Glowing Ranks: Played and Unplayed From Commander 2014

Hey all. Landdrops here with another episode of Glowing Ranks.

Today we're gonna talk Commander 2014. I've had a pretty swell time checking out the new tech, and now felt like a good chance to get out of the streets and report in on my findings.

Since I've been a little behind the curve, I'm double dipping on Top 5's today, and it's going to work out. There's a lot to like out of the C14 stuff- some I've gotten a chance to play, some I haven't. So there's the dichotomy- 5 best cards I played, and my fave five that are looking to get in on the action.

THE UNPLAYED


5. Aether Gale

I don't have a copy of this card yet, and though apprehensive, I'm gonna trust GG's assessment in the review and throw it into my Barrin "Pile Of Fairness" deck I wrote about last time.

Unlike other blue cards, my biggest concern is the slowness of the card, not maintaining six legal targets. Sorcery speed makes this card, too fair. Maybe it find a home with other fair things. I don't know.








4. Fell the Mighty

This Lin Sivvi Rebels deck I've been running is going to love another one-sided "Power Wrath." Retribution of the Meek is one of the biggest bombs I have to use in conjunction with Mirror Entity. While this costs a little bit more, I'm with GG on this- Fell the Mighty is gonna be a house everywhere it can see play.

The big reason is that it has the capacity to protect low-power Aggro Commanders like Daxos and Doran, creating an evasion haven for these guys to go Voltron and put your opponent a turn behind the curve. It's a solid card that's easy on the eyes.





3. Masterwork of Ingenuity

I'm a sucker for clone effects and equipment, which made me apprehensive in my pre-order due to the "pizza milkshake" concept. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, this is what I mean.

Pizza = Good.

Milkshake = Good.

Pizza + Milkshake = Plain Gross.

Another reason to play this card is that not only can you tutor for it with Stoneforge, Taj-Nar Swordsmith, Steelshaper's Gift, and Stonehewer Giant, but it's also a great card for the mono-Blue Trinket Mage package. Do your opponents like to show off their Swords of X and Y? Do they like to play Jittes and swing beats? If so this is a nice metagame option for like, one-fifth to one-tenth of the market price for the Good Stuff.

2. Domineering Will

DW is a card I predict to be much more one-sided in a deck where Barrin is the general. At instant speed, I can generate about as much or more value in an opponent's combat step with exponential opportunities for value.

The lines of play are always going to result in x-for-1 trades, where x is dependent on how you want to interact with Barrin, especially with mana later on in the game.


1. Malicious Affliction


My top card is Double Doom Blade, and the reason it's not in any deck yet is because I have yet to ascertain what this card means. It's not bright. It's not vivid. It's that morbid, disgustingly good kind of card I try to save for my favorite decks.

Recently, I retired Greel, so it might be a while before I find a home for this sucker. If the fixing were better, this is really a Glissa T's card, but not one I want to have to count on, with it being double black and Glissa T's having double green. We'll see. I might just get the itch to throw it in anyway.

THE PLAYED

5. Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Now, Nahiri isn't a card I've physically played, but I've seen enough of it already to tell you it's kind of exciting, even though I'm not fond of walkers coming from the Command Zone.

With her Stoneforging ancestor and the aforementioned Equipment tutor package, Nahiri is in a unique position to power up bad equipment and break the top tier cards. Add the Lithomancer to a list of cards the rock with Skullclamp. Mono-White now has a way to create a card draw engine.

The -2 is also nice when you have clunky Kaldra pieces or an Argentum Armor for which there is no reason on this earth to pay full price.

Overall, I'm still okay with it. It's not game-ending, but she does work.

4. Daretti, Scrap Savant

I'm surely guilty of liking this card too much, but I don't think anyone can blame me.

I've already dusted off the Inglourious Basterds "Doh-me-neek Dee-co-co" jokes when I activate his abilities. I hold out my hand and say, "More Dah-ray-tee."

None of the Daretti cards in my group stay out for long, but it's too fun to miss every time Goblin Pope of Artifacts finds himself out and looting. So don't be a square. Buy your Daretti today.

3. Titania, Protector of Argoth

I texted GG about this card, but what I really wanted to do was pull a Back to the Future and say, "Yo, Chuck. This your cousin, Marvin Berry. You know that sound you been looking for?" and then hold the phone up so he could hear the sounds of repeated Strip Mines and multiple Life from the Loam triggers as I stomp my opponents with 5/3's.

No one wants, or should buy, the mono-Green Commander product- unless you want all of the Elves. But unlike Titania, that bores me.

Silvos got retired because of just how nuts the dedicated Titania Aggro-Loam deck has been. There are so many elements of combo and card advantage and tempo that are just too good to pass up.

Titania is the card I thought she was going to be in the Legends Review, and the deck is exactly what I thought it would be. All in all, it's fresh, unique, and I hope R&D are able to find more ways to combine these styles of effects and incorporate them into Commander.

2. Reef Worm

Lil Reefy fit perfectly into the Barrin deck I'd started playing at the time it was spoiled, so I knew it was a must-have in the pre-order.

Again, the Worm's been as good as anticipated, comboing with Barrin to give me chump blocks, a threat, and multiple chances to bounce things that are in my way.

There are some people who haven't gotten the Kraken yet. Obviously, this deck is a great niche include because it's always going to be, as Qui-Gon says, the proverbial "bigger fish."

1. Myriad Landscape

I got 8 copies of Myriad Landscape in my pre-order. That's not only a testament to how much I believe in the power of card advantage, but also in anticipation of this card tripling or quadrupling in price.

Being that most of my decks at any given time are mono-colored, this wasn't just mindless and arbitrary either. All of my decks are packing the immense value you're going to get from this card. It's one tap-land I think I can get behind, even in decks that I thought might not want it.

Opening hands with 2 lands and a Landscape have never been so sweet. Getting value at your deck's foundation is the best thing the design team did for us in this product, and that kind of structural support really helps to pave way for more of these big bad monsters and spells they also like to pump out every year. It's just one card, but Myriad Landscape is a gigantic step in the right direction.

What did you like in C14? What did you hate? Let us know in the comments below!

Pass Da Turnski.
-UL