Birgi is currently among the least-played commanders from the set and I doubt that'll change. Compared to Kykar she's waaaaay weaker. Saying she's stronger because she works with creatures is pretty ridiculous imo - creatures rarely lend themselves well to storm (maybe in green if you count elves, but not in red afaik). The only creatures I'm aware of seeing much play in modern storm lists, despite not needing to build around Kykar's ability, are ones like Baral and Goblin Electromancer that reduce costs for the instants and sorceries that are doing the real work - and those creatures are (afaik) all blue. That's not to say she won't see play in cEDH, she likely will...in the 99 of existing storm lists with more powerful 2+ color commanders which let you run crucial blue enablers.
Comparing birgi to kykar is a little awkward. There are different routes and styles of building a storm decks, and having one that can work with creature casting is good news.
Adding colors (specifically blue) almost always yields a spell slinger style, but creature based storm strategies already exist. Past the obvious empty the warrens+purphoros, once people see what older cards like grinning ignus, leering emblem, scroll of masters, storm entity, and haze of rage can do with Birgi I'm hopeful that it will open up ideas for future cards.
She very well can work as a commander. With the sheer amount of filtering in wild guess variants and reds recursion with mizzix's mastery/past in flames/recoup/shred sanity/etc, it's a very simple shell to build and will only get better as new cards come out.
Is it high powered? Not currently. But it's a new option that wasn't there before.
Regarding the flip gods, when I first read the spoilers I wasn't around my friends to discuss, so my mistaken assumption that these could all "transform" by paying the mana cost in the bottom left side made me assume they were all very good. I was most excited about the 5color polymorph guessing that she could help pay for her own activation to flip into the enchantment side at the end of an opponents turn.
After like a week or two later I actually talked about these cards with my friends and realized my mistake. I immediately lost all interest in each and every one.
I have a minor interest in Birgi, but only from nostalgic plays of my old mono-red storm deck using chandra, fire of kaladesh as enabler with things like umbral mantle or dual casting. Birgi has potential fun with buy-back spells in combination with other cost-reduction. But this isn't anything that hasn't been seen before or can be done better with other colors.
Comparing birgi to kykar is a little awkward. There are different routes and styles of building a storm decks, and having one that can work with creature casting is good news.
Adding colors (specifically blue) almost always yields a spell slinger style, but creature based storm strategies already exist. Past the obvious empty the warrens+purphoros, once people see what older cards like grinning ignus, leering emblem, scroll of masters, storm entity, and haze of rage can do with Birgi I'm hopeful that it will open up ideas for future cards.
She very well can work as a commander. With the sheer amount of filtering in wild guess variants and reds recursion with mizzix's mastery/past in flames/recoup/shred sanity/etc, it's a very simple shell to build and will only get better as new cards come out.
Is it high powered? Not currently. But it's a new option that wasn't there before.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
After like a week or two later I actually talked about these cards with my friends and realized my mistake. I immediately lost all interest in each and every one.
I have a minor interest in Birgi, but only from nostalgic plays of my old mono-red storm deck using chandra, fire of kaladesh as enabler with things like umbral mantle or dual casting. Birgi has potential fun with buy-back spells in combination with other cost-reduction. But this isn't anything that hasn't been seen before or can be done better with other colors.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!