Khans of Tarkir: The Legends

Hey there. Landdrops here.

Welcome to the week of build up Zoners! Set rotation is imminent, and the smell of a new scent with warring clans of enemy colors is upon us. If none of those things stir any excitement, I suggest you say out loud, "I should've checked myself." Cause congratulations- you've wrecked yourself.

This set is full of goodies that my PIC Grandpa Growth has begun to talk about, and I highly suggest you sneak a peek at his assessment of the threats if you haven't, as well as the rest of the Answers and Mana/Utility cards later this week.

For now, we've got those Clan Leaders to talk about, so let's do it. Our very own Tarkir journey begins now!

Well we've got a new set, and a sweet new creature subtype- Enter the Naga, and Sidisi, the Sultai's scaly leader.

Without a whole lot of options in these enemy colors, it feels easy to want to see what these new Commanders can do. Sort of a quality Grandpa Growth talked about early last year when he talked about the way Legendary Creatures get introduced by what's popular and new.

In this way, we are going to see a lot of the Sidisi self-mill reanimator as both an alternative to and a maindeck assistant for my least favorite deck in the format, The Mimeoplasm.

Personally, I'm a fan of the aesthetic, the creature type, and the aggressive mana cost. The rest really isn't much to look at, even though I find it really exciting that the creatures that go into your graveyard will STILL be usable as you proceed to beat down with UNTAPPED 2/2 Zombies. So there is some design subtleties that are nice and welcome additions to the new Naga Shaman on the block. I'm just not convinced it's going to be powerful enough to stick around.

Much like Doran, this is a nice aggressive threat that's larger than its cost. While I'm not sure what these abilities are supposed to do, much less why they are so awkwardly paired together on this card, I can't say I find them unappealing.

Anafenza provides a nice offense-oriented way of hating out reanimate decks everywhere, which is counter-intuitive to its color combination, but helpful when you consider just how much removal you have access to in this color combination.

Exiling creatures in a 1-ofs format is a huge game, and that second ability turns those lowly Doom Blades into more powerful removal without the drawbacks from the premier versions of these spells in the current metagame.

Green, Black, and White is probably my favorite combination, so this is something I'll be rooting for, occasionally checking out lists to see if it is getting some traction. Seems like he's going to take up a slightly more aggressive place along side his GBW mainstay, Doran.

Speaking of face-smashers- Enter Zurgo.

When this card got spoiled during the Speed vs. Cunning stuff, I laughed. Because before I even looked at what the Mardu clan leader did, all I could think about was the silly way Crow and Mike and the MST3K gang would throw out names of crappy B-list action heroes. If that's what WotC was going for in the 7/2 Orc Warrior, well, I see you R&D.

Aside from his name, Zurgo really is a no-nonsense card. Much like Kaalia, the Helmsmasher's board presence is never going to escape your opponent's view. He's big, he's here, and he has Haste.

Comparatively, he's really nothing like the other cards in his colors. The card Zurgo really compares favorably with is Ruhan, and is superior in just about every way, despite the lack of defenses.

I like this aggro-Voltron deck. When you can combine Wraths favorably into design space, look for this guy to terrorize some kitchen tables.

Enter Temur, the clan which seems to be in a very complicated with relationship with Bears. I found this out at prerelease when cries of utter joy were being exclaimed every time someone pulled a Bear Punch (Savage Punch), and all I could pull was a single-yet-often-well-timed Awaken the Bear.

According to flavor-text lore, and an oddly-cut coat, Temur's clan leader Surrak Dragonclaw is a nice figurehead for this strange love/hate with Magic's grizzliest.

Obviously, there are several things I like; Flash, being a 6/6 for 5, and his uncounterability. Together, these are attractive qualities for any Legend you'd want to put into a Command Zone.

Really, it's the other abilities I'm not really fond of. Giving other spells the ability to go unchecked is great for Standard, but here it will invite the kind of design space that I don't see Dragonclaw really wanting to play, which is comparable to the insanely powerful all-creature Animar deck that JC and I have discussed here on this site. In my mind, Surrak would rather be suited for a spell-heavy control deck with a couple of game-enders, including himself.

Overall, I don't see this card getting big in Commander, but we'll have to wait and see what the Internet comes up with. Unseating Animar doesn't seem logical, but I've been wrong before.

Our last legend is a prospect I've predicted to have the most upside.

Again, we have to go to a different set of triple colors for better comparison. In this case, Narset compares more favorably with Commander 2013's Grixis feature, Jeleva, mostly due to the free noncreature swag you're bound to get.

Unlike Narset, hexproof, the attack trigger, and the power-boost are a big game. The design space for this will be similar to Jeleva, but with a much more potent plan to end the game, as the Time Warp and extra Combat Step spells should provide enough turns to get to 21 Commander damage.

The tricky part will be ensuring evasion. So far, I've seen a few lists worth tweaking and tuning to bring a lot of neat, sweet victories.

That's all the Commander talk we've got for today. Be sure to check back Thursday as GG continues our maiden trip through Tarkir.

Pass Turn.
-UL