How do people feel about cards that interact with commanders and command zone specifically? I actually like to see more cards related to command zone, something more interactive than Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and eminence of course. A few of the ones we have are clearly more abusive (such as Derevi, Empyreal Tactician), but that could be toned down or made deviant. Some of the mechs I like to see continuing:
1) Experience counter
2) Benefit via commander tax.
3) Benefit via how many times you've casted your commander.
4) Partners.
5) Lieutenants.
Some I look forward to:
1) Aura that could enchant a commander in command zone, similar to Spellweaver Volute.
2) Cards that function better with commander status, for example, "Sac a creature, draw a card, if it's a commander creature, draw two cards instead," arm "Each player sacrifices a creature, those who sacrificed a commander creature discard two cards."
3) Commanders who modifies your initial status, like "start the game with -20 life and put an emblem into play that let you draw two cards each turn" that kind of vibe, or "start the game by searching your library for a land card and put it into play." This is perfect for partner commanders where you can mix and match status accordingly for different decks.
Not a huge fan of cards that are aware you're playing EDH. I do not think you should benefit from your general...without playing your general. Also don't think you should be able to turn a negative (general tax) to your advantage.
I would like to see more partners in future sets. Adding mono- and tri-colored partners will allow players to make whatever colors decks they want. (I'd also think/hope a mono-green enchantress partner would solve everyone's enchantress gripes.)
Although this won't completely solve the problem with Commanders that have effects while they sit in the Command Zone, I can't stress enough to put every single Stifle "counter triggered ability" card printed, and be able to recur them. Nearly every broken thing that happens in Commander is a triggered ability, or at least a activated ability. Stifle, Trickbind, Time Stop, Glorious End, Voidslime, Disallow, Nimble Obstructionist, Summary Dismissal...I think that is absolutely every single card that can counter a triggered ability. All of those will help you be interactive with seemigly non-interactive commanders.
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"People are the worst. The worst thing about music is that people play it." - Mike Patton
I would love more commander specific cards. Not necessarily command zone interaction but cards liek Path of Ancestry and Opal Palace really make your deck feel even more to be a commander deck. I would love to see these effects reach out into different colors.
I would also like a cycle of tri-color partners to drastically increase the amount of 5 color options available.
The PW's that could be your commander were also cool, would love to see some multicolored ones.
I would absolutely kill for something Vanguard like that's just legal, period. This would not neccesarily have to be a commander specific thing as long as it will be legal in commander, though some commander specific emblems would be fine as well.
I would also something that, in a balanced way, allows you to add one color to your commander's color identity. Some commanders are really cool, but are missing out on a certain color in order to reach a critical mass for a theme. Personally, I think if I could add green to my Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper deck, it would become my favourite deck. Right now, it's just my 75% deck I play for variation.
Since EDH tends to push towards more colors, something to power up mono colored decks would be welcome. Think spells that cost at least 5 mana of a single color, or that reward you for the amount of basic lands you have of a specific type with a kicker if your commander has that, and only that color identity
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I would love more commander specific cards. Not necessarily command zone interaction but cards liek Path of Ancestry and Opal Palace really make your deck feel even more to be a commander deck. I would love to see these effects reach out into different colors.
I would also like a cycle of tri-color partners to drastically increase the amount of 5 color options available.
A wonderful idea, though I wonder how it would balance out. Partner cards are generally weaker in power due to that you can have two, yet multi-color cards are generally stronger than other cards of same CC due to the need of multiple colors.
The PW's that could be your commander were also cool, would love to see some multicolored ones.
I would absolutely kill for something Vanguard like that's just legal, period. This would not neccesarily have to be a commander specific thing as long as it will be legal in commander, though some commander specific emblems would be fine as well.
Could be something like:
Mr. UB
1UB
Creature - etc
2/2
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you loses 20 life and get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card."
Whenever you draw a card, you may discard a card from your hand.
Partner
Mr. WG
1WG
2/2
Partner
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you gain 10 life and you get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +1/+0."
1WG: Create a green 1/1 saproling creature token.
Partner
I would also something that, in a balanced way, allows you to add one color to your commander's color identity. Some commanders are really cool, but are missing out on a certain color in order to reach a critical mass for a theme. Personally, I think if I could add green to my Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper deck, it would become my favourite deck. Right now, it's just my 75% deck I play for variation.
Since EDH tends to push towards more colors, something to power up mono colored decks would be welcome. Think spells that cost at least 5 mana of a single color, or that reward you for the amount of basic lands you have of a specific type with a kicker if your commander has that, and only that color identity
I'm all for more mono color or single land type support, cards like Strata Scythe, devotion, chroma, and alt-mana cost cards like Beseech the Queen are all welcomed.
The PW's that could be your commander were also cool, would love to see some multicolored ones.
I would absolutely kill for something Vanguard like that's just legal, period. This would not neccesarily have to be a commander specific thing as long as it will be legal in commander, though some commander specific emblems would be fine as well.
Could be something like:
Mr. UB
1UB
Creature - etc
2/2
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you loses 20 life and get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card."
Whenever you draw a card, you may discard a card from your hand.
Partner
Mr. WG
1WG
2/2
Partner
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you gain 10 life and you get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +1/+0."
1WG: Create a green 1/1 saproling creature token.
Partner
Emblems are more of a PW thing, and the more ways there are to create emblems, the harder the push will be for cards that interact with them. And the fact that they can't be interacted with is what sets them apart from other permanents and makes it worth it to spend 3+ turns "charging up" in order to get them. Therefore, I don't feel using emblems is a good thing here.
Having said that, I do think you can create a vanguard style of play by combining a more powerfull eminence effect with a "at the beginning of the game" trigger like the Chancellors (I don't feel combining this with multicolor partner is such a good idea, at least the first time around. KISS principle and such):
Mr. UB 3UB
Legendary creature
Eminence - When mr. UB is in your command zone or on the battlefield, draw a card at the beginning of your draw step.
At the beginning of the first upkeep, you lose half your life, rounded up.
Flying, Lifelink
4/4
Etc. The difference between it being an eminence ability instead of an emblem will only come up in corner cases and not matter 98% of the time.
As for the tri-color partners: the current two color partners are a little on the weak side, no reason why this could not also be the case for 3 color variants.
EDIT: to add to my commander wish lists: partners that can meld. And partners that can partner with a non-partner commander . Let's say the sidekicks. something like:
Green sidekick 2G
Legendary creature - Etc.
Green Sidekick can be your second commander. If it is, Green Sidekick and your other commander cost you an additional G to cast.
Trample. Other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample.
3/3
It would also allow you to add colors to an existing commander, solving two goals at once
I don't like the "do stuff in the command zone" cards (Oloro, Eminence) due to the lack of interactivity - while you can stop a single trigger with Stifle and co., you can't stop it re-triggering next time the condition is met. If you actually have to put in significant effort to get these effects, (e.g. planeswalker emblems), I don't mind, but to always have it from the word go is bad.
I'm also against "bypass core EDH mechanics" like Derevi. Being able to deal with problematic commanders by making them unfeasible to cast is part of the format and having a card that can ignore that is really frustrating to play against. Command Beacon is just about OK due to being a 1 use thing, but having this effect as a reusable ability is not what I want to see in EDH.
Although they're better than the previous two, I'm not madly keen on experience counters - again, the lack of interactivity with the counters goes against what I enjoy about magic. If there were reliable and versatile (i.e. they're useful even if an opponent isn't playing an exp counter commander) ways to remove counters from the players with them, I would be much more positive about them, but again, an easy to acquire thing that can't be removed is awkward. Once someone's got a few counters, you're basically reduced to having to immediately kill their commander with instant speed removal.
The effects that trigger off the amount of mana spent (Prossh and friends) are probably my favourite, because, while they're obviously oriented towards EDH they're not completely dependent on the format and it's mechanics to work - you get the effect even just spending the cards normal cost, and there are non-commander tax ways of increasing cost (Sphere of Resistance). It also leads to interesting decision making for the opponents of the card's controller as to whether removing it is a good thing (although when looking at Prossh himself, I do feel they need to be a bit more careful with the balancing...).
Number of casts from command zone (Opal Palace) are interesting, though in general, if a card can be balanced for the previous type of ability, I'd prefer it.
Partners I like, it opens up some very interesting scope for design, although I hope if they do revisit it, they're more careful to make "build around" type partners (e.g. Reyhan) and less "goes with almost anything" (Thrasios & Tymna) as the latter just become the default options for deckbuilding as you get a useful effect, lots of colours and a slight bit of deck consistency form having less cards.
Lieutenants and other cards that care about having commanders in play (Bastion Protector) are cool, definitely want to see more of them, particularly the latter as they don't care whether the commander is yours or not (Control Magic is fun).
Planeswalkers as commanders is another one I like - I wouldn't really want the format opened up to all 'walkers, but having the specifically designed ones available is interesting.
And in general, while there is certainly scope for more mechanics that specifically interact with the format, I'd really rather Wizards revisit some of the existing ones. It annoys me when there's a cool mechanic, and only half a dozen cards in the entire game with it....
Partners was cool, but in reality, i want to see more experience, not just in commander but also as a standard mechanic, as it would allow for far more experience realted decks and more cards that give you counters(granted, that would break maron even more)
I'm not sure about Commanders that reap benefits without doing anything, but I like the idea of Commanders that net you benefits every time they are sent to the Command Zone and re-cast. Prime Speaker Zegana is the poster child for this concept. I love it when she dies because the cards she draws ensures I'm going to pay the increased commander tax every three turns. In the interim, I can cast what I'm drawing other than lands, giving me plenty of chances to interact.
For a control archetype, Child of Alara is another example.
Neither has to stay in play to be useful, in fact they are more useful when they cycle, but have to be cast to get that benefit. I'd love to see more of those.
Been playing my Edgar Markov deck a lot lately and the times I win and a friend says "you didn't even cast your commander" I get that slight twinge of guilt.
As far as cards that specifically interact with the Commander and/or the Command Zone I'm not sure it's a good idea...unless they bring tuck effects back where you can't respond by putting your Commander back in the Command Zone. However, I also appreciate that tuck effects go against the spirit and fun of the format. Some decks just cannot recover if they lose their commander into the 99 somewhere.
As mentioned before though I do like cards that reward you for using your commander (Opal Palace) and I hope they print more things like this in the future.
Been playing my Edgar Markov deck a lot lately and the times I win and a friend says "you didn't even cast your commander" I get that slight twinge of guilt.
As far as cards that specifically interact with the Commander and/or the Command Zone I'm not sure it's a good idea...unless they bring tuck effects back where you can't respond by putting your Commander back in the Command Zone. However, I also appreciate that tuck effects go against the spirit and fun of the format. Some decks just cannot recover if they lose their commander into the 99 somewhere.
As mentioned before though I do like cards that reward you for using your commander (Opal Palace) and I hope they print more things like this in the future.
I can relate. Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is actually more useful away from the battlefield in most cases, but I want a general, not an overseer.
Perhaps a land that says, "Tap, discard X card: Add X mana in any combination of colors in your commander's color identity into your manapool. If you spend this mana to cast your commander, draw a card equal to the number of times it's been cast from the command zone this game," the discard requirement makes it less abusive early on, while granting increasing benefit after second cast.
Actually, that sounds abusable with cheap generals like Isamaru, Hound of Konda... but you get the idea.
1) Experience counter
2) Benefit via commander tax.
3) Benefit via how many times you've casted your commander.
4) Partners.
5) Lieutenants.
Some I look forward to:
1) Aura that could enchant a commander in command zone, similar to Spellweaver Volute.
2) Cards that function better with commander status, for example, "Sac a creature, draw a card, if it's a commander creature, draw two cards instead," arm "Each player sacrifices a creature, those who sacrificed a commander creature discard two cards."
3) Commanders who modifies your initial status, like "start the game with -20 life and put an emblem into play that let you draw two cards each turn" that kind of vibe, or "start the game by searching your library for a land card and put it into play." This is perfect for partner commanders where you can mix and match status accordingly for different decks.
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
I would like to see more partners in future sets. Adding mono- and tri-colored partners will allow players to make whatever colors decks they want. (I'd also think/hope a mono-green enchantress partner would solve everyone's enchantress gripes.)
That last one is Vanguard.
(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'
Yep, that's where I got the idea from, but partners make it more interesting because you can combine benefits (and drawbacks) anyway you like it.
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
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Could be something like:
Mr. UB
1UB
Creature - etc
2/2
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you loses 20 life and get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card."
Whenever you draw a card, you may discard a card from your hand.
Partner
Mr. WG
1WG
2/2
Partner
If ~ is your commander at the beginning of the game, you gain 10 life and you get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +1/+0."
1WG: Create a green 1/1 saproling creature token.
Partner
I'm all for more mono color or single land type support, cards like Strata Scythe, devotion, chroma, and alt-mana cost cards like Beseech the Queen are all welcomed.
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
Emblems are more of a PW thing, and the more ways there are to create emblems, the harder the push will be for cards that interact with them. And the fact that they can't be interacted with is what sets them apart from other permanents and makes it worth it to spend 3+ turns "charging up" in order to get them. Therefore, I don't feel using emblems is a good thing here.
Having said that, I do think you can create a vanguard style of play by combining a more powerfull eminence effect with a "at the beginning of the game" trigger like the Chancellors (I don't feel combining this with multicolor partner is such a good idea, at least the first time around. KISS principle and such):
Mr. UB 3UB
Legendary creature
Eminence - When mr. UB is in your command zone or on the battlefield, draw a card at the beginning of your draw step.
At the beginning of the first upkeep, you lose half your life, rounded up.
Flying, Lifelink
4/4
Etc. The difference between it being an eminence ability instead of an emblem will only come up in corner cases and not matter 98% of the time.
As for the tri-color partners: the current two color partners are a little on the weak side, no reason why this could not also be the case for 3 color variants.
EDIT: to add to my commander wish lists: partners that can meld. And partners that can partner with a non-partner commander . Let's say the sidekicks. something like:
Green sidekick 2G
Legendary creature - Etc.
Green Sidekick can be your second commander. If it is, Green Sidekick and your other commander cost you an additional G to cast.
Trample. Other creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample.
3/3
It would also allow you to add colors to an existing commander, solving two goals at once
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I'm also against "bypass core EDH mechanics" like Derevi. Being able to deal with problematic commanders by making them unfeasible to cast is part of the format and having a card that can ignore that is really frustrating to play against. Command Beacon is just about OK due to being a 1 use thing, but having this effect as a reusable ability is not what I want to see in EDH.
Although they're better than the previous two, I'm not madly keen on experience counters - again, the lack of interactivity with the counters goes against what I enjoy about magic. If there were reliable and versatile (i.e. they're useful even if an opponent isn't playing an exp counter commander) ways to remove counters from the players with them, I would be much more positive about them, but again, an easy to acquire thing that can't be removed is awkward. Once someone's got a few counters, you're basically reduced to having to immediately kill their commander with instant speed removal.
The effects that trigger off the amount of mana spent (Prossh and friends) are probably my favourite, because, while they're obviously oriented towards EDH they're not completely dependent on the format and it's mechanics to work - you get the effect even just spending the cards normal cost, and there are non-commander tax ways of increasing cost (Sphere of Resistance). It also leads to interesting decision making for the opponents of the card's controller as to whether removing it is a good thing (although when looking at Prossh himself, I do feel they need to be a bit more careful with the balancing...).
Number of casts from command zone (Opal Palace) are interesting, though in general, if a card can be balanced for the previous type of ability, I'd prefer it.
Partners I like, it opens up some very interesting scope for design, although I hope if they do revisit it, they're more careful to make "build around" type partners (e.g. Reyhan) and less "goes with almost anything" (Thrasios & Tymna) as the latter just become the default options for deckbuilding as you get a useful effect, lots of colours and a slight bit of deck consistency form having less cards.
Lieutenants and other cards that care about having commanders in play (Bastion Protector) are cool, definitely want to see more of them, particularly the latter as they don't care whether the commander is yours or not (Control Magic is fun).
Planeswalkers as commanders is another one I like - I wouldn't really want the format opened up to all 'walkers, but having the specifically designed ones available is interesting.
And in general, while there is certainly scope for more mechanics that specifically interact with the format, I'd really rather Wizards revisit some of the existing ones. It annoys me when there's a cool mechanic, and only half a dozen cards in the entire game with it....
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
For a control archetype, Child of Alara is another example.
Neither has to stay in play to be useful, in fact they are more useful when they cycle, but have to be cast to get that benefit. I'd love to see more of those.
As far as cards that specifically interact with the Commander and/or the Command Zone I'm not sure it's a good idea...unless they bring tuck effects back where you can't respond by putting your Commander back in the Command Zone. However, I also appreciate that tuck effects go against the spirit and fun of the format. Some decks just cannot recover if they lose their commander into the 99 somewhere.
As mentioned before though I do like cards that reward you for using your commander (Opal Palace) and I hope they print more things like this in the future.
I can relate. Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is actually more useful away from the battlefield in most cases, but I want a general, not an overseer.
Perhaps a land that says, "Tap, discard X card: Add X mana in any combination of colors in your commander's color identity into your manapool. If you spend this mana to cast your commander, draw a card equal to the number of times it's been cast from the command zone this game," the discard requirement makes it less abusive early on, while granting increasing benefit after second cast.
Actually, that sounds abusable with cheap generals like Isamaru, Hound of Konda... but you get the idea.
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'