I think people need to take a bit of perspective here. Warden is the first true mythic at 1cmc. The ones from FTV don't count, and Mikaeus certainly isn't gonna get cast for W.
I agree on all counts, but the Uncommon Dragons seem appropriately costed for Limited. Air Elemental is almost always playable at 5 mana, and these are all Air Elementals with minor upsides and a few of them are in colours that rarely if ever get a creature comparable to Air Elemental.
Warden of the First Tree is easily the most interesting of the bunch for Standard. A 3/3 on turn 2 is nothing to scoff at. It becoming a Warrior makes it stronger with the many tribal synergies available to it, and it also opens up more room for different 2 colour approaches to the typical Abzan Aggro lists. Being able to improve your mana by dumping the third colour from your early game plays means your awkward draws go down significantly. Like Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane, it is good at a lot of different points of the game, making it probably the best aggro one drop in Green. It'd be astounding if this card did not see Standard play.
Warden of the first tree is Figure of Destiny in green, love how the latest ability can be activated how many times as you want to make the little dude bigger and bigger.
seriously, what's not to love about this dude?
People aren't going to love investing seven mana in a creature that gets killed by Lightning Strike.
and there we go again with the old "dies to removal" argument.
No, that's an efficiency argument. You're pouring a lot of mana, entire turns worth of actions really, into a single card. That is a huge mistake unless you can protect it.
It's really nice to see a new Figure of Destiny which saw a really fair amount of play despite the "dies to removal" argument.
Figure of Destinty is both cheaper and less vulnerable than Warden of the First Tree.
Figure also had a much more relevant creature type (kithkin then was far more relevant then warrior is now), Had Ranger of Eos to tutor him up and revilark to bring him back. Figure was much better then this guy.
Abzan Aggro doesn't really want a one drop with 10 Tap lands in the deck and would much rather play lion or deathdealer then Warden. The lists playing heir of the wilds might look at him as I think he is better then heir but not by a huge amount.
Tasigur seems really good, actually. You can delve away a lot of irrelevant stuff when you cast him, if need be. There are other cards in the format that can do it as well, many of which are already played to some degree in the decks where he'd be good. (Pharika comes to mind)
Uncommon dragon cycle is really cool. They're all monsters in limited. I can't wait to see the common red dragon (maybe ONE more mythic dragon if we're lucky?) Mindscour Dragon is interesting. You can mill yourself with it. That might make me consider it for a few of my Commander/EDH decks.
The white dragon is also very interesting. Shockmaw Dragon is a smaller version of the same effect we've been seeing on dragons for awhile now, and honestly I'm fine with that, as I like the "splash damage" dragons quite a bit. (The art is amazing too) Destructor Dragon seems cool, and might be a good fit into a green Commander deck that can't take advantage of many fliers. Noxious Dragon is probably never going to hit quite what you want it to, but in limited the effect is fairly beastly.
He meant Gods Willing. This is a good reaction to it as it will stop prevention of combat damage.
You are correct. That was a mis-read on my part.
Amusingly, it DOES work against one god - Iroas, God of Victory, or at least his ability to prevent damage to attacking dudes.
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Man, I'm really *not* impressed by the "old" Khans
(or the Dragons we've seen, for that matter) as Commanders.
I like Yasova, and Shu Yun is aight, but the rest are so bland!
BUG ill needs a savior such as this!
He's like a weaker version of Sidisi,
who was like a weaker Mimeoplasm,
so I'll definitely be taking a pass.
I can't even imagine what you build around him other than Graveyard/Goodstuff.
He *is* better than Mirko Vosk at the very least
EDIT: and I'll admit, Tasigur + Deadbridge Chant seems really fun,
but your opponents will likely exile DBC before it gets really good.
This has been the worst set for EDH in quite a while IMO, but I'm okay with that-
at least we got Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and Standard/Modern got some nice new toys.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I, for one, will definitely be running this in my Sidisi deck, and might even swap the two (play Tasigur as my commander and Sidisi in the 99) from time to time. It's a double edged sword that they're so similar - they coexist tremendously but they also support the same deck type (graveyard goodstuff) - while one might have hoped the new BUG legend would support a fundamentally different EDH deck style.
After Maro's article, I wonder what is the chance of my theory that Dragons of Tarkir factions are shards...
The article stated:
We wanted the clan leaders to serve as commanders for decks built both around the Khans of Tarkir factions and the Dragons of Tarkir factions, but how could a card be both a wedge card and not a wedge card?
The hybrid "fake wedge" cards would fit either ally or enemy pairs. My guess is that the factions will be enemy pairs, lead by descendants of the FRF dragons. If not, I guess the ally pairs would continue on. They stretched arcs pretty hard in Alara block and since they are tied to the shards, I imagine that they will save shards colors for a return to Alara.
It looks like mana fixing will be good enough where you could play arcs or wedges in DTK limited.
Man, I'm really *not* impressed by the "old" Khans
(or the Dragons we've seen, for that matter) as Commanders.
I like Yasova, and Lu Xun is aight, but the rest are so bland!
BUG ill needs a savior such as this!
He's like a weaker version of Sidisi,
who was like a weaker Mimeoplasm,
so I'll definitely be taking a pass.
I can't even imagine what you build around him other than Graveyard/Goodstuff.
He *is* better than Mirko Vosk at the very least
This has been the worst set for EDH in quite a while IMO, but I'm okay with that-
at least we got Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and Standard/Modern got some nice new toys.
I can already see enough cards that I know will go into some of my decks, or cards that I know I will be facing soon enough. So far aside from Ugin this set doesn't really offer anything format-warping, true, but I'd say that's a good thing. We don't need format-warping cards, we need cards that promote certain strategies, or that are roleplayers in various decks.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Speaking from a Modern perspective, Tas is quite strong. He's an easy turn 3-4 play for B, and a possible turn 2 play for B with the right opener (turn 1 fetch + Thought Scour, turn 2 fetch or TS/IoK). He's immune to all of the commonly used burn spells in the format (Bolt, Slash, Blast, Helix, etc.), and also Decay-proof. He also blocks both the average 4/5 Goyf and Rhino. Add to that a relevant upside ability that wins you grindy games and you have a strong BUG creature for the format. Of course, BUG isn't really a deck right now, so Tas's power is a bit speculative. But if BUG becomes a thing, Tas easily finds a home there and helps the deck be strong.
The question is, could he see play in the same deck as Treasure Cruise or Dig Through time, which would clearly be in said BUG deck.
I agree on all counts, but the Uncommon Dragons seem appropriately costed for Limited. Air Elemental is almost always playable at 5 mana, and these are all Air Elementals with minor upsides and a few of them are in colours that rarely if ever get a creature comparable to Air Elemental.
Warden of the First Tree is easily the most interesting of the bunch for Standard. A 3/3 on turn 2 is nothing to scoff at. It becoming a Warrior makes it stronger with the many tribal synergies available to it, and it also opens up more room for different 2 colour approaches to the typical Abzan Aggro lists. Being able to improve your mana by dumping the third colour from your early game plays means your awkward draws go down significantly. Like Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane, it is good at a lot of different points of the game, making it probably the best aggro one drop in Green. It'd be astounding if this card did not see Standard play.
I understand that the Dragons are appropriately costed for limited. They just seem overcosted when looked through other lenses.
The hybrid "fake wedge" cards would fit either ally or enemy pairs. My guess is that the factions will be enemy pairs, lead by descendants of the FRF dragons. If not, I guess the ally pairs would continue on. They stretched arcs pretty hard in Alara block and since they are tied to the shards, I imagine that they will save shards colors for a return to Alara.
However, there is a way to do arcs in a different way from Alara. Alara shards were rooted in the central color with its two allies. However, wedges of KTK are rooted in a "side color" with one ally and one enemy -- and arcs can be done in the same way. So, I'd presume:
WUB arc, centered in black
UBR arc, centered in red
BRG arc, centered in green
RGW arc, centered in white
GWU arc, centered in blue
Why this way? Well, first it's a kind of book-endish (start of block has first printed color as main, end has last printed color as main), but also, the arc and the wedge centered in same color would share its allied color as well (i.e. Jeskai and GWU arc both have white in addition to blue, but Jeskai chooses red out of its enemies while GWU arc chooses green).
Dragonmaster Outcast?
It's like the card was made not to be played in red decks, but splashed into non-red-creature decks.
I still like the Jeskai endgame of cycling through the deck with Jeskai Ascendancy and Treasure Cruise. I could see RWx aggro (Mardu is also a strong choice, attacking both wide with tokens and going over the top with Butcher of the Horde and Stormbreath Dragon/Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker) but this won't be enough of a bump for Boss Sligh compared to Monastery Mentor.
Ah. My bad. I wanted to stress that it's the first true mythic aggro creature at 1cmc, and many hoarders and speculators will not ignore that fact.
Dragonmaster Outcast felt like a later drop.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Warden of the First Tree is easily the most interesting of the bunch for Standard. A 3/3 on turn 2 is nothing to scoff at. It becoming a Warrior makes it stronger with the many tribal synergies available to it, and it also opens up more room for different 2 colour approaches to the typical Abzan Aggro lists. Being able to improve your mana by dumping the third colour from your early game plays means your awkward draws go down significantly. Like Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane, it is good at a lot of different points of the game, making it probably the best aggro one drop in Green. It'd be astounding if this card did not see Standard play.
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Figure also had a much more relevant creature type (kithkin then was far more relevant then warrior is now), Had Ranger of Eos to tutor him up and revilark to bring him back. Figure was much better then this guy.
Abzan Aggro doesn't really want a one drop with 10 Tap lands in the deck and would much rather play lion or deathdealer then Warden. The lists playing heir of the wilds might look at him as I think he is better then heir but not by a huge amount.
Doesn't actually work against Gods, they're indestructible, they don't prevent damage.
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He meant Gods Willing. This is a good reaction to it as it will stop prevention of combat damage.
Uncommon dragon cycle is really cool. They're all monsters in limited. I can't wait to see the common red dragon (maybe ONE more mythic dragon if we're lucky?) Mindscour Dragon is interesting. You can mill yourself with it. That might make me consider it for a few of my Commander/EDH decks.
The white dragon is also very interesting. Shockmaw Dragon is a smaller version of the same effect we've been seeing on dragons for awhile now, and honestly I'm fine with that, as I like the "splash damage" dragons quite a bit. (The art is amazing too) Destructor Dragon seems cool, and might be a good fit into a green Commander deck that can't take advantage of many fliers. Noxious Dragon is probably never going to hit quite what you want it to, but in limited the effect is fairly beastly.
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You are correct. That was a mis-read on my part.
Amusingly, it DOES work against one god - Iroas, God of Victory, or at least his ability to prevent damage to attacking dudes.
Currently Playing:
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(or the Dragons we've seen, for that matter) as Commanders.
I like Yasova, and Shu Yun is aight, but the rest are so bland!
BUG ill needs a savior such as this!
He's like a weaker version of Sidisi,
who was like a weaker Mimeoplasm,
so I'll definitely be taking a pass.
I can't even imagine what you build around him other than Graveyard/Goodstuff.
He *is* better than Mirko Vosk at the very least
EDIT: and I'll admit, Tasigur + Deadbridge Chant seems really fun,
but your opponents will likely exile DBC before it gets really good.
This has been the worst set for EDH in quite a while IMO, but I'm okay with that-
at least we got Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and Standard/Modern got some nice new toys.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
The article stated:
The hybrid "fake wedge" cards would fit either ally or enemy pairs. My guess is that the factions will be enemy pairs, lead by descendants of the FRF dragons. If not, I guess the ally pairs would continue on. They stretched arcs pretty hard in Alara block and since they are tied to the shards, I imagine that they will save shards colors for a return to Alara.
It looks like mana fixing will be good enough where you could play arcs or wedges in DTK limited.
WORST set for EDH?
Between:
I can already see enough cards that I know will go into some of my decks, or cards that I know I will be facing soon enough. So far aside from Ugin this set doesn't really offer anything format-warping, true, but I'd say that's a good thing. We don't need format-warping cards, we need cards that promote certain strategies, or that are roleplayers in various decks.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I know a lot of others think so as well. I gave a few of my reasons here:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/speculation/583295-dragons-of-tarkir-to-be-a-shards-block
Abzan FOD Should see a ton of play.
N/A
Modern:
Grishoalbrand / Grixis Death's Shadow / Jeskai Control / UW Control
The question is, could he see play in the same deck as Treasure Cruise or Dig Through time, which would clearly be in said BUG deck.
Or Jund
I understand that the Dragons are appropriately costed for limited. They just seem overcosted when looked through other lenses.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
However, there is a way to do arcs in a different way from Alara. Alara shards were rooted in the central color with its two allies. However, wedges of KTK are rooted in a "side color" with one ally and one enemy -- and arcs can be done in the same way. So, I'd presume:
WUB arc, centered in black
UBR arc, centered in red
BRG arc, centered in green
RGW arc, centered in white
GWU arc, centered in blue
Why this way? Well, first it's a kind of book-endish (start of block has first printed color as main, end has last printed color as main), but also, the arc and the wedge centered in same color would share its allied color as well (i.e. Jeskai and GWU arc both have white in addition to blue, but Jeskai chooses red out of its enemies while GWU arc chooses green).
Much more probably just allied pairs.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)