Commander 2016 review

Link to the card gallery is here!

So...what do I think? Well, I think that it's best to tell you up front that I'm going to talk about the set as a whole, not the individual decks. My personal recommendation is, as always, to buy all of them. WotC has a track record of making really solid Commander decks and I think this year continues that trend.

I think that most of the 4 color commanders are pretty bonkers. This is fitting, as producing four colors of mana isn't easy and rarely doable by turn four, even in Commander. Of them, Breya seems to be the weakest but there are absolutely ways to make her work.

I also want to give some credit to the designers of Partner, the big new mechanic that's allowing for more 4 color commanders. I think the color combinations will allow for people to really have some fun and create new decks. Few of those abilities seem overpowered but there are definitely some synergies to exploit. Or just weird combinations to try! This should be a cool chance to really get weird. I approve of that.

You know what else I approve of: That these mechanics don't exclude me from putting one of these cards in a 60 card deck. Akiri, Line-Slinger is a good card in a RW Vehicles deck, for example. Contrast this with Derevi, who really only makes sense as a Commander, and you'll see what I mean.

On Undaunted: another mechanic I appreciate. Still can be played in games that are not Commander, be they two headed giant, chaos, or regular duels, they just improve with more opponents. (Although these cards in 2HG? That seems like Really Good Stuff!)

But why are the Black and Red ones ( Curtains' Call and Divergent Transformations) so weak? White and Blue get global reset buttons, Green is a permanent boost across the board...Black and Red target two things? Divergent Transformations is a bit more versatile, I suppose but neither of these cards are ones I want to run that badly.

Oh well: they can't all be winners.

There aren't that many new cards, either; brushing aside the Commanders themselves, as they will be somewhat popular no matter what, other standouts for me include: Deepglow Skate, Manifold Insights, Orzhov Advokist. Entrapment Maneuver, Curse of Vengeance, the artwork on Magus of the Will, Frenzied Fugue (this is an effect I've been waiting to see executed in Red), Runehorn Hellkite, Stonehoof Chieftain, Ancient Excavation, Grave Upheaval, and Treacherous Terrain, which will become a finisher for every RG deck I can think of, then finally Ash Barrens, which has the cheapest landcycle cost. The new artifacts don't really grab me, for some reason.

Which leaves us with the reprints!

The first thing I have to say about that is: It's cool to see some Conspiracy cards (like Custodi Soulbinders) reappear here. Conspiracy isn't exactly a difficult to find set but it also didn't have the same rush to open packs as a Standard set, so I think it's great to have those cards reprinted and I hope WotC continues to keep these things coming.

In White, Reveillark and Wave of Reckoning are cool to see again. Blue getting another run of Evacuation is a positive. I like Beacon of Unrest getting a reprint for Black but it always bugs me when they don't reprint the cycle. It's a personal thing, I know. Red getting a reprint of Chaos Warp is great: it was getting expensive and it's effect is cool. Same for Past in Flames. Green's only notable reprint is Oath of Druids, which I have to admit is very surprising but definitely welcome.

For the multicolored cards, Baleful Strix, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Ghave, Guru of Spores, and Zedruu the Greathearted are good to see again. In the artifact and land realm, Chromatic Lantern, Commander's Sphere, Forbidden Orchard, Homeward Path, and Murmuring Bosk are additions that work.

However, I am underwhelmed by the selection this time. Nothing genuinely surprising and Sol Ring again is a waste of a slot. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the cool things they did with Kaladesh and Take The Crown. Also, since none of these decks have been played yet, there are likely undiscovered synergies based around the cards provided and I don't want to knock them just yet.

Still, my impressions of last year's set were stronger. I don't think this is bad, by any means and I'm looking forward to seeing how they play!

Take The Crown: Online Review

Man, this is too much fun.

Goblin Racketeer: I went with a fair rating and that's because a 4/2 for 4 mana isn't bad and I don't know how to rate Goad as a mechanic yet. The art was decent but after that, nothing else stands out about this card.

Orchard Elemental: Green boarder + green art = that's boring. Plus, the damn thing looks like it's in a European palatial grounds, not an orchard. I did like the flavor text but the card itself is poor. Six mana for a benefit that your opponents control is not good. If you get a vanilla 8/8, that's bad. If you get a 2/2 and gain 12 life, that's marginally better but this is assuming that there are still 4 players in the game when the card enters the battlefield! The odds of you getting a much worse scenario is much higher.

Skyline Despot: Red skies in a red card. It's also pretty muddied, as things go: the foreground of the head is OK but it washes out rapidly and the background of the card is tinted red enough that you can't even make out the flame coming from the dragon! But I rated the card good, because a 5/5 flier goes a long way towards keeping you the Monarch and allowing you to get more dragons every turn.

Regicide: I don't see how this is anything but excellent. One mana to destroy 3/5ths of the creatures in the game as an instant? Yeah, that's going to be superb.

Palace Jailer: The artwork's kinda boring here, isn't it? It isn't bad but it's not telling much of a story, either. Unfortunately, this is just a bad card overall, too. It's a flavor win, to be sure: a creature being jailed until the political whims shift, oh that's marvelous. But it's that flavor win that makes it such a weak card, too, because you're never going to keep a creature you removed off the table.

Illusionary Informant: Blue art + Blue card.... I like the name though and I like the way the mechanic executes. The stats aren't bad, either so I gave it a fair rating. I'd take this card for sure.

Echoing Boon: What's going on in that scene? Rats riding goblins? It's goofy and I like it, even if I can't see how it relates to the name of the card, which is marginal. But it's a fair card, doing some potentially gamebreaking stuff...if you draw the card you name. Which knocks it down to marginal overall.

Menagerie Liberator: I mean...that dude has a green jacket on. Why? Because it's a green card? That's just nonsense. I do like the leading of the charge that's depicted, though: fair. Name is excellent though. In the end, I rated it fair: the potential to be a 6/5 trampler is cool, but even if it's just a 4/3, that doesn't suck for 4 mana.

Capital Punishment: I think this card is great all the way down. Six mana to eliminate at least 3 creatures or ensure at least 3 cards are discarded and it only improves from there? That's fantastic.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest: Another great card. I dinged the name to "good" because it's solid but rote, in the Magic naming scheme. Everything else about this card I love. I know other people are thinking "Commander" but as always I'm thinking "Sixty card deck...?"

Arcane Savant: Meh to the art again but...that ability has the potential to be game breaking. Yes, you need to get lucky and/or plan (or both). Or maybe you just want to cast Murder and get a 3/3 for five mana. That's just fine too. Excellent stuff.

Recruiter of the Guard: The art here feels dynamic and have some different color schemes so I like that. I'm downgrading the name because of the ability: Guardians should have high toughness, don't you think? Why recruit weaklings? Some solid flavor text though (which also plays nicely into the ability) and, well, the card itself is fantastic.

Assemble the Rank and Vile: Jesus, let's just go all goth on this one...if I wanted to look at Juggalo group photos I'd do that. I really like the name but...it's really only good if you can get multiple copies of a creature in your deck and in an 8 person draft, my experience has been that this is not very common. Or at least, not copies of creatures you want to put in the deck. Marginal rating.

Messenger Jays: I think this is a bit of a sleeper card. Getting a really big flier isn't anything to sniff at, and that's most likely what you'll get but if you don't, drawing cards never sucks. For 5 mana, I'm rating this excellent. It's entirely possible to hit 5 mana with 4 players in the game but even if there's only 2, 3/2 + a card or 4/3 fliers for 5 are totally reasonable.

Incendiary Dissent: Why is the background building pink? WHY? I really like the name but, as with Assemble the Rank and Vile, I don't see it being anything more than a marginal card.

All in all, I think this is a pretty good set. What I'm starting to notice is that I am having some serious objections to the monotony of the art, in regards to the color scheme. This objection is holding over from set to set, and I think I'm going to keep making it until things change. 

15 More Cards (SOI)

Survey here.

I had fun with this last time, let's do it again! Rankings: Poor, Marginal, Fair, Good, Excellent.

Harness the Storm; I love this card. It's waiting to get busted in half, possibly with a big mana GR version? I mean, sure, the obvious UR deck is there but c'mon, let's be more creative than that. I rated it Excellent.

Sleep Paralysis: 4 mana blue removal spell is ok. It's not great but DAMN I am getting TIRED of the color of the spell being the dominant color in the art. Blue border? BLUE EVERYWHERE IN THE PAINTING. Which is too bad, because it's solid art. Rated Fair. It's almost constructed playable which means I'll probably give it a go at some point.

Tireless Tracker: what is up with that art? Why is someone in "superhero landing pose" with two swords? Buuuut a 3/2 for 3 with landfall and the ability to grow and draw a card for 2 mana? That's Good stuff, kids.

Inner Struggle: Again, that art is weird. It's set at a strange angle, so I cannot see what's going on-despite there being a mirror in the image and red tint is everywhere. Ugh. Let it go, WotC. Contrast is a good thing. The name and flavor text are solid and it's a red removal spell for big creatures at instant speed. It can't be good but it's Fair.

Arlinn Kord/Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon: I'm not giving a good rating to such a lazy naming scheme. "This is who I am"; well bully for that. As much as I dislike double-faced cards though, Arlinn is a powerhouse. Excellent stuff.

Silverstrike: my initial impression of the art was WOW. And then I went; wait, where'd the sword come from? There isn't anyone else in the frame...did the sword just teleport into that werewolf's chest? I like the art but it lacks context. As for the rest: This card is Poor. 4 mana for a limited removal spell with marginal upside? No.

Ghoulsteed: While I really like the name and the flavor text, it's a vanilla 4/4 for 5 mana with a return cost that is way, way too high. Recurring creatures are better than non-returning creatures though, so it squeaks into Marginal.

Liliana's Indignation: Once again; the art is at an angle I don't understand and the expression on Liliana's face seems to be one of a sneer, not indignation. The flavor text is great at helping move the story along-Jace isn't getting help here-but after that? Fair card: milling yourself is generally a suboptimal strategy but it does have a place in the right deck and the life loss is a solid bonus.

Moonlight Hunt: The name isn't great but in combination with the artwork you get the switcheroo that's being pulled. But I gave this a Poor rating because it's just so limited in what it does: You need a Wolf or Werewolf for this card to even function.

Veteran Cathar: A 2/2 for two in a relevant tribe with a great ability that is noteworthy in the late game? Yeah, that's Good. Shame about that boring name.

Not Forgotten: I dig this card a lot. The utility of the first ability is OK but when combined with the flying spirit token, you have a winner. Good rating.

Woodland Stream: The image that the flavor text provides is a great piece of worldbuilding. Well done. After that: it's a Good card; cheap manafixing is always welcome.

Archangel Avacyn/Avacyn, the Purifier: while the name is pretty meh, and my complaint about the artwork having a tint of whatever the border is totally applies, and it's a DFC, this is still an Excellent card all around. It's like they deliberately amped up the power of DFC cards so I had to admit they were good even if I don't like the mechanic.

Tormenting Voice: ooo, the art is a nice nod to the haunted house stories and the flavor text is great. I dinged the name just a little but I feel it's unfair to ask me to take that title and forget about play value or artwork. The name, as Shakespeare has said, is the thing. It helps tie all those other things together. All in all though, I like these red card draw spells.Rated Good.

Asylum Visitor: I rated it Fair. I dig the art-the weird angle works, given what's going on in the picture, the flavor text was boring and the ability is just too conditional. Couple that with a glass jaw and you have a rare that isn't that interesting, even with the Madness cost.

There you have it; I look forward to doing this again come Eldritch Moon.

Dark Ascension mechanics

Just a quick set of thoughts on the mechanics of the upcoming set. You can see what I'm talking about here.

Undying: I like it. Not quite as awesome as Persist but still really cool. The lack of awesome is because there are more ways to deal with a -1 counter than a +1 counter, which made elements of Persist easier to combo with. However, Persist didn't give you a bigger creature and that benefit is a big deal. Taking 1 a turn instead of 2 a turn can make killing that creature worth it, because now you have more time. Taking 3 instead of 2 is a bigger problem. With Undying, you have less time by killing a creature and as a bonus this mechanic combines easily with Morbid and Devour, too.(Persist did that as well but I want to live in the now.)

It took me about 9 hours to figure out that Strangleroot Geist should go in my mono G stompy deck. (Granted, most of that time was spent asleep.)

Fateful Hour: sad. I want to like it and certainly Form of the Dragon has a new potential friend but the problem is simply this: if you're at 5 life and this mechanic doesn't help you come back from the brink then what good is it? Now, I have seen only one of the cards with the mechanic but that card is not impressive. If I'm losing, especially in Limited formats, I'm probably losing because I've lost the creature battle and dropping the Thraben Doomsayer isn't going to help me. If I'm winning, the Thraben Doomsayer is merely 'win more'. If this is a multiplayer game, I've suddenly become a huge target because all my creatures have a pretty significant boost now.

There is an interesting subgame that exists with this mechanic, because if I can give someone using Fateful Hour life, their bonus disappears but I've extended their game life. That's a good complexity but not the kind of thing I see coming up very often: the 'crazy story' that happens will last a lot longer than the usefulness of the mechanic will.

So this means that Fateful Hour is a good mechanic when you've achieved parity/stalemates in the game, AND are at 5 life for less. Too narrow to really enjoy, I think but the one time it works Fateful Hour will seem So Cool. Unless they do print a card that breaks the game open, which they won't, because WotC doesn't do that too much anymore.

Double Faced cards: sigh
Fun anecdote from last night: I'm playing stonethorn's werewolf deck, I'm at 18 life facing Kruin Outlaw and Instigator Gang with a Spectral Lynx and a Meekstone in play. I can't read the back of the cards because, as WotC suggested: stonethorn is using opaque sleeves. I know that I'll be facing a 5/5 and a 3/3 if I don't play any spells and I remember that the Gang will give bonuses to attackers, but I think can block, regenerate, take the other damage and his creatures will be tapped down. All I can see about the Outlaw is that it will become a 3/3.

So I do nothing, the werewolves flip and stonethorn swings for 20. I can't block anything.

I lost because of imperfect information, that was the direct result of poor design.

So fuck you, WotC.

The checklist: hey, there's going to be 7 more werewolves! No, wait; that sucks. My prediction; Huntmaster of the Fells and Wolfbitten Captive will be the cards that push people into giving the werewolves deck the old college try. Two one drops a solid curve to four and what is sure to be a hell of a lord in the Huntmaster means that as an aggro deck, Innistrad/Ascension is posed to make people try that deck.

It'll work when they have one drops and it'll be shit when they don't.


Morbid, Flashback and Curses; all OK but not too special: Flashback will continue to be the avenue people trying to break cards will follow, Curses will continue to be their weird subset of Enchantments and Morbid will probably continue to be solid. They don't push mechanics like they used to and so there will be space for Morbid to do things that nobody will bother with. This is both good, because it means they can revisit the mechanic later and do interesting things, and bad because it means there's interesting things they could've done and didn't, thus steering players towards a situation where they ignore the mechanics produced.

The Honor of Assassins

My first set of tests with Killed By Killers... had me playing a W/B deck that wants to fill my graveyard up in order to kill with Guiltfeeder.

Game one, I had three Propagandas in hand but I only cast one, discarding the others to Oppression, thinking they would give me time to get things going. And while I had Megrim and the Tyranny, no kill condition arrived and he had the mana to swing with both the Guiltfeeder and a Chimeric Orb.

Game two, I had two Tyrannys out and cast Wheel and Deal. "So that's 14?"

"No, 28," I told him.

"Oh, well I'm dead then."
When it works, Tyranny + Wheel is just a monster.

Game three I let a Wheel and Deal go to Oppression instead of a Demolish. My reasoning was: my opponent had just Dark Ritualed out the Oppression, I can use Demolish on his only source of White if he doesn't draw a land or on a Chimeric Sphere if he does. 

But...instead the lands get drawn, I don't use Demolish and then when casting the Tyranny, I let Disintegrate go to the bin instead of the Demolish because I wasn't sure I'd get the mana to cast Disintegrate if Guiltfeeder got up anyway.

But Guiltfeeder did come up and I did get to five mana. I died with Tyranny, Propaganda and Megrim on the board, having let go of the two cards that could have saved me or won the game.

Practice. Also; play like you're going to win. I know the Guiltfeeder is the primary win condition and know my opponent wants to play the feeder so keeping Disintegrate is going to be the better choice, most of the time. There's a difference between playing in the now and being confident my deck will give me the cards I need and trying to project future plays without that confidence.

Another game had me against a mill strategy; both of us dumped our Propagandas pretty early because neither of us had creatures that were going to attack. However, my 'you lose life' strategy trumped his 'I prevent damage' strategy. This had to do with two factors: first, Megrim vs Anvil of Bogardan and Crumbling Sanctuary. When I'm removing 4 or more cards per turn, including the stuff that might let him shuffle his graveyard back into his library, it starts to add up, fast.

Second: Crumbling Sanctuary vs Phyrexian Tyranny. There's a weird logic here so bear with me: Damage causes loss of life, but loss of life is not necessarily damage. So I'm getting damage through with the Tyranny despite the Sanctuary.

Still, I won that matchup 2-0 as well, because my deck worked faster than his, in a situation where neither deck wanted to interact with each other.

Finally, I played a match that I didn't take much notes on but remember seeing Propaganda and a Powder Keg but not getting any action after that. My opponent simply paid the 2 mana a turn and swung and I couldn't do anything about it.

So the changes to Killed By Killers is going to involve -2 Powder Keg and +1 Well of Discovery (for consistency) and +1 Kaervek's Torch, for the same reason as the Well. Knowing what you're going to get and that you're going to get it is a big deal in Magic, so upping the odds is always a positive.

Roundup

For $300, I went with Radiant's Blessing. Killing a large creature if needed or getting rid of the Blessing for another card was too valuable than playing a more reactionary card like Smite. The testing was imperfect; Fuz was working out a new deck and Jason was playing something non-interactive and slower-much slower-than I was, so games would end when I'd hit turn four and swing for 11, with more on the way for turn five.

Still, so far, so good.

Slamdance worked well with the Inferno Titans. While they don't mesh with the theme in the same way that Frost Titan would, Inferno Titans did something very similar; made the resources that my opponent played go away, boosting the tempo that I had, giving me more time to find cards/win out/make my conditions inevitable. While they may not mesh as well as other win conditions I can't argue the effectiveness they had when they appeared.

Fun times with this deck: on turn three Jason cast a Show & Tell dropping Darksteel Colossus. My drop: Avalanche Riders. I lost that game. However, in that matchup, once I realized I needed to keep him off white mana so he couldn't cast Cataclysm, games 2 and 3 were about putting Inferno Titan out, getting it bounced, and recasting it until the game was won.

So I guess the changes stand. Until I get sick of them...