UL's M15 Loot

Amidst all the great M15-related stuff GG's been doing the last couple weeks, I decided to hold off on talking about the set until I got my hot stack of nonsense in the mail, which arrived yesterday. So it's time to take off our serious, awesome Grandpa-Growth-analysis hats, and put on our silly, "why-in-the-world-is-Landdrops playing this" ones. Maybe that puts a little excitement in your belly. Maybe you think me saying that is stupid, and my ideas are worse. I wouldn't disagree, but this is the Crazy Train, and we all know that the only direction it goes is "off the rails."

BLUE

At the top of the order is Quickling. 

What can I say? I'm a total sucker for Evasion, Flash, and protecting my stuff. I play Whitemane Lion, Faerie Impostor, Stonecloaker, and Dust Elemental, and so there's nothing that's going to stop me from continuing my silly penchant- especially when it comes in both Faerie AND Rogue form. I heart Rogues.

I got two copies, and I can't decide which decks would be the best fits. I really like it, I think I just need more. Maybe even a foil one. This art isn't great, but I think foiling could improve it. 

I'm surprised GG missed the glaring opportunity to Pop Culture blast you in the face, and I'm not going to strike out on the same pitch:

What if I say it's not like the others?
What if I say it's not just another one in your place? 

What if I say Wizards will never surrender when it comes to making clones? What if I say I'm happy about that? 

Foo Fighting Rhetoric aside- Mercurial Pretender is sweet. I don't need more Clones, but the slightness of upgrade is so enticing there's no way I'm going to say no. While it's really only as exciting as being a Mac user and going from the Leopard OS X to Snow Leopard, or from iPhone 5c to 5s, it's still enough to want to queue up the Internet's oldest Dancing Baby, and throw a small party for yourself.

OTHER BLUE CARDS I PICKED UP:

Polymorphist's Jest- Because should the day arise when I'm done playing Magic, I don't want to look back and be the guy that never turned another dude's guys into Frogs.

Aetherspouts- I like subgames. This presents one of the most interesting ones I've ever seen.

Kapsho Kitefins- I've been looking for cards to make a non-rare Animar decklist, and I think this looked pretty tasty. Having flying, I can also slot it into this basic Isperia the Inscrutable deck I've been working on, or even into Thassa.

Void Snare- Got two copies. Not sure if I'll play both, but for one blue, even at Sorcery speed, it's gotta be borderline playable, right?

Military Intelligence- One of my newer decks, Thassa, loves devotion, drawing cards, and it's cool to have a draw trigger when I attack. Not particularly an instant slam dunk, but I'm trying it out.

Glacial Crasher- Just another weird Pauper card I thought would slot nicely into Animar. 

GREEN

Perhaps Genesis Hydra is a slightly more purposive reason to dance like dial-up and AOL are still relevant, so I've kept it close in case for extra dancing time. 

Let me start off by saying I share GG's feelings of being annoyed by Hydras. When they were talking about Theros at last year's Comic-Con, Rosewater said that he was happy they'd finally found a creature type for all the colors, the last being Hydra.

In the last couple years, I've never seen more Hydras in my life. Some times I feel like I'm back in Ancient Greece, where you couldn't walk 5 feet into Athens without having to face a damn Hydra. They're like the 7-Eleven of mythology, now they've invaded Magic, and I'm not thrilled by this.

However, I do like what Genesis Hydra does. I like that its flavor matches up with a card we Green players have all beaten to death in Genesis Wave, and that it produces a kind of card advantage Green players might not get, in that it can cast a noncreature, nonpermanent spell as a result of its ability. I'm keen to try this. Looks like fun.

OTHER GREEN CARDS I PICKED UP

Reclamation Sage- Because duh. This is the biggest no-brainer in its color.

Kalonian Twingrove- Had a nice debate about this card with GG if you read the comments on Threats, Part I. Personally, I think this card is bonkers in mono-Green, but I also play a crap-ton of forests and ramp for days. This scales favorably with my plans, and could be a nice Commander Doppelganger when Silvos isn't out beating face. I've added a nice token package to it, and this is on theme there.

Shaman of Spring- It was green, it said draw a card, I couldn't resist. 

RED

Objectively, this card is as dumb as Grandpa thinks it is. 

Still, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to play Ronald Reagan's favorite Magic card, or to say stupid things like, "Mr. Gorba-Dragon, Tear Down These Walls!"

Doctors maintain they still don't know what's wrong with me. Healthy people wouldn't say things like this, and they surely wouldn't be playing Magic cards like this, but I'm obviously neither of these things.

When Siege Dragon got spoiled, I wasn't so focused on the ETB trigger as much as I was his attack trigger, which goes great with Basilisk Collar and Loxodon Warhammer- things I play in HH. I also liked the idea of playing this in Animar, where he helps my like 2 and 3-drops to trade with mid-range guys. So I got one.

I want to Reagan Smash with Siege Dragon. And if I can sell you on this card, then I should use this as part of my application package I send to Wizards.

OTHER RED CARDS I PICKED UP

Act on Impulse- It's a secret that long ago they printed a card named Three Wishes in Visions that did the same thing for 1UU and was an Instant. Why this couldn't be as powerful, I have no idea, but I thought it was worth a look. I play a lot of garbage cards in HH, and I don't mind the extra dig or pitching it to another discard/draw spell.

Chandra, Pyromaster- This has been a ridiculously expensive card for a long time- at least, more than I want o pay for one. I'm happy to have waited, and I can't wait to see if her "Exile the top card of Library" effect is any good in Commander either.

BLACK

Other than Soul of Innistrad and Soul of New Phyrexia, I wasn't excited at all for the rest of the cycle. Well, I was excited about the blue one until I realized it was color based, not "quantity of color" based.

GG compared this to Grave Titan, and so did the rest of the Internet, and Soul of Innistrad is clearly not better. However, that was never going to be a "fair" fight to begin with.

Personally, a more accurate comparison for Soul is Theros' Champion of Stray Souls. While Champion provides a nifty little Graveyard Blink, Soul is going to be a little slower, but it's also bigger, will trade with bigger stuff, and gives you the opportunity in the long term for aggressive expansion.

I definitely think this is a card that wants to be played in big mana mono-black, and other graveyard/sacrifice based decks, which goes give it more of a label than the do-it-all Grave Titan. That doesn't make it worse necessarily, but I have a feeling we are never going to get the kind of power that those Titans had ever again.

I love this card. I didn't think I would throughout the creation and voting process, but I'm sold.

This is a card I ordered post pre-release because I was hoping the price might drive it down, but with another year of Thoughtseize in standard, we're looking at a card that makes value out of late-game Thoughtseize.

It's sweet, and it's immediately going into Greel.

OTHER BLACK CARDS I PICKED UP

Eternal Thirst- This is probably going to be the card I regret picking up from the set, but whatever. It's a rinky-dink ten-cent enchantment that gives black creatures lifelink and a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature dies. I liked the idea of comboing with Crypt Rats so much I thought it'd be worth it, but it's probably not.

WHITE

Like Magister Sphinx, I have a feeling Resolute Archangel is going to agitate kitchen tables everywhere. In cases like this, I feel pretty justified in being the first to do it.

Resolute Archangel is dangerously powerful. If you manage your life total correctly, and you play her in the danger zone, there's no doubt you should be gaining over 25 life when you cast this 4/4. Again, insane value when you think the next best life gain card is Beacon of Immortality. This severely outclasses it, and it can be blinked and bounced to your hand.

I think the future is going to go 1 of 2 ways. Either Archangel is going to get banned by the EDHRC, or we're going to see more cards with this rules text. Either way, I'm down.

OTHER WHITE CARDS I PICKED UP:

Hushwing Gryff- It felt silly not to. I've been griping about getting more copies of Torpor Orb for a while, because I want to see what happens when we have quality answers to ETB triggers. This is certainly a quality answer. Gryff is basically an ETB counterspell.

Return to the Ranks- Whenever GG says that a card is going to hold its monetary value, I listen. He's my Magic Stockbroker, if there ever was a thing. RttR is something I knew I'd like in both my mono-White decks from a playability standpoint, but I wanted to have a back door plan for getting rid of it if it didn't make the cut. It's not as profitable as I'd want, but I have a feeling Craig Wescoe's White Weenies in Modern are going to be totes ridiculous at the next Pro Tour.

Ephemeral Shields- Convoke and a cheap casting cost gives a creature the opportunity to be a free counterspell on a Doom Blade. Another suspect purchase, but if I keep them in that dime-to-quarter range, I think I'll be able to sleep at night.

COLORLESS

Sorry Miss Jackson's of the World- This card is fo' Real.

And yes, it's made to make your daughter cry. And no I won't apologize a trillion times for playing it.

I think SoNP is easily the best of the cycle, not only because it slots into every deck, but because it provides each deck with another 6/6 for 6 threat with Trample. It's the Temple Bell of Creatures. I don't see any reason not to be considering this, especially when he protects your stuff.

Naturally, this card has been powered down because everyone and their mother is playing Deglamer/Unravel the Aether/Return To Dust which fortifies the Path/Swords removal core that already existed in most decks. Even so, there is still such a small quantity of cards that hose Soul that I doubt we'll be playing much longer without seeing two or three of this guy coming out to play.

Additionally, I love Daarken's artwork on this one. It's like he got together with the people who designed the Transformer graphics and asked himself, "What would Elesh Norn and Wurmcoil Engine look like if they had a Transformer baby?"

The last card worthy of a picture is possibly the funniest card I've seen printed in a long time.

Seldom do cards combine flavor, silliness, and somewhat awkward, unorthodox power to create a fresh, unique offering to our game.

Despite this card being very nonsensical, it makes me happy to see. Another set, another new target for Trinket Mages everywhere.

OTHER COLORLESS CARDS I PICKED UP:

Rogue's Gloves- The 2/2 Pay/Equip ratio might be a little too fair for this design, but it says Draw a Card, so why not give it a spin?

Radiant Fountain- Not much, but I still liked it enough to get copies. Card draw isn't my only favorite. I also love Land.

Well, that's my list. What cards are you most excited about? Be sure to include them in the comments below.

Pass Turn.
-UL

M15 Set Review: Threats Part One

Hello and welcome to The General Zone's set review for Magic 2015. I am Grandpa Growth and I will be taking you through the set, giving you my thoughts on the cards with a focus on Commander. If you have read any of our previous set reviews, you will know that we do things a little bit differently. Here are the rules:

1. I will not be reviewing every card. I will not discuss any reprints. Nor will I discuss any cards that I don't feel are relevant to Commander. It is safe to say that if it is bad, even by 'playable in Commander' standards, then you won't find it here.
2. The set review articles will be broken into different parts based on the roles that these cards play in a game: threats, answers, utility, and mana. Because of the unusual length of this article, the threats review will be broken into two parts. We will get to everything later in the week, so if you don't see a card here, check back for the subsequent parts. 
3. The new Legendary Creatures get their own review article, written by Uncle Landdrops. Which will be going up later on. Since these cards are so central to the Commander format, we want to give them their own article.

I am extremely excited for M15. The set appears to be juiced far beyond the power level of a typical core set. There are many interesting cycles and cool new design elements that give the set a very unique feel. There were also some controversial decisions made by R&D, so we have plenty to talk about. 

Today we are discussing threats. A threat is something that you use to win the game. This doesn't just mean attacking with Creatures. Planeswalkers and some other card types can very easily be threats. A good threat will kill your opponent quickly and generate value on the way. The best threats do those things, but also protect themselves. Let's dive right in and see what M15 has to offer.

I always feel a little bit strange when we see a planeswalker receive multiple different cards in the same year. Most people think that a new printing of a planeswalker is showing us where that character is at in their life right now. The strange thing is that, the timeline of Magic is not necessarily linear...and that can make things a bit confusing.

By conventional standards, this doesn't meet the requirements to be a 'good' planeswalker. It doesn't generate any permanent value with its +1 ability. It doesn't have an ability that interacts with the opponent's board. It can't really protect itself. It requires other permanents to be effective at all. The ultimate is far away and doesn't immediately win the game.

Having said all that, I am very interested in a planeswalker that plays well with other planeswalkers. Adding extra loyalty counters to Karn or Eslpeth Knight Errant can completely change the course of a game. Not a great planeswalker, not even a great iteration of Ajani, but it will generate some interest in Commander.


This effect is very powerful. Auratouched Mage sees some modest play in dedicated theme decks. The important thing to remember here is that those decks are very good. Zur the enchanter. Bruna, light of Alabaster. These are names that Commander players are familiar with. Is this card good enough to make it in those decks? I would guess no, simply because it is so expensive, but make no mistake. Tutoring, even with restrictions, is king in Commander.



This card seems powerful to me. I have played many games where things have come down to a top deck contest. Suddenly being able to take a few steps back from death's door will change the texture of a late game battle. The consideration that will govern this card's playability however, is not power but competition. And boy is there a  lot of it. At seven mana, you have a lot of options of very powerful effects. White is a very deep color. If this is the best seven drop you have, your deck is not very strong.

Also, I can conclusively demonstrate that if you burn a rose, that rose will not bloom again.



This is the first real hit of the set. This card is just insane. We discovered that Immortal Servitude basically always won the game when cast for any reasonable number. I fully expect this to be just as good. Only getting back small Creatures is surely a restriction, but you can build your deck with that consideration in mind. There are plenty of two drops that are both singularly powerful and worth recurring. Giving mono White decks access to this game-changing effect strengthens their position in the metagame. If you can find these for cheap, pick up a few. They will retain value.



Here we have our first look at the new mythic cycle of avatar Creatures. The spiritual successors of the Titan cycle from M11, these cards were meant to restrict the dominating power level of their predecessors by changing the free triggered abilities into activated abilities. They are also better 'ambassador cards' because they reference iconic Magic sets and locations, which helps build interest with newer players.

These cards are worse than the Titan cycle, that is for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that if you untap with them, you are most likely going to win. I think that these are a mechanical improvement because they don't give you anything for free and can be answered 1-for-1. That is a much safer design space in my mind. I predict they will not enjoy the dominance that the Titan's had in Standard. The removal is much better in the current environment and the ramp is worse.



I debated leaving this card out of the review. I have a very difficult time believing that this card will see any serious play in Commander. It is weak, slow, and vulnerable to exiling removal. It is a way for Blue to generate a token army, but that isn't much of a threat on its own. Blue doesn't have the support for weenie strategies that don't have tribal characteristics. Speaking of which, when was the last time you saw a merfolk deck in Commander, much less squids? Leave it at home boys and girls.



I don't typically pay much attention to the story that is presented within a Magic block. I don't read the books or the comics, although I do like to go back every once in a while and catch up on what I have missed. In the case of Dragon's Maze, I was real confused. I had no idea what was going on, truly. In fact, it wasn't until I saw this card that I really was able to look some things up and figure out what the heck the story was.

Mechanically, this is the worst Jace. That's pretty obvious. It has a strong ultimate that is achievable, but the rest of the card is pretty week. It has a high starting loyalty and a way to protect itself from opposing threats, but this card really just doesn't do anything relevant. Look at Jace TMS. That is a planeswalker. I have no idea what deck could make this card good.


I have an opinion about core sets: They are better when they include Birds of Paradise and Air Elemental. I am not going to bother explaining why. Rather, I am going to say that this set marks an exception.

I love David Sirlin. For those who don't know. He is an author, game designer, and former competitive gamer. Importantly, his writings helped to educate me about game design and theory. I am very excited that he got the opportunity to design a Magic card. It is my hope that through this contribution, he will show me something new that can change my perception of the game.

Mechanically, this is another in a long line of 'tricky' sphinxes that have made appearances in the Modern era of Magic and I tend not to play these cards because they are generally weak and gimmicky.  This has a power level on par with Sphinx Ambassador, but is substantially less expensive. That should indicate that it will see some play in Commander decks, particularly while the set is still new and in print.



Sakashima the Imposter is a true powerhouse. It is incredibly underplayed in Commander due in large part to the fact that people think of it as being 'lame' or 'unoriginal' when utilized as a general. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with that stance, but I do believe that is a poor reason to refuse to play certain cards. This effect is powerful. It is easy to use. It scales with the game state. Don't be the last person to find out how strong this card is.





The Soul of Ravnica has my pick to the be strongest of the cycle, with the possible exception of Soul of Innistrad. It is unclear what impact any of these cards will have on Standard, but you can expect to see plenty of them in Commander, even if they aren't the most competitive cards. This is almost guaranteed to draw you several cards. I don't think you would put it in your deck if you couldn't draw three or more on the regular.

I want to point out a peculiarity of the new font that is used in the card titles. It is easy to see that the font in the text box is similar, but distinct from the one used in the title bar. In that font, certain letters look strange. The highly stylized K, R, Q, etc. are attractive to the eye, but they overlap on to the space of the next character. I have never before seen a type set that had this feature. Prior to digital printing it was impossible to achieve this effect consistently and it intrigues me that they chose to change the typeface that they used....but I digress.


This card just seems rude. And I like it. Despite the 'punisher' mechanic being an obvious drawback, all the options are still somewhat reasonable. It is unlikely that an opponent can win the game if they had to endure this for several turns in a row. At converted mana cost 4-6, that is what I am looking for. It take over the game given time and protection. At converted mana cost 6+ it needs to win much faster or have reliable protection in order to be realistic.




For whatever reason, Slivers are making a return in M15, but only as a token representation, not the full on theme. I don't know why and I am not going to speculate. I just want to say that Hellrider is one of the best finishers for an aggressive strategy ever printed. It provides a lot of hasty damage that is unblockable. This very much achieves the same goal. In a linear, aggressive, tribal strategy, this is as good or better than Hellrider. That makes this card very scary to me. I am glad this isn't common. It would imbalance Pauper.


The final card for today is Soul of Innistrad. Just like Grave Titan it has Deathtouch. Sweet. Unlike Grave Titan, is doesn't immediately create a huge amount of power spread across multiple bodies that spirals out of control very quickly.

This provides the inevitability of card advantage, just like all of its brothers, but recurring your most powerful threats is better than getting random cards or beast tokens. The activation cost on this is also pretty reasonable for its effect, which is always a must. Overall, this card is decent and will see some play, but is not impressive. Commander already has a half dozen cards at this price point which are better for this purpose. Speaking of price point, if you are new to the format and can't source cards like Ink-eyes or Geth, this could be a decent alternative.


That's all for today. As always leave your feedback in the comments. Let us know what you think of the review and what cards you are looking forward to. Next time, we will finish reviewing the threats and move on to the other parts of the review later in the week.

-GG