Love the Commanders included and really good reprints but at least imo this has the biggest number of duds so far. Guardian Archon is pretty terrible in any deck that isn't centered around blinking and even then it's just fine, Promise of Loyalty is really fun but underwhelming unless you're going Voltron (which could be a direction to take Breena since she's evasive and grows very fast but the deck doesn't really supports it), Bold Plagiarist relies on your opponents and even when it gets rolling it's just a beeg/huge creature without inherent evasion, Cunning Rhetoric is one of those cards that is much better in 1v1 and will probably be a fun card for Cubes but pretty crappy in Commander itself and Tempting Contract is way overpriced for a card that does nothing if either your opponents don't assist you or if the game has entered the 1v1 stage.
With that said, boy I do love those Commanders. Fain seems lowkey busted, Nils is a cool design and a very powerful political/pillowforting Commander and Felisa is both new space for WB and really fun to build around. Shame she doesn't combos with Rootha, Mercurial Artist, but then again, maybe it's extra flavorful if they don't?
Damn, great stuff all around. Fantastic reprints, exciting new cards, cool new Commanders. The only real misses for me here are Triplicate Titan, both because it's just a big dumb idiot that imitates Wurmcoil Engine and because it's not a Chimera when it totally should be, and the land which is... pretty damn unexciting even as far as Common utility lands goes.
So can multiple of them revive off of a Lesson or just one?
It's a replacement effect. Just like you can't bring back all cards with Dredge off a single replaced draw, you can replace a learned Lesson with only one Phoenix.
A turn 2 , 5/4 can probably be quite annoying in Limited.
Outside of that, its asking for removal right away.
Shame too, since if it was a 5 mana 5/4 that gets a 3 discount at sac, it would be much better and could see play in some Constructed decks. As is, it's Fatal Push / Bloodchief's Thirst fodder.
Cool design. On one hand, 7 mana isn't as much as one would think, as Sultai Ultimatum can attest, and if you have 11+ life when she drops, doubling your mana instantly means you can Alrund's Epiphany or Emergent Ultimatum or just protect her with counterspells and that's probably GG right there.
On the other hand, she's pretty vulnerable, your opponent can respond to the untap trigger with a kill spell and if she ever drops while you have less than 10 life... well she's just a big dumb Verdant Force on wings.
Seems like a powerful card for a specific niche that requires more support than it first seems. And honestly, I think that's a good thing. The fact she's very powerful in Commander and a Golgari card that isn't about filling your graveyard for profit is also great.
God I hate those equipments whose equip cost is the same as the casting cost. Makes it so awkward to fit it into your earlygame curve that the Quill might as well be a 4-drop. Don't think there's any B deck that wants an equipment either, so despite it being a fine card, it feels like the perfect blend of awkwardness to be unplayable in Constructed imo.
Hunt for Specimens, on the other hand, might be playable. Think of it as a Dusk Legion Zealot that gains you life instead of losing 1. Zealot was very much playable, though mostly in Vampire decks. Are the lifegain and Magecraft triggers enough to make it playable?
Cool card. Village Rites costs 1 less and has no life loss attached though, so if you want this to be good, you either need a lot of sac fodder or have Magecraft triggers for extra value. As the card art implies, this is great with Extus, as sacking is a cost and Extus's Magecraft triggers will happen after your creatures hit the bin, essentially making this "free" aside the tempo loss.
Never forget that "Connect With the Forbidden" doesn't require you to sacrifice anything in order to draw a card. I feel more comfortable with this card than Village Rites as a result.
Use a card and 2 mana to lose 1 life and draw a card is cycling, except worse and with one Magecraft trigger. It's a fine card but there's a reason Neutralize is no Counterspell - that 1 extra mana matters a lot and cycling isn't enough to make up for it.
Oriq Warlock is like a riskier Gravebreaker Lamia. Both have a decent body and can Entomb something at Turn 5, but Oriq Warlock can do it multiple times... assuming it survives. If it dies immediately, it does squat. Lamia on the other hand gives you all the benefit up front and comes with a better Lifelinking body, but it's not repeatable. Seeing how Lamia is not exactly setting Standard ablaze, I'll assume the Warlock is also a Commander card only. And with them being Commander cards... the correct answer is "why not both?".
Cool card. Village Rites costs 1 less and has no life loss attached though, so if you want this to be good, you either need a lot of sac fodder or have Magecraft triggers for extra value. As the card art implies, this is great with Extus, as sacking is a cost and Extus's Magecraft triggers will happen after your creatures hit the bin, essentially making this "free" aside the tempo loss.
This seems atrociously bad. 4 mana 2/2 is a terrible ratio, even if it comes with an almost-cantrip attached to it. And the third effect... I mean, if you have like the perfect Magic Christmas Land hand and get like three of them at the bin third turn and cast three Guiding Voices (with a creature target of course)... it's still terrible and you'd rather be using Arclight Phoenix instead.
Ah, so here's Lukka and his bonded fox. The "touch fluffy tail" jokes pretty much write themselves so I won't even bother. Love how Mila being the front side so she can cheat a "can be your Commander" clause on Lukka. And it's a good thing too, because Commander seems to be the best home for both. Mila cantripping on removal is nice but doesn't change the fact that most of the time she's just a 2/3 for 3, while Lukka seems way too expensive for any strategy that isn't winning instantly with that -2.
Killian on the other hand seems really pushed for Constructed. Simple and elegant design that leads itself to many applications, be it aggressively casting removal cheaper, casting Auras at a discount or storming off with Runes and Runeforge Champion. 10/10 design for me.
Mavinda is also a cool design. A bit too forced on the "hey look guys we're making White good in Commander!" side but still, it's mono-White spellslinger. How cool is that.
I would have guessed it was Witherbloom Day judging by the way they were moving through the colors, but I guess they always save black/green for last just to make me wait longer.
Same, but apparently Witherbloom is somewhat relevant to the story, since apparently their knowledge of life and death are the reasons why Liliana is in Strixhaven on the first place. Maybe they moved Witherbloom to the last day to be able to provide a steady supply of story spotlights.
It is, but in the other hand paying 5 mana, killing a thing and pumping a creature to get a favorable attack/block is a HUGE blowout. Like, "pretty much win the game on the spot at Limited" huge. Either way, it's premium removal and a fantastic design + flavor but probably not quite there for Constructed.
With that said, boy I do love those Commanders. Fain seems lowkey busted, Nils is a cool design and a very powerful political/pillowforting Commander and Felisa is both new space for WB and really fun to build around. Shame she doesn't combos with Rootha, Mercurial Artist, but then again, maybe it's extra flavorful if they don't?
On the other hand, she's pretty vulnerable, your opponent can respond to the untap trigger with a kill spell and if she ever drops while you have less than 10 life... well she's just a big dumb Verdant Force on wings.
Seems like a powerful card for a specific niche that requires more support than it first seems. And honestly, I think that's a good thing. The fact she's very powerful in Commander and a Golgari card that isn't about filling your graveyard for profit is also great.
Hunt for Specimens, on the other hand, might be playable. Think of it as a Dusk Legion Zealot that gains you life instead of losing 1. Zealot was very much playable, though mostly in Vampire decks. Are the lifegain and Magecraft triggers enough to make it playable?
Killian on the other hand seems really pushed for Constructed. Simple and elegant design that leads itself to many applications, be it aggressively casting removal cheaper, casting Auras at a discount or storming off with Runes and Runeforge Champion. 10/10 design for me.
Mavinda is also a cool design. A bit too forced on the "hey look guys we're making White good in Commander!" side but still, it's mono-White spellslinger. How cool is that.