Honestly, they should have just made legendary Nephilim in Return to Ravnica, but there are only so many things you can revisit in the block and Nephilim were probably pretty low on the list.
I think we will see wedge decks again next year or a combination of wedge and shard decks (with the unused combinations coming up the following year). I don't think we'll see something like Commander's Arsenal again because the only reason they did that was because they wanted to make something for Commander, but the decision was made too late to create a new set of cards/decks.
Maybe I should rephrase a bit.
When I said a Commander's Arsenal I was saying "a box of a small number of rares that will benefit players who enjoy Commander". Maybe this time around it's ~30 cards a few new but mostly reprints of fun to play stuff in Commander. 18 Uncommons 8 Rares and 4 Mythics. Set content list.
Where a toolkit would be lots of commons/ uncommons and say 4 rares which have a chance of being mythic. Random chance at cards.
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There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
@PorcelainGod: So a mix of Modern Master and Planechase but for Commander? Yup that's what I hope to get from Wizards
A place where we can get some new cool cards introduced purely to Commander and some reprints of old cards with little supply or just reprints of good cards for Commander in general.
What everyone seems focused on is how the cards don't match their four-color make-up. Why didn't the abilities match the colors? The answer is pretty simple: The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. There is no such thing, for instance, as a White/Blue/Black/Red ability. We could have included elements from all four colors, but we felt that it would end in poor design. Instead we decided to do weird offbeat effects that weren't particularly assigned to any one color mostly because we hadn't done too much like them. We chose what color combination to match them to more by feel than anything else.
The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. I'd agree with this. On the level of design, it seems pretty tough to make a graceful card, omitting one color.
The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. I'd agree with this. On the level of design, it seems pretty tough to make a graceful card, omitting one color.
The problem I have with this conclusion is 'it's hard to do, therefore it shouldn't be done' is pretty much the antithesis of MaRo's design philosophy. Besides which, that article is from seven years ago when Nephilim were brand new. Magic design and the colour pie have both changed drastically since then. More recent articles cite the issue as being more about building distinct decks, with reference specifically to the Commander products. So on that basis they're unlikely to show up in Commander 2014, but I don't believe that justifies the claim that says, essentially, that because no solid precedent exists for 4-colour, they must never develop such a precedent.
There are issues with a 4c commander from a design standpoint, and Id love to see 5 just to say they exist and they are an option if need be.. What if it was a 2c commander with a 2c ability different from the colors on the card? Like a UR legendary creature that has haste and flash, 2/2 body, and WG(tap) to destroy target enchantment or artifact? Not a great example but uses each of the colors..
EDIT: I know this is kind of a workaround for the question that was asked, but it still fills the 4c commander requirements..
Actually, that's a great point, since Commander works on color identity you can have two-colored commanders with activated abilities that bring in two more colors and which are arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Where "CDEF" is any four colors in order, you can have:
DE cost, C & F abilities, CF ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
CF cost, D & E abilities, DE ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
all of those line up in a pretty aesthetic way in respect to the color pie. Also, the requirement of "3 commanders that can command the deck as is" seems overly restrictive to me, but I guess there are a fair number of people who keep these decks close to as is.
all of those line up in a pretty aesthetic way in respect to the color pie. Also, the requirement of "3 commanders that can command the deck as is" seems overly restrictive to me, but I guess there are a fair number of people who keep these decks close to as is.
Well along the same lines we could produce 2 additional commanders with different guidelines, such as a 3 color commander with an ability that requires 1 different color, or a 1 color commander with a 3 color ability outside of the creatures color.
EDIT: Or a legendary artifact creature that for WRUG produces a Nephilim token of those colors
Actually, that's a great point, since Commander works on color identity you can have two-colored commanders with activated abilities that bring in two more colors and which are arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Where "CDEF" is any four colors in order, you can have:
DE cost, C & F abilities, CF ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
CF cost, D & E abilities, DE ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
all of those line up in a pretty aesthetic way in respect to the color pie. Also, the requirement of "3 commanders that can command the deck as is" seems overly restrictive to me, but I guess there are a fair number of people who keep these decks close to as is.
This is a really neat work around I think to having to print three 4-color generals. Have one CDEF, one CD with EF abilities, and one EF with CD abilities (or some other combination). And then they can just throw in the nephilim for fun.
Having looked into it, a completely colorless commander deck, while not impossible by any means, cannot have any basic lands, and thus has a rather complicated and confusing mana base. It also can't run the two lands they've made specifically for commander, so I doubt they would do it.
This could be easily fixed by inventing a new mana that has "You can have any number of this land in your deck". Just make it tap for 1 colorless and thats all it does. Still nonbasic, yet still follows commander guidelines.
EDIT (been doing this alot lately): I mean new land, not new "mana". Also noticed I wasnt the first to suggest this, Nath'd.
Commander Masters: A small set of Commander focused cards much like Modern Masters but I would hope again printed at higher volumes so casual players can get a crack at it.
Can this also be a set where we can draft commander decks?
There are issues with a 4c commander from a design standpoint, and Id love to see 5 just to say they exist and they are an option if need be.. What if it was a 2c commander with a 2c ability different from the colors on the card? Like a UR legendary creature that has haste and flash, 2/2 body, and WG(tap) to destroy target enchantment or artifact? Not a great example but uses each of the colors..
EDIT: I know this is kind of a workaround for the question that was asked, but it still fills the 4c commander requirements..
... wow. I cannot believe I have never thought of this, but it is a real elegant solution to designing a card which can be used as a 4-colour commander. It fixes all of the design problems, and while it might still be more of a challenge to design, than your average 2-3 colour creature, it is perfectly feasible to do well nonetheless.
Seriously, I tip my Hat of Power to you, and will now wait for Wizards to release a product with these creatures in the next year or two. I mean, they have to, right? It's such a great idea to fix a hole that a vocal subset of players want filled, while at the same time potentially just being really interesting cards on their own.
I would like to again stress how much this has impressed me. You have actually turned me completely 180 around from being rather vehemently "no 4-colour commanders, they cannot be done!" to "wow, this is a cool idea that I really want to see!" You did this ON THE INTERNET. And not just on the internet, but on a forum filled with vitriol and people who assume they know better than everyone else.
I repeat, YOU CHANGED SOMEONE'S OPINION ON AN UNFRIENDLY INTERNET FORUM. YOU MAY VERY WELL HAVE WON THE INTERNET.
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Someday, I will own all of the dragons. All of them. 43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
... wow. I cannot believe I have never thought of this, but it is a real elegant solution to designing a card which can be used as a 4-colour commander. It fixes all of the design problems, and while it might still be more of a challenge to design, than your average 2-3 colour creature, it is perfectly feasible to do well nonetheless.
Seriously, I tip my Hat of Power to you, and will now wait for Wizards to release a product with these creatures in the next year or two. I mean, they have to, right? It's such a great idea to fix a hole that a vocal subset of players want filled, while at the same time potentially just being really interesting cards on their own.
I would like to again stress how much this has impressed me. You have actually turned me completely 180 around from being rather vehemently "no 4-colour commanders, they cannot be done!" to "wow, this is a cool idea that I really want to see!" You did this ON THE INTERNET. And not just on the internet, but on a forum filled with vitriol and people who assume they know better than everyone else.
I repeat, YOU CHANGED SOMEONE'S OPINION ON AN UNFRIENDLY INTERNET FORUM. YOU MAY VERY WELL HAVE WON THE INTERNET.
This.
Also, the dude of arbitrary color who can produce Nephilim, tokens sounds awesome as well.
... wow. I cannot believe I have never thought of this, but it is a real elegant solution to designing a card which can be used as a 4-colour commander. It fixes all of the design problems, and while it might still be more of a challenge to design, than your average 2-3 colour creature, it is perfectly feasible to do well nonetheless.
Seriously, I tip my Hat of Power to you, and will now wait for Wizards to release a product with these creatures in the next year or two. I mean, they have to, right? It's such a great idea to fix a hole that a vocal subset of players want filled, while at the same time potentially just being really interesting cards on their own.
I would like to again stress how much this has impressed me. You have actually turned me completely 180 around from being rather vehemently "no 4-colour commanders, they cannot be done!" to "wow, this is a cool idea that I really want to see!" You did this ON THE INTERNET. And not just on the internet, but on a forum filled with vitriol and people who assume they know better than everyone else.
I repeat, YOU CHANGED SOMEONE'S OPINION ON AN UNFRIENDLY INTERNET FORUM. YOU MAY VERY WELL HAVE WON THE INTERNET.
Well thats good, I was assuming I'd get some flack for ignoring the guidelines of "It had to be 4 colors, and awesome, and worth playing" where, yes possible and should probably happen at some point in time, it is very difficult to make and runs into the risk of over/under powered very easily. I appreciate this greatly.
Hybrid commanders could work for 4-color, as well.
Say...
Mrs. Nekusar :symgu::symgu::symrb::symrb:
Legendary Creature- Something Awesome
Mrs. Nekusar gets +1/+1 for each card in your hand.
Whenever Mrs. Nekusar attacks, target player draws 2 cards, and then loses X life, where X is the number of cards in their hand.
3/3
A ability, and a ability, in an area covered by both (cards in hand/card draw damage).
There's definitely common ground across 4 color combos, IMO:
WURG: Combat tricks
UBRG: Graveyard milling/recovery
WBRG: Creature pump (shades, fire breathing, anthems)
WUBG: Big Butts/walls (I cannot lie, Doran)
WUBR: Flying
And that's just a quick look at the Nephilim, not looking at further hybrid options.
The off color abilities is a good idea---maybe they could have one Hybrid, one off-color ability, and one reprinted/errata'd Nephilim as the three commanders per deck.
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that's not what happened at all. kamahl stabbed phage, akroma, and some old lady and they became korona. then korona got stabbed by her "prophets" and kamahl got drunk with a mutant centaur
manabases in 4 color decks would be so ugly... also i think 4 colors makes the deck lose its identity a little: it can do almost anything.
of course, a lot of people would be happy with those decks, but i don't think they would actually be popular after played. i think wotc should do allied guilds, enemy guild and monocolor for the sequences (not in this order, neccessarily), and leave the 4c legends to normal sets, for the most hardcore players to trade for them, because 4c increases difficulties with lands (rare lands required) and other card choices (too much options when building).
manabases in 4 color decks would be so ugly... also i think 4 colors makes the deck lose its identity a little: it can do almost anything.
of course, a lot of people would be happy with those decks, but i don't think they would actually be popular after played. i think wotc should do allied guilds, enemy guild and monocolor for the sequences (not in this order, neccessarily), and leave the 4c legends to normal sets, for the most hardcore players to trade for them, because 4c increases difficulties with lands (rare lands required) and other card choices (too much options when building).
That's the thing that surprises me though- it seems like 'It can do almost anything" should naturally point you to "What can't it do", and focus from there. With as much talk about design as they go through, it just seems odd that such a simple change in perspective wouldn't already have been done.
"What does White do" isn't exactly the same question as "What can't Blue, Black, Green and Red do?" Of course, it's more likely that they've already looked at this, and just don't see compelling designs in this space, especially because it makes them have to take uncomfortable looks at the way the color pie works.
Well i think it is safe to say that 4 color generals can be done by using things like, hybrid mana, tap abilities and other color identity tricks.
The next hurdle would be addressing how to fit them into the Commander mold of 5 decks with 3 generals.
My initial thoughts on this would be something along these lines
Deck 1. WUBR--to differentiate them from each of the other 5 decks this would be black based, or any one of the available colors, for this example I just picked B. All of the generals have black in the casting cost. The deck could feature cards from other colors that overlap with black's color pie.
Generals could look something like this.
1st WB in mana cost U static ability R tap ability
2nd UB in mana cost R static ability W tap ability
3rd RB in mana cost W static ability U tap ability
This deck would have every general require black mana and still meeting the 3 general precedent already set. This would also allow for 5 different decks featuring generals of a specific color, this this case B. I am not going to break down each combination because it is just moving the colors around. Hybrid mana could be used in place the static ability or in addition to the casting of of the card, there are many ways to work out the colors.
Each deck would have its own identity because it would be based in 1 color and feature ways in which the primary color overlaps with the other three.
The mana base would not be that bad because there are a lot of uncommon dual lands, vivid lands, panoramas, shard lands, rupture spire and its variants, and terramorphic expanse variants.
Honestly I think that there are a lot of ways to set this up. But I think that having each deck be primary in one color would be the best/easiest place to start. It allows each deck to be separate from each each other and fits the current mold.
Lot of great ideas being tossed around. I appreciate everybody's contributions. I have been trying to find a way to place 4-color edh as my play group is very competitive, adheres strictly to the official banned list with no other variations and won't let me play with Nephilim.
The above deck would only contain cards that overlapped with black's color pie, so no multi color cards without black. Other non-primary colored, W,U,R spells could be included but only if they were mono colored and only if they featured some overlapping color pie philosophy with black.
I think this kind of set up will allow wizards to draw from the current color pie, without distorting it, and make each deck feel like its own.
I would much rather commanders based off of missing pieces than
Just colors. I would like to see a gb infect general and a general based around the enchantress concept. I would like to see a competitive mill based commander perhaps something like at the begining of your upkeep each player lose life equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. A general with a wacky alternate win condition would be cool. If you control 10 or more creatures you win the game. A 5 color comander that interacted with planeswalkers would be cool. Also a playable landfall commander would be sweet.
So out of the five combinations what would be the missing part for the following decks and how would you translate it into a deck.
WUBR UBRG BRGW RGWU GWUB
I think that basing a deck off of what it missing is to narrow. For the deck without red, what would it look like.,no burn, no dragons?
It much easier to start with an idea on what it should look like, than what it should not look like. If you follow the premise of "what should not be in the deck" then you have a list of things not to be included and don't have an actual deck.
That's the thing that surprises me though- it seems like 'It can do almost anything" should naturally point you to "What can't it do", and focus from there. With as much talk about design as they go through, it just seems odd that such a simple change in perspective wouldn't already have been done.
"What does White do" isn't exactly the same question as "What can't Blue, Black, Green and Red do?" Of course, it's more likely that they've already looked at this, and just don't see compelling designs in this space, especially because it makes them have to take uncomfortable looks at the way the color pie works.
i think this way: blue is good at draw, bounce and counterspell. RWBG can draw, kill any type of permanent with ease and it can't counter, but that would be the only missing thing from blue...
black is good at killing creatures, drawing and discard. killing and drawing can be done with URWG.
Also, how can you build a deck around what it is incapable of doing? i mean, there could be a URWG general that hosed discard, but would you build around it? i dunno, creative would have to think very hard for something fitting...
So out of the five combinations what would be the missing part for the following decks and how would you translate it into a deck.
WUBR UBRG BRGW RGWU GWUB
I think that basing a deck off of what it missing is to narrow. For the deck without red, what would it look like.,no burn, no dragons?
It much easier to start with an idea on what it should look like, than what it should not look like. If you follow the premise of "what should not be in the deck" then you have a list of things not to be included and don't have an actual deck.
Not what I meant at all. I meant instead of trying to build the set around color pairs they pick missing play styles. So in the set you could have both mono colored commanders and 4 and 5 colors. Kind of like the top down design aproach of theros and inistrad
If they do 4 colour commanders they could change the composition guidelines
i.e. design 1 4 colour commanders for each combo and then reprint 2 relevant 2 colour generals....If you read MaRo's article he was pretty clear that it was the requirement for 3 generals per deck that was the issue.
that defeats the point of the 3-commanders-per-deck idea. you are supposed to be able to swap which legend you are using as your commander without needing to make any other changes to the deck. in your hypothetical situation, you would not be able to do that. you can't make a 2-color legend the commander for a 4-color deck (without gutting a large portion of the deck, i.e. every card that contains the other two colors -- at that point, you're basically rebuilding/building a new and different deck, and this product is meant to be able to be played as-is).
the only way i could see them doing that is if they designed the "two-color" legends like someone above had mentioned: being CD with E/F activated abilities in order to make their color identity effectively 4-color.
If so how would they be split up into five decks. I think the only way they could do so would be
WUBR
UBRG
BRGW
RGWU
GWUB
well, there are only 5 possible 4-color combinations. so yeah, that's how they'd have to do it. maybe i'm misunderstanding the question?
as for the colorless option, i wouldn't get my hopes up. as has been mentioned, the land base would be a nightmare (or a goldmine, depending on how you look at it). on one hand, they could finally make Barry's Land, and in that case, the land base would likely be incredibly underwhelming. but without designing some kind of work-around/loophole land and using the currently available lands, building a singleton colorless land-base is difficult and expensive. and i doubt they are going to give us a $30 product containing Wasteland, Strip Mine, Bazaar of Baghdad, City of Traitors, Library of Alexandria, Mishra's Workshop, etc.
Maybe I should rephrase a bit.
When I said a Commander's Arsenal I was saying "a box of a small number of rares that will benefit players who enjoy Commander". Maybe this time around it's ~30 cards a few new but mostly reprints of fun to play stuff in Commander. 18 Uncommons 8 Rares and 4 Mythics. Set content list.
Where a toolkit would be lots of commons/ uncommons and say 4 rares which have a chance of being mythic. Random chance at cards.
There's no proof she's being chased
by ninja squirrels either. - Dr. Wilson
A place where we can get some new cool cards introduced purely to Commander and some reprints of old cards with little supply or just reprints of good cards for Commander in general.
The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. I'd agree with this. On the level of design, it seems pretty tough to make a graceful card, omitting one color.
The problem I have with this conclusion is 'it's hard to do, therefore it shouldn't be done' is pretty much the antithesis of MaRo's design philosophy. Besides which, that article is from seven years ago when Nephilim were brand new. Magic design and the colour pie have both changed drastically since then. More recent articles cite the issue as being more about building distinct decks, with reference specifically to the Commander products. So on that basis they're unlikely to show up in Commander 2014, but I don't believe that justifies the claim that says, essentially, that because no solid precedent exists for 4-colour, they must never develop such a precedent.
EDIT: I know this is kind of a workaround for the question that was asked, but it still fills the 4c commander requirements..
Where "CDEF" is any four colors in order, you can have:
DE cost, C & F abilities, CF ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
CF cost, D & E abilities, DE ability, CD and EF abilities, or CE and DF abilities
all of those line up in a pretty aesthetic way in respect to the color pie. Also, the requirement of "3 commanders that can command the deck as is" seems overly restrictive to me, but I guess there are a fair number of people who keep these decks close to as is.
Well along the same lines we could produce 2 additional commanders with different guidelines, such as a 3 color commander with an ability that requires 1 different color, or a 1 color commander with a 3 color ability outside of the creatures color.
EDIT: Or a legendary artifact creature that for WRUG produces a Nephilim token of those colors
This is a really neat work around I think to having to print three 4-color generals. Have one CDEF, one CD with EF abilities, and one EF with CD abilities (or some other combination). And then they can just throw in the nephilim for fun.
The Deep Ones
Cyborg Huey's Bosh, Iron Golem Deck
Cyborg Huey's Rosheen Meander Deck
BUGThe Dunwich Horror and Other Lovecraftian TalesBUG
This could be easily fixed by inventing a new mana that has "You can have any number of this land in your deck". Just make it tap for 1 colorless and thats all it does. Still nonbasic, yet still follows commander guidelines.EDIT (been doing this alot lately): I mean new land, not new "mana". Also noticed I wasnt the first to suggest this, Nath'd.
Can this also be a set where we can draft commander decks?
... wow. I cannot believe I have never thought of this, but it is a real elegant solution to designing a card which can be used as a 4-colour commander. It fixes all of the design problems, and while it might still be more of a challenge to design, than your average 2-3 colour creature, it is perfectly feasible to do well nonetheless.
Seriously, I tip my Hat of Power to you, and will now wait for Wizards to release a product with these creatures in the next year or two. I mean, they have to, right? It's such a great idea to fix a hole that a vocal subset of players want filled, while at the same time potentially just being really interesting cards on their own.
I would like to again stress how much this has impressed me. You have actually turned me completely 180 around from being rather vehemently "no 4-colour commanders, they cannot be done!" to "wow, this is a cool idea that I really want to see!" You did this ON THE INTERNET. And not just on the internet, but on a forum filled with vitriol and people who assume they know better than everyone else.
I repeat, YOU CHANGED SOMEONE'S OPINION ON AN UNFRIENDLY INTERNET FORUM. YOU MAY VERY WELL HAVE WON THE INTERNET.
43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
The Attention Deficit Guy URGU
This.
Also, the dude of arbitrary color who can produce Nephilim, tokens sounds awesome as well.
Well thats good, I was assuming I'd get some flack for ignoring the guidelines of "It had to be 4 colors, and awesome, and worth playing" where, yes possible and should probably happen at some point in time, it is very difficult to make and runs into the risk of over/under powered very easily. I appreciate this greatly.
Say...
Mrs. Nekusar :symgu::symgu::symrb::symrb:
Legendary Creature- Something Awesome
Mrs. Nekusar gets +1/+1 for each card in your hand.
Whenever Mrs. Nekusar attacks, target player draws 2 cards, and then loses X life, where X is the number of cards in their hand.
3/3
A ability, and a ability, in an area covered by both (cards in hand/card draw damage).
There's definitely common ground across 4 color combos, IMO:
WURG: Combat tricks
UBRG: Graveyard milling/recovery
WBRG: Creature pump (shades, fire breathing, anthems)
WUBG: Big Butts/walls (I cannot lie, Doran)
WUBR: Flying
And that's just a quick look at the Nephilim, not looking at further hybrid options.
The off color abilities is a good idea---maybe they could have one Hybrid, one off-color ability, and one reprinted/errata'd Nephilim as the three commanders per deck.
of course, a lot of people would be happy with those decks, but i don't think they would actually be popular after played. i think wotc should do allied guilds, enemy guild and monocolor for the sequences (not in this order, neccessarily), and leave the 4c legends to normal sets, for the most hardcore players to trade for them, because 4c increases difficulties with lands (rare lands required) and other card choices (too much options when building).
That's the thing that surprises me though- it seems like 'It can do almost anything" should naturally point you to "What can't it do", and focus from there. With as much talk about design as they go through, it just seems odd that such a simple change in perspective wouldn't already have been done.
"What does White do" isn't exactly the same question as "What can't Blue, Black, Green and Red do?" Of course, it's more likely that they've already looked at this, and just don't see compelling designs in this space, especially because it makes them have to take uncomfortable looks at the way the color pie works.
The next hurdle would be addressing how to fit them into the Commander mold of 5 decks with 3 generals.
My initial thoughts on this would be something along these lines
Deck 1. WUBR--to differentiate them from each of the other 5 decks this would be black based, or any one of the available colors, for this example I just picked B. All of the generals have black in the casting cost. The deck could feature cards from other colors that overlap with black's color pie.
Generals could look something like this.
1st WB in mana cost
U static ability
R tap ability
2nd UB in mana cost
R static ability
W tap ability
3rd RB in mana cost
W static ability
U tap ability
This deck would have every general require black mana and still meeting the 3 general precedent already set. This would also allow for 5 different decks featuring generals of a specific color, this this case B. I am not going to break down each combination because it is just moving the colors around. Hybrid mana could be used in place the static ability or in addition to the casting of of the card, there are many ways to work out the colors.
Each deck would have its own identity because it would be based in 1 color and feature ways in which the primary color overlaps with the other three.
The mana base would not be that bad because there are a lot of uncommon dual lands, vivid lands, panoramas, shard lands, rupture spire and its variants, and terramorphic expanse variants.
Honestly I think that there are a lot of ways to set this up. But I think that having each deck be primary in one color would be the best/easiest place to start. It allows each deck to be separate from each each other and fits the current mold.
Lot of great ideas being tossed around. I appreciate everybody's contributions. I have been trying to find a way to place 4-color edh as my play group is very competitive, adheres strictly to the official banned list with no other variations and won't let me play with Nephilim.
The above deck would only contain cards that overlapped with black's color pie, so no multi color cards without black. Other non-primary colored, W,U,R spells could be included but only if they were mono colored and only if they featured some overlapping color pie philosophy with black.
I think this kind of set up will allow wizards to draw from the current color pie, without distorting it, and make each deck feel like its own.
Just colors. I would like to see a gb infect general and a general based around the enchantress concept. I would like to see a competitive mill based commander perhaps something like at the begining of your upkeep each player lose life equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. A general with a wacky alternate win condition would be cool. If you control 10 or more creatures you win the game. A 5 color comander that interacted with planeswalkers would be cool. Also a playable landfall commander would be sweet.
WUBR
UBRG
BRGW
RGWU
GWUB
I think that basing a deck off of what it missing is to narrow. For the deck without red, what would it look like.,no burn, no dragons?
It much easier to start with an idea on what it should look like, than what it should not look like. If you follow the premise of "what should not be in the deck" then you have a list of things not to be included and don't have an actual deck.
i think this way: blue is good at draw, bounce and counterspell. RWBG can draw, kill any type of permanent with ease and it can't counter, but that would be the only missing thing from blue...
black is good at killing creatures, drawing and discard. killing and drawing can be done with URWG.
Also, how can you build a deck around what it is incapable of doing? i mean, there could be a URWG general that hosed discard, but would you build around it? i dunno, creative would have to think very hard for something fitting...
Not what I meant at all. I meant instead of trying to build the set around color pairs they pick missing play styles. So in the set you could have both mono colored commanders and 4 and 5 colors. Kind of like the top down design aproach of theros and inistrad
that defeats the point of the 3-commanders-per-deck idea. you are supposed to be able to swap which legend you are using as your commander without needing to make any other changes to the deck. in your hypothetical situation, you would not be able to do that. you can't make a 2-color legend the commander for a 4-color deck (without gutting a large portion of the deck, i.e. every card that contains the other two colors -- at that point, you're basically rebuilding/building a new and different deck, and this product is meant to be able to be played as-is).
the only way i could see them doing that is if they designed the "two-color" legends like someone above had mentioned: being CD with E/F activated abilities in order to make their color identity effectively 4-color.
well, there are only 5 possible 4-color combinations. so yeah, that's how they'd have to do it. maybe i'm misunderstanding the question?
as for the colorless option, i wouldn't get my hopes up. as has been mentioned, the land base would be a nightmare (or a goldmine, depending on how you look at it). on one hand, they could finally make Barry's Land, and in that case, the land base would likely be incredibly underwhelming. but without designing some kind of work-around/loophole land and using the currently available lands, building a singleton colorless land-base is difficult and expensive. and i doubt they are going to give us a $30 product containing Wasteland, Strip Mine, Bazaar of Baghdad, City of Traitors, Library of Alexandria, Mishra's Workshop, etc.