Theros Set Review: Answers

Welcome back! I am Grandpa Growth and this is part two of the General Zone's set review of Theros. If you missed the first part, make sure you scroll all the way down and check it out. Today we are going to be discussing the answer cards in the set.

Answers cards are things you use to stop threats and thus stop your opponent from winning the game. They can also be answer to answers. Sometimes they can be preemptive disruption. Things like counterspells, creature removal, land destruction, discard effects, and hate cards all fall into the this category. Let's just jump right in and you can see for yourself.

We will kick things off with a flavorful top down design that is drawn directly from the myth of the titan Prometheus who, in punishment for stealing the secret of fire from the gods, was chained to a mountain for eternity and was constantly eaten by vultures, but never died.

As far as this removal spell goes, I am not a big fan. It is limited to being played only in the various combinations of Red and White, none of which are very appealing and there is NO competitive level deck that contains both colors. Depending on who you ask it is a legal maneuver to place any type of basic land card in your deck even if it doesn't match the color identity of your commander.

If this is an axiom that you support then you could just include a fetchable mountain in any brew containing White so that you would be able to then play this, but...well let's just say that might be going too deep. One drop removal is good, but it is good because it is cheap, convenient, and efficient. This card gets countered by Strip Mine. You don't have to make it this easy on your opponent.

I have a problem with the templating updates they had made in recent sets. Previously, removal like this or Oblivion Ring had two separate abilities that told you exactly what to do and when to do it. Maybe it was a bit wordy, maybe it had the unintended consequence of working a bit strange if the triggers got clogged up on the stack and the creature was gone forever, but it worked just fine. Now we have the current wording of "until blah blah leaves the battlefield." How is this in anyway better if we now need additional reminder text anyway?

Watch the video, that's all I can think about when I see this card. I just imagine it is Achilles and he is pointing at the beaches of Troy and the Myrmidon are just out of view to the left.

This card is really kind of a joke, it looks alright on the surface, but it's really pretty horrible. Bouncing the creature kills the aura. You have a big window to kill the creature a second time before the aura becomes reattached and it doesn't do anything if the creature is exiled from the battlefield or at instant speed while it is in the graveyard. It is probably just worse than making your creature Indestructible or giving it some sort of Shroud effect.

Huge flavor fail: The Gods are immortal. Which is modeled within the mechanics as having the Indestructible keyword. This, for some reason, works differently. Also, it literally says dies on the card. Immortal things don't die; that is was im-mortal means. This should be called gift of resurrection or revival or reconstitution or something. Just saying.

BAAAAAAACCCCCOOOOOONNNN!!!!!! This card is everything you wanted an a ham sandwich. It is a Sorcery, which sucks, but it is a Pongify that you can point at multiple creatures and the exile effect is always significant upgrade to every removal spell. The next time your opponent starts to breathe down your neck with a squad of giant brutes, tell them to stick a pork in it. I think you guys know I could do this all day, so we better just move on before things slip out of hand....because they are lubed up with bacon grease.

This is a potentially very powerful effect. Anyone who has ever played Condescend can attest to how sick it is to stop a threat and then top a great card on the Scry. If you aren't playing Condescend I really don't know that is wrong with you. Maybe this just isn't your game. Try Go Fish instead.

Only getting to Scry 1 is pretty lame; it gets exponentially more powerful the higher that number gets, but having a hard counter is a nice consolation. I will be giving this a try, but there are already plenty of better counterspells in print. It will have to take something better than this to make me trade in my Cryptic Commands for something new.

Remember everything I just said? Good, think about it while looking at this card, but now we will compare to Daze. This card is not as good as Daze. Free is way better than cheap...and for what you are getting, this card isn't exactly a bargain.

The only reason I bother mentioning it is to make a point about soft counters in Commander. People tend to think that they are bad because games always go long and you will have a bunch of extra lands, thus allowing you to pay huge sums of extra mana to defeat Mana Leaks, and Power Sinks, and so on.

Want to hear a secret? People never stop tapping out in Commander. Mana utilization is at its absolute peak in this format. Spells are ridiculously expensive and even Force Spike type effects will easily find targets. They tend to hit at the best possible times as well: People will leave up exactly enough mana for their counter spell or will wait to play a threat with counter backup, but will rarely consider the need to pay extra mana for said counter spell. Seasoned Legacy veterans will play around Daze LITERALLY every chance they get. Lucky for us, most people in a game of Commander are casual players and have zero discipline when it comes to this type of thing.

Usually counter spells say, "No." This one says a different word...and it is bird. Bird is the word. One mana counters are fantastic. Pretty much universally playable in every format. This one has much more flexibility than most, but it has a potentially serious drawback.

This will most likely stop it from seeing play in Legacy or Modern, which should keep the price down. In Commander a 2/2 isn't as relevant, but Flying is a huge bonus and the prevalence of equipment means you could just be trading one threat for another. I don't believe this is as strong as Spell Pierce, particularly because it can't stop Planeswalkers, but it shouldn't be too far behind.

YES!!! We got there! Instant speed planeswalker destruction with no drawbacks! I feel so fulfilled. This is flexible, powerful, efficient, and sure to cost a million dollars because it is going to be seeing a ton of play in virtually every format except Legacy where better options, albeit very few, are available. Not much else to say here. Get copies, play them. You won't be disappointed.



I don't always play Red, but when I do I play control. I play Volcanic Fallout. I play Pyroclasm. I play Slagstorm. I will play this as well.

Exiling is a nice bit of added value, but isn't really necessary since this will mostly be killing tokens and low-value utility creatures. It just doesn't do enough damage to kill the types of things that you would want to reanimate anyway. The format doesn't really need another Red token hoser, but options are always nice and this has much better flavor than the alternatives which does appeal to some (silly) people.


Well this is it. Short list from this set, but there were definitely some good cards and don't forget that there were plenty of reprints that would normally be discussed if they just had different names.

I am a huge fan of Hull Breach. This card is pretty far behind in terms of power, but there is always going to be a need for Artifact and Enchantment removal. Damage to the face isn't all that relevant, but this gives you a way to power up any Bloodthirst creatures you have or get a Rakdos, Lord of Riots into play.

I will be back soon with the final installment of the review: Utility and mana cards. I hope you are enjoying your week long celebration of all things Grandpa, see you soon!

Break Time

We're taking a little R&R day Zoners while Theros prerelease is underway.

We'll resume GG's Theros Set Review Tomorrow.

Till then, take 'er easy, Dudes. And may the gods be ever in your booster packs. 

-UL

Theros Set Review: The Legends

Earlier this week, Grandpa kicked off the set review with some of the better threats in Theros (say that five times fast).

Today though, we're going to take a quick break from GG's review and extend the conversation we had on the Stack last weekend about the Gods, and by extension, the rest of the Legends from Theros.

QUICK OVERVIEW

For those who haven't figured it out yet, I am a rankings slave. I love Top 5 lists almost as much as I love land.

Therefore, we're going to be doing this a little different than GG's card-and-chat style. Continuing in the same vein as last weekend's Stack installment, we've got my real ranks for the Gods, as well as some of the other newer options for Commanders out of Theros.

THE GODS, AND MY RANKINGS

I feel I may be repeating one of my TGZ homies, maybe even myself, when I say that I believe all of these cards are going to be played in Commander.

There are three main reasons why, and they're printed on every single card:

Indestructibility
Pretty self-explanatory, but in case you didn't hear what GG said about Fleecemane Lion on Tuesday, here's the gist. Mass Removal is much more prevalent in this format than the kinds of spot removal required to get these cards out of here.

Aggressive costs
The value is enormous. In general they provide a solid set of card advantage and function at a fraction of the price. We've also talked before about the CMC-to-P & T ratio. Devotion obviously makes this a little more "fair" in terms of these cards being creatures, but it still doesn't make up the difference. EDH is the big game format. Nothing's going to stop people from getting an attack with Devotion if you can help it.

Devotion
I have a feeling most people will be playing a preventative style game around the gods, keeping people off of the Devotion trigger to avoid Commander damage or extra beatings.

Let's be real though. Just the presence of one of these guys is good enough. We don't always play Commanders simply because we want to smash face with them. In fact, I'd argue the better decks in most metagames are probably ones where your Commander isn't smashing face every turn.

Also, remember that in the same way that Devotion may keep your Commander from being a creature, it also keeps your Commander from being exposed to the more commonly used pieces of spot removal in the format- Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile. This makes some of the Gods that need to be creatures a lot worse, but it makes most of them better.

The flexibility makes for some great design space too. The Gods that I ranked higher tended to be useful in either sphere, supporting designs that could manage both sides of devotion.

Gods Ranked as Commanders

5. Nylea, God of the Hunt
Again, this doesn't mean she's terrible, just comparatively not as good when compared to the other Gods. Having a 6/6 indestructible creature is good value- it just doesn't go too much further than that. She's definitely the one I most expect to show up as a creature. Green puts a lot of G's in their converted mana cost, and they tend to have more stuff on the table versus other decks.

As herself, she doesn't pose much of a threat though- even when devotion is activated. Most noticeably, she doesn't give herself Trample, which doesn't sit well with me. Also, opponents will have a field day interacting with her Devotion because of Wrath and having Disk/O-Stone effects sitting up on an opponent's turn. The bottom line is Nylea still needs dudes to win, and that's a plan that can be most easily dealt with if she's your Commander. In terms of Mono-Green, there's just better options for that.

4. Heliod, God of the Sun
Heliod is surprisingly not the worst here. It is a little more expensive for his tokens, but there's also some extra value to be had with some of the better white cards in the format. Serra's Sanctum and Ajani's Chosen provide great support and combo potential, and with access to other tutelage, this is a perfect "enchantment-themed" deck, if you're into that.

This is the one I'm most unsure about. If I'm playing against him, I don't think I care about whether or not he's a creature. His tokens aren't going to turn on Devotion either, and I find it hard pressed to think of a white card with four W's in its cost. That just doesn't exist.

I imagine this one being pretty mediocre overall. There's a Wrath/Tempo game that could be played, but it just involves too many White mana symbols, and it looks like a lot of work. Heliod's probably just another option in White for breaking Skullclamp.

3. Purphoros, God of the Forge
This is actually the card I'm most excited about, but he's gonna be so-so as a Commander. I'm still sure Krenko is a better to have for consistent token generating, but that's what Purphy's going to want to do. Whittle down life totals to enable aggro beats.

The upside is that he probably won't become a creature if all you're doing is making tokens- so removal isn't going to help your opponent so much. The bad news is you're still playing Red, which has a lot more ways to make tokens than it used to, but probably still isn't enough.

Overall, I think Hidetsugu is probably just quicker at doing this same thing- but if you like tokens, and you wanna take a shot, I think the space is there for this deck.

2. Thassa, God of the Sea
Probably going to be the most unfair, due to counterspell access to protect devotion and the ability to get there with Commander damage that you can send unblocked. With her Bident, all the scrying she does is incredibly efficient, and it inhibits an even more definitive mono-U Aggro-Control strategy than Thada Adel.

I really see no downsides. There's no fairness, and no way anyone wins a game against it without some serious battling. Gonna be almost too good. It doesn't have to commit to a serious amount of creatures like Azami does, so it can focus its threats and play a lot of counterspells while also getting damage in. Thassa is going to be featured in a metagame near you. I've already heard it said in mine.

1. Erebos, God of the Dead
Like GG, I'm also excited about this one. Consistent ways to stop incremental life gain is incredibly underrated, and will be great against mirror matches that rely on Exsanguinate. It's not Phyrexian Arena, but card draw is still card draw, and there's plenty of ways to make it up.

Of all the Gods, Erebos is the most equipped to handle the Devotion/Non-Devotion modes I was talking about. Being a 5/7 is sort of irrelevant when you're indestructible, but it's the highest toughness of all of them, so it seems a little better as a chump blocker. I'm guessing that this will be a big function when you tell everyone they can't gain life.

Having this in your Command Zone is a thousand times better than having to waste a tutor on it. The power of having relevant hate that's tough to deal with oozing and flowing out of this card.

Gods Ranked as Support Cards

5. Heliod, God of the Sun
Sure, he's more tutorable- but I can't find a situation where I want to waste a tutor on this. Multicolored decks aren't going to want to be friends with him any more than his home in mono-W. That tutor probably also wants to be another Land Tax, if that's the case.

Again, I'm really unsure how he's going to get played- and I think pre-sale values reflect accurately just how much weaker the card representing "Zeus" really is.

4. Nylea, God of the Hunt
Not being the center of attention helps Nylea's case a little bit. I'm unsure how Trample is going to be though, and here's why. Most Green decks are going to have access to this, so it might be redundant. Also, her chances of getting in for damage increase slightly, being that she's no longer threatening to kill someone with 21 damage.

3. Erebos, God of the Dead
Erebos gets worse as a support card, in my opinion. At four CMC, Erebos is the first card an Erebos EDH is probably going to play unless an opponent plays a relevant threat. He wants to be out and available as early as possible, and putting him in the deck versus making him a Commander doesn't help you much. Drawing cards and paying life are much easier to do early on in the game. Also, drawing into life gain is probably what you want to be doing anyway.

2. Thassa, God of the Sea
Thassa is the most reliable card, which is to be expected. Unlike Nylea and Heliod, Thassa is one of the most useable threats across color lines. Lots of decks would love access to her. She's tutorable with Zur and Transmute-able via Drift of Phantasms. It's stupid how good she is.

1. Purphoros, God of the Forge
So perhaps this is a little biased, but I think he will be one of the most welcomed additions to some of the weirder token and dude-based decks that have come out in the last couple years. Animar, Ruric Thar, Rosheen Meanderer/Wort, Rith, Krenko/Ib Halfheart, and the relatively new Anax and Cymede deck will all seriously value the extra damage. It's a sleeper, and kind of a stretch, but I think it is more of a need for these kinds of decks than Thassa is to whatever deck she fits into.

NOW, FOR THE REST OF THE SET...

We start with one we've had plenty of time to talk about.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Boros. Different people mean different things when they make a statement like this. Sometimes it means bias. If you were to hear GG say it, that usually means he wouldn't be caught dead playing it.

For me, saying "I'm not a big fan of Boros," will probably mean, "I'm really bad at playing this color combination. I need to improve."

I actually like A&C. Not sure I'll play it, but I think it's definitely a card people have not fully understood yet.

(Combat) Trick Voltron is much more possible than people realize yet. Several months ago I helped to design a fairly casual but pretty quick Lu Bu deck aimed at playing spells to pump up Lu Bu and give him extra combat phases, etc.

I see a good version of this deck being similar to Lu Bu, possibly quicker.


There's one thing we can like about this card, and none of these things can be found in Anthousa's text box. I really dig this art, and I'm sure someone's going to come up with a real hipster-y deck here, but seriously- don't try. This is extremely unplayable.

I'm even more skeptical about the flavor here. You're telling me that Anthousa, the very hero of Setessa, a woman that can hold two minotaurs in a chokehold, is AT BEST going to turn a few lands into creatures? And Wizards' plan was to PRINT THIS CARD?

This is the exact kind of card that would make me lose all my confidence in Chancellor Valorum, if he existed, and I was part of the Galactic Senate. I get that not all cards are things I'm supposed to like. I don't see why that sometimes means making cards no one wants to play.

And then we have the beatdowns.

Kids, this is the hero we need right now. I will be bringing him to a theater near me shortly after he comes out, and I'm relatively excited about it.

I liken Daxos to a potentially more abusive Thada Adel. Though his ability doesn't give you the opportunity to search for what you want, it's going to be a house against creature-heavy metagames.

The lifegain provides another great dimension for design space too. Equip this guy and go to work. He's going to be a house.

Faith restored. Onto the next lull in this rollercoaster ride.

Okay. Hythonia is not bad. Loved the artwork when I watched the Comic-Con presentation.

I just wanted it to be two colors- and I was hoping for some blue. The Mermaid tail had me hopeful. It'd be a whole lot more exciting, even if it was traditional Gorgon Black/Green.

Don't get me wrong. This is a quality threat. Wraths that create advantages for you are always welcome in my decks. Deathtouch furthers its presence as a "rattlesnake" card, either swaying opponents from attacking, or keeping blockers away early. Making her monstrous not only eliminates threats, but also puts your opponents on a short three-turn clock. And if you activate her during attacks, chances are that clock could be even smaller.

Perhaps the most unfair card they printed for Commander in this set is this- the most ageless of Sphinx Technology.

This is one I'm not particularly happy about for our cozy little Magic variant. I find it to be more offensive than the Gods.

Someone over at R&D is really pushing these oppressive U/W cards out like a fiend. Render Silent, Lavinia, and now Medomai.

I wish they'd spread the hate around a little. In my playgroup we talk a lot about the Timmy/Johnny/Spike aspect, and there's a working theory that there is a couple hidden player types.

If this theory is true, this is definitely a card for Dave, the "Asshole."

I like powerful cards, but this is just too much.

Speaking of which, it's time to talk about Wizards' latest fetish.

This is particularly exciting to me. I like a lot of the fight-style cards that Wizards has created, and I'm glad the two of us could find a nice compromise between their insatiable desire to make everything Hydra-powered, and my need for cool creatures that provide removal.

Polukranos also sports a great CMC-to-P/T ratio. I like him both as  support card main deck and a Commander. Recasting him in Green seems very likely, and with access to things that give him deathtouch, removal has never been so easy amongst those who favor Forests.

The one thing I don't get- Why this art over the one from Heroes vs. Monsters? This close-up is a little less endearing.

My Magic OCD kicked in on this one.

Let's run down the checklist:

Name: Triad of Fates.
Artwork: Has Three People In It.
Abilities: Three.
P/T: 3/3
CMC: 4

Do you see what's wrong with this picture? There's no argument in the 'verse that can convince me this would be so busted at 1WB. It still takes a two turns to create anything. Original Teysa is 1WB, even with all her annoying combos, and it's not encroaching on similar territory at all.

It hurts my heart to see this tragic flavor slip. Normally, I wouldn't be so up in arms about a CMC, but I think this one missed the boat. There's a big difference between 3-cost and 4-cost Commanders in non-green decks, and the Triad really need all the help they can get. Without access to something like Thousand-Year Elixir, Triad will be operating on two-turn blinks, which seems slow to me. And the only other card I can think of that has fate counters is Oblivion Stone, which is even more mana-intensive.

We'll see. I'm definitely interested in trying to prove these initial reactions wrong.

The name Murder King has such a horribly wonderful ring to it. Of all the names in this block, it's one of the cooler ones.

I also like the art. The gold masks really make this piece pop.

I'm mostly worried about the rest of the card. Competing with Lyzolda is no joke. She provides a ton of flexibility (creature or player damage, and drawing cards), including the fact that the change in the sacrifice mechanic hurts Tymaret's chances at edging the Blood Witch out for control of Rakdos beats.

I see Tymaret as a decent support card, acting as a worse Lyzolda in her decks, as well as a mediocre Zombie Tribal deck or an engine-creator for Sedris Unearth builds. Nothing more.

That's what we got for today.

Per usual, we love to know what you like and don't like about what we say. So speak up if you've got an opinion.

Stay tuned as we continue to talk Theros through the weekend.

Until then, strive to be the Hero we deserve. Not the one we need right now.
-UL

All the memes in this post remixed with little success by Uncle Landdrops

Theros Set Review: Threats

Welcome to The General Zone's Review of Theros! It's me, your ol' Grandpa Growth and I very excited to discuss the new cards from this set.

From the first day of spoiler season we were put on notice that this set was going to be a run away hit. It is dripping with succulent flavor. It breaks new mechanical ground and innovates on the mono-color-matters theme, which we haven't seen for years.

On sheer power level it is an instant competitor for G.O.A.T., including three brand new planeswalkers, five wicked cool God cards, a new cycle of dual lands, and tons of tournament quality cards sure to impact every format.

This set is a designer's dream, two scoops of popular reprints like Magma Spray and Thoughtseize, the return of a fan favorite mechanic in Scry, card cycles at every rarity, and fresh takes on Enchantment themes including previously unexplored card type combinations.

Basically, this set has it all. The best of everything about the game of Magic: the Gathering. I am bursting with excitement for this set, it is easily in my top 5 and I haven't even cracked my first pack!

Ground Rules
Let's go over the basics in case you haven't caught any of the previous set reviews. Around these parts we break it down like this:

1. This blog is about Commander. 
I will only talk about a card in the review if I expect it to have at least some Commander playability. Unless otherwise stated, the comments I make about any particular card are specifically geared toward the Commander format.

2. I will not discuss any reprints, only new cards, nor will we be talking about any of the Legendary Creatures.
It seems like that would be important stuff for a format that revolves completely around them, but fear not! check out Uncle Landdrops article where he will be talking about each of the new potential commanders in greater detail.

3. The articles will be broken down into categories not by card color or type, but by what role they play in decks. 
Threats, Answers, and Utility/Mana cards each get their own article. Because I want to give each new card a chance in the spotlight these articles can sometimes get pretty lengthy so bear with me.

Threats
Threat cards are what you use to kill your opponent or to put pressure on their resources. They are often the creatures and planeswalkers of the set, but occasionally take other forms like Reanimate effects or even some disruption. Some combo pieces fall into this category while others do not, but the explanation of why is obviously important. Without further preamble let's check out some cards!

Since I am just going to gloss over Celestial Archon, the new Elspeth is the first card on the block. This lady isn't messing around. A CMC of six isn't really a draw back in Commander. If this turns out to be a bust in Standard I would be happy; that will keep the price tag at a reasonable level.

This card is very scary in Commander. It just generates a ton of value every turn. Its tough to see this making less than six tokens on average and that is a lot of free creatures for a card that can also act as one-sided Wrath. The ultimate? Maybe not ultimate. Maybe...penultimate. Who cares?

There are plenty of token based strategies in the format and this card fits right into several popular decks. Ghave, Rhys, even fringe junk decks like Doran or Sen Triplets can use another planeswalker. Having a huge and immediate impact on the board is a surefire way to score points with me.

I am digging the new art as well. Elspeth now with a spear...lance? Maybe even a double bladed sword. Whatever. It looks sick. Eric Deschamps still making solid works that give the game a beautiful face. I really like the background landscape. It looks like it is calling back to the Unglued Island artwork, which you can see here: B00M! Maybe a sweet crossover in order with Chickens and Donkeys and all mana of silliness.

There are plenty of cards like this already available in the format that don't see a whole lot of play. The new legend rules affect Commander in a very interesting way.

Previously, Blue could use Clone effects as spot removal for Legends, which made them very powerful and very versatile. Now they are less appealing as a whole, but some of them are worth playing.

I don't know if this one has what it takes to make it, but I am not going to call it early. Heroic presents interesting challenges for deck building. I think this is one of the worst Heroic cards in the set simply because it does still suffer substantially if they have removal in response to the trigger, but once you get this into the shape of a Hexproof guy then you are pretty much in business.

This card has been given the juice. For four mana you get at least four power and one of those bodies has a relevant protection ability. If you have something like Future Sight or Mind Over Matter chilling on the board then this guy provides an entire army for a bargain price. Blue token cards are somewhat rare and they are rarely this good. This is an offensive powerhouse that is sure to get in some surprise beats.

Unfortunately, this card has a huge vulnerability to spot removal and can't trade profitably because the tokens won't stick around, but this card should still see plenty of play in Aggro-Control decks like Edric.

Enter Meletis Charlatan. Many of my comments about Artisan of Forms also apply here. There are plenty of other cards that have similar effects already available. This isn't exceptional among them and it isn't that strong of a card on it's own. Some upsides: it doesn't require a down payment on of cards or mana like Elite Arcanist and Echo Mage. Downsides: It doesn't allow you to take much advantage of your opponent's spells. It is still multiplayer friendly in theory, but it is just a little bit too friendly for my tastes. I think this one is better left at home, but I am sure I will see it pop up every once in a while.


UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!!! Just what I always wanted: another big silly Blue monster. Giant sea creatures figure prominently in Greek mythology and we all knew there would be several coming in this set.

I like the flavor and art on display in this card. It is a big beast, but when it goes monstrous it shuts the whole board down until they get rid of it. Without built in protection, investing eight mana is an easy way to get blown out, but in conjunction with Shroud, perhaps from a set of Greaves, this could represent a legitimate win condition.

There sure are a bunch of token producers in this set. There is a similar uncommon six drop in White as well. The advantage here is that for an extra colorless mana and the upkeep drawback, you get a 6/6 with Flying and all of the tokens it produces Fly as well.

This is the kind of card that will really only shine in EDH, and it's the perfect place for it. There are several mono Black generals that support the token sacrifice theme, such as Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder.

This plays well with Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter as well. In a generic junk deck this card won't be all that exciting, it is a pretty mediocre finisher and doesn't have any significant upside versus Grave Titan, except perhaps that it will never command a high price tag so it will get consideration in budget conscious lists.

This is an interesting card to me. On the one hand, Black has too few Buyback or Retrace cards that can even trigger the Heroic ability. On the other hand, it is an aggressive threat with the potential to clear away blockers and provide card advantage. I am skeptical that this will see mainstream play unless some absurd Heroic enablers get printed, but I am genuinely unsure about the power of the mechanic in general. It could be that I am underrating it significantly.

Power uncommon of the set. It is almost like a Black Overrun. Essentially all of your Black creatures get Haste and evasion. It reminds me of Profane Command. Every mode on that card is powerful, but the Fear mode makes for a powerful finisher. This effect just gives you so much reach late in the game. Sneaking through 5 or 6 decent size creatures is going to represent a boat load of damage.

In the M14 set review I talked about the rising power of mid-range creatures. That trend seems to have continued into Theros as well. This is a sizeable body with the promise of late game disruption. Getting a 7/8 on a board where you just wiped about a third to a half of your opponents lands is going to put you in the drivers seat.

Monstrous is a mechanic I can really get behind for use in every format. These cards have been aggressively costed to begin with and have the promise of added value later if you flood out on mana. The uncommon Gorgon that lets you pick off one of your opponents dudes when it powers up is a great example. If you are stuck on playing creatures, play these ones. They all turn into serious damage threats and often provide extra utility by attacking on a different axis once they are monstrous.

...Or they just do even more damage. This card got carried away with itself. Sometimes I am reading a card and I have no choice but to think that R&D considers me an idiot. I find my self thinking: "Yea, I get it, Red likes to do damage. This is going to be a very relevant card in Standard where a particular five power Hasty dragon already sees play.

I don't think this is quite as good as Thundermaw, but it is likely to be the chosen successor in Red based aggressive builds. Protection from White is relevant, even if Restoration Angel and Lingering Souls are rotating.

The monstrous trigger is an excellent way to punish Sphinx's Revelation, but I guess I just rather be the guy with a bunch of extra cards and a few less life most of the time. Pretty much everything I just said also applies in Commander. Don't fall into traps like this. Drawing cards is good. Mono Red is bad.

This competes somewhat favorably with cards like Cloudthresher and Stingerfling Spider. It is sure to supplant Silklash Spider in non-combo Momir Vig builds.

The fact is a giant beater is nice, but Green has plenty of options superior to this if that's what you are looking for. As part of a toolbox this has some limited uses, but the vulnerability to removal and the high blowout potential make me think that this isn't useful as an answer to Flyers.

On a separate note, Monstrous should grant Trample by default. That just seems like a given to me. Look at this thing. It shouldn't even be able to get blocked by small things at all.

Oh yeah, time to lower the boon on somebody fool. A four power Flash guy for three isn't all that bad, but not all that exciting either. An instant speed combat trick aura thing has absolutely no place in the format whatsoever. Play this at your own risk. It isn't worth getting embarrassed over.

Can't be countered. Can't be Mind Controlled. It can get Bribed though. You tell me how the flavor works. This is a reasonably efficient creature with sufficient built in protection to see some limited play. It really isn't anything that great, but there is always a market for creatures that trump counterspells. It is good early and late. I can see the value in a line like say, cast it for x equal to three, then play and equip a sword the next turn.

The real trouble with these uncounterable 'Blue hate' cards is that they aren't enough of  a threat on their own.

The counterspells will hit something eventually so they will always be good, but a creature like this has to kill very quickly or else it will just get blanked by a bigger threat or caught in a board sweep.

Free damage, usually even a good bit of it, isn't worth falling behind on cards by playing underpowered threats that can't dominate the board. Haste does give this a good shot at ending the game immediately if top decked late. An X over 10 is going to put you far enough ahead on life that basically anything makes for a reasonable follow up.

Remember that time that they printed Wight of Precinct Six and it was just a cheap Black Tarmogoyf? Well now it is back in Green and is basically always going to be a 10/10. Ghoultree does see play just for being a crazy efficient beater. Stuff like this is insane post board sweep in decks like Animar or Karador. It will always come down with some kind of discount. All the draw backs I discussed above apply here. It tanks to removal and sweepers, doesn't have trample, and can be countered or stolen. Unlike the Hydra though, this card is reliably cheap and aggressive.

This card...is not good. I know it looks good, but compare to something like Dungrove Elder or Wild Beastmistress. This isn't as big and doesn't do as much, but still costs the same. If you want a goofy beater that dies to Doomblade, you have better options. See above. Or below. Basically anywhere.

Apparently there are a lot of creatures in this set that just want to smash face and don't care about anything else. This characteristic is acceptable in one and two drops. Anything more than that and I start expecting more from my creatures. This could easily be a 4 or 5 power guy on turn 4. Which represents a lot of damage if you're into that kind of thing. I have had my fill of talking about these cards. I won't be playing them and I will be happy to play against them as much as I can. This card is about 30 power short of beating Wrath of God.
People are going to talk about whether or not this is better than Angel of Despair.

It's better. Clearly. More importantly though- who cares? That card sees an absurd amount of play and is a fan favorite. This fights Indestructible things (it's not like there are any of those in this set or anything) and generates even more value.

It still has a very reasonable cost for its impact on the board and there are just not enough of this kind of quality removal to be picking and choosing. Play both. Every time you can. Be happy about ruining your opponents board and smashing them with an incidental beater.


This card is pretty easily the worst pdub in the set. Not a big deal. It still pretty sweet and plays nicely with some popular casual themes in the format.

It doesn't do anything for the board, but it does go up to 5 loyalty immediately and should almost always be able to grab a creature after the second activation.

This also doesn't represent much of a threat so it is a bit more likely to get ignored than a more aggressive or impactful planeswalker. It is still pretty sweet to have laying around on an empty board or in a board stall and the bar for what a 3 cmc planewalker needs to do really isn't that high.

I talked about this card last weekend in my spoiler article so I won't get into too much detail about it this time around, but I do want to reiterate how scary this card is to me both in terms of its play value and what it means for design.

R&D is getting closer and closer to make a threat that literally just can't be answered. It took a long time to get Indestructible and Hexproof onto a single creature, but if in the future a creature like this ever gets uncounterability then what? Do I just pack up my fun and go home?

There are enough high quality equipments and auras that this card is just unbeatable once it gets powered up. I guess this is what I deserve for making fun of creatures all the time. Sooner or later they were going to print one that was so good I actually had to play it.

If you go for the bull's eye my friend, you're going to get the horns. I am so down for minotaur tribal. It really bothers me that the most heavily supported creature types like elves and vampires continually get support in every new set, but other flavorful fantasy creatures get hardly any at all.

This card is a little bit to expensive to be competitive, but it is still cool. A casual card that scratches a very needy itch. Hopefully this is a signal of future fun creature type lords in the future.

This is substantially worse than Eternal Witness, but you could say that about 99% of Magic cards and be completely correct. Stuff like this is always underrated. Increases in flexibility often overshadow decreases in power level or marginal const increases. This is way better than Gravedigger in your typical game of Magic and getting stuff out of the Graveyard is a key part of many Commander deck's strategy.

I am excited for the future sets in the block. There have been hints at several most named characters. These will almost certainly be most legendary creatures, but could potentially be additional God cards as well. Maybe even something like a demigod card. Maybe the demigods start as creatures and become indestructible enchantments if your devotion is high enough. That would be pretty sweet no? Other potential ideas: Cthonic gods. Jeeeeeeez.

So, the 4/4 Cyclops has Trample, but the 6/6 Giant doesn't? This card is an egregious flavor foul for me.

Partly because the flavor of an Enchantment Artifact or an Enchantment creature doesn't make any sense to begin with. If it is a magical device, it is an Artifact. It might be enchanted, but then it should have Enchantment Aura on it. Same for creatures. That is what it means to be enchanted. That is the flavor established by Aura cards.

Polis Crusher crushes cities. Pretty obvious. Why then does he destroy Enchantments? They aren't even enchantments or artifacts. Usually they are lands, actually. Ember Swallower should be named Polis Crusher. Polis Crusher should be called Aura Swallower.

I don't blame design or development. This isn't their job. The creative team, though. I want all of them retrained. They don't understand English. I hope that the localization teams in different countries make cards like this work in other languages. Also, this card isn't really worth playing.

Momir Vig decks have gotten so much better in the last two years. This is pretty insane. Not only do they get another Seedborn Muse, they get a Seedborn Muse that triggers both of Momir's abilities.

Oh, and all of your dudes have Flash. Because fairness. This is an extremely powerful card. If it had a home in more decks it would be much more scary, but the fact that really only RUG and UG can take advantage of this.

I don't see any Bant generals that were in desperate need of this, but Maelstrom Wanderer, Animar, Riku, and Momir can all make excellent use of this gem of a card. Pick up your copies now, this will figure into Commander for years to come.

This on the other hand...is very disappointing. It is way to expensive for such a narrow card and you still have to pay the mana to cast the chosen card later. Where is the value?

If you want to disrupt their hand, play Thoughtseize. If you wanted to disrupt their graveyard this would need to be an Instant or exile the whole thing.

I am seeing this as like an Instant for just UB with the same text box. Or perhaps with the same type and mana cost, but you get the chosen card from their hand and their entire graveyard and you can cast all of them for mana, or maybe just one of them for free right now as part of the spell's resolution. This is just very bad. Don't play this.

GO GO GORGON TRIBAL! Hexproof has made some very bad creatures very good. And also some pretty sweet creatures absurd, but about the former: Don't underestimate the incremental value of the Scry effect. This is a big body for the cost, provides a long term advantage, can't get hit with removal, and can trade up at any point.

I am not sure what kind of deck wants this, but it is a decent card. Sisters of Stone Death Gorgon Tribal deck. Savra, sacrifice decks. Maybe even Sek'kuar token decks.

Graveyard hate has gotten pretty spicy in the past couple of sets. It is now aggressively costed and attached to a nearly unblockable and gigantic beater.

This is an excellent tool for aggressive decks. They will almost assuredly have to kill it because they cannot block it. If you are up against a slower control deck you are almost guaranteed to have lost more creatures during the course of the game which means you're going to get a fully stocked hand of duders with which to continue the beat down. And it is a Cerberus. It guards the underworld, so you can't get things out of graveyards, but when it dies all the people can escape their eternal torment. This is good flavor. On a good card. Wowee zowee.

Phew. Finally to the end! And I saved a spicy one for last. This card looks sweet. It isn't in a very attractive color combination for Commander, but it certainly has the goods. It helps you ramp up your mana and will almost assuredly help you jump a few spots on the curve, but it also gives you a progressively larger army of Hasty beaters the longer it stays in play.

This compares favorably with many quality planeswalkers that already see plenty of play in EDH such as: Garruk Wildspeaker and Sarkhan Vol. The ultimate isn't exactly insane, but it should put you up at least a few cards, even if some of those are lands. That isn't so bad though, because you can almost always find something to do with extra mana in a game of Commander.

Just imagine if you play this and make a guy, next turn you are at 6 mana with no real investment. This card is well positioned in several formats and will command a decent price tag for the foreseeable future. Play them if you got them and hang onto them if you can. This will have a place in Commander for a while.

That brings us to the end of today's installment. If you think I left anything out make sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.  There is still plenty more Theros to talk about so tune in next time when we will be going over the Answer cards.

Theros Spoileez Part 2

Welcome back Zoners'. Grandpa Growth here. Spoiler season is in full swing and more than half the set has been spoiled, including most of the mythics and rares! Some exciting stuff has been previewed so far and I want to share some first impressions.

I am going to try and take a look at some of the legendary creatures since I won't get a chance to talk about them in the set review. This guy is obviously very powerful. Extra turns are easily abused and often lead to completely imbalanced game states. Getting them for free sounds like a surefire way to break a game wide open. Not only do you literally generate additional tempo you also get twice as many combat steps and draw twice as many cards. Many commanders are scary with a pair of lightning greaves in play, but this could mean game over if not answered immediately. A few hits from this guy will sew up just about any game. I expect to be seeing plenty of this guy around the Commander tables.


Out of all of the God cards spoiled, I am most excited for this one. This has the perfect price tag to be dangerous. Greed is a underplayed and only slightly underpowered card. Some bonus riders are just what it needs to reach mainstream playability, like say...being an Indestructible 5/7. And your opponents can't gain life? Sure, why not? Drawing extra cards will help you commit more permanents to the board to raise your Devotion, but will also help you avoid getting blown out by mass removal. Black cards should also have easy time building your devotion up to five because of the characteristically heavy color requirements on popular cards such as Necropotence and Phyrexian Arena (can you tell I like drawing cards?). In order to beat these God cards you are basically looking at using tuck effects, of which there are very few. Exiling them once they turn into creatures isn't much of a problem, but they are so cheap that it will be purely academic. Eventually they will run out of exile effects and each of these cards plays very well in attrition situations. The Theros Gods will dramatically alter the Commander landscape, expect to see them just about everywhere.



I have to jump off the train for a second here. This card is a house. I am calling it now: this is the Green Jitte. It just offers so much flexibility. Each of these options has relevance in a typical game situation and even just gaining three life a turn when nothing important is happening should give you a great advantage in the long term. The 'primary' mode gives all of your little duders Deathtouch which is absolutely huge. It lets you trade up for nearly any of your opponents creatures on offense and gives you a nearly impenetrable defense in a board stall. With the abundance of token effects in this color you can start pumping out DIY Deadly Recluses and sending green Doomblades at your opponents grill. Pretty nasty. Of all the cards in the set this is the one I am most excited to get my hands on.


How do you ever kill it? Why?! Why is it so ridiculous? This card has been given the juice...and then was juiced a little more. I have been quoted as saying that a pure beater isn't usually good enough in cut it in EDH. Life totals are so high that small amounts of incremental damage aren't as appealing. This card looks like it could change my mind on a few things. If it goes monstrous its pretty much there for good. It will be the only thing left after every board sweep, giving you the opportunity to get in a bunch of free hits even later in the game. It can block almost anything for the entire game and Hexproof will let you hook up auras and equipment with impunity. This card is kind of out of hand. I have some serious mixed feelings about this guy. This card may not be as scary as I am imagining, but it could very well change the way that Magic in Standard and Legacy...maybe a little bit dramatic, but if Tarmogoyf were a bit smaller in exchange for being completely immune to removal would that cause quite a shake up?


 Okay, back to the fancy new legends! This card looks super sweet. Tough to block, provides steady card advantage, and should give you a healthy boost in life. Even just hitting a couple extra land drops off of this would be plenty of value to satisfy me, but can you imagine flipping cheap removal? It gets even more silly if you snag a high impact cards like Solemn Simulacrum or Jace, TMS. There are sure to be a lot of new potential generals so this may not see as much play as it deserves, but keep an eye on this guy.


This is the last card I'm going to talk about today and it is definitely an interesting one. Getting to repeatedly Oblation your opponent's creatures is a pretty sweet deal, especially when it doesn't cost you a card to do so. It can also provide a steady source of card advantage by re-triggering ETB effects and acting like a walking Skullclamp. Black/White is an interesting color combination and one that could use a few more generals to choose from. This is certainly a welcome addition to the the format, but I am not quite sure where it is going to fit in yet.


Well, that's all for today Zoners! Be sure to check back next week for TGZ's set review of Theros!