I'm digging the Egg Warden commander, more America commanders is fun.
Oh, easily. The others are fine, but since cycling/discarding is such a deep pool to pick from, there's a ton of potential there. Lightning Rift/Astral Slide/Astral Drift are obvious picks, it basically lends itself to the Onslaught-era RW Astral Slide decks with the bonus of several more blocks of cycling cards to choose from plus the addition of blue. Not to mention several eras of cards that cared about discarding cards, too, which helps glue things together outside of cards caring about cycling specifically. So a lot to work with, and a concept I'm happy to see explored.
I'm digging the Egg Warden commander, more America commanders is fun.
Oh, easily. The others are fine, but since cycling/discarding is such a deep pool to pick from, there's a ton of potential there. Lightning Rift/Astral Slide/Astral Drift are obvious picks, it basically lends itself to the Onslaught-era RW Astral Slide decks with the bonus of several more blocks of cycling cards to choose from plus the addition of blue. Not to mention several eras of cards that cared about discarding cards, too, which helps glue things together outside of cards caring about cycling specifically. So a lot to work with, and a concept I'm happy to see explored.
Yep and I just literally said yesterday people wanted a cycling legend and here it is
The only commander that isn't an outright snooze-fest, to my mind, is Kalamax (Temur). Duplicate spells in this color combo isn't especially novel, but I like that it's an extremely low barrier for value (compared to, say, paying additional mana), incentivizes smart combat and table politics (a la Brago), and has the option of using commander damage as a backup winCon - in the colors that best support straightforward combat.
I hate Companion due to confirming paper decks. Imagine being an hour into a Commander game, after someone cast their companion, only to find out their deck is illegal. If the RC allows Companion to function (which unfortunately looks to be the case), I say it should be an auto-game loss for anyone who violates the Companion condition.
Also, I understand why they don't want the one legal, but I wish they'd declare the Companion mechanic to not function rather than allow it and ban a card that would be fine otherwise.
I also can't wait to Swords to Plowshares someone's giant mutated stack of cards. In some ways, it's a much worse version of Bestow.
The only commander that isn't an outright snooze-fest, to my mind, is Kalamax (Temur). Duplicate spells in this color combo isn't especially novel, but I like that it's an extremely low barrier for value (compared to, say, paying additional mana), incentivizes smart combat and table politics (a la Brago), and has the option of using commander damage as a backup winCon - in the colors that best support straightforward combat.
I don't mind Kalamax so much, for me it's Jirina. She's fine, I just don't find the Human tribe compelling and her effect is bland. Usable, but bland.
Kalamax also benefits from "Tap an untapped creature you control" effects, which is kinda how I'd like to use it. It's not revolutionary at all, but I think it has fun usages. It'll likely be inexpensive, too, which is a bonus.
Even Kathril and Otrimi are good. Again, not revolutionary, but very solid. Focused on a theme, but flexible enough to be used a variety of ways.
Agreed. These are some of the worst mechanics they have created in a while. I am not even speaking power level. Mutate is going to be hard for people to understand, and I was already so sick of auras and they invent another bestow mechanic. It is even worse than bestow because at least it wasn't parasitic and could interact with other enchantment related cards. Monstrosity was so much better from an understanding and play standpoint.
And companion. Yes I wanted a mechanic in standard that opens the door for my opponent to check my entire deck each game .
Do you know what the term parasitic means in the context of Magic? You can mutate onto literally any creature, even a token, and so far all of the mutate cards do something when they mutate or provide keywords to whatever they are added to. Unless you consider parasitic to be "works with every creature ever printed that doesn't have shroud" mutate is not a parasitic mechanic. It's basically exactly Bestow except that the attachments become a single game entity so they move zones as a single thing etc.
Man I wish R&D had never used that term publically because now every Jim Bob who thinks they know a tiny bit about game design uses it incorrectly as a way to trash something they don't like just because they don't like it.
Agreed. These are some of the worst mechanics they have created in a while. I am not even speaking power level. Mutate is going to be hard for people to understand, and I was already so sick of auras and they invent another bestow mechanic. It is even worse than bestow because at least it wasn't parasitic and could interact with other enchantment related cards. Monstrosity was so much better from an understanding and play standpoint.
And companion. Yes I wanted a mechanic in standard that opens the door for my opponent to check my entire deck each game .
Do you know what the term parasitic means in the context of Magic? You can mutate onto literally any creature, even a token, and so far all of the mutate cards do something when they mutate or provide keywords to whatever they are added to. Unless you consider parasitic to be "works with every creature ever printed that doesn't have shroud" mutate is not a parasitic mechanic. It's basically exactly Bestow except that the attachments become a single game entity so they move zones as a single thing etc.
Man I wish R&D had never used that term publically because now every Jim Bob who thinks they know a tiny bit about game design uses it incorrectly as a way to trash something they don't like just because they don't like it.
The only commander that isn't an outright snooze-fest, to my mind, is Kalamax (Temur). Duplicate spells in this color combo isn't especially novel, but I like that it's an extremely low barrier for value (compared to, say, paying additional mana), incentivizes smart combat and table politics (a la Brago), and has the option of using commander damage as a backup winCon - in the colors that best support straightforward combat.
I don't mind Kalamax so much, for me it's Jirina. She's fine, I just don't find the Human tribe compelling and her effect is bland. Usable, but bland.
Kalamax also benefits from "Tap an untapped creature you control" effects, which is kinda how I'd like to use it. It's not revolutionary at all, but I think it has fun usages. It'll likely be inexpensive, too, which is a bonus.
Even Kathril and Otrimi are good. Again, not revolutionary, but very solid. Focused on a theme, but flexible enough to be used a variety of ways.
Kathril is the next most interesting (or maybe just effective) commander, if you're into voltron / commander damage builds. Perhaps a little too linear and easily solved, but I posted a thread for it in New Card Discussion anyways.
Oh my, the salt is real in this thread. i agree with the calmer voices here, lets see how it play out before we call the cops on wotc.
I like the keyword counters. Having a trample counter on a creature makes it actually more apparent to me that the creature has trample than it just being printed on the card, so I don't think thats gonna be a problem. the punch-out counters are neat, too. What i don't like about this is the fact they introduced it as a set mechanic. I guess it will make quite a splash, making cards viable and so on but i can't help the feeling that there is nothing new here. Its just a new way of granting existing (even evergreen) abilities.
Cycling is good of course but its not very interesting, its just a card flow mechnic like scry. It doesn't bother me, but it doesn't excite me either.
Mutate is cool I guess, but it just doesn't feel particularly powerful. Without having played the mechanic I would guess that you need hexproof creatures as your chassis to mutate on or get x-for-1ed on a regular basis. What actually bothers me is that the wedge legendaries seem so utterly meh by themselves (except maybe the Temur one).
Companion... ugh. I just can't bring myself to like it. It has issues in standard, it has issues in commander and it has issues in limited. Every companion card spoiled so far I would have preferred without companion.
Overall I am a bit worried by the set mechanics because they just don't excite me.
I hate Companion due to confirming paper decks. Imagine being an hour into a Commander game, after someone cast their companion, only to find out their deck is illegal. If the RC allows Companion to function (which unfortunately looks to be the case), I say it should be an auto-game loss for anyone who violates the Companion condition.
An illegal deck has always been a game loss. If your opponents RW deck suddenly played a blue card an hour in you wouldn't go "what do we do here?" You would go "that's not allowed, sorry but your out of the game."
The mods can split topics, can't they? There's a LOT to unpack here, and a lot of good conversation we could be having about actual cards without being forced into the generally abandoned "New Card Discussion" sub-forum.
If you feel similarly, and want to have a conversation about how awesome the new Mothra card is (mechanically), or how bad the commanders are, please report this post and maybe we can get the mods' attention. Thank you.
Splitting threads is... difficult. However, not all cards need to be discussed only in this thread. If you would like to discuss the mothra card separately in the Rumor Mill, I give you full permission to start a new Single Card Discussion thread for that card.
Speaking of Mothra, Luminous Broodmoth is dope! Talk about board wipe protection. Now how do I give my opponent who's not playing a lot of creatures an Archetype of Imagination without them thinking something is up? And of course not to fail to mention that it goes infinite with a sac outlet and Solemnity.
My personal thoughts are that this set adds an awful lot.
1. Ability word counters are pretty great as they work with just about anything and give a new angle for voltron abilities.
2. Mutate works for me because 1) In addition to treating your mutator as an aura for any of your non-humans (put mutator behind), you can treat your non-humans as an aura for your mutators (put mutator in front); 2) it's an easy way to let any of your non-humans deal commander damage, which is cool; 3) While not intrinsic to the design, wizards was smart enough to have all cards with this ability provide immediate benefits (often giving card advantage/selection) to minimize the risk of going "all in"; 4) if you use instant speed kill in response, I don't lose my dude.
3. Companion seems pretty cool and I'll expect to see a lot a builds using set companions in a similar manner to how partner combinations are exploited.
4. More support for wedges is always welcome.
I'm digging the Egg Warden commander, more America commanders is fun.
Oh, easily. The others are fine, but since cycling/discarding is such a deep pool to pick from, there's a ton of potential there. Lightning Rift/Astral Slide/Astral Drift are obvious picks, it basically lends itself to the Onslaught-era RW Astral Slide decks with the bonus of several more blocks of cycling cards to choose from plus the addition of blue. Not to mention several eras of cards that cared about discarding cards, too, which helps glue things together outside of cards caring about cycling specifically. So a lot to work with, and a concept I'm happy to see explored.
I'm digging the Egg Warden commander, more America commanders is fun.
Oh, easily. The others are fine, but since cycling/discarding is such a deep pool to pick from, there's a ton of potential there. Lightning Rift/Astral Slide/Astral Drift are obvious picks, it basically lends itself to the Onslaught-era RW Astral Slide decks with the bonus of several more blocks of cycling cards to choose from plus the addition of blue. Not to mention several eras of cards that cared about discarding cards, too, which helps glue things together outside of cards caring about cycling specifically. So a lot to work with, and a concept I'm happy to see explored.
I'm waiting to see how that deck turns out. I imagine there will be brand new key pieces in both the set and the Commander deck. The neat thing is I think the deck could skew a bunch of different ways depending on which of the three colors you want to focus on. Gavi is deceptively versatile. Cycling enabler, card draw Talrand, etc. I can see her piloting and essentially creatureless control shell, a highly aggressive cycling value engine, a Superfriends commander that creates defence and cycles into answers you need, a grouphug commander where you get a bit of extra value out of Howling Mines, I think she's one of the most flexible commanders we've seen in ages and I think she'll be the chase commander of these five.
Second off: RC just ban companion as an ability and let people play the damn cute otter in the 99.
Even as the Commander Lutri is a fair card. Melek can be potentially stronger. Lutri just gets into a grey area when you have an extra card always in your hand.
I hate Companion due to confirming paper decks. Imagine being an hour into a Commander game, after someone cast their companion, only to find out their deck is illegal. If the RC allows Companion to function (which unfortunately looks to be the case), I say it should be an auto-game loss for anyone who violates the Companion condition.
An illegal deck has always been a game loss. If your opponents RW deck suddenly played a blue card an hour in you wouldn't go "what do we do here?" You would go "that's not allowed, sorry but your out of the game."
Yeah, I never really got the "what if someone cheats" argument against doing a mechanic. They've even specifically said that they're all going to be something that's obvious if they break it.
Yeah, I never really got the "what if someone cheats" argument against doing a mechanic. They've even specifically said that they're all going to be something that's obvious if they break it.
Yeah the lead designer of the set said that Lutri would be the most difficult to verify during normal play. Not to mention that at MagicFests, where cheating would be the most rampant and have the greatest consequences, they have decklists which would solve this. If you suspect something fishy, which I wouldn't see why you would until they played a card that was outside of the companion's restriction, you can call a judge.
Also there's nothing that stops someone from having a companion, which must be reveled at the start of a game, just to throw you off your game but never actually play the card.
Yeah, I never really got the "what if someone cheats" argument against doing a mechanic. They've even specifically said that they're all going to be something that's obvious if they break it.
Yeah the lead designer of the set said that Lutri would be the most difficult to verify during normal play. Not to mention that at MagicFests, where cheating would be the most rampant and have the greatest consequences, they have decklists which would solve this. If you suspect something fishy, which I wouldn't see why you would until they played a card that was outside of the companion's restriction, you can call a judge.
Also there's nothing that stops someone from having a companion, which must be reveled at the start of a game, just to throw you off your game but never actually play the card.
Agreed on your first paragraph, but they couldn't actually keep the companion in the "companion zone" or whatever if they didn't meet the restriction. Like even if they claimed "oh this was just a bluff to throw them off," that's cheating. If you announce/show your companion card, you have to meet the restriction.
Agreed on your first paragraph, but they couldn't actually keep the companion in the "companion zone" or whatever if they didn't meet the restriction. Like even if they claimed "oh this was just a bluff to throw them off," that's cheating. If you announce/show your companion card, you have to meet the restriction.
I haven't heard anything that indicates that that's true. In sanctioned play the companion is in a sideboard slot. Not to mention that companion only allows you to play it from the sideboard. It doesn't mean it can't be there.
Second off: RC just ban companion as an ability and let people play the damn cute otter in the 99.
Even as the Commander Lutri is a fair card. Melek can be potentially stronger. Lutri just gets into a grey area when you have an extra card always in your hand.
It's not that they wanted to ban it as a commander or in the 99. It's that they want it banned from "the 101" because it is a free 101st card with no deck restriction drawback like the other companion cards. It is fine as a commander and/or in the 99.
It's a shame that the rules committee feels like it would be too complicated to ban this "as a companion only" that they think it has to be all or nothing, ban it entirely or not.
Agreed on your first paragraph, but they couldn't actually keep the companion in the "companion zone" or whatever if they didn't meet the restriction. Like even if they claimed "oh this was just a bluff to throw them off," that's cheating. If you announce/show your companion card, you have to meet the restriction.
I haven't heard anything that indicates that that's true. In sanctioned play the companion is in a sideboard slot. Not to mention that companion only allows you to play it from the sideboard. It doesn't mean it can't be there.
I don't think so. I see what you're saying about it taking a sideboard slot, and I agree you can put any number of companion cards in your sideboard without meeting the companion restriction. But if you announce it as your companion, you need to have met the restriction. Otherwise, that truly is rampant and fertile grounds for cheating (unless you are at a tournament where decklists are submitted in advance).
Think about it: you reveal your "bluff" companion to "throw your opponent off" (but they don't know that). Your deck is built to almost meet the companion restriction but not quite. You'd be able to get away with actually playing the companion as long as you haven't played anything else that game reveals your deck violated the restriction. Like the cute otter, in a deck with mostly one-ofs but some not. You may just never draw/play/reveal that second copy of something. You cheated. I think the only way to enforce this is that they have to treat a "companion reveal" as a declaration that your deck meets the requirements.
Now if you're saying you'd just put it in the sideboard to throw them off, ok... but that doesn't do anything unless they see your sideboard in advance. And if they see your sideboard, they must be seeing your whole decklist, so how do you get to bluff them exactly?
Godzilla art is confusing and annoying too.
Its what fan-art alternate art looks like, they just charge money for it.
I already hate seeing these cards in play, as i want MAGIC cards, and not Godzilla or other franchise crap (as this will for sure not be the last time they pull that stunt).
And its not just the art, they also give the card a "flavor" name, which is just another level of confusing mess on the level of the Amonkhet pieces.
I share most of what you said except the counters stuff that doesn't seem to be such a big deal. In fact I've come around and I think mutate can be very interesting. From a mechanical point of view I'm lukewarm to excited.
That part about Godzilla is the biggest pill to swallow for me though. I hate it so much. I wish they went the same route as with King Kong being rebranded Kogla and smoothly integrated into the Mtg universe. All the arts from this serie look like bad fan-art (Dorat being the biggest offender, omg) and I already know I'll have to read the cards again when I'll be facing an opponent who plays one of these confusing skins.
I also happen to dislike some of the alternate art creatures, especially the legendary ones who go too much over the top to the point the cards are barely readable. Some of the alt-arts are fine though (Cloudpiercer, the Planeswalkers,...).
"Bling" is going too far to my taste this time, to the point I definitely won't consider them the "superior version".
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French Commander : Yisan Liliana Kytheon Kari Zev Grenzo Karlov Tajic Gitrog Prossh Turboramp Najeela Modern : Solemnity Prison Martyr Proc Devotion to Green 8 Whacks Eldrazi Processor Bogles Landfall Aggro Legacy : Goblins
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Update
There’s only 19
3 of them are Japanese
Shouldn't be too big of a bite mark on the wallet
Current EDH Decks:
Dakkon Blackblade 2WUUB
Oh, easily. The others are fine, but since cycling/discarding is such a deep pool to pick from, there's a ton of potential there. Lightning Rift/Astral Slide/Astral Drift are obvious picks, it basically lends itself to the Onslaught-era RW Astral Slide decks with the bonus of several more blocks of cycling cards to choose from plus the addition of blue. Not to mention several eras of cards that cared about discarding cards, too, which helps glue things together outside of cards caring about cycling specifically. So a lot to work with, and a concept I'm happy to see explored.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Yep and I just literally said yesterday people wanted a cycling legend and here it is
---
#BLM
#DefundThePolice
Also, I understand why they don't want the one legal, but I wish they'd declare the Companion mechanic to not function rather than allow it and ban a card that would be fine otherwise.
I also can't wait to Swords to Plowshares someone's giant mutated stack of cards. In some ways, it's a much worse version of Bestow.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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I don't mind Kalamax so much, for me it's Jirina. She's fine, I just don't find the Human tribe compelling and her effect is bland. Usable, but bland.
Kalamax also benefits from "Tap an untapped creature you control" effects, which is kinda how I'd like to use it. It's not revolutionary at all, but I think it has fun usages. It'll likely be inexpensive, too, which is a bonus.
Even Kathril and Otrimi are good. Again, not revolutionary, but very solid. Focused on a theme, but flexible enough to be used a variety of ways.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Do you know what the term parasitic means in the context of Magic? You can mutate onto literally any creature, even a token, and so far all of the mutate cards do something when they mutate or provide keywords to whatever they are added to. Unless you consider parasitic to be "works with every creature ever printed that doesn't have shroud" mutate is not a parasitic mechanic. It's basically exactly Bestow except that the attachments become a single game entity so they move zones as a single thing etc.
Man I wish R&D had never used that term publically because now every Jim Bob who thinks they know a tiny bit about game design uses it incorrectly as a way to trash something they don't like just because they don't like it.
Well, literally any Non-Human creature, at least.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Yes, thank you, my apologies. Literally any non-human that doesn't have shroud.
Kathril is the next most interesting (or maybe just effective) commander, if you're into voltron / commander damage builds. Perhaps a little too linear and easily solved, but I posted a thread for it in New Card Discussion anyways.
---
#BLM
#DefundThePolice
I like the keyword counters. Having a trample counter on a creature makes it actually more apparent to me that the creature has trample than it just being printed on the card, so I don't think thats gonna be a problem. the punch-out counters are neat, too. What i don't like about this is the fact they introduced it as a set mechanic. I guess it will make quite a splash, making cards viable and so on but i can't help the feeling that there is nothing new here. Its just a new way of granting existing (even evergreen) abilities.
Cycling is good of course but its not very interesting, its just a card flow mechnic like scry. It doesn't bother me, but it doesn't excite me either.
Mutate is cool I guess, but it just doesn't feel particularly powerful. Without having played the mechanic I would guess that you need hexproof creatures as your chassis to mutate on or get x-for-1ed on a regular basis. What actually bothers me is that the wedge legendaries seem so utterly meh by themselves (except maybe the Temur one).
Companion... ugh. I just can't bring myself to like it. It has issues in standard, it has issues in commander and it has issues in limited. Every companion card spoiled so far I would have preferred without companion.
Overall I am a bit worried by the set mechanics because they just don't excite me.
UR Mizzix of the Izmagnus ~~~ Build your own win-condition: Finite Spellslinging
UR Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer ~~~ We are the Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic ~~~ A Guide to dying slowly
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose ~~~ Marchesa's undying Marionettes
RGW Mayael the Anima ~~~ All Hail the Big Chungus
GWU Chulane, Teller of Tales ~~~ Permanents Only ETB Shenanigans
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant ~~~ Sidisi's Restless Servants
WUBRG The Ur-Dragon ~~~ Dragons eat your face
Splitting threads is... difficult. However, not all cards need to be discussed only in this thread. If you would like to discuss the mothra card separately in the Rumor Mill, I give you full permission to start a new Single Card Discussion thread for that card.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
1. Ability word counters are pretty great as they work with just about anything and give a new angle for voltron abilities.
2. Mutate works for me because 1) In addition to treating your mutator as an aura for any of your non-humans (put mutator behind), you can treat your non-humans as an aura for your mutators (put mutator in front); 2) it's an easy way to let any of your non-humans deal commander damage, which is cool; 3) While not intrinsic to the design, wizards was smart enough to have all cards with this ability provide immediate benefits (often giving card advantage/selection) to minimize the risk of going "all in"; 4) if you use instant speed kill in response, I don't lose my dude.
3. Companion seems pretty cool and I'll expect to see a lot a builds using set companions in a similar manner to how partner combinations are exploited.
4. More support for wedges is always welcome.
Don't forget New Perspectives and the new Drannith Stinger which can be a wincon too!
100%
I'm waiting to see how that deck turns out. I imagine there will be brand new key pieces in both the set and the Commander deck. The neat thing is I think the deck could skew a bunch of different ways depending on which of the three colors you want to focus on. Gavi is deceptively versatile. Cycling enabler, card draw Talrand, etc. I can see her piloting and essentially creatureless control shell, a highly aggressive cycling value engine, a Superfriends commander that creates defence and cycles into answers you need, a grouphug commander where you get a bit of extra value out of Howling Mines, I think she's one of the most flexible commanders we've seen in ages and I think she'll be the chase commander of these five.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Even as the Commander Lutri is a fair card. Melek can be potentially stronger. Lutri just gets into a grey area when you have an extra card always in your hand.
Yeah the lead designer of the set said that Lutri would be the most difficult to verify during normal play. Not to mention that at MagicFests, where cheating would be the most rampant and have the greatest consequences, they have decklists which would solve this. If you suspect something fishy, which I wouldn't see why you would until they played a card that was outside of the companion's restriction, you can call a judge.
Also there's nothing that stops someone from having a companion, which must be reveled at the start of a game, just to throw you off your game but never actually play the card.
Agreed on your first paragraph, but they couldn't actually keep the companion in the "companion zone" or whatever if they didn't meet the restriction. Like even if they claimed "oh this was just a bluff to throw them off," that's cheating. If you announce/show your companion card, you have to meet the restriction.
I haven't heard anything that indicates that that's true. In sanctioned play the companion is in a sideboard slot. Not to mention that companion only allows you to play it from the sideboard. It doesn't mean it can't be there.
It's not that they wanted to ban it as a commander or in the 99. It's that they want it banned from "the 101" because it is a free 101st card with no deck restriction drawback like the other companion cards. It is fine as a commander and/or in the 99.
It's a shame that the rules committee feels like it would be too complicated to ban this "as a companion only" that they think it has to be all or nothing, ban it entirely or not.
edited to add a response:
I don't think so. I see what you're saying about it taking a sideboard slot, and I agree you can put any number of companion cards in your sideboard without meeting the companion restriction. But if you announce it as your companion, you need to have met the restriction. Otherwise, that truly is rampant and fertile grounds for cheating (unless you are at a tournament where decklists are submitted in advance).
Think about it: you reveal your "bluff" companion to "throw your opponent off" (but they don't know that). Your deck is built to almost meet the companion restriction but not quite. You'd be able to get away with actually playing the companion as long as you haven't played anything else that game reveals your deck violated the restriction. Like the cute otter, in a deck with mostly one-ofs but some not. You may just never draw/play/reveal that second copy of something. You cheated. I think the only way to enforce this is that they have to treat a "companion reveal" as a declaration that your deck meets the requirements.
Now if you're saying you'd just put it in the sideboard to throw them off, ok... but that doesn't do anything unless they see your sideboard in advance. And if they see your sideboard, they must be seeing your whole decklist, so how do you get to bluff them exactly?
I share most of what you said except the counters stuff that doesn't seem to be such a big deal. In fact I've come around and I think mutate can be very interesting. From a mechanical point of view I'm lukewarm to excited.
That part about Godzilla is the biggest pill to swallow for me though. I hate it so much. I wish they went the same route as with King Kong being rebranded Kogla and smoothly integrated into the Mtg universe. All the arts from this serie look like bad fan-art (Dorat being the biggest offender, omg) and I already know I'll have to read the cards again when I'll be facing an opponent who plays one of these confusing skins.
I also happen to dislike some of the alternate art creatures, especially the legendary ones who go too much over the top to the point the cards are barely readable. Some of the alt-arts are fine though (Cloudpiercer, the Planeswalkers,...).
"Bling" is going too far to my taste this time, to the point I definitely won't consider them the "superior version".
Modern : Solemnity Prison Martyr Proc Devotion to Green 8 Whacks Eldrazi Processor Bogles Landfall Aggro
Legacy : Goblins