Magic: The Gathering—Commander (2016 Edition) introduces a twist players have long clamored for—four-color legendary commanders. Choose your champion when the latest in the Commander series releases on November 11, 2016.
Welp. No more need for the Nephilims to be your 4CC commander of choice.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I am interested in how this goes and yet I fear it. I feel like it is very easy to loose the identity that will be 4 color commanders and the challenge will be how to make them interesting and flavorful and yet differentiate them from 5 color legendaries. If they do this well, then I look forward to it. I just have fears that it is easy to not execute something like this well.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I fully expect split cards with Fuse for this ! (would be great)
Very interesting is to know if "4color" includes colorless now ... as that would be kinda strange if they turn out to be 3 actual colors and colorless.
Colorless isn't a color, so no. Hopefully the decks are configured in a was so that the three generals are the 4c and two dual color ones, one each allied and enemy. And hopefully those are new also.
I would also like to see good legendary design for each new legend. I cant count how many of these products seem to have one decent commander and one they seemed to just throw away the design for. I would love to see a little more focus on the legends they draft up rather than going all out on one of the two legends. This is not always the case but it sort of feels like that happens too often with these products.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
What a lame duck announcement. We can't even get some box art or something?
These decks have a lot of potential, but I'm very concerned that they will be a big step back from the last few years. Particularly in their playability out of the box and the ease with which they can be upgraded.
The only way these could have a functional mana-base out of the box is if they're packed with hybrid mana casting costs.
Also, the last few sets of decks have contained solid unifying themes. I can't really picture that for 4 color.
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EDH playing competitive Magic cast away
Current Decks GTitania midrange RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
I hope they manage to make the decks destinct and interesting and not just five iterations of goodstuff. I actually feared this announcement, now I have to make 32 decks instead of 27 to cover all bases
I imagine the legendary creatures will be designed around the same sort of ideas that influence the shards from Shards of Alara, where each 3-colour shard is defined by what was missing than what was included (while still being true to its colour). For example, Jund (BRG) is defined by being incredibly savage because there was no white and no blue mana, while Grixis is basically a dead and evil zone because there is no life magic from green or white.
While I'm a fan of multicolor Commanders in general, 4-color decks aren't really something that appeal to me in Commander, as I'd much rather have access to 5-color cards and budget fixing options like the tri-lands. Unless a Commander really begs me to play it (or a deck has too many useful cards not to scavenge it for existing decks) I'll likely be sticking to singles this time around.
As always it'll be nice to see what gets reprinted/new-art, as well as what new cards/mechanics they introduce. In particular, I'm wondering if the "Choose your Champion" tagline is going to mean something down the line, be it through something similar to Lieutenants or a return to the Champion mechanic itself.
I'm... not particularly thrilled by this, although I'm surprised they went for what plenty of players have been asking for instead of Allied Colors (which I'm sure most of us, including me were predicting).
I went all the way to suppress my deck count to 8, while balancing a delicate balance of having each Color represented an equal amount of times across the board, while having each Color Pair also appear once as well (with the exception of WB which got two since 3 tri-colored decks basically meant the need for a pairing to overlap).
I don't think I have the sanity to maintain such a balance if I had to create 4-Colored decks, considering each 4-Color is essentially 6 Color Pairs as well as 4 Shard/Wedge combinations as well. No easy way around it since any shard/wedge would naturally have at least 1 Color Pair overlap with a 4-Colored Deck, so to maintain a shard/wedge equality across the board while maintaining the same for two-colored and each color is a calculation nightmare.
Hopefully the interesting 4-Color cards happen to be Elementals, so I can throw them into Horde and call it a day instead.
Its going to be interesting to see how these will actually be designed. As above I can only imagine that the commanders will be defined more by what they lack than by what they have but odds on each of the decks becoming 4 colour good stuff instead of having a clearly defined game plan.
Still, it sounds like it could be pretty interesting and opens up another 5 decks I want to make which will hopefully be unique enough to be interesting.
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EDH BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern: RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Each of the nephilim offers a pretty clear and solid build-around idea, but it would be weird to construct the decks like that if the nephilim can't be your commander.
Nephilim errataed to Legendary creatures & reprinted here as such?
On the plus side, this would be a perfect opportunity to give us the full 10 cycles of talisman and the mirage fetches.
I think enemy color decks was really the "perfect" time to make enemy colored talismans and mirage fetches. But of course I wouldn't mind if they did it now.
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.
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
In retrospect, it's kind of obvious how much Maro was dodging the 4-color commander questions on Blogatog.
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Vorthos Cartography - Check out my completed maps of Zendikar and Innistrad!
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
On the plus side, this would be a perfect opportunity to give us the full 10 cycles of talisman and the mirage fetches.
I'm not that big of a fan of "slow" mana so I personally don't care about the mirage fetches. The talismans, on the other hand, would make sweet reprints in my opinion. I'm curious what the gimmick will be this time around. We had commanders that cared about the command zone, planeswalker legal commanders, experience counters, and now what? Maybe more things with 'Converge' like Radiant Flames? I hope we get a little more information relatively soon.
I'm really surprised at this. I thought that a 5-color flight of Commander decks was more likely than 4-color, with 4-color being a much more challenging design task given the total lack of background. At least with 5-color, Slivers, Allies, and Elementals were decks that basically designed themselves. I have no idea where they could go for 4-color. Even when they were released, the Nephilim seemed like totally pointless cards to me. Also as mentioned, I'm still unconvinced that a playable mana base is possible within the budget constraints. I doubt that even Reflecting Pool would fit underneath this price-value criteria. We are talking about 6x tri-lands in a deck, 4x Vivids. Playing 1 turn behind for most of the game, then possibly not being able to play anything.
Quick guess at the themes:
Non-White - Some sort of "evil" theme (basically Grixis)
Non-Green - Undead or some sort of other non-living. (seems like Esper)
Non-Black - Lots of living things, plus Blue (might as well be Naya)
Non-Blue - Lots of sub-human, lower-intelligence life (feels like Jund)
Non-Red - Some sort of civilized, deliberative theme (similar to Bant)
Also, Back to Basics, Blood Moon, Ruination, Wave of Vitriol and so on will be a major source of annoyance for a long time after this.
WUBR:It lacks Green so it will be artifact centric.
WURG:It lacks Black so it might focus in group effort so i bet on token/voltron themed.
UBRG:It lacks White so it goes wild and chaotic focusing in spells and elementals.
WBRG:It lacks Blue so is more brute force and physical strength meaning creatures going big.
WUBG:It lacks Red so a control/stax themed so i bet on enchantments to control the battlefield.
Not really a surprise but also not something I really care about. I'm interested to see if they can make legends that can promote a coherent, non-tribal theme and that's about it. Four color has always seemed like something people want just to fill out numbers, not something that the game has been missing. I'm much more interested in the other legendary creatures and support cards that get made.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
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We see this blurb:
Magic: The Gathering—Commander (2016 Edition) introduces a twist players have long clamored for—four-color legendary commanders. Choose your champion when the latest in the Commander series releases on November 11, 2016.
Welp. No more need for the Nephilims to be your 4CC commander of choice.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Very interesting is to know if "4color" includes colorless now ... as that would be kinda strange if they turn out to be 3 actual colors and colorless.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
These decks have a lot of potential, but I'm very concerned that they will be a big step back from the last few years. Particularly in their playability out of the box and the ease with which they can be upgraded.
The only way these could have a functional mana-base out of the box is if they're packed with hybrid mana casting costs.
Also, the last few sets of decks have contained solid unifying themes. I can't really picture that for 4 color.
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
As always it'll be nice to see what gets reprinted/new-art, as well as what new cards/mechanics they introduce. In particular, I'm wondering if the "Choose your Champion" tagline is going to mean something down the line, be it through something similar to Lieutenants or a return to the Champion mechanic itself.
RRR - Bosh's School of Hard(cover) Knocks
I went all the way to suppress my deck count to 8, while balancing a delicate balance of having each Color represented an equal amount of times across the board, while having each Color Pair also appear once as well (with the exception of WB which got two since 3 tri-colored decks basically meant the need for a pairing to overlap).
I don't think I have the sanity to maintain such a balance if I had to create 4-Colored decks, considering each 4-Color is essentially 6 Color Pairs as well as 4 Shard/Wedge combinations as well. No easy way around it since any shard/wedge would naturally have at least 1 Color Pair overlap with a 4-Colored Deck, so to maintain a shard/wedge equality across the board while maintaining the same for two-colored and each color is a calculation nightmare.
Hopefully the interesting 4-Color cards happen to be Elementals, so I can throw them into Horde and call it a day instead.
Still, it sounds like it could be pretty interesting and opens up another 5 decks I want to make which will hopefully be unique enough to be interesting.
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
Nephilim errataed to Legendary creatures & reprinted here as such?
I think enemy color decks was really the "perfect" time to make enemy colored talismans and mirage fetches. But of course I wouldn't mind if they did it now.
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
Click here and check out my Formerly Pauper Cube.
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
"You say 'learn from history,' but that does not mean 'learn the same bull***** the people in history learned alongside phrenology and alchemy.'" - The Blinking Spirit
I'm not that big of a fan of "slow" mana so I personally don't care about the mirage fetches. The talismans, on the other hand, would make sweet reprints in my opinion. I'm curious what the gimmick will be this time around. We had commanders that cared about the command zone, planeswalker legal commanders, experience counters, and now what? Maybe more things with 'Converge' like Radiant Flames? I hope we get a little more information relatively soon.
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Knowledge is Power U [Primer]
R Heartless Hidetsugu - The Art of Ending Games R
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - The Cluster HungersBG
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Quick guess at the themes:
Non-White - Some sort of "evil" theme (basically Grixis)
Non-Green - Undead or some sort of other non-living. (seems like Esper)
Non-Black - Lots of living things, plus Blue (might as well be Naya)
Non-Blue - Lots of sub-human, lower-intelligence life (feels like Jund)
Non-Red - Some sort of civilized, deliberative theme (similar to Bant)
Also, Back to Basics, Blood Moon, Ruination, Wave of Vitriol and so on will be a major source of annoyance for a long time after this.
If they really made 3 distinct 4-color commanders, I'm pretty excited.
Custom Set
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hu9uNBSUt92PwGhvexYlwFvsh6_SJBlEEIUV3H9_XyU/edit?usp=sharing
WUBR:It lacks Green so it will be artifact centric.
WURG:It lacks Black so it might focus in group effort so i bet on token/voltron themed.
UBRG:It lacks White so it goes wild and chaotic focusing in spells and elementals.
WBRG:It lacks Blue so is more brute force and physical strength meaning creatures going big.
WUBG:It lacks Red so a control/stax themed so i bet on enchantments to control the battlefield.