No matter what the board state has presented you with, you're getting instant speed card advantage for 3 mana from like 6 different ways. I think all the modes are really relevant for the cube, and there will be situations where each one will be better than the last. Even if this just shatters and artifact and shocks a creature most of the time, that's Electrolyze level value in Rakdos. And then it has 5 other combinations you can choose from when those modes become the right play. I think this is easily one of the best cards in the guild, and likely the best BR gold card.
It's a definite 2-for-1 at instant speed for 3 mana in Rakdos. That's pretty exciting. I'm not sure it's a top 3 Rakdos card, but it's close. I'll try it out, probably over Dread Bore.
it is very flexible. It helps when you are behind (artifact/creature/pw removal) plus return a dead guy. It also helps when you are ahead. (Remove a blocker, discard that top deck, 2 to the dome). I hope this comes cheap because I getting one to replace Dreadbore.
What makes me iffy is that it cannot remove big creatures, unlike terminater or dreadbore. But for me it warrants testing at least.
The discard is relevant too, because it's at instant speed. Whenever they're hellbent, you can play this at the end of their draw step and clip their lone card before they even have priority to play it.
What's not to like? I agree with the praise. It's 2-for-1 and versatile and cheap (cheaper than the other commands) and just... just what I want:
Artifact removal is always welcome.
Burn is always welcome. Disentomb is actually a really good effect in many situations. When you get to choose from some utility creatures or a fatty from your 'yard, you often get just what you need to survive or to win.
Instant discard will matter rarely, but when it does it's very disruptive.
I'd don't know where I'd place it in the Rakdos ranking, but I want to find space for it for sure.
I dismiss very many gold cards just because they are gold cards. I prefer a default of 1.5-2.5 color decks, and gold cards incentivize players to go up in the color count. I have a not-absolutely-strict limit of around 7.5% true gold cards (33-34 at 450, note that hybrid cards are something entirely different because they are actually easier to cast rather than harder). So what I look for in gold cards is specific archetype support rather than pure power. That said, this may be a card I have to actually consider. Aggressive as well as controlling decks in Rakdos are a thing for us, and Kolaghan's Command seems to be great for both decks.
My group would be very grumpy to lose dreadbore. An efficient turn to answer to crazy ramp/reanimate/euraka nastiness is very necessary. Black has a couple but dealing with a turn two karn or jace, dredbore is the best answer.
This card does very little when you are behind if you are worried about something with more than two power. It does a great job of breaking stalemates, in top deck time, and pressing an advantage. If you are getting killed by an artifact this may be the best card and the world to turn the tables. So for the fact I can slide an antiartifact card in that wont rot other times is a deal.
I wish the discard was duress or something that will get more than an extra land 90% of the time.
Your evaluation, dschumm, shows how important it is to always take context into account. We do that when evaluating a card, but often we then just post our conclusions and say little to nothing about the context.
If you play a lot of planeswalkers and ways to get fatties into play early, Dreadbore may very well be the better choice. For my Cube, Kolaghan's Command can proactively stop big creatures from entering the battlefield by killing the creature and/or artifact based mana acceleration needed to get there as well as by stripping resources from their hand. I only play few planeswalkers, and the instant-speed of Command could often be enough to kill a planeswalker (maybe in combination with an attack or another burn spell, which should still be OK given that Command is a 2-for-1).
Somehow that weird pun was more effective than most of the arguments I have seen so far. I view arc lightning/flames of the firebrand/arc trail as the quintessential red spells for generating some crushing card advantage, but remaining fair, and offer a flexible one-for-one out if that is often needed.
Over 70% of the time those cards are smacking something or someone for 2, which this card does, and instead of hitting something else for 1 get a free creature back,a shatter, or a discard. All for the low cost of a black mana and an upgrade to instant speed.
And I haven't even gotten a change to play my shiny new Kolaghan and he might get usurped by his command.
I think I will be running these 5 for a while and see who fails.
Dredbore
Grenzo
Kolaghan, the Storms Fury
Kolaghan's Command
Falkenrath Aristocrat
This will be replacing Murderous Redcap for me, as much as it pains me to say it. It's basically a black card in my cube, so when compared to Shriekmaw, Skinrender, and Nekrataal, I think it's OK to cut it.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Cheers,
rant
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CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
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What makes me iffy is that it cannot remove big creatures, unlike terminater or dreadbore. But for me it warrants testing at least.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Artifact removal is always welcome.
Burn is always welcome.
Disentomb is actually a really good effect in many situations. When you get to choose from some utility creatures or a fatty from your 'yard, you often get just what you need to survive or to win.
Instant discard will matter rarely, but when it does it's very disruptive.
I'd don't know where I'd place it in the Rakdos ranking, but I want to find space for it for sure.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
This card does very little when you are behind if you are worried about something with more than two power. It does a great job of breaking stalemates, in top deck time, and pressing an advantage. If you are getting killed by an artifact this may be the best card and the world to turn the tables. So for the fact I can slide an antiartifact card in that wont rot other times is a deal.
I wish the discard was duress or something that will get more than an extra land 90% of the time.
If you play a lot of planeswalkers and ways to get fatties into play early, Dreadbore may very well be the better choice. For my Cube, Kolaghan's Command can proactively stop big creatures from entering the battlefield by killing the creature and/or artifact based mana acceleration needed to get there as well as by stripping resources from their hand. I only play few planeswalkers, and the instant-speed of Command could often be enough to kill a planeswalker (maybe in combination with an attack or another burn spell, which should still be OK given that Command is a 2-for-1).
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Somehow that weird pun was more effective than most of the arguments I have seen so far. I view arc lightning/flames of the firebrand/arc trail as the quintessential red spells for generating some crushing card advantage, but remaining fair, and offer a flexible one-for-one out if that is often needed.
Over 70% of the time those cards are smacking something or someone for 2, which this card does, and instead of hitting something else for 1 get a free creature back,a shatter, or a discard. All for the low cost of a black mana and an upgrade to instant speed.
And I haven't even gotten a change to play my shiny new Kolaghan and he might get usurped by his command.
I think I will be running these 5 for a while and see who fails.
Dredbore
Grenzo
Kolaghan, the Storms Fury
Kolaghan's Command
Falkenrath Aristocrat
Bye, bye, Spike Jester.
More like Smeltrolyze.
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
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StaffMy High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Or just run those 3 cards in your guild section, which is what I'm going to do.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Smash to Shockereens?
Last night, I wasn't sure on what to think about it, but I like it.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
That makes my Rakdos section Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Rakdos Cackler, Dreadbore, and this new command. Safe to say that this is the top 4 of Rakdos.
Ding, Ding! We have a winner.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Definitely keep Olivia over Blazing Specter.
Card seems legit, just going in straight over blightning.
Here's my cube! Give it a draft!