M15 Set Review: The Legends

Heya Zoners!

Welcome back to TGZ Spoiler week (and a half). Today's the typical day Grandpa takes off in our little two-cents on the set review, and Landdrops steps in to talk Legends.

Here's a few quick links to what we've gone over so far, in case you missed it:

M15 Threats, Part I
M15 Threats, Part II

We'll start with a sarcastic Kudos to Wizards. Now that they've changed the card border, there's no excuse- Just print entire sets of planeswalkers. We officially won't be able to tell the difference, and it's all the more clearer with this new border that they really want to.

For those newer to the game, my first look at Anorexic Avacyn drew an aesthetic comparison to Jaya Ballard, Task Mage, which rumor has it, was supposed to be R&D's first hack at designing p-dubs.

As far as design goes, AA and Jaya couldn't be more different. Mostly, this is color pie nonsense, and not being a fan of original Avacyn, my unconscious dislike for it is unfairly projected in here as well. But I'll try to be nice.

The rules change on Legendary Creatures and Clone Effects made old Avacyn pretty annoying to play against in my metagame, being that anyone playing Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and anyone with a Clone basically made their board state inpenetrable short of a handful of tuck and exile effects.

I imagine this, along with the key word changes to indestructible, are a few of the compelling reasons R&D might have had to make a new card for her. This one is obviously more fair, which if you subscribe to my pal Grandpa Growth's Rosetta Stone, means it's a significant power-down from her first moments of fresh air out of the Helvault.

Still, I think she's totally playable. As a guy who favors 6-cost or less creatures with relevant static and cheap activated abilities, there's room for design and abuse. An evasive, two-way attacker that can shape the battlescape and protect herself on the cheap is still useful. Couple that with a big 5WW cost emergency button, and you've got a Commander that has the potential to shut down most mono-colored and non-artifact-based two color decks as well.

From Avacyn, however, the rest of these Legends seem pretty bad as Commanders.

Take Jalira. Like surgeons, the designers on this card nipped and tucked until they were sure a Master Polymorphist couldn't do anything that was "unfair," which makes her look more like a novice than anything else, and R&D like chumps once again.

Personally, I see no problem with a Master Polymorphist possessing any or all of the following qualities:

1. Being able to turn one's self into something else.
2. Having the ability to do this with as little resources as possible.
3. Being able to turn any creature into any other creature, regardless of sub- or super-type.
4. Having the skills necessary to do this as quick as possible.

When we examine this card, the designers only got one of these right. But ask yourself- would it be busted if Jalira could turn herself into something? Would it be "un-fun" if she could Polymorph into Kozilek?

I don't think giving a Master Polymorphist these kinds of powers would make her worse- especially if you held all her other qualities constant. And even if Jalira was 2U, it would compare with something like Proteus Staff, which as far as I know, isn't a heinous imposition on any metagame anywhere.

Based on what we have, which does not include information from the Future-Future-League, like R&D does, I find this card pretty disappointing overall. If anything, a card should at least be able to validate its own flavor text, and when it doesn't, I'm a little peeved.

In case you haven't gotten the vibe from our first couple of cards, I'm not particularly enthralled with our newest additions to the Commander pool.

That said, Kurkesh is a card that possesses more of the qualities I'd like to see, even if I'm not thrilled about it.

For starters, the Onakke Ancient is a 4/3 for 2RR. So even if the rules text is no bueno, we still have a Legend with the ability to hack and slash our way to 21.

Looking at this rules text, we've got a pretty weird one, which is particularly refreshing for me, as it gives us Commander players excuse to do some research, even if it's a dead end.

I haven't done any for a potential Kurkesh deck, but having a cheap trigger for the activation of artifact abilities seems good.

Yet perhaps the most exciting part of this card to me is his creature type. Ogre Spirit. Awkward, unique, and from a place we haven't been yet- Shandalar. All of these add up to an overall okay design, even if it's not something that jumps out at me as "good" or "playable."

Last time on Zendikar, Ob Nixilis was a lowly, spark-less Legendary creature trying to make his way through a world of Hedrons, Kor, and Eldrazi in an attempt to be a planeswalker again.

Thanks to Brad Muir, it looks like our boy O.B. Nix is looking more like his old self. Just look at Karl Kopinski's artwork. This is some seriously scary-looking art.

Looking past flying and trample, it's pretty clear this version of O.B. is intended for us EDH players. Punishing players for library searching is something that is severely lacking in Commander outside of Psychogenic Probe, and I like that Ob Nixilis is a potential piece of removal that also forces removal because he gets bigger if you don't.

All that said, I still feel he's overcosted. It's clear this card wouldn't be fair at 3BB without an additional cost, but it still feels like a shaky investment, even when I have an intangible emotional investment in the Demon ex-Planeswalker as a character.

Why do all of our new characters have to have unbelievable fantasy names in this set?

I know I've been complaining a lot, but Yisan is a dumb name. So is Kurkesh, and so is Jalira, but Yisan is the straw. They all look and sound terrible, but Yisan is just- I don't know. They don't feel like names. It just looks like someone pulled out scrabble letters and strung a few together until it sounded like a car accident.

The actual design of this card isn't horrible, but surely underpowered. While I don't get how a Bard is also a Rogue that can summon creatures, like Kurkesh, I'm more intrigued than completely put off by the design.

Unlike Aether Vial, the Yes Man (this is his nickname, because I don't want to say his name. I know it's terrible, but this is improv) doesn't have access to all colors, so he's really on the bad of the eight ball when thinking of ways to double up his verse counters. I imagine he'll be part of a gimmicky squad or the General for some fun toolbox decks, but not much more than that, which is disappointing. I like to see bad cards become better, and I like to hold out for the hope that they can. But this is just not gonna work.

Our last creature is perhaps the most boring thing Wizards could've come up with. An Indestructible Sliver granting other Slivers Indestructible. I'd vomit if it didn't already look like I did.
Just look. ----------------------------------------------------->

Now I'm not a "Sliver Hater." They are a very powerful tribe in Magic, and I think it's possibly one of the most unique-to-Magic tribes in the card game, as they have an expansive presence throughout its history.

Mostly, I'm just bored with the way Wizards is attempting to revive the tribe and make it exciting. This is one of the easiest decks to put together across every format the game has to offer, and that's just horrible for a person like me who plays Commander, and values the artistic process of building a deck.

Since their revival in last year's Core Set, it seems that my distaste is only going to grow as they continue to give Slivers every ability imaginable, and I get it, but I'm not okay with it. I wish they had their own specific abilities, not just sharing common static, activated, and triggered abilities within themselves. It's not uncommon knowledge that Harmonic Sliver and Necrotic are two of the most popular, and it's not just because they are great at policing the board. They are representative and reminiscent of specific cards in the game, and their power is checked.

Sliver Hivelord basically gives this deck a cheaper Darksteel Forge, which is a very "win-more" card, I think, as far as the Sliver deck goes. While it's true most of these decks are aggressive, losing Slivers isn't really a problem because they have access to Living Death and Patriarch's Bidding.

Mostly, I think this was designed for some of the reasons I mentioned above, but also to help beat into the ground all these new rules changes they made about indestructible. Being a Core Set, it offers old players getting back into Magic and new players the chance to understand the game, and so here's the obligatory "garbage pop" card they make for these players, who, I'd guess, probably won't even like it.

Our last card is also tragically bad, possibly worse, and I'm genuinely disappointed about this.

Back in Innistrad, we heard the story and seen the $70 version of Liliana super-charged with the veil, and watched our formerly Green Hunter Garruk get infected with the Veil's curse.

Now that it's here, I'm angry about it. Not only does it make zero sense flavor-wise, but it's inclusion in this set is baffling.

I know Core Sets represent all the cards from pre-existing planes, but this was an integral part of a set- Why was it not included then, if the card was obviously already designed?

Furthermore, how is this a curse? Planeswalkers getting to activate their abilities again seem like a privilege to me. The only thing that's a curse is if you don't have planeswalkers.

And on top of all of this, why is it so expensive to play and cast? How does that make sense at all? In a world where we're talking about Rings of Brighthearth doing better work to copy a P-dubs abilities, or Proliferate cards being able to add the counters you need, I don't believe I need more evidence to demonstrate how sad and pathetic The Chain Veil really is. Truly a "Win-More" card, when you consider no player in any format is going to let you have more than one P-Dub out, unless they are already going to lose anyway.

Well, that wraps 'er up for today. Godspeed at your prereleases. Make good choices.
-UL

The Stack #49- Shut It Down

Often, there are cards that invade our local playgroup and have such a force that it seems there are no answers.

In this episode, The Gang and I examine the cards that we've banned or might want to ban in our local groups, and the picks might just surprise you.

After all, THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
You'll notice I have given a thumbs down to my own card, indicating that I do not, in fact, believe it should be banned. I would hazard a guess that I thumbs down more of my own cards than anyone else here on the blog. I have no idea why I feel so strongly about cards that I really don't play that much, but...c'est le vie.

This is a particularly interesting topic for me because I am such a strong proponent of not ever banning cards  for any reason and am a harsh critic of the EDHRC banned list as an institution. I have authored more than one scathing indictment of its flaws on this blog and elsewhere. I am like a banned list libertarian. Let my cards be played, I say! My issue with Top, isn't actually with Top. It is with neophyte players who have to top twice in one turn because they forgot what order they stacked the cards in. If you top excessively or at inconvenient times, forcing other players to wait while you stress your infant brain to the limits of its unfathomably small processing capacity, I hate you strongly discourage you from doing this. If I were a tyrant, I would take away your Tops just so you can't waste your own time. Luckily for some people, I am a freedom fighter! I will staunchly defend your right to do as you please, including the right to play like a goldfish who has lost his ONE IOTA OF OBJECT PERMANENCE.

There are certainly cards that I have willingly chosen not to play, like Triumph of the Hordes or Sinkhole, but I would never be so bold as to require others to abide by that choice.

Venser's Journalist- THMBS DOWN
This is no doubt a powerful card, and if put in the right decks (many designs around Karn and Arcanis come to mind), can be the catalyst for the "Screw you, I'm going to play my entire deck" combo.
But, I think people should know by now that combo decks need all the right pieces, and do not depend on one card. Therefore, the Top by itself is not unfair at all. There are plenty of cards that let you Scry, plenty of cards that let you draw, and plenty that let you do both of these multiple times. The Top is just more of a Swiss army knife when it comes to deck manipulation.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I'm a big proponent of practice and preparation. 9 times out of 10, my decks get some serious Magic Solitaire in so I can learn stuff, like, when to Top and what cards I need to draw at certain stages in the game. I'm with GG on this, but I'm more upset about the boisterous announcements that come to the table with "Play-With-Yourself" effects like this and cracking a Terramorphic. Cause even if I did have a Krosan Grip or a Trickbind, I'm sure as hell not using it on either one of those cards.

I have a little bit of empathy for this Top conundrum though. Overthinking is something I used to do, it's silly, and it probably means you're going to lose, so staring at the cards that aren't your answer won't do you any good anyway. If you do the leg work before you play the game, you can trust yourself better with information you have and make faster, more efficient plays, even if you make a mistake. After all, Top is a good card, but it isn't going to compensate for your bad Magic playing. So respect the card, respect your opponent, and if you aren't willing to do either, at least respect yourself.

Also, it's a total bummer we're not talking about Triumph of the Hordes. I was anticipating that and kind of looking forward to it.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
We banned Avacyn in our group late last year after the rules change, but even before that, I sold my copy and called it a day.

Even when I had one, I didn't really like it very much, but not enough to deem it ban-worthy. I'd actually played this in a Sigarda deck alongside Iona and proceeded to bring my Noob-ness to Theaters everywhere.

Between the fact that you can use her as a Commander, and the fact that there's now less ways to remove her and more ways to make non-interactive board states, I'm more surprised this hasn't been banned yet, and I'd be anxious to hear what Menery and Co. have to say about it. I feel like it has that "focus the game around me" quality that no one really liked about Sundering Titan, Primeval Titan, and now Sylvan Primordial, so I've no idea what could be holding this thing up from getting axed. Because playing this card right means not paying its mana cost, and not paying its mana cost is absurd, annoying, and abusive.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
At worst, it is a resilient, Flying threat. At best it is an 8-mana "I win". I am comfortable with the cost and effect of this card. This is the kind of thing that people want to do in Commander. This is what Commander is all about for some people. Flavorful and exciting 'Timmy' Creatures are much more palatable to most people than disruptive, 'griefer' cards like Terastodon. I would certainly agree it has the ability to change the pretense of the game and draw the attention of other players, the so-called "sub-game effect", but that is true of all cards that are inherently powerful. An 8-drop Creature SHOULD be able to change the texture of the game AND change the way your opponents play. Also of note: this is achieveable with virtually every Planeswalker, all of which are less expensive, save for Nicol Bolas. On balance, an NBP trumps an Avacyn basically every time so I don't really see the problem here. Annoying? Certainly, but that isn't a problem with the card, that is a problem with your friends.

Venser's Journalist- ONE THUMB UP, ONE THUMB DOWN
I appreciate this card in theory, and in practice, I find it to be alternatingly fun and annoying. GG nailed it by saying that an 8-drop creature should be powerful enough to be a game changer and Avacyn is certainly that. I will say though, she can be a real pain if you're on the wrong side of her. There are many ways to give Creatures like this Hexproof and Shroud so that nobody has a chance of removing her, or worse, using her against you. I admit that I'm one of those players that will make extra precautions like that, which can make a game 'unfair'.

The problem with that logic is that by the time anyone can play her AND pocket the game, you probably want someone to win. I've rarely seen Avacyn make it on the battlefield before turn ten, and even when she does come out early, someone has a way to exile or take control of her. Besides being game-changers, 8-drop creatures are meant to be challenges. As far as banning her back to the Helvault with Grizzly-brand, I'm on the fence right now.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Admittedly, for the longest time I wanted this card in my Isperia's Thunderbolts deck, but the price deterred me from ever getting it. Now that I've seen Kira as both general and supplement to many Blue control decks, I'm certain that there is a level of grief this card produces that I'm not willing to put in any of my decks.
I first learned how evil this card could be when I saw it in a Talrand "Just Say NO" deck. The deck was already stuffed with counterspells, so when this spirit was slapped out on the field, I wanted to flip the table. It's not that the card is unfair; all you need to do to get around it is cast a second spell, but it's just so damn annoying that the second spell might not even be worth it if you look at your opponent's smile and his eight open Islands...

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS DOWN
I got a copy of this card a while back, and I feel like it does nothing. I've played it, seen people play it, and I feel like if it's a problem in a metagame, it's simply because there aren't enough Wraths. There are so many ways to interact with Kira I don't see this as a problem.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Landdrops brings up a good point here. If you have trouble with things like Kira or more generally: things that have Shroud, Hexproof, or Protection, then your real problem is that you are over-relying on spot removal. Even at face value, sweepers provide better card economy and fail less often. It is especially beneficial for multiplayer games where there are often multiple, pressing threats controlled by different players. The increased mana cost of sweepers is not usually as much of a hindrance in Commander as it would be in other formats.

The best solution to a Kira, or any early problem, is simply to be proactive. A turn one Thoughtseize will give you an early warning to tricky threats AND provide a way to stop them from hitting the battlefield.

Do you have a card that you believe should be banned? Do you agree or disagree with our thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

Also, if you're interested in being a guest on The Stack, or you have some comments or ideas for future stacks or other Commander-related questions, be sure to email me at UncleLanddrops@gmail.com. I'm always around, and love to hear from the community. 

Thanks again. Pass it up.

-UL/VJ/GG

Landdrops' Least Faves: 5 Cards I Don't Want To Play Against

Happy Thor's Day Zoners.

JC's off today, so you've got another dose of your Uncle again, and I've got some cards I want to talk about.

The title of this article does in fact say, "5 Cards I Don't Want To Play Against," but even that will warrant some clarification.

To me, the cards in the list I'll share with you soon are a lot like the way I feel about 80's metal band Def Leppard. Cause if I never have to hear the sappy riffs, crappy lyrics, and handicapped drumming in tunes like "Photograph," "Hysteria," or "Pour Some Sugar On Me," I'd be one happy dude.

I single out Def Leppard, but there are a lot of other bands and songs that I'd rather not listen to any more for one reason or another. Either way, I'm sick of it, and I'd rather just avoid it altogether.

Is it highly logical that I could walk into a store or watch TV or flip through the radio and hear any one of those boring 80s dinosaur tracks? Sure. There are always things beyond my control, and I have to accept that if I turn on a classic rock station and the mediocrity of Leppard or Foghat or Ratt or Van Halen just happens to be the next song in queue.

Still, I will do everything in my power to prevent listening to this nonsense, including leaving the store, turning off the TV, slamming something heavy into my radio, and if all else fails, the "Earmuffs" trick Vince Vaughn so wonderfully conditioned his children with in the movie Old School.

Easily one of the best Movie Dads of All-Time.

I think that pretty accurately describes my relationship. I get that these are cards in the game, most of them aren't ban-worthy, and that people play them. Heck I own or have owned some of them, even played with them, and I'll play against them if I have to. I just think we can play a much better game without them, and that's all I really care about.

So if you want to play these cards be warned- In response, I will blast some painfully awful music whilst we do it. I've heard Metallica at loud volumes can get even the most reluctant terrorists to come out of hiding. Your chances of getting Metallica though are pretty slim-to-none. It's probably going to be Cher-gaeton, a combination of Cher and Reggaeton.

Anyway, here's my list. Let's start with Dishonorable Mentions.

Blightsteel Colossus
I'm not so upset about this card. I get what it does, there are answers, and blah blah blah. I think this card is silly, and I don't see it a lot anymore because people get appropriately hated, and it creates preconceived plans around games that no one in our group is interested in. Cause although we might know what's in each other's decks, I'd much rather like to approach each game with a more opportunistic point of view versus having to attack someone because I know that if I don't, they're going to do the same thing they did last game, which is combo into Blightsteel. It's just not the kinds of games we remember, and it's not the ones that are interesting.

Mindslaver
I don't like this card, but I recognize its merit. Without Academy Ruins, it's one of the more difficult combos to pull off, so I get that. I also think that what the card does could be inherently fun if you wanted it to be. I like what this card does, just not what people actually do with it.

Iona, Shield of Emeria
I've done some busted nonsense with Iona. Back when I played 60 card magic, this chick was a blow out with Polymorph before Emrakoul. Like Blightsteel, she's got answers I guess. Still, not everyone can or should be playing Duplicant or Brittle Effigy or O-Stone or All is Dust in their decks. Sucks you have to build around her like that though.

5. Rhystic Study
Eff this card. A while back GG did a segment on cards he thought were particularly overplayed. To me, this is enemy number one.

Don't get me wrong. I love drawing cards. I do it all day, and I think there's definitely a place for this card. But it's NOT A STAPLE.

In fact, you're probably better off with Temple Bell, and definitely better off playing Consecrated Sphinx. Cause when the going gets tough, Rhystic Study doesn't get going. When someone's ready to go off, chances are they've already prepared to add an extra mana to the cost, and in a longer game like EDH, Stax is really super-irrelevant. Removal is everywhere, and even if I let you draw cards off Study in the early game, chances are the decks that play this card don't actually have the design necessary to make me pay for letting you do so. So if you won't stop playing it because I don't like it, maybe you should cut it for a Divination which you can time better to create tempo. That's what wins games.

4. Enter the Infinite
A friend of mine went off on this card in a 1v1 match against me a couple weeks ago. It was honestly the first time I'd played against this card, and seen it in a match. Overall, I just find it to be tiresome and boring. It turns decks into designs focused on trying to resolve this spell, and if that's what your deck does, make sure you have another deck to play next game. This card doesn't even secure an instant win a lot of the times, which is silly. Hopefully, you'll just be as bored as I am with this goofy combo.


3. Sorin Markov/Magister Sphinx
I'd hoped that maybe winning and losing to these cards might have people so bored that they'd try new things. However, in the past few months, I've seen these guys in action.

And let's be real right off the bat, Markovians- Unless you're super lucky, you're never playing either of his better abilities first.

Again, I get the reasoning. However, to me these cards signify a shortcut way for non-interactive players to continue to have little to no real meaningful interaction with other people. Cause if they're behind because they haven't done something all game, now all said player has to do is Diabolic Tutor for one of these and play it next turn.

Like I said. I get that people like these cards cause they keep you in the game. But wouldn't you just rather show up from the start, continuing to have ongoing interactions, versus not doing anything til Turn 6 or Turn 7, slamming one of these guys, and lame duck-ing your way to a lackluster victory? All wins are not created equal. The ones we work hardest for are the most fun. Neither of these cards are part of that paradigm.

2. Avacyn, Angel of Hope
I played this card for a little while, then ended up selling it because I was bored.

This is definitely a strong card made stronger by the upcoming rules changes. Now in multiplayer, people with Clones get to create Wrath-free board states, which makes this card almost "ban-able" when we consider what just happened with Trade Secrets. It's not collusion, but it's going to create ultramega stalemates that I'm not too fond of.

Stuff on the banned list often gets to be so because the RC doesn't like the way the game is then centered around a particular card. Prime Time, Grizzly-Bizzly, and Sundering Titan are all pretty decent examples of this. I predict this might be a thing for our brightest Helvault resident.

1. Exsanguinate
So many games are won on the back of this card now it's getting to be annoying. I played this card a lot when it first came out, and I have to say I am responsible for the reason it has infected my current playgroup.

Honestly, I'd much rather lose to Death to the Deathless (aka D to the D). It's a harder color combo to play anyway, and though it's absurd as a card, it makes a lot of sense.

I know being "bored" isn't exactly a reason to ban something, I just want people to take it out of their decks for a really long time, until I almost forget about it. Then you may play it again.

Till next time, practice drumming with one arm, start a fake fraternity, and for god's sake- don't let your friends play The Mimeoplasm.

-UL