Get ready to take a deep look into New Capenna with Jimmy Wong, creative producer Lauren Bond, and consulting loremaster Jay Annelli. Joining us this evening are three of the leaders of the crime families of the city: Jetmir, Raffine, and Lord Xander.
Wow, Lord Xander is really insane! Three interesting triggers which get better and better. Lots of deckbuilding possibilities, great design! Only drawback, he's a bit expensive mana wise, but that wouldn't stop me from using him as my general.
And at the end of the day if he dies he can punish someone with Curse of the Cabal (lands are safe)
Rules committee I’m begging you please ban Tergrid, God of Fright Because that’s as bad as it gets with Xander (it that betrays is the same but cmc is so high your stuck with serve ramp and cheat out and reanimate)
And one more thing about Xander
you gonna kill me because it’s a evil players dream come true
Xander is a crazy effective reanimation target... damn.
I don't think Xander is that effective a reanimation target, not even on Turns 1-2 (and especially not in Legacy). Your opponent will keep at least one card in hand, and if they hate Xander enough, that card is a removal spell. If you hit them too early, they keep the removal spell and at least one threat in hand.
Xander's attack trigger likely sands down a 50-card library in around 6 turns (that's slower than his damage clock), but amusingly, he cannot mill the final card in that opposing library himself.
Xander's death trigger spares everything your opponent has if all they have is a lone creature/planeswalker/nonland permanent and a bunch of lands. (This is especially relevant on Turns 1-2 and can remain relevant against tempo deck-playing opponents even into the late-game.)
I suppose Xander gets a lot scarier against multiple opponents, where you can pick the opponent with the most stuff.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Thing with Xander is by the time you can reasonably get him out, the discard part probably won't really make much of a difference. It's the attack clause and death that really are the ones you want to care for.
AS for Jetmir and Raffine...well, this confirms that Cabaretti will be token centric probably. That Connive X mechanic on Raffine...that's gonna be huge. Even if you attack once that can make a difference esp. on your hardest-to-remove creature.
Makes me wonder what the format will be like post-rotation come the fall. With a lot of cards caring about discard leaving, this might be a brute to deal with. AND in historic with all the discard-matters themes available, this will be big.
'buster
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'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
Jetmir seems okay, I'd say you need at least the 2nd bonus to be worth it, and while we do have plenty of token interactions in Standard we also have plenty of payoffs in Naya colors at the 4mv slot. The 3rd mode is the "this is how you win games in Commander" mode exclusively, don't think you'll ever achieve this in any serious game of 1v1 but in Commander even a simple army of eight 1/1s plus Jetmir gives you 80 points of Trampling damage.
Raffine seems very good - it grows, it's hard to kill and it sets up the grave, and while it excels in none of the three, setup + threat + protection is such a powerful combination I don't really think it matters. And at 3 mana... I think this could potentially see play in older formats. Probably not as powerful as a Commander though, but go-wide Esper is usually reserved for Skies strategies and having a Commander that takes this niche and adds in graveyard shenanigans is still very exciting.
Lord Xander is very narrow but pretty deece. In Standard, it is the dancing partner Olivia, Crimson Bride has been waiting for all this time. In Commander, it's a fun Timmy-esque Commander that probably won't be super competitive but can really balance out the table by really taking down the player ahead down a few notches, while also being hard to grief with since "half, rounded down" really doesn't hurts anyone that is behind as much. Other than those two, it's an okay-ish reanimator target but we have much better.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
Calm Down. I absolutely love wild demons with crazy drawbacks, but that's not the only correct way to design a demon. Plenty of people want to play demons without committing to an often unpleasant gimmick, just like dragons and angels. Your favorite kind of demon is not the only correct kind, because you're not the only Magic fan in the world.
Seriously, that's like insisting that every hydra has to be a 0/0 with counters and every rebel has to be able to search for a rebel with +1 mana value. Mechanical gimmicks are fun and all, but they're just gimmicks, and R&D shouldn't be ruled by them. We'll see plenty of drawback demons in the future, so just be patient and let other people have fun, too.
Please, mill me. Mill my important cards. Mill my lands. Mill it all. Because I will still deal 20 damage before you can mill 45 cards most every time.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
They touched on this in the story: true demons, like true angels, are gone from that world. Xander explains that he became part demon because he (as the other family heads) signed a pact that gave some of the demons' powers to them so they could effectively rule over the city.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
It's been almost nineteen years since Mirrodin. Half of Magic's life span.
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[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I agree, I would like for them to have something that is mechanically demon, Angels have flying and often vigilance and something to do with lifegain, dragons generally have some way to project extra damage, hydras do generally grow. It's not a strict mechanic, it's more like a player should be able to read the card with no creature name or types and figure out that it's demonic.
That said, wow O like all 3 of them, and I hope I can get them in extended art. I don't care about them being demons because I don't have a demon deck, so it's a nitpick for me, but Raffine is the only one that I don't have a design in mind that wants it just a couple hours after seeing these, and the power is obviously there.
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I agree, I would like for them to have something that is mechanically demon, Angels have flying and often vigilance and something to do with lifegain, dragons generally have some way to project extra damage, hydras do generally grow. It's not a strict mechanic, it's more like a player should be able to read the card with no creature name or types and figure out that it's demonic.
That said, wow O like all 3 of them, and I hope I can get them in extended art. I don't care about them being demons because I don't have a demon deck, so it's a nitpick for me, but Raffine is the only one that I don't have a design in mind that wants it just a couple hours after seeing these, and the power is obviously there.
Mechanically speaking demons generally have one if not two of the following attributes in Magic:
The theme of demons is basically great power at great cost.
Angels are much more combat focused: having protections, vigilance, flying, sometimes lifegain, etc.
I'd say Jetmir applies to the first scenario. He does a lot for four mana, even if he doesn't really have a drawback, he does have 5 power.
Xander is clearly the second scenario.
I'd say Raffine is the one that's more loose on its definition, but sometimes Magic cards are defined mechanically and then a character is just wedged onto it.
thinking more about it i don't like jetmir at all.
i think he's going to fall into the tergrid/chulane camp. that being where he's too good for most pods, and not good enough for cedh pods.
in those 3 colors how hard is it to get 9 creatures? be it tokens, hatebears, or just cheap ass value you can pump them out incredibly fast. white and green also means you can protect them fairly easily once they're established (heroic intervention/teferi's protection/etc). even with just 8 1/1's and catbro you're swinging in there with 90 damage if they all connect. now sure they'll have 1 toughness, but they also have doublestrike... and trample, so lets be real. they'll connect.
thats going to **** most tables if they don't constantly clear you out. so i see this guy falling into the kill it now or it'll accidently ruin this pod every single time, except in cedh where it'll probably not hold up.
Get ready to take a deep look into New Capenna with Jimmy Wong, creative producer Lauren Bond, and consulting loremaster Jay Annelli. Joining us this evening are three of the leaders of the crime families of the city: Jetmir, Raffine, and Lord Xander.
xander does stuff but at that mana cost people will be packing so much removal by the time he hits, or they should be, since its so phoned in.
connive could be fun, not necessarily on this particular sphinx, but maybe on something else
Jetmir seems super winmore.
Raffine is super weird, not sure what to think
Raffine: wow connives looks like a really interesting mechanic looting and pumps per discard that’s a nonland
Xandar:………………………uuuuuuuuuuuhhhh that’s just………nasty beyond belief I’m not looking forward to seeing him on a commander table
discard part of Fraying Omnipotence on the ETB
Traumatize on attack
And at the end of the day if he dies he can punish someone with Curse of the Cabal (lands are safe)
Rules committee I’m begging you please ban Tergrid, God of Fright Because that’s as bad as it gets with Xander (it that betrays is the same but cmc is so high your stuck with serve ramp and cheat out and reanimate)
And one more thing about Xander
you gonna kill me because it’s a evil players dream come true
how Do you feel about Sneak Attack or Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded with Xander……and……Marchesa, the Black Rose is the commander
I don't think Xander is that effective a reanimation target, not even on Turns 1-2 (and especially not in Legacy). Your opponent will keep at least one card in hand, and if they hate Xander enough, that card is a removal spell. If you hit them too early, they keep the removal spell and at least one threat in hand.
Xander's attack trigger likely sands down a 50-card library in around 6 turns (that's slower than his damage clock), but amusingly, he cannot mill the final card in that opposing library himself.
Xander's death trigger spares everything your opponent has if all they have is a lone creature/planeswalker/nonland permanent and a bunch of lands. (This is especially relevant on Turns 1-2 and can remain relevant against tempo deck-playing opponents even into the late-game.)
I suppose Xander gets a lot scarier against multiple opponents, where you can pick the opponent with the most stuff.
AS for Jetmir and Raffine...well, this confirms that Cabaretti will be token centric probably. That Connive X mechanic on Raffine...that's gonna be huge. Even if you attack once that can make a difference esp. on your hardest-to-remove creature.
Makes me wonder what the format will be like post-rotation come the fall. With a lot of cards caring about discard leaving, this might be a brute to deal with. AND in historic with all the discard-matters themes available, this will be big.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
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Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
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Raffine seems very good - it grows, it's hard to kill and it sets up the grave, and while it excels in none of the three, setup + threat + protection is such a powerful combination I don't really think it matters. And at 3 mana... I think this could potentially see play in older formats. Probably not as powerful as a Commander though, but go-wide Esper is usually reserved for Skies strategies and having a Commander that takes this niche and adds in graveyard shenanigans is still very exciting.
Lord Xander is very narrow but pretty deece. In Standard, it is the dancing partner Olivia, Crimson Bride has been waiting for all this time. In Commander, it's a fun Timmy-esque Commander that probably won't be super competitive but can really balance out the table by really taking down the player ahead down a few notches, while also being hard to grief with since "half, rounded down" really doesn't hurts anyone that is behind as much. Other than those two, it's an okay-ish reanimator target but we have much better.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
Seriously, that's like insisting that every hydra has to be a 0/0 with counters and every rebel has to be able to search for a rebel with +1 mana value. Mechanical gimmicks are fun and all, but they're just gimmicks, and R&D shouldn't be ruled by them. We'll see plenty of drawback demons in the future, so just be patient and let other people have fun, too.
They did a great job finding 3 zones and 3 triggers for Xander's 3 colors to chop in half. Really nice design.
They touched on this in the story: true demons, like true angels, are gone from that world. Xander explains that he became part demon because he (as the other family heads) signed a pact that gave some of the demons' powers to them so they could effectively rule over the city.
It's been almost nineteen years since Mirrodin. Half of Magic's life span.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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That said, wow O like all 3 of them, and I hope I can get them in extended art. I don't care about them being demons because I don't have a demon deck, so it's a nitpick for me, but Raffine is the only one that I don't have a design in mind that wants it just a couple hours after seeing these, and the power is obviously there.
Mechanically speaking demons generally have one if not two of the following attributes in Magic:
The theme of demons is basically great power at great cost.
Angels are much more combat focused: having protections, vigilance, flying, sometimes lifegain, etc.
I'd say Jetmir applies to the first scenario. He does a lot for four mana, even if he doesn't really have a drawback, he does have 5 power.
Xander is clearly the second scenario.
I'd say Raffine is the one that's more loose on its definition, but sometimes Magic cards are defined mechanically and then a character is just wedged onto it.
i think he's going to fall into the tergrid/chulane camp. that being where he's too good for most pods, and not good enough for cedh pods.
in those 3 colors how hard is it to get 9 creatures? be it tokens, hatebears, or just cheap ass value you can pump them out incredibly fast. white and green also means you can protect them fairly easily once they're established (heroic intervention/teferi's protection/etc). even with just 8 1/1's and catbro you're swinging in there with 90 damage if they all connect. now sure they'll have 1 toughness, but they also have doublestrike... and trample, so lets be real. they'll connect.
thats going to **** most tables if they don't constantly clear you out. so i see this guy falling into the kill it now or it'll accidently ruin this pod every single time, except in cedh where it'll probably not hold up.
Presumably, when both creature types are races (as opposed to race and class), they'll always be listed alphabetically.
Even the couple rakshasa that were printed were cat demons, not demon cats
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Who needs reanimation?
He's all about sneak attack!
Possibly the best non-eldrazi option ever!
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage