Reviewing 2014: GG's Picks

Hello and welcome to the final In General of 2014! All this month I have been looking back at the past year of set reviews on the blog; discussing some of my most and least accurate card evaluations. Today, we continue to review my personal performance. This time looking at the best and worst articles of 2014.

Favorite Post on the blog: Grandpa's Pauper Cube

In many ways I did not have a great year. For the first time since I joined the team here I missed a post. I also totally fumbled the rollout on a bunch of new content that I promised, but never could deliver. However, in other ways I think the year went very well.

In General had a great year. My core business, if you will, is this weekly column. Which, I have kept strong and reliable. The topics have varied widely, as have my motivations and interests, but the core principle of the column is that I bring something new each week: a format you haven't played, a concept you've never heard of, a dynamic that you haven't explored. I always want In General to be about breaking new ground. Showing and growing and churning and burning each week to inspire and edify. I had some innovative articles this year with equally punny titles. Here are just a few:

Vehicular Card Slaughter
Fashion is Danger
Journey to the Center of the Deck

But the best, the absolute cream of the crop this year had to be my month long saga about Pauper Cube. The old saying goes that home is where the heart is. And I know it is true with me. Whenever I drift away to new formats or new decks I am always drawn back to one place. Designing, playing, and maintaining my Pauper Cube keeps me playing Magic. It has kept me from walking away from the game. When you don't have a reliable test partner or a regular play group, what do you do? If you're like me you just dig around in your collection staring at cards for what seems like hours (and many times actually IS hours).

Debating with myself the merits of including Negate over Essence Scatter kept me interested in Magic and it kept my mind focused on the game in times where I easily could have just gone to do something else. It is my Magic muse. It is my baby. It is the most fun and the biggest challenge that I've had with the game. It is my crowning achievement and I was overjoyed at the chance to share it on the blog.

Least Favorite Post: SNAP KEEP?! (all of them)

Unfortunately, things didn't quite turn out as I had planned for the blog this year. I had ambitious goals to expand our posting schedule, add new content, and commit to increasing both our audience and internet presence. Between having to replace my computer, moving to a new city, and starting a new career, I just wasn't able to invest the same amount of time into the blog that I had promised.

I am officially calling SNAP KEEP my worst failure of the year, but the entire expanded content schedule including: news, Ill-Gotten Games, and You Make the Pick all fell flat (and then off the map). These are ideas that I still want to implement, but the future doesn't look like it is going to get any less hectic for me. Perhaps, if we had more resources and staff we could make this a reality...


Favorite Set Review: Khans of Tarkir Utility and Mana

Khans of Tarkir really does have it all. This set was juiced to the wall and there is no way to hide it. It has new players and old fans alike singing its praises. It has constructed powerhouses in every color. It has a surprisingly rich limited format which is a blast to play. Khans brought back tons of great ideas from Magic's past and tuned them up with brand new functionality. My personal favorite twist on what is now becoming a running theme is Villainous Wealth.


Worst Set Review: Born of the Gods Threats

Basically nothing about the cards in this article was good. In fact, the only card from BotG that generated any buzz at all was Kiora, the Crashing Wave and that buzz wore off very quickly; she hasn't seen much play at all in any format.

I don't think that the writing was particularly poor, but I do think that the Creatures in this set were mediocre and forgettable. Unfortunately, that opinion really showed through in the writing. It is just tough to get excited in that kind of situation and when I am not excited about Magic, something is definitely going wrong.

That's all for this week year folks. Enjoy the holiday season and all of its glory: time off from work, good food, family, fun in the snow (not available in all areas). I am off next week, but I will return triumphantly in 2015 with my New Year's resolution article! Happy holidays Zoners.

-GG

You Make the Pick Live! Theros Block - Born of the Gods

It is time for part two of You Make the Pick Live! On Monday we kicked things off by opening a pack of Journey Into Nyx. Today we continue our mock Theros block draft with Born of the Gods! As a refresher, the link to Monday's video can be found: Here. Enjoy the video and be sure to check back Friday for the final installment with Theros.

In General: The BotG Conversion Chart

Hello and welcome to In General. Every Sunday on The General Zone I, Grandpa Growth, write a column about higher level topics. Fundaments of strategy, psychology, theory, and player trends. In a departure from the norm, today I will be talking about specific cards.

Theros block has had a significant impact on the Commander format. Entirely new decks have been born to take advantage of the Devotion mechanic, as I discussed at length last week. Today, I will follow up on that article by sharing what I call a conversion chart. Every time a new set comes out, I comb through the spoilers for the cards that I believe will make immediate entrances into my favorite formats. These cards are usually updated versions of older cards, being either stronger, cheaper, or more versatile than their spiritual predecessors. To clarify I will present an easy example, sans context.



Triton Shorethief shares the same mana cost, but adds a second relevant sub-type and increased toughness. For all intents and purposes, Merfolk of the Peal Trident is strictly worse, effectively being obsoleted by the printing of Shorethief. So as a new set is released I will look to obtain copies to replace Merfolk of the Pearl Trident wherever I was using it. The conversion chart is the complete list of all such replacements that I want to make for a given set, but it is important to note that I don't only replace older cards with newer ones. As I will demonstrate, it is important to think about how new cards will affect the standing of other related cards. Specifically, the God cards in Theros block made certain kinds of removal less desirable so I will look to replace them with more effective alternatives from previous sets in response to the new threats.

If you're thinking this is pretty basic, you're right. These types of changes have already been detailed by Magic writers and thinkers all over the internet. This isn't new or unique, merely a collection of my own thoughts, scribbled into one space for others to share. For reference the obsolete card is on the left, the card replacing it will be on the right. Some cards that fit the theme of 'spiritual sequels' have been intentionally left off because the format hasn't yet reached saturation with this type of effect and both it and its predecessor will be played alongside one another. E.g. Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya. Also, this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you think something deserves mentioning, make sure to let me know in the comments below. Share the tech, share the wealth. That's quite enough preamble. Let's look at the chart:






These cards fit the role of being Black token hosers and, while they individually only see very limited play in Commander, it is worth noting that superior options have become available. Although, I feel obligated to point out that in both cases the flavor text has gotten DECIDEDLY worse.

Both Day of Judgment and Hallowed Burial are cards that have been on the fringe of playability in my decks for quite some time, despite being generally accepted by the format at large. Now, with the addition of serious pressure to build around the Gods, I have found myself with no real choice in the matter. I simply MUST play Hallowed Burial because it can answer the Gods and I can't afford to play Day because it doesn't.



I have made a habit of including Vengeance in decks for a long time as s way of hedging my bets. I despise playing situational answers. I want to know my opponents and have the right answers for their threats. In most cases that means just playing more general, more versatile removal. The Cycling ability adds extra flexibility for when I don't need a sweeper. Unfortunately, now I have other things to worry about. Specifically, I am more worried about being able to answer the Gods than I am about incidentally answering random Artifacts and Enchantments.




















I want to note, I don't actually play Naturalize in any deck, this is more of a general commentary: I am going to discontinue playing all Artifact/Enchantment removal that can't answer God cards in play. I already dedicate very few slots in any given deck to this type of effect and I can't afford to waste them on cards that aren't going to be effective against the format's threat du jour.




















Similarly, I am much more worried about answering a God card in play than I am about busting peoples chops for taking to much time to rearrange their library with Sensei's Divining Top. I always felt cheaky and clever when I 'got' people with Grip, but things have changed and so must my decks. At least for the time being...



This is mostly a consideration for Pauper, where I will be switching in copies of Fall of the Hammer in both Commander decks and my Pauper Cube.



Again, this is a general commentary about moving away from niche removal. At this point I would rather have a worse card that can at least interact with the Gods in some way, even if it isn't ideal.

Well, there you have it Zoners. Those are the general changes I making in my decks to combat the new tech in BotG. I hope you enjoyed the look inside of your old Grandpa Growth's decks. If you have thoughts on these changes or if you want to talk about the changes you are making in your own decks, share your thoughts in the comments. Till next week Zoners!
-GG

You Make the Pick 5

Hey Zoners! Welcome to another You Make the Pick. This is a short weekday segment where I show you a booster pack, tell you the story behind it, talk about the cards, share what my pick would be, and then you guys let us know in the comments what you would take.

Last weekend was Pro Tour Born of the Gods, if you missed out on any of the coverage then you should definitely go check it out on dailymtg.com. They have text coverage, decklists, player interviews, video of every feature match, and also: a draft viewer, where you can see every pick from every seat in the exciting Theros block team draft format. There was a draft tech on day one of the coverage featuring Hall of Famer William 'Huey' Jensen. He was at the table drafting with other notable names like Travis Woo and fellow HoF member Antione Ruel. This is what Huey saw for his first pick of the draft on day one of the Pro Tour:



It is pretty interesting to step inside the mind of a Magic pro, especially one of the all-time greats. So here we have a playable rare in Fated Intervention, which is strong, but not crazy good and requires a heavy Green commitment. Drown in Sorrow is a decent card, but hard to abuse in booster draft. Black happens to be one of the better colors in Born of the Gods and the flat out best in Theros in my opinion. Staking a claim early could be very profitable if you see some Gray Merchants later in the draft. This format seems to be a little faster than triple Theros, so having a sweeper might come in handy if you plan on drafting a slower strategy. Aerie Worshipers is also pretty incredible in limited and a fine pick here, although Blue is weaker in Born of the Gods. That could be good or bad because it might actually scare other drafters away from the color. Most all of the commons are pretty bad, the only one worth talking about is the Bolt of Keranos.

That just so happens to be what Huey took from the pack. Starting off with a removal spell is a great idea and Red a strong color in all three packs of this format. Taking the bolt here will send a signal that Red isn't open since the next best card is...well yea there isn't another Red card worth taking early. I think that I would probably have taken the Drown in Sorrow because I really like Black, but he is the Pro and I am the chumpy community author. The only real question left to ask is...what would you take?

You Make the Pick #4

Welcome, welcome! Grandpa Growth back here with another You Make the Pick! I think the great internet recession of 2014 is behind me now so I will be able to get back to a more regular posting schedule. You Make the Pick is a fun, bite-sized, mid-week segment where we look at a booster pack. I will talk about the merits of certain cards and explain what I think the pick should be, but then I hand it over to you guys! Sound off in the comments with what you would take.

Now, weeks ago I promised that there would be new YMTP segments once Born of the Gods came out...and then I dropped off the map. BUT NOW I'M BACK BABY! BotG has come out on MtGO and the ques are firing! It is time to crack open some booster packs and draft! Let's take a look here at a fresh pack:



Straight away I am thinking about the rare. Black was a very strong color in Theros, so staking a claim in Black with pack one could pay big  dividends later in the draft! Aside from that the pack is very weak, there is a solid Black uncommon in Forlorn Pseudamma, which could potentially put one of the players to our left in Black as well. That wouldn't be ideal, but the other options are not very exciting. Pheres-Band Raiders is a decent incentive to play Green and a decent card to ramp into, but there are definitely better cards in the format. This pack is so shallow that we can't expect to wheel anything reasonable.

Not much else to say; this pack is pretty cut and dried. It is always good to ease back into the swing of things once you have taken some time off. So now you know what I would pick, the only question left is...what would you take?

Five Cards I'm Playing From Born of the Gods

Heya Zoners! Weekend Greetings to all!

With yesterday marking the official release of the second Theros block, it's high time we talk about my favorite highlights and question marks of my BotG pre-order.

5. Courser of Kruphix

It might just be me, but it seems like the only god worthy of playable disciples is Kruphix. His prophet is powerful, and so is this guy.

I'm not going to dwell on GG's assessment, because I think this card is one of the better cards in the set for all the game play knowledge Grandpa dropped in the review.

Still, this guy is a Centaur. And a moderately cool-looking one at that. Two things that Magic has been real antsy about making interesting in its illustrious history.

On the flip side, his enchantment typing is bittersweet. I love the border, hate the "this dies to Naturalize" that comes with it.

Kudos to Eric Deschamps, who rarely disappoints and often gets his work on the money cards. May the odds be ever in his favor? 

4. Champion of Stray Souls

Champion of Stray Souls is the best spelling and redux of an already existing card named "Conjurer's Closet."

Welcome to ETB abuse 2.0, which comes in the form of creature, kills things in the name of awesome, and doesn't have to die if you don't want it to. 

This obviously goes without saying, but I think these are all successful ways to define a card that calls itself a Champion.

Like Courser, I'm a fan of this card design top-down. Sweet art, name, affordable cost, ripe for abuse, and ripe for re-abuse, if the price is right.

There are always a few cards in each set that have a solid feel and design to them. They are the kinds of creatures and spells that have flavor, power, and bring exciting elements to the game that push the multiple axes by which we can interact. These are the cards I most enjoy, and I'm hoping this will be one of them. 

3. Unravel the AEther

My first response when this was spoiled was an emphatic fist pump followed by a "Hell Yes!" 

The Theros release party was actually more of a coming out party for Deglamer, as reasonable Commander players everywhere where running on the bank to get ways to deal with the Gods.

So I thank the Gods (Well, let's call them the "R&Dieties") we got a functional reprint of Deglamer. I look forward to beating face on all future Swords, Gods, and other pesky noncreature nonsense.

Get your playset. It's worth the $.40 you spend on it.

2. Archetype of Imagination

So far, I've written pretty glowing reviews about my favorite Top 5 BotG cards.

But none should glow as brightly as this one. The blue archetype is my favorite card in Born of the Gods.

Per the typical blue-leaning we see in R&D, this card is significantly better than its fellow cycle-mates.

Why? Because it makes your creatures unblockable. All of them.

Yeah, I know there's a card that already does this in blue. His name is Sun Quan, and he lords over all the Wu's.

In Animar, he also used to lord over all the "Woo's!" as well. Now, there's another sheriff in town. A prettier, skinnier one that I think is just as useful, and certainly a little more exciting for me. I love this card, and I hope I can find a way to make it playable in a couple other decks too. I can hear the voices of three Aggro-Wizard Tribal players cheering and dancing like Darth Vader just died. 

1. Perplexing Chimera

So people who haven't read my article yet are already coming up to me on the streets which I haven't been out on yet, and they're asking me, "Yo Landdrops- how can Archetype be your favorite if it's not Number 1 on your list?" 

Well, the answer is simple, anonymous mob that doesn't exist anywhere outside the hypothetical situation we now mutually share. It's perplexing. 

Specifically, a most Perplexing Chimera, and the one I'm most interested and excited to play. PC has the most upside to any prospect in the set, and its mystery brings both fun and intrigue to the game. 

I have a feeling he could very well be the life of the party in some games. Back in Ravnica, we had a junk rare named Conjured Currency that was just so close to being fun that it hurt. 

Perplexing Chimera really succeeds in all the facets where Conjured Currency failed. Where Currency had an upkeep trigger and the feeling like everyone was going to get screwed over (the world's most disappointing-yet-accurate flavor), Chimera has that free-market spirit we all know and love. The option to trade your silly 3/3 with something better on the stack is, to quote nefarious Gotham Crime Boss Carmine Falcone, "Power you can't buy." Most game states are going to stay disrupted for a very lengthy period of time if this thing gets passed around, and I predict it will agitate people.

Just be prepared to break a mental sweat. 

Well, that's all I got for today. GG's currently off the grid, so I'll be coming at you live tomorrow where I'll either be berating Duel Commander as a format or giving you a new episode of Command Zone OG's.

Until next time, don't forget to take out your Sylvan Primordials. Cause that shit is banned.

-UL

Born of the Gods Set Review: Utility and Mana

Hello and welcome to the third and final installment of the Born of the Gods set review. If you missed them you can see parts one and two by clicking on the links: Part 1  Part 2

Today we will be talking about the utility and mana cards from the set and basically everything else that we haven't had a chance to talk about yet.

A mana card is something that either produces mana, fixes colors, or helps expand your resources in some way, e.g. putting extra lands into play. A utility card expands the functionality of your deck beyond just Creatures and removal. They let you draw cards, search through your deck, and do all sorts of other fun stuff. Many cards potentially fall into this category, but, of course, an explanation as to why is important.

The Cards

This is my personal favorite card from the set and the one that you are most likely to see around the table, with the exception of the Legendary Creatures, obviously. This compares favorably with Oracle of Mul Daya, which is one of the best cards in the format and a huge fan favorite. This is cheaper, has a bigger body, and potentially gains you a hand full of life; both from the ability to block and the triggered ability.

There is a real concern for me with the Enchantment Creatures that don't have Bestow. They are incidientally exposed to more kinds of removal than a normal Creature. In the case of a card like Oracle, killing it quickly helps limit the value that it can generate. Being able to use a Naturalize effect to stop Courser of Kruphix is going to be a real bummer when it happens to you.


For some reason, Commander players still find a reason to play Explosive Vegetation even though there are much better cards they should be playing instead. Maybe now they will finally stop...and play this. Or maybe they will really outdo themselves and play one of the half-dozen or so better alternatives.

I find it weird that journeys are sometimes used to provide the flavor for grabbing additional lands. Now, I get it. That makes sense on the surface, but what about a journey THROUGH some place implies OWNERSHIP? Quite frankly, I don't take kindly to people walking into my kitchen like they own the place.




So I have been thinking a bit about this card and I am pretty convinced that I have it figured out. You always leave two stacks empty to minimize your losses. That wasn't much of a puzzle and this isn't much of a card. Do not, under any circumstances, confuse this with a playable card. Even if you never had to sacrifice anything and it only affected opponents I would still not recommend playing this.


The list of blah-o-mancy cards is getting a bit out of hand. I don't think this card is so bad though. If it draws you 4+ cards you made out like a bandit. Promise of Power is a very strong, very playable card. This takes more to set up, but for that extra work you can scale the power up further and you gain a small amount of control over what number it lands at. Ultimately, I think I would rather just have Night's Whisper, but that card is very underplayed in my opinion.


This HAS to be the worst mana rock ever. While your friends are busy trying to build a train to magical christmas land you can just play a regular two mana accelerator and win. I wouldn't play this even if there were only two X's in the cost. What is the point? There are plenty of ways to generate mana, even colored mana, much more efficiently than this. If you see someone puts this and Energy Chamber into the same deck, you know you've got a real scrub on your hands. Don't play them, they are going to make you worse at Magic.

Also, the flavor here is too silly for me to abide. It is a cornucopia...in space. That somehow generates the same energy that comes for the land. You work it out.


Because of the large libraries in Commander, decks need a critical mass of card manipulation and tutoring to smooth their draws and make sure things run properly. Even restricted tutors like this can be very powerful. Tutoring for multiple cards at once allows you to search for all the pieces of a combo simultaneously and often win on the spot. Think about why Gifts Ungiven is so good. It can find multiple pieces of multiple combos and has no real drawback in Commander. This is basically two Idyllic Tutors stapled together and there are plenty of Enchantment-themed decks that can't wait to get their hands on this.

It is always interesting to look at the symbolism of other cultures and how these ideas became established. This flavor text isn't half bad. Self-examination is key to explaining all of life's mysteries, both from within and beyond ourselves.



At five mana, this has a very safe cost. This isn't going to run rampant accross the format, but it can certainly be powerful. Captain Sisay is an established tier 2 deck and this card will find a home in that archetype. The ability to dig yourself into a threat when the gas tank has run dry is a huge bonus- if a somewhat inefficient use of mana. Sometimes you just need a little extra boost to clear a string of lands off the top of your deck, there is no shame in that. I would expect to see multiple archetypes adopt this as a card advantage engine in combination with other forms of card manipulation like Sylvan Library.

Artist William Murai has only been working on the game for a little over a year, but has already produced some very impressive pieces. This isn't his best work in my opinion, that honor would have to go to Brainstorm, but this shows you a much better example of his style. Deep backgrounds, multiple subjects, truly magnificent lighting, and fine detail. A fine young professional and a true credit to the medium of digital art.


Born of the Gods brings us three more "Temples". These cards have proven their mettle in Standard and Modern. When the cycle is complete expect for them to become unanimous inclusions in Commander as well. There is not much else to say; their power and effectiveness have been well documented and exhaustively discussed by writers both more eloquent and qualified than I. Play them, you are running out of excuses not to.

Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes the Set Review. Make sure to leave your comments and suggestions below. If you enjoyed the review, please become one of the Zoners! Like and follow The General Zone. We will be back to our old tricks next week with regular posts from Johnny Confidant, Uncle Landdrops, Venser's Journalist, and myself.
-GG

Born of the Gods Set Review: The Legends

Heya Zoners!

With Born of the Gods prereleasing this weekend, I thought we'd go ahead and kick things off a little early with my role in TGZ's Set Review as we review the hot new Legendary Creatures coming to a kitchen table near you.

THE CARDS

In our first card, the creature type claims it's one of two things Liam Neeson is most likely to unleash (The other being his particular set of skills).

However, all I see is an oversized snake with a claw and an octopus hand (which is pretty cool, I'll admit) wrecking a seaside town in a bad purple Kabuki Theatre costume (In this case, "R" comes before "E," because I'm being totally pretentious).

All I can think is he must've fallen asleep and missed the planeswalk to Kamigawa. Cause if it weren't for the rules, we'd be done and moving on.

So thank goodness we aren't judging books by their covers.

Now, I don't get the flavor of conditional Hexproof, but I have to admit, it's neat, and moderately exciting. It really does nothing for your opponent. There is nothing save a lonely and unplayable Basandra, Battle Seraph getting in the way of your opponent blowing him up in combat.

This second ability is pretty sweet, and makes him an actual threat. I already saw a list on TappedOut last week where the deckbuilder put in tap effects so that he can force Tromo's unblockable abilities, because yeah, that's a thing.

So if you really want to play this card, the questions is this: How much almost-unblockable-almost-hexproof do you want?

Kidding aside, I do like this card. I'm a sucker for sea monsters and 8/8's that are low maintenance. This will make blue decks even easier to play pure control because they don't have to play a bunch of Wizards like Azami or silly infinite combo pieces to win. So if you see it around, look forward to more counterspells, and jokes made out of bad lines which Liam Neeson has salvaged and immortalized on the silver screen.

The name of our next card was actually a misprint. Because there's really only one true Lion King, and his name is MUFASA! (I'll also accept Aslan, but I think we know this is totally Mufasa's M.O.).

So make sure you correct your friends. It's important to me that we use proper nomenclature in this obviously inconsiderate, non-hilarious world. We wouldn't want to offend anyone.

And since we're two cards in, I think the time is appropriate for an angry Grandpa Growth-esque tirade, so let's begin Brimaz's evaluation with it:

Why do we have Cat Royalty? Who is he ruling over? The SIX other cats on that have been printed in this block? And how does he rule over a wild, hexproof, and indestructible Fleecemane Lion? Many times, I think the world would be a better place if we just stopped and asked ourselves, "Where were the Parents At?" But to be more relevant, I must ask- Where are the Kittens!?!?! This guy has no frame of reference. He might as well have gone through the drive-thru at Burger King and asked them for a birthday crown, because that's how relevant his title feels to me right now.

[end rant]

Obvious flavor misgrievances aside, this is definitely something for the competitive players. He is "Diet Jedit Ojanen of Efrava," if you like oddly lengthy comparisons to cards from Future Past (Unintentional New X-Men Movie Plugs. The Jedit to which I am referring is not the Legends one, but the Planar Chaos version. Hence my labeling.). I guess this is where the cats are supposed to come from.

So if you can afford it, play it. If you play Kemba or Raksha, this is a card for that deck. This card is cool, available, and practically sells itself my making more adorable, Skullclamp-able pals. I still think it's ridiculous that he has to make his own kingdom. There's just something that's a little fishy going on with that. Talk about playing god...

Puns. Eww.

Now to talk about actual gods. First up is Ephara, being so obviously clumsy with her whole bottle of Nyx-Juice. Did Artist Eric Deschamps just catch her in a bad moment, or is it just odd? You tell me.

If all the Gods are being this carefree, then it's no wonder the dirty bohemian satyr Xenagos decided to ascend into Godhood. Seems like a pretty big party foul to me.

Anywho, Ephara. Because everyone knows "polis" means "city" in Greek, this clearly makes our U/W God the master of Urban Planning. This is the beginning of what I think is hilarious job specialization amongst Gods. I can't wait for Kruphix, God of Celery Sticks, or Pharika, God of Gorgon-Related Accessories. Apparently, there is a limit to omnipotence, and some of these guys are going to end up in really crappy cubicles.

Okay- let's actually review this card. Cool art. It's almost cool enough to distract me from the fact that this is probably the weakest god next to Nylea, but "draw a card" did get squeezed in at the last second, so- maybe it's good? I'll be anxious to see if people can get her live. I think that's necessary to make her any good.

There have just been so many U/W options to come out in the last few sets that feel more worth your time as a Commander than her, but that doesn't mean she isn't great support. Isperia's fine, but she's a chump compared to Daxos, Lavinia, and Medomai. All of these cards are just significantly more powerful.

Overall, Ephara is probably going to be best kept in the Lavinia deck, where creatures are coming in all the time. I don't think that it'll stop her from being boss over her own decks though. This is a playable card, even if it's not the greatest.

Karametra is the God of the deck I'm backing to crack ESPN Top 10 Highlights. Welcome to Ramp Whilst We Ramp University. Do you like to play dudes? Do you like Rampant Growth? Well, now both is happening.

There's just no way you can really lose. Card Advantage doesn't matter anymore. You can now play all your lands and all your dudes AT THE SAME TIME.

At 6/7, Karametra is also going to be a creature that's smashing face. Green is a color with great ability to get devotion as well as trample, and many of the white flying creatures you probably want to be playing will have at least double white in their cost. So keeping her off devotion will be a huge part of Karametra's metagame.

The only other downside to this card is that Timmy's gonna have to wait to play, "Haaave you met Ted?" for another week (Sorry if you're not a "How I Met Your Mother" Lover. We can't all be them, can we?). This is surely going to be a relationship not even Match.com can, well, "match." Maybe she isn't all that attractive, but lumpy, amorphous Gods with dreadlocks need loving too, and I guarantee she will be loved anyway. Instantly a Commander. Probably a mistake otherwise.

Of the Gods in this set, I think Mogis is probably the one that most improves his part of the color pie.

Not only is he extremely playable as a Commander, but he also has cool flavor. He got a title I think a god should have. He has the head of a cow and is murdering people. He's pain or removal, Indestructible, and a 3-turn clock.

Hashtag, This Is What Vegetarians Were Afraid Of.

Hashtag, In Soviet Theros, Meat Murders You!

While I am worried about the damage tax being an option, and the lack of available removal against this decks biggest offender, Tokens, this card is ironically very lovable.

Especially for Rakdos players in Commander.

There are a lot of things to like about this card. Phenax is a super-cool name, and sports an equally dapper yet mysterious moniker.

Clearly, I'm willing to overlook what exactly is deceiving, and to whom Phenax believes he is doing this to, but we really shouldn't.

I don't get his relevance, and I don't get how this deck wins. Does he just hang out in Wrexial/Lazav decks? Is Phenax his own man? Will Guns'N'Roses ever stop making music? Will Cell survive Goku's Spirit Bomb?

All of these are examples of questions we're just going to have to wait to find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z. Cause I'm interested, just not sure what anyone could or should want to do with Phenax. Definitely a puzzle, but not one that I think is totally unplayable. Mill is a hard strategy, and this just might be the card those decks need, or the card they deserve.

Well, we knew it was coming. Xenagos is a god and he's evil. He bears the sash, the mark of Multiverse Mischief. Don't believe me? Look at Disciple of Bolas, Mindclaw Shaman, and Augur of Bolas. All sashing it up, like they're old cowboys or something.

So let's talk about Xenagos' new job. Webster's dictionary defines "Revel" as, "to engage in lively festivities, especially those with drinking and dancing." I know because I had to look this up, and it's a really stupid word to use. I think it's worth pointing out yet again that this is a very awkward position to have as an omniscient being, but hey. Party planners tend to make pretty good money, right? Isn't that the job they give to Jennifer Lopez in every film she's in?

As far as Xenagos is concerned, I'm more a fan of this art than I am of the rules text. I'm not sure Red and Green needed something like this, but I don't think these silly R/G decks and silly players will turn it away. Animar decks everywhere can continue to punish you for not playing an Animar deck, and they will do it by playing their copy of Xenagos, but that's all I god.

Overall, I'm not sold on Xenagos as a God and Commander, but I'm keeping an open mind.

Well, that's all I got for today folks. We love the comments, so keep 'em coming!

Until next time, Keep Calm and Good Luck at Prerelease!

-Ya Boi Landdrops

Born of the Gods Set Review: Answers

Welcome back! This is the second installment TGZ's review of Born of the Gods! If you missed the first segment you can check it out here: Part 1

In today's segment we will be going over the answer cards from the set. Answers deal with your opponent's threats and allow you to survive to set up your own game plan. Things like removal, counter spells, and disruption all fit into this category. This article is going to be much shorter than the first part, just because of how the cards were broken down within the set. This is a very creature heavy set and the removal so far in Theros block has been very disappointing.

The Cards:

First up we have a very narrow removal spell with some even more narrow opportunities for card advantage. Theros block has a strong Enchantment theme and removal like this needs to exist for limited purposes. With regards to constructed though, this has very little to offer even in the context of casual decks. Missing on Artifacts really limits the versatility and playability of this card.



I like 'big wraths' quite a bit, but seven mana is really stretching things. At this price point I would expect it to destroy literal everything or only our opponents' things. There are even better ways to get this effect at instant-speed. This card and cycle and really this whole set are all together unexciting. A very lackluster follow up to Theros, which was one of the most powerful sets in recent memory.



I rarely talk about combat tricks in these reviews. Most often they are too weak to be useful and creature combat is often not the main focus of Commander games. I think this card mainly has implications for Pauper, where Blue is really starting to mount an impressive collection of pseudo-removal combat tricks that let you interact favorably with the board. This signals a slow, but significant change from Magic's early years where Blue was basically stuck trying to answer threats before they got to the board.



This has several disappointing aspects. It has a generally unacceptable targeting restriction, but it also has the restrictive cost that is typical of more flexible counters. It is probably just worse than Swan Song, which basically sees no play because of how weak it is. The fact is that there are plenty of ways to deal with Creatures, even in Blue decks, so a new answer really has to beat the average power of those cards by a significant margin to have an impact on the format.

I am not much of a grammarian, but you definitely don't nullify people.  Nullify would be much more appropriate for a Negate-style effect. This card should be called 'Fork It'. Or 'Fork You'. 'Fork Your Guy', maybe. At least, 'Stick a Fork in it'. Did I mention that the choice by the creative team to use a BIDENT instead of a trident as Thassa's weapon of choice was absurd?



This on the other hand is pretty decent. It is definitely worse than some of the other soft counters like Miscalculation or Condescend, but soft counters are pretty good in Commander despite what people seem to think. The truth is that people never stop tapping out, even in the late game. Also, consider this: Soft counters are usually cheaper and more effective in the early game. Every game has an early game. Not every game has a late game. Tempo decks love cards like this because they plan to win before the late game ever happens, so they don't mind playing cards that are bad in the late-late.

That said, you have to do a decent amount of work to make this as good as Mana Leak and it is never going to be as good as Counterspell, so you can probably find something better.


IT'S THE BLUE WRATH OF GOD! Hide your children, hide you wives, the wave is coming and it is going to wreck your whole neighborhood! I like this card quite a bit. It buys you a ton of time in the early game and is almost just as good as a Wrath if they have to end up discarding some number of things because their hand is overflowing. This card was probably nerfed a little bit by design. If you think of it from a flavor perspective, there isn't a great argument as to why this returns fish, merfolk, and fliers, but that would make the card significantly more powerful if it didn't

Speaking of flavor, I cannot see why this appeals to Thassa. As the god of the sea isn't the largest portion of her constituency fish, merfolk, and plants? What about whales? Save the whales man. If I ever have a Water Elemental in play when this resolves, I am not picking it up.



This has been billed as the premier removal spell from the set and it is a pretty nice one. In Commander it doesn't kill a whole lot of the real threats, but it is perfectly suited to getting rid of utility creatures, mana dorks, and tokens. Token hosers are definitely important to include in any deck list, but I like the next card on our list much more for that task.

This reminds me a lot of Echoing Decay. Let me tell you a story from long ago. Echoing Decay was meant to keep Frogmite from getting out of hand, but instead Affinity became the most degerate Standard deck of the last decade. Bile Blight is obviously aimed directly at Burning-Tree Emissary, which has been tearing up Standard for months. The problem with these answers is that they aren't as good as just having your own Frogmites or BTEs and they usually aren't playable in the mirror because of color requirements. Sometimes you see innovative deck builders like Gerry Thompson tune popular lists to fight the mirror by adding Black or Red to include more efficient answers to the key cards in the matchup. While I love that kind of strategic deckbuilding, a mana cost of BB makes it slightly more difficult to pull that off.


This is a strict upgrade to Infest, a card that sees only minor play in Commander and next to no play in any other format. Adding Scry 1 is a modest, but relevant bonus and has the potential to push this card into the mainstream. As I was just saying token hosers are important in EDH and getting a little bit of extra value out of a card that you already needed anyway feels great.




What a delightfully weird little card! Black rarely gets the ability to generate mana and even then, it is almost never mana of any color. This also produces non-Creature tokens which, while not unique, is very rare.  This presents a reasonably efficient way to answer all of the new god cards that Theros has brought us, although the upside of generating a free Lotus Pedal is not enough to justify this card costing four mana. Cute, but ultimately mediocre at best.



It is not often that I get to talk about burns spells in our set reviews. Often they are too small in scale to be relevant in EDH, but 5 damage isn't completely irrelevant and this is the first card in this cycle that is actually reasonable to cast on your own turn. Burning a potential blocker to get in profitable attacks is very reasonable. Going straight to the dome in the late game is also fine. You reduce your opponent's life total and solidify your next couple plays by stacking your draws. This card isn't incredible by any stretch of the imagination, but is probably playable and is the best of the cycle in my opinion.



I love the diverse and exciting design space that the Fight mechanic created. This is very similar, but obviously better because it doesn't require you to break the symmetry. This will let you leverage any lead on board into targeted removal and likely profitable attacks. Unlike most Red removal though, this can't go to the face and sucks post-wrath. I definitely think that this is playable in the right decks and helps Red as a color, but it isn't going to crack the Commander format wide open.

I dig this art. It makes me think that Purphoros is playing a gigantic game of croquet all across the plane of Theros. Thousands of innocent bystanders are left dead in his wake as the destruction reaches epic proportions.


This is the most important removal card in the set by far. The gods have had a profound, format-warping effect on Commander. The way we build our decks must accommodate permanent solutions that allow us to remove the gods without falling behind on cards. This is a functional reprint of Deglamer, for those who don't remember. Tuck and shuffle effects are generally very good in Commander because of the physical nature of the deck building restrictions. Hiding a single card in a big pile of 99 other cards is a good way to get rid of it. I am certainly glad that we have another card to use in a singleton format, but this is still in the same color, so Black and Red decks still don't have an answer to an active god AT ALL and that isn't likely to change any time soon. I love that this made it to print, but we will need to see more before I feel comfortable at the kitchen table again.

On a side note, unravelling aether sounds like a Blue thing to do. This effect definitely needs to be Green or White, but if you look at all of the cards with aether in their name, about half of them are Blue. The other half are split between Red and colorless. Now I think that Green and Black will have one each. The more you know.

AAAAAND that is all folks. I told you it would be a bit shorter. Next up I'll be back with the final installment where we cover the last few cards in the set. That article will be even shorter still as their are only a couple of cards left that are worth discussing. After the set review finishes up we will be back to our regularly scheduled posts. Make sure to like, comment, and follow us here at The General Zone and I'll see you again soon.
-GG