"Enchantress" is a term that is used to define cards like Argothian Enchantress, Enchantress's Presence, Mesa Enchantress, Verduran Enchantress that have the ability "Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, draw a card." The deck is based off Legacy Enchantress because the same things that make the deck great in that format translate easily to Commander. The basic premise is you jam a deck with a ton of beneficial Enchantment cards and generate value from running the Enchantresses as a source of consistent card advantage. The deck is very formidable if you can stick two or more Enchantresses as every Enchantment spell replaces itself - which gets you closer to more Enchantment spells. Once you begin to chain Enchantments into multiple cards that lets us quickly dig for a win conditions. Enchantress decks can be a lot of fun to build because they force us to find cards that fill our needs, but must be enchantments. Also, there is precious little space for bad cards.
Enchantress throughout its history has primarily been a GW deck. Green provides the three amazing Enchantresses and White has one plus a number of very useful Enchantment-based cards, like: Academy Rector, Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Open the Vaults, Replenish and provides the most important piece - the part that makes the whole deck playable - Serra's Sanctum. That combination also makes available some great cards like Femeref Enchantress and Sterling Grove. It is not necessary to play GW, but generally "Enchantress" decks require playing the Enchantresses.
This deck differs from Aura-based Voltron Enchantress decks by being more of a Control deck until Opalescence, Starfield of Nyx can beat face after overwhelming the battlefield with Replenish. The parts of the deck are good independent of one another which makes it different than most Voltron decks that NEED to have the right protection pieces as well as the correct pump Aura's in order to function properly. Other Enchantment based decks like Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Zur the Enchanter, ect do not play green and are limited to Mesa Enchantress and maybe Kor Spiritdancer.
It is important to know that this list is part of my closed EDH meta. Giving advice and taking advice is difficult in the context of the other decks: some obvious auto-includes are well...not included. Sometimes strictly worse versions of cards are included in this deck because of balancing. Specific Meta Adjustments are discussed here.
When factoring why I landed on Ishai and Kydele we need to analyze what other colors have to offer GW.
U: The main attraction is Enchanted Evening. When used correctly is capable of amazing things. Also a potential wincon named Tunnel Vision. Other good pieces added include Copy Enchantment, Dance of Many and Clone Varients which artificially increase the number of Enchantresses by copying them. At this time, no GWU Generals specifically synergize with the Enchantress theme. Plenty of Voltron Enchantress deck might use Jenara, Asura of War or Rafiq of the Many as a win condition, but our deck is more of a Control Enchantress deck.
B: The main feature of Black is it provides a large number of unconditional tutors, which help the deck run smoothly. Add one of the most powerful legal enchantments in EDH - Necropotence - and some measure of card draw (Phyrexian Arena) and possible wincon Ad Nauseam. But just like Bant, there are not any great Enchantment-based GWB Generals.
You enjoy building complex boards. When you stare at the battlefield and see 40 permanents, a myriad of triggered enchantments, creatures, things that happen during upkeep, things that happen when a card is draw, things that happen then one of those things happen, so on. Keeping track of all of these things can be daunting or really fun.
You enjoy playing creatures and attacking with them. Our goal is just to flood the board with value and swing for the fences. We aren't really a big "battle cruiser" deck, but we do play things that should be dealt with. Flexibility is our powerful ally, we can steal creatures, bounce creatures and tutor for creatures. This is a deck that cares about creatures and we want to be attacking with them too.
You're the type of player that still believes in the power of Magical Christmas Land. The goal of the deck is to capture your imagination. Plenty of Combos (Any combination of two or more cards which produces a beneficial effect), Nonbos (a negative interaction between cards) and Bombos (A combo which seems to work, but upon further rules clarification is actually discovered to be invalid) are just waiting to be discovered.
You don't like control lists. Some folks have a particular style of play which they prefer, sometimes the idea of using counter magic turns them off. A control deck can be a powerful ally in a multiplayer setting and sometimes being counted on for being that control deck can be annoying. Most decks are looking for some kind of control element but other decks are just looking to lay down the beats. This deck does not lay down the beats.
You prefer non-interactive combo decks. There is nothing wrong with this style of play, but we're not really going for that. our cards do combo in strange and interesting ways but don't in and of themselves kill opponents the turn they're cast. The deck doesn't play a ton of spells.
You expect more from playing control. Wearing so many hats inevitably leaves much to be desired. Aggro-Control-Combo lists are going to be weaker than 1 deck focusing on 1 of those aspects. We allow ourselves to be multiple things and really cut down on the amount of hate that can be used against us. While that is a fine and dandy sacrifice to make - unless you want to play a full fledged control list. If you do want to be the controlling deck at the table lots can be added.
Mesa Enchantress / Verduran Enchantress: Color shifted versions of each other. They're still good for drawing cards despite the fact that they may be a lot more squishy with no protection built-in whatsoever. They also don't trigger card drawing the way that Eidolon of Blossoms or Enchantress's Presence might. Overall while they may not be the best, they can still generate value.
Mystic Remora: Quick way to draw a few cards. Cumulative upkeep does suck, but you only really need to make it around the table 2 or 3 times before letting it die. It's super cheap at U, so it's worth it. 4 tax is HUGE for opponents, even late in the game. It's nearly impossible to justify paying for it early, which makes this card perhaps better then Rhystic Study, I'd even be so bold as suggesting its "strictly" better, but it doesn't pop on creatures.
Sylvan Library:An interesting conversation took place awhile ago comparing Sylvan Library to Phyrexian Arena that extended into a rather lenghy discussion amongst my playgroup. We debated if losing 1 life per turn trying to get to the card you want was better than just spending the 4 life to get it. In otherwords you could go on a streak of drawing Lands and paying 1 life for each, but with Library, the only cards you draw will be ones you want and you can spend no-life for some card filtering, it comes down a turn earlier and you're seeing virtually 2 turns ahead. It didn't get to the heart of the issue, but I thought it was interesting none the less.
Ghostly Prison / Propaganda / Sphere of Safety: Identical cards that become even better when together. The peanut butter and jelly of the deck. The main goal in a pillowfort deck is to get people to stop attacking you, or slow them down, allowing us to get our board setup to finish. Since we're running 47 total Enchantment: Odds are pretty good that I'll have a few in play by the time we drop Sphere of Safety.
Greater Auramancy / Sterling Grove: Protecting our Enchantments from targeted removal is close to a top priority. What it does not do is prevent mass enchantment removal, but that is what Heroic Intervention is for. Karmic Justice greatly discourages mass enchantment removal, and Replenish returns them to us. Sterling Grove also has a great tutoring ability stapled onto it, and with them both on the battlefield they protect each other.
Karmic Justice: The Magic equivalent of bringing a gun to a knife fight. You destroy my enchantment? I destroy your planeswalker/land/ect. Makes people really think twice about destroying any non-creatures of yours huh? It wants to punish Aura Shards.
Heliod, God of the Sun: A strong mana sink that also gives our lil token army vigilance. Heliod's tokens make Serra's Sanctum and Sphere of Safety better by increasing our Enchantment count. 3W casting cost and 2WW activation cost can be problematic. Giving everything Vigilance cannot be understaded. Since you have to go around the table 3+ times before your next turn, a lack of vigilance makes attacking with creatures risky, as they'll be tapped and not on defense.
Luminarch Ascension: This beautiful token generator shines through this deck. The amount of pillowforting available to keep opponents out of the red zone, and facing down our life total, allows this to get the quest counters it needs to succeed. I don't think Ascension is good in every deck, just particularly useful in this one. Since it triggers at the end of opponents end step, that allows you to keep losing life during upkeep.
Playing a "Toolbox" deck requires a near academic understanding of the tools at your disposal and how and when best to use them. With a better understanding of the interrelated elements, we can better reap the rewards of such efforts. When we look at the deck we focus on some key pieces and when best to use them. Many pieces on their own are capable of creating a chain reaction on the backs of different cards. Creating and following chains like these: Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite mana and Enter the Battlefield for any creature with power less than 2. Peregrine Drake + Archaeomancer + Ghostly Flicker + Venser, the Sojourner's emblem = Exile as many permanents as you’d like Saffi Eriksdotter + Renegade Rallier/Karmic Guide/Reveilark + sac outlet
The main advantages of the deck are:
Our cards are good in many matchups.Gaddock Teeg almost always does something oppressive, practically every deck has something that's weakened by Aven Mindcensor, and our ability to deny Enter the Battlefield Effects and Artifact/Enchantment win conditions.
Our disruption doubles as board presence and offensive pressure. Even though they may look small, and each player in Commander has 40 life, those 2/* creatures add up quickly. They're also so cheap that we can keep recurring them and leave mana open for flash creatures. A suite of Swords to add resiliency and advantages for attacking with creatures.
We have a lot of action in this deck. A very low curve and a bunch of creatures that DO stuff helps make all of our draws better. The list can be tailored so that we have an abundance of redundant effects that can answer a problem deck card for card in order to win.
The main disadvantages of the deck are:
Difficulty. This is not a deck that occasional Commander players can pick up and have success with. Playing the wrong disruptive card, tapping out for a sword, or misusing spot removal can all spell disaster for us. You want to have solid familiarity with as many other archetypes as possible, in order to know how best to attack them. Winning with the deck requires an understanding not only of the disruption options it has available, but also of the game plans of each of the decks you'll see around the table.
Board Wipes hurt. It could be said of many decks, but especially ours. Board Sweepers are the most commonly played removal in Commander. Getting 1-for-6'd isn't optimal, we're trying our best to generate advantages with our creatures so when we lose them we got value. Evolutionary Leap will help us restock, using Asceticism when possible, Karador, Ghost Chieftain and Athreos, God of Passage to survive devastation. Being the format it is, most decks are effected equally by board wipes and therefore are mostly all weakened by having to use them. We cannot panic during these moments or get upset.
Dependence on colored mana. Abzan is hungry for mana symbols. W appears on around 50% of these cards. Double mana symbols, colored activation costs and everything in between. Tapping our lands correctly is such an important aspect to piloting this deck that sometimes failure to do so can mean we could just outright lose. Our sequencing abilities must be nearly perfect or we risk losing a lot of what we worked hard to build.
Our opening hand is very much subjective in this list compared to my others. You really want an opening hand based around who you are playing. Our good matchups are combo decks, but not so much so that we couldn't be blown out. Against Combo we're looking for things low on our curve that restrict speed: Eidolon of Rhetoric or Ethersworn Canonist and something that restricts targeting: Aegis of the Gods and Leyline of Sanctity. As we see, those cards plus Gaddock Teeg, Grand Abolisher and Tajuru Preserver work against Control. Your opening hand should be crafted around your biggest weakness. There is an old adage that states "no use playing around a blowout if it was going to blow you out anyway". Your opponents should also be thinking of it like that also, do not overestimate your opponents abilities, or overestimate your own. If your meta has a turn 3 combo deck, aggressively mulligan to find your hate cards. A great opening hand consists of (3) Lands:Marsh Flats, Plains, Temple Garden and (4) Hate Cards geared toward which decks you're facing:Gaddock Teeg, Aegis of the Gods, Hallowed Moonlight and Grand Abolisher.
We value Fetch Lands highly. They're going to grab our original dual lands and make color fixing happen early.
We are never truly "in the game" until we get our insane flying token army into play. We're also not any good dead. Answer what you absolutely MUST. Ignore what you can afford to.
Æther Vial scales with the game marvelously and helps reduce some of the colored mana restrictions in moments we don't have access to the proper land base.
Be careful not to over estimate Hunting Ground. It is great, but it is going to be awhile before we actually get to use it.
Early game is around turns 1-6. This is the potion of the game where we really want to start slowing things down for our opponents. At this point we should have good knowledge of what they're on. We want to expend the maximum amount of resources here to stabilize. Stabilizing here makes it easier for us to finish. In this small band of creatures are enough answers for nearly every creature or spell based archetype. Sure some narrow hosers are in this deck, you can't account for EVERYTHING, but you can sure get close.
Opalescence + Parallax Wave
Opalescence + Enchanted Evening
Starfield of Nyx + Parallax Wave
Starfield of Nyx + Enchanted Evening
Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker + Ancestral Mask
Auratog + Rancor
Helix Pinnacle
Luminarch Ascension
Sigil of the Empty Throne
This constitutes turns 6-11. About this phase you should be looking to lock up the rest of the game. We want to be getting some of our lost souls back with Karador, Ghost Chieftain, targeting others win conditions and generally just playing our game. In all the time I've been playing this deck the Mid-Game has been more generous to me. With Enlightened Tutor, Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor rocking and rolling, we're bound to have some sort of engine on line at this point. Outright winning from this position is difficult, but we're building an army here.
This is a cheap way to draw a ton of cards. You basically play 1 land, get back Bloodghast. Use that one land to equip Skullclamp on Bloodghast to draw 2 cards. With Abzan Ascendancy on the battlefield you can then equip the 1/1 spirit token and draw another 2. This one tight synergy can lead to assembling answers quickly and efficiently.
When we reach the Late Phase of the game we're hopefully playing battle cruiser Magic. We're smacking people with Sigarda, Host of Herons backed up by a legion of 150/150 flying Spirit Tokens who all have hexproof from Asceticism. Yep, things are really going bad for them huh? You'd almost feel bad if it weren't such a difficult and trying journey to get here. I want to use this section to talk a little bit about our non-infinite combo finishers.
No list is perfect, some cards are bad draws at this point. Hopefully we've got enough hate to have finished strong.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is like Vraska because she has all the tools you could need to win. She also can help you stabilize in a way that Vraska cannot. Generating a token army that triggers Bolster and Cathar's Crusade, converts tokens into creatures with Evolutionary Leap.
Vraska, the Unseen the win condition is built right into this card. Vraska should be viewed as a way to win, even though I resist relying on Planeswalker Ultimates. Her {-3} ability is just so flexible.
Some tips and tricks to look for when playing the deck include:
The main combo pieces in this deck can be re-arranged so many different ways. Figuring out the various permutations of the same combo pieces is part of the fun of this deck. There are enough tutors to find whatever you're into to get things going.
Green Sun's Zenith says OR LESS mana cost. Once you pay the cost you can search for something with a cmc less than . This is useful if the opponent responds to it and you change what you are searching for.
You can attempt to redirect a spell, but it will only actually redirect if Mizzium Meddler is a valid target. (ie. He's not a valid target for Disenchant.)
Angel of Serenity can permanently exile creatures by causing the Angel to leave the battlefield before it's exiling ability resolves. Angel's enter the battlefield ability goes on the stack, flicker/destroy/bounce the Angel. Angel of Serenity's leaves the battlefield trigger goes on stack only there is nothing to bring back from exile. The enters the battlefield trigger resolves, exiling its targets.
Parallax Wave can exile 5 creatures and be reset with Blink Engines that allow you to blink permanents. You can also take advantage of the triggers to permanently exile like you can with Angel of Serenity provided you can get rid of it (Venser, Shaper-Savant fits the bill)
When you activate Mirror Entity's ability for = it functions as a sacrifice outlet. Creatures with 0 toughness go to the graveyard when state based effects are checked.
If the chosen creature to exchange is not on the battlefield at resolution, then sacrifice Gilded Drake.
Some of these may be really obvious for the more experienced players, but if you have any good tips I missed give me a shout and I'll add it in.
The desert oasis of Amonkhet forges warriors. You have trained your entire life for a chance to face the Trials of the Five Gods and join the elite ranks of the Worthy. Using your strength, speed, and cunning, overcome deadly challenges and rise above the competition to claim an honored place in the Afterlife! Amonkhet provides many boarderline cards, and some that entice a return to an older version of the deck. So far, NO NEW CARDS FROM AMONKHET will be in this deck.
Cast Out: Expensive but instant speed removal for nearly everything, with the downside of being removed itself. Not being able to target your own things for shenanigans, with the upside of cycling it away if it isn't helping or you need a card. So, do you need another Banishing light? There is more premium removal available but you can certainly do worse. It will see play in Enchantment based decks.
Dusk // Dawn: It is a less flexible version of Austere Command, with the upside of part Retribution of the Meek and Immortal Servitude. 23/32 benefit from both halves, but I don't know how much better it is than just those spells individually. 9 times out of 10 modal spells are better than individual spells, but flipping this to Dark Confidant pounds us for 9, each mode is expensive with Taxation and its only a lot better than Immortal Servitude in it's cheaper, hits more, doesn't go under Gaddock Teeg and doesn't scale. Retribution of the Meek is better than the "Dusk". I will be playtesting it for sure as a replacement for Immortal Servitude. The first mode is worse than Retribution of the Meek and will be factored in, we are a boarderline weenie deck anyway.
Liliana, Death's Majesty: This Liliana isn't overpowered, and that may be the thing working in her favor. I don't see too many people swinging in and trying to kill her, but who can know? All 3 abilities are relevant and geared towards Zombie decks, but since it comes down turn 5 I will pass, there are better token producers for cheaper in WBG. You've gotta really benefit from putting cards in the graveyard because that is what you'll spend most time doing. Planeswalkers are weaker overall in Commander since you have to protect them from multiple opponents, but Tribal Zombie lists must include her in order to stay on theme and will likely have the means to protect her.
Nest of Scarabs: Really solid for a deck using the Persist Loop, and makes a solid case for running Black Sun's Zenith, because why not? It's cheap and efficient, but I don't run enough -1/-1 counters to ever really make use of it. For decks going deep on -1/-1 counter production can get a little army in a box.
Oketra's Monument: When originally previewing this card I may have jumped the gun. I saw it was a white ramp card that made dudes with Vigilance! The best keyword in multiplayer is Vigilance (Myriad not withstanding. I've come to a new conclusion and it's that Okretra's Monument is very narrow. The tokens it produces are quite good but it does not overcome the lack of impact.
Prowling Serpopard: Green gets another above curve beater that triggers Bygone Bishop, this time it displaces Gaea's Herald in metas flush with permission. Upgrading your old Great Sable Stag into a Snake Cat seems like a lateral move but getting an unconditional Spellbreaker Behemoth stapled onto it sounds lovely. Definitely include this in a permission rich environment. It is a good replacement for Dosan the Falling Leaf.
1 mana too much, almost a staple.
Pyramid of the Pantheon: If you draw it in your opening hand, you still need to set yourself behind by 1 for four turns before you can do anything good. Hot garbage. It is not Gilded Lotus.
Scattered Groves: The toast of the town (momentarily) are the "Bicycle" lands. I am not certain I'd ever run this despite it producing W. Coming into play tapped is a big draw back, lands can still be valuable in the late game. Sandsteppe Citadel gives us 100% of our colors so it's worth it and we aren't playing any "land types" matter cards so the subtypes aren't an crucial. Whenever a land Enters the battlefield, Tireless Tracker has a pseudo-cycling. Overall they're likely not going in my deck: we've got better fetch targets and I'll probably always spend the 2 to cycle it. I'd sooner consider Scry lands, a 5-color land or even Murmuring Bosk.
Vizier of the Menagerie: Converted Mana Cost: 4. It's the one thing keeping it from ubiquitous, must have green staple. Knowing the top card of your library can be extremely valuable, alongside Sensei's Divining Top, Tutors, fetchlands and other cards that can manipulate the top of your deck. Spending mana as if it were any color fixes everything, makes C producing lands spit out W. It plays around Blood Moon / Back to Basics. It virtually extends our hand and fixes everything while hiding creature on top. It's just the casting cost...if it were 2G it would displace Chromatic Lantern.
Driven // Despair: Forcing a defending opponent into a lose-lose scenario is (or should be) part of every Commander decks aims. This rewards go-wide strategies into profitable attacks that also accelerate games and allows for a rematch. It is very reasonably priced and I do one day want to find room for something like this, because I do think it is that good, but it sort of seems situational at times or winmore-y.
Hour of Revelation: This is likely the new go-to staple boardwipe card in Commander (besides Toxic Deluge). It displaces Planar Cleansing and hits absolutely every non-land for WWW. That type of card will be played often, and even with the caveat that "... costs 3 less to cast if there are ten or more nonland permanents on the battlefield" it can still be cast turn 3 depending on the number of opponents and how aggressively they commit to the board. I would be compelled to include it if not for the 6 CMC, because Dark Confidant hurts just the same.
Overwhelming Splendor:Humility and an improved version of Damping Matrix combine to bring us one costly Curse. . It's too expensive to see play, especially in this deck with Dark Confidant, but it also isn't a colossal enough hay-maker to seriously impact the board. Bitterheart Witch is the sort of budget Academy Rector that would enable a play like this, and may appear in more casual decks.
Ramunap Excavator:Crucible of Worlds is a wildly ubiquitous Commander staple that is far outside the reaches of a lot of players due to price, but they've thrown everyone a bone in the form of Ramunap Excavator. In this deck, Magus of the Crucible is arguable better than Crucible of Worlds since it is far easier to tutor up with Survival of the Fittest, Worldly Tutor or Eldritch Evolution. At the time of this writing, I tried desperately to include this in my build but kept running into removing too many good pieces to make it happen to my satisfaction. But work has just begun and can foresee this in my future plans.
A Big Mana finisher
Scavenger Grounds: This is a difficult one to evaluate simply because we have access to Bojuka Bog. This does not enter the battlefield tapped and produces C. Being colorless allows all decks to hate on graveyard strategies, and being an activated ability has an edge over Bojuka Bog. Overall it's a pretty good card, but I wish there were more playable Deserts to also add to the repeatability and flexibility of this card.
Solemnity: This is the most hyped card in the set, and I am of two minds about it. First it breaks Dark Depths wide open, makes sure no 'age' counters ever go on Glacial Chasm, and no poison from Phyrexian Unlife and it also hates on popular commanders like Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. However it blanks Meren of Clan Nel Toth. Also sometimes it is difficult to justify giving my opponents the tools with which to destroy us, but with the exception of Decree of Silence and Mystic Remora it doesn't break too much open and we benefit from it. We needed another wincon, and this one doubles as a hate piece. I wont't pass up on that potential
Uncage the Menagerie: There has been a great deal of buzz around this card, but I'm not certain it is something we should be looking for. Uncage the Menagerie puts the creatures in our hand, not on the battlefield (like Eldritch Evolution), which makes it feel worse when compared to Tooth and Nail or Chord of Calling. I generally do not prefer to spend a ton of mana, at sorcery speed, that has no affect on the board (since we're not running many EtB creatures). But it also adds to the Birthing Pod problem, as in: every creature they print from here on out makes it better. So for the time being it is not making the cut - but could one day be a gigantic player and EDH staple.
Ahoy, mateys! Set sail on the Ixalan set review! This is a story about desire. It is desire for power, desire for companionship, desire for approval, desire for discovery, and everyone is racing to get what they want first. For centuries, the untamed jungles of Ixalan have hidden a coveted secret: Orazca, the city of gold, which houses a mysterious artifact, the Immortal Sun. But no secret can remain undiscovered, and no treasure can be taken uncontested. The dinosaur riding warriors of the Sun Empire and the merfolk shamans of the rival River Heralds are met by the vampire conquistadores of the Legion of Dusk and the pirates of the Brazen Coalition. Ixalan offers some intriguing options but doesn't exactly deliver the goods. Arrrrrrr! NO NEW CARDS FROM IXALAN.
Bishop of Rebirth: While it may cost less than Sun Titan it is infact worse/ it only cares about creatures. But it is better than Order of Whiteclay. In a format built around redundancy this is useful for sure for some deck out there, like a Blink deck that wants ANOTHER cheap knockoff of Sun Titan.
Ruin Raider: While this won't be replacing Dark Confidant any time soon, despite being a controllable source of card flow, it has some advantages. It is often compared to Dark Tutelage but it has some advantages to it. One, the Raid trigger is not difficult to obtain. Two, you can not trigger it in order to protect your life total. While it is more susceptible to board wipes it can returned to the battlefield with Sun Titan or another Recursion cards. It can carry a sword and do some work if necessary. It will remain on my radar as cards with draw capability normally do.
Not impactful enough and not a finisher.
Tocatli Honor Guard: Having another Torpor Orb / Hushwing Gryff is becoming increasingly important as creatures are pushed more and more with powerful Enters the Battlefield triggers. Animar, Soul of Elements (Recently reprinted in Masters 25) is a powerful combo deck utilizing EtB triggers. My Prossh deck is based entirely on things happening when creatures come into play. Marchesa, the Black Rose, Brago, King Eternal and the most notorious finisher Craterhoof Behemoth are all neutered. While it lacks the blowout potential of Hushwing Gryff, it has a very weak body aswell, but should be in the deck if I can manage it.
Vona, Butcher of Magan: Vona's abilities synergies very well with each other, it is the type of thing that should be build around a little more for maximum value. Repeatable Vindicate is going to be playable in those dedicated life gain decks to give them an outlet for their life surplus. Hatebears is not that deck unfortunately.
Vraska, Relic Seeker: What about this is worth 6 mana? It is expensive for a token generator, since Elspeth, Sun's Champion is better for the same price. It is also inferior to the original Vraska. The ultimate isn't a great finisher and it is a shame. Being that Planeswalkers aren't very good in multiplayer anyways - it is important that at least expensive ones need to impact the board.
The legendary city of Orazca has been found, but it will not be claimed without a fight. Now, you must outpace, outwit, and overpower your rivals as you vie for control of this ancient metropolis. Succeed, and you will wield the greatest power of the plane.
The trappiest trap card to ever trap
Arch of Orazca:Ascend is a difficult mechanic to evaluate in Commander. How good in general are cards that have no impact on the board unless you hit late game? Achieving city’s blessing is not a guarantee and could actually prevent you from making it to the late game (by not advancing your board). You also have to think about what the payoff even is. Is it worth it for us to run a land that produces C in an attempt to draw 1 card for 5 when we should be focusing on winning? Probably not.
Azor's Gateway // Sanctum of the Sun: The bait is set, it is called flipping Azor’s Gateway into Sanctum of the Sun. I think almost everyone will try to jam this card at least once, and WR players are desperate for some kind of card draw, but the trap isn’t going to work on me. The deck isn’t built around dropping huge x spells and the mana curve is not wide enough to satisfy the condition to flip it. It will likely also draw all of the attention of everyone of your opponents.
Elenda, the Dusk Rose: Elenda needs to be built around more than most cards I ever consider playable. For a deck running a Persist loop that can grow her to an unimaginable size and gives you wrath protection, of course she has to die – which means she has to go to the graveyard to benefit from her death trigger. In a deck like this one she simply doesn’t do enough to be considered for inclusion.
Journey to Eternity // Atzal, Cave of Eternity: I actually think this is probably playable since Atzal, Cave of Eternity taps for any color. It can help in an extremely grindy game with its unattractive “ 3BG,t: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.” Flipping it probably won’t be a problem because of Skullclamp but outside of that we have few ways to sacrifice anything with the intention of getting a multi-colored land.
Hate card, mana accelerator, anthem and card draw in one.
Path of Discovery: This offers a lot of value for a token decks. This is probably the hidden gem in this set as far as I can tell. It is already added to my Prossh deck and is overachieving.
The Immortal Sun: Being this is a bunch of disperate abilities stapled together I think it is important to break them down. Ultimately I feel as though if you’re spending 6 you ought to take advantage of at least 3 of its abilities for it to be worthy.
Players can't activate planeswalkers' loyalty abilities: It seems like decent Superfriends hate, if you’re facing that type of deck often. Given that there are few ways in general to deal with Planeswalkers, it is difficult to evaluate if this is even a good thing. But Atraxa Superfriends is a popular deck so maybe it’s time to give your friends their comeuppance. At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card: This is virtually a gimme, every deck wants something like this. Since this is practically Phyrexian Arena that costs twice as much the other abilities have to be worthy of the extra 3. Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast: I did the cost reduction analysis on Oketra's Monument and I will cover it again quickly but this time it is way worse:
1. If you cast one spell a turn, The Immortal Sun is worse than Worn Powerstone.
2. If you cast two spells a turn, The Immortal Sun is worse than Worn Powerstone.
3. If you cast three spells a turn, The Immortal Sun is worse than Worn Powerstone.
Ect. Ect. Alright if you want to discount The Immortal Sun by 3 mana because “Hey, I’m getting Phyrexian Arena” OK, it becomes as good after 2 spells and better after 3. Creatures you control get +1/+1: And finally we land on Glorious Anthem. If you fall into that category of people who play a token deck that can use the cost reduction and the anthem effect (and obviously card draw) then you’re getting a very expensive but good card to add to the 99.
Twilight Prophet: As I said in my Arch of Orazca review - Ascend is a difficult mechanic to evaluate in Commander. The Sorin, Grim Nemesis card flipping ability is alluring, our ability to get the city's blessing is suspect. I think it would do much better in a token deck (specifically Edgar Markov) since it basically a weak 2/4 flier that doesn't do anything until our late game. It will be pitched to Survival of the Fittest 99% of the time and almost never be online.
Undoubted autoinclude
Damping Sphere: We're playing this. No doubt about it. It hurts greedy big mana decks and the newest addition to my meta: a Shu Yun spellslinger deck. Check back when Dominaria is released for the official deck changes.
Set Name: Dominaria Number of Cards: 269 Magic Open House: April 14-15, 2018 Prerelease Weekend: April 21-22, 2018 Release Date: April 27, 2018 Draft Weekend: April 28-29, 2018 Magic League Begins: April 30, 2018 Standard Showdown Begins: May 5, 2018 Game Day Weekend: May 23-24, 2018 Magic Online Launch: April 23, 2018 On Sale in Magic Online: April 27, 2018 Official Three-Letter Code: DOM Twitter Hashtag:#MTGDOM Languages Available: English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish MSRP: $3.99 *Applies to U.S. Only
Commander 2016 is less loaded with multiplayer oriented cards of previous installments but makes up for it with over 120 possible Partner combinations. There are a bunch of enemy colored cards to choose from, but I'm not convinced we ditch Anafenza. The question is always :how many of these cards are hate cards?" Not many, again. Overall I'm not thrilled by the cards this set offers to our deck, or really any of the decks in my meta.
Conqueror's Flail: Not worth a spot in the deck, even though it has a clause we like. Grand Abolisher is only worth playing because the text reads "Opponents can't cast spells or activate abilities during your turn" on a 2/2 body that could hold a sword. Dragonlord Dromoka is better because she has a body and you can grab it with Green Sun's Zenith, Survival of the Fittest and other tutors.
Cruel Entertainment: This is the card is pretty emblematic of the idealistic vision of the format. Its the kind of card I would expect an outsider to the format to have designed. Cast it and chaos ensues? It is likely strategic suicide, but is it worth the fun it will generate? Maybe a couple of times. I'm sure choosing yourself as one of the targets is good, especially if you can manage to kill the other player. It is really difficult to judge this card because of its subjective value. It is also hard to make yourself Mindslaver-proof so if you don't manage to kill your opponent you open yourself up to counter-attack.
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa:Sidar is the only creature with Flanking I can remember since Time Spiral block. I am really not seeing how this card is any good, but even worse than bad; it is confusing. This ability is super clunky to explain to someone new and/or inexperienced. The table is in need of constant monitoring. There are going to be lots of cases where illegal blocks happen somewhere and you realize it the next turn because, the ability is too wordy, and have to go back and undo everything or risk damaging some feels. Memory issues aside: It encourages players to attack other players but it isn't like a pillowfort. If we are Player A with Sidar Kondo out, and Player B attacks Player C with a bunch of 2 power creatures, Player C can only block with flying or reach. But what if our opponents aren't playing with those creatures? I'm getting dizzy.
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper: This Commander that can gain you quite a bit of life as long as you’re able to hit your opponents with some big butt creatures. Better suited as one of the 99 in a Doran, the Siege Tower, and we're not that type of deck.
Tymna the Weaver: Overall, I think Tymna packs easy card advantage and low cost to make her one of the best partner commanders, but only as a partner. Cards like Coastal Piracy are good if you're leaning on creatures/tokens with evasion and therefore needs to be built around. I am not a huge fan of cards that only do things when we deal combat damage, I need to play cards that progress the board and not incentivize creating enemies. It's my personal preferred play style, so I lean more on cards that trigger during phases or when things enter the battlefield. I could see building a token deck based on this card but I wouldn't personally.
Reyhan, Last of the Abzan: The biggest weakness of the +1/+1 counter aggro decks and hatebears are board wipes. She is useless when all your creatures die at once. So since she doesn't solve a problem, Reyhan really doesn't do much for us. PROSSHDAQ on the other hand could make pretty good use of her: all of that counter distribution gets us more value out of Primal Vigor and Doubling Season. I've also heard of a combo involving an Commander Damage alpha-strike with Blade of Selves: with Three opponents - 3 Reyhan triggers = 2 dead Reyhans (Legendary Rule) = 3 counters = +18/+18, immediately boosting one Reyhan to 21/21.
Ravos, Soultender: This isn't Meren of Clan Nel Toth at all. He has to survive a full table rotation until our upkeep to get free card. Getting the benefit the turn the card is played is infinitely better. He’s more expensive, He’s smaller, He will never reanimate. While I think it could have a place in the late game because of the anthem effect and maybe in conjunction with another partner, but overall it isn't really a worthy inclusion to an Abzan deck with access to better cards.
Orzhov Advokist: For all the diligent readers (wherever you are) know that helping opponents is no-go territory. This effect is just a bad pillowfort effect that allows our "smarter" opponents to take the counters in order to build up their army: Then decline for a turn so they can kill us. It is just a horrible idea.
Sylvan Reclamation: I feel like this is going to be one of the most-played cards of the set. It is miles better than Relic Crush, but I'm not entirely sure its actually better than Return to Dust - but it does always exile two things at instant speed. There’s not much to say. A double Naturalize that exiles with the flexibility of fetching up a basic is pretty amazing. This will probably be a staple in this format for some time.
Commander 2017 consists of 4 new decks based on a tribal theme. There are not a ton of cards to draw from this year due to the nature of the theme, we don't run a tribal deck so it is difficult to access all that is available. Even given my struggles to find even 4 cards to write about one of these cards is going into the deck.
Mirri makes attacking profitable, perfect for what we need
Alms Collector: This is not Notion Thief and very far from it. While the stats are good and Flash makes us able to deploy it in block situations - the two or more cards thing is not going to work at all. Should we talk about that Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck that plays every wheel ever printed? This barely prevents them from having fun, and is also by my estimation, worse than the Anti-Discard cards like Nephalia Academy.
Fortunate Few: I think Eye of Doom/Tragic Arrogance/Cataclysm are fine for the most part. You will always end up getting to keep your worst permanent, which is fine if your opponents also keep their worst permanent. In some instances it can make it better than the others similar spells I mentioned. But that isn't a certainty and this version is extremely political which restricts it. Group Hug type decks like gambling. The reason I included it here was because I needed something to write about that wasn't a Tribal card. Unfortunately we will not be playing this.
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist: This is a wonderful addition to any EDH deck that hopes to "go wide" by being able to hide behind a Crawlspace. While it does incentivize attacking in order to get the Dueling Grounds protection, it benefits from our recursion package, Titan-able, can wear a sword and it has got a low CMC. One of the ways this deck can win is by attacking and this clears a huge lane for us to turn stuff sideways and win.
Teferi’s Protection: I don't often see people playing Fog effects, let alone Super Mega Fog, but maybe in a super competitive cutthroat meta where a player with an all-in combo goes off and leave you the only player alive to take them down. It doesn't prevent Laboratory Maniac however, but will help survive an Insurrection. It also can be used to protect a winning boardstate. I don't personally see this getting played too often due to the fact it doesn't stop an opponent with a strong board presence from killing you next turn - and it doesn't dismantle their board.
Welcome to Battlebond, where competitors battle in pairs. Recruit a trusted partner and fight shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand, or back-to-back for glory and the roar of the crowd! Forge an unbreakable bond with your combat companion and claim your place in the pantheon of champions!
Set Name: Battlebond Number of Cards: 254 Release Date: June 8, 2018 Official Three-Letter Code: BBD Twitter Hashtag:#MTGBattle Languages Available: English, Chinese Simplified, Japanese MSRP: $3.99 *Applies to U.S. Only
Set Name: Core Set 2019 Release Date: July 13, 2018 Number of Cards: 280 Magic Open House: June 30–July 1, 2018 Prerelease Weekend: July 7-8, 2018 Draft Weekend: July 14-15, 2018 Store Championship: September 15-16, 2018 Magic Online Launch: July 16, 2018 On Sale in Magic Online: July 20, 2018 Official Three-Letter Code: M19 Twitter Hashtag:#MTGM19 Languages Available: English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish MSRP: $3.99 *Applies to U.S. Only
Choose your commander and carve your path to victory in this unique multiplayer Magic format. Call on powerful planeswalkers and deploy their signature strategies to make sure you're the last player standing.
Set Name: Commander 2018 Number of Cards: 400 Release Date: August 10, 2018 Official Three-Letter Code: C18 Twitter Hashtag:#MTGC18 Languages Available: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish MSRP: $39.99 *Applies to U.S. Only
Global Series: Jiang Yanggu and Mu Yanling introduces two new Planeswalkers to the Magic Multiverse. These two 60-card decks were originally designed by a team of Chinese artists, writers, and folklorists to explore a new branch of Magic lore rooted in Chinese aesthetics and mythology.
Set Name: Global Series Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling Number of Cards: 40 Release Date: June 22, 2018 Official Three-Letter Code: GS1 Languages Available: English MSRP: $29.99 *Applies to U.S. Only
Ooze joins our friends in Abzan Hatebears as it is more fitting thematically. Death and Taxes started as Maverick, and the deck is a combination of old Pod decks and Death and Taxes. Stonecloaker can let me re-use creatures with EtB effects AND doubles as Graveyard hate. Scavenging Ooze is good for a Toolbox deck though.
Angel of Serenity had to go. I believe her effect is quite costly and I am not 100% sold on really wanting to pay the mana for the implied odds it would helpful.These changes were just to try out the Boonweaver combo, which looks like a great deal of fun and give the deck a competitive edge.
The more and more I looked at this deck the more I saw that I included Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile in any deck running W. This is first and foremost a creature deck, and that should also be it's downside. My personal philosophy wasn't exactly being adhered to when talking about things should have downsides as well. I believe that part of what made magic great was things like downsides. For decks to have access to everything and never suffer the consequences of their colors deficiency leads to similar gameplay. This deck has access to amazing creature tutors and value enter the battlefield effects, and should strive to work within those constraints at all times.
The newest spoilers from Eldritch Moon give us a blinking engine that is also a clone. Qasali Pridemage doesn't have an enters the battlefield effect, so perhaps it should be changed to Harmonic Sliver at very least, but for now I've got some new technology to play with.
Another piece of sneaky tech that replaces a card that appears in Hunding Gjornersen's Zedruu Voltron, and doesn't actually do anything anymore for us. Having a creature with flash that can exile spells or delay when we plan on using them. In otherwords we rattlesnake a Fiend Hunter, exile it with Spell Queller and just use it later when we want. I like creatures with flash very much.
Conspiracy brought a lot of goodies into everyones life, with some much needed reprints and some sweet cards. I think that abusing Recruiter of the Guard coupled with the loss of Survival of the Fittest is a great addition to the toolbox.
This change was made more because I wanna play with more lower cost creatures and multiple triggers from Panharmonicon. Restoration Angel allows double triggers but doesn't really do anything by itself, so for the time being it's been eliminated. This can, and likely will, change.
Ishai and Kydele Enchantress