I am pretty hyped for Red-Green's first good, goodstuff commander!
While a goodstuff land-ramping strategy is certainly possible with other Gruul Legendaries, Omnath, Locus of Rage rewards it so heavily. Boundless Realms not only becomes an insane value spell but a win-condition with a Fervor effect and perhaps a sac outlet.
Borborygmos Enraged and mono-green decks have already established Red-Green's strong affinity with land ramping, but Omnath's potential doesn't seem to end there! With cards such as Elemental Bond and Greater Good, I am very sure that this deck will also have a much better time at drawing cards too!
In EDH this card looks fun as heck. My first thought went to Horde of Notions but I bet Marath loves this guy too and he'll be an aggressive commander in his own right.
In standard I wasn't to say he's powerful, but more powerful than Dragonlord Atarka? Maybe not. We'll also have to see how much ramp there is as we lose a lot when this guy rotates in. No Caryatid, Courser, Xenagos or Nykthos. We have some options left but there definetly needs to be a little more help. Still, I wouldn't mind if he was unplayable. That'll just make him easier to buy :D.
I'm psyched. I've already started putting a list together for him. Packing a lot of ramp spells in his deck is obvious (Boundless Realms, anyone?). For when those lands do hit the field, packing haste-enablers is a great idea, plus ways to pump them for combat, etc. For that, Ogre Battledriver and In the Web of War do both at once, Anger and Urabrask the Hidden will give the haste, and Shared Animosity, Beastmaster Ascension, Thunderfoot Baloth and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa give the pumps for wrecking face in combat. Speaking of wrecking face, Warstorm Surge triggers on each of your fatties coming down. With a huge ramp spell plus Omnath and Warstorm, you can potentially blast one of your opponents straight out of the game before you even have to go to combat.
What people haven't been thinking of enough is Omnath's second trigger, the free Bolt whenever an elemental you control dies. Of course it's nice to have spurts of damage here and there, but controlling when those free bolts happen is way better. For that, sac outlets that you could use at any time or that cost very little would be fantastic. Goblin Bombardment, Greater Good, Spawning Pit and Evolutionary Leap all do work. Also, if you really want to abuse Omnath's second trigger with sac outlets, make as many elementals as you can, the best for which is probably Elemental Mastery. Enchant Elemental Mastery on Omnath, tap him to make five 1/1s, sac them all and boom, 15 damage from Omnath's trigger. Since it's actually Omnath who's doing the damage, running Basilisk Collar wouldn't be a bad idea. The Collar will enable you to control the creatures on the board with great prejudice while also gaining you globs of life.
For support, if you're on an Elemental tribal plan, Grave Sifter can help get all of those guys back to reuse and Incandescent Soulstoke can cheat elementals out from your hand. Soul of the Harvest will trigger for each non-token you have hitting the field, and is an elemental too. Phytotitan will just keep coming back and dying and coming back again, hitting the fun triggers. Perilous Forays turn your dudes into lands and Omnath makes more dudes from that. Zendikar's Roil does Omnath's first trigger on a smaller scale, but hey, the more the merrier. Spawnwrithe clones itself if you can get it in for damage and can overrun a board if left uncontested. The kicker? Whenever one of those Spawnwrithes dies, you get the trigger from Omnath. One of the best synergies though is with Titania, Protector of Argoth. If you jam Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, any Panoramas, Fetches, or any other lands that sacrifice themselves, you make big fatty tokens with both Titania and Omnath.
Omnath is going to be an extremely fun deck to play.
Liege of the Tangle can synergize with Titania when you lose all of your lands to the next board wipe that comes around, but it doesn't have much synergy with Omnath. If anything, Omnath's the upgrade to Liege - Liege makes your lands (the most unlikely permanents to be destroyed in a typical game of Commander) into creatures (the most susceptible) whereas Omnath gives you creatures on top of your lands, and thus your mana base does not get nuked by the next Day of Judgment that comes around. Also, you don't get the ETB triggers from Liege making your lands into elementals. Of course, you do get the death triggers for them from Omnath, but do you really want to trade your lands for three damage a piece? (If that's a yes, check out Borborygmos Enraged)
Sorry if I just killed your hopes and dreams, I'd rather not see people get their manabases annihilated.
I'm looking at this in the limited environment. I think this is very interesting with the Awaken ability, as those are made into elementals. It may be a tad bit slow, but I can't imagine losing very probably once you drop this guy with a bunch of awakened lands out in play.
This also makes me feel like I have to go ahead and make a commander deck, using all of the elemental love from the Lorwyn block. So much love there and plenty of ramp to go with it.
Anyway, this new Omnath looks decidedly sweet. I've had a Mad Borby EDH deck ever since he was released, and with just a handful of changes it could become a home for Mad Omnath . . . . Though flashbacking a Creeping Renaissance for lands to shotgun one opponent for 42 damage and then swinging in for a general damage kill at another, then pulling enough lands off his trigger to seal the match is awesome fun; requires tight play, too, since RG has a certain amount of difficulty dealing with the more durable threats/strategies we see in EDH nowadays (yeah, I prefer tutorless games . . . but land-fetching is always fair game). This new Omnath is built for more value, straight-up, I think -- 5 power for a land drop is much stronger than 3 damage to skip that land drop. There *is* the "loss" of trample here, but "army-in-a-can" cards just plain win games.
Ever had somebody Armageddon into a slow board after resolving Assemble the Legion?? Crazy-fast games, those. Ramp this guy hard enough with a Darksteel Plate on him and then Obliterate??? Fun-time catastrophe, that. And I'm not advocating MLD here, people, but the swingy plays a deck built around him enables are just . . . the stuff of legend!
And regarding the synergy with the "awaken" mechanic . . . . I truly wouldn't anticipate having awakened lands around for long. Three colors have sure-shot mass removal, and green and blue can cope quite well without it by using beef or frost.
This is at least the only card from BoZ that I'm gonna buy.
Liege of the Tangle can synergize with Titania when you lose all of your lands to the next board wipe that comes around, but it doesn't have much synergy with Omnath. If anything, Omnath's the upgrade to Liege - Liege makes your lands (the most unlikely permanents to be destroyed in a typical game of Commander) into creatures (the most susceptible) whereas Omnath gives you creatures on top of your lands, and thus your mana base does not get nuked by the next Day of Judgment that comes around. Also, you don't get the ETB triggers from Liege making your lands into elementals. Of course, you do get the death triggers for them from Omnath, but do you really want to trade your lands for three damage a piece? (If that's a yes, check out Borborygmos Enraged)
Sorry if I just killed your hopes and dreams, I'd rather not see people get their manabases annihilated.
To be fair, Titania and Liege both work really well in tandem with Omnath.
Even better with Amulet of Vigor. Search out every single basic land AND basic land type dual land in your deck while also dealing 3X damage split among X targets, where X is the number of remaining basic lands in your deck. ._.
The fact the bolt ability is creature type based makes the building around of this much more engaging
Agreed.
I think a lot of people will just build this as a ramp deck, which is fine but just so BORING. Ramp decks are a dime a dozen in EDH, with red adding relatively little to the mix that you couldn't get/do/abuse in just mono-green with the original Omnath (or Azusa).
OTOH this is a great reason to build an elemental themed rampy deck, giving you a good reason to play some elemental stuff you would otherwise pass over.
The fact the bolt ability is creature type based makes the building around of this much more engaging
Agreed.
I think a lot of people will just build this as a ramp deck, which is fine but just so BORING. Ramp decks are a dime a dozen in EDH, with red adding relatively little to the mix that you couldn't get/do/abuse in just mono-green with the original Omnath (or Azusa).
OTOH this is a great reason to build an elemental themed rampy deck, giving you a good reason to play some elemental stuff you would otherwise pass over.
Yeah I'm definitely going to take advantage of at least a few cool elementals in my build. I'm hoping we get some more good elementals between BFZ and Commander 2015 to support it!
Basically, add in Zuran Orb, Hermit Druid, and an Eldrazi shuffle trigger. I suppose you could also animate all your lands and bin them via Perilous Forays too.
I am really excited for this card too. Great build around me general and just a really good inclusion in any red/green deck with a ramp or land based aspect. Or any elemental deck!
One thing to keep in mind is that if he's your commander, you don't get the 3 damage trigger when he is killed, unless you choose to put him in your graveyard over your command zone.
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I am pretty hyped for Red-Green's first good, goodstuff commander!
While a goodstuff land-ramping strategy is certainly possible with other Gruul Legendaries, Omnath, Locus of Rage rewards it so heavily. Boundless Realms not only becomes an insane value spell but a win-condition with a Fervor effect and perhaps a sac outlet.
Borborygmos Enraged and mono-green decks have already established Red-Green's strong affinity with land ramping, but Omnath's potential doesn't seem to end there! With cards such as Elemental Bond and Greater Good, I am very sure that this deck will also have a much better time at drawing cards too!
Is anyone else as hyped for this card as I am?
Scapeshift
Collective Voyage
Fetches
lotus cobra
Rampaging Baloths
Tempt with Vengeance
khalni heart expedition - 15 power when creature enters turn 4ish
Harrow
In standard I wasn't to say he's powerful, but more powerful than Dragonlord Atarka? Maybe not. We'll also have to see how much ramp there is as we lose a lot when this guy rotates in. No Caryatid, Courser, Xenagos or Nykthos. We have some options left but there definetly needs to be a little more help. Still, I wouldn't mind if he was unplayable. That'll just make him easier to buy :D.
CUBE: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/73964;jsessionid=2DE1F5FF41A24820A137448A2FD5CF8F
I LIKE DRAGONS!
What people haven't been thinking of enough is Omnath's second trigger, the free Bolt whenever an elemental you control dies. Of course it's nice to have spurts of damage here and there, but controlling when those free bolts happen is way better. For that, sac outlets that you could use at any time or that cost very little would be fantastic. Goblin Bombardment, Greater Good, Spawning Pit and Evolutionary Leap all do work. Also, if you really want to abuse Omnath's second trigger with sac outlets, make as many elementals as you can, the best for which is probably Elemental Mastery. Enchant Elemental Mastery on Omnath, tap him to make five 1/1s, sac them all and boom, 15 damage from Omnath's trigger. Since it's actually Omnath who's doing the damage, running Basilisk Collar wouldn't be a bad idea. The Collar will enable you to control the creatures on the board with great prejudice while also gaining you globs of life.
For support, if you're on an Elemental tribal plan, Grave Sifter can help get all of those guys back to reuse and Incandescent Soulstoke can cheat elementals out from your hand. Soul of the Harvest will trigger for each non-token you have hitting the field, and is an elemental too. Phytotitan will just keep coming back and dying and coming back again, hitting the fun triggers. Perilous Forays turn your dudes into lands and Omnath makes more dudes from that. Zendikar's Roil does Omnath's first trigger on a smaller scale, but hey, the more the merrier. Spawnwrithe clones itself if you can get it in for damage and can overrun a board if left uncontested. The kicker? Whenever one of those Spawnwrithes dies, you get the trigger from Omnath. One of the best synergies though is with Titania, Protector of Argoth. If you jam Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, any Panoramas, Fetches, or any other lands that sacrifice themselves, you make big fatty tokens with both Titania and Omnath.
Omnath is going to be an extremely fun deck to play.
Elemental creatures with evoke, such as ingot chewer are awesome with Omnath. Too bad there is only about 8 in color.
Liege of the Tangle can synergize with Titania when you lose all of your lands to the next board wipe that comes around, but it doesn't have much synergy with Omnath. If anything, Omnath's the upgrade to Liege - Liege makes your lands (the most unlikely permanents to be destroyed in a typical game of Commander) into creatures (the most susceptible) whereas Omnath gives you creatures on top of your lands, and thus your mana base does not get nuked by the next Day of Judgment that comes around. Also, you don't get the ETB triggers from Liege making your lands into elementals. Of course, you do get the death triggers for them from Omnath, but do you really want to trade your lands for three damage a piece? (If that's a yes, check out Borborygmos Enraged)
Sorry if I just killed your hopes and dreams, I'd rather not see people get their manabases annihilated.
This also makes me feel like I have to go ahead and make a commander deck, using all of the elemental love from the Lorwyn block. So much love there and plenty of ramp to go with it.
Anyway, this new Omnath looks decidedly sweet. I've had a Mad Borby EDH deck ever since he was released, and with just a handful of changes it could become a home for Mad Omnath . . . . Though flashbacking a Creeping Renaissance for lands to shotgun one opponent for 42 damage and then swinging in for a general damage kill at another, then pulling enough lands off his trigger to seal the match is awesome fun; requires tight play, too, since RG has a certain amount of difficulty dealing with the more durable threats/strategies we see in EDH nowadays (yeah, I prefer tutorless games . . . but land-fetching is always fair game). This new Omnath is built for more value, straight-up, I think -- 5 power for a land drop is much stronger than 3 damage to skip that land drop. There *is* the "loss" of trample here, but "army-in-a-can" cards just plain win games.
Ever had somebody Armageddon into a slow board after resolving Assemble the Legion?? Crazy-fast games, those. Ramp this guy hard enough with a Darksteel Plate on him and then Obliterate??? Fun-time catastrophe, that. And I'm not advocating MLD here, people, but the swingy plays a deck built around him enables are just . . . the stuff of legend!
And regarding the synergy with the "awaken" mechanic . . . . I truly wouldn't anticipate having awakened lands around for long. Three colors have sure-shot mass removal, and green and blue can cope quite well without it by using beef or frost.
This is at least the only card from BoZ that I'm gonna buy.
To be fair, Titania and Liege both work really well in tandem with Omnath.
Many thanks to DNC at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Even better with Amulet of Vigor. Search out every single basic land AND basic land type dual land in your deck while also dealing 3X damage split among X targets, where X is the number of remaining basic lands in your deck. ._.
Agreed.
I think a lot of people will just build this as a ramp deck, which is fine but just so BORING. Ramp decks are a dime a dozen in EDH, with red adding relatively little to the mix that you couldn't get/do/abuse in just mono-green with the original Omnath (or Azusa).
OTOH this is a great reason to build an elemental themed rampy deck, giving you a good reason to play some elemental stuff you would otherwise pass over.
Yeah I'm definitely going to take advantage of at least a few cool elementals in my build. I'm hoping we get some more good elementals between BFZ and Commander 2015 to support it!
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Innistrad - The Darkest Night
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A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
AK:A oops, looks like i win again
[center][color=Blue]
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
It's not "infinite damage", since you can run out of lands with basic land types.
[center][color=Blue]
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
Just recur your lands. I outlined the idea here http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/628244-omnath-locus-of-rage-brainstorming#c14
Basically, add in Zuran Orb, Hermit Druid, and an Eldrazi shuffle trigger. I suppose you could also animate all your lands and bin them via Perilous Forays too.
For elementals, there are a ton of good ones to craft a Flamekin Harbinger toolbox. Incandescent Soulstoke, Smokebraider, Generator Servant, Ingot Chewer, Spitebellows... and those are just the red ones. You've got Avenger of Zendikar and Tornado Elemental in green, and don't forget about Omnath's girlfriend.
Meanwhile, for landfall, Zendikar's Roil doubles your elemental tokens. Scapeshift gets you a ton of landfall triggers, as well as its budget siblings From the Ashes and Wave of Vitriol. Perilous Forays, as others have mentioned, is a must: it combines with one of Lotus Cobra, Mana Echoes or Amulet of Vigor for massive damage. Then, finally, use all that mana and pump it into Clan Defiance or Comet Storm for the win.
I'm so psyched to build this guy!
One thing to keep in mind is that if he's your commander, you don't get the 3 damage trigger when he is killed, unless you choose to put him in your graveyard over your command zone.