What kind of decklist would you want to build for a snow deck? Since Commander decks nowadays include 17 new cards, that leaves 83 reprints, approximately 40 of which are lands.
See, when discussing deck themes, I like to put together partial decklists to get a feel for the deck's general viability. Usually my lists are a little more optimized than the official products, but they give me a sense of what to expect. So far I personally have done RW Equipment, BR Demons/Devils, WUBRG Angels, and WBG Elves.
Some themes have the problem of too few or barely enough cards, like Ninjas, while others have the opposite problem: there are so many viable reprint options that it becomes hard to choose!
Elves being one fine example. When I constructed my decklist, I stuck to the subthemes of tokens and +1/+1 counters, and used barely any sacrifice effects, making cards like Elvish Euologist and Prowess of the Fair useless. And yes, this means there was a downplayed focus on lands and ramp, despite those being the most common functions for Elves. Color fixing like Joiner Adept took higher priority, as a multicolor deck wants to gain access to all its colors quickly. A lot of otherwise promising Elves like Gyre Sage felt more appropriate for a monogreen deck.
I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to include cards that could only go in a decklist like mine; monogreen Elves can be included in any green deck, but a GW Elf needs a GW deck and a BG Elf needs a BG deck, so multicolor Elves took priority here. And even after that fact, I didn't want to include cards that felt too off-theme; Selesnya Guildmage might be a multicolor Elf, but the Saproling tokens distract from the Elf tribal theme, and would increase the number of token cards that would have to be printed for the deck and thus the overall production cost.
In hindsight, my decklist could have taken a completely different direction; maybe include more sac outlets and rewards, maybe more graveyard interaction. Maybe tokens and +1/+1 counters weren't the right subthemes.
Something else to think about is that, no matter your deck's theme, you gotta have some answers and utility in there. Most green decks include Cultivate or some version thereof, for example. Most white decks include some form of wrath spell, like Kirtar's Wrath. Most red decks include burn wrath such as Starstorm or Anger of the Gods. It can be tempting to just jam a bunch of on-theme cards into your decklist, especially when it's tribal, but it's wise to exercise a little self-restraint and keep the deck's other needs in mind too.
My general rule of thumb is that since approximately 2/5 of your deck is land, you want at least 1/5 to be creatures, 1/5 to be answers, and 1/5 to be utility. In other words, about 20 cards for each category. Obviously there's some overlap here; a creature that removes permanents also counts as an answer, and a creature that draws cards, ramps land, etc. also counts as utility. Instants and sorceries will generally be your primary answers (especially wraths), while artifacts will be your primary source of utility (especially mana rocks). Enchantments can serve virtually any purpose the deck needs, but lean towards utility (Exploration, Phyrexian Arena, etc). If you can find answers and utility that fit the theme, great! But sometimes, the best card to add to the deck requires a small flavor sacrifice. Also consider that many of the new cards might be designed to provide essential removal or utility. Kindred Discovery and Kindred Dominance come to mind as very useful card draw and wrath spells for tribal decks.
And lastly, whatever your deck's theme is, you want to list relevant cards separately. For example, in a deck focused on Equipment, you want to list your Equipment separate from other artifacts. If your deck cares about artifacts in general, you might want to list artifact creatures and/or creatures that produce artifact tokens separately from other creatures. A Heroic deck will want to list spells that trigger Heroic separately from spells that don't. And so forth.
So yeah, just wanted to share some deckbuilding paradigms to think about while we're firing off ideas for deck themes.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I'd like to see something like Monastery Mentor as a commander for Jeskai and I don't even think it'd be that far fetched to consider it.
Opening up the archetype of spell based tokens (similar to Wort, Raid Mother) would be an instant hit, especially given the slew of cards that already exist to support the archetype in these colours. Talrand, Sky Summoner, Murmuring Mystic, Docent of Perfection, Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor itself all set a precedent of spell based token generation that just needs proper support in the command zone.
I never actually realized how voltron-focused Jeskai's current options are. Narset's "fairer" builds tend to be voltron, Shu Yun is absolutely voltron, and Ruhan needs it to basically function.
Part of me would love to see URW Equipment become a thing, but I'm not entirely sure what kinds of legends I'd want helming a URW Equipment deck versus simply RW Equipment. Maybe make it an Equipment/Vehicle deck.
URW Spell Tokens do sound interesting. Who knows, maybe this year is Sorcery themed to make up for Sorceries missing out last year?
BR Infernal Arts (Spells involving payments like discard, sacrifice, and life, with a heavy Demon/Devil subtheme) URW Spell Tokens GUR Elemental Surge (Ramp and mechanics like Awaken, Kicker, and Overload, with Elementals as a subtheme) WBG Elven Supremacy (Elf tribal)
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
To me it seems lazy to do the "popular" themes or planes.
Lets step it up WOTC and make some things high on the scale (that would never be normally printed as a set)
Particularly, I would want Ulgrotha, Rabiah, Mercadia and Muraganda.
Sorry if that would lead to them having to do some work to make interesting new things instead of an easy out.
100% not going to happen. Not because wizards "doesn't want to go there" but because Commander is the wrong product for expanding under-used sets.
To start, I will remind you that wizards is legally barred from using Rabiah due to copyright issues (which is why it's a 10 on the scale).
For another, keep in mind that each commander deck only gets about 17 new cards... minus the common card that every deck gets... and a few uncommons that are shared with other decks... and a few general utility cards that every deck gets. Even if every single reprint for the Ulgrotha deck was pure Ulgrotha flavor, though, there aren't enough cards linked to the plane to build the rest of the deck. The same thing would happen if they tried to make a Muraganda, Shandalar, or Vryn deck.
While several sets took place on Mercadia... they were not particularly strong sets. Again, what do you envision that theme deck looking like when it has to primarily rely on preexisting sets.
Wizards printing a dozen Muraganda cards and shoving them in a generic sultai deck with The Mimeoplasm and Muraganda Petroglyphs would be a disappointment to many players even if the new cards are all spot-on. Meanwhile, a visit to Ravnica/Innistrad/Mirrodin, which all have established themes (multicolor matters/graveyard matters/Artifacts and Counters matter) and 5+ sets of cards to draw upon, can support a thoroughly flavorful deck whose theme is recognizable even without the new cards.
Edit: Just realized that I was responding to a post on page 1 by accident. Whoops!
I think Kalemne was novel for RW, as she encourages higher-cost creatures than RW decks normally run. That said, it's a real pity Iroas doesn't trigger her. Anya on the other hand was blatant winmore, and paled in comparison to the likes of Aurelia, Gisela, and even Basandra. I would have preferred an Equipment-themed legend.
I was highly disappointed by that precon deck.
Kalemne was the biggest disappointment, because there was so much design space with the experience mechanic but they didn't used it. She maybe encourage something new for R/W but there is no support for that kind of strategy in the color combination. She is played for the double strike and vigilance as voltron Commander. The whole experience counter effect was totally ignored and could has been left out. I mean she has the biggest difficulty to gain experience counter for the smallest outcome. I don't know what they were thinking. In the end she is just an attacker like most of the boros legendaries.
Anya in the other hand could have worked well in a fast burn deck as a finisher if she didn't would lose the power up she gain when a player leaves the game or if she just keep indestructible. As a commander she is just bad because your game plan is straight forward and well everyone is seeing her. She has the same problem as Basandra that a little change would has made her at least playable in the 99.
The best commander in that commander precon was the reprinted Gisela. The rest of the deck was a mishmash between big creatures and big creature giants. Which doesn't support the game style of Anya. It was almost giant tribal, if that is even a thing. Supported by Urza's Incubator and some mana rocks. The whole deck played okayish against the other precons but that was everything you could do with it.
I really hope that if boros is one of the precons this year that they put a little more afford on the commanders and open up new strategies for the color combination. There are so many equipment base boros commander already. Tiana, Ship's Caretaker, Akiri, Line-Slinger and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. Aurelia, the Warleader and Gisela works well with equipments, too. Equipments leads to more attack oriented commander. I think the color combination needs something new.
Selesnya was done 2017 with the cat tribal. It would be a little early for another Selesyna Deck.
Naya 2013 (Nature of the Beast) and Boros 2015 (Wade into battle). I don't know how popular/good the Naya one was but the boros was poorly done.
magicmanaproducer777 asked: Can you taste another commander 2019 deck? What’s the flavor of it if yes.
Cinnamon.
The Naya deck was a fine base to start with, but directly out of the box it, like most commander decks is only "just" playable because they stick three different strategies into the same deck. I used it as a base for a Mayael deck that is hella fun to play and although high powered, far from impossible to beat. I still need to get that 16/16 indestructible wurm for it though.
Of course, it's only a matter of time before we get a WUBRG Elf legend.
I'd rather not get a WUBRG Elf legend, but it is probably what we will end up with before getting a proper Abzan legendary elf, because WotC are amazing at not getting what people actually want (Ishkana and Ulrich).
I think Kalemne was novel for RW, as she encourages higher-cost creatures than RW decks normally run. That said, it's a real pity Iroas doesn't trigger her. Anya on the other hand was blatant winmore, and paled in comparison to the likes of Aurelia, Gisela, and even Basandra. I would have preferred an Equipment-themed legend.
I was highly disappointed by that precon deck.
Kalemne was the biggest disappointment, because there was so much design space with the experience mechanic but they didn't used it. She maybe encourage something new for R/W but there is no support for that kind of strategy in the color combination. She is played for the double strike and vigilance as voltron Commander. The whole experience counter effect was totally ignored and could has been left out. I mean she has the biggest difficulty to gain experience counter for the smallest outcome. I don't know what they were thinking. In the end she is just an attacker like most of the boros legendaries.
Anya in the other hand could have worked well in a fast burn deck as a finisher if she didn't would lose the power up she gain when a player leaves the game or if she just keep indestructible. As a commander she is just bad because your game plan is straight forward and well everyone is seeing her. She has the same problem as Basandra that a little change would has made her at least playable in the 99.
The best commander in that commander precon was the reprinted Gisela. The rest of the deck was a mishmash between big creatures and big creature giants. Which doesn't support the game style of Anya. It was almost giant tribal, if that is even a thing. Supported by Urza's Incubator and some mana rocks. The whole deck played okayish against the other precons but that was everything you could do with it.
I really hope that if boros is one of the precons this year that they put a little more afford on the commanders and open up new strategies for the color combination. There are so many equipment base boros commander already. Tiana, Ship's Caretaker, Akiri, Line-Slinger and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. Aurelia, the Warleader and Gisela works well with equipments, too. Equipments leads to more attack oriented commander. I think the color combination needs something new.
I made a Kalemne deck I had to disassemble because my play group refused to play against it after a while. It almost always won. I usually wiped out a player a couple of turns after she hit the table, and even if they killed her, she'd just come back just as strong. Unless my opponents had multiple mass removal spells and/or a way to neutralize her permanently (hard to do if she has hexproof or shroud via equipment) it was an inevitability that I'd beat them silly with her. She was very effective at what she does, because in the right deck, she grows to monstrous size quite rapidly.
I honestly don't think we'll be getting an equipment theme this year, as that was the subtheme of the green/white cat deck.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Other Brion Stoutarm - fling creatures for damage and life Firesong and Sunspeaker - Red spells have lifelink, white have lightning bolt Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - doubles all damage, so great in a token deck, a Voltron deck, or a spell deck. Halves all damage received, same.
Really I think Firesong and Sunspeaker is the perfect precon commander, he pushes in a very different direction from existing (other then him) commanders but his deck still feels very . Feldon of the Third Path looks like an interesting direction for a commander, maybe open it up to Creature or Artifact.
Something like Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot or Zo-Zu the punisher but opened up a bit could make an interesting punisher general (change 'spirit or arcane'/land to any spell?).
A variant of Neheb, the Eternal … At the beginning of your post combat main phase, add for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn and for each 1 life you have gained this turn.
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(U/B) is :symbu: or :symub: and the same is true for the other 9 hybrid symbols with their two colors in for the last 2 leters of the code. ((2/B) and co are :sym2b:)
Alternatively {UB} or {2B} in [mana] tags are (U/B) or (2/B) T is :symtap: and T will give T in [mana] tags
Part of me would love to see URW Equipment become a thing, but I'm not entirely sure what kinds of legends I'd want helming a URW Equipment deck versus simply RW Equipment. Maybe make it an Equipment/Vehicle deck.
URW Spell Tokens do sound interesting. Who knows, maybe this year is Sorcery themed to make up for Sorceries missing out last year?
BR Infernal Arts (Spells involving payments like discard, sacrifice, and life, with a heavy Demon/Devil subtheme) URW Spell Tokens GUR Elemental Surge (Ramp and mechanics like Awaken, Kicker, and Overload, with Elementals as a subtheme) WBG Elven Supremacy (Elf tribal)
If elementals is a sub theme for the temur deck you forgot evoke as a theme for the deck
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I think a Temur (GUR) elemental deck would have a cascade subtheme, for obvious reasons (Maelstrom Wanderer), although there are only five black bordered cards with cascade in those colors, it includes two very popular cards. It is also not unreasonable for them to devote a couple of the new cards to the mechanic.
Cascade also comboes well with the storm mechanic.
Another obvious way to go with elementals, would be the evoke mechanic. There are currently twelve cards with Evoke in the three colors (red, green, and blue), many of which are either played or staples in the commander format. They are also all Elementals, which keeps on theme. It also plays well with Storm, as it is possible to evoke out a number of said elementals (particularly if you have cost reducers in play as well), before throwing down a storm spell.
What is interesting is that many *common* elemental spells are quite playable in Commander, such as for example Ingot Chewer, Soulbright Flamekin, or Mulldrifter (although later printings upped the latter's rarity.)
I think a Temur (GUR) elemental deck would have a cascade subtheme, for obvious reasons (Maelstrom Wanderer), although there are only five black bordered cards with cascade in those colors, it includes two very popular cards. It is also not unreasonable for them to devote a couple of the new cards to the mechanic.
Cascade also comboes well with the storm mechanic.
Another obvious way to go with elementals, would be the evoke mechanic. There are currently twelve cards with Evoke in the three colors (red, green, and blue), many of which are either played or staples in the commander format. They are also all Elementals, which keeps on theme. It also plays well with Storm, as it is possible to evoke out a number of said elementals (particularly if you have cost reducers in play as well), before throwing down a storm spell.
What is interesting is that many *common* elemental spells are quite playable in Commander, such as for example Ingot Chewer, Soulbright Flamekin, or Mulldrifter (although later printings upped the latter's rarity.)
fixed your card tag for maelstrom wanderer (you had mana tags).
His deck list is partial, it has only two thirds of the deck (63/99, 24/~38 land), so the real list would likely have a bunch of filler elementals, soulbright flamekin seems a great fit, but I really don't understand why Animar, Soul of Elements wasn't in the list...
(U/B) is :symbu: or :symub: and the same is true for the other 9 hybrid symbols with their two colors in for the last 2 leters of the code. ((2/B) and co are :sym2b:)
Alternatively {UB} or {2B} in [mana] tags are (U/B) or (2/B) T is :symtap: and T will give T in [mana] tags
I think a Temur (GUR) elemental deck would have a cascade subtheme, for obvious reasons (Maelstrom Wanderer), although there are only five black bordered cards with cascade in those colors, it includes two very popular cards. It is also not unreasonable for them to devote a couple of the new cards to the mechanic.
Cascade also comboes well with the storm mechanic.
Another obvious way to go with elementals, would be the evoke mechanic. There are currently twelve cards with Evoke in the three colors (red, green, and blue), many of which are either played or staples in the commander format. They are also all Elementals, which keeps on theme. It also plays well with Storm, as it is possible to evoke out a number of said elementals (particularly if you have cost reducers in play as well), before throwing down a storm spell.
What is interesting is that many *common* elemental spells are quite playable in Commander, such as for example Ingot Chewer, Soulbright Flamekin, or Mulldrifter (although later printings upped the latter's rarity.)
fixed your card tag for maelstrom wanderer (you had mana tags).
His deck list is partial, it has only two thirds of the deck (63/99, 24/~38 land), so the real list would likely have a bunch of filler elementals, soulbright flamekin seems a great fit, but I really don't understand why Animar, Soul of Elements wasn't in the list...
DAMMIT! >.<
I always make that mistake, don't know why. Thank you for pointing it out so I could edit my post and fix it.
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If the deck were focused on Elemental tribal, then yeah, I'd have Animar in there. But all three decks are themed after instants and sorceries, with Storm of Elements being focused on ramp and big spells. The Elementals are more of a flavoring, like the Demons and Devils in Infernal Arts. That said, I'd sooner include Riku of Two Reflections in Storm of Elements if not for the steep market price.
BR Infernal Arts focuses on spells with discard, sacrifice, and life payment costs.
URW Arcane Army is about casting lots of cheap spells and creating lots of tokens, basically "go wide" with spells. The cheap creatures in this deck are designed to take advantage of frequent spellcasting.
GUR Storm of Elements is about ramping up mana to cast big spells, especially those with X costs. If Arcane Army is "go wide", Storm of Elements is "go tall". Many of the creatures in this deck are focused on ramping mana.
The fourth deck would be WBG Elf tribal, and thus not focused on instants/sorceries. The Elf tribal theme is supported by tokens and +1/+1 counters.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I love elves but we already had a tribal elf deck few years ago, I highly doubt they'd do another one
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Elves have plenty of good tribal stuff already. Don't know if they need an entire precon deck. Maybe they can solve this issue like with the Esper Zombie commander and sneak one legendary elves somewhere.
Elves have plenty of good tribal stuff already. Don't know if they need an entire precon deck. Maybe they can solve this issue like with the Esper Zombie commander and sneak one legendary elves somewhere.
Like if they printed an abzan colored Rhys (set in the new Lorwyn/Shadowmoor without the aurora) as a stand-alone commander in an abzan colored deck instead of making an entire tribal deck?
Elves have plenty of good tribal stuff already. Don't know if they need an entire precon deck. Maybe they can solve this issue like with the Esper Zombie commander and sneak one legendary elves somewhere.
Like if they printed an abzan colored Rhys (set in the new Lorwyn/Shadowmoor without the aurora) as a stand-alone commander in an abzan colored deck instead of making an entire tribal deck?
Yes, for example. We don't know if they will repeat tribal this year. I think Elves has plenty of nice stuff they only need the commander to enable the 3 colored deck. It feels like they have better options than 3 colored zombies, so why not.
Well, I could see a WBG Elf Artificer from Kaladesh who works with +1/+1 counters and tokens (say, by doubling them). So, maybe a WBG counters/tokens deck? We haven't had one since 2011's Counterpunch.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
We've been pretty much asking for an Abzan legend with elf tribal since the first commander sets were released, so...
A legendary elf with a +1/+1 counter and token theme won't cut it any more than Ishkanar or Ulrich satisfied those who were asking for a Jund legendary spider or a legendary werewolf.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
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Some themes have the problem of too few or barely enough cards, like Ninjas, while others have the opposite problem: there are so many viable reprint options that it becomes hard to choose!
Elves being one fine example. When I constructed my decklist, I stuck to the subthemes of tokens and +1/+1 counters, and used barely any sacrifice effects, making cards like Elvish Euologist and Prowess of the Fair useless. And yes, this means there was a downplayed focus on lands and ramp, despite those being the most common functions for Elves. Color fixing like Joiner Adept took higher priority, as a multicolor deck wants to gain access to all its colors quickly. A lot of otherwise promising Elves like Gyre Sage felt more appropriate for a monogreen deck.
I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to include cards that could only go in a decklist like mine; monogreen Elves can be included in any green deck, but a GW Elf needs a GW deck and a BG Elf needs a BG deck, so multicolor Elves took priority here. And even after that fact, I didn't want to include cards that felt too off-theme; Selesnya Guildmage might be a multicolor Elf, but the Saproling tokens distract from the Elf tribal theme, and would increase the number of token cards that would have to be printed for the deck and thus the overall production cost.
In hindsight, my decklist could have taken a completely different direction; maybe include more sac outlets and rewards, maybe more graveyard interaction. Maybe tokens and +1/+1 counters weren't the right subthemes.
Something else to think about is that, no matter your deck's theme, you gotta have some answers and utility in there. Most green decks include Cultivate or some version thereof, for example. Most white decks include some form of wrath spell, like Kirtar's Wrath. Most red decks include burn wrath such as Starstorm or Anger of the Gods. It can be tempting to just jam a bunch of on-theme cards into your decklist, especially when it's tribal, but it's wise to exercise a little self-restraint and keep the deck's other needs in mind too.
My general rule of thumb is that since approximately 2/5 of your deck is land, you want at least 1/5 to be creatures, 1/5 to be answers, and 1/5 to be utility. In other words, about 20 cards for each category. Obviously there's some overlap here; a creature that removes permanents also counts as an answer, and a creature that draws cards, ramps land, etc. also counts as utility. Instants and sorceries will generally be your primary answers (especially wraths), while artifacts will be your primary source of utility (especially mana rocks). Enchantments can serve virtually any purpose the deck needs, but lean towards utility (Exploration, Phyrexian Arena, etc). If you can find answers and utility that fit the theme, great! But sometimes, the best card to add to the deck requires a small flavor sacrifice. Also consider that many of the new cards might be designed to provide essential removal or utility. Kindred Discovery and Kindred Dominance come to mind as very useful card draw and wrath spells for tribal decks.
And lastly, whatever your deck's theme is, you want to list relevant cards separately. For example, in a deck focused on Equipment, you want to list your Equipment separate from other artifacts. If your deck cares about artifacts in general, you might want to list artifact creatures and/or creatures that produce artifact tokens separately from other creatures. A Heroic deck will want to list spells that trigger Heroic separately from spells that don't. And so forth.
So yeah, just wanted to share some deckbuilding paradigms to think about while we're firing off ideas for deck themes.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Opening up the archetype of spell based tokens (similar to Wort, Raid Mother) would be an instant hit, especially given the slew of cards that already exist to support the archetype in these colours. Talrand, Sky Summoner, Murmuring Mystic, Docent of Perfection, Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor itself all set a precedent of spell based token generation that just needs proper support in the command zone.
I never actually realized how voltron-focused Jeskai's current options are. Narset's "fairer" builds tend to be voltron, Shu Yun is absolutely voltron, and Ruhan needs it to basically function.
URW Spell Tokens do sound interesting. Who knows, maybe this year is Sorcery themed to make up for Sorceries missing out last year?
BR Infernal Arts (Spells involving payments like discard, sacrifice, and life, with a heavy Demon/Devil subtheme)
URW Spell Tokens
GUR Elemental Surge (Ramp and mechanics like Awaken, Kicker, and Overload, with Elementals as a subtheme)
WBG Elven Supremacy (Elf tribal)
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
100% not going to happen. Not because wizards "doesn't want to go there" but because Commander is the wrong product for expanding under-used sets.
To start, I will remind you that wizards is legally barred from using Rabiah due to copyright issues (which is why it's a 10 on the scale).
For another, keep in mind that each commander deck only gets about 17 new cards... minus the common card that every deck gets... and a few uncommons that are shared with other decks... and a few general utility cards that every deck gets. Even if every single reprint for the Ulgrotha deck was pure Ulgrotha flavor, though, there aren't enough cards linked to the plane to build the rest of the deck. The same thing would happen if they tried to make a Muraganda, Shandalar, or Vryn deck.
While several sets took place on Mercadia... they were not particularly strong sets. Again, what do you envision that theme deck looking like when it has to primarily rely on preexisting sets.
Wizards printing a dozen Muraganda cards and shoving them in a generic sultai deck with The Mimeoplasm and Muraganda Petroglyphs would be a disappointment to many players even if the new cards are all spot-on. Meanwhile, a visit to Ravnica/Innistrad/Mirrodin, which all have established themes (multicolor matters/graveyard matters/Artifacts and Counters matter) and 5+ sets of cards to draw upon, can support a thoroughly flavorful deck whose theme is recognizable even without the new cards.
Edit: Just realized that I was responding to a post on page 1 by accident. Whoops!
I was highly disappointed by that precon deck.
Kalemne was the biggest disappointment, because there was so much design space with the experience mechanic but they didn't used it. She maybe encourage something new for R/W but there is no support for that kind of strategy in the color combination. She is played for the double strike and vigilance as voltron Commander. The whole experience counter effect was totally ignored and could has been left out. I mean she has the biggest difficulty to gain experience counter for the smallest outcome. I don't know what they were thinking. In the end she is just an attacker like most of the boros legendaries.
Anya in the other hand could have worked well in a fast burn deck as a finisher if she didn't would lose the power up she gain when a player leaves the game or if she just keep indestructible. As a commander she is just bad because your game plan is straight forward and well everyone is seeing her. She has the same problem as Basandra that a little change would has made her at least playable in the 99.
The best commander in that commander precon was the reprinted Gisela. The rest of the deck was a mishmash between big creatures and big creature giants. Which doesn't support the game style of Anya. It was almost giant tribal, if that is even a thing. Supported by Urza's Incubator and some mana rocks. The whole deck played okayish against the other precons but that was everything you could do with it.
I really hope that if boros is one of the precons this year that they put a little more afford on the commanders and open up new strategies for the color combination. There are so many equipment base boros commander already. Tiana, Ship's Caretaker, Akiri, Line-Slinger and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. Aurelia, the Warleader and Gisela works well with equipments, too. Equipments leads to more attack oriented commander. I think the color combination needs something new.
The Naya deck was a fine base to start with, but directly out of the box it, like most commander decks is only "just" playable because they stick three different strategies into the same deck. I used it as a base for a Mayael deck that is hella fun to play and although high powered, far from impossible to beat. I still need to get that 16/16 indestructible wurm for it though.
I'd rather not get a WUBRG Elf legend, but it is probably what we will end up with before getting a proper Abzan legendary elf, because WotC are amazing at not getting what people actually want (Ishkana and Ulrich).
I made a Kalemne deck I had to disassemble because my play group refused to play against it after a while. It almost always won. I usually wiped out a player a couple of turns after she hit the table, and even if they killed her, she'd just come back just as strong. Unless my opponents had multiple mass removal spells and/or a way to neutralize her permanently (hard to do if she has hexproof or shroud via equipment) it was an inevitability that I'd beat them silly with her. She was very effective at what she does, because in the right deck, she grows to monstrous size quite rapidly.
I honestly don't think we'll be getting an equipment theme this year, as that was the subtheme of the green/white cat deck.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
what are the current legends and their strategy?
Attack - Tokens/Go Wide
Adriana, Captain of the Guard
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran
Anax and Cymede
Aurelia, the Warleader
Depala, Pilot Exemplar - Dwarf Tribal/Vehicle Tribal
Iroas, God of Victory
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer - metalcraft (artifact theme)
Munda, Ambush Leader - Ally Tribal
Attack - Voltron/Go Tall
Akiri, Line-Slinger - Artifact Theme
Anya, Merciless Angel - Benefits from you hitting everyone at the table
Basandra, Battle Seraph
Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
Razia, Boros Archangel
Tajic, Blade of the Legion - needs two friends, doesn't help them
Tiana, Ship's Caretaker - really supports this strategy, isn't the attacker herself
Attack - Champions (the chosen few)
Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas - likes big friends, could be Voltron
Tajic, Legion's Edge
Other
Brion Stoutarm - fling creatures for damage and life
Firesong and Sunspeaker - Red spells have lifelink, white have lightning bolt
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - doubles all damage, so great in a token deck, a Voltron deck, or a spell deck. Halves all damage received, same.
Really I think Firesong and Sunspeaker is the perfect precon commander, he pushes in a very different direction from existing (other then him) commanders but his deck still feels very .
Feldon of the Third Path looks like an interesting direction for a commander, maybe open it up to Creature or Artifact.
Something like Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot or Zo-Zu the punisher but opened up a bit could make an interesting punisher general (change 'spirit or arcane'/land to any spell?).
A variant of Neheb, the Eternal … At the beginning of your post combat main phase, add for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn and for each 1 life you have gained this turn.
Alternatively {UB} or {2B} in [mana] tags are (U/B) or (2/B)
T is :symtap: and T will give T in [mana] tags
If elementals is a sub theme for the temur deck you forgot evoke as a theme for the deck
BR Infernal Arts
2 Young Pyromancer
3 Deadbridge Shaman
3 Priest of Gix
3 Priest of Urabrask
4 Oracle of Bones
5 Mindclaw Shaman
5 Priest of the Blood Rite
5 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
6 Charmbreaker Devils
8 Bedlam Reveler
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
2 Rakdos Signet
Instants
2 Rakdos Charm
3 Spontaneous Combustion
5 Bituminous Blast
1 Infernal Plunge
1 Magmatic Insight
2 Diabolic Intent
2 Murderous Compulsion
2 Avacyn's Judgment
2 Tormenting Voice
3 Toil // Trouble
3 Nahiri's Wrath
3 Rolling Temblor
3 Blightning
5 Torrent of Souls
5 Increasing Ambition
5 Promise of Power
6 Devils' Playground
6 Into the Maw of Hell
8 Army of the Damned
9 Blasphemous Act
1 Demonfire
1 Devil's Play
2 Rakdos's Return
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Command Tower
1 Cinder Barrens
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rakdos Guildgate
8 Swamp
12 Mountain
URW Arcane Army
1 Blistercoil Weird
2 Battlefield Thaumaturge
2 Kiln Fiend
2 Thermo-Alchemist
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Soulfire Grand Master
3 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
3 Guttersnipe
3 Monastery Mentor
3 Jori En, Ruin Diver
3 Nivix Cyclops
3 Wee Dragonauts
4 Elite Arcanist
4 Talrand, Sky Summoner
4 Mercurial Geists
5 Strongarm Monk
5 Blaze Commando
5 Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
6 Firesong and Sunspeaker
6 Narset, Enlightened Master
1 Sol Ring
2 Blade of Selves
2 Runechanter's Pike
3 Jeskai Banner
Enchantments
3 Trail of Evidence
Instants
2 Wear // Tear
2 Boros Charm
2 Lightning Helix
2 Azorius Charm
3 Onward // Victory
3 Farm // Market
3 Massive Raid
3 Jeskai Charm
4 Warleader's Helix
6 Flying Crane Technique
2 Aurelia's Fury
3 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Launch the Fleet
2 Twinflame
3 Insult // Injury
3 Deafening Clarion
Land
1 Command Tower
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
5 Island
5 Mountain
5 Plains
GUR Storm of Elements
2 Walking Atlas
2 Llanowar Scout
2 Vodalian Arcanist
2 Goblin Electromancer
2 Zhur-Taa Druid
3 Fertilid
3 Manaplasm
3 Grinning Ignus
4 Rosheen Meanderer
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Mizzix of the Izmagnus
6 Melek, Izzet Paragon
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
3 Temur Banner
4 Hedron Archive
6 Dreamstone Hedron
Enchantments
4 Jace's Sanctum
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Horns***gle
3 Reiterate
5 Prophetic Bolt
1 Heaven // Earth
2 Comet Storm
2 Commune with Lava
2 Mindswipe
Sorceries
2 Explore
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Cultivate
3 Spring // Mind
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Mizzix's Mastery
4 Rite of Replication
5 Urban Evolution
6 Nissa's Renewal
6 Blast of Genius
7 Brass's Bounty
7 Volcanic Vision
1 Earthquake
2 Epic Experiment
2 Clan Defiance
2 Savage Twister
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Command Tower
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Gruul Turf
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Thornwood Falls
5 Forest
5 Island
5 Mountain
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
I'd add Riku of two Reflections to the elemental deck, and if they want to be really funny, they should add Time Stretch as well.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
*faceplam*
That’s not elemental subtheme there’s only 1 elemental reprint in the whole deck
It’s a instant and sorcery focused deck
Cascade also comboes well with the storm mechanic.
Another obvious way to go with elementals, would be the evoke mechanic. There are currently twelve cards with Evoke in the three colors (red, green, and blue), many of which are either played or staples in the commander format. They are also all Elementals, which keeps on theme. It also plays well with Storm, as it is possible to evoke out a number of said elementals (particularly if you have cost reducers in play as well), before throwing down a storm spell.
What is interesting is that many *common* elemental spells are quite playable in Commander, such as for example Ingot Chewer, Soulbright Flamekin, or Mulldrifter (although later printings upped the latter's rarity.)
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
His deck list is partial, it has only two thirds of the deck (63/99, 24/~38 land), so the real list would likely have a bunch of filler elementals, soulbright flamekin seems a great fit, but I really don't understand why Animar, Soul of Elements wasn't in the list...
Alternatively {UB} or {2B} in [mana] tags are (U/B) or (2/B)
T is :symtap: and T will give T in [mana] tags
DAMMIT! >.<
I always make that mistake, don't know why. Thank you for pointing it out so I could edit my post and fix it.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
BR Infernal Arts focuses on spells with discard, sacrifice, and life payment costs.
URW Arcane Army is about casting lots of cheap spells and creating lots of tokens, basically "go wide" with spells. The cheap creatures in this deck are designed to take advantage of frequent spellcasting.
GUR Storm of Elements is about ramping up mana to cast big spells, especially those with X costs. If Arcane Army is "go wide", Storm of Elements is "go tall". Many of the creatures in this deck are focused on ramping mana.
The fourth deck would be WBG Elf tribal, and thus not focused on instants/sorceries. The Elf tribal theme is supported by tokens and +1/+1 counters.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
But WB were in a way missing since the other good elves are in those colors
And besides one mistake you made
In 2016 we had a artifact focused deck in 2018 we had another artifact focused deck.
Something being done already doesn’t disqualify it as a deck
Which is why I would love a second creature focused deck with white or/and black added and animar as a reprint
BG and GW are by far the two most common Elf color pairs, it's only a matter of time before we get a WBG Elf tribal deck.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Yes, for example. We don't know if they will repeat tribal this year. I think Elves has plenty of nice stuff they only need the commander to enable the 3 colored deck. It feels like they have better options than 3 colored zombies, so why not.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
A legendary elf with a +1/+1 counter and token theme won't cut it any more than Ishkanar or Ulrich satisfied those who were asking for a Jund legendary spider or a legendary werewolf.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.