Great idea. Firebreathing, especially this unique kind that allows W to be paid for it as well, is quite potent on a double-striker dealing commander damage.
Not only that, but thanks to the double strike, this firebreathing with be twice as efficient damage wise.
This is a secret hope of mine, but I'd love some defender action in Boros. I mean, Wizards gave us Flamewright. I want them to expand on that design potential. Additionally, some more abilities like Munda, Ambush Leader's and some more equipment interaction could make for a very interesting Boros experience.
Myriad is a simple ability, but that rules text is hellish. I would expect at least a couple cards that have it will be good, and I like the equipment but it would be a lot better if the ability circumvented the legends rule somehow.
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EDH playing competitive Magic cast away
Current Decks GTitania midrange RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
And combine that with token strategy, versatility is what I want to see in a commander!
What do people think about a mix-colored deck with more than one experience-gain effect? Since it universally benefits all cards that require experience counters.
Can't say the new cards got me really interested, but I like that sword. Strap it to a Karmic Guide and watch the madness start. And then there's the uses with Doubling Season...
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I was hoping for a GB Rakshasa legend. I still have hope. I normally get all of the green commanders but neither of the revealed green legends legends interest me yet.
For now I like Daxos returned and that UG Snake general. 3CMC and making unblockable is just my style. And is possible to make tribal snakes, so thats great.
Izzet is boring, I was expecting some artifact general. He can be 1 of 99 in Melek, but I cannot see him as great general. For now.
Golgari is too expensive, but is interesting that it works for any sacrifice, so fetchlands and other spells will boost you.
Can't say the new cards got me really interested, but I like that sword. Strap it to a Karmic Guide and watch the madness start. And then there's the uses with Doubling Season...
I'm sort of worried that it'll be a whine-magnet. There are so many cards that we run because they have strong ETB effects that are good enough with just 1 trigger - this giving you a bunch of triggers is potentially nuts. Even just attaching it to a sacrificial Wood Elves is huge ramp. On a Massacre Wurm you get scorched earth.
Definitely not complaining... I want this card a lot. But I can see it causing the more sensitive players to grumble in their skid marks.
That Orochi guy is really cool. Snake tribal is an under-realized theme and a new Kamigawa card is exciting.
I'm also a big fan of Daxos the Returned. Enchantments-matter is a cool archetype for BW and they haven't had a general for it until now, especially since he also makes tokens.
The rest of these guys I'm not so thrilled about. Mazirek could be a decent stax general. Mizzix of the Izmagnus is hugely underwhelming as a super-powered Goblin Electromancer for two more mana. Hopefully the main generals for the BG and GU decks are cool.
Can't say the new cards got me really interested, but I like that sword. Strap it to a Karmic Guide and watch the madness start. And then there's the uses with Doubling Season...
Since this release will determine whether or not I get back into magic, my views are gonna be pretty harsh:
Myriad is actually really neat. It turns otherwise 1v1 centric creatures into actual multiplayer threats. Pretty nifty.
Confluence is not great but versatile, a good aspect for red.
Scythe is boring.
Captain is ok? Not sure.
Mizzix is met with the "am I better than Melek?" trap which all spellslinger R/U generals fall into. I don't think Mizzix passes.
I hate Mazirek and Kaseto: combat/creature centric generals that have nothing else really going on. I am glad I was leaning away from the green based generals.
Daxos...is almost exactly what I wanted? I think? I really really wanted a non-GW enchantments matter general, but Daxos isn't quite as interesting as I was hoping for. Would have been cool if it had been something like "W/B, Tap: target creature with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of experience counters you have becomes a 1/1 and loses all abilities." Any word on how experience counters work? Cause if you can keep popping out bigger and bigger enchantment tokens then I guess I am cool with him.
So far I am not sure if I will be coming back to magic...
I'm relevantly pleased with the new Legends released so far.
Daxos is the most interesting of the bunch in my opinion. I already have an Enchantment deck that will likely transition to him as the general. I wanted White/Black to have something that isn't "lifegain sacrifice etcetc" and Enchantments was the thing to go for.
Mizzix. I like the idea on paper but I feel like it's going to fumble later. Animar was good because you could abuse etb effects and returning creatures you hand. Instant/Sorceries aren't as easy to pull off.
Mazirek. Not for me, but I do appreciate how you the player can make use of the effect with your own cards and punish others for sacrificing their own stuff.
Kaseto. I don't even like Snakes but I do really appreciate Wizards going back to an old tribe and giving it some spotlight. Makes me hopeful for future blocks/sets to have certain tribe-support. (Knights, please?)
After all of the bickering in the initial Rumor Mill topic about Infect in relation to the BG deck, Kaseto seems like she wouldn't make a half-bad Infect commander, at least to my untrained eye: cheap to cast, solves for the lack of evasion to repeatedly push damage through so long as you have Infect creatures to target with it. There's actually a Snake with Infect that becomes an unblockable 3/3 and can then be repeatedly pumped for 2 mana, so that's a thing.
Mazirek should be cool, and aesthetically he is, but for whatever reason the sacrifice/tokens thing just doesn't do anything for me. Myriad seems fun, if wordy, with Blade of Selves obviously being abusable in a multiplayer game. The Confluences should be interesting: the one we got first isn't incredibly powerful, but it's very versatile and still loves being copied, which is certainly a thing in play in Red.
Mizzix herself doesn't excite me a lot, since Melek is already my ideal spellslinger general, but she does herald a lot of spellslinger support in the UR deck that I'm probably lacking, and that does make me happy.
Skybind is Daxos's best friend: 3 open mana with it on the field makes him basically unremovable, since you can just blink him away until end of turn in response. Pity there aren't a lot of good Constellation cards in his colors, though (Harvestguard Alseids does let him or any other fragile creature attack with relative impunity, Doomwake Giant does Doomwake things, there's the two-part gain/drain package, and that's about it)...huh. Maybe we get a couple new Constellation cards in his deck, since they're reusing old mechanics for Commander decks? That'd be pretty sweet.
EDIT: ...and I thought this was the Rumor Mill topic somehow. Whoops. Eh, most of this still applies, really.
Mizzix of the Izmagnus is interesting, I like permanent const reduction in spell slinger decks and this is, as far as we know, an unanswerable cost reduction (so long the counter is placed down to begin with anyway). I like that, and conceptually this might be my favorite spell slinger card to come out in a bit. Notably, it plays nicely with several other commanders that can cheat casting costs, letting you cast the cards you can't cheat from your hand for less.
Banshee of the Dread Choir looks fun, interesting effect for its cost, and if forcing discards is your game its hard to get much more efficient than this.
Blade of Selves is the first thing that looks imminently breakable. All those etb effects can get back breaking, and the most tame thing people are likely to be doing is copying Nekrataal triggers. That's far from terrible, and it gets more and more damning from there.
Fiery Confluence has solid utility and reminds me favorably of commands. I'm interested in the rest of the cycle.
Daxos the Returned is pure goodness. He gives B/W decks a new way to play and feeds into an already present B/W subtheme (tokens) in the process. I'm not sure I personally would want to build a Daxos deck, but the possibilities here are very real and very fun. Worth noting that he is both a Zombie and a Soldier, adding some potential tribal connections.
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest should have been a cleric instead of a shaman, just putting that out there up front. Still, the ability to grow your entire side of the field when any other permanent is sacrificed is a very big deal. Thraximundar decks sometimes take advantage of this kind of effect and Mazirek is even better at it, and is naturally flying to boot. Daxos combines token and enchantress strategies, Mazirek combines token and sacifice strategies (which already work well, but now even better), and do I even have to say how scary he is with Prossh?
Kalemne's Captain has a good stat line, 5/5 vigilance for five is acceptable, and becoming and 8/8 while wrecking artifacts and enchantments is potentially terrifying. The fact that she exiles them adds something even bigger to her usefulness, though does mean that she probably only goes in deck that doesn't really care about either of those permanent types either... which isn't super common, but worth considering.
Kaseto, Orochi Archmage further opens up a tribe that doesn't get enough attention, and acts as an unblockable shade in the command zone at worst; in the colors that can ramp up efficiently to make a "shade" a threat to boot.
Scytheclaw is just a bit overpriced unfortunately. This effect can be quite good, and gives some inevitability, but it isn't what I'm looking for.
Now make the other R/U commander artifact centric and I'm already happy.
Liking the new commanders so far. I doubt I will build any of them myself, but I foresee myself losing a lot of games to Mizzix. That card is very good.
Mazirek is going to be super fun with all the fetchlands, Mana Confluences and so on popping left and right in Commander. I was going to get the Golgari precon at first blush and now I really want it.
At second glance, it seems there's a not-so-subtle "DEATH TO ARTIFACTS/ENCHANTMENTS" theme going on with the monstrous white critter, the red modal spell and so on. Not taht I mind that much, but it does hose some of our decks around here. Overall I'm pretty happy about the BG, meh on the WB and the UR seems kinda crazy. The GU is basically an unblockable commander, which is super nice if you can give it Hexproof.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Kalemne's Captain seems so problematic to me. If I'm playing the Kalemne deck my goal will be to be casting beefy creatures (like the captain). The way I'm going to achieve that in a timely manner is through the use of mana rocks- which he swallows whole. He might solid in a G/W deck, but in R/W- which also tends to rely heavily on equipment- I feel like he could potentially hurt you way more than your opponents.
I'm starting to like Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest more. Mazirek + sac. engine + persist creatures seems pretty neat.
I gotta be honest, I really don't like Blade of Selves. This card becomes an instant 'all hands on deck' to destroy, because even utility weenies you can usually ignore like Eternal Witness, Mulldrifter, and even Satyr Wayfinder become value-monsters even getting one attack in. This thing is like a Mimic Vat on crack. I don't know, it just feels too pushed.
Kalemne's Captain seems so problematic to me. If I'm playing the Kalemne deck my goal will be to be casting beefy creatures (like the captain). The way I'm going to achieve that in a timely manner is through the use of mana rocks- which he swallows whole. He might solid in a G/W deck, but in R/W- which also tends to rely heavily on equipment- I feel like he could potentially hurt you way more than your opponents.
When that happens, white has no lack of single target artifact/enchantment removal. If your opponent(s) have far more dangerous bunch of win cons, then it'd be wise to removal them all with some sacrifice on your part.
Not only that, but thanks to the double strike, this firebreathing with be twice as efficient damage wise.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade
-Commander-
UBGMill, Sidisi, and Other ShenanigansGBU
WUBRGShingeki no TazriGRBUW
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
http://media.wizards.com/2015/c15_9dsm28ccakCDSk2/en_3J0IrrCVBA.png
And combine that with token strategy, versatility is what I want to see in a commander!
What do people think about a mix-colored deck with more than one experience-gain effect? Since it universally benefits all cards that require experience counters.
Mizzix of the Izmagnus... is boring, so is Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. Kaseto, Orochi Archmage is interesting because it's an Orochi and a snake, and in Simic color, but not my style.
Fiery Confluence is a nice design, choose three and can repeat a choice, nice.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Daxos the Returned is basically just a better Heliod, God of the Sun, right? I find him the most interesting so far.
Izzet is boring, I was expecting some artifact general. He can be 1 of 99 in Melek, but I cannot see him as great general. For now.
Golgari is too expensive, but is interesting that it works for any sacrifice, so fetchlands and other spells will boost you.
Definitely not complaining... I want this card a lot. But I can see it causing the more sensitive players to grumble in their skid marks.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
I'm also a big fan of Daxos the Returned. Enchantments-matter is a cool archetype for BW and they haven't had a general for it until now, especially since he also makes tokens.
The rest of these guys I'm not so thrilled about. Mazirek could be a decent stax general. Mizzix of the Izmagnus is hugely underwhelming as a super-powered Goblin Electromancer for two more mana. Hopefully the main generals for the BG and GU decks are cool.
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
Strap this onto Yosei, the Morning Star, and prepare to lose some friends!
Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
Myriad is actually really neat. It turns otherwise 1v1 centric creatures into actual multiplayer threats. Pretty nifty.
Confluence is not great but versatile, a good aspect for red.
Scythe is boring.
Captain is ok? Not sure.
Mizzix is met with the "am I better than Melek?" trap which all spellslinger R/U generals fall into. I don't think Mizzix passes.
I hate Mazirek and Kaseto: combat/creature centric generals that have nothing else really going on. I am glad I was leaning away from the green based generals.
Daxos...is almost exactly what I wanted? I think? I really really wanted a non-GW enchantments matter general, but Daxos isn't quite as interesting as I was hoping for. Would have been cool if it had been something like "W/B, Tap: target creature with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of experience counters you have becomes a 1/1 and loses all abilities." Any word on how experience counters work? Cause if you can keep popping out bigger and bigger enchantment tokens then I guess I am cool with him.
So far I am not sure if I will be coming back to magic...
In other news, I may need to start playing mirror gallery in more decks...
We also got another card that combos with Ghave in Mazirek, and a legendary goblin electromancer.
They have my attention.
Kemba | Linvala | Talrand | Geth | Krenko | Zada | Patron of the Orochi | Medomai | Athreos | Gisela | Trostani | Nin | Silumgar | Kaervek | Jarad | Xenagos | Sydri | Narset | Roon | Zurgo | Ghave | Marath | Uril | Tasigur | Animar | Riku | Riku | Sek'Kuar | Cromat
Daxos is the most interesting of the bunch in my opinion. I already have an Enchantment deck that will likely transition to him as the general. I wanted White/Black to have something that isn't "lifegain sacrifice etcetc" and Enchantments was the thing to go for.
Mizzix. I like the idea on paper but I feel like it's going to fumble later. Animar was good because you could abuse etb effects and returning creatures you hand. Instant/Sorceries aren't as easy to pull off.
Mazirek. Not for me, but I do appreciate how you the player can make use of the effect with your own cards and punish others for sacrificing their own stuff.
Kaseto. I don't even like Snakes but I do really appreciate Wizards going back to an old tribe and giving it some spotlight. Makes me hopeful for future blocks/sets to have certain tribe-support. (Knights, please?)
Mazirek should be cool, and aesthetically he is, but for whatever reason the sacrifice/tokens thing just doesn't do anything for me. Myriad seems fun, if wordy, with Blade of Selves obviously being abusable in a multiplayer game. The Confluences should be interesting: the one we got first isn't incredibly powerful, but it's very versatile and still loves being copied, which is certainly a thing in play in Red.
Mizzix herself doesn't excite me a lot, since Melek is already my ideal spellslinger general, but she does herald a lot of spellslinger support in the UR deck that I'm probably lacking, and that does make me happy.
Skybind is Daxos's best friend: 3 open mana with it on the field makes him basically unremovable, since you can just blink him away until end of turn in response. Pity there aren't a lot of good Constellation cards in his colors, though (Harvestguard Alseids does let him or any other fragile creature attack with relative impunity, Doomwake Giant does Doomwake things, there's the two-part gain/drain package, and that's about it)...huh. Maybe we get a couple new Constellation cards in his deck, since they're reusing old mechanics for Commander decks? That'd be pretty sweet.
EDIT: ...and I thought this was the Rumor Mill topic somehow. Whoops. Eh, most of this still applies, really.
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
So Daxos's deck is Spirits/Enchantment themed so teysa might be coming back
Mizzix of the Izmagnus is interesting, I like permanent const reduction in spell slinger decks and this is, as far as we know, an unanswerable cost reduction (so long the counter is placed down to begin with anyway). I like that, and conceptually this might be my favorite spell slinger card to come out in a bit. Notably, it plays nicely with several other commanders that can cheat casting costs, letting you cast the cards you can't cheat from your hand for less.
Banshee of the Dread Choir looks fun, interesting effect for its cost, and if forcing discards is your game its hard to get much more efficient than this.
Blade of Selves is the first thing that looks imminently breakable. All those etb effects can get back breaking, and the most tame thing people are likely to be doing is copying Nekrataal triggers. That's far from terrible, and it gets more and more damning from there.
Fiery Confluence has solid utility and reminds me favorably of commands. I'm interested in the rest of the cycle.
Daxos the Returned is pure goodness. He gives B/W decks a new way to play and feeds into an already present B/W subtheme (tokens) in the process. I'm not sure I personally would want to build a Daxos deck, but the possibilities here are very real and very fun. Worth noting that he is both a Zombie and a Soldier, adding some potential tribal connections.
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest should have been a cleric instead of a shaman, just putting that out there up front. Still, the ability to grow your entire side of the field when any other permanent is sacrificed is a very big deal. Thraximundar decks sometimes take advantage of this kind of effect and Mazirek is even better at it, and is naturally flying to boot. Daxos combines token and enchantress strategies, Mazirek combines token and sacifice strategies (which already work well, but now even better), and do I even have to say how scary he is with Prossh?
Kalemne's Captain has a good stat line, 5/5 vigilance for five is acceptable, and becoming and 8/8 while wrecking artifacts and enchantments is potentially terrifying. The fact that she exiles them adds something even bigger to her usefulness, though does mean that she probably only goes in deck that doesn't really care about either of those permanent types either... which isn't super common, but worth considering.
Kaseto, Orochi Archmage further opens up a tribe that doesn't get enough attention, and acts as an unblockable shade in the command zone at worst; in the colors that can ramp up efficiently to make a "shade" a threat to boot.
Scytheclaw is just a bit overpriced unfortunately. This effect can be quite good, and gives some inevitability, but it isn't what I'm looking for.
Now make the other R/U commander artifact centric and I'm already happy.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
EDH
Works in Progress:
WUControlling the ElementsUW C Perfect Insanity C B Anowon, the Ruin Sage B BLiliana, Heretical HealerB
Pauper EDH:
WTallowispW Voltron
Retired:
RDaretti, Scrap SavantR
At second glance, it seems there's a not-so-subtle "DEATH TO ARTIFACTS/ENCHANTMENTS" theme going on with the monstrous white critter, the red modal spell and so on. Not taht I mind that much, but it does hose some of our decks around here. Overall I'm pretty happy about the BG, meh on the WB and the UR seems kinda crazy. The GU is basically an unblockable commander, which is super nice if you can give it Hexproof.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
I'm starting to like Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest more. Mazirek + sac. engine + persist creatures seems pretty neat.
When that happens, white has no lack of single target artifact/enchantment removal. If your opponent(s) have far more dangerous bunch of win cons, then it'd be wise to removal them all with some sacrifice on your part.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG