Glowing Ranks: Blue Legends

Welcome back Zoners!

Today we're going blue in our Commander Power Rankings.

As we all know, Blue is probably one of the best colors in all of Magic. Being the pinnacle color in Control, a tangential color for artifact combos, and the most direct route to card draw, ranking the blue Legends can be a very subjective task due to the redundancy of function, and whether or not you compare the combo decks at their most potent, least potent, or a confusing average.

So let's rack 'em up and rank 'em!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Thassa, God of the Sea

Mono-U devotion is a pretty big deck in Standard for a little while longer, mostly because of access to hybrid symbols.

Still, I've found Thassa to be a pretty strong Commander, and that's obviously without Nightveil Specters and Frostburn Weirds.

Thassa presents incredible value. It's an aggressive deck that can afford to sacrifice a few counterspells for more threats. When coupled an every turn chance to smooth your draws, the Thassa build paves the way for a very precise, turn-sideways kind of deck, where Thassa puts a nice bit of pressure on your opponents quickly.

Arcum Dagsson

There's no real order to the Honorable Mentions. Personally, I think this deck is more garbage than good, and I've been vocal about that here on the blog.

A few years back GG tested this deck against Jhoira, one of the premier top Tier decks, and it straight up folds to the extra disruption Jhoira gets to play.

Sacrificing counterspell spots for more permanent-based Artifact griefer cards is both the Dagsson deck's strength and weakness. I'm not a big fan of approaching the game with the arrogance of a Stax deck that comes in and says, "You have to beat me," because it shouldn't work, and more than likely won't if your opponent knows how to build decks and play properly.

With Metalworker unbanned as of a few days ago, this deck obviously gets better. However, I only mention Arcum because my credibility would be questioned if I didn't, even though Wizards has recently printed a card which should allow the Arcum delusions of grandeur to disappear.

Muzzio, Visionary Architect

MUZ-ZI-OOOO!!!!

Easily a better deck than Arcum, particularly if you want to play Stax. The deck doesn't have to commit to silly artifact token generators, and bad dude mana rocks. This deck gets to play real artifacts, good combos, and back it all up with counters. It's a pretty good plan overall, as Muzzio is versatile enough to play early or late, either working to get the deck going, or coming in later to find a threat to end the game.

I'll admit I got very confused about the way his ability worked. I was under the impression that the CMC of your highest cost artifact had to be less than or equal to the card you found when you looked at the top of the library. This is separates the Muzzio from the Arcum, and why, even though you have to invest mana, this deck is better than his Coldsnap counterpart.

5. Thada Adel, Acquisitor

Welcome to the real decks, ladies and gents.

It's safe to say that the Thada Adel deck can have it all and is rolling very deep in terms of toys. Between Sol Ring re-prints and an extra set of Mirrodin seeing print following her Worldwake debut, Thada is a very dangerous, proactive, and fun deck to play.

My favorite quality of this deck is the amount of information you can gather in looking at your opponent's library. While her combat damage trigger is really fair when compared with Master of Predicaments, Sphinx Ambassador, Daxos, and other cards that allow you to play your opponent's stuff, there's still plenty of value to be found by just taking away your opponent's most powerful artifact stuff.

4. Braids, Conjurer Adept

Braids was one of my favorite decks for quite some time. The ability to play threats for free and leave room for answers without a whole lot of other nonsense provides a very wide set of skills for just about every situation.

I wasn't even playing what would be considered a full strength Braids deck, and the results were a success.

30+ threats and 20+ Instants was the recipe that insured I always had something to play for the Braids trigger, and always had a response to something another person was playing.

3. Talrand, Sky Summoner

Now, Talrand is a deck that I believe is a lot better than the lists the Internet has to offer.

Though it can be weak to removal heavy decks, the amount of counter-magic and control that can be crammed into the 99 is massive and always getting better. Don't believe me? Just look at Aetherspouts and Polymorphist's Jest. The only direction this deck can go is up, in terms of ammunition.

2. Azami, Lady of Scrolls

All hail the mighty card draw combo queen! Though the artwork may reveal quite a mess, it's all about Wizard tribal and Mind Over Matter.

Though this deck has been accepted as universally good, and really is (again, unlike the false acclaim of Arcum Dagsson), the weakness to me of Azami is that this deck wants to play creatures that don't really want to attack. Still, because control cards are getting better, the deck can afford to play a few.

1. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Teferi tops the list for me for a variety of reasons. Number one, he has immediate impact, and can be played whenever you need.

Number two, he combos with Knowledge Pool, effectively shutting people out of the game. Unlike Azami, his two-card combo is completely tutorable, and able to shut the game down pretty quickly. It's safe to say none of the other mono-blue Commanders can really do this, and live to see it.

The last reason Teferi bests his blue counterparts is his flexibility. Teferi is all about tempo- specifically, removing your opponent's ability to respond whilst increasing yours. Unlike the other decks on this list, Threats and counterspell quantities can be liberally played with to suit the greater metagame.

Pass Turn.
-UL

Conspiracy: The Legends

Heya Zoners!

There's a new non-Standard set ready to release this Friday. While it may be more for the Cubers, there's a few new Legendary Creatures on the landscape, which means Wizards didn't totally forget us, which means we have tech to talk about.

THE OLD

We'll begin by recapping unheard opinions on nonsense that already exists.

I have to say, I'm glad they went with the invasion artwork. This card is kind of a running joke in my metagame, because most of the players who play this have the promo with the world's most horrible foiling.

Perhaps there's now a good way to find a cheap copy of her so we don't have to avert our eyes.

While Phage has seen significant printing in both borders, this is something I'm not crazy about, but in more of an understanding mood.

Phage seems fun in a cube format, and I enjoy the artwork and things that go along with her.

This artwork feels a little like a "digitally remastered" version, for some reason. Maybe it is. Everything looks smoother and sleeker. Phage in Blu-Ray. In Stores June 6th.

My love for HH is well-documented here, and it remains one of my favorite decks.

Still, I don't see the cube value of this card. After spending serious time drafting and picking out cards, HH is put into this Cube pool to make the game go faster?

In my experience with Cube and FNM Draft formats, I understand how it relates to the latter. In cube though, there are a lot of players with 20 life. In Commander, HH's first ability trigger is a big chunk, but it keeps people in the game. The second hit is brutal.

I'm not saying it's wrong to put this card in cube, or that it's unwelcome- I just don't get why you would versus other choices. Especially when the set's mechanics seem to be giving off a more political vibe. From my experience playing HH, he is the equivalent of the Honey Badger (The Meme, not Tyrann Mathieu). He just doesn't give a shit. Everyone takes pain equally, and through all the hurting, you've got to figure out how to stay alive.

On a Stack episode some time ago, I tore this card apart. I like Terese Nielsen, but I don't like this art. It looks like the kind of artwork people have on rugs that they hang on their walls. Not that there is anything wrong with this, if it looks good. Beauty is never in the eyes of this beholder. I have a completely different perspective on this altogether.

However, my assessment of what Basandra does hasn't changed. She's a legend that came out before we started blogging here, so I'll give you a couple pennies worth of knowledge you probably already know.

This card is poorly designed. I continue to die a little inside every time I have to attempt to understand why Wizards prints a card in these colors that with the most counter-intuitive rules text of all time. Were this Time Spiral, I might get it. That was the point in time which Wizards could wear the proverbial "Do-Whatever-I-Want-And-Get-Away-With-It" Badge, and that time has long expired. Were they to have announced another Spiral-esque block in the Fall, I might've even given them a pass too.

But I really can't stand this card. It's just so bad, it's hard for me to look at. I encourage you all to do the same. Just look away, kids.

Last of the old business, we have Edric.

Case you don't know, this deck is good. This card is good. The deck is aggressive. It's enough to confuse most players, even good ones, into thinking that they shouldn't attack someone with an army of Elves or 1-drops on the board by Turn 5.

What you have to understand about Edric is that when you play against this deck, everything you know is wrong. Welcome to Crazy World, the place where you don't want to draw cards, and there's someone attacking you with a bunch of little guys for lethal before turn 10 with counterspell backup.

There's a reason it's banned in 1v1. Edric's pure value there, and that's apparently too unfair for most people.

THE NEW

 Let's start with Brago, the King of Blink.

While he may be one color short of Roon of the Hidden Realm, the dedication to blink colors and no-nonsense artwork courtesy of Karla Ortiz means those seeking ETB value not have to have a goofy kid's show character at the helm.

Not that there's anything wrong with this- I play silly decks all the time. Still, sometimes being a better player means respecting yourself, so that others respect you. If you're a believer in stuff like this, then the King Eternal is the Blink Deck Commander for you.

Next up is Selvala, sporting some goofy conquistador garb and and equally strange mechanic. A little too "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Group Hug for me.

What interests me about this card is the way the rules work here. What happens if Omen Machine is in play? What about activating this on an opponent's turn with Spirit of the Labyrinth in play? Where does the card go?

Though I'm not into this card, being a 2/4 for three is pretty appealing. We're seeing this a lot more, and it's clearly a home run in Standard right now. I guess if you love Courser of Kruphix, this is the Commander for you.

If this card was a little more selfish, and by selfish, I mean, wasn't part of the silly Parley mechanic where everyone draws a card, I could really get behind it. The life gain and mana in multiplayer matchups seems like a huge boost. I wouldn't recommend bringing this strangely gender-ambiguous character to the table in 1v1 though.

It's as clear to me as it is to everyone else that Marchesa is the gem of the Legends in this set.

Dethrone as a mechanic is slightly more political than I'd like it to be, but is totally manageable with access to Black. The key will be to get liberal with Ad Nauseam and Necropotence.

What's silly about this card being printed is that she already has a great dance partner in Black Mike (AKA Mikaeus, the Unhallowed), which gives this deck great value and design space.

My only real criticism of the card is that I think it does "too much." Other than that, I really love it. Matt Stewart's vision of Marchesa is stunning in every sense- colors, form, details. I'm not sure how any of her abilities make her a Wizard (The ability and artwork SCREAM Human Advisor), but this is going to be a hit, and going to be at tables.

With Grenzo, we have another hit. If Wizards places their pegs right, they might actually be sinking my Battleship today.

I'm surprised the bottom-of-library-to-graveyard mechanic hasn't taken off. In Innistrad, we got the ever flavorful Cellar Door, which was sweet, but something the world seems to have forgotten.

What I'm hoping for with Grenzo is that there will be more of these kinds of cards, and they will be good. Grenzo has a very interesting set of abilities that have been put together, and I'm excited to see what comes of it.

With an X cost in his identity, and a non 0/0 P/T, Grenzo's flexibility makes him aggressive like a Goblin while also giving him the potential to be big, like his Rakdos counterparts.

Combined with other seldomly used tricks like Reito Lantern, Grenzo really feels like a fun deck for the table. Definitely the one I'm most likely to play out of the set.

Last but not least, we have the world's most Italian Magic Card of all-time. Muzzio!

I hope more people will be saying his name than Arcum's soon. Although he's definitely underpowered in comparison, the lone mono-colored legend is basically giving us a look that says "Break Me."

Now, I don't think it's supposed to, but this artwork makes me laugh. It's so clear that Muzzio's da Vinci inspired by the eccentricities and inventions in the background it hurts. I'm not sure what he's wearing though. Looks like he bought clothes off the Aladdin mannequin at Disney. I guess he really wants to show us a whole new world.

What are your thoughts on Conspiracy? What cards are you interested in? Let us know in the comments down below.
Pass.
-UL