[Official]
The Top 50 List (Indefinite Hiatus)
Poll: Which WHITE CREATURE should be removed from the list?
Ended Feb 16, 2019
Poll: Which BLACK CREATURES should be removed from the list? (Pick 4)
Ended Feb 16, 2019
Poll: Which GREEN NONCREATURE should be removed from the list?
Ended Feb 16, 2019
Poll: Which COLORLESS NONCREATURE should be removed from the list?
Ended Feb 16, 2019
I voted to remove Iona, Loyal Retainers, Mom, and Restoration Angel. Iona honestly isnt that good and I play in a heavy mono / dual color meta. Its really overhyped. Retainers I have never seen a deck I can justify it as a worthwhile inclusion for. Mom can be good but she gets swept up in wraths and is slow to come online if you dont curve her. Restoration Angel has always sort of bothered me because its so situational what it can save. While it can just flicker another ETB, it seems kind of narrow to me because mono white ETB isn't really a thing so you are talking just multicolored white support ETB at that point for it to be good. As protection I feel it doesn't go far enough since it flickers them right back in.
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[Modern] Allies
I also don't understand the hype around Iona. With so many 3 and 4 colour decks floating around these days, Iona can be little more than a speedbump that is easily dealt with, and you expect a lot more for 9 mana. Loyal Retainers is a narrow card whose value I doubt outside a dedicated reanimator/combo deck.
Mom is a card I love and thought would be great...but she isn't. She's just alright. In regular constructed formats, spot removal rules the day and Mom is an all-star. But in Commander spot removal is less common and also less likely to come your way. Restoration Angel is a cute and powerful card you want to abuse in the blink/ETB deck, but it's not a card I'm excited to throw into any old deck with plains. It's an all-star in multiple formats but it doesn't translate quite as well to Commander. I only voted off Loyal Retainers but the other 3 aren't making burning cases to be in the top 25.
I'll admit not having tried Sunscorch Regent, but Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker is similar and that card has been mediocre at best whenever I've played it (granted, I've never played a deck built around it and I've only run it for color support).
I did pick up a Mentor like yesterday, and hopefully I'll get to try it out some before next round of voting is over.
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I think Monastery Mentor is very strong in the right decks. It's been very strong in my Shu Yun prowess deck, and I've seen it be amazing in Breya (as if Breya needed more good stuff), but it is narrow enough that I don't think it really belongs on the list.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope - she is expensive as balls and her protection is situational. The upside of her though is she gives protection to a lot o things and if you hide her away further by doing something like a Lightning Greaves she can be a ***** to dig out.
Monastery Mentor - its a little situational as to what decks it belongs to. It takes some time to really build up and you really want a deck of cheap cantrip cards that turn over a lot. Its upside is that it can be used immediately and the tokens preserve their own power without Mentor later on. Its biggest limiting factor if you ask me is the type of deck it belongs to.
Recruiter of the Guard - great card assuming you have a target you really want and or are toolboxing. Its downside is needing target options worth including in the deck as well as just the speed in which to go get them when you pay 3 more to get to them. Its at its best when playing a creature focused deck but it can be a little lacking when focusing on some other tactics and or running light on creatures.
Stonehewer Giant - its a strong effect and it plays into white's advantages. Its only real issues are that it has a startup wait which makes it vulnerable to removal and it often does draw attention.
If you ask me, Stonehewer Giant would probably be the worst of them just given that as you add colors its slow value generation tactic gets worse. The number of mono white equipment decks is somewhat limited and when you add more colors he falls off real fast. After Stonehewer I would cut Avacyn, Angel of Hope because while I think she can be good I think its very situational based on what your opponents are playing. She is also a card that drastically improves in value as you get more casual and goes down in value as you get more competitive. I would cut Monastery Mentor after cutting Stonehiewer and Avacyn because I think its a stronger card than the other two and it can generate value quickly and the tokens have a lot of self contained power that trigger the same way that the Mentor does. Its only real drawback is how niche of a strategy it fits. Recruiter of the Guard I will list as the best of these 4 because I think in general it is a strong card and it gets stronger as you add more colors. It is not without its flaws but its a very strong card.
Clearly the poll does not reflect my thinking but I just wanted to give my reasoning for how I voted. I think that Stonehewer Giant is slow to generate its value and often targeted as a value generator. If you can consistently keep it in play a few turns then power to you but I voted for the faster to effect cards of these and I think he is very over hyped. I even run it in my Sram list but I still think its completely overrated.
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[Modern] Allies
Monastery Mentor: my issue with him is that he really only fits in decks running lots of cheap spells, which is pretty limiting. I feel like a top, top card should be versatile and fit into a wide variety of archetypes.
Recruiter of the Guard: in Commander, the standard for tutors is extremely high considering most of them are legal right up to demonic tutor. The benchmark is 1-2 mana, and those tutors can find multiple card types: eg Demonic Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Green Sun's Zenith, and Eladamri's Call. Recruiter costs 3 mana and he only finds small creatures, a significant limitation.
Avacyn: has a unique ability that's found on no other card in the game (besides Elspeth's ultimate) and her power level is way above curve (Seraph of the Suns is more in line with what you'd normally expect.) She's a win condition that protects herself, protects you (by protecting your resources and defenses: your permanents), is strong ahead or behind, and can be reanimated. When people talk about EDH being a battlecruiser format, Avacyn is one of the first that comes to mind.
Stonehewer: I think assessing this comes a lot down to heat level: if your opponents have a shoot on sight policy on Stonehewer, it's probably not going to be too great for you. However there are a lot of cards in Magic and many players aren't intimately familiar with all of them and might not give it the respect it deserves, in which case it can generate a lot of value.
All are good cards but I'd have to tip Avacyn and Stonehewer as being the best of this 4.
Recruiter of the Guard: Pretty good in hatebears and stuff like that. As long as you have a bunch of targets for it, it's a very solid creature. Blink it for more value. It has a high floor, is consistent, but doesn't exactly take over games. I'd say it's consistency coupled with it being the broadest makes it the best card out of the bunch.
Mentor of the Meek: Good in decks with a lot of noncreature spells. Can go from generating chump blockers to being an offensive card if it sticks long enough, and if removed usually gains some value. It's floor is higher than Stonehewer but it wont have the same impact if left alone.
Stonehewer Giant: Good in equipment decks if not dealt with, but then again you need to be running an equipment deck. It's pretty expensive though, but it has good payoff value. It can be great when left alone, but it can also do nothing. I'd say this and mentor is about equal due to being strong in specific decks, but far from an auto-include with this being slightly lower due to the odds of it doing nothing is higher.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Awful. Costs a lot of mana, is easy to ignore, if it gets bounced or PtE'd you've lost a lot of tempo, and if you're playing "cheat big things into play" it's far less impactful than most of your options due to well, not doing anything in a lot of situations. Unlike the other cards on the list, I don't think she goes into any optimized deck that's not based around her, and thus is the worst of the bunch.
I'd say 3 of the cards are situational but good, and I rate them based on how consistent they are. Avacyn on the other hand...
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1) Monastery Mentor (8 votes)
2) Avacyn, Angel of Hope (4 votes)
3) Iona, Shield of Emeria, Loyal Retainers, Mother of Runes, Serra Ascendant, Stonecloaker (3 votes)
Then we would have added the two nominations in. Its kind of odd looking back at last week's poll especially given that we have a tie between a card on the list currently and one not. I might even say its grounds to throw away last week's poll and redo it. The alternative usually involves a tiebreaker poll anyways so it might just be better to redo it given that it went against the norms that in the past we have accepted. It is important to have more options in the poll over less given that the votes to remove cards are very different than the votes to support cards. When less cards are in consideration you have less room to support and or not support cards.
Just my $0.02 of the morning.
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[Modern] Allies
I can agree to that. Also, Mentor just keeps impressing me. I'd say it deserves its slot on the list.
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UGB Tasigur Control
URB Jeleva Storm
RW Gisela Control
I would imagine it has to do with trying to keep the numbers of in/out cards relatively even, which is fair, and it keeps the polls simple.
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We're taking nominations for white non-creatures. In addition, there is a tie breaker poll.
Changes to the list:
In
Recruiter of the Guard
Out
Monastery Mentor
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[Modern] Allies
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[Modern] Allies
We're taking nominations for blue creatures.
Changes to the list:
In
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Out
Stonehewer Giant
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Oh Rider, my heart will go on...
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[Modern] Allies
I'm taking back over for Airi,since my life has calmed down somewhat and hers is pretty hectic. Big thanks to her for helping out. Anywho, new poll is up. I'm going to start doing this every Sunday to better accomodate my early Monday mornings. Feel free to yell at me if I screw something up (ISB).
Since there wasn't much support for anything I just threw it all up there and we'll let everyone sort it out.
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We are doing week 2 of Blue creatures right now. This week will just be the decision as to what blue creatures will be on the list. Next week we can nominate blue non creatures.
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[Modern] Allies
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Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
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Edit: To add something more productive to my post. I voted Deluvian, Archaeomancer, and Tidespout Tyrant. I had bashed on tidespout in the past, but since have seen the power of reanimation and he's a monster if he comes out early.