.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I had a tough time picking my actual favorite, because I'm more of an artifact guy.

Nature's Will is a cool one though. Not a universally good card, but it works well with Yeva. An extra dude early on is usually pretty good also.

Most of the other enchantments I like I've talked about a lot, like Nevermore and Parallax Wave, so we're not necessarily picking my favorite.

What makes the card useful in Yeva is the ability to cast a sorcery spell, like Harmonize or Conjurer's Closet, then untap so I can play a dude for additional value.

Different matchups make this a little better. Against control, it allows me to get another threat. I can attack and get downhill momentum to resolve spells. In control decks that splash green, it's pretty good too. Playing great lands like Yavimaya Hollow, Mikokoro, and Rogue's Passage help to boost its power, and can also provide nice ways to use mana that might go unchecked the first time around. Definitely a card I had to build around, but I like it when I can play offense and defense at the same time. On curve, it can pay for itself, and every turn after, there's some marginal benefit.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I used to play bear umbra (and don't ask me why bears get your mana to untap) but the hard part for me with that was getting through with that creature. I upgraded to Seedborn Muse and had much more consistency with maintaining my manabase with responsive spells.

What this has to do with this enchantment is power creep with my mana base. Ideally, the more evasion creatures you have makes this card more useful. The sad part is that it doesn't trigger for each connection made per creature which would be tricky to manage outside of flash but ultimately would be better. It's a good card if you have consistency.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
It is unclear to me why anyone would play this card instead of SoFaF. The process of equipping things can be a pain, but for that two mana you get to have protection from two colors, a power and toughness boost, and they have to discard a card? Deal. The idea of tapping your opponents lands really isn't much of a bonus. If you wait till after you attack in hopes of protecting your spells from counters, you end up wasting the advantage of tapping your lands twice anyway. Not to mention that you are ahead on board by default. You have this and enough of squad to actually get in hits, so you shouldn't need to commit more to the board. You need to leave up your mana to protect this position, if possible.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
This is like a more aggressive Seedborn Muse, and I like that about this enchantment. It puts a strong slow-down on control decks, but can also be great for a control deck. Few things are more satisfying than being able to play a bunch of huge creatures in your 1st main phase, deal combat damage, then have all your mana available for more shenanigans during the 2nd main phase or mana open for instants.

That's all we got for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow as Grandpa begins assessing Commander 2013.

Until then, be excellent to each other. And Party On Dudes!

-UL, GG, VJ, and JC's Excellent Adventure

Commander 2013 Impressions, Round 2

Heya Zoners!

We're back with another round of impressions. I know it's been a few days since the set got spoiled. Hopefully, that gave you time to form some opinions. So let's compare notes.

SHATTERGANG BROTHERS

This time we'll start with the last one out.

I really like the Shattergang Brothers. I'm a huge fan of removal, sac outlets, and creating value engines.

This is pretty neat fit for Jund. A while back, I attempted to make a Kresh deck based around the idea of non-blue control. I liked the idea of making something that wasn't a typical Kresh design, featuring the all-you-can-Evoke buffet and other typical GoodStuffs.

Clearly, the Shattergang Brothers are a much better fit, not only in terms of creating Jund non-green control, but also a "stronger" Goblin combo deck.

Again, I'm not really sure thematically where this card is supposed to sit in the Multiverse, but I think when we look at other Jund Legends, it's different enough that the deck has an identity, yet similar enough to provide homes for other legends like Sek'Kuar, Savra, both versions of Wort, and a handful of other legendary creatures as support.

NEKUSAR, THE MINDRAZER

I have a lot of problems with Nekkie. Let's start with the art. The first thing I thought of was not a Wizard, but the king of the Dead Army that Aragorn persuades to fight. Even the background isn't something that I would consider to be the chamber of a Wizard. I'm not saying he needs to fit stereotypes, and that it's not decent art- I'm just saying this shoe is fitting a little small for me.

In examining the card from the "waist down," things get a little more confusing. I've had a few experiences with Group Slug, and I have to say, this is doing no favors for a player. Grandpa Growth has mentioned a couple of times that creating strategy around the idea of "not winning" is not effective, and I agree. Giving people cards has never done me any favors, and so I'm not too enthusiastic about this one.

On a positive note, he is drastically different from his Grixis pals. He's got a midrange mana cost, and does some punishing, but I'm just not terrified, like I am of Thrax or Garza. I'll take the pain if I get to draw cards. I ain't never skeered about that.

SYDRI, GALVANIC GENIUS

With Sydri comes "renewed" design space, and I like that. Truth be told, there's quite a bit to like.

Sydri's first ability is already a thing, but her coloring makes this a lot better. There's plenty of access to animating artifacts, comboing, and tutelage now. Before, there was a lot of goofy Karn decks on the struggle bus. Now, there seems to be quite a bit of power available for those aiming to find it.

Also, we have yet again another Terese Nielsen art that I believe really showcases what she's best at- depicting characters among piles and piles of highly-detailed junk. I like it when she does stuff like this more than the abstract pieces like Enter the Infinite. Perhaps this is one of the best new Legendary arts in the Commander 2013 product.




GAHIJI, HONORED ONE

Speaking of art. I love what Brynn Metheney did here. It's crisp, it's got good technique- and we get a real nice "original" action pose showing off the ferocity that is Gahiji.

Unfortunately, the text box feels like a let down for me. The politicality that they've put into this release is polarizing for me. What I see here is a very non-theatening "Edric-style" bonus that really isn't going far. Unlike the Aura Curse cycle in the new product, I fear the worst for him as a Commander. With no real incentive to cast (outside of a Voltron build), casting Gahiji and protecting seems very uneconomical.

I like my Commanders to have under-the-radar value, but I think this flies too far under, despite the fact that Gahiji is probably sports 1 of 2 pieces of artwork that actually looks like a Commander. It's surely a neat card, and I'm interested to see how it plays. Still feels like it's going to be too "Huggy" for me.


ROON OF THE HIDDEN REALM

Our last new friend is... laughable.

Don't get me wrong- We needed more Flicker creatures. But not like this.

Roon of the Hidden Realm is great, I guess, if the Hidden Realm in Magic is Candyland, A Lisa Frank Coloring Book, or Barney's Asshole.

Pastel castles and indeterminate happy landscapes are not what I play this game for, and they definitely make this Rhino Soldier look out of place. He might as well be wearing a dress. I know, this is a game for people that aren't just me, but I think it's hard to take this card serious, even after you see the gross overcompensation that was done in his text box.

Silly name and a silly art can really influence how much I don't want to play a card, and this is the best example. This is the kind of card that makes me feel embarrassed to play Magic because I'm an adult that loves card games, and not a little girl with pigtails licking a lollipop at the County Fair.
All that said- Blinking in conjunction with Vigilance is huge. I don't think this will be good, but it'll be a deck people will play. There are some nice little synergies I can see, and it surely is different than the big Bant Commanders that see play.

Anyway, that's all I got.

I'd love to hear what people are thinking about the new Commander stuff. So leave something for me in the comments below, will ya?

Until next time, leave me a comment somewhere. You know how to find me.
-UL