The Stack #60- Last Year's Hits

Afternoon Zoners!

Usually the New Year brings us time to reflect on the good and bad of the past one. That's what we're all about today- celebrating the best of the last.

Tom, Gramps and I have selected our best picks from 2014. So let's get to it.

THIS IS THE STACK!

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I loved the scry lands, not just Temple of Epiphany. The whole cycle rocked, and gave us some powerful additions to every mana base. This temple was picked because it's my favorite artwork of all of them. The color palette has tremendous contrast, making it incredibly appealing, but the best quality of it is that the electrical storm brewing allows the card to both fit the Ancient Greek-ness of the Theros set while also transcending its own plane. With the Izzet guild so identifiable, I really like the fact that this card and artwork seems to slip right into another Izzet deck without seeming awkward. GG and I both liked how Wizards did something similar in Innistrad with the printing of the enemy-colored m10 counterparts, and I think that's where this set succeeds too.

Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP
 Yea...these cards are pretty excellent. I have been playing New Benalia in my mono White decks for years. I always thought it was great. These cards are just ridiculously powerful. Lands have become the most important part of any deck and, in modern Magic sets, some of the most expensive. Taplands in general feel pretty bad to draw late in the game, but the Temple cycle is completely different. If you are going to draw a land, you are so much happier drawing this.

Tom - THUMBS UP
I don't have a lot to say about the Scry lands that hasn't already been said. They're awesome. Topdeck manipulation and colour fixing in the same land? Be still my beating heart.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Having played with this a bit, I am well and truly convinced that it is overpowered. Clone effects are almost always cheaper than the thing that they are copying. This is a fair deal because you often have to wait for an opponent to play something appealing before you can unleash your Clone, mitigating any potential tempo gains that would accrue from a less mana-intensive play.

 D^2 completely breaks the mirror by granting Haste and Dethrone. Your version gets to attack immediately giving you a clear tempo advantage AND your copy is often larger than theirs because of a single +1/+1 counter you get when coming from behind. How is this fair at all?

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I was so excited for this because of Animar, and it hasn't let me down.

The last awesome thing I did with it was copy my opponent's Ulasht, the Hate Seed. For those who don't know, giving Ulasht more ways to get bigger on the battlefield lends itself to some serious power. Because Animar is a combat-based deck, predicated on getting wide, I got to a point in the game where I just turned him into a bunch of Saprolings and added some additional Hellrider triggers so I could kill both my opponents at the table.

Tom- THUMBS UP
I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I love Clone and copy effects. If it weren't for that pesky little bit of Red in the mana cost this would go right into my Roon of the Hidden Realm copy/blink deck. What really sells this card is the Haste, allowing you to hold it until after someone else drops their Blightsteel or Eldrazi in order to copy a big bastard and launch it an opponent immediately.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
One of the finest mass removal spells I've seen printed. In my opinion, this is right up there with Wrath and Damnation, except it creates an excellent way to get one-sided with some of the weenier White or White-Adjacent decks.

Grandpa Growth-THUMBS UP
This is the best five mana Wrath; in my opinion at least. To create an advantage with Wrath, you usually have to set something up or trade away life points. In the decks that play this, there really is no set up cost. You have cheap Creatures, with which you are beating down during the early game. Naturally, your opponent will have bigger late game plays that outclass your Creatures. However, when you play this, you are right back on the war path. Your opponent is left with a frumpy frown and a bad taste in their mouth.

Tom- THUMBS UP
The only thing better than a wipe is an asymmetrical wipe. It's what justifies the high cost of In Garruk's Wake, it's what makes Martial Coup a nightmare in a weenie token deck and it's what makes Necromantic Selection into a potentially game-ending play. I get something while you get nothing, and it's really hard to argue with that kind of advantage when it's applied to multiple opponents. Best of all it works in the many, many new Alesha brews we're seeing to leave her army of midgets in perfect position for an aggro rush.

TOM

Tom -THUMBS UP
The moment I saw this guy, I knew I was going to build around him. There are so many potent death trigger abilities that draw cards, gain/drain life, force opponents to sacrifice and just generally give everyone a tough time that a general who can not only force sacrafice of creatures but get mightier from each death creates a constantly self-reinforcing deck in which every action benefits in some form or another.

So what makes the card so good? Well, the first and most obvious factor is the harsh punishment handed down on any opponent who tutors, ramps or cracks a fetchland. It's EDH, we know how prevalent this kind of thing is, and being able to shut it down is a slice of fried gold. Not to mention that Ob's ability gives poor old Maralen of the Mornsong a reason to keep getting up in the morning. However, useful as that is (and it really is - you wouldn't believe how often opponents will end up ramping/fetching lands with Ob on board just because they need the mana so badly), it's not what really puts Ob at the top of my list.

No, what drives my demonic pal into the top tier is his combination of two forms of evasion coupled with his ability to get bigger and bigger whenever another creature kicks the bucket. I've noticed that opponents will usually ignore this and focus on his anti-searching tech, but it's actually the latter ability that kills them in what is basically deathtriggers.dec. Be it through my own shenanigans with Skullclamp, Attrition, Ghoulcaller Gisa or Soldevi Adnate, potent symmetrical effects like Butcher of Malakir and Grave Pact, or simply targeted or mass destruction from the likes of Malicious Affliction and Plague Wind, Ob Nixilis accrues +1/+1 counters fast, and his flying/trample let him swing in for huge amounts of Commander Damage.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN

I find it interesting that the reactions to this card have varied so widely. When my threats don't do something to immediately impact the board, I take issue - ESPECIALLY with expensive cards. This does grow quickly, so the fact that it is undersized for its costs doesn't particularly bother me. People use to play Scavenger Drake in this format, and at one time, that was acceptable.

The truth is that nowadays, there is no good reason to be playing a threat that matches up poorly against removal. There are enough good options in every color that you just don't have to make that sacrifice.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
On an individual card basis, I do side with Gramps. Still, we all know O.B. Nix isn't exactly in colors that play fair when it comes to paying for spells, and this is something Mono-Black likes to build around. Premier Reanimation, Boots, and/or Greaves do well to fix the problems here.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
You've already heard a hundred people talk about how great this reprint is. You are about to hear a couple more people do the same. I am going to do something different.

I don't really 'get' the flavor behind the Dragon bones and the fetchlands. Take delta here for an example: the card seems to imply that the bones are doing the polluting or ARE THE POLLUTION. This is incongruent when you look Wooded Foothills or Windswept Heath, both of which have very 'pretty', nature-centric arts. On those cards it's implied that the skeletons are somehow empowering the growth of plants. Seems weird. Am I alone here?

Tom - THUMBS UP
As a relatively recent convert to the game of Magic, original fetches were way outside of my reach. These reprints have made them much more available, and as someone who loves an efficient mana base I'm overjoyed. The sheer potency of lands that search out the colour you need without an ETB tapped clause is high indeed.

Of course, my excitement has absolutely nothing to do with that foil Windswept Heath I pulled from one of my very first KTK boosters. At all. Ahem.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This was something I'd found to be an inevitable reprint, and I couldn't think of a better place and a better way to do it.

On top of being economically sensitive to players who held the $35+ original printings from Onslaught (This is because of the block-structure change), I think Wizards did a really nice thing within the confines of their story arc by using the reprint to connect the story of Ugin and his homeland to Zendikar, the last time we saw fetches in Standard. Additionally, it gives us a way to weave and re-weave characters to which we are already familiar with, which is a really smart thing to do in just about every way imaginable.

Well, that's how we stacked it up. We don't have much for news, but it is spoiler season! You can find our latest info and thoughts soon, but if you can't wait that long, follow me on Twitter @unclelanddrops, where I'm sure to be making snarky remarks, re-posting images from PAXEAST yesterday, or answering any questions you have in the future in 140 characters or less.

Until then, make good choices.

Pass.

-The TGZ Staff

The Stack #59- Y U No Play?

Happy Weekend Once Again Zoners!

Like I always say, "Three's a Pattern," so I hope you're getting used to that old Stack Saturday. Today's episode marks our third since we returned from that less-than-glorious hiatus of not sharing our tech.

Today, Tom, Gramps, and I found ourselves with a pretty good topic- Commanders we'd most like to see get played. There are a lot of signals that get sent from the pre-game "shuffle and flip," and whether it's indicative of an exploited matchup, or just sheer excitement for a Legend that's been generally unloved across the current state of sanctioned formats, there's a lot of "feels" to experience when we step into our Kitchen Table Sandbox.

Anywho, let's get cracking- THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Don't think I have ever lost to this card. Not sure how I would. This is something of a running joke between Landdrops and myself.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Haha. JorK the Dork!

I've tried hard, searched far and wide to build Boros, and at some point, I'm gonna have to give up.

JorK is where I draw the line. I guess I'd be happy to see someone flip this up, but I do think this card has a lot in common with its artwork- it's clear, crisp, and bizarrely evoking, but still found wanting to be better.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I'm going to be the contrarian on this one, but I see potential. Boros and aggro may both be jokes in what we Commander players call (loosely) a metagame - with, admittedly, fairly good reason, but Metalcraft is super easy to activate in a world of T1 Sol Ring, Boros Signet, T2 Sad Robot/Swiftfoot Boots/Fireshrieker/whatever followed by T3 Jor Kadeen swinging for the fences. Sure, that's the dream opening, yet cheap-but-useful artifacts abound in the format and the Boros colours can both Voltron fairly well or churn out tokens at a hectic pace, making JK's own pump effect rather potent. Pack in guys to increase the pump or grant evasion like Agrus Kos, Legion Loyalist and Victory's Herald, and you've got yourself a stew.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
"I have been brought to this place and I cannot leave. I may be free of amber, but I am still in prison."

That's Mangara's flavor text, and I think it's poetically relevant to the strife he faces in our format. Why this dude isn't more common, I have no clue. His mana cost, P/T, and ability make him the PERFECT fit to combo off with sac outlets and Mono-White mainstays like Karmic Guide, Sun Titan, and Reveillark. With the way his activated ability works, there are so many ways to stack triggers and play board police, even if you just end up sending him back to the Command Zone. I know White has Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Brimaz, and some other tribal and Voltron types, but seriously- I find it really strange that we don't see nearly enough of Mangara in the metagame.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I really don't want to see cheap, repeatable exile effects on the other side of the table. If nobody sleeves this dude up, I'll be happy. Unless it's me, in which case, bow before me, foolish mortals!

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
I have played a fair amount of this card in 8.5 Tails decks. I wouldn't ever consider making it my commander, but the card is quite good in my estimation. It isn't premium removal, so don't misunderstand. It is substitute that can serve multiple purposes. White decks in particular have great ways to make this a relevant threat when you don't need it to exile problem targets.

TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP
There are really only three guys on the list of dragons in these colours that I'd consider playing, and two of them are only useful when they die. It's not that Silumgar is necessarily bad as a card -  in 5-colour Scion or a Nicol Bolas/Crosis Grixis dragon tribal I can see him doing solid work, but as a general I think he's pretty laughable. A temporary -1/-1 in EDH is not exactly stunning utility to build a deck around, particularly when it needs otherwise weak support cards to make the effect stronger. If someone slaps this down on my table, then unless I'm running a token build and have sustained a strong enough blow to the head that I forgot to include pump effects, I'm going to feel pretty safe ignoring it.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP 
Yeah, I know what I said about Silumgar being derped in design in my Legendary Review. I don't take back what I said, but also recall I talked about how good Hexproof, Flying and that weird 3/7 body are together.

By himself, Silly-gar is gonna get rid of all those pesky 1 toughness tokens. Despite thinking I was going to build either Atarka Dragonstorm or Kolaghan Dash Beatz, I've actually broke ground on building this deck because there are two sweet cards unique to Silumgar that no other Dragon in the FRF cycle has- Xenograft and Conspiracy, which make that creature type thing basically irrelevant. Add in all the blue Riptide creatures from Legions which mess with creature type, and we've got ourselves a little stew going. Look forward to this one, because I think it's going to be a lot more compelling than we all thought.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I won't be playing it. Basically every time I say that, which happens quite a bit, it means that I have very little confidence in my opponent. I can think of at least a dozen other generals in this color combination. I think that people know this isn't good enough for Commander, but they are just playing it because it is new, or maybe they are...either way I understand. I am not immune to the allure of fun. I want to try new things and get outside the comfort zone every once in a while. Still though, I don't want to feel like I need a list of excuses for why I built a deck.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Basically every time someone decides to play a group hug deck, they are signalling to me that they aren't serious about winning the game. There are certainly ways to manipulate the political landscape of the game to your advantage, but there are even more ways to just outright win the game no matter how many players are at the table.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
The first time you see Pheldagriff, you laugh, and think or say all the things GG mentioned. Every time afterward, you think about how uninteresting it is to be given carte blanche in Magical Christmas Land, and how basically the only winner in a Pheldagriff game is the player who gets to play immediately after the Pheldagriff player. Even if the player is bad at Magic, or the deck is actually bad.

I'm not salty about Pheldagriff, but about his association with bad Magic strategy being reinforced and supported by another quality I find useless- politics. I hope to be able to write my thoughts about the latter either here or on CommanderCast. I'm not on the "let's ban this archetype," but I do think that much like Trade Secrets, the game is a lot more fun without the stereotypical "Pheldagriff player."

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I am intensely suspicious of this goofy-looking dude.Sure, he seems friendly, and he hands out gifts like a cheating spouse desperately hoping that enough shiny trinkets will make them feel less guilty, but I've got my eye on him. This is mostly because despite seemingly every player who runs him doing so in a Group Hug build, he seems to me like a potentially dangerous Voltron General.

A 4/4 for four is a good start, and optional Flying/Trample are solid attributes for Voltron. The option to bounce him to avoid removal or Wrath is also pretty sweet. While the activated abilities do give a little bit here and a little bit there to opponents, two life/a weenie token/a single card aren't so strong in EDH that they're painful to give away, and the bulk of those won't help to stop a flying, trampling Phelly anyway. Personally I'd play the deck as a rattlesnake ambush, disguising it as a Hug-style deck to dodge any early game hate while using cards like Well of Ideas that seem friendly but actually benefit me more than my opponents, then pumping Uncle Phel with Auras (because his colours are truly sweet for that kind of play and unlike Equipment, we can keep them in hand until we need them and retain the element of surprise) and smashing a shocked opponent out of the game.

Bottom line - beware of hippos bearing gifts.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I wouldn't be unhappy to play against Keranos, but I wouldn't be thrilled either. This color combination houses some of the most brutal combos in the format and 99% of the counterspells. I have played several different Izzet decks and I have rarely been disappointed. Regardless of your choice of general, this deck has potential to dominate.

That being said, I would be much more scared to see Niv-Mizzet or Jhoira. Although, playing against God cards is super annoying for most decks.

Tom- THUMBS UP
He draws cards, he smites weenies and utility dudes, and he's indestructible. And as GG says, he's in a colour pairing able to pull off some seriously unpleasant business. I think his colours are why I like his ability so much; it's trivially easy to stack the top of your library in Izzet, ensuring you get the effect you want every turn.

On the flipside, his devotion is harder to hit in a pairing more focused around non-permanent spells, we're getting more and more Deglamer and Deicide effects to deal with pesky gods, and by himself he isn't essential to any of the really unpleasant combo decks I can think of.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is an expensive dude right now, but aesthetically is one of the Gods that I thought looked the part. He's more Zeus than Heliod, and matches that point mechanically too. I haven't seen a whole lot of lists on the internet trying to get ambitious, but I think that's just because of the price barrier.  

Also- Queue Song of Storms!



That wraps 'er all up for this week, so do your thing in the comments if you're outraged by anything we like or dislike.

ALSO- BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Grandpa and I are getting ready to drag our Luddite attitudes into the Wave of Vitriol known as Twitter. I'm already there, you can find and follow me @unclelanddrops, where I'll be doing any of the following things:

-Posting pictures of silly alternate artwork I made or found.
-Making up goofy nicknames for cards.
-Stuff happening to me or friends across Commander/MTG outlets.
-Crazy ideas for decklists, and links to actual decklists I find cool.
-A 24/7 place for you to share with me your awesome Magic-related tom-foolery, or ask me to help you with a deck tech.

So if you like/do any of this stuff, click that follow button to keep the party going by following me @unclelanddrops. Look for GG's info soon as well.

Pass.

-The TGZ Staff

The Stack #57- Stack-zarus, Come Forth!

Breaking Bad. That was a Breaking Bad reference.

So in case you're not familiar with the recurring trope that is used in Comedy Central's longest running raunchy cartoon,  people happen to come back from the dead a lot. Frankly, the rate of resurrected characters has been astounding across the many programs I follow.

Whether it is because I'm in the resurrecting or reanimating spirit, or just because the truth of the matter is that TGZ's best co-collaborative segment never really did die- it just went and hid out in New Hampshire for several months under a different identity so as to gain perspective- we're back. By we, I mean, The Stack, and there's soon to be a whole host of new guests getting featured.

To honor this momentous occasion, the re-launching features twice the theme- our favorite cards with Flashback, and our favorite cards to Reanimate.

So yeah, we're playing it again, cause The Stack is great, and it never gets old.

Time to throw it in reverse for thirst!
THIS IS THE STACK!

TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP
OK, yeah, I know. Technically, not so much a target for reanimation as it raises itself. Still, that raid trigger is kinda like a Creature-based version of Flashback, so I'm throwing caution to the winds and including the card anyways.

For a deck that runs off death triggers and reanimation, Bloodsoaked Champion is...well, a champion. He's an ideal early turn play to couple with your Skullclamp for immediate card advantage. He's super easy to recur and he gets around the pesky non-token specification for cards like Grim Haruspex and Harvester of Souls. Best of all he can be reanimated repeatedly per turn for so long as you have mana and a sac outlet, making him practically a boardwipe when combined with Grave Pact, Ashnod's Altar and a handful of Swamps.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Mad props to BS Champ. I've literally pulled my playset of this card from Sealed and Draft, where it's probably even better than it is in Commander: eating Morph dudes for breakfast and being personally responsible for the best Aggro decks in both environments. If it wasn't for Sagu Mauler, I'd say it was the best Creature in those environments.

The big flavor question me and the rest of Reddit want to know though- How does he not block if he's holding two shields?

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
The card is pretty great, but I have to admit, I hate it. Wizards has printed more quality Skullclamp enablers than they have quality exiling removal to deal with those enablers. There are a dozen or more Creatures that look nearly identical to this, which all scare the crap out of me. BSC isn't even the top contender in this category, but it is still enough to get my attention. The added benefit of having a bunch of these cards in your deck is that your opponent often starts losing life very early on AND they can't expect to weasel out of harm's way using a Wrath effect. Just adding card advantage to any Creature makes them into the perfect threat.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
This is the most common Flashback card I play in my decks. Along side Merfolk Looter, this becomes a serious amount of card draw, even when all I'm doing is flashing it back.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a super high-impact common, which I love. It is a great way to generate a ton of card advantage throughout the game. It presses your opponent to have multiple counterspells. Is it a little expensive? Sure, but this isn't really an early game type of card. This is the kind of thing you are either sandbagging or celebrating when you draw it late.

Tom - THUMBS UP
Overcosted, Sorcery-speed card draw is pretty meh. On the flipside, anything that allows for "target player" to draw cards wins out over straight self-draw for the added flexibility; Nekusar and a few other decks want that, and even in non-janky non-combo decks giving free cards to beleagured players can be an interesting political tool.

I like the Flashback cost as well. Anything that asks such a small life cost is much better in EDH than elsewhere and two mana + three life for two cards = solid.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
If you know me, and you know what this card does, then there is no more explanation necessary. This was a close pick for me though, there are probably half a dozen cards that I could very easily claim are my 'favesies'. Army of the Damned, Creeping Rennaissance, Cackling Counterpart, Fervent Denial.

I just want to point out that Landdrops and I both picked commons for this topic. Go Pauper. Whoo!

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Pauper cards are really helpful in making not just deck designs, but also, Commander, much more exciting.

I love Mystical Teachings, and I often find that I make sketchy U/B decks just so that I can play some of my favorites with these specific color identities. Teachings is definitely there.

That Black in the color identity is what I think makes it both very strong and very scarce in terms what decks this card can go in, relative to our format. I'm not playing Tutors-on-Tutors so much anymore, but this one that I've definitely built several different packages around.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
A personal preference, but I don't really like to tutor. Granted, it's understood that sometimes you just need a very specific card, but when building decks I err towards redundancy so that there are several cards which can fill any role required. Being able to search the library for answers is undeniably useful, but also - for my money - leads to repetitive games as the "best" answers are usually tutored up or used to win a game out of nowhere. It's funny and cool the first time, but after several games end the same way it grows stale. Not to mention the endless searching/shuffling drawing out the pace of a game can be exceptionally annoying to other players. Putting Flashback on a tutor card is guaranteed to have me grinding my teeth.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card dominated Standard, shines in Commander, and should be in every Cube out there. The card is just completely bananas at all points in the game. It resists/pairs well with some of the best cards in the format: Removal? Psssh. Show and Tell? What a joke! Upheaval? Deal.

On a related note: I just watched Firefly last year. It wasn't that good. Things I don't like: Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon, Science Fiction.

Tom- THUMBS UP
I had thoughts to put here, but got all distracted by GG's closing statement. Blasphemy. May the Angel of Serenity smite you.

The best thing about the card is the flexibility. It can be a recursion engine for your graveyard, a multi-target Oblivion Ring for your foes or a bouncing engine for your own ETB creatures. Sweet value in every instance. I run the Angel in my Roon copy/blink deck, and under the right circumstances - like when paired with a Progenitor Mimic or a kicked Rite of Replication - she can spirit away entire armies of opponents' beasties.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Well, I have no clue what the hell Grandpa is thinking. Firefly Rulz. Hopefully there are enough Browncoats and Jayne's Hats that enjoy what's going on here. This is my altered version (credit to the unknown Deviant Artist for this) for the Angel of Infinite Card Advantage and Beatdowns, but I believe everyone will recognize Return to Ravnica's premier reanimate target.

I play this in Saffi, and I can't tell you how design predicated on Reanimate-Reinforcement makes this so filthy. Sac outlets and trigger stacking make her one of the strongest synergies I have in a deck where there are plenty of synergies that actually end the game outright as opposed to denying resources. She's still one of the best cards in the deck and has saved my skin more than a few times, making her not just an Angel based on card type alone.

Alright, well that wraps 'er all up. Be sure to holla in the comments below if you have a card to contribute, you have a topic you'd like us to tackle, or you'd like to be a guest on a future episode of The Stack!

Until next time, be sure not to let this Wookie win.

Pass.
-UL/GG/Tom

The Stack #56- Junk Rares

Welcome back to The Stack!

The gang's mostly here, we're talking about nonsense- almost like we didn't take the summer off.

Although this episode's had to wait a little longer because of M15 and what-have-you, today's topic features some of those cards even Commander players might throw away.

So let's get going. THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Design has warmed up to the idea of EDH quite a bit in the last few years. Before that though, there were plenty of junk rares, unplayable in Standard, which normally would have been casual-only (and thus probably Commander only) cards. Unfortunately, the particulars of certain mechanics make them outright useless because of the deck building restrictions Commander employs. This is a fine example from a set that had quite a few. It really pains me that Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, isn't playable in the format where Legendary Creatures reign supreme.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS DOWN
Im glad that this kind of effect was "imitated" when Innistrad block was released. Its a cool effect but card's like Call to Kindred and Descendants' Path do what this card should have done. Creature type on this card would make tribal decks swoon over this card. Not that the big tribes need more help but this could give some much needed help to tribes known for their heavy mana cost; Sphinxes, Dragons, Angels and Demons have some of the highest CmC and I'd like to see more "Tribal Matters" things in upcoming blocks

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Relentless Rats and Shadowborn Apostle decks play this. I've seen it with my own two eyes, and we didn't let it get any further.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP - Mono red has few real tap down mechanics mostly due to the fact that it's not in theme with the color. With the re-introduction of Snow Permanents in Coldsnap from its precursor Ice Age Red got to tap creatures and have fog effects. Among the two is this Blue-eyes white dragon whom I feel pulls his weight in the right deck. Keeping him in play to assure your dudes get into the red zone is his job, and he does it well.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I liked it a little better when I thought it was a 6/6 for 4RR, but I'm still willing to try it out. The Red Snow-Covered TurboFog Tech JC mentioned has been on my to-build list for a while.

Also, I'd like to comment on the art, because I both like it and don't like it, which is really nice place for me. On one hand, I enjoy its allusion to Blue Eyes, White Dragon. While I'm sure this probably came first, any chance I have to play iconic Yu-Gi-Oh cards in place of Magic cards, I try to do it. Like, my Divination is a copy of Pot of Greed.

Still, I think this is some of the most "stock" art Magic has to offer. Before it was a Magic card, it had to have been a Desktop Wallpaper that came with Windows 3.1. Before that, I'm assuming it was a poster in some dude's basement. None of these things are actually bad, but I think that there are a lot of talented artists out there with the ability to suspend our belief with something more lifelike, and all I think about when I look at this is, "Hey. I wonder how many people have this on a T-shirt and were also teenagers in 1984."

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
If you are already playing mono Red, you need to have snow mountains anyway for Scrying Sheets. It is basically a must since card advantage is so shallow in Red. Since we are running 30+ snow lands this is basically an auto-include. It is unique enough to throw people off and allows for some board control without needing to sweep. Five points of power makes a clock and, combined with a high-output damage source like Goblin Charbelcher, will easily put the game away.

If you were surprised to see me say that this is a must-play in Red Commander decks then you need to do your homework. They don't have too many options in this category.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
After sifting through my nonsense, the card that would probably be the most beloved of all the junk I play is Strata Scythe.

Not only is SS cheap and available, but it caters to my two biggest deckbuilding sensibilities. I want to play lots of basics, and I play mono-colored decks, most of which have Commanders that benefit greatly by threatening 21 damage quicker than anticipated.

I've played this in many decks over the years, but I find that with access to redundancies like Armored Ascension, Lashwrithe/Nightmare Lash/Nightmare/Korlash, or Blanchwood Armor and ramp, the better decks to play it in are actual Junk colors- making this a total "Junk" rare in every sense of the way we use this word in Magic.

Johnny Confidant- Thumbs Down
I don't always play voltron, But when I do It's Daxos. This card has potential but it's really hard to see the possibility of this getting into my 99 when I have Swords to play with. Daxos is Spoiled with the best equipment outside of Jutte that i could get my hands on and this is a metaphorical Cubic Zirconia to whats there.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This will certainly beef up the random Creatures you have lying around. That statement is true of almost any decent equipment. It essentially requires a commitment to mono-color, which can be both good and bad. My biggest gripe about this card is its cost/effect ratio. It is in the same price range as Swords of X and Y, but it is not nearly as strong as even the weaker swords.

More importantly: what is this guy doing in the art. That is NOT the correct tool to be using when one wants to remove the bark from a metal tree. And also: Why?

Pass.
-GG/JC/UL

The Stack #55- Mana Geology

Welcome back to The Stack!

It's been a while since we did one of these, with our staff all moving in different directions since the beginning of the year.

However, we've got quorum this week to talk our favorite mana rocks, so let's get it going.

THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a toss up between Mana Vault and Grim. Jumping straight to a fatty is a good start to any game. These don't have the constant benefit that Sol Ring does, but they provide a larger jump which can have some surprise value. Grim is awesome because it lets you move straight from two to six mana so you can begin deploying the beef while your friends are stuck banging rocks together. The untap abilities aren't even always relevant, but once you use the mana to further accelerate yourself it is easy to then make a second jump to an ungodly number like 11. Once you have played with/against these cards, it seems difficult to justify not playing them in every deck.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
When I'm building my mana base for a deck i do at least 2 checks: 1. am i running green? if not 2, let's find mana rocks and Grim Monolith is an amazing choice. Lets look at its main (Affordable) competitors, Basalt Monolith and Mana vault. Basalt is at least turn 3, untap for three and makes three, but Mana vault is a possible turn one but comes at a cost and can only be untapped during your upkeep. While these two are good in their own right, Grim has a unique middle ground between the two and the price differential shows.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Tempo is the word I use to describe the investments these types of cards get. Kind of like a sturdier Dark Ritual that goes into any deck. One of the best ways to abuse these cards I've seen was in Daxos, where I turned their colorless mana into whatever I needed to cast bigger stuff. Most of my copies of these cards reside in mono-red decks right now, where they are really powered up by the color's need for top-heavy aggressiveness. Being on the draw a lot, I find these cards helpful as well. If you are second or worse in multiplayer matchups, it's hard to get out of the hole when everyone is Rampant Growth-ing and Cultivating.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
I have underestimated this card in the past, but now I have the inner-workings of the relic down and I am impressed. This artifact is a little bit of mana fixing mixed in with mana acceleration. I have even seen this do some damage with effects that increase counters or multiply counters put on permanents. Proliferate anyone?

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a powerful card I find I don't use nearly enough. Just recently put it back in a deck, because I was going through my "sideboard," which is an expansive collection of just cards I pulled to put into decks, and almost hit myself when I saw I wasn't playing my copy.

Grandpa Growth -
This card is excellent. A staple of the format. That is beyond argument. But here is a good debate for you: Is Darksteel Ingot overpowered?  It is Indestructible at Common, which is basically unheard of. It has since seen a reprinting at Uncommon and an eerily similar spiritual successor in Manalith at Common. Coalition is obviously the Rare in this progression and it is a home run hit. My question is: Would this be broken if it were Indestructible, given that there is something of a precedent at LOWER rarities.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I played the Chalice before I found the sexier FNM version, but this has really become a nice underrated card that supports design in decks needing rocks to keep up with green decks. While it may never outshine something like Mind Stone, which draws a card, it surely outclasses Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye at the 4-for-2 spot, and has the potential to be bigger or smaller, depending on how much of a down payment you want to make. I've also cast this unkicked to sac it to Kuldotha Forgemaster, and to up a Storm count.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I have come to appreciate this card in my Newest EDH deck that is mono red. Often i find myself wanting more mana and there is only so many artifact ramps that I'd want to run. This has gave me both something to accelerate with and even swap with my new favorite card Goblin Welder.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have definitely brewed lists that want this. Arcum, for example. Any four mana Commander is greatly enhanced by having a critical mass of two mana acceleration. Putting something like an Oracle of Mul Daya or a Braids (either flavor) into play a turn early is a big game.

Ironically, I have cast this on zero more often than I have at four or more. This is most likely a sign that I am too often trying to do something broken in Cube.

Be sure to share your favorite rocks with us in the comments below!

Pass the Turn.
-UL/GG/JC

The Stack #54- Comic Relief

Happy Weekend Zoners!

Often we find that the best "tell" for having fun is laughter. So we're bringing you what we believe are some of the funniest plays/cards that aren't part of an Un-set.

So get ready to kind of laugh. THIS IS THE STACK!

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
In terms of pure goofy, I find it hard to top this card. It's unexpected, so like many good jokes, timing is key when playing this card. You don't want to use this on a creature that has been Voltron-ed to no end, lest you be killed by the most badass frog in the history of MTG.

Flavor text is also part of what makes this card so funny. Brevity is the soul of wit. Nobody really likes pouring through mounds of flavor text on a card - unless it's the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on Phantom Warrior. I appreciate Emerson's philosophies.

Though not the most effective Instant, Frogger here has originality and the kind of quirky personality that makes a card memorable for more than just its worth as an excellent spell.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Although I'm much more apt to use Snakeform or Lignify, turning real creatures into other things is fun.

One of the best tricks I've seen with TtF is casting this on a Szadek with a bunch of counters before damage was dealt. Although it doesn't thwart expectations innately, you should see the surprise on someone's face when they die to a Szadek because of General Damage.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Call me curmudgeonly, but I couldn't disagree more. Humor is about subverting expectations. This is giving me EXACTLY what I expected and I am not pleased. Sometimes the obvious can be funny, but it is usually when something obvious has been overlooked or undersold and doing this too much leads to the subject matter becoming cliche and therefore no longer funny.

This is hardly original. There are half a dozen cards, or more, that have an effect nearly identical to this one. Turning Creatures into cats, goats, snakes, random subtypes, etc - it is played out.  R&D includes effects like this to spice up Blue Instants without printing overpowered countermagic. A noble goal, but they keep trying to hit the same note over and over again. Some players, who only ever see one or two of them, are seduced by the novelty and "quirk", but in reality this is a cookie cutter design. Pick out a new obscure Creature type and you're good to go.

Here is a real head game for you: the feeling of being 'small', i.e. overwhelmed and powerless, is uniquely human as far as we know. Why not make a card that turns things into humans? We have psychological struggles against ourselves that hamstring us all the time. Stress, expectations loss, inadequacy, jealousy, mortality. I guess it isn't as much fun when it 'gets real'.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I am not going to make any attempt to justify this pick. Rather I will cue the video and let the chaos speak for itself. If you have ever wondered about that funny wording on Detention Sphere...well now you know why. Action begins at 1:55...and then grinds to a halt at about 2:00.



Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Though not what I would call funny, O-Rings can cause some zany things to happen on the battlefield (like the video demonstrates). The endless O-Ring cycle is not a winning strategy, but more for those games where you just don't feel like letting anyone win.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Not an innately funny card, but definitely a funny situation. And like googling "Google," O-Ring-ing O-Rings will in fact, break the internet.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Benefactor is a card that you'll probably see people play in Kingmaker/Group Hug decks. Now, I'll never get this archetype, so you'll never see me play it.

Still, I have to admit Noble Benefactor creates a very interesting subgame in my playgroup. This is a result of putting a lot of miles in against each other, and knowing what kinds of cards we tend to go get from our Rich Uncle.

The reason I find this card funny is that one of us almost always goes for Teferi's Puzzle Box, which is both cruel and against everything this card is supposed to do to the game. I find this strategy to be particularly hilarious, but I'm going to relish the day that someone goes to search up their Noble Benefactor, sac it, tutor up some Reanimation, rinse, and repeat, until we're all out of cards. I feel like this could be done. I think I'll hire a Johnny Think Tank to figure this one out.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have put some very limited play on this card. It is an interesting destabilizing element that can help excite new gameplay, but it is unlikely you will be able to actually leverage this to any significant advantage in a multiplayer setting. In 1-v-1, this is already heavily played. A sub-staple, if you will. I am not sure what this has to offer in terms of comedy value though. I haven't had any memorable/humorous stories arise because of it.

Because we're sure there's bound to be funnier things out there on the web, share them with us. We like funny stuff too.

-GG/VJ/UL

The Stack #53- Let's Split Up, Gang

Happy Saturday Zoners!

We're off rippin' and flippin' early here at TGZ, semi-well-rested from a short little R'n'R and ready to bring the goodz.

And by flipping, I mean your favorite weird mechanic from your favorite Asian-Inspired Magic block: Flip Cards.

So let's turn this upside down.

THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
I have only ever maindecked two of the Kamigawa block flip cards in Commander; this one and Kuon Ogre Ascendant. Gardener is a cool card, if slightly underpowered. It lets you play extra lands early on in the game, which I am a big fan of. Once flipped it is probably going to die immediately, but that is okay. The real point was to ramp you up to big mana so you could deliver the finishing blow.

I have a soft spot for the 'dolphin'/'flipper' cards. They are an elegant visual design and feature some of the most inspired pieces of art in all of Magic. It is unfortunate that the mechanics have to be constrained to short, simple abilities in order to fit in the reduced text boxes, but that didn't seem to be much of a problem. These cards had a wide variety of functions, spanned multiple card types, and didn't require altering the cards backs. The latter causing somewhat of a ruckus when it was done in Innistrad. This is a design space that is worth taking a second look at in my opinion.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
This is very much a big nasty green machine card, and the incentive to have more lands only makes this card's flavor more stereo-typically green. I think the amount of mana it takes to activate the Weaver of Life's ability is a bit steep, but the bang you get for your buck should be tremendous.

I think what I like most about the Kamigawa split cards versus the Innistrad flip cards is the fact that there really isn't a way that I can perceive for you to flip the card back once the flip conditions are met (besides bouncing the card). This definitely puts more control into the player's hands rather than relying on the way your opponents play.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
The problem with the Innistrad flip cards were that 1) They were mostly a mindless tribe and 2) In most cases they weren't worth the effort to flip, and your opponent had control over flipping them back. It's evident, based on the big flippers in Standard, Delver of Secrets, and Huntmaster, that the key to these design was incentive to flip, and the value done through these actions. If they were to revisit Kamigawa (Which I've heard they never will), or just re-visit this mechanic, I'd love to see a nice blend of the two. That way we can get the art and the value. I'm beginning to make the effort to incorporate some of these into my decks, simply because they're unique to Magic.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I'll be honest: I don't have much experience with split cards, mainly because Kamigawa was not my favorite block (it's good, yes, but their Spirits are kind of bad). So, hypothetically, I'd like to experiment with this fun moonfolk. Perhaps I'm a bit predictable, but counter magic is a huge deal to me, and I could see this being very productive in a "Talrand says 'NO'" deck.

Of course we could never use Erayo as a commander, but the Enchantment is worth having if you want to synergize with counterspells (perhaps you'd like some more merfolk tokens, Lullmage Mentor). Though, the countering one spell a turn is still the highest thing on my list of reasons why I'd like to experiment with this card. Making an opponent waste a spell, even if he/she chooses what spell to waste, is still an advantage in my book.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card is dramatically underplayed in Commander. Most people, myself included, tend to shy away from it because it is banned for use as a Commander by the EDHRC, but it is still legal for main deck play. People seem to agree that this doesn't conform to the 'spirit of the format'. I tend to think that the 'spirit of the format' is nonsense. I am of the opinion that this is a preeminent strategy in Commander. That being said I have something of a gentleman's agreement with myself to not play it, instead searching for worthwhile alternatives, but the card demands respect, that is beyond contest.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS DOWN
I actually play against this monster semi-regularly. One of the decks in my group is a Damia "You Make The Combo" deck in which the player pieces together several synergies which allow him to take over the game and lock everyone out of cards and have Forbid backup so that he can win with Laboratory Maniac.

Whereas most Erayo locks are real and abusive, this is much more of a time-based lock at a point in the game, used to get tempo, so I don't particularly hate Erayo in this instance. However, I still fail to understand why anyone would want to play somethingthat invites a lot of unnecessary hate and creates board states that I find tired and boring in the EDH landscape. Underplayed, and for a pretty good reason.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
One of the more interesting mono-Red decks I've played a lot of games against is Homura. The guy who plays this in my group started it as a Dollar General deck with a bunch of nonsense creatures from the bowels of Magic's History (Soldier of Fortune always seems to find his way into play) and an Umezawa's Jitte, which was and still is one of the most ballsy choices of anyone in my playgroup (including myself) to date. Commitment to the Jitte was strong with this one. I don't think I could ever do something like this, let alone make it even kind of work. So kudos, I guess.

These days, the deck has become refined and unrestrained by budget, so it's got a lot more heat. Still, Homey decks everywhere are going into hiding because they're on the endangered species list while Gods are present, so now we're all playing Green and White for Deglamer/Return to Dust, and hoping someone doesn't bring one to play to our table as a Commander.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
I agree with UL. It is a very bad time to be a Kamigawa 'dolphin' card. The expanding influence of Theros God cards has led to increased resistance for strategies that rely on Enchantments, and more generally multiple permanents in play. Homura was already on the fringes of playability in Commander and now has basically no place. Not even for the fact that it is probably just worse than Purphoros. There was definitely a moment in history where you could make a mono Red list like this work. Homura into Jokulhaups + Goblin Assault and you run away with the game. You could leverage Scrying Sheets, Extraplanar Lens, Goblin Charbelcher, Caged Sun, Gauntlets of both Might and Power. There is a real deck in here somewhere, unfortunately it has been supplanted by bigger and better things.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I personally like the theme that Homura brings to the table. Mono Red dragons may not be the most effective deck design ever, but Homura's Essence does pretty cool stuff! Yes, I want all my Creatures to have Flying and +2/+2. Call me out of touch, but I really can't speak too much on the Theros block since I've been trying to go back in MTG history to find some quality cards.

-UL/VJ/GG

The Stack #52- We're After Your Lucky Charms

After several weeks of the UL and GG show, The Stack welcomes VJ back from his mini-hiatus so that we can discuss our favorite charms.

So let's cut to the chase with our favorite Marshmallow Shapes.

Hearts? Stars? Horseshoes? Nope.

THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I think the sweetest charm is probably Esper Charm, but I never play it. This is by far the charm that I play the most. In Commander I like to get it on Isochron Scepter. In Pauper, it fogs a Creature for one turn or temporarily removes a blocker, jumps your Creature, or Cycles at the very least. It isn't huge value, but the key to the power of any charm is its versatility. I love these cycles whenever they get printed and I am always excited to see more. I look forward to sets with dedicated groups or color alliances specifically because it means there is a chance for a new charm cycle.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Never have I seen this card in play, but good golly do I want to. There has to be some kind of advantage to drawing a card on the next upkeep, but the only thing I can think of is to prevent a possible discard. Phasing is also unusual, and something that I've often fancied; but alas, I'm perhaps "too young" to fully understand Phasing. If anything, this card is purely intriguing to me, not to mention the kick-ass artwork.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Just beyond surprised at how under-represented this is in the Commander lists I've seen. I'm guessing it's because players don't want to have to learn phasing, which is a bummer. I won't say Phasing is a great mechanic, because it creates and fosters some serious inefficiency. Still, this is the kind of stuff that's really found a nice home in the format and wants to be played in Commander. Not only is it flexible, but can give your opponent the equivalent of a "curve ball" if they aren't on the up-and-up with the old school tech.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I've already mentioned my love of this card in the past. Though the efficacy of the card was more aligned towards Standard or Modern game types, it is still relevant in the world of Commander. I feel that with the right deck, this could be game changing.

The Lifelink until end of turn is really what wins me over in terms of this card's use in Commander. Very few people I play with have life-gain focused decks, but the ones who do (and they are usually Bant colored) have a copy of this in their decks for this first ability.

The last two abilities are admittedly much better in 60-card decks, but are still valid moves in EDH. Being able to stick someone's commander on top of their deck, then finding a way to shuffle him in is always fun. Though this is by no means efficient compared to other "draw card" cards, trading out one card for another is never really awful.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
The thumbs I put up are often just because I'm willing to play the card, or have actually played it. This encompasses a lot of cards, naturally.

This was in my Daxos deck, where I feel like its abilities were relevant. The card draw was a need, the life gain was part of the strategy, and the Time Ebb/Griptide put a creature in the way of Daxos' trigger.

Even through all that, I wasn't that impressed with it. My go-to's of Memory Lapse/Lapse of Certainty and Unexpectedly Absent were enough, and signifcantly more tempo.

I'm not unwilling to try it again, I'm just kinda turned off by it. I thought it would be a flexible version of something I was already trying to do in the deck, and it really wasn't. I like it, but I'm not beyond replacing it. Really wants to be part of an Isochron package.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
This card is among the best of the RTR charm cycle, though that isn't saying much for its power level. When the best use for a card is to just change it into another random card, for an additional cost of two colored mana mind you, then the card isn't very good. There isn't really much reason to play a Time Ebb effect since there is already so much high quality removal available in the format. If anything Submerge is probably the best in this category and sees little-to-no play. More generally, I don't even like where this color combination is in the format. Bant and Esper, despite adding an extra color's worth of depth, pale in comparison to the power of U/R or U/G decks. Without a good reason to play this, or a good deck to play it in, this is definitely not on my list.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
This is a card I've been playing in various decks for years now, and I think I'm going to be very alone when it comes to even wanting to play Evolution Charm, because I know it's really not that good.

Still, I can't deny how functional it's been in tight spots- Specifically in mono-Green. It gets me land early on. It gets me another threat later on, or a pre-existing threat evasion for a nice surprise "combat trick."

At common, and as an Instant, this is as good as Green is going to get to Sapphire Charm, and I'm okay with that.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have put some limited mileage on my single copy of this card. Even if the third mode was blank (which it often is), the first two abilities have surprising synergy; one being good early and one being good late. It is usual for charms to feel under-powered when you just read the abilities; the power of flexibility is hard to gauge. Unfortunately, this doesn't require much thought. It will be obvious what mode you are going to choose the moment you draw this card, but in more casual lists this can be a solid roll player.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I don't know If I necessarily agree with UL's saying that this card is "not really that good." For him, it may have been good in tight spots; but for me, I see much potential in this card. The second ability is really what does it for me. I enjoy the fact that green is also associated with reviving creatures from the grave, so that I have insurance in my Rafiq of the Many deck or in my Kamahl, Fist of Krosa deck.

-GG/VJ/UL

The Stack #51- Paired Technology

Grandpa and I are doubling up again on this week's Stack, as we return to some semblance of tech, be it moving over from Standard, year's of Standard's past, or stuff from the back of the R2-D2 bin at your Local Game Store.

At least, at my store, this is where all the misfit cards go. Hopefully you have something that's almost as cool.

I was told when I posted the topic that "tech" was "too broad" a topic, and I don't tend to disagree. Each person has their own idea of what tech could be in this instance.

Even in our staff, we disagree about this word. Grandpa Growth thinks it more along the line of "Staple," a good card that can get slotted into any deck.

I'm more inclined to believe there's a special quality to a tech card- something that gives an individual card an optimized role and additional power-up when placed into a certain list.

Anyway, enough chit chat. This is THE STACK!

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
It's no doubt Animar makes every card better, but this card makes Animar absurd. Do you think you're going to chump block Animar? Do you think you're going to play creature tokens? That doesn't work either, and at such a low CMC, I can play him early, or play him as a next-to-last spell a la Boros Bushwhacker to create the element of surprise. Hashtag, The Right Way To Make Battalion Creatures And Flavor Work.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Ehh, I am not all that impressed with this card. Even in an Animar deck I don't see the need. Animar is huge and can't be by 40% of Creatures anyway. Of the remainder...well Animar is enormous and usually brings friends. I am definitely on board with attacking past walls of tokens. Those little buggers really get annoying after a while.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have been quoted as saying: "Don't play CounterTop. It's not good in Commander." I also have a lot of fun when I am just flat out wrong. Counterbalance has a place in Commander: Value Vig. Through a combination of Momir Vig triggers and Scroll Rack, a local player of mine showed me that you can really stump some player with basic Countertop combo. This pairs up well with other great cards that you just want in Momir Vig lists anyway. Wild Pair is great since you have already built your deck with the idea of specific casting costs in mind. Lurking Predators hits a high percentage of the time when you know in advance what your top card is (Hint: you put a Creature on top with Vig). Alchemist's Refuge lets you cast a Creature at instant-speed to trigger Vig and set up a Counterbalance trigger. Equilibrium and Cloudstone Curio let you put permanents back in your hand, which Scroll Rack can then transfer to your library for Counterbalance. Watching this whole system in action is a beautiful thing. It is easy to look-off because there are so many working parts, but you don't need the whole machine to make it work; they are all strong cards in their own right! You don't need to lock a player out of the game with Counterbalance, countering two things will probably be enough! Imagine: You play a threat, counter their threat, AND guarantee that you are drawing another threat next turn. That is a massive advantage in tempo and on board.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is a card, it just sounds like Momir Vig's got a special direct route to Magical Christmas Land. I'm not sure how this survives in other decks, and if someone gets this off, everyone deserves to lose. That's basically the way I feel about it.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
In my current playgroup, I have a person who is a very early adopter. He is constantly changing his decks to try out the newest things and play with the newest Commanders from any set. Needless to say he jump on the God cards immediately when they came out. In the last few months I have had ample opportunity to battle against his brews and have learned a few things about fighting the God cards. I put my thoughts to paper in the set review on how I thought you could beat the inevitable flood of Devotion decks, but it wasn't clear at that time what existing decks tier-2 decks would simply BE BETTER and not have to adjust as much.

So far against the gods, I have had the most success with my UW Bruna, Light of Alabaster deck. Because I only really ever want one Creature in play, I can afford to play a ton of sweepers which allow me to regularly turn off the Gods and reduce Nykthos to a reasonable Devotion count. I also have access to the old school lock of Isochron Scepter Silence, which can preempt the casting of a God. What I have been most impressed with though is Meddling Mage. With plenty of Auras to protect it, like Pentarch Ward or Protective Bubble, Meddling Mage can really put the God cards back in their place. I still don't think this card is worthy of widespread play in Commander, but certain decks that can keep it in play forever will benefit from the ability to "just say no".

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I really dig this pick. I've played Nevermore for a while now in Lin Sivvi, and I think it's kinda funny GG would rather play this than something you don't have to dedicate more protective resources to (like Nevermore), but I get it. I too have a soft spot for MM. It was one of the first rares I pulled in a booster, the name of this card is just too fun and flavorful. I like Poe, but the subtle, unconscious supplanting of him into the gothic horror of Innistrad still feels cheap, even though Kevin Bacon's TV show, The Following seems to be winning the Cheesy Poe Rip-Off battle against Mist Raven, Nevermore, and Co.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
My tech is a little more Commander-special, not just for every deck. After letting this fall off my last several orders for no reason, I finally got a copy and put it into Glissa T's, and the answer is yes- This card is almost another copy of Executioner's Capsule. I say almost because it hits the things Capsule can't, while also being less compromising of a mana cost, but also may involve killing Glissa to get a big threat out of the way. I like to combine it with silly equipment like Accorder's Shield so that I can make things a little more one-sided, but the results have been nice, even without it. Since most of my creatures have Deathtouch, fighting is fun.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
This is definitely technology. It is buried so far underground it is hanging out with my dead grandma. I like the idea of combining Glissa the Traitor with anything though, so I will probably give this a shot. That is just one of my favorite decks to play because I like value engines so much. It is also pretty fair, except when you get to abuse the bricks off of recursion until the board looks more like a deck tech than an actual game. Get all the lands in play, twenty something cards in hand, every possible Artifact you can cram onto the table. Good times.

Pass.
-UL/GG

The Stack #50- Repeal the Banlist (Sort of)

Well, it's just GG and UL here on this Saturday's somewhat controversial Stack.

Last week, we talked about the cards we wanted to get banned. So naturally, we decided to pick a couple cards we thought we'd like to see unbanned.

So let's get to it! This is THE STACK!

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I do my best to support and uphold the banlist. It's the best way to ensure consistent game play where the group isn't some small clique of kids playing in a basement or apartment. That said, I've also played with a lot of the banned cards in this latter setting with GG, so been there, done that.

Academy, I suppose, used to be less baffling than it is now. I know Artifacts are more important than Enchantments, which is why this is here and Serra's Sanctum isn't, but I don't see the big deal now. Nykthos is a thing. Cabal Coffers is still a thing. Gaea's Cradle is a thing. We already play hate for it in the metagame. I agree with Gifts and Karakas and Recurring Nightmate and most of this suggested list. Academy could definitely be revisited, in my opinion.


Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP
I don't like the idea of imposing outside restrictions on my possibility space and typically I won't accept it. There are some standards I will accept however, but the EDHRC's official banned list doesn't seem to follow them. Chief among these standards is consistency. I see no profit in drawing arbitrary lines to decide what is 'good enough' and 'too good'. I have no doubt that Academy is more powerful than Nykthos, Cradle, Sanctum, and Coffers. That said, I don't agree with just drawing a line in the sand and saying, "Academy is too good. Anything as good or better should be banned." If fast mana is a problem, limit all fast mana. This card is not much better than Sol Ring, and would only show up in a fraction of the decks, but you don't see people crying out for the banning of Sol Ring.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP (for unbanning)
I think that it's worth stating that I don't support any card being banned in Commander. Limiting myself to talking about just a few cards feels like it is sending the wrong message. This card shouldn't be banned, but neither should any other. So bear in mind that this discussion does not have any bearing on what I think it the 'most deserving' of ban list amnesty.

If your stars sway low, let them wobble to and fro'. I think this card is silly and not a real threat to anyone. I don't think people would play it with sufficient regularity for it to become a 'problem'. That problem wouldn't even be a issue of card strength either. There is simply no in-game reason to limit the play of Sway because there simply isn't any strategic reason to play it at all. This card doesn't create a degenerate board state, doesn't instantly grant a player an easy victory, and is more difficult to take advantage of than other similar cards. Its cost is already prohibitive. At best it is worse than Upheaval. What the EDHRC doesn't like about this card is that it is mass disruption. Mass feel-bads for people who have over-spent their resources setting up "impressive", but fragile, board states. Upheaval should be legal. Sway should be legal. And if you had the first you would never even hear about the second.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
I wrote Thumbs Down, but it's more of a leaning thing than a pure "No." I have the same relationship with this card as GG mentioned last week in talking about Top. Whereas Top is a card that can be used for skill and value, it is often a card Bad Magic Players use thinking they can be better at Magic. I feel the same way about Sway because I too was bad at Commander once, and did in fact buy this card with the intentions of playing it. Honestly, I think that reason is decent enough grounds for banning, and I don't mind being told what to do in this regard, simply because my experience and knowledge about this card and the way it impacts the game isn't necessarily so much a "spirit of the format" argument as much as it is a preventative measure for bad magic players and Kitchen Table Trolls who enjoy chaos decks where they blow up the board without intentions. Most cards of this caliber have a purpose, which isn't to blow stuff up for the sake of itself.

Unbanning wouldn't be so much a big deal- I just don't see how giving bad Magic players another card to play enhances the game. If Top is annoying, this would be a lot worse. Thank goodness most people prefer not to play Goblin Game.

UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I know all about the boring 'ol infinite turns combo and that's surely enough to explain why Mirror is on this list. However, if a conversation ever arose in my group about someone who wanted to play this without Time Walking everyone, or Infini-Wrathing the board, I'd love to see the kinds of weird stuff that could be put on this card.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I concur. There is a wealth of interesting interactions that can be created with this card and two-card instant-win combos are still available in every color combination. Why single out this card? Because it was popular? Because it is more versatile? Because it could actually be used as a value engine when a higher powered alternative wasn't available? That last explanation seems plausible at least, but this is still substantially worse than a good deal of combo cards that are still legal, which erodes the evidenciary argument for why this shouldn't be played.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP (for unbanning)
Using the same thought process as above, I see no real strategic reason for banning this because it simply isn't strong enough to play. The EDHRC seems to be afraid of cards that declare instant victory, as the prospect of several players experiencing disappointment simultaneously is apparently not an event they want to be seen to condone. The unfortunate truth (at least for the potential players of Coalition Victory, is that it is so unrealistic that you will hardly ever achieve it. This renders the idea of it being a problem to the format irrelevant. Additionally, this is a "win-more" card. If you have access to perfect mana and a board full of choice permanents...why aren't you winning already? In your five color deck you couldn't just assemble a handful of cards that were good enough to just win outright? I find that hard to believe. I find it even harder to believe that Coalition Victory would grant even a slight increase to the odds of five color decks winning more often were it made legal. Even though the printing of Nylea's Presence makes achieving the first half of the conditional clause the easiest it has ever been, this card is still abysmal and a waste of time for players who are serious about winning. In that light, it just seems like we are banning cards BECAUSE they are gimmicky and that is akin to having no reason at all.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Sometimes I don't read cards. It's only recently that I realized this card is not an Enchantment with an upkeep trigger, but a Sorcery that says "Win Target Game," should you hit its double rainbow of conditions. Were it an enchantment, I'd be more likely to say yes.

I guess I feel like there's zero sum in unbanning this card. I know GG, and he wasn't going to play this janky piece of chaff, and I think it'd be the general consensus among the more serious Commander players. I don't disagree with his point about saying "No" in an inconsistent way and limiting deckbuilding. But this is a rare case where I don't think we should care about this card, and we shouldn't have to consider it in the metagame either.

Do you agree or disagree with us? Would you have picked something else? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.

Have a good day. Pass it up.
-UL/GG