That was a pretty interesting article. Re: Commander reprints, it mirrors what Gavin had already said elsewhere. Here's hoping they really did hear and are heeding the reactions as strongly as appears to be the case.
Do we know if they will revisit the change to 4 decks?
That's a really good question. I haven't heard any mention of that one way or another. I would hope that they would be open to that depending on what they decided to do with a given year's releases. If they decided to go with a wedge theme or an allied color theme or whatever, it would not make sense to leave out one combination.
I am holding out hope for someday seeing allied-color commanders with the experience mechanic.
As I posted earlier today in the C19 reprint thread, the most recent episode of the Tolarian Community College podcast consisted of a lengthy interview with Gavin Verhey, in which he talked about a lot of things, incluidng commander and reprints. He confirmed that we are very unlikely to ever see fetches printed in Commander products, and that it is even less likely they will ever be part of the Standard environment again in the foreseeable foture, but that they likely will be reprinted in some other product sooner than later since it is recognized how important they are for Legacy and Modern. He also noted that Wizards has heard the critiques of the poor value of the reprints in the C19 set and that this will be an area of improvement in the future. He also noted that with the demise of the Masters sets, it is likely some reprints people want to see for Commander and Modern will likely be showing up in future Commander releases, as well as future Battlebond and Conspiracy sets and maybe things like the Spellbook sets.
it would have to be out of this world amazing to get me to buy them this time.
i've purchased them every year, all of them. the first 3 years of them saw me purchasing multiples. whatever they do this year, i'll be cherry picking singles . the past at least two haven't been worth it. trashy reprints, decks that aren't cohesive, boring themes, bad commanders... its becoming a hard no
while i will comment on the other 3. Windrace had like 1 card i want. And not even majorly. Nesting dragon
I have found Nesting Dragon to be quite good. It has certainly performed beyond my expectations.
Hopefully, if they do decent reprints they spread the love over the decks instead of just hammering one deck.
Definitely. I still remember feeling ripped off that Daretti got [c]Wurmcoil Engine[c] and the Teferi I bought got...nothing decent I can recall.
edit - checked it out, the money card was Cyclonic Rift or Thran Dynamo. Still, hard to argue with $30 NZD value in a single card.
Not only did Daretti get the Engine, it also got the tokens for the Engine. Plus a lot of other great stuff. I would like to see more of the precons be on the level of good we got from Daretti.
I'm a simple man. I just want some three colored decks, good reprints (not like last time) and original new card designs (just like last time).
Come on wotc, don't drop the ball again. If you can come up with cool cards like Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, you can also figure out that top of library matters deck should include Sensei's Divining Top rather than Serra Avatar.
I don't particularly care what they do with the decks theme-wise this year, especially if they are going to keep at 4 per set, because that means we won't ever be getting some cycles I'd hoped to see repeated, such as allied colors with experience counters. I would prefer they not go heavily tribal, but I guess would be okay with it if they make the decks interesting enough. Last year's PW decks weren't a huge smash hit, and the quick (and entirely welcome) demise of Brawl suggests being able to use planeswalkers as generals isn't that big a deal to much of the player base, so I hope we go awhile without further PW commanders. Like, 15 years or so sounds about right.
I am as excited as anyone about interesting new commanders and cool new cards in general, but I am particularly interested in the quality of the reprints included in the decks. This year, that quality was unusually poor, especially when you consider that they upped the cost of the decks. If they are going to continue printing Commander decks and have people keep buying them, they seriously need to up the quality of the reprints. The land selections are particularly awful, and this was especially notable in the Lord Windgrace deck, which included only a couple lands that have any synergy at all with the deck's obvious theme. Command Tower in every deck and a handful of moderately useful utility lands in each deck does not make up for the guildgates and *****ty CIPT duals. Nobody is expecting shocklands or quality fetches or Wasteland reprints, but I don't think the world would end if they included a few more lands which people might actually want to play in their decks. Maybe they could complete the Battlebond dual cycle or include the Theros Temples or something. I would love to see Strip Mine, but even Ghost Quarter would be a huge improvement over most of the complete ***** that makes up Commander precon mana bases.
As to nonland cards, there are lots and lots of solid Commander cards that could be reprinted without making these decks attractive to the non-EDH crowd. Last year's decks lacked a lot of obvious cards that would have made them a lot more playable, and there are a lot of great cards that could definitely use more reprints to make them more available and/or to introduce them to players who have never seen them. . Things like Sylvan Library or Asceticism or Leyline of the Void or Toxic Deluge or Archangel of Thune or Mind's Eye or Glen Elendra Archmage or Sneak Attack or any of a gazillion other cards that are more interesting than unplayable crap like Celestial Archon and Epic Proportions and Savage Twister. Maybe reprint some planeswalkers who aren't good enough for modern but who are somewhat popular in Commander like some of the WB Sorins or Sarkhan Vol. Maybe reprint some staples like Vedalken Orrery that are played pretty much only in EDH but which have become somewhat pricey because they are very popular in EDH but haven't received a large printing in awhile.
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That's a really good question. I haven't heard any mention of that one way or another. I would hope that they would be open to that depending on what they decided to do with a given year's releases. If they decided to go with a wedge theme or an allied color theme or whatever, it would not make sense to leave out one combination.
I am holding out hope for someday seeing allied-color commanders with the experience mechanic.
I have found Nesting Dragon to be quite good. It has certainly performed beyond my expectations.
Not only did Daretti get the Engine, it also got the tokens for the Engine. Plus a lot of other great stuff. I would like to see more of the precons be on the level of good we got from Daretti.
Of, if not Top, at least fricking Soothsaying.
I am as excited as anyone about interesting new commanders and cool new cards in general, but I am particularly interested in the quality of the reprints included in the decks. This year, that quality was unusually poor, especially when you consider that they upped the cost of the decks. If they are going to continue printing Commander decks and have people keep buying them, they seriously need to up the quality of the reprints. The land selections are particularly awful, and this was especially notable in the Lord Windgrace deck, which included only a couple lands that have any synergy at all with the deck's obvious theme. Command Tower in every deck and a handful of moderately useful utility lands in each deck does not make up for the guildgates and *****ty CIPT duals. Nobody is expecting shocklands or quality fetches or Wasteland reprints, but I don't think the world would end if they included a few more lands which people might actually want to play in their decks. Maybe they could complete the Battlebond dual cycle or include the Theros Temples or something. I would love to see Strip Mine, but even Ghost Quarter would be a huge improvement over most of the complete ***** that makes up Commander precon mana bases.
As to nonland cards, there are lots and lots of solid Commander cards that could be reprinted without making these decks attractive to the non-EDH crowd. Last year's decks lacked a lot of obvious cards that would have made them a lot more playable, and there are a lot of great cards that could definitely use more reprints to make them more available and/or to introduce them to players who have never seen them. . Things like Sylvan Library or Asceticism or Leyline of the Void or Toxic Deluge or Archangel of Thune or Mind's Eye or Glen Elendra Archmage or Sneak Attack or any of a gazillion other cards that are more interesting than unplayable crap like Celestial Archon and Epic Proportions and Savage Twister. Maybe reprint some planeswalkers who aren't good enough for modern but who are somewhat popular in Commander like some of the WB Sorins or Sarkhan Vol. Maybe reprint some staples like Vedalken Orrery that are played pretty much only in EDH but which have become somewhat pricey because they are very popular in EDH but haven't received a large printing in awhile.