Windgrace- His plus is nice if your land flooded and his negative lets you get it back. HIs ultimate is nice and I wonder if there would be a card to give an opponent a forest to help the kitties. Solid looking if not boring and more utility. This is the deck I was thinking of getting and I might just use him in the 99.
Now that you mention it, Song of the Dryads is a likely inclusion in the precon.
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Protection from reason (Decadent_Creed can't be blocked, targeted, dealt damage, or enchanted by reason.)
I have been piloting a Jund Lands deck with Shattergang Brothers as the commander for a while. (List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/shattergang-lands-brewing/). It's one of my favorite decks to play and generally does fairly well but it does have a couple glaring holes that I feel like most lands decks suffer from:
1) IMO Lands as an archetype lacks a critical mass of synergistic card draw. Sure, you can play stuff like Phyrexian Arena ect, but I've been on the lookout for more card draw options that further my game plan of abusing lands. Windgrace does that very well, so immediately I'm interested.
2) Sometimes lands decks just sit there with a crap ton of lands but no real way to impact the board. Windgrace doesn't do much in this situation. He doesn't generate threats on his own. This is a bummer.
I don't know if I love him as a commander but he's probably great in the 99. Who knows, maybe having card draw and recursion in the command zone will be exactly what the archetype needs? I'm not overly concerned that he can't protect himself. In a lands deck you can play absurd cards like Glacial Chasm and Constant Mists to fog forever.
Windgrace is really cool. I kinda wish he had a way of protecting himself.
Well, his whole shtick is "Lands Matter", so Constant Mists or Sunstone will help.
These are nice but not too broken. I was going to get the Esper one, and now that I've seen Animatou that seems like a good idea. Three useful abilities, and the Ult will really punish a greedy board.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Hrm. Speaking of Animatou, actually, it might be time for me to dust off that Illusions of Grandeur, Sleeper Agent and other such hindering cards for her ult.
So, so annoying!
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Also Animatou is a character out of left field and I'm kind of into it. A creepy little swamp girl as the "main character" of youe deck is something I didn't know I needed until now.Plus that art is eerily gorgeous.
I don't know if I'm missing something, but it really seems like there are a lot of people who thought that Serra was somehow guaranteed in these decks because one of them is enchantment themed. Not really seeing the smoking gun on that one.
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
Animatou goes infinite with Felidar Guardian and I reckon she'll be a lot more viable than Saheeli Rai ever was. I guess it's time to call it "Crazy Cat Girl" combo now.
Aminatou's ult also seems pretty fun with Teferi's Protection. Steal the entire board of a person next to me, give nothing back.
It's also nice that she blinks permanents you own, so you can get stuff back. Really getting a 'lost in a swamp and losing your mind' vibe from her. Really cool.
I am not sure that actually works since phased out permanents are still on the battlefield.
But yeah swamp girl is definitely the cooler of the two newcomer.
If the mask lady does not have Imperial Mask in her deck, I am however seriously disappointed.
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Drop your knees to the floor
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
I am VERY excited to see the rest of the Esper Aminatou deck. The general looks like a lot of fun to play with, in colors that has a history of linear commanders, where this one plays very openly it seems.
Others look solid (especially Saheeli's 2nd +1) but really wanna see what this new esper commander brings to the table.
I am kind of baffled by people expecting Teferi/Dereti-level power here (Yes, even after the vague claims that these decks would "be more powerful"). Yes, the mono-colored planeswalker commanders (or at least 3 of them) were powerful. They were mono-colored, heavily restricting what you could do with them. If we ever get mono-colored (mix-and-matchable) partners in a commander set, I would expect them to be stronger than the multi-colored ones as they would block you from using 4 colors. While being multicolored typically justifies having more power instead of less, that logic is kind of turned on its head in this one setting.
For me, there was no doubt that the commanders being developed for highly desired archetypes in two/three colors with no real other options would be a bit less powerful than the previously untested mono-color commanders that are begging you to play with only one color. With that said...
Saheeli: This might be a legitimate competitive commander. When you are playing all of the right rocks (moxen, sol ring, crypt, vault, monolith), this can be "free" or even generate mana the turn it comes down. I can easily imagine decks throwing down Time Stretch and such really early with this card.
Estred:
Turn 1: Forest + Utopia Sprawl
Turn 2: Land that makes or + wild growth
Turn 3: Free commander
Plus, she's a usable combo commander who can protect your combo pieces. A lot to like here.
Windgrace
So... it provides card advantage... and returns any utility lands that your opponents hate to death... and it helps you deal with lands that you draw in the late game, turning them into card advantage. None of that is bad.
Manitou
This is the lame duck of the group. On top of being a three-mana walker (power needs to be moderated) who can act as your commander (power needs to be moderated) who comes in three colors (power needs to be moderated), she represents an untested archetype that had relatively little demand to start with. I kind of feel bad for this card, though it does still look like a bit of fun.
The Bant one is surprisingly interesting. You could invest pretty hard in her -1 and go for some proliferation, token copying, and likely ensuing wrath crawl. You could build standard enchantress and use the + as a fuel for all the shenanigans. You could slot in The Chain Veil, slip an aura onto it (even from her own ability), make infinite mana, use the ultimate to blaze through your deck, get back Holistic Wisdom, and in turn use that to set up a hyper roundabout Laboratory Maniac. I'm curious what they did with her in the precon specifically.
Saheeli - while I like OG, it feels more like a combo card. This is a bit more utility (token and ramp). Though this is a bit boring, I will use this in place of OG in my artifact cube.
Estrid - seems like a great build around commander.
Windgrace - great CA machine but really works with the “lands in graveyards” theme of Loam, Gitrog, Ramunap Excavator. (Good thing Crucible is recently reprinted otherwise spike)
Aminatou - abilities seem to be disconnected. A miracles enabler, a blink enabler, and the ultimate that seems to be out of color. It is a unique effect though, and quite interesting to build around.
Not sure if any of the lead commanders are too tier like Maren or Atraxa, but they do look interesting.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
"Choose left or right. Each player gains control of all nonland permanents other than Aminatou, the Fateshifter controlled by the next player in the chosen direction."
I personally fail to see how Aminatou's ultimate is out of color. The "left or right" and the fact it affects all players in the same manner is a white mechanic. The gifting/stealing/moving of permanents is a blue mechanic. You want to see a red version of that? Try Scrambleverse which would be a more out of color version of her effect to have. As there is nothing random happening with her ultimate. In fact its very orderly. What people think is out of color is merely their kneejerk reaction. To put it into another way of describing what happens, its a mass version of Donate that each player is casting that is in its color, but only can be gifted to the next player in the chosen direction.
This is an extremely powerful effect by the way simply based on where you are seated. For example, lets say the opponent to your left has this massive army of tokens, you choose right, which means the army of tokens becomes yours now, what you previously had besides Aminatou and lands is now given to your opponent on your right.
Addendum: Also, just food for thought, you can use Rings of Brighthearth with her ultimate since it will copy the effect but not the cost. Which like taking the previous example into consideration with the token army, perhaps that army is two players to the left OR right, doubling on Aminatou's ultimate would allow you to gain that army just like if they were sitting right next to you in the original example.
Aminatou's ult seems very Red and chaotic to me. Esper colors, when they care about control effects, only let you control things. This lets everyone else play another person's turn, more or less, but with your hand still intact.
It's an oddly fascinating ability that might nudge me towards getting her deck. I want to get Windgrace's deck, but I can't really see a deck basked around lands actually doing anything. If anything, he seems like a commander you'd play against that one knobhead who plays a land destruction deck.
I'm not thrilled with Estrid. The art is fine, but trying to put a positive spin on self mill in Bant colors is just too much of a stretch for me. I'll stick with Sigarda and be happy with it, I suppose. If the deck itself is solid and some new legendary comes of it to replace her, I'll be happy to revise my opinion.
Saheeli's +1 seems...a bit weak, to be honest. Couldn't they have done something a little more impressive?
Aminatou's ult seems very Red and chaotic to me. Esper colors, when they care about control effects, only let you control things. This lets everyone else play another person's turn, more or less, but with your hand still intact.
It's an oddly fascinating ability that might nudge me towards getting her deck. I want to get Windgrace's deck, but I can't really see a deck basked around lands actually doing anything. If anything, he seems like a commander you'd play against that one knobhead who plays a land destruction deck.
I'm not thrilled with Estrid. The art is fine, but trying to put a positive spin on self mill in Bant colors is just too much of a stretch for me. I'll stick with Sigarda and be happy with it, I suppose. If the deck itself is solid and some new legendary comes of it to replace her, I'll be happy to revise my opinion.
Saheeli's +1 seems...a bit weak, to be honest. Couldn't they have done something a little more impressive?
The fact that Saheeli gives one spell a turn Affinity for Artifacts as a PLUS ability isn't impressive?
Saheeli's +1 seems...a bit weak, to be honest. Couldn't they have done something a little more impressive?
The fact that Saheeli gives one spell a turn Affinity for Artifacts as a PLUS ability isn't impressive?
Mechanically I'm sure it's fine. From a flavor standpoint, it's incredibly bland. If it weren't for the combo potential, all her +1 is doing is slapping another artifact on the field.
Estrid seems great, but narrow, just like a Commander face card should be IMO. The fact that she gets to her Ultimate in 2 turns is reminiscent of Nahiri, the Harbinger, which we can all agree is a fantastic card. Obvious synergy with her +2 and -1, and threads in interesting grounds that other Aura Commanders didn't - a go-wide Aura strategy. Overall she's a homerun IMO.
Lord Windgrace is fantastic. For starters, he provides card advantage and ramp in Jund colors. That alone makes him a powerhouse. Getting up 7 Loyalty once he hits the field makes him a tough cookie to beat, Ultimate is a powerhouse and the land subtheme could be very interesting. We'll have to see what kind of deck he'll bring to the table with his other cards, but I definitely like him.
Saheeli seems... all right. The obvious advantage with her is the fact she has 2 +1s, and the 2nd ability compensates the awful lackluster 1st ability, but even the Ultimate seems situational. IMO, you should look at her as a UR Artifact Commander that ramps. Overall, pretty average.
I really dislike Aminatou. Low Loyalty and Loyalty gain makes her near useless in the lategame, random Blink ability as if we didn't had enough Blink Commanders already, situational Ultimate that hurts you just as much as your opponents, can barely protect herself and provides no real card advantage either. Is it just me, or this seems like almost Tibalt levels of bad? Literally the only thing I can think of that could make Aminatou playable is Felidar Guardian combos, and who doesn't loves infinite combos in Commander games, amirite? Overall worst Commander face card ever.
Although I have reservations about the other 3, Saheeli, the Gifted is straight gas! The girl has two +1 abilities, both of which are great. The first provides bodies to protect her and the second provides ramp for your red/blue deck. In Magic Christmas Wonderland it's possible to have Seat of the Synod, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mox Opal, Mox Amber, Saheeli, the Gifted, and Kozilek, the Great Distortion out on the FIRST TURN all while drawing 7 more cards in the process! And that's just the first thing that popped into my mind. I'm sure there's even better dream scenarios
These are a bit more uninteresting than I thought they'd be, but they are not bad. I actually like Bant Enchantments, you can build it in different ways and I like that. Esper is probably the most disappointing of the bunch as it has random assortment of abilities and so far doesn't do much for "top card matters".
Even with the spoilers, I'm just burnt out on Artifacts. We just had Breya not too long ago, then Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, then Jhoira and others in Dominaria. Could we do ANYTHING ELSE with a UR commander? Perhaps another spells-matter deck? Maybe in (god forbid) Jeskai?
Even with the spoilers, I'm just burnt out on Artifacts. We just had Breya not too long ago, then Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, then Jhoira and others in Dominaria. Could we do ANYTHING ELSE with a UR commander? Perhaps another spells-matter deck? Maybe in (god forbid) Jeskai?
I guess Kaladesh, Aether Revolt and Jhoira and others in Dominaria are exactly the reason we have a UR Artifacts Commander this year.
They want something players can grab some of the cards they've acquired during the last couple of years and put into the deck.
The same happened with Cats and Vampires in the last Commander product (not to mention Wizards got some love in Dominaria and Dragons are kinda of a theme in M19)
Even with the spoilers, I'm just burnt out on Artifacts. We just had Breya not too long ago, then Kaladesh and Aether Revolt, then Jhoira and others in Dominaria. Could we do ANYTHING ELSE with a UR commander? Perhaps another spells-matter deck? Maybe in (god forbid) Jeskai?
No. We needed our Izzet Artifact General
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Now that you mention it, Song of the Dryads is a likely inclusion in the precon.
I have been piloting a Jund Lands deck with Shattergang Brothers as the commander for a while. (List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/shattergang-lands-brewing/). It's one of my favorite decks to play and generally does fairly well but it does have a couple glaring holes that I feel like most lands decks suffer from:
1) IMO Lands as an archetype lacks a critical mass of synergistic card draw. Sure, you can play stuff like Phyrexian Arena ect, but I've been on the lookout for more card draw options that further my game plan of abusing lands. Windgrace does that very well, so immediately I'm interested.
2) Sometimes lands decks just sit there with a crap ton of lands but no real way to impact the board. Windgrace doesn't do much in this situation. He doesn't generate threats on his own. This is a bummer.
I don't know if I love him as a commander but he's probably great in the 99. Who knows, maybe having card draw and recursion in the command zone will be exactly what the archetype needs? I'm not overly concerned that he can't protect himself. In a lands deck you can play absurd cards like Glacial Chasm and Constant Mists to fog forever.
Well, his whole shtick is "Lands Matter", so Constant Mists or Sunstone will help.
These are nice but not too broken. I was going to get the Esper one, and now that I've seen Animatou that seems like a good idea. Three useful abilities, and the Ult will really punish a greedy board.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
So, so annoying!
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Also Animatou is a character out of left field and I'm kind of into it. A creepy little swamp girl as the "main character" of youe deck is something I didn't know I needed until now.Plus that art is eerily gorgeous.
I don't know if I'm missing something, but it really seems like there are a lot of people who thought that Serra was somehow guaranteed in these decks because one of them is enchantment themed. Not really seeing the smoking gun on that one.
-Chandra Nalaar
I am not sure that actually works since phased out permanents are still on the battlefield.
But yeah swamp girl is definitely the cooler of the two newcomer.
If the mask lady does not have Imperial Mask in her deck, I am however seriously disappointed.
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
Others look solid (especially Saheeli's 2nd +1) but really wanna see what this new esper commander brings to the table.
For me, there was no doubt that the commanders being developed for highly desired archetypes in two/three colors with no real other options would be a bit less powerful than the previously untested mono-color commanders that are begging you to play with only one color. With that said...
Saheeli: This might be a legitimate competitive commander. When you are playing all of the right rocks (moxen, sol ring, crypt, vault, monolith), this can be "free" or even generate mana the turn it comes down. I can easily imagine decks throwing down Time Stretch and such really early with this card.
Estred:
Turn 1: Forest + Utopia Sprawl
Turn 2: Land that makes or + wild growth
Turn 3: Free commander
Plus, she's a usable combo commander who can protect your combo pieces. A lot to like here.
Windgrace
So... it provides card advantage... and returns any utility lands that your opponents hate to death... and it helps you deal with lands that you draw in the late game, turning them into card advantage. None of that is bad.
Manitou
This is the lame duck of the group. On top of being a three-mana walker (power needs to be moderated) who can act as your commander (power needs to be moderated) who comes in three colors (power needs to be moderated), she represents an untested archetype that had relatively little demand to start with. I kind of feel bad for this card, though it does still look like a bit of fun.
Estrid - seems like a great build around commander.
Windgrace - great CA machine but really works with the “lands in graveyards” theme of Loam, Gitrog, Ramunap Excavator. (Good thing Crucible is recently reprinted otherwise spike)
Aminatou - abilities seem to be disconnected. A miracles enabler, a blink enabler, and the ultimate that seems to be out of color. It is a unique effect though, and quite interesting to build around.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I personally fail to see how Aminatou's ultimate is out of color. The "left or right" and the fact it affects all players in the same manner is a white mechanic. The gifting/stealing/moving of permanents is a blue mechanic. You want to see a red version of that? Try Scrambleverse which would be a more out of color version of her effect to have. As there is nothing random happening with her ultimate. In fact its very orderly. What people think is out of color is merely their kneejerk reaction. To put it into another way of describing what happens, its a mass version of Donate that each player is casting that is in its color, but only can be gifted to the next player in the chosen direction.
This is an extremely powerful effect by the way simply based on where you are seated. For example, lets say the opponent to your left has this massive army of tokens, you choose right, which means the army of tokens becomes yours now, what you previously had besides Aminatou and lands is now given to your opponent on your right.
Addendum: Also, just food for thought, you can use Rings of Brighthearth with her ultimate since it will copy the effect but not the cost. Which like taking the previous example into consideration with the token army, perhaps that army is two players to the left OR right, doubling on Aminatou's ultimate would allow you to gain that army just like if they were sitting right next to you in the original example.
Second, I've already got a Bant aura deck that I like a lot, and I don't see a need for Estrid to supplant the commander or get a slot in the 99.
My 720 Peasant Cube
It's an oddly fascinating ability that might nudge me towards getting her deck. I want to get Windgrace's deck, but I can't really see a deck basked around lands actually doing anything. If anything, he seems like a commander you'd play against that one knobhead who plays a land destruction deck.
I'm not thrilled with Estrid. The art is fine, but trying to put a positive spin on self mill in Bant colors is just too much of a stretch for me. I'll stick with Sigarda and be happy with it, I suppose. If the deck itself is solid and some new legendary comes of it to replace her, I'll be happy to revise my opinion.
Saheeli's +1 seems...a bit weak, to be honest. Couldn't they have done something a little more impressive?
The fact that Saheeli gives one spell a turn Affinity for Artifacts as a PLUS ability isn't impressive?
Mechanically I'm sure it's fine. From a flavor standpoint, it's incredibly bland. If it weren't for the combo potential, all her +1 is doing is slapping another artifact on the field.
Lord Windgrace is fantastic. For starters, he provides card advantage and ramp in Jund colors. That alone makes him a powerhouse. Getting up 7 Loyalty once he hits the field makes him a tough cookie to beat, Ultimate is a powerhouse and the land subtheme could be very interesting. We'll have to see what kind of deck he'll bring to the table with his other cards, but I definitely like him.
Saheeli seems... all right. The obvious advantage with her is the fact she has 2 +1s, and the 2nd ability compensates the awful lackluster 1st ability, but even the Ultimate seems situational. IMO, you should look at her as a UR Artifact Commander that ramps. Overall, pretty average.
I really dislike Aminatou. Low Loyalty and Loyalty gain makes her near useless in the lategame, random Blink ability as if we didn't had enough Blink Commanders already, situational Ultimate that hurts you just as much as your opponents, can barely protect herself and provides no real card advantage either. Is it just me, or this seems like almost Tibalt levels of bad? Literally the only thing I can think of that could make Aminatou playable is Felidar Guardian combos, and who doesn't loves infinite combos in Commander games, amirite? Overall worst Commander face card ever.
Did you really expect Serra to be non mono-white? She could be in the deck, calm down.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
I guess Kaladesh, Aether Revolt and Jhoira and others in Dominaria are exactly the reason we have a UR Artifacts Commander this year.
They want something players can grab some of the cards they've acquired during the last couple of years and put into the deck.
The same happened with Cats and Vampires in the last Commander product (not to mention Wizards got some love in Dominaria and Dragons are kinda of a theme in M19)
Commander: WUBRG Superfriends, GW Rhys Tokens, WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Kitchen Table (now that's real Magic): WUBRG Domain, GU Biovisionary, UB Korlash Grandeur, UW Merfolk Mill
No. We needed our Izzet Artifact General