So what do you guys think of him as a commander? The effect and mana cost are obviously nuts even in EDH, but 3 life is not quite as much there. On the other hand if you get a really strong sacrifice engine rolling and always target the same opponent for the life cost, you could quickly get to the point where they simply can't or don't want to pay anymore.
Atheros is awesome. Nobody can deny that.
But dont talk about him like is makes certain strategies unplayable or anything. There are many answer cards to him. Glare of Heresy, Revoke Existence, Unravel the Æther and Detention Sphere which is the most used one of them because its a four-of in one of the most popular decks.
If this guy takes off those cards will see more play too. Especially Glare also runs double duty against a BW deck. Dont forget about that guys.
Its the same with the Dredge deck and Rest in Peace
If Athreos didn't target, the card would be confusing and even more broken. And yes, he really is that busted. He was spoiled at the PAX East panel.
What's confusing about "Whenever another creature you own dies, return it to your hand unless an opponent pays 3 life."
Those opponents gets asked in turn, just like they would Desecration Demon.
I think this is a great card. I hope to slot him in a deck where not paying the life spells doom, and paying the life spells doom. It may not be ideal, but with dark prophecy out, when your creature dies, you will always draw a card, and if the opponent doesn't pay 3 life, you are getting your creature back. All it costs you is 1 life. My guess is an opponent isn't going to want you to basically have the creature and the draw. That just means you are likely to draw into more creatures so you can increase the draw engine. Toss a grey merchant on the field and every time your opponent even after having been drained is going to say, I'll pay 3.
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All your base are belong to us!
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
It targets an opponent to make Athreos better in commander. That way you can point towards your buddy when you want to get a creature back to your hand.
As for the modern players talking about the nonbo, since the persist and Athreos triggers happen simultaneously, can't you just put the persist trigger on top? That way the persist trigger resolves first, and Athreos's trigger is nullified. Right?
And as for standard, I think the Athreos deck will exist, but it's going to be built from the ground up. Athreos and Thoughtseize give the deck enough power against control to the point that Xathrid Necromancer isn't needed (also Necromancer only contributes one to devotion which sucks).
It targets an opponent to make Athreos better in commander. That way you can point towards your buddy when you want to get a creature back to your hand.
As for the modern players talking about the nonbo, since the persist and Athreos triggers happen simultaneously, can't you just put the persist trigger on top? That way the persist trigger resolves first, and Athreos's trigger is nullified. Right?
And as for standard, I think the Athreos deck will exist, but it's going to be built from the ground up. Athreos and Thoughtseize give the deck enough power against control to the point that Xathrid Necromancer isn't needed (also Necromancer only contributes one to devotion which sucks).
The nice thing about that is that the control players will have to use detention spheres just on Atheros , and soo some necromancers are nice for that verdict right after a sphere. cards like rest in peace that hurts Atheros shenemigans also hurts the control player
Very impressive, I love this guy. Really a dream card for any aggro-midrange decks that can support it. I think only the restrictive color combination keeps him from being busted. But as-is I think he basically bumps a new archetype up to tier one status, given the way he single-handidly turns matchups against the "best deck", UW control, around.
Asks you to devote a ton of dudes to the board...and simultaneously rewards you for doing so by protecting you from sweepers. IMO there is no question that BW aggro/mid is a real thing now, at least until RTR block rotates. The simple combination with Obzedat is just such a huge and difficult to stop threat against control. Throw in Sin Collectors and Thoughtseizes and it seems like a BW deck could just roll the slower more controlling decks. And you have Lifebane giving you extra game against G/x midrange. From there you can either go more controlling midrangy (i.e. make it look like kind of like black devotion splashing white) or all-in on the aggro side, likely leaning more white, and probably do pretty well either way.
IMHO this card is impressive. Low mana cost, indestructible and nice ability.
I see it very well in a deck with low mana creatures that have a "when this creature comes into play.." Ability. This could makes our opponent have to decide carefully if taking 3 damage or make us replay the ability of those creatures. Anyone knows what creatures could fit in this archetype of deck?
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
The 3 cmc was certainly shocking when I saw it. I was expecting at least five. All the customers at my shop let out a collective "WOOOOOO" when he came on the screen
I'm wary of playing Athreos with a ton of cheap x/1 creatures. They're so easy to answer, and by the time they come back they've been outclassed.
Try splashing for Tymaret, the Murder King. Your opponent has to start taking 5 for each dork you sacrifice, and it takes an exile spell to keep him from coming back.
The value of Rest in Peace just shot to the roof with this and Dredge around
I'm seriously considering transforming my Dredge list to a Junk Reanimator list. At least with Reanimator, your gameplan doesn't revolve solely on the graveyard as you always have the option of Obzedat and Blood baron beats.
Not much.
I could see him being good in 1v1,
but the type of deck he wants to run (weenie)
tends to fare poorly in group games.
He's a monster in constructed and fairly tame in EDH,
which is the opposite of what I was hoping for.
He may not seem like a powerhouse commander but he still works with BW's different strong ETB-effects. Most of the time he'll just be a Lightning Bolt to the face of target opponent.
The best would of course be to have some recursion/reanimation so you'll still get to recycle your creatures from the Yard if Athreos' "fizzles" to do it for you. Oversold Cemetery comes to mind.
Yeah I think Athreos can be built around in EDH, you should be able to take any proven sacrifice engine and tweak with free hand plays to make him a beast. He is still even decent as a more casual and fun Commander given his diplomatic nature of choosing someone to pay life or give you your creature back.
I think MirageMonkey means sacrifice the Shadowborn Apostles to find a demon, and you either return them to your hand or your opponent loses 18 life, and you still find a demon. Play them again the next turn and find another demon, or swing for the win if your opponent took the life loss.
I think MirageMonkey means sacrifice the Shadowborn Apostles to find a demon, and you either return them to your hand or your opponent loses 18 life, and you still find a demon. Play them again the next turn and find another demon, or swing for the win if your opponent took the life loss.
Can you play a second color with that deck though? Each non-black producing land is a blank for casting Shadowborn Apostle. Also we've had Immortal Servitude for a while and it didn't do anything. I dont see how this would be different.
Strong god, but I feel there might a problem with the deck this guy is gonna go in. Basically, if this guy doesnt stick is the deck still good enough? If other decks start beefing up a bit on god-hate cards does that make this guy bad?
So im not a hundred sold on this breaking balls in standard, but it is definatly a good enough god. Hell, any god costing 3 would argubly be worth it. Just a shame that since this definatly is on the gooder side of gods, and none of the other gods being particularly bad, my hopes are getting dashed for the GB god that Ive really been looking forward to.
You bring up a good point that I have thought about too. The decks were this would go in are not really competitors right now because they are not good enough. This god gives you more game against removal but that means that you need to have this card in your starting hand or draw it soon if you dont want to get wrecked by the removal decks and there are many ways to care of this guy.
Im not sure the impact of this guy will be as big as people expect it to be.
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Modern: UW Control
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But dont talk about him like is makes certain strategies unplayable or anything. There are many answer cards to him. Glare of Heresy, Revoke Existence, Unravel the Æther and Detention Sphere which is the most used one of them because its a four-of in one of the most popular decks.
If this guy takes off those cards will see more play too. Especially Glare also runs double duty against a BW deck. Dont forget about that guys.
Its the same with the Dredge deck and Rest in Peace
Those opponents gets asked in turn, just like they would Desecration Demon.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
As for the modern players talking about the nonbo, since the persist and Athreos triggers happen simultaneously, can't you just put the persist trigger on top? That way the persist trigger resolves first, and Athreos's trigger is nullified. Right?
And as for standard, I think the Athreos deck will exist, but it's going to be built from the ground up. Athreos and Thoughtseize give the deck enough power against control to the point that Xathrid Necromancer isn't needed (also Necromancer only contributes one to devotion which sucks).
[THS|SOM|5TH] Devotion to Black
Yeah you choose what trigger resolves first
The nice thing about that is that the control players will have to use detention spheres just on Atheros , and soo some necromancers are nice for that verdict right after a sphere. cards like rest in peace that hurts Atheros shenemigans also hurts the control player
Asks you to devote a ton of dudes to the board...and simultaneously rewards you for doing so by protecting you from sweepers. IMO there is no question that BW aggro/mid is a real thing now, at least until RTR block rotates. The simple combination with Obzedat is just such a huge and difficult to stop threat against control. Throw in Sin Collectors and Thoughtseizes and it seems like a BW deck could just roll the slower more controlling decks. And you have Lifebane giving you extra game against G/x midrange. From there you can either go more controlling midrangy (i.e. make it look like kind of like black devotion splashing white) or all-in on the aggro side, likely leaning more white, and probably do pretty well either way.
I see it very well in a deck with low mana creatures that have a "when this creature comes into play.." Ability. This could makes our opponent have to decide carefully if taking 3 damage or make us replay the ability of those creatures. Anyone knows what creatures could fit in this archetype of deck?
Not much.
I could see him being good in 1v1,
but the type of deck he wants to run (weenie)
tends to fare poorly in group games.
He's a monster in constructed and fairly tame in EDH,
which is the opposite of what I was hoping for.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Try splashing for Tymaret, the Murder King. Your opponent has to start taking 5 for each dork you sacrifice, and it takes an exile spell to keep him from coming back.
Really though, any number of cards make this awesome. Tymaret. Voice of Resurgence. Sin Collector. Obzedat, Ghost Council. Cartel Aristocrat. Xathrid Necromancer. I expect this to be brewed with for the entirety of its existence in Standard, in search of the perfect build.
Cubetutor Link
I'm seriously considering transforming my Dredge list to a Junk Reanimator list. At least with Reanimator, your gameplan doesn't revolve solely on the graveyard as you always have the option of Obzedat and Blood baron beats.
The best would of course be to have some recursion/reanimation so you'll still get to recycle your creatures from the Yard if Athreos' "fizzles" to do it for you. Oversold Cemetery comes to mind.
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Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
He´s not a demon
Oh my bad. That´s actually really nice
You bring up a good point that I have thought about too. The decks were this would go in are not really competitors right now because they are not good enough. This god gives you more game against removal but that means that you need to have this card in your starting hand or draw it soon if you dont want to get wrecked by the removal decks and there are many ways to care of this guy.
Im not sure the impact of this guy will be as big as people expect it to be.