Wow. They really REALLY played it safe with these ones. This is really disappointing.
Look at those manabases! Ravnica bouncelands, taplands, Evolving Wilds, and whatever othernicheslowlands fit? Seriously, not even checklands or Amonkhet duals? How about a Krark-clan Ironworks? Tireless Tracker? Scroll Rack? Utopia Sprawl? At least Enchantress got Bear Umbra I guess, but come on. This is not what I hoped for when they said they'd be doing us better for the price tag. I mean, it's what I expected, but not what I'd hoped.
Typical WOTC, get you all excited with a few cool cards at the start and then you find out 90% of the set is trash. Isn't this what they have been doing for a while now?
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Standard
none
Modern UBG B/U/G control BBB MBC WUR Control WWW Prison RRR Goblins
Legacy BBB Pox UBG B/U/G Control UWU StoneBlade UW Miracle Control
As promised, I am mildly annoyed for not reprinting the Top on a deck that cares on the top (see what i did there) of your library. Lazy deckbuilding at its finest.
Not seeing much in the way of new art, particularly on cards that could use a new twist to them, and very very few reprints that made me go "oh nice". Meh.
At least the new stuff is interesting design-wise.
I am disappointed by the number of rare land reprints (1). I mean Grim Backwoods is nice and all, but damn, again the mana selection sucks.
And considering the sheer number of lands in the Jund deck, WotC could have put in a little more effort on the mana selection.
On the other hand, I am glad we got a reprint of Mirage fetches, even if it was only two of them.
Other than that, the decklists look fine. They need to be heavily modified of course, but that is par for the course when it comes to the commander decks. At least they look playable.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
The only nonbasic land in all four of these decks that produces colored mana and enters the board untapped is Command Tower. Everything else enters tapped. Unbelievable. They couldn't even have chucked us some Amulet of Vigors to make up for their parsimony.
These decks feel like the Commander version of Welcome decks. I'll spend $100 on all the new singles and wash my hands of this.
I... am honestly confused by some of the choices in these decks. Even accounting for value, there are some choices that don't add up to me.
Wizards could have reprinted angry omnath + gitrog instead of Avenger (value was hanging around $6 before this printing) + Budoka Gardener and have actually printed LESS raw value while making a bigger impact, for example.
Instead of printing predict in the esper deck, they might have gone with Vanishment (or a cheap cascade card) to act as more immediate payoff for top deck matters.
Not that the price of a card dictates its quality, but they are often hand-in-hand. Is there a single land reprint in this over 50 cents, with the exception of Command Tower ($1.50)?
If you're printing dual lands that ETBT and have no game text otherwise, why not reprint the Temples Of series from Theros? Scry is an evergreen mechanic, and their price tags (.60-$4, with most hovering around $2) wouldn't upset the balance of pricing.Not to mention that bc these decks are not optimized (not that they should be), a scry trigger will help smooth them out to a small degree.
Seriously, why not even a new cycle of Duals or Tri-lands that ETB tapped, unless your Commander is on the battlefield? How hard is that?
So thankful an eBay coupon let me preorder these for only $108. At $140, $150, or a gross $160 MSRP these would be hugely disappointing.
Jund deck is meh overall outside the Commander stuff, Saheeli and Estrid decks are fine and Animatou's deck is pretty sweet, wasn't expecting Entreat the Angels on top of the other stuff.
Definitely doesn't call for a $10 increase though, whoever authorized that needs to be slapped with a trout. Also whoever green-lighted the Jund deck as "lands matter", bad idea.
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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.
Esper deck has more enablers for Topdeck matters than rewards, as well as almost no Blinking rewards. So many draw cards, yet so little actual card advantage, ugh... what, was Interpret the Signs too good for the deck?
Jund deck is one of the most painfully boring precon decks I've ever seen. The two things that excites me the most about it is the Deathreap Ritual reprint and its lands.
Bant Auras has zero Hexproof creatures. I mean, really guys? How do you even screw that up?!
Saheeli's deck seems the best of the batch, but that's not saying much.
Overall, this is probably a skip for me. I definitely like some of the new cards and could see myself buying singles, but they don't justify those painfully underwhelming decks.
I've bought every commander deck for the last few years, I'll be getting singles this time. For $160, I'm quite sure I can get all the singles I want and still have cash left in hand.
I'm really disappointed that they decided to water these down so much more than last year, which was already weaker than previous years, and then upcharge us to boot. Hopefully everyone is committed to speaking with their wallets and passing these by.
It appears that the Saheeli deck is the one with the most value. But i could be wrong.
Nothing in the artifacts deck struck me as being worth a ton of money, and meanwhile at current prices you basically get your money back with just the Enchantress's Presence and Bear Umbra from that deck (nevermind that all its new legends are bound to be insanely popular). Toss in the first new card face printing of Wild Growth and a variety of middle-tier $2 rares (Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Herald of the Pantheon, good ol' Sol Ring) and you have a good buy. The most valuable cards in the artifacts deck are only $8 for Unwinding Clock and $4 for Duplicant.
Lots of misses here. I know we can't expect everything for all the decks, but...
- While its always good to see more copies of Entreat the Angels and Terminus, and I understand that strong top-of-library tutors and Counterbalance are "unfun" and were probably never even in consideration, I am floored we didn't get either Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack in the "manipulation" deck. Thassa, God of the Sea would also have been amazing; give it the new frame treatment and it has strong synergy with the ninjas as well as some extra scrying power. The deck sounded like a mess and really should have had at least one of those three cards. I'm still probably going to buy it for the two tribal legends and variety of sweet new cards but it's annoying.
- The enchantment deck is actually good. I would have loved Greater Auramancy, Idyllic Tutor, and Sterling Grove but recognize those fall into unfun territory or at least territory of "WotC tends to not add these to decks". It sort of feels like this year started with "let's give people a Bant Enchantress deck since they clearly want it", and then they just flailed and struggled to find three decks to go with that plan. Most missing cards either aren't that bad to grab (Sphere of Safety or have relatively recent reprints (Argothian Enchantress, Utopia Sprawl).
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I feel like they overstated things by calling the Jund deck "lands matter". "Lands are kinda nifty" or "I wouldn't mind a land or two" would be more accurate.
As promised, I am mildly annoyed for not reprinting the Top on a deck that cares on the top (see what i did there) of your library. Lazy deckbuilding at its finest.
I agree that this deck was the obvious place for it, and with the increases price it seemed like they might do it, but to call it "lazy deck building" is just wrong. Putting all the obvious cards in is closer to the definition of lazy. Be more constructive with your critique. Calling it "lazy" is just mean and, well frankly, lazy.
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It appears that the Saheeli deck is the one with the most value. But i could be wrong.
Look at those manabases! Ravnica bouncelands, taplands, Evolving Wilds, and whatever other niche slowlands fit? Seriously, not even checklands or Amonkhet duals? How about a Krark-clan Ironworks? Tireless Tracker? Scroll Rack? Utopia Sprawl? At least Enchantress got Bear Umbra I guess, but come on. This is not what I hoped for when they said they'd be doing us better for the price tag. I mean, it's what I expected, but not what I'd hoped.
none
Modern
UBG B/U/G control
BBB MBC
WUR Control
WWW Prison
RRR Goblins
Legacy
BBB Pox
UBG B/U/G Control
UWU StoneBlade
UW Miracle Control
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
At least the new stuff is interesting design-wise.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
And considering the sheer number of lands in the Jund deck, WotC could have put in a little more effort on the mana selection.
On the other hand, I am glad we got a reprint of Mirage fetches, even if it was only two of them.
Other than that, the decklists look fine. They need to be heavily modified of course, but that is par for the course when it comes to the commander decks. At least they look playable.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
These decks feel like the Commander version of Welcome decks. I'll spend $100 on all the new singles and wash my hands of this.
Wizards could have reprinted angry omnath + gitrog instead of Avenger (value was hanging around $6 before this printing) + Budoka Gardener and have actually printed LESS raw value while making a bigger impact, for example.
Instead of printing predict in the esper deck, they might have gone with Vanishment (or a cheap cascade card) to act as more immediate payoff for top deck matters.
If you're printing dual lands that ETBT and have no game text otherwise, why not reprint the Temples Of series from Theros? Scry is an evergreen mechanic, and their price tags (.60-$4, with most hovering around $2) wouldn't upset the balance of pricing.Not to mention that bc these decks are not optimized (not that they should be), a scry trigger will help smooth them out to a small degree.
Seriously, why not even a new cycle of Duals or Tri-lands that ETB tapped, unless your Commander is on the battlefield? How hard is that?
So thankful an eBay coupon let me preorder these for only $108. At $140, $150, or a gross $160 MSRP these would be hugely disappointing.
Definitely doesn't call for a $10 increase though, whoever authorized that needs to be slapped with a trout. Also whoever green-lighted the Jund deck as "lands matter", bad idea.
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.
Jund deck is one of the most painfully boring precon decks I've ever seen. The two things that excites me the most about it is the Deathreap Ritual reprint and its lands.
Bant Auras has zero Hexproof creatures. I mean, really guys? How do you even screw that up?!
Saheeli's deck seems the best of the batch, but that's not saying much.
Overall, this is probably a skip for me. I definitely like some of the new cards and could see myself buying singles, but they don't justify those painfully underwhelming decks.
My 720 Peasant Cube
I'm really disappointed that they decided to water these down so much more than last year, which was already weaker than previous years, and then upcharge us to boot. Hopefully everyone is committed to speaking with their wallets and passing these by.
Nothing in the artifacts deck struck me as being worth a ton of money, and meanwhile at current prices you basically get your money back with just the Enchantress's Presence and Bear Umbra from that deck (nevermind that all its new legends are bound to be insanely popular). Toss in the first new card face printing of Wild Growth and a variety of middle-tier $2 rares (Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Herald of the Pantheon, good ol' Sol Ring) and you have a good buy. The most valuable cards in the artifacts deck are only $8 for Unwinding Clock and $4 for Duplicant.
Lots of misses here. I know we can't expect everything for all the decks, but...
- It would really have helped that artifact deck to get a few more high-value artifacts: choose a few from among Wurmcoil Engine, Doubling Cube, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Krark-clan Ironworks, Paradox Engine, and Walking Ballista. Heck, even Hangarback Walker, Whir of Invention, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, Lodestone Golem, and Solemn Simulacrum would have felt good as generally useful cards even though they aren't crazy expensive. Guess we were spoiled by Daretti having several of those.
- While its always good to see more copies of Entreat the Angels and Terminus, and I understand that strong top-of-library tutors and Counterbalance are "unfun" and were probably never even in consideration, I am floored we didn't get either Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack in the "manipulation" deck. Thassa, God of the Sea would also have been amazing; give it the new frame treatment and it has strong synergy with the ninjas as well as some extra scrying power. The deck sounded like a mess and really should have had at least one of those three cards. I'm still probably going to buy it for the two tribal legends and variety of sweet new cards but it's annoying.
- The land deck is am embarrassment. "Hey, here's an idea! Let's pitch a deck as 'lands matter', but let's make sure to NOT include Exploration, Oracle of Mul Daya, Courser of Kruphix, Burgeoning, Sylvan Safekeeper, or Azua, Lost But Seeking. Also seems good to make sure people aren't reminded of better lands commanders so let's make sure to leave out The Gitrog Monster and Titania, Protector of Argoth. Oh, and let's make sure only one of the four new legends even remotely cares about lands - seems legit. Huh. The deck feels more like a graveyard ramp deck with a light lands subtheme now? Well, to make sure no one is confused let's not add Life from the Loam, Golgari Grave-Troll, Genesis, Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, or Eternal Witness - we wouldn't want to send mixed messages about the deck's themes.
- The enchantment deck is actually good. I would have loved Greater Auramancy, Idyllic Tutor, and Sterling Grove but recognize those fall into unfun territory or at least territory of "WotC tends to not add these to decks". It sort of feels like this year started with "let's give people a Bant Enchantress deck since they clearly want it", and then they just flailed and struggled to find three decks to go with that plan. Most missing cards either aren't that bad to grab (Sphere of Safety or have relatively recent reprints (Argothian Enchantress, Utopia Sprawl).
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I agree that this deck was the obvious place for it, and with the increases price it seemed like they might do it, but to call it "lazy deck building" is just wrong. Putting all the obvious cards in is closer to the definition of lazy. Be more constructive with your critique. Calling it "lazy" is just mean and, well frankly, lazy.