I guess my meta must just be weaksauce. I could see her actually doing more work than any of the other Chandra's. The fact that she costs 6 doesn't really bother me at all. I think I would still rather have her than Torch in most cases (budget also considered) because her abilities are so similar (minus the ramp which, if you already have 6 mana...) but she starts off with a LOT more loyalty which makes her more survivable over all. Pyrogenius can't draw you a card but you also aren't forced to choose between a card or damage when maybe what you would really rather have that turn is the damage.
RE: Fiery Confluence, that's 12 damage in 1 turn, which is awesome, but over the course of more turns, Chandra's ceiling is much higher with the potential to kill more creatures and even Wrath a single opponent's board with enough time. They can do similar things, but they aren't really comparable in the way that Lightning Bolt and Sulfuric Vortex aren't comparable.
Well, if you have a meta where you can keep a 6 mana planeswalker alive for 4+ turns then I guess she could be somewhat useful. I just don't see how she can be kept alive that long
Ticking her up to seven really helps with that. Also, we generally play 3 player FFA so there aren't as many player available to kill her and no one runs Dreadbore, et al. so that's not really an issue either.
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Am I the only one that thinks that Chandra, Pyrogenius isn't absolute garbage? I could see her being kind of good in a spellslinger deck that isn't just looking to storm of/combo out. Something like a U/R counter burn style of deck. She is a regular repeatable source of damage on a fairly resilient source given how much loyalty she has. She also is kind of better than Sulfuric Vortex in that she doesn't stop your own life gain should that be a thing you desire.
Partner is a pretty good solution to the manabase issues that 4 color decks are inevitably going to encounter. Being able to cast one of your commanders even if you haven't perfectly curved out is pretty cool.
The 4 partner legends spoiled so far have some nice mix and match potential also. I like that they have some synergy (although they are arguably inferior to existing commanders individually).
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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
I like that you can get some two or three color combinations out of it as well.
I am also a fan of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Not overly flashy, but works well with one of my favorite mechanics (counters matter). As an added bonus, the art is super pretty.
I like that you can get some two or three color combinations out of it as well.
I am also a fan of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Not overly flashy, but works well with one of my favorite mechanics (counters matter). As an added bonus, the art is super pretty.
I know! She works with all the fun cards like Tangle Wire.
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is very interesting. I have a Bant Superfriends deck, and I'm rather tempted to add black for her. Proliferating every turn sounds fun.
And, oh look, another RW dude that does the same as all the other RW dudes....
I like that you can get some two or three color combinations out of it as well.
I am also a fan of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Not overly flashy, but works well with one of my favorite mechanics (counters matter). As an added bonus, the art is super pretty.
Atraxa has the body for offensive voltron, and in defense she could protect superfriends, I like her a lot for her versatility.
Partner generals generate so many combinations that I can hardly imagine how our forum moderator's gonna categorize it in the deck data base The partner generals need their own spots under each color combo, and every two adds another under the four-clor section. Boy, this will be fun.
The decks, per mothership's description, do not all fit the old Nephilim cards. For example, WUBR is the new "artifice" deck, but it doesn't suit Yore-Tiller Nephilim well.
Someone's going to build that Atraxa Energy-Infect-Superfriends build out there.
I think Partner is a great mechanic, not necessarily for 4-color, but actually especially for 3-color decks (especially Wedges) where the 2-Commander decks share a color. Now Surrak and Yasova and no longer your go-to-choices for Temur if you don't want to paint a target on your head (that being said, I'm still sticking to Animar - Battlecruiser EDH is my mainstay.) I'm not sure if they're printing Partner Cards of the same Color Pairing (lazy to do the math for all the configurations of 5 decks), but if they do, you could play a 2-color deck with 2 Commanders as well.
I hope the RC replaces the blank Rule 4 with "You can play two Brothers Yamazaki in Commander decks and they have Partner".
Otherwise, other than the mana rock for Horde, the cards themselves don't impress my suite of decks at the moment.... SIDAR KONDO WHY ARE YOU NOT IN ALESHA'S COLOR IDENTITY??????
The Boros Commander sucks. Go figure. Kraum, Ludevic's Opus is shockingly interesting for Izzet though. Why can't they be that creative with Boros?
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I like that you can get some two or three color combinations out of it as well.
I am also a fan of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Not overly flashy, but works well with one of my favorite mechanics (counters matter). As an added bonus, the art is super pretty.
I know! She works with all the fun cards like Tangle Wire.
There's a special place in hell...
She's certainly a swell dude. Proliferate being any number of permanents/players really is what makes her do work. That and having lots of keywords stapled on.
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
I do like Atraxa. She seems like a nice sweet girl, one of those kindhearted individuals you could invite home to meet the family, have some dinner, and then she disembowels the household.
I'm actually more interested in Kraum. A semi-offensive izzet general that can easily be built into an izzet voltron beat-stick. There really isn't any current Izzet general that makes you really want to build a deck with fabricate-for-sword of feast and famine and run godo, bandit warlord.
More importantly for Kraum? Two heads are better than one!
Otherwise, other than the mana rock for Horde, the cards themselves don't impress my suite of decks at the moment.... SIDAR KONDO WHY ARE YOU NOT IN ALESHA'S COLOR IDENTITY??????
I mean, you could always add a color and play Alesha in Sidar.
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
We asked Prime Speaker Zegana, head of the Eldrazis for a reaction:
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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.
While I'm still not a fan of four-color Commanders personally, I'm happy with some of the designs they've come up with to ensure that there's likely something for everyone in this set. I'm a little sad that the Partner mechanic isn't going to be compatible with other commanders, but between the potential to have complete combos sitting in the Command Zone, as well as simply giving every multi-color deck a potential back-up Commander there are obvious reasons as to why that can't be the case. As for the cards so far:
Sublime Exhalation: A more color friendly Day of Judgment for the average 4-player game. As I don't know how many people end up having 5+ player games, I don't know if the potential for cost reduction is worth it costing 6W in the late game unless you really want to lighten your color commitments (though as this is a 4-color set, that probably goes without saying...).
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice: Atraxa can do a good job of stalling out games, as their abilities let them trade with almost anything profitably on top of incidental lifegain and some extra counters as needed. Four color is a deal breaker for me, particularly as GB and GW are fairly dominant combinations in my current Commander roster, but if the overall deck ends up being worthwhile, then it might be the one to win me over.
Grave Upheaval: Landcycling is largely just fluff, as paying a R to get Haste+Rise from the Grave is perfectly fine when you are looking to reanimate for value rather than to enable early Ionas or the like.
Sylvan Reclamation: Similarly, paying 1 to get around the timing restrictions of Return to Dust is perfectly acceptable in a lot of scenarios, and the landcycling simply helps to smooth out the occasional rough opening hand.
Prismatic Geoscope: Gilded Lotus has some competition, at least at the tri-color and higher levels. Coming in untapped is a little rough for such an expensive rock, but considering it could pay for itself and provides whatever combination of color(s) you need, waiting a turn is only fair.
Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder: I'm kinda sad that he isn't designed to make Pillarfield Ox into a powerhouse. Still, A boros-flavored Rafiq of the Many that can buddy up with the other new Commanders to make some new tri/quad-color options is interesting enough (though Boros still being largely just the combat color is a bit disappointing).
Kraum, Ludevic's Opus: If he didn't cost so much, he'd give the likes of Sygg, River Cutthroat and Jori En, Ruin Diver a run for their money as a pure card advantage option. The body's a bit awkwardly sized considering you don't want to be risking losing out on it's effect by throwing it into combat. Still, the fact that he doesn't have to be your only build around card gives him some leeway (though how much leeway the Partner Commanders should be allowed to have remains to be seen).
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix: If you're just looking to add a color to one of the UX or GX partners, Kydele might make for a solid addition as a guaranteed mana-dork; particularly if we get some pricier partners. On her own, I'd probably rather something more than a mana source, but she can probably get some good work done in the right build.
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa: Welcome back flanking, it's been awhile. An effective 3/6 that can lead token swarms into battle is interesting, and is something I might look at putting into the 99 of my Ghave deck. I like that he at least combos with one of the partners right out of the gate, helping Silas get his combat triggers.
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept: A solid addition to most artifact shenanigans decks, and one that reminds me somewhat of Daxos of Meletis, only with a bit more reliance on your own deck, rather than your opponents'. He also seems the easiest to partner up at the moment, as he works well with Sidar Kondo and Bruse Tarl if you're looking to make use of the Partner mechanic.
The partner mechanic is going to be something worth deeply examining, as getting 15 partners will give us 120 new Commander combinations... (Edited because I didn't see that we were getting an extra set of enemy partners)
The partner mechanic provides SOOO much more interesting deckbuilding. I am so excited to see all the Partners and figure out which combinations they can make!
But I am loving the little details they seem to be including: rare dual lands of SOME sort (curious which ones) will be included. The themes seem obvious and spot on. And they really have embraced some of the wackier concepts, there is literally a Chaos deck! Oh boy... I am super hyped for this one, love it.
Ticking her up to seven really helps with that. Also, we generally play 3 player FFA so there aren't as many player available to kill her and no one runs Dreadbore, et al. so that's not really an issue either.
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Seems worthwhile in Rakdos, Lord of Riots.
Partner is a pretty good solution to the manabase issues that 4 color decks are inevitably going to encounter. Being able to cast one of your commanders even if you haven't perfectly curved out is pretty cool.
The 4 partner legends spoiled so far have some nice mix and match potential also. I like that they have some synergy (although they are arguably inferior to existing commanders individually).
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
I am also a fan of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Not overly flashy, but works well with one of my favorite mechanics (counters matter). As an added bonus, the art is super pretty.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
I know! She works with all the fun cards like Tangle Wire.
And, oh look, another RW dude that does the same as all the other RW dudes....
Atraxa has the body for offensive voltron, and in defense she could protect superfriends, I like her a lot for her versatility.
Partner generals generate so many combinations that I can hardly imagine how our forum moderator's gonna categorize it in the deck data base The partner generals need their own spots under each color combo, and every two adds another under the four-clor section. Boy, this will be fun.
The decks, per mothership's description, do not all fit the old Nephilim cards. For example, WUBR is the new "artifice" deck, but it doesn't suit Yore-Tiller Nephilim well.
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
So far I'm excited about C16. Good times. I can't wait to see all the new cards and the reprints.
I think Partner is a great mechanic, not necessarily for 4-color, but actually especially for 3-color decks (especially Wedges) where the 2-Commander decks share a color. Now Surrak and Yasova and no longer your go-to-choices for Temur if you don't want to paint a target on your head (that being said, I'm still sticking to Animar - Battlecruiser EDH is my mainstay.) I'm not sure if they're printing Partner Cards of the same Color Pairing (lazy to do the math for all the configurations of 5 decks), but if they do, you could play a 2-color deck with 2 Commanders as well.
I hope the RC replaces the blank Rule 4 with "You can play two Brothers Yamazaki in Commander decks and they have Partner".
Otherwise, other than the mana rock for Horde, the cards themselves don't impress my suite of decks at the moment.... SIDAR KONDO WHY ARE YOU NOT IN ALESHA'S COLOR IDENTITY??????
The Boros Commander sucks. Go figure. Kraum, Ludevic's Opus is shockingly interesting for Izzet though. Why can't they be that creative with Boros?
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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
Actually combining the two gets a aggro-Jeskai deck that isn't attacking randomly or requires noncreature support.
There's a special place in hell...
She's certainly a swell dude. Proliferate being any number of permanents/players really is what makes her do work. That and having lots of keywords stapled on.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
I'm actually more interested in Kraum. A semi-offensive izzet general that can easily be built into an izzet voltron beat-stick. There really isn't any current Izzet general that makes you really want to build a deck with fabricate-for-sword of feast and famine and run godo, bandit warlord.
More importantly for Kraum? Two heads are better than one!
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
I mean, you could always add a color and play Alesha in Sidar.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
We asked Prime Speaker Zegana, head of the Eldrazis for a reaction:
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.
Sublime Exhalation: A more color friendly Day of Judgment for the average 4-player game. As I don't know how many people end up having 5+ player games, I don't know if the potential for cost reduction is worth it costing 6W in the late game unless you really want to lighten your color commitments (though as this is a 4-color set, that probably goes without saying...).
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice: Atraxa can do a good job of stalling out games, as their abilities let them trade with almost anything profitably on top of incidental lifegain and some extra counters as needed. Four color is a deal breaker for me, particularly as GB and GW are fairly dominant combinations in my current Commander roster, but if the overall deck ends up being worthwhile, then it might be the one to win me over.
Grave Upheaval: Landcycling is largely just fluff, as paying a R to get Haste+Rise from the Grave is perfectly fine when you are looking to reanimate for value rather than to enable early Ionas or the like.
Sylvan Reclamation: Similarly, paying 1 to get around the timing restrictions of Return to Dust is perfectly acceptable in a lot of scenarios, and the landcycling simply helps to smooth out the occasional rough opening hand.
Prismatic Geoscope: Gilded Lotus has some competition, at least at the tri-color and higher levels. Coming in untapped is a little rough for such an expensive rock, but considering it could pay for itself and provides whatever combination of color(s) you need, waiting a turn is only fair.
Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder: I'm kinda sad that he isn't designed to make Pillarfield Ox into a powerhouse. Still, A boros-flavored Rafiq of the Many that can buddy up with the other new Commanders to make some new tri/quad-color options is interesting enough (though Boros still being largely just the combat color is a bit disappointing).
Kraum, Ludevic's Opus: If he didn't cost so much, he'd give the likes of Sygg, River Cutthroat and Jori En, Ruin Diver a run for their money as a pure card advantage option. The body's a bit awkwardly sized considering you don't want to be risking losing out on it's effect by throwing it into combat. Still, the fact that he doesn't have to be your only build around card gives him some leeway (though how much leeway the Partner Commanders should be allowed to have remains to be seen).
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix: If you're just looking to add a color to one of the UX or GX partners, Kydele might make for a solid addition as a guaranteed mana-dork; particularly if we get some pricier partners. On her own, I'd probably rather something more than a mana source, but she can probably get some good work done in the right build.
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa: Welcome back flanking, it's been awhile. An effective 3/6 that can lead token swarms into battle is interesting, and is something I might look at putting into the 99 of my Ghave deck. I like that he at least combos with one of the partners right out of the gate, helping Silas get his combat triggers.
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept: A solid addition to most artifact shenanigans decks, and one that reminds me somewhat of Daxos of Meletis, only with a bit more reliance on your own deck, rather than your opponents'. He also seems the easiest to partner up at the moment, as he works well with Sidar Kondo and Bruse Tarl if you're looking to make use of the Partner mechanic.
The partner mechanic is going to be something worth deeply examining, as getting 15 partners will give us 120 new Commander combinations... (Edited because I didn't see that we were getting an extra set of enemy partners)
RRR - Bosh's School of Hard(cover) Knocks
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
You can play Diminishing Returns/Time Spiral, and then refill your hand and tap Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix for 8.
It's not just wheel effects. You can get a lot of mana just playing small spells like Brainstorm, Careful Study, Frantic Search and Sylvan Library.
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix can also be partnered with a black general with partner so you can have access to Notion Thief and Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
You can just fill the deck with a bunch of colorless bombs like Blightsteel Colossus and things can get out of control very quickly.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Kaseto, Orochi Archmage was a phenomenal design. We need more Kraj.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
But I am loving the little details they seem to be including: rare dual lands of SOME sort (curious which ones) will be included. The themes seem obvious and spot on. And they really have embraced some of the wackier concepts, there is literally a Chaos deck! Oh boy... I am super hyped for this one, love it.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)