+2 Creatures you control with flying get +1/+1 until end of turn.
-3 Create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance. Essentially a Serra Angel token.
-6 You get an emblem with "If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. Essentially a Worship emblem.
If people are sick of reading about stuff just stop taking part. You have 100% control over what you read. Simic Ascendancy isn't going to get banned just because you didn't tell someone to shut up on the internet.
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.
If they wanna play mono-white with a glorified serra angel for a commander then I wouldn't stop them.
I think the numbers look a lot stronger for modern than commander tbh. Here it seems like a cheaper ob nixilis of the black oath with worse CI and a worse ult. And ob was mostly riding on the strength of mono-black already and is a pretty unexciting card himself.
The reason is that you can just turn them into creatures as damage is coming your way, meaning opponents need extra removal for them. If you have two of them in play it's going to be super hard for opponents to actually kill you via damage.
This way you don't have to be so reliant on creatures staying in play from mass removal.
I think the bigger problem is that it doesn't do anything until you're near death. At which point, besides creature/land removal, you're also weak to any non-damage life loss. Sure, it might save you occasionally, but there's no way I'd want to rely on it. If I'm going to the effort to get my walker to ult, it's usually because that ult is going to significantly advance my gameplan, not get a last-resort defensive tool that I will hopefully never need to rely on.
It seems ok in the 99 but I don't think it's any good as a commander. Most of its strength seems to be in making a serra angel immediately.
Personally, I would be against house ruling any walkers as commanders because then the next person will ask, well can I run so and so. If you want to house rule you probably need to allow all of them or don't try to make a special rule for just one.
That all said, I think she is actually very good for a white walker. She fits a number of potential archetypes and she is a 4 mana who makes a flying vigilant 4/4 the turn she comes in while surviving doing so. She puts out defense and offense and continues to exist. It checkmarks planeswalker decks, token decks, angel decks all at the same time. Her + ability is weak as ***** but shy of that I think being a 4 mana walker with good immediate impact for the mana means that she is probably going to do just fine in commander.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
First off, lol at Cabal Therapist for the flavor, the potential gameplay interaction, and the obvious Sean Connery SNL Jeopardy connection...
As for the Serra PW, it seems underpowered to me. Worship is great and all, and will sometimes win you games just because an opponent doesn't have an answer, but I wouldn't want to have to wait an extra turn to make it indestructible (being an Emblem instead of an Enchantment).
Where this might see some play would be top-end in an Esper Spirits deck where it can pump tokens from Lingering Souls, but even then I'm wondering if it would even be necessary or if it would be any better than say Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
i expect it to be insanely expensive as every single edh player who has wanted her for years goes out and buys 30 of her for their jank bird tribal and angel tribal decks
as an edh card... its okay. i mean she's a great walker and a good representation of serra, i'm just not sold on her doing much in a commander environment
About damn time she got a card. Wish she got it in a commander deck though so she could be a awesome angel tribal commander. Now she's just good.
Nice to see that the whole characters from the past thing goes beyond the commander product. As someone who has been playing for 24 years, i always appreciate nostalgia things.
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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 think the bigger problem is that it doesn't do anything until you're near death. At which point, besides creature/land removal, you're also weak to any non-damage life loss. Sure, it might save you occasionally, but there's no way I'd want to rely on it. If I'm going to the effort to get my walker to ult, it's usually because that ult is going to significantly advance my gameplan, not get a last-resort defensive tool that I will hopefully never need to rely on.
It seems ok in the 99 but I don't think it's any good as a commander. Most of its strength seems to be in making a serra angel immediately.
Yep. You get a cheaper Serra Angel with card interactions, but the flying-only Morale isn't that useful (and there aren't many global flying effects in white, whereas blue is spoiled for that sort of thing), and I'm not quite sure what the benefit of Worship is. Life loss, Commander damage (since the damage is still resolved, it just has the effect of "if life-damage>0 then life=life-damage else life=1"), or infect. Also mill and altcons such as everyone's favorite Laboratory Maniac still get through.
That said, Worship as an emblem is much better than as an enchantment, where it's basically "**** red", since green and white can remove it and blue can bounce or counter it, and black can just play an "opponent loses X life" card, adjust its sunglasses, and make the V sign. (What is that meme called anyway?)
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Personally I kind of wish that her first ability were something more useful, even if thst made it just a +1 loyalty ability rather than a +2. As is it's sort of meh unless you have several flyers out already.
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
Best thing I've noticed about her is with starting off at 4 loyalty and her ultimate being a minus 6, plus two her the turn she comes out and you can ult her the next turn.
Pretty disappointing imo. I wanted Serra to be a massive 7-10 mana (all of it white)and be the leader for all battlecruiser angel Timmy's out there. I wanted her to make people read the card, chuckle and say "this thing is ridiculous". Instead we get something pretty underwhelming
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G Azusa, Lost but Seeking G UG Tishana, Voice of Thunder GU UBW Sen Triplets WBU WUBGAtraxa, Praetors' Voice GBUW WUBRGJodah, Archmage Eternal GRBUW GWR Mayael the Anima RWG RWB Edgar Markov BWR WG Gaddok Teeg GW W Oketra the True W
--- My Decklist Folder
I like her very much. She isn't as good as some of the other walkers from the same era of magic's history (freyalise, lord windgrace, etc. Yes, I know they weren't cards then, but it is good to have good walkers who were named in the old Dominaria lore) but she's quite spot on and while worship isn't an overpowered ability as an ultimate, I can see a lot of ways to make that a pretty useful card. In fact, I am glad to see the redundancy in mono white for once!
I'll probably try her in Aminatou for a bit because she has dual utility as opposed to Ob Nixilis which just makes tokens. (I don't play him currently bc of that)
she was made for Modern... and may have some play there, but I am skeptical.
If she was made for EDH, something like this would have been perfect:
Serra, Angel Tribal Commander
2WWW
Legendary Planeswalker - Serra
Starting Loyalty: 5
+1 Angel cards you own cost 1 last to cast until end of turn
-2 Create a 4/4 Vigilant flying angel token
-8 You get an emblem with "If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. Essentially a Worship emblem.
+2 Creatures you control with flying get +1/+1 until end of turn.
-3 Create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance. Essentially a Serra Angel token.
-6 You get an emblem with "If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. Essentially a Worship emblem.
https://m.imgur.com/ULHVe3D
It's finally happening, a Serra planeswalker! To be printed in the upcoming Modern product.
Thoughts on Serra in Commander? Would you allow someone in your playgroup to house rule Serra as a Commander?
That is.
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 think the numbers look a lot stronger for modern than commander tbh. Here it seems like a cheaper ob nixilis of the black oath with worse CI and a worse ult. And ob was mostly riding on the strength of mono-black already and is a pretty unexciting card himself.
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
Blinkmoth Nexus, Inkmoth Nexus, Mishra's Factory, Mutavault, Forbidding Watchtower,
Celestial Colonnade, Shambling Vent, Stirring Wildwood, Needle Spires,
Kjeldoran Outpost.
The reason is that you can just turn them into creatures as damage is coming your way, meaning opponents need extra removal for them. If you have two of them in play it's going to be super hard for opponents to actually kill you via damage.
This way you don't have to be so reliant on creatures staying in play from mass removal.
Near-Death Experience starting to look viable for some jank build.
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
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
It seems ok in the 99 but I don't think it's any good as a commander. Most of its strength seems to be in making a serra angel immediately.
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
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
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
That all said, I think she is actually very good for a white walker. She fits a number of potential archetypes and she is a 4 mana who makes a flying vigilant 4/4 the turn she comes in while surviving doing so. She puts out defense and offense and continues to exist. It checkmarks planeswalker decks, token decks, angel decks all at the same time. Her + ability is weak as ***** but shy of that I think being a 4 mana walker with good immediate impact for the mana means that she is probably going to do just fine in commander.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
As for the Serra PW, it seems underpowered to me. Worship is great and all, and will sometimes win you games just because an opponent doesn't have an answer, but I wouldn't want to have to wait an extra turn to make it indestructible (being an Emblem instead of an Enchantment).
Where this might see some play would be top-end in an Esper Spirits deck where it can pump tokens from Lingering Souls, but even then I'm wondering if it would even be necessary or if it would be any better than say Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Modern
URGTemur ScapeshiftGRU
EDH
WGKarametra EnchantressGW
UBGSidisi, Brood Tyrant ReanimatorGBU
UBRKess DoomsdayRBU
WBGGhave TokensGBW
WUBZur RebelsBUW
WUBErtai CursesBUW
WRFiresong and Sunspeaker Spell SlingerRW
as an edh card... its okay. i mean she's a great walker and a good representation of serra, i'm just not sold on her doing much in a commander environment
Nice to see that the whole characters from the past thing goes beyond the commander product. As someone who has been playing for 24 years, i always appreciate nostalgia things.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Yep. You get a cheaper Serra Angel with card interactions, but the flying-only Morale isn't that useful (and there aren't many global flying effects in white, whereas blue is spoiled for that sort of thing), and I'm not quite sure what the benefit of Worship is. Life loss, Commander damage (since the damage is still resolved, it just has the effect of "if life-damage>0 then life=life-damage else life=1"), or infect. Also mill and altcons such as everyone's favorite Laboratory Maniac still get through.
That said, Worship as an emblem is much better than as an enchantment, where it's basically "**** red", since green and white can remove it and blue can bounce or counter it, and black can just play an "opponent loses X life" card, adjust its sunglasses, and make the V sign. (What is that meme called anyway?)
On phasing:
-Chandra Nalaar
Building: Varina
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
UG Tishana, Voice of Thunder GU
UBW Sen Triplets WBU
WUBGAtraxa, Praetors' Voice GBUW
WUBRGJodah, Archmage Eternal GRBUW
GWR Mayael the Anima RWG
RWB Edgar Markov BWR
WG Gaddok Teeg GW
W Oketra the True W
---
My Decklist Folder
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
If she was made for EDH, something like this would have been perfect:
Serra, Angel Tribal Commander
2WWW
Legendary Planeswalker - Serra
Starting Loyalty: 5
+1 Angel cards you own cost 1 last to cast until end of turn
-2 Create a 4/4 Vigilant flying angel token
-8 You get an emblem with "If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. Essentially a Worship emblem.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers