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
Since the Vampire we assume to be Edgar Markov seems to be working the Knight angle, I'm guessing one of the other legends will be a mage.
Looking at existing worlds where Mardu Vampires could conceivably exist, I would venture that one of the legends might be a Vampire Knight from Alara, a Bantian turned Vampire who hasn't completely let go of their humanity and sense of duty. Ravnica could also produce a Vampire from Orzhov with added red, likely Rakdos influence.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Since the Vampire we assume to be Edgar Markov seems to be working the Knight angle, I'm guessing one of the other legends will be a mage.
Looking at existing worlds where Mardu Vampires could conceivably exist, I would venture that one of the legends might be a Vampire Knight from Alara, a Bantian turned Vampire who hasn't completely let go of their humanity and sense of duty. Ravnica could also produce a Vampire from Orzhov with added red, likely Rakdos influence.
What about a Capashan Vampire from Benalia? Might be cool if a few of the legends tie into Dominaria since the spring set is going to be there. I can also see us getting a remake of Baron Sengir in BW, or another Ulgrotha vampire.
Probably gonna preorder that dragons deck, Ramos looks nuts.
C'mon, Maelstrom Nexus reprint! One time, one time is all I ask!
Well I'm getting the whole lot that's for sure.
I will be thrilled of Maelstrom Nexus is a reprint in dragons the reason it's possible is because I know some of the cards will be cheating out dragons some how since they are pretty exspensive to cast.
Since the Vampire we assume to be Edgar Markov seems to be working the Knight angle, I'm guessing one of the other legends will be a mage.
Looking at existing worlds where Mardu Vampires could conceivably exist, I would venture that one of the legends might be a Vampire Knight from Alara, a Bantian turned Vampire who hasn't completely let go of their humanity and sense of duty. Ravnica could also produce a Vampire from Orzhov with added red, likely Rakdos influence.
What about a Capashan Vampire from Benalia? Might be cool if a few of the legends tie into Dominaria since the spring set is going to be there. I can also see us getting a remake of Baron Sengir in BW, or another Ulgrotha vampire.
Baron Sengir's alignment is Grixis, being as the Dark Barony is along UBR leylines. I may be wrong on the reason, but Castle Sengir is Grixis aligned.
I'm still bummed at two things:
1) the lack of a 5th deck
2) if tribal was what mattered and not color pie, the decks could've easily all been 5-colored.
If each of the 5 decks were pentacolored then the color combination of the decks wouldn't matter because the difference between them would've just been the tribes. That would've been a slam dunk. Then next year could've been allied-colored commander or something like that. Oh well.
What interests me more though are what the new cards are going to be. Hopefully each deck contains a card that the other could get. Unlike previous commander products where each could've had Blade of Selves and Seal of the Guildpact but WotC decided to only put each into just 1/5 packs. Good going!
As for cats being the oddball people wished to see most, lots of people also wanted ninja tribal. It's clear that we won't be going to Kamigawa anytime soon. We finally got O-Kagachi's card, which was a much anticipated legend from Kamigawa. But ninja tribal could've been cool, too.
I'm calling the 5th "unofficial commander" to be the Hascon promo, Grimlock, Dinobot Leader. The Ixalan block is gonna have dinosaurs and vehicles plus all transforming werewolves fit into its color identity. On top of that, it still boons transformers that have white. And you can also use the vehicles from the Kaladesh block. So the real unassuming tribe isn't Cat but Dinobot, which is basically Dinosaur + Vehicle + DFC in which at least one side is a creature. So it's a triple tribe lord
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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 wonder if we'll see at least two new subcommanders in every deck like with Taigam and Wasitora. Since subcommanders have to by definition feature fewer colors than the deck they appear in, that would likely mean new monogreen and monowhite Cat legends. Juryan, Rebel Leader would be a good pick for the white half. Green, harder to say. Perhaps a Nacatl?
I'm reminded that Glissa's sister, Lyese, developed an attraction toward Raksha before the Soul Engines returned them to their home plane. Maybe they consummated and produced a lineage of Cat-Elf hybrids, culminating in a GW descendent? Of course Wizards has been pretty hesitant to make a lot of race-hybrid characters, Freyalise being one of the few examples.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I've only seen one picture of a bunch of Japanese text and a generic picture of a Commander box. Where is there a picture of wizards hanging out that people are debating about? Sorry, I appear to have missed it.
There was a banner on the mothership that showed all 4 arts of the box legendaries. I don't remember where it is though, but here's this ultra pro product where you can see the Wizard lady.
Oh what's the red balloons parts? Or is it just a joke?
Doesn't translate well outside of America but we have a cereal called Lucky Charms with red marshmallow balloons.
Marshmallows in cereals?!?! That's incredible!!!
It's not quite all it's cracked up to be. It's not big fluffy real marshmallows, it's more like hard sugary lumps. It's still really good if you've got a sweet tooth though.
On topic: For me Dragons > Wizards > Cats > Vamps, and I'm definitely getting my fiancee the Cats deck.
Seriously, it's all about Count Chocula for marshmallows.
Still don't see the Lucky Charms reference... the punchline lacks setup.
My first choice for uncarded wizards is - of course - Jodah. The problem is that his default color scheme should be not Grixis, but Jeskai. He had a natural talent and affinity for white magic, taught his first spells by Voska, a red mage, and later learned and used a lot of blue as the Archmage Eternal, and resorted to black only in direst need. Jodah without white would be disappointing.
I do not believe Jenrik should be a Wizard by type; Advisor would fit better for a researcher, like on Civilized Scholar. Yes, the only current astronomer in Magic is a wizard, but then again, stars have a rather peculiar role on Theros.
So, who else?
Bruenna, the temporal Neurok mage from Mirrodin books
Hurkyl (with Feldon and Titania already having cards, why not?), wife of Drafna
Mairsil the Pretender (yes, he was five-colored, but UBR were his strongest colors)
Kuberr, Averru and Lowallyn - the Numena. They *ARE* black, blue and red Maybe a Sen Triplets-like "group" legend?
For vampires, clearly Edgar Markov, and when we are there, also Runo Stromkirk. Would make sense why they omitted them from SoI block, instead giving another card to Olivia. Anje Falkenrath would be next in queue. And an updated card for Baron Sengir or at least someone from his family.
For cats...well, as I wrote somewhere else:
Jaeger Ojanen, father of Jedit
Raksha the Exiled, when he fled to Tangle
Some other minor Taj-Nar leonin: Ushanti the seer from the first Mirrodin, or Juryan the rebel "kha" from Scars
Zaliki the nacatl priestess, who became kha after Ajani left Alara
Marisi (but he would flavorfully have to be Naya, not GW).
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
[quote from="SavannahLion »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/780756-5-colour-dragons-selesnia-cats-mardu-vampires?comment=7"]By the way, they will print 3 commander for every tribe? That means 3 mardu vampires and 3 grixis wizards?
They usually want to have alternative commanders (i. e. legendary creatures with the full color identity of the deck) in each deck - with more than one alternative option so we should fully expect three UBR legendary Wizard and three RWB legendary Vampires - plus probably some legendaries that partially fit the color identity like we've seen in the Dragon deck - examples like two-colored new legendaries in three-colored decks go back to the first Commander-series release.
I'm fully expecting fifteen of the new cards be covered by this.
EDIT: I here-by speculate that the Vampire deck will have a reprint of Mirri the Cursed.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Does anyone else find it strange that they're pushing white vampires? I mean, for Sorin it made a little sense, but as one of Black's iconic creatures it makes about as much sense as white demons or red sphinxes. Iconic tribes have crossed colors in the past (Fallen angels are black, for example, and rogue merfolk and elves can also be black) but taking creatures of the night that literally survive by draining blood from their victims and trying to put them in white seems a bit of a stretch. White already stole black's zombies in Amonkhet--it made sense in context, but regardless, seeing all these tribes shifting colors so liberally is beginning to feel chaotic.
Ixalan will be interesting, for sure.
In any event, I don't see how they push Edgar Markov into White. He's the progenitor of a Red/Black vampire race that he brought into being through an unholy blood ritual involving an archdemon and a slain angel. Meanwhile, his grandson Sorin's white represents his betrayal of his vampire kindred.
Does anyone else find it strange that they're pushing white vampires? I mean, for Sorin it made a little sense, but as one of Black's iconic creatures it makes about as much sense as white demons or red sphinxes. Iconic tribes have crossed colors in the past (Fallen angels are black, for example, and rogue merfolk and elves can also be black) but taking creatures of the night that literally survive by draining blood from their victims and trying to put them in white seems a bit of a stretch. White already stole black's zombies in Amonkhet--it made sense in context, but regardless, seeing all these tribes shifting colors so liberally is beginning to feel chaotic.
Ixalan will be interesting, for sure.
To be quite frank, every non-mana creature we see (and some mana creatures) has to survive by feeding off something else. White creatures are white typically because they preserve some kind of order or structure, and/or are about "the needs of the many".
Maybe when it comes to mono-white vampires, they could be like Angel (the vampire from Buffy who got his own show), where they use non-human blood or have ethics when it comes to consuming it, or they could be like Blade where they use something (a potion or whatever) to suppress their need for blood.
In any event, I don't see how they push Edgar Markov into White. He's the progenitor of a Red/Black vampire race that he brought into being through an unholy blood ritual involving an archdemon and a slain angel. Meanwhile, his grandson Sorin's white represents his betrayal of his vampire kindred.
Just because he created a race of red and black creatures doesn't mean he's just red and black himself.
I wonder if we'll see at least two new subcommanders in every deck like with Taigam and Wasitora. Since subcommanders have to by definition feature fewer colors than the deck they appear in, that would likely mean new monogreen and monowhite Cat legends. Juryan, Rebel Leader would be a good pick for the white half. Green, harder to say. Perhaps a Nacatl?
I'm reminded that Glissa's sister, Lyese, developed an attraction toward Raksha before the Soul Engines returned them to their home plane. Maybe they consummated and produced a lineage of Cat-Elf hybrids, culminating in a GW descendent? Of course Wizards has been pretty hesitant to make a lot of race-hybrid characters, Freyalise being one of the few examples.
We could get Raksha as Selesnia during his Forest Hobo Stage while Glissa was in Stasis, as for vampires. I think we could see a Phyrexian Mirrodin Vampire in Orzhov colors since Norn is pretty much in charge.
The dragons have friggin' Ramos (That guy's gonna be dumb I'm calling it now) going for it but I think Grixis Wizards will probably be the Heavenly Inferno/Mind Seize/Breed Lethality of the bunch.
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but how a 6-mana card without any protection that does nothing when enters the battlefield and who's only good ability is pretty win-moreish is going to be nuts?
Tribal is not a good theme for commander. In fact, the essence of tribal decks is playing multiple copies of the few good tribal cards that make the strategy decent (see legacy/modern elves, legacy/modern merfolk, modern slivers, modern humans, legacy goblins, etc.). All tribal decks play multiple copies of good cards. In commander, the only tribe that can achieve this level of consistency with reasonable success is elves, and they are fortunate becuse their tribal ability overall involves adding mana, which is a decent thing on its own.
Aside from that, all other tribes are not really competitive material. Wizards always was decent solely because of Azami, and I think this story will repeat itself in this new product - they will print some busted emminence commander that will give you a reason to play the creatures from the tribe. The Ur-Dragon is not it and, at 30 and 40 life, the Cat lord is also not it, but gets close. I hope it is the vampire lord. One thing is for sure: it aint Ramos.
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Baron Sengir's alignment is Grixis, being as the Dark Barony is along UBR leylines. I may be wrong on the reason, but Castle Sengir is Grixis aligned.
While Castle Sengir is Grixis aligned we're talking about an era in Magic where the color pie hadn't even really developed yet, and where the color's identities weren't fully fleshed out. We're also talking about a very unpopular set that revolved around two VERY popular characters, the Baron and Serra (who had influence on the plane). Ulgrotha in many ways was a proto-innistrad, and the Dark Barony on it was a very oppressive regiment that had it's own armies led by Ihsan's Shade (A fallen member of Serra's Paladin order). It is not out of the realm of possibility to say that a modern day Barony, following the current color pie, would fall into the Mardu colors. Though that is pure speculation.
Aside from that, all other tribes are not really competitive material.
In my experience, most people don't play commander for competitive reasons. It is still, for the most part, a more casual format. In addition results are going to vary wildly depending on play groups. My own playgroup has numerous tribal decks that all do well, including my own Olivia Voldaren and Wydwen, the Biting Gale decks. I also see Zombies and Slivers doing pretty well in most instances. Lastly I'm guessing these decks will bring some help to these tribes to make the more "Competitive", though I hardly see competitive viability as an issue. Most people, again this is my experiences, want to play with a "Fun" commander who is cool in their eyes.
Question: Is there a reason it seems most are speculating the vampire is Edgar Markov and not say, Runo Stromkirk? I mean Runo was the legendary swordsman and all...
Zaliki the nacatl priestess, who became kha after Ajani left Alara
She also accidentally killed Ajani's brother, which is pretty big.
Not so much an accident since Marisi manipulatred her, and Marisi was in turn bein influenced by Nicol Bolas. Incidentally, if there is going to be a cat crossover into the Grixis wizards deck, Marisi is easy since she has a notable connection to said Grixis dragon.
Hmm. Well they come from the region of Nephalia and some apparently fell under the sway of Emrakul so there is that but also note, none of the named Stromkirks in mtg are anything but black and red. I mean, I guess Edgar would be the best vampire "Lord" since he was essentially the progenitor of the race on Innistrad. And certainly a flavorful commander. I was just curious if there was more behind that speculation. Thanks for the input.(In light of this info, Edgar does seem more viable, imo.)
In my experience, most people don't play commander for competitive reasons. It is still, for the most part, a more casual format. In addition results are going to vary wildly depending on play groups. My own playgroup has numerous tribal decks that all do well, including my own Olivia Voldaren and Wydwen, the Biting Gale decks. I also see Zombies and Slivers doing pretty well in most instances. Lastly I'm guessing these decks will bring some help to these tribes to make the more "Competitive", though I hardly see competitive viability as an issue. Most people, again this is my experiences, want to play with a "Fun" commander who is cool in their eyes.
That depends. Regarding 1v1 commander, either the mtgo version or duelcommander, people mostly just play with competitive decks. Commander is by far and away the format that I have played the most, and I much rather play the competitive version of it than the for-fun party version of multiplayer. Speaking of multiplayer, in there I agree that people don't usually play competitive decks, and I believe that is for a good reason.
My theory revolves around a sort of prisoner's dillema, where if you show up in a multiplayer table with a perfectly tuned competitive deck, you will win one or two games before being completely hated by the playgroup. People say they play for fun, but nobody likes to lose repeatedly for the same deck. From that point onwards either the playgroup bans the problematic deck/player or steps up their game by playing competitive decks as well. The issue is that, in a multiplayer competitive environment, the only viable decks would be combo decks, since it is not realistically to competitive deal 120 points of damage. Then you would have 4 competitive combo decks playing each other, and the obvious result is that every player will be feeling like they're playing Archenemy, where the other 3 players are trying to stop at all costs their opponents to combo. And the reality is that, without Archenemy schemes, one player can't defeat other 3, so the experience overall becomes miserable. You can try to go for the combo, someone stops you, then somebody else goes for it, until someone wins solely because their opponents exhausted the answers they had on the other players. In short, even when you win you know it was not necessarily on your merits, but only because of the way things played out. Multiplayer is not a format that adapts well to competitive scenarios. People say they 'want to have fun', but the truth is that people don't play competitive not because they don't actually want to, just because the format naturally repels this sort of strategy. Of course, some playgroups will be an exception to this overall rule.
In that vein, literally anything can be considered 'fun' for someone, and I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy Ramos decks playing cascade spells, or storm, or whatever. When you are not concerned with trying to make a competitive deck, almost anything is acceptable. That is why most multiplayer decks are battlecruise magic: big flashy creatures with big flashy spells that would never really see the light of play if someone was actually tuning their deck to win as often as they can.
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Personally, I don't really get why you would want to play 1vs1 or "competitive EDH". The singleton aspect alone makes you deck very inconsistent. Sure, you can build your deck with lots of redundant pieces, but that just reduces the original appeal of EDH. If I wanted efficient decks and fast games, I'd play Modern or even older formats.
You are half right, Commander is a multiplayer format no where does it specify the power of the decks or the games and with a pool as wide as it is to expect people not to go everywhere or to try and restrict that would be a bad idea.
Grixis Wizards is kinda a disappointment considering it is a retread of the Commanders in the last Grixis deck.
but I'm going to have to see what's in these decks
before I can really get excited about them.
Tribal as a base theme doesn't excite me,
but I'm interested in seeing the direction they took
with wizards and vampires.
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
Looking at existing worlds where Mardu Vampires could conceivably exist, I would venture that one of the legends might be a Vampire Knight from Alara, a Bantian turned Vampire who hasn't completely let go of their humanity and sense of duty. Ravnica could also produce a Vampire from Orzhov with added red, likely Rakdos influence.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
C'mon, Maelstrom Nexus reprint! One time, one time is all I ask!
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
What about a Capashan Vampire from Benalia? Might be cool if a few of the legends tie into Dominaria since the spring set is going to be there. I can also see us getting a remake of Baron Sengir in BW, or another Ulgrotha vampire.
RB Olivia Voldaren RB
GB Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons GB
BWR Queen Marchesa BWR
RW Anya, Merciless Angel RW
UW Bruna, Light of Alabaster UW
UB Wydwen, The Biting Gale UB
GU Momir Vig, simic visionary GU
WG Karametra, God of Harvests WG
WUBSydri, Galvanic GeniusWUB
At this point in my mtg career, only brand new or specially foiled Sliver cards could get me out to a prerelease of a set, or a FNM, you get the idea.
Well I'm getting the whole lot that's for sure.
I will be thrilled of Maelstrom Nexus is a reprint in dragons the reason it's possible is because I know some of the cards will be cheating out dragons some how since they are pretty exspensive to cast.
Baron Sengir's alignment is Grixis, being as the Dark Barony is along UBR leylines. I may be wrong on the reason, but Castle Sengir is Grixis aligned.
I'm still bummed at two things:
1) the lack of a 5th deck
2) if tribal was what mattered and not color pie, the decks could've easily all been 5-colored.
If each of the 5 decks were pentacolored then the color combination of the decks wouldn't matter because the difference between them would've just been the tribes. That would've been a slam dunk. Then next year could've been allied-colored commander or something like that. Oh well.
What interests me more though are what the new cards are going to be. Hopefully each deck contains a card that the other could get. Unlike previous commander products where each could've had Blade of Selves and Seal of the Guildpact but WotC decided to only put each into just 1/5 packs. Good going!
As for cats being the oddball people wished to see most, lots of people also wanted ninja tribal. It's clear that we won't be going to Kamigawa anytime soon. We finally got O-Kagachi's card, which was a much anticipated legend from Kamigawa. But ninja tribal could've been cool, too.
I'm calling the 5th "unofficial commander" to be the Hascon promo, Grimlock, Dinobot Leader. The Ixalan block is gonna have dinosaurs and vehicles plus all transforming werewolves fit into its color identity. On top of that, it still boons transformers that have white. And you can also use the vehicles from the Kaladesh block. So the real unassuming tribe isn't Cat but Dinobot, which is basically Dinosaur + Vehicle + DFC in which at least one side is a creature. So it's a triple tribe lord
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Maybe Ash Barrens, too.
Cascading Cataracts is probably too new to be included,
but Crystal Quarry might make an appearance.
I will continue to hope for Skyshroud Claim,
but I will probably continue to be disappointed
(at least until 25 Masters, maybe?)
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
I'm reminded that Glissa's sister, Lyese, developed an attraction toward Raksha before the Soul Engines returned them to their home plane. Maybe they consummated and produced a lineage of Cat-Elf hybrids, culminating in a GW descendent? Of course Wizards has been pretty hesitant to make a lot of race-hybrid characters, Freyalise being one of the few examples.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Thank you very much!
Seriously, it's all about Count Chocula for marshmallows.
Still don't see the Lucky Charms reference... the punchline lacks setup.
I do not believe Jenrik should be a Wizard by type; Advisor would fit better for a researcher, like on Civilized Scholar. Yes, the only current astronomer in Magic is a wizard, but then again, stars have a rather peculiar role on Theros.
So, who else?
Bruenna, the temporal Neurok mage from Mirrodin books
Hurkyl (with Feldon and Titania already having cards, why not?), wife of Drafna
Mairsil the Pretender (yes, he was five-colored, but UBR were his strongest colors)
Kuberr, Averru and Lowallyn - the Numena. They *ARE* black, blue and red Maybe a Sen Triplets-like "group" legend?
For vampires, clearly Edgar Markov, and when we are there, also Runo Stromkirk. Would make sense why they omitted them from SoI block, instead giving another card to Olivia. Anje Falkenrath would be next in queue. And an updated card for Baron Sengir or at least someone from his family.
For cats...well, as I wrote somewhere else:
Jaeger Ojanen, father of Jedit
Raksha the Exiled, when he fled to Tangle
Some other minor Taj-Nar leonin: Ushanti the seer from the first Mirrodin, or Juryan the rebel "kha" from Scars
Zaliki the nacatl priestess, who became kha after Ajani left Alara
Marisi (but he would flavorfully have to be Naya, not GW).
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
They usually want to have alternative commanders (i. e. legendary creatures with the full color identity of the deck) in each deck - with more than one alternative option so we should fully expect three UBR legendary Wizard and three RWB legendary Vampires - plus probably some legendaries that partially fit the color identity like we've seen in the Dragon deck - examples like two-colored new legendaries in three-colored decks go back to the first Commander-series release.
I'm fully expecting fifteen of the new cards be covered by this.
EDIT: I here-by speculate that the Vampire deck will have a reprint of Mirri the Cursed.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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Read up on Red Flags & NWO
She also accidentally killed Ajani's brother, which is pretty big.
Ixalan will be interesting, for sure.
In any event, I don't see how they push Edgar Markov into White. He's the progenitor of a Red/Black vampire race that he brought into being through an unholy blood ritual involving an archdemon and a slain angel. Meanwhile, his grandson Sorin's white represents his betrayal of his vampire kindred.
To be quite frank, every non-mana creature we see (and some mana creatures) has to survive by feeding off something else. White creatures are white typically because they preserve some kind of order or structure, and/or are about "the needs of the many".
Maybe when it comes to mono-white vampires, they could be like Angel (the vampire from Buffy who got his own show), where they use non-human blood or have ethics when it comes to consuming it, or they could be like Blade where they use something (a potion or whatever) to suppress their need for blood.
Just because he created a race of red and black creatures doesn't mean he's just red and black himself.
We could get Raksha as Selesnia during his Forest Hobo Stage while Glissa was in Stasis, as for vampires. I think we could see a Phyrexian Mirrodin Vampire in Orzhov colors since Norn is pretty much in charge.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Tribal is not a good theme for commander. In fact, the essence of tribal decks is playing multiple copies of the few good tribal cards that make the strategy decent (see legacy/modern elves, legacy/modern merfolk, modern slivers, modern humans, legacy goblins, etc.). All tribal decks play multiple copies of good cards. In commander, the only tribe that can achieve this level of consistency with reasonable success is elves, and they are fortunate becuse their tribal ability overall involves adding mana, which is a decent thing on its own.
Aside from that, all other tribes are not really competitive material. Wizards always was decent solely because of Azami, and I think this story will repeat itself in this new product - they will print some busted emminence commander that will give you a reason to play the creatures from the tribe. The Ur-Dragon is not it and, at 30 and 40 life, the Cat lord is also not it, but gets close. I hope it is the vampire lord. One thing is for sure: it aint Ramos.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
While Castle Sengir is Grixis aligned we're talking about an era in Magic where the color pie hadn't even really developed yet, and where the color's identities weren't fully fleshed out. We're also talking about a very unpopular set that revolved around two VERY popular characters, the Baron and Serra (who had influence on the plane). Ulgrotha in many ways was a proto-innistrad, and the Dark Barony on it was a very oppressive regiment that had it's own armies led by Ihsan's Shade (A fallen member of Serra's Paladin order). It is not out of the realm of possibility to say that a modern day Barony, following the current color pie, would fall into the Mardu colors. Though that is pure speculation.
In my experience, most people don't play commander for competitive reasons. It is still, for the most part, a more casual format. In addition results are going to vary wildly depending on play groups. My own playgroup has numerous tribal decks that all do well, including my own Olivia Voldaren and Wydwen, the Biting Gale decks. I also see Zombies and Slivers doing pretty well in most instances. Lastly I'm guessing these decks will bring some help to these tribes to make the more "Competitive", though I hardly see competitive viability as an issue. Most people, again this is my experiences, want to play with a "Fun" commander who is cool in their eyes.
RB Olivia Voldaren RB
GB Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons GB
BWR Queen Marchesa BWR
RW Anya, Merciless Angel RW
UW Bruna, Light of Alabaster UW
UB Wydwen, The Biting Gale UB
GU Momir Vig, simic visionary GU
WG Karametra, God of Harvests WG
WUBSydri, Galvanic GeniusWUB
Not so much an accident since Marisi manipulatred her, and Marisi was in turn bein influenced by Nicol Bolas. Incidentally, if there is going to be a cat crossover into the Grixis wizards deck, Marisi is easy since she has a notable connection to said Grixis dragon.
My theory revolves around a sort of prisoner's dillema, where if you show up in a multiplayer table with a perfectly tuned competitive deck, you will win one or two games before being completely hated by the playgroup. People say they play for fun, but nobody likes to lose repeatedly for the same deck. From that point onwards either the playgroup bans the problematic deck/player or steps up their game by playing competitive decks as well. The issue is that, in a multiplayer competitive environment, the only viable decks would be combo decks, since it is not realistically to competitive deal 120 points of damage. Then you would have 4 competitive combo decks playing each other, and the obvious result is that every player will be feeling like they're playing Archenemy, where the other 3 players are trying to stop at all costs their opponents to combo. And the reality is that, without Archenemy schemes, one player can't defeat other 3, so the experience overall becomes miserable. You can try to go for the combo, someone stops you, then somebody else goes for it, until someone wins solely because their opponents exhausted the answers they had on the other players. In short, even when you win you know it was not necessarily on your merits, but only because of the way things played out. Multiplayer is not a format that adapts well to competitive scenarios. People say they 'want to have fun', but the truth is that people don't play competitive not because they don't actually want to, just because the format naturally repels this sort of strategy. Of course, some playgroups will be an exception to this overall rule.
In that vein, literally anything can be considered 'fun' for someone, and I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy Ramos decks playing cascade spells, or storm, or whatever. When you are not concerned with trying to make a competitive deck, almost anything is acceptable. That is why most multiplayer decks are battlecruise magic: big flashy creatures with big flashy spells that would never really see the light of play if someone was actually tuning their deck to win as often as they can.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Personally, I don't really get why you would want to play 1vs1 or "competitive EDH". The singleton aspect alone makes you deck very inconsistent. Sure, you can build your deck with lots of redundant pieces, but that just reduces the original appeal of EDH. If I wanted efficient decks and fast games, I'd play Modern or even older formats.
Grixis Wizards is kinda a disappointment considering it is a retread of the Commanders in the last Grixis deck.