Saskia is more powerful than she lets on. Her ability isn't an ETB effect; it's just something that happens. Note how it doesn't say "When", but rather "as", so it can't be stifled. She also helps solve the problem of having to go through 120 life in a pod, aggros biggest problem. With any sort of damage doubling effect, having a Goblin Guide deal 4 damage to one opponent and 8 damage to another isn't anything to sneeze at.
Personally, I think she'll do best in an Aggro Combo shell that's trying to fill up it's graveyard as fast as possible with creatures (dredge creatures, cycling, and just playing Guides, Zoo creatures and similar) for a Living End style finish. A Madrush Cyclops in there ensures the kill. Living End, cast her, swing for the fence. Might not be totally effective, but absolutely cool.
How do we know the Chaos deck is headed by an Ogre with Cascade? I haven't seen him yet.
Yeah my problem with Saskia isn't actually whether or not she can be stifled. Really, she'd be much better with an etb effect since you could copy it. My problem is that a commander who's ONLY function is to deal damage (much like lava axe in limited) sucks in every circumstance where you aren't beating down. Smart players don't usually play lava axe, and smart players probably won't play saskia either.
120 life is a ton. 60 (or, much more likely, 80) is still a ton. Aggro in modern/standard/legacy only needs to deal 20. On top of that, they can rely on not having a solitary copy of each card, but 4x, in a smaller deck, for the consistency that aggro requires. Plus you have the blockers of at least 2 people to get through, and the removal of all 3 (assuming 4 players). Does saskia help aggro? I guess, although I think other commanders do it better. But it sure doesn't make goblin guide remotely playable.
Images of the boxes were leaked with tiny, low-res font on Monday.
Vial Smasher + Ludevic : Burn! Ludevic keeps the cards flowing and VS adds additional pain.
Ravos/Tymna + Vial Smasher/Bruse Tarl : Mardu aggro. I favor Ravos of the two Orzhov partners but Tymna has more card drawing potential. Vial Smasher gives more consistent extra damage but Bruse has a higher ceiling on damage potential.
Kydele + Tymna : No specific theme, but plenty of synergy between them, and a wide color base. Card advantage and mana ramp in the command zone is a potent combination.
I'm also fond of several of the two-color pairs of only the enemy color partners. Both Orzhov partners have a lot of potential, and together provide a lot of fuel for an aggressive creature-heavy deck. The Simic partners give you card advantage, mana ramp, and a mana sink, great for speeding you into the long game. Ludevic and Kraum together make Nekusar-Lite, not the most threatening but could have potential to win with commander damage through Kraum. The Boros team want you to play Allies and lots of Equipment, which have some additional synergy together already in Battle for Zendikar block. The Golgari partners don't really have much specific synergy with one another, aside from wanting to buff up Shidiqi by sacrificing Reyhan, I guess. Ikra Shidiqi doesn't have much synergy with either of the partners that come in her deck, actually, aside from wanting you to drag the game out longer, I guess.
Being able to Yawg's Will at instant speed makes me wet.
That makes 2-3 cards I want to pick up so far from this set. Faerie Artisans and Magus of the Will for sure. Maybe Armory Automaton. I'm sure the Faeries and the Automaton are both in the artifact deck. It's probably asking too much for Will to be in that deck as well, it'll probably land in Atraxa just for flavor reasons, despite it fitting better in the deck that involves sacrificing artifacts.
What do people think think about Ravos, Soultender + A SimicPartner for a Graveyard Deck? Even if it means adding a fourth color you might not want, Ravos lets you use your graveyard easier than Tasigur without being focused on fatties like The Mimeoplasm does.
What do people think think about Ravos, Soultender + A SimicPartner for a Graveyard Deck? Even if it means adding a fourth color you might not want, Ravos lets you use your graveyard easier than Tasigur without being focused on fatties like The Mimeoplasm does.
I think its viable. Ravos is Palace Siege in creature form, which I run in my Karador deck. So yes, I think it is an option. I would probably pick Kydele as the Simic partner.
I wish someone could have seen my face at work today when I saw Magus of the Will spoiled. Something akin to and at the same time. Plus the artwork with the mask of Yawgmoth.....sploosh.
I don't get it. What spells are you playing? Instants on your opponents' turns? Day's Undoing? Given how much planning everyone likes in this format, cascade doesn't seem like a great EDH ability.
I don't get it. What spells are you playing? Instants on your opponents' turns? Day's Undoing? Given how much planning everyone likes in this format, cascade doesn't seem like a great EDH ability.
I kinda concur - it's generally more of a value ability than a strategic one. Which is fine, that's some people's bag, but not mine.
THAT SAID, he lets you choose the cmc of the spells you cascade and the makeup of your deck. So if you want to only have one 1 cmc crucial spell, and a bunch of 2s, then you can set yourself up to pull of certain combos. Or just have only removal at cmc 2 and a bunch of 3s. Maybe experiment with the curve to figure something out. You might be able to figure out a way to compose a reliably strategy. It's a puzzle.
Make a goblin deck with Yidris and use goblin recruiter to stack your deck with gobbos? You can also play selective memory remove bad cards from your deck.
I thought you could do it until your next turn, but I think you only get your postcombat main phase to use it, right? Still such a strange time to use it.
I thought you could do it until your next turn, but I think you only get your postcombat main phase to use it, right? Still such a strange time to use it.
Technically it works up until the end of your turn.
What's wrong with using it second main? That's usually the best time to cast spells.
I don't get it. What spells are you playing? Instants on your opponents' turns? Day's Undoing? Given how much planning everyone likes in this format, cascade doesn't seem like a great EDH ability.
I kinda concur - it's generally more of a value ability than a strategic one. Which is fine, that's some people's bag, but not mine.
THAT SAID, he lets you choose the cmc of the spells you cascade and the makeup of your deck. So if you want to only have one 1 cmc crucial spell, and a bunch of 2s, then you can set yourself up to pull of certain combos. Or just have only removal at cmc 2 and a bunch of 3s. Maybe experiment with the curve to figure something out. You might be able to figure out a way to compose a reliably strategy. It's a puzzle.
Well he does make Hypergenesis and Living End decks that much more flexible. Now you can actually put one- and two-drops in your deck!
On the other hand, now you have to cast a four-color commander and hit someone with it...
After a lot of mulling back-and-forth, these are my picks (as I'm attempting to do a deck for each color combo). Some more boring and predictable than others, as I am simultaneously trying to avoid being too similar to my existing decks, a challenge by itself.
Breya, Etherium Shaper: fiddled with different partner combinations a fair bit, but in the end going for 'let's see how many artifacts I can sacrifice to your face' ended up being a thing I want to go for. Adding red to Esper artifacts certainly spices things up a bit.
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice: Similarly, tried a lot of partner combinations but either it did not go far (Silas + Sidar) or ended up being too similar to my existing decks (Ishai + Reyhan; already have my Dromoka deck heavily use +1/+1 counters and blue/black adds surprisingly little to that). So, going for charge counters/golem tribal with minor planeswalker support.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis: These guys I fell in love the moment I saw them, and mulling about only increased that. Durdle central of vomiting CA, defender tribal and other random nonsense that can use a defensive position and a lot of mana/cards. DId not really even up considering other ideas for this color combo, heh.
Akiri, Line-Slinger + Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper: Here, I knew what deck I was making before I knew what general(s) head it. Specifically, non-blue artifact deck. Kaladesh happened about the right time for this particular thought, as metalcraft + crew support each other quite nicely for a mid-rangey aggressive plan. Not using Saskia the Unyielding because my wife called dibs on her, heh. I do like Saskia flavorwise though.
Thrasios, Triton Hero + Vial Smasher the Fierce: The other bit where I knew 'what' before I knew 'who'; one of my longest-standing silly deck ideas that might finally come to fruition. Plan is relatively simple: mill huge chunk of my library to grave, Living End/Patriarch's Bidding/Twilight's Call/Living Death/Grimoire of the Dead my graveyard full of leviathans to the battlefield, kill people either with Warstorm Surge or giving the whales haste (or both). Thrasios helps me get there (the curve of this deck is going to be rather stupid, heh) while Vial Smasher softens people up or is a backup plan. - Or to put in simpler words, blow up whales to people's faces.
EDIT: Will probably have to switch creature from leviathans (or include other big water things regardless of type and ditch Patriarch's Bidding). Maybe horrors?
All in all, I really like Commander this time around. Certainly more fun stuff than previous couple (not that that is necessarily saying that much).
X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
So the decklists are out and I'm kind of shocked that they didn't include the Nephilim in each decklist. Witch-Maw Nephilim especially goes with Breed Lethality.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
It's weird that they didn't give them all nephilim. It's irritating that they only gave one of these 4 color decks Chromatic Lantern but they all still have to have Sol Ring. And some of the choices of which new card goes where are downright bizarre. Take Goblin Spymaster, there's one deck that gives people resources, and another commander focused on hurting one opponent through another, so they put the goblin that gives everyone goblins and makes everything attack into the cascade/miracle deck? Or Evolutionary Escalation could be in the proliferate deck, but they decide it belongs in the aggressive weenie deck instead? Orzhov Advokist fits in group hug, but it's still irritating that the only new card invoking the name of a Ravnica guild is put into the only deck missing the guild's second color.
Wizards is strange.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
So the decklists are out and I'm kind of shocked that they didn't include the Nephilim in each decklist. Witch-Maw Nephilim especially goes with Breed Lethality.
I'm pretty disappointed in this list overall. I think I'm just gonna buy Atraxa as a single. Man that Breya list look like some good value. Saskia too. I think I'm gonna buy the Saskia precon.
120 life is a ton. 60 (or, much more likely, 80) is still a ton. Aggro in modern/standard/legacy only needs to deal 20. On top of that, they can rely on not having a solitary copy of each card, but 4x, in a smaller deck, for the consistency that aggro requires. Plus you have the blockers of at least 2 people to get through, and the removal of all 3 (assuming 4 players). Does saskia help aggro? I guess, although I think other commanders do it better. But it sure doesn't make goblin guide remotely playable.
Images of the boxes were leaked with tiny, low-res font on Monday.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Vial Smasher + Ludevic : Burn! Ludevic keeps the cards flowing and VS adds additional pain.
Ravos/Tymna + Vial Smasher/Bruse Tarl : Mardu aggro. I favor Ravos of the two Orzhov partners but Tymna has more card drawing potential. Vial Smasher gives more consistent extra damage but Bruse has a higher ceiling on damage potential.
Kydele + Tymna : No specific theme, but plenty of synergy between them, and a wide color base. Card advantage and mana ramp in the command zone is a potent combination.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
That makes 2-3 cards I want to pick up so far from this set. Faerie Artisans and Magus of the Will for sure. Maybe Armory Automaton. I'm sure the Faeries and the Automaton are both in the artifact deck. It's probably asking too much for Will to be in that deck as well, it'll probably land in Atraxa just for flavor reasons, despite it fitting better in the deck that involves sacrificing artifacts.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
The
Necromancer (or Noob)
Cat.
Don't ask, I don't know why ether...
I think its viable. Ravos is Palace Siege in creature form, which I run in my Karador deck. So yes, I think it is an option. I would probably pick Kydele as the Simic partner.
I wish someone could have seen my face at work today when I saw Magus of the Will spoiled. Something akin to and at the same time. Plus the artwork with the mask of Yawgmoth.....sploosh.
The Mimeoplasm || Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher || Vial Smasher/Tymna Group Slug
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief || Talrand, Sky Summoner
Yidris - Unblockable Saboteurs || Kiki-Jiki, ETB breaker
Kess, Dissident Mage
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)
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
THAT SAID, he lets you choose the cmc of the spells you cascade and the makeup of your deck. So if you want to only have one 1 cmc crucial spell, and a bunch of 2s, then you can set yourself up to pull of certain combos. Or just have only removal at cmc 2 and a bunch of 3s. Maybe experiment with the curve to figure something out. You might be able to figure out a way to compose a reliably strategy. It's a puzzle.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
This got me, a very different style of current Sultai. Count me in! Should I start a thread for this?
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
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Technically it works up until the end of your turn.
What's wrong with using it second main? That's usually the best time to cast spells.
If you're trying to do modular tribal, I'm pretty sure you missed the boat.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
No, I did not miss the boat, but Marchesa does not intrigue me as much as a Sultai deck with partnered generals.
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
On the other hand, now you have to cast a four-color commander and hit someone with it...
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
Breya, Etherium Shaper: fiddled with different partner combinations a fair bit, but in the end going for 'let's see how many artifacts I can sacrifice to your face' ended up being a thing I want to go for. Adding red to Esper artifacts certainly spices things up a bit.
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice: Similarly, tried a lot of partner combinations but either it did not go far (Silas + Sidar) or ended up being too similar to my existing decks (Ishai + Reyhan; already have my Dromoka deck heavily use +1/+1 counters and blue/black adds surprisingly little to that). So, going for charge counters/golem tribal with minor planeswalker support.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis: These guys I fell in love the moment I saw them, and mulling about only increased that. Durdle central of vomiting CA, defender tribal and other random nonsense that can use a defensive position and a lot of mana/cards. DId not really even up considering other ideas for this color combo, heh.
Akiri, Line-Slinger + Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper: Here, I knew what deck I was making before I knew what general(s) head it. Specifically, non-blue artifact deck. Kaladesh happened about the right time for this particular thought, as metalcraft + crew support each other quite nicely for a mid-rangey aggressive plan. Not using Saskia the Unyielding because my wife called dibs on her, heh. I do like Saskia flavorwise though.
Thrasios, Triton Hero + Vial Smasher the Fierce: The other bit where I knew 'what' before I knew 'who'; one of my longest-standing silly deck ideas that might finally come to fruition. Plan is relatively simple: mill huge chunk of my library to grave, Living End/Patriarch's Bidding/Twilight's Call/Living Death/Grimoire of the Dead my graveyard full of leviathans to the battlefield, kill people either with Warstorm Surge or giving the whales haste (or both). Thrasios helps me get there (the curve of this deck is going to be rather stupid, heh) while Vial Smasher softens people up or is a backup plan. - Or to put in simpler words, blow up whales to people's faces.
EDIT: Will probably have to switch creature from leviathans (or include other big water things regardless of type and ditch Patriarch's Bidding). Maybe horrors?
All in all, I really like Commander this time around. Certainly more fun stuff than previous couple (not that that is necessarily saying that much).
Wizards is strange.
Gosh, I keep thinking about it. It's such a great one-drop that I never knew I needed.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
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)