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

Glowing Ranks: Played and Unplayed From Commander 2014

Hey all. Landdrops here with another episode of Glowing Ranks.

Today we're gonna talk Commander 2014. I've had a pretty swell time checking out the new tech, and now felt like a good chance to get out of the streets and report in on my findings.

Since I've been a little behind the curve, I'm double dipping on Top 5's today, and it's going to work out. There's a lot to like out of the C14 stuff- some I've gotten a chance to play, some I haven't. So there's the dichotomy- 5 best cards I played, and my fave five that are looking to get in on the action.

THE UNPLAYED


5. Aether Gale

I don't have a copy of this card yet, and though apprehensive, I'm gonna trust GG's assessment in the review and throw it into my Barrin "Pile Of Fairness" deck I wrote about last time.

Unlike other blue cards, my biggest concern is the slowness of the card, not maintaining six legal targets. Sorcery speed makes this card, too fair. Maybe it find a home with other fair things. I don't know.








4. Fell the Mighty

This Lin Sivvi Rebels deck I've been running is going to love another one-sided "Power Wrath." Retribution of the Meek is one of the biggest bombs I have to use in conjunction with Mirror Entity. While this costs a little bit more, I'm with GG on this- Fell the Mighty is gonna be a house everywhere it can see play.

The big reason is that it has the capacity to protect low-power Aggro Commanders like Daxos and Doran, creating an evasion haven for these guys to go Voltron and put your opponent a turn behind the curve. It's a solid card that's easy on the eyes.





3. Masterwork of Ingenuity

I'm a sucker for clone effects and equipment, which made me apprehensive in my pre-order due to the "pizza milkshake" concept. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, this is what I mean.

Pizza = Good.

Milkshake = Good.

Pizza + Milkshake = Plain Gross.

Another reason to play this card is that not only can you tutor for it with Stoneforge, Taj-Nar Swordsmith, Steelshaper's Gift, and Stonehewer Giant, but it's also a great card for the mono-Blue Trinket Mage package. Do your opponents like to show off their Swords of X and Y? Do they like to play Jittes and swing beats? If so this is a nice metagame option for like, one-fifth to one-tenth of the market price for the Good Stuff.

2. Domineering Will

DW is a card I predict to be much more one-sided in a deck where Barrin is the general. At instant speed, I can generate about as much or more value in an opponent's combat step with exponential opportunities for value.

The lines of play are always going to result in x-for-1 trades, where x is dependent on how you want to interact with Barrin, especially with mana later on in the game.


1. Malicious Affliction


My top card is Double Doom Blade, and the reason it's not in any deck yet is because I have yet to ascertain what this card means. It's not bright. It's not vivid. It's that morbid, disgustingly good kind of card I try to save for my favorite decks.

Recently, I retired Greel, so it might be a while before I find a home for this sucker. If the fixing were better, this is really a Glissa T's card, but not one I want to have to count on, with it being double black and Glissa T's having double green. We'll see. I might just get the itch to throw it in anyway.

THE PLAYED

5. Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Now, Nahiri isn't a card I've physically played, but I've seen enough of it already to tell you it's kind of exciting, even though I'm not fond of walkers coming from the Command Zone.

With her Stoneforging ancestor and the aforementioned Equipment tutor package, Nahiri is in a unique position to power up bad equipment and break the top tier cards. Add the Lithomancer to a list of cards the rock with Skullclamp. Mono-White now has a way to create a card draw engine.

The -2 is also nice when you have clunky Kaldra pieces or an Argentum Armor for which there is no reason on this earth to pay full price.

Overall, I'm still okay with it. It's not game-ending, but she does work.

4. Daretti, Scrap Savant

I'm surely guilty of liking this card too much, but I don't think anyone can blame me.

I've already dusted off the Inglourious Basterds "Doh-me-neek Dee-co-co" jokes when I activate his abilities. I hold out my hand and say, "More Dah-ray-tee."

None of the Daretti cards in my group stay out for long, but it's too fun to miss every time Goblin Pope of Artifacts finds himself out and looting. So don't be a square. Buy your Daretti today.

3. Titania, Protector of Argoth

I texted GG about this card, but what I really wanted to do was pull a Back to the Future and say, "Yo, Chuck. This your cousin, Marvin Berry. You know that sound you been looking for?" and then hold the phone up so he could hear the sounds of repeated Strip Mines and multiple Life from the Loam triggers as I stomp my opponents with 5/3's.

No one wants, or should buy, the mono-Green Commander product- unless you want all of the Elves. But unlike Titania, that bores me.

Silvos got retired because of just how nuts the dedicated Titania Aggro-Loam deck has been. There are so many elements of combo and card advantage and tempo that are just too good to pass up.

Titania is the card I thought she was going to be in the Legends Review, and the deck is exactly what I thought it would be. All in all, it's fresh, unique, and I hope R&D are able to find more ways to combine these styles of effects and incorporate them into Commander.

2. Reef Worm

Lil Reefy fit perfectly into the Barrin deck I'd started playing at the time it was spoiled, so I knew it was a must-have in the pre-order.

Again, the Worm's been as good as anticipated, comboing with Barrin to give me chump blocks, a threat, and multiple chances to bounce things that are in my way.

There are some people who haven't gotten the Kraken yet. Obviously, this deck is a great niche include because it's always going to be, as Qui-Gon says, the proverbial "bigger fish."

1. Myriad Landscape

I got 8 copies of Myriad Landscape in my pre-order. That's not only a testament to how much I believe in the power of card advantage, but also in anticipation of this card tripling or quadrupling in price.

Being that most of my decks at any given time are mono-colored, this wasn't just mindless and arbitrary either. All of my decks are packing the immense value you're going to get from this card. It's one tap-land I think I can get behind, even in decks that I thought might not want it.

Opening hands with 2 lands and a Landscape have never been so sweet. Getting value at your deck's foundation is the best thing the design team did for us in this product, and that kind of structural support really helps to pave way for more of these big bad monsters and spells they also like to pump out every year. It's just one card, but Myriad Landscape is a gigantic step in the right direction.

What did you like in C14? What did you hate? Let us know in the comments below!

Pass Da Turnski.
-UL

Commander 2014 Review: Answers

Welcome back to The General Zone's Review of Commander 2014. If you missed any of the previous action, make sure you take a look here to catch up on what you missed: Threats, Legends.

Today we are covering the answer cards. Answers are what you use to counteract your opponent's threats. This can take many forms. Discard, removal, counters, sideboard cards, etc. Many things can be an answer, but the most important question you need to ask to evaluate these cards is: "what is this meant to stop?" With that in mind we can decide whether it does a good job or if we even need to dedicate resources to solving that problem. Let's begin:

This is one of my favorite cards from the set. It is also the card with the worst name BY FAR. This is essentially an Instant-speed, focused Wrath effect. It is sure to 'get' a lot of people and turn around some very unfavorable board states in a hurry. I would recommend including this in all your control decks. Aggressive equipment based builds or token decks don't need or want this, but the Yosei decks of the world should be making space for this asap.

Comeuppance also clearly defines the upper bound for how much text can be on a card. Any more than this and it will run right off the page. They even had to shrink the font.



Hate bears have been taking a turn in recent years. They are getting more and more niche, but they are also getting more and more hateful, if that is even possible. Flash really drives these Creatures over the top. You were expecting to reanimate a fatty and pass with the shields up? Sorry bro. Counter your dude and next turn I am cracking in for two. This is a sick little beater than cleverly answers some of the formats most popular victory conditions.

I expect this card to see a fair amount of play in other formats as well, so be prepared for this card to command a high price and hold value over time.



This is why I constantly feel justified for going on rants about how Wrath is the central card in the Commander metagame. Despite lip service to the idea that they want Creatures to be better and spells to be worse, R&D continues to print increasingly powerful sweep effects. Supreme Verdict and Duneblast at least had the decency to cost multiple colors. This card was specifically costed to be splash-able. Look forward to seeing this everywhere. Sigh.






Now before I even get started here I need to tell you: This card is light years ahead of Hex. Hex was bad. This card is good. I will now explain the difference:

Requiring six specific targets is a drawback, not a benefit, so you would expect a price reduction. We get that, even though it breaks the symmetry that made Hex such a cool design. Secondly, the targeting restriction on this card is much wider. Any nonland permanent? Sure, I bet there are tons of those lying around. Lastly, killing your own things is rarely a good idea. Bouncing your Creatures though, can have tons of benefits. Getting to re-buy the effects of an ETB trigger or Kicker cost is sweet. Cleaning off Aura-based removal is just a blowout.

I am quite certain that you will play against this card in Commander. Hopefully you are also playing with it. I am willing to bet that every time an opponent resolves this, I will be making a vomiting noise just to emphasize how brutal it is. It will make people physically uncomfortable.



Well you don't get to attack with them, but you get to chump block with somebody else's stuff. For clarification: that is awesome.

This is my favorite way to use Ray of Command. That was a common. How can we turn this into a playable rare? Well, I don't know...give you three of them? DING! We have got a winner.









The best spot removal spell that we have seen since Dismember. Period. If you don't know why it is good, you don't understand Magic.

So much has already been said about this card around the Magic blogosphere so I am going to leave it at that. Play it or lose to it. Your choice.










A Black Duneblast that lets you steal somebody's stuff AND retrigger enter the battlefield effects...WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!

It sucks that this costs so much and so much of it must be Black, but let's be honest. This would be pretty broken if you made it cheaper.








This card seems sweet to me. There are a handful of anti-Wrath cards out there, but most of them are too expensive to see serious play. This one has the perfect cost. I imagine this doing some serious work in a Ghave deck. Having a single card like Ghave that demands a Wrath all by itself sets you up very well to take advantage of your opponent's best answers. They play a Sorcery, you drop a fatty into play at the end of their turn and continue to smash. You can't beat that. Figuratively, at least.






This card is crazy. An Instant speed reanimate effect is already awesome. The only widely adopted comparable here is Necromancy, which also has an end of turn deadline. For a very small cost you get to bring back additional Creatures to ambush your opponent's attackers and also re-trigger ETB effects. That is a lot of value to get from one card and is very likely to result in a victory.

The obvious drawback of this card is that you don't get to keep the things you dig up and you can only use them to block incoming attackers, but the deal you are getting on this effect is just too good to pass up.



I love it. Tricky Red cards are something that we need more or. Red is at such a low power level in Commander because it lacks the ability to interact with important cards. This is an awesome addition to the color's toolbox. It is no Snapcaster Mage, but I think this guy will be doing some serious work in the format.










This does require set up, which is a quality that I am not fond of in my answers, but the leg work is so easy. Did you attack? Did they? Did anybody do anything useful this turn? Heck, even if you combine this with a Lightning Bolt you now have an Instant-speed Arc Lightning for 1R. I will take that deal every day of the week.









Both the effect and the templating of this card are kind of complex, but I don't think that makes it bad. Your opponent is going to have to read it a couple of times, but they will always arrive at the same result: this is bad for them.

My only problem with this card is that it hits you as well. If you are winning on board, you don't want to sweep away your own Creatures. If you are behind on board, you probably don't want to take any more damage than you have to. This is a powerful sweeper and great damage source, but it is also unique. It is a sweeper that you really don't want to be using on a full board. Combining this with something like a Goblin Bombardment will help improve the effect and break the symmetry.




Unlike the other 'offering' cards, this one is never bad for you and is also sick in one vs. one. Imagine playing this in a duel. Blow up your opponent's best and worst nonbasic then kill their best and worst Creature...as an Instant...for five? I think that is pretty hot. I am definitely going to be using this card to great effect in my Grixis all-spell deck.

If you are in a multiplayer game you are going to be doing even better, but it won't rain all over just one person's parade and you don't have to take all of the blame for the targeting choices. This is a stabilizing card that will put the game back into reach if you or another player fall behind early, which is something that we don't often see in a format full of game-winning hay makers.




Is music an Enchantment? This flavor concept has been utilized many times before, notably in Urza's block with the 'verse' cycle, but it just doesn't sit right with me.

This is an excellent removal spell and fits the color pie perfectly. I love the visceral, top-down design. We are turning this thing into a tree...how does that work on a card? Well, Wizards pretty much nailed it on this one. Green needs more high quality spot removal and this card will be embraced by the community.




Twitter is a wave of vitriol. Youtube comments are a wave of vitriol. This card is a joke.

I can't figure out whether you want to leverage this or not. I would rather my opponent have a Plains than a Umezawa's Jitte, but can I still win if I let everyone else search for 3+ basic lands while I get nothing? What if I have a ton stuff in play that this blows up...am I better off keeping my Doubling Season or tapping all my mana, discarding this card, and shoveling my own stuff into the graveyard?

This card is definitely puzzling, but I think in this case that isn't a good thing.



I debated whether or not I should include this in the threat article. It is here because it is more situational and the fact that it requires certain conditions from your opponent makes it feel like an answer to me. But if I may speak frankly, if you think you are going to 'answer' your opponent(s) full grip of cards with a wolf token or two you are sadly mistaken. In Commander I would always rather have seven cards than six and a 2/2.

This is the general plight of reactive threats: If you are going to include it in your deck, don't you want it to do something? I mean actually impact the game. Will it win? The answer for this is an unenthusiastic "potentially". I would rather have just cast Wolfbriar Elemental. Which, conveniently, is also in this set.

Well that is it for today folks. More of a mixed bag here. Mostly unexciting junk, but there are a few surefire gems that will see play all over. We will be back in a couple of days to finish up the Commander 2014 review action with the utility and mana cards.

-GG