I'm curious about your creature-less Freyalise deck. Mind sharing?
It's nothing special, it's stuffed with token-generating cards and token-support (and ramp to fill the remaining space) with the condition that there are no creature cards in the deck (I think you might have missed out on the "card" specific I used in the earlier post). I just set that restriction because I found it hilarious (and challenging) to run a Mono-Green deck without any creature cards (plus it helps reduce overlap, considering the other 3 decks I have with green in them are all fighting for "staples" already.)
It's in no way competitive (it can still stand on its own in casual metas) and would be vastly improved simply by lifting the restriction (considering a lot of Green creatures are better Token Generators).
Back on the topic of OGW, I think I should start finding space for the two Landfall elementals in the set for Horde, seeing they're elementals and do sturdy work for the landfall/awaken theme I'm trying to achieve. The manlands are a definite shoo-in. The WB Legend also has a slot in Alesha as a sacrifice outlet that can be reanimated and as mentioned before, the WB Vampire is replacing Sanguine Bond in that deck. I'll probably run through the rest of the cards in the spoiler for EDH later.
So looking at Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim has me wondering; what does a Cleric deck do? Wizards counter, Vampires/Merfolk/Zombies/Goblins beatdown, Elves/Druids ramp huge, why would anyone want to play Clerics?
I'd imagine lifegain and damage prevention, but how do you win?
Battletide Alchemist is a fun one too. Shuts down all small swings and you can play politics with her if that's your thing. They also have access to an enormous amount of recursion and protection, so you can build up a pretty resilient board. I tried mono-W clerics a few years ago and had a lot of fun with it, but ran into issues when it came to closing out games. Black does a lot to shore that up with its combos and life drain.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
For those that were saying that new Linvalla isn't the same as old Linvalla,
I find it interesting that she doesn't have her Halo, possibly implying it's the one that General Tazri wears.
Angels in Zendikar wore their halos over their eyes to signify their blindness to the Eldrazi, and inaction. Perhaps this more aggressive Linvalla is simply an extension of the change in her philosophies, with abandoning her halo.
For those that were saying that new Linvalla isn't the same as old Linvalla,
I find it interesting that she doesn't have her Halo, possibly implying it's the one that General Tazri wears.
Angels in Zendikar wore their halos over their eyes to signify their blindness to the Eldrazi, and inaction. Perhaps this more aggressive Linvalla is simply an extension of the change in her philosophies, with abandoning her halo.
Unless there's different art from her original card, she didn't have a halo then either. Linvala, Keeper of Silence
I like new Linvala, just not anywhere near as much as old Linvala, and I still don't really see a connection between the two.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Expose Evil: Straightforward combat trick that likely won't see play in Commander, though the implications of the Investigate keyword has me interested. In most cases, Investigate will be strictly worse than simply cantripping, but there are artifact decks that could make use of having some artifact fodder. I'm expecting it to be a UW keyword, so it'll largely be Esper/mono-U that will try and make it work.
Invasive Surgery: Another straightforward effect, this time as a counterspell. While surgery isn't designed with Commander in mind, the Delirium keyword itself is, so I'll look forward to seeing what else the mechanic brings to the table.
Pack Guardian: 6 power's worth of creatures for 2GG is fairly good, especially with flash. That said, it requires you to give up a land to do so, which could hurt your future turns if you aren't also running something like loam/crucible/delve.
Duskwatch Recruiter: Werewolves return! Their transform trigger is the same, which is painful for Commander, but this one at least finds a good way to work around it; providing a reasonable manasink when human, and a cost-reducing effect when transformed.
Devil's Playground: Sacrifice fodder/token producer. A bit costly for 4 tokens, but they provide a bit of extra value on death that might make up for it (particularly if you can give them deathtouch before they die).
Furtive Homunculus: More keywords! Skulk is an interesting twist on evasion, and it's simplistic enough that I could see them evergreening it at some point.
Expose Evil and other clue tokens can be Populated, no? With some twist and turns, of course.
Be a bit of a hoop. Populate only works on creatures - and since the tokens have no cmc, you'd have to have an anthem out if you plan to use a karn effect to animate them.
Eventually, there may be a populate style mechanic for non-creatures.
Furtive Homunculus: More keywords! Skulk is an interesting twist on evasion, and it's simplistic enough that I could see them evergreening it at some point.
I think it's safe to say that Skulk will be an evergreen keyword going forward, and will be used in blue and black to give the two colors a shared keyword, just like what was done with Prowess and blue/red.
Of the leaked cards, there isn't really anything I'd consider playing in Commander. The only exceptions might be Stoic Builder, for some card advantage in a self-mill deck, or maybe Lamplighter of Selhoff if I wanted to make an Innistrad Zombies flavor-deck.
@luminum: I think the new werewolf is reasonable enough that he could show up in non-werewolf decks. His activated ability is an effect that creature-heavy decks are more than willing to build around, and if he somehow manages to stay transformed long enough for you to use him, then he effectively pushes said creature-heavy deck ahead in mana production for a turn. I'd look to test it in Yeva decks at the very least, and anyone actually attempting werewolf tribal will be more than happy to give him a spin. It could probably stand to dig a card deeper, but for the costs involved I'm not really complaining.
The question is: why? Didn't all the werewolves become wolfir in AVR?
The out-of-world explanation is that werewolves and other transforming cards from original Innistrad block were well-loved by players and bringing it back was likely inevitable. The in-world answer is most likely, in my opinion, that Emrakul is on Innistrad and her presence on the plane has brought back the curse in this form.
My best guess is that he will be a melevolent presence in the background of this set, causing new transformations and weird things to happen, but he will not actually show himself until set 2.
EDIT: Among other evidence of this being the case is the fact that the mechanics of Investigate and Madness both point even more strongly towards Lovecraft, if the similarity to Shadow Over Innsmouth wasn't enough for you for some reason, and transformation/body horror is a huge theme in that story. Take this with context of two of the three Eldrazi Titans being taken care of in BFZ block and Emrakul's abilities causing both mutation and madness*, and I'm staking 85% certaintly of this being the case.
*: Madness would be due to Emrakul's aura of absolute silence, which is definitely a maddening experience.
It's nothing special, it's stuffed with token-generating cards and token-support (and ramp to fill the remaining space) with the condition that there are no creature cards in the deck (I think you might have missed out on the "card" specific I used in the earlier post). I just set that restriction because I found it hilarious (and challenging) to run a Mono-Green deck without any creature cards (plus it helps reduce overlap, considering the other 3 decks I have with green in them are all fighting for "staples" already.)
It's in no way competitive (it can still stand on its own in casual metas) and would be vastly improved simply by lifting the restriction (considering a lot of Green creatures are better Token Generators).
Back on the topic of OGW, I think I should start finding space for the two Landfall elementals in the set for Horde, seeing they're elementals and do sturdy work for the landfall/awaken theme I'm trying to achieve. The manlands are a definite shoo-in. The WB Legend also has a slot in Alesha as a sacrifice outlet that can be reanimated and as mentioned before, the WB Vampire is replacing Sanguine Bond in that deck. I'll probably run through the rest of the cards in the spoiler for EDH later.
Look at the B clerics from Onslaught block. Rotlung Reanimator (and perhaps Xathrid Necromancer), Vile Deacon, and Starlit Sanctum, for eg.
--- Meren of Clan Nel Toth --- Jhoira of the Ghitu --- Prime Speaker Zegana ---
--- Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief --- Ghoulcaller Gisa --- Akroma, Angel of Fury --- Titania, Protector of Argoth ---
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
I find it interesting that she doesn't have her Halo, possibly implying it's the one that General Tazri wears.
Angels in Zendikar wore their halos over their eyes to signify their blindness to the Eldrazi, and inaction. Perhaps this more aggressive Linvalla is simply an extension of the change in her philosophies, with abandoning her halo.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I like new Linvala, just not anywhere near as much as old Linvala, and I still don't really see a connection between the two.
Yup, you're right:
http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Linvala
She apparently opted to not blind herself with her Halo to begin with. Good call.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I feel like Puresteel Paladin does this better, but if you aren't running white or want to double up it seems fine.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
I think everyone with a Mannichi deck made note of it.
Except that Sifter sucks with Xiahou Dun because of the worst mechanic ever (Devoid).
Expose Evil: Straightforward combat trick that likely won't see play in Commander, though the implications of the Investigate keyword has me interested. In most cases, Investigate will be strictly worse than simply cantripping, but there are artifact decks that could make use of having some artifact fodder. I'm expecting it to be a UW keyword, so it'll largely be Esper/mono-U that will try and make it work.
Invasive Surgery: Another straightforward effect, this time as a counterspell. While surgery isn't designed with Commander in mind, the Delirium keyword itself is, so I'll look forward to seeing what else the mechanic brings to the table.
Fiery Temper: Madness returns!
Pack Guardian: 6 power's worth of creatures for 2GG is fairly good, especially with flash. That said, it requires you to give up a land to do so, which could hurt your future turns if you aren't also running something like loam/crucible/delve.
Duskwatch Recruiter: Werewolves return! Their transform trigger is the same, which is painful for Commander, but this one at least finds a good way to work around it; providing a reasonable manasink when human, and a cost-reducing effect when transformed.
RRR - Bosh's School of Hard(cover) Knocks
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Devil's Playground: Sacrifice fodder/token producer. A bit costly for 4 tokens, but they provide a bit of extra value on death that might make up for it (particularly if you can give them deathtouch before they die).
Furtive Homunculus: More keywords! Skulk is an interesting twist on evasion, and it's simplistic enough that I could see them evergreening it at some point.
RRR - Bosh's School of Hard(cover) Knocks
Eventually, there may be a populate style mechanic for non-creatures.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I think it's safe to say that Skulk will be an evergreen keyword going forward, and will be used in blue and black to give the two colors a shared keyword, just like what was done with Prowess and blue/red.
Of the leaked cards, there isn't really anything I'd consider playing in Commander. The only exceptions might be Stoic Builder, for some card advantage in a self-mill deck, or maybe Lamplighter of Selhoff if I wanted to make an Innistrad Zombies flavor-deck.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
RRR - Bosh's School of Hard(cover) Knocks
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
My best guess is that he will be a melevolent presence in the background of this set, causing new transformations and weird things to happen, but he will not actually show himself until set 2.
EDIT: Among other evidence of this being the case is the fact that the mechanics of Investigate and Madness both point even more strongly towards Lovecraft, if the similarity to Shadow Over Innsmouth wasn't enough for you for some reason, and transformation/body horror is a huge theme in that story. Take this with context of two of the three Eldrazi Titans being taken care of in BFZ block and Emrakul's abilities causing both mutation and madness*, and I'm staking 85% certaintly of this being the case.
*: Madness would be due to Emrakul's aura of absolute silence, which is definitely a maddening experience.