Almost every good commander decks plays 2-3 swords, Lightning Greaves and another 2-3 high value equipments and Grip is an instant. I fits right at home in a commander release. For us it's not nearly good enough.
EDIT: They do get first activation so it's probably not good enough...but stopping combat phases seems decent
It only triggers on your upkeep, but both players get the counters at that time. Still, if they're planning on attacking you the following turn, they have to skip it.
Seems potentially very strong. I'm not sure where it falls on the aggro-control range, but I'd guess more aggro... if you can pump a Soltari in aggro, it's hard to imagine losing that race (since the opponent is either skipping their attacks or not getting any benefit from Advokist).
It's pretty great against aggro, and it plays very well with evasion or lifelink. I am definitely going to test it out. The can't attack clause gives you plenty of time to kill whatever your opponent is putting counters on.
Not sure if I will add all or not, but I think for me all these could be tested
Edit: I do think Migratory Route is a strong card, and maybe should consider more than I have already, my only issue is with archetype confusion... we' see
I really like Ancient Excavation, actually. I think I will try it instead of either Forbidden Alchemy or Mystical Teachings. Probably the Alchemy, because it fulfills a similar role, only better most of the time.
I think it's just Advokist and Migratory Route that I'm interested in out of this set. Not sure if Route makes the cut, but it's certainly an acceptable effect for the cost.
Orzhov Advokist - Like it a lot, supports +1/+1 counter decks. Frenzied Fugue - Weird card, not sure how much better it is than normal Threaten effects. Migratory Route - Powerful but not that exciting, Azorius is a packed guild section Ash Barrens - Seems comparable to Evolving Wilds, always worth the deck slot if not the cube slot.
Migratory Route seems INSANE. If I was voting on top Azorius guild cards now, this might already be #1, and if not it's a close #2 behind Wall of Denial.
Like... four flying tokens can single-handedly win games in a lot of decks, and this is exactly the kind of card where land-cycling excels as an emergency case.
I like Migratory Route as well. Lingering Souls is one of the most powerful cards peasant has access to, and this does a decent impression while giving some extra utility. I've never been happy with the bottom end in Azorius, so I'll probably give this a shot.
Ash Barrens is going to be one of the best fixing lands in the cube. Stoked for this.
Frenzied Fugue is kind of nice, but not getting to steal planeswalkers in this format is a bummer. It encourages a much different and more interesting style of play than the classic "steal and sac", so it's something I'm keeping my eye on.
I very much dislike Parting Thoughts. I don't play 'protection from' cards, why should I play this? It's the same random upside that punishes certain decks for no reason other than (bad) luck. Other than that it's just bad removal.
...
I don't quite understand the immense hate on this card. For me, black removal is typically conditional (i.e. destroy target non-black, non-artifact, etc). At the very least this card is slower than most black removal, but non-conditional for removal. If you play any number of +1/+1 counters or other counter related cards, this card has an upside. To me, its a 22-23 card in a deck, but still strong and useful.
I am not really sure I see the exact connection with protection cards, a lot of people don't play protection cards because they can win games on their own against the deck they have protection from. This isn't really the case with parting thoughts, its not going to completely hose a +1/+1 counters deck, it just gains value from it.
Okay, I mostly agree with many people on the cards worth considering. For me, these would be (in order):
Ash Barrens (YES!) Frenzied Fugue (Interesting, unique, and powerful.) Orzhov Advokist (The drawback is hard to evaluate but it is never symmetrical and only fairly situationally better for the opponent so I think the pros should outweigh the cons and the BCS is unbelievable.) Migratory Route (Azorius is probably too stacked but this is an interesting effect and powerful enough to potentially banish one of the two cards I run.) Parting Thoughts (Since counters are so prevalent, I do not think this specifically punishes any set number of colours or archetypes. At least in my CU/be. It is weakish removal but also universal and triggering its additional effect makes it very, very good.)
It's interesting to see people say Azorious is stacked in this thread.
I'm going to be trying Advokist, Barrens, Migratory Route and possibly Fugue. Excavation is also tempting for the kind of UB decks I push but it's probably worse than the draw5 my heart wants to believe it is.
What a weird, narrow sideboard card to make just for a Commander release
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
It only triggers on your upkeep, but both players get the counters at that time. Still, if they're planning on attacking you the following turn, they have to skip it.
Seems potentially very strong. I'm not sure where it falls on the aggro-control range, but I'd guess more aggro... if you can pump a Soltari in aggro, it's hard to imagine losing that race (since the opponent is either skipping their attacks or not getting any benefit from Advokist).
CubeTutor Link
I loathe creatures! Praise Prison and Land Destruction!
My Peasant Cube (looking for feedback)
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Seems pretty high risk though.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
I loathe creatures! Praise Prison and Land Destruction!
My Peasant Cube (looking for feedback)
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
There's not as much risk as I thought.
Who chooses first? Active player.. as in you? Not sure if that's super relevant, but I'm curious.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
My cube discussion thread
Seems good enough for me
Edit: I was thinking Ancient Excavation seems interesting as a guild spot..
I think UW is too stacked/archetype oriented for me, but that card is nice
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
Orzhov Advokist
Ash Barrens
Frenzied Fugue
Ancient Excavation
Parting Thoughts
Not sure if I will add all or not, but I think for me all these could be tested
Edit: I do think Migratory Route is a strong card, and maybe should consider more than I have already, my only issue is with archetype confusion... we' see
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
Orzhov Advokist - Like it a lot, supports +1/+1 counter decks.
Frenzied Fugue - Weird card, not sure how much better it is than normal Threaten effects.
Migratory Route - Powerful but not that exciting, Azorius is a packed guild section
Ash Barrens - Seems comparable to Evolving Wilds, always worth the deck slot if not the cube slot.
CubeTutor Link
Like... four flying tokens can single-handedly win games in a lot of decks, and this is exactly the kind of card where land-cycling excels as an emergency case.
Ash Barrens is going to be one of the best fixing lands in the cube. Stoked for this.
Frenzied Fugue is kind of nice, but not getting to steal planeswalkers in this format is a bummer. It encourages a much different and more interesting style of play than the classic "steal and sac", so it's something I'm keeping my eye on.
Cubetutor Link
I don't quite understand the immense hate on this card. For me, black removal is typically conditional (i.e. destroy target non-black, non-artifact, etc). At the very least this card is slower than most black removal, but non-conditional for removal. If you play any number of +1/+1 counters or other counter related cards, this card has an upside. To me, its a 22-23 card in a deck, but still strong and useful.
I am not really sure I see the exact connection with protection cards, a lot of people don't play protection cards because they can win games on their own against the deck they have protection from. This isn't really the case with parting thoughts, its not going to completely hose a +1/+1 counters deck, it just gains value from it.
My 180 Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
Land-cycling is nice, but I'd never remotely consider playing this in a deck instead of Careful Consideration.
Ash Barrens (YES!)
Frenzied Fugue (Interesting, unique, and powerful.)
Orzhov Advokist (The drawback is hard to evaluate but it is never symmetrical and only fairly situationally better for the opponent so I think the pros should outweigh the cons and the BCS is unbelievable.)
Migratory Route (Azorius is probably too stacked but this is an interesting effect and powerful enough to potentially banish one of the two cards I run.)
Parting Thoughts (Since counters are so prevalent, I do not think this specifically punishes any set number of colours or archetypes. At least in my CU/be. It is weakish removal but also universal and triggering its additional effect makes it very, very good.)
I loathe creatures! Praise Prison and Land Destruction!
My Peasant Cube (looking for feedback)
I'm going to be trying Advokist, Barrens, Migratory Route and possibly Fugue. Excavation is also tempting for the kind of UB decks I push but it's probably worse than the draw5 my heart wants to believe it is.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.