So... even if specific mechanics are this year's "thing", I would envision the themes in a more broad sense so we don't get a repeat of the "Jund Lands" disappointment.
Like, I'm imagining a hidden information deck, a discard deck, a token deck, and a self-mill graveyard deck. All of those could potentially be fun even if you don't like the specific mechanic being "featured".
I know we just got a Bant deck, but populate needs blue. I made that deck with Roon as the commander, using blue cards like these and it's so much more fun than just filling the board with 1/1 birds and 3/3 centaurs.
Flashback could be good. The temptation is for a commander that will let you get spells out of exile, which is dangerous. Or a copy spell commander, which is kinda over done. It's going to play out a lot like Kess, Dissident Mage, though, so I'm not sure what we're gaining.
Wonder if the Madness deck will have a vampire subtheme. It could be cool to do a Grixis Madness/Vampire deck... but that seems like the best flash back combo too.
I don't care about Morph, but I could be convinced.
Morph has always been awful, why a deck dedicated to it?
Don't you think that's precisely why they want to create precons to empower it? Don't forget recently we got Aminatou precon with morph and manifest cards too, such as Primordial Mist.
Animar Morph is quite fun to play.
Bad example, Aminatou is a busted card on its own . The mechanic will always be way too slow and jank.
I wrote "Aminatou precon" and referred to morph/manifest related cards in her precon. While her ability does sync with morphed permanents to some degree, I wasn't talking about her.
You do remember that vampire tribal wasn't all that popular until Edgar Markov came along, right? Sometimes all it takes is a good commander and more support cards.
Here are the color combos I'd pick out for each keyword:
BR Madness - I would go with UBR, but we got an UBR deck two years ago. GW Populate URW Flashback - Flashback's gonna be UR for sure. Since we just got a UR deck, we need a third color. Black would be fitting, but again, just got a UBR deck, and UBR would also be fitting for Madness. So, the third color is most likely green or white. I'm leaning toward white as each color needs at least two decks. BGU Morph - GU was established as a major Morph pair in KTK, so I'm guessing the Morph deck will be at minimum those colors. For the third color, black or red feel more fitting than white. Red already has a couple of viable deck themes, so black feels the next most appropriate. Of course the deck could just be WUBRG.
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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.
Hopefully we get a Morph commander that gives everything a morph cost and also has a Primordial Mist ability tacked on as well.
Flashback... well... I guess we will see. I would hope for a card like Tasigur who gives you a lot of recursion.
Madness... idk. It's going to need a lot imo to make it good.
Populate should be the best right out of the box if I had to guess, as creature token strategies tend to be good.
High five were almost exactly the same prediction I thought it go above dimir for flashback is the only difference
Oh should point this out I really hope it happens but morph deck could get pre-spark ugin since ugin is Leonardo davinci of morph/manifest based off tarkir
Personal Predictions (far too detailed and totally wrong):
Naya Populate: Will include elements of "going wide" as well as "going tall" (with one Beast of Burden esque "go wide commander", one commander that creates a big token, and one commander that attempts to join these themes in a brudiclad-esque manner (maybe a Pathbreaker Ibex effect for tokens?)
Sultai Flashback: Will include elements of self-mill (a la satyr wayfinder) with recursion elements but will ultimately appear to be a generic BUG value deck where the flashback ends up being the weakest part of it. Will include a spells matter sultai card, a self-mill commander (maybe something that takes advantage of large deck size with an arc-slogger esque effect), and a commander that rewards you for casting cards from graveyard.
Rakdos Madness: Will be a discard themed deck. Will include multiplayer discard cards like burglar rat and waste not, numerous symmetrical effects (such as reforge the soul or delirium skeins), and some light prison elements. With possible inclusions like Painful Quandary, Oppression, Sadistic Hypnotist, and Mindslicer, we may be looking at some okay value. Commanders will include a commander that punishes small hand sizes, an aggro commander that wants you to go hellbent, and a card that generates card advantage for everyone at the cost of randomness (think a Teferi's Puzzle Box that draws shuffled # of cards + 1).
Temur Morph: Hidden Information deck. In addition to morph, I expect to see a few cards that also deal in hidden information (like Master of Predicaments, Lurking Predators, Jeskai Infiltrator, a hideaway land or two, and the blue or green member of the "secretly choose a player" megacycle from the past 2 years). Our commanders will be a "Morph tribal" commander, One that seriously messes with combat math OR one that makes one or more players make guesses, and a "colorless matters" commander a la Ugin.
Personal Predictions (far too detailed and totally wrong):
Naya Populate: Will include elements of "going wide" as well as "going tall" (with one Beast of Burden esque "go wide commander", one commander that creates a big token, and one commander that attempts to join these themes in a brudiclad-esque manner (maybe a Pathbreaker Ibex effect for tokens?)
Sultai Flashback: Will include elements of self-mill (a la satyr wayfinder) with recursion elements but will ultimately appear to be a generic BUG value deck where the flashback ends up being the weakest part of it. Will include a spells matter sultai card, a self-mill commander (maybe something that takes advantage of large deck size with an arc-slogger esque effect), and a commander that rewards you for casting cards from graveyard.
Rakdos Madness: Will be a discard themed deck. Will include multiplayer discard cards like burglar rat and waste not, numerous symmetrical effects (such as reforge the soul or delirium skeins), and some light prison elements. With possible inclusions like Painful Quandary, Oppression, Sadistic Hypnotist, and Mindslicer, we may be looking at some okay value. Commanders will include a commander that punishes small hand sizes, an aggro commander that wants you to go hellbent, and a card that generates card advantage for everyone at the cost of randomness (think a Teferi's Puzzle Box that draws shuffled # of cards + 1).
Temur Morph: Hidden Information deck. In addition to morph, I expect to see a few cards that also deal in hidden information (like Master of Predicaments, Lurking Predators, Jeskai Infiltrator, a hideaway land or two, and the blue or green member of the "secretly choose a player" megacycle from the past 2 years). Our commanders will be a "Morph tribal" commander, One that seriously messes with combat math OR one that makes one or more players make guesses, and a "colorless matters" commander a la Ugin.
I like these a lot. I'm going to be drawn to the Flashback deck only because that's my favorite color combo, and I already run a 4 color deck that does the same thing.
I like all these themes though and I am interested to see the Morph deck.
They do like their doubling effects. So who knows maybe something like "Copy spells with flashback casts from your graveyard. You may choose new targets for the copy.".
The Populate legendary could have "T: Populate" and some kind of when other creates ETB effect. Just like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. I would like a Anointed Procession effect on a stick but this would work much better with mass token strategies than populate.
The madness legendary could be a madness enabler. Like "discard a card: Exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card." So can discard something with madness and some additional value. I don't know maybe to much?
I don't know what they want to do with Morph. Maybe some kind of mana cost reduction for the morph cost and an anthem effect for face down 2/2 creatures you control? The problem with morph is that the commander can't have morph itself. I mean it could but it wouldn't be a surprise.
Colors is BR or UBR
Discard and hellbe is the sub-theme
A new card will involve reducing the cost of madness spells or giving madness
Gix is one of the new commanders
Possible demon tribal legend even though not much support
Populate
Colors RGW or WBG heck maybe even RGWU
Token is the sub-theme
Elementals and dinosaurs and wolfs will be in this
Creatures/token creatures/spells will also Invovle based of number of creatures you control or ETB trigger from creatures coming in
(Examples some are reprint speculations as well by the way Wayfaring Temple, Majestic Myriarch, Outnumber, Devout Invocation,Elder of Laurels, Aura Shards,Hamletback Goliath
Flashback
Colors UB or UBR or UBRG
Even though flashback is casting from the graveyard we will see stuff that brings spells back fro the yard to your hand
Cards like Electrostatic Field or Niv-Mizzet, Parun will be in the deck
We will also get cards like Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Ninjas might come here and one ninja in particuallar might end up with a snapcaster mage like ability Catalyst Stone won’t be reprinted so I would get this one while under a dollar for speculation purposes
We will see new cards that reduce flashback cost or spell cost
Morph
Colors GUR or RGWU or WUBRG
Manifest and cards like Master of Predicaments is the sub-theme
Pre-spark ugin as a commander (he won’t be a flip walker but one can hope he is)
Cards that reduce manifest and morph cost (flipping it over not casting)
Cards that can flip cards back down like weaver of lies, ixidron, and Master of the Veil animar, soul of elements will be a reprint since it can reduce morph cost to 0
Bounce could be a subtheme
I want Green to be included into the Madness deck, the fond memories of chucking Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm & Roar of the Wurm to Wild Mongrel was a blast and I will always consider Wild Mongrel the key to those Madness decks.
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EDH DECKS:
GBW Ghave - BWR Kaalia - UBG Mineoplasm - URG Riku - GRW Uril - GBRProssh, I need food - BWU Oloro Lock - UGW Derevi Blink - RBU Nekusar, the Wheeler - UBRWGProgenitus - BR Lyzolda - UBGisa & Geralf Zombies - UG Edric, Spymaster of Trest +1 Counters matter - W Lin Sivvi - BWU Sydri Artifact Control - RWU Narset, the Attacker - GRW Mayael, the Cheater - RWUG Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Landfall - GBW Doran, I like Big Butts -UR Mizzix Buyback BWR Edgar and his Vamps
This may be a far fetch, but could Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Astral Drift, etc be a precursor to the madness/flashback theme coming up? Similar to how Modern Horizon is actually "Commander Horizon", I wonder if WotC has been "trending" certain cards in preparation for products to come.
I'd not be surprised if the morph deck has a ninja theme to it.
This may be a far fetch, but could Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Astral Drift, etc be a precursor to the madness/flashback theme coming up? Similar to how Modern Horizon is actually "Commander Horizon", I wonder if WotC has been "trending" certain cards in preparation for products to come.
I'd not be surprised if the morph deck has a ninja theme to it.
That would mean the morph deck would have to have B for ninjas to be there
But 5-color is a possibility in morph since it’s one of those mechanics in all colors same can be said for flashback
But I know the morph deck has to atleast have temur there’s no way they are throwing out Rattleclaw Mystic in a morph deck
Oh a guaranteed you they will reprint Deathmist Raptor for correct creature typing and also it is quite good in morph focused decks
none of these abilities appeal to me, and morph in particular i've always found to be completely obnoxious.
the quality of the things has declined dramatically over the past few years, not necessarily the power level of the commanders but the cohesion of the decks and the choice of reprints. with these as the themes i won't be ordering anything until i see a full decklist. they're really going to have to wow me this year, and they're not off to a good start.
none of these abilities appeal to me, and morph in particular i've always found to be completely obnoxious.
the quality of the things has declined dramatically over the past few years, not necessarily the power level of the commanders but the cohesion of the decks and the choice of reprints. with these as the themes i won't be ordering anything until i see a full decklist. they're really going to have to wow me this year, and they're not off to a good start.
Reminder they really heard are complaints about commander 2018 to heart
So the reprints will probably be much better this time or ones that will work great in the deck
Lets wait and see even though you already said that
This might be too crazy, but I think it would be a good idea to include 1 legendary that cares about the theme with partner. I think with maybe the exception of madness all colors have cards that care about these themes. Morph I think is really in Simic colors, but manifest has some really good support in white. There are also some interesting token enablers with flashback.
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Embrace the dark you call a home,
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
Some kind of cost reduction for playing creatures face down / turning them face up is what I would be looking for in order for me to really want to build a deck around morph. And weirdly, it kind of wants access to all colors to play up the surprise factor to the best degree. Blue is the color that has the most attractive morph creatures though, so some kind of 5-color blue deck?
I also demand a Reality Shift reprint and kind of hope there's a proper black border removal spell that flips a creature face down. This would be the one place where it has the actual utility of letting you retrigger flip effects as well. If they don't print it here: never.
none of these abilities appeal to me, and morph in particular i've always found to be completely obnoxious.
the quality of the things has declined dramatically over the past few years, not necessarily the power level of the commanders but the cohesion of the decks and the choice of reprints. with these as the themes i won't be ordering anything until i see a full decklist. they're really going to have to wow me this year, and they're not off to a good start.
I appreciate them trying to diversify on themes, and these do seem like weird themes. I'm all about expanding on themes/tribes.
I am hesitant because of last year, but I do still have high Hope's considering they specifically said they heard us about the lack of good reprints, and I hope they hold up this time.
Like, I'm imagining a hidden information deck, a discard deck, a token deck, and a self-mill graveyard deck. All of those could potentially be fun even if you don't like the specific mechanic being "featured".
Was really hoping to see some more... interesting mechanics, if this is true.
Populate sounds fun though.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Populate - WGR
Flashback- UB
Morph - UGR
Madness - RB
Hopefully we get a Morph commander that gives everything a morph cost and also has a Primordial Mist ability tacked on as well.
Flashback... well... I guess we will see. I would hope for a card like Tasigur who gives you a lot of recursion.
Madness... idk. It's going to need a lot imo to make it good.
Populate should be the best right out of the box if I had to guess, as creature token strategies tend to be good.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Flashback could be good. The temptation is for a commander that will let you get spells out of exile, which is dangerous. Or a copy spell commander, which is kinda over done. It's going to play out a lot like Kess, Dissident Mage, though, so I'm not sure what we're gaining.
Wonder if the Madness deck will have a vampire subtheme. It could be cool to do a Grixis Madness/Vampire deck... but that seems like the best flash back combo too.
I don't care about Morph, but I could be convinced.
I wrote "Aminatou precon" and referred to morph/manifest related cards in her precon. While her ability does sync with morphed permanents to some degree, I wasn't talking about her.
You do remember that vampire tribal wasn't all that popular until Edgar Markov came along, right? Sometimes all it takes is a good commander and more support cards.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
When would previews start for this anyway? Will we get anything this weekend?
release the 23rd
so previews should be the 12th but who knows maybe sooner with the 5th
BR Madness - I would go with UBR, but we got an UBR deck two years ago.
GW Populate
URW Flashback - Flashback's gonna be UR for sure. Since we just got a UR deck, we need a third color. Black would be fitting, but again, just got a UBR deck, and UBR would also be fitting for Madness. So, the third color is most likely green or white. I'm leaning toward white as each color needs at least two decks.
BGU Morph - GU was established as a major Morph pair in KTK, so I'm guessing the Morph deck will be at minimum those colors. For the third color, black or red feel more fitting than white. Red already has a couple of viable deck themes, so black feels the next most appropriate. Of course the deck could just be WUBRG.
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.
High five were almost exactly the same prediction I thought it go above dimir for flashback is the only difference
Oh should point this out I really hope it happens but morph deck could get pre-spark ugin since ugin is Leonardo davinci of morph/manifest based off tarkir
Both decks probably should have blue regardless, and Flashback should DEFINITELY have red.
Naya Populate: Will include elements of "going wide" as well as "going tall" (with one Beast of Burden esque "go wide commander", one commander that creates a big token, and one commander that attempts to join these themes in a brudiclad-esque manner (maybe a Pathbreaker Ibex effect for tokens?)
Sultai Flashback: Will include elements of self-mill (a la satyr wayfinder) with recursion elements but will ultimately appear to be a generic BUG value deck where the flashback ends up being the weakest part of it. Will include a spells matter sultai card, a self-mill commander (maybe something that takes advantage of large deck size with an arc-slogger esque effect), and a commander that rewards you for casting cards from graveyard.
Rakdos Madness: Will be a discard themed deck. Will include multiplayer discard cards like burglar rat and waste not, numerous symmetrical effects (such as reforge the soul or delirium skeins), and some light prison elements. With possible inclusions like Painful Quandary, Oppression, Sadistic Hypnotist, and Mindslicer, we may be looking at some okay value. Commanders will include a commander that punishes small hand sizes, an aggro commander that wants you to go hellbent, and a card that generates card advantage for everyone at the cost of randomness (think a Teferi's Puzzle Box that draws shuffled # of cards + 1).
Temur Morph: Hidden Information deck. In addition to morph, I expect to see a few cards that also deal in hidden information (like Master of Predicaments, Lurking Predators, Jeskai Infiltrator, a hideaway land or two, and the blue or green member of the "secretly choose a player" megacycle from the past 2 years). Our commanders will be a "Morph tribal" commander, One that seriously messes with combat math OR one that makes one or more players make guesses, and a "colorless matters" commander a la Ugin.
I like these a lot. I'm going to be drawn to the Flashback deck only because that's my favorite color combo, and I already run a 4 color deck that does the same thing.
I like all these themes though and I am interested to see the Morph deck.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Shards of awful never
They do like their doubling effects. So who knows maybe something like "Copy spells with flashback casts from your graveyard. You may choose new targets for the copy.".
The Populate legendary could have "T: Populate" and some kind of when other creates ETB effect. Just like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. I would like a Anointed Procession effect on a stick but this would work much better with mass token strategies than populate.
The madness legendary could be a madness enabler. Like "discard a card: Exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card." So can discard something with madness and some additional value. I don't know maybe to much?
I don't know what they want to do with Morph. Maybe some kind of mana cost reduction for the morph cost and an anthem effect for face down 2/2 creatures you control? The problem with morph is that the commander can't have morph itself. I mean it could but it wouldn't be a surprise.
Madness
Colors is BR or UBR
Discard and hellbe is the sub-theme
A new card will involve reducing the cost of madness spells or giving madness
Gix is one of the new commanders
Possible demon tribal legend even though not much support
Populate
Colors RGW or WBG heck maybe even RGWU
Token is the sub-theme
Elementals and dinosaurs and wolfs will be in this
Creatures/token creatures/spells will also Invovle based of number of creatures you control or ETB trigger from creatures coming in
(Examples some are reprint speculations as well by the way Wayfaring Temple, Majestic Myriarch, Outnumber, Devout Invocation,Elder of Laurels, Aura Shards,Hamletback Goliath
Flashback
Colors UB or UBR or UBRG
Even though flashback is casting from the graveyard we will see stuff that brings spells back fro the yard to your hand
Cards like Electrostatic Field or Niv-Mizzet, Parun will be in the deck
We will also get cards like Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Ninjas might come here and one ninja in particuallar might end up with a snapcaster mage like ability
Catalyst Stone won’t be reprinted so I would get this one while under a dollar for speculation purposes
We will see new cards that reduce flashback cost or spell cost
Morph
Colors GUR or RGWU or WUBRG
Manifest and cards like Master of Predicaments is the sub-theme
Pre-spark ugin as a commander (he won’t be a flip walker but one can hope he is)
Cards that reduce manifest and morph cost (flipping it over not casting)
Cards that can flip cards back down like weaver of lies, ixidron, and Master of the Veil
animar, soul of elements will be a reprint since it can reduce morph cost to 0
Bounce could be a subtheme
GBW Ghave - BWR Kaalia - UBG Mineoplasm - URG Riku - GRW Uril - GBR Prossh, I need food - BWU Oloro Lock - UGW Derevi Blink - RBU Nekusar, the Wheeler - UBRWG Progenitus - BR Lyzolda - UB Gisa & Geralf Zombies - UG Edric, Spymaster of Trest +1 Counters matter - W Lin Sivvi - BWU Sydri Artifact Control - RWU Narset, the Attacker - GRW Mayael, the Cheater - RWUG Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Landfall - GBW Doran, I like Big Butts - UR Mizzix Buyback BWR Edgar and his Vamps
I'd not be surprised if the morph deck has a ninja theme to it.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
That would mean the morph deck would have to have B for ninjas to be there
But 5-color is a possibility in morph since it’s one of those mechanics in all colors same can be said for flashback
But I know the morph deck has to atleast have temur there’s no way they are throwing out Rattleclaw Mystic in a morph deck
Oh a guaranteed you they will reprint Deathmist Raptor for correct creature typing and also it is quite good in morph focused decks
the quality of the things has declined dramatically over the past few years, not necessarily the power level of the commanders but the cohesion of the decks and the choice of reprints. with these as the themes i won't be ordering anything until i see a full decklist. they're really going to have to wow me this year, and they're not off to a good start.
Reminder they really heard are complaints about commander 2018 to heart
So the reprints will probably be much better this time or ones that will work great in the deck
Lets wait and see even though you already said that
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise
Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone
I also demand a Reality Shift reprint and kind of hope there's a proper black border removal spell that flips a creature face down. This would be the one place where it has the actual utility of letting you retrigger flip effects as well. If they don't print it here: never.
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
I appreciate them trying to diversify on themes, and these do seem like weird themes. I'm all about expanding on themes/tribes.
I am hesitant because of last year, but I do still have high Hope's considering they specifically said they heard us about the lack of good reprints, and I hope they hold up this time.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries