New Capenna Commander: Hot Take

If you want the proper overview, The Professor has you covered. I'm here to give you the quick hit. 

The bad: They cost me $60 each. 

Six. Zero.

What the actual fuck? I remember when these decks cost $25 and just last year when I bought them, they cost around $35 each. 

I don't like to talk shit about my local game store but this pricing is a Very Bad Look. I'll be shopping around in the future, because this exists. 

And even with that, $45 is still pretty spendy. But paying an extra $15 is...well that's my bad but I still feel like that wasn't OK. 

The good:

The packaging used to have a lot more plastic to it. Now, the only plastic things in here are the wrapping for the deck, and the hub that holds the life spanner together. I've been one of many asking for more environmentally friendly packaging and I'm really glad to see WotC deliver on it. 

The other thing I've noticed is that the mana base is getting some upgrades. The mana producing lands are better, and anything that helps bring down the cost of a part of the game that is required to play, is good. 

So I'm glad to see those improvements.

Streets of New Capenna Overview (Pt 2)

Let's not dally, shall we? Link to the list, for refreshment purposes

White
Why is Buy Your Silence so expensive? It costs five mana, as compared to Oblivion Ring or Banishing Light and it puts my opponent ahead on mana! Yike. I guess I've got a card for my Garbage Cube. 

After that though, I'm not seeing anything particularly positive or negative. Sure, Extraction Specialist is odd but the flavor is good, and the rest of the cards seem fine. 

I have a feeling this will repeat itself until I get to the Multicolored cards, given the design of New Capenna. Three color sets want to get flashy where the multicolor cards are. 

Blue
Even the Score is 100% the Glory of Cool Things and I love it. It won't ever trigger, except for the one time when it does and then suckers like me will never be able to stop playing the card. 

The Blue cards seem to be costed just a little more aggressively than White-some fantastic utility spells like Slip Out The Back, or Witness Protection, along with creatures that feel more appropriate for the mana value. Or maybe it just seems like the cheap Blue cards can really leverage someone into a mid-late game state, where I don't see that in White as much.

Black
It is almost certainly just me but I do want to try Cemetery Tampering in a Dredge deck. 

This is the color where things start to get my interest for the first time-Angel of Suffering is a new effect for Black, Dusk Mangler is expensive but seems like an effect that can swing a game. It wants to rely on some awkward game states, in my opinion-the '5 or more mana values in graveyard' language is confusing to me-do they mean five different mana values or combined mana values of five or more or any five cards with mana values? I asked a judge for clarification, and was told that it's the first one. So at least I know, but I don't think that's a very useful thing.

There's not much in the early game again but for a multi color set, they want games to really start around turn three or four, when the mana can be fixed. 

Oooooo. THAT is why Buy Your Silence is so expensive. 

Red
I am looking forward to Devilish Valet combo kills appearing soon. For the record, this is the kind of storm deck shenannigans I can get behind.

Sizzling Soloist reads as though there is an odd stacking ability. If you trigger the 'can't block' ability a second time, you don't have to target the same creature, so if I do this to two different creatures, do they both have to attack next turn? What happens on the third trigger? 

The rest of the cards seem fine, again. The glue that holds a limited environment together seems to be there. 

Green
Getting an exile effect in Bouncer's Beatdown is rare for Green! I'm a bit shocked by it. 

It is possible that Jewel Thief is the best 3 mana common we've seen in years. That suite of abilities and a Treasure token is Outstanding. But with it comes the knowledge that again: WotC has skewed this environment to start at turn 3 or 4, when the mana can be set up. Which means the rest of the color-while fine-isn't doing much. 

Multicolor
OK, so here's where all the glamour ought to be.

The cards that exile themselves from hand in order to colorfix mana-Glamourous Outlaw, Masked Bandit, etc. are a really neat way to address the troubles players might have getting the colors they need for three color decks. That they can come back and be a reasonable body later is also cool. Is it good to go down a card to get the colors you need? I don't know, but the ability seems helpful and paced for both Commander and Limited formats. 

The payoff cards for going into a color family are there, oddly nothing seems exciting for me. These cards aren't bad: instead I think of them as good role players, especially for Commander decks. I am hard pressed to object to this, especially when it looks like the Limited environment seems good. While not a Limited person, I'm pleased for those who are and acknowledge that WotC has been making some great environments for Draft over the past few years. 

Artifacts and Lands
Can I just start off with what a mismatch Cement Shoes is? People with cement shoes are dead. This is not what that card does. C'mon.

But of these, it's Unlicensed Herse that really stands out. Cheap to play and activate, with late game utility, this card could be extremely useful! I think it might be my favorite of the artifacts. 

The lands are an unusual lot: all of those lands can go to the graveyard, one way or another. The rares can be cycled, the dual lands can be sacrificed in the late game for cards, and then there's those strange lands that sacrifice when you play them to fetch out a basic. It's the sort of thing that makes me wonder if there is a graveyard-oriented set in our near future, as these cards could help fuel that. 

They're all fine; nothing outstanding but welcome enough.

Final thoughts
Well...reviewing some of my thoughts on Ikoria, the last three color set, (and wooo did I sorta kinda miss how powerful Companions were) I'd have to say that it feels like there's a lot in common. It's good. It looks fun! It doesn't seem to be taking many risks, though. I hope this set isn't forgettable; I dig the art and style here, but I wonder if it will be splashy enough.

Overview: Streets of New Capenna (Pt 1)

 The new set has been spoiled! And this one is one that from a setting and visual perspective, I'm excited about. I've always dug the magic + technology settings so I'm hopeful that this will be something that builds off what Neon Dynasty did. 

Let's start with the mechanics. 

Connive is probably the strongest one: anything that gives you the chance to filter cards is always going to have an edge. The discard aspect means that it can help fuel graveyard strategies and even madness decks. That you can boost the creature you're Conniving with makes this a winner. 

Casualty is only as strong as the spell it's copying. This means we're talking corner cases, because under the best circumstances a good Casualty spell will be a) useful in and of itself, b) inexpensive with it's additional cost and c) an instant, so you can use a creature to copy a spell that might otherwise be meeting an untimely demise. 

That is a lot to ask, which means this one is likely a Limited performer only. However, there are decks that want to utilize sacrifice triggers which brings us back to whether or not the spell is useful to begin with! I'm a bit dubious on that.  

Blitz has a bit of a history doesn't it? The grandchild of mechanics like Dash and Unearth, Blitz does one thing that the others don't: it replaces itself. So looking at the creatures with Blitz as one-time spells that cantrip which could also just be permanents, means that there's a lot of versatility. Sure, the power level is set for Limited, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some neat niche cases where this gets cool.

We'll see. 

Alliance is probably the most straightforward and usable mechanic. Since you want to cast creatures, getting benefits from doing what you want is probably the best thing ever. Plus, this triggers on "enters the battlefield" not "cast" which means that it can slot into plenty of strategies. Good support mechanic. 

Shield Counters look to be thematically cool but probably the most boring otherwise. I know, they're going to have other cards 'do things' with counters and that makes those cards interesting (see Sanctuary Warden) but it doesn't magically delicious Shield Counters into awesome. 

Hideaway is the only returning mechanic-and while it's just a cycle, I really like what they've done with it. Sure, it's going to be a Commander star more than anything else but that's fine. It's cool.

To wrap this part up, I want to highlight the king of fun that they're clearly having with the presentation of Streets of New Capenna. 

I noticed it first in the names and language-as is my nature. Extraction Specialist, Hold for Ransom, Cut of the Profits, Bootlegger's Stash, A Little Chat-it goes on and on. My favorite so far comes from Witness Protection, where the enchanted creature becomes Legitimate Businessperson.

The art didn't get left out, though: the homage on Riveteers Ascendency, the double meaning in Masked Bandits or Witty Roastmaster, or just the leaning into the world of New Capenna at large. It's so clearly not like anything we've really seen before in the game. In some ways, between this and Neon Dynasty, it feels like WotC is having more fun making this game than they have in years. 

The different beats may not be for everyone. I certainly understand the objection to cards like Sizzling Soloist. But I think that Magic is big enough for these kinds of risks, and I'm glad they're taking them. Next up, let's talk about some specifics!