I wonder if White could end up as the color to play around with Commander Damage? They care about combat, they care about "fairness," and they definitely care about building up and protecting creatures, so it feels like it would be in their wheelhouse.
That's an interesting idea, and something I don't actually think wotc has explored at all, despite jumping into a lot of other areas of commander design space. I could see something like a legend, creature, or enchantment that let all your creatures deal commander damage, or all creatures of a certain type. Maybe even something that reduced the required commander damage for opponents.
it's fine I think, nowhere near as good as the Boros one,
...and when did we think we'd ever be seeing THAT said about any commander deck ever? I'm happy to see it!
I like how Prismari got two suspend cards, one in each color, and Lorehold got two landcyclers. I'm betting each deck will get dual cards with a different mechanic.
I do believe Demonstrate validates my guess vis-a-vis Gavin's hints:
There is a red creature with flash that, upon entering the battlefield, casts a popular, old multiplayer spell.
Chain Lightning, probably in the prismari deck. I'm ready to receive all your cookies.
I don't think that follows at all. Chain lightning isn't a popular multiplayer card - it's an iconic old burn spell that inspired the "chain of" cycle, which probably inspired this "demonstrate" mechanic. But a lightning bolt with demonstrate, or a creature that casts a lightning bolt with demonstrate when it enters the battlefield, isn't chain lightning. The "copy for me, copy for you" on demonstrate is not chain lightning's RR to copy effect. And demonstrate seems like it was clearly designed to be the marquee commander-focused mechanic that we get a cycle of practically every year - while it is possible the red demonstrate spell would be a simple lightning bolt, that seems a little boring and wouldn't be tied to a creature.
Seriously, why is white's the only one to not add a keyword? I get that Angel tokens in this set are all Serra Angels, but the equipment still should have provided flying or vigilance to the equipped creature. I guess 5WW for a 6/5 Angel with vigilance and flying is somewhat on par for an uncommon geared towards limited. I mean, the Dwarf one only gives you a 5/1 with trample for 4R, which is pretty bad, imho.
I disagree with this card evaluation. The white one is pretty strong - the "creature mode" is late game only, but a very powerful creature. And the equipment mode is a real bonus; +2/+1 is STRONG with flyers, tramplers and lifelinkers.
The blue and black ones are great, but the white one is third in my opinion. +1/+2 and reach is not nearly as great of a bonus, making the green "equipment only" mode pretty weak in my book. And you guys are overrating a 2/3 reach for 2G. The red one seems worst as a creature but good as an equipment.
edit: I think my standings are the as a creature, the white one is about middle of the pack, as an equipment it is near the top of the pack (probably second to red). The blue one is great as a creature but probably the worst as an equipment. The red, white, and black equipments turn any creature into a legit threat (though the black one is very expensive to do so). The blue one doesn't do much of anything unless it is equipping something that is already sizeable and threatening.
I really like that part of the power of this card and foretell is the bluffing nature of it. When an agro deck is against a UWx control deck that uses turn 2 to foretell they have to respect that their board could be wiped next turn, but if they take a turn off they are playing into the counter, Raven Form, (the murder if in black) or the scry 2 and draw.
I like that they basically cycle if you just want to target a land or whatever.
Yeah, people are underrating this aspect. A 2 mana "draw a card" that sticks around to be sacrificed to doom foretold or something else, and/or that activates your enchantment/constellation synergies is alone enough to maybe be worth it in some cases.
I expect that b/w doom foretold would at least want to experiment with running a runeforge champion and an on-color rune or two.
Great design! You get a huge trade up in mana efficiency, but may have to make some decisions on how you play it. But added usefulness for aggressive blue decks, or against low power creatures with tap abilities.
That elf is way more busted than the lame sphinx. One of the most powerful elves I've seen
Really? I don't think the elf makes the cut in my elf deck. Very little immediate impact for 6 mana.
Thinking commander, I should have specified, my mistake. Not nearly as good in duels obv.
I meant commander too, actually. Sure, a life and a 1/1 each upkeep is nice, and the promise of more life if you churn out more elves is good, but on a 4/4 body for 6 mana I'm just not thrilled. There are a lot of awesome elves and I don't think this will get a spot in my deck where my larger spells are either refilling my hand or ending the game like a craterhoof.
Each of these drawing a card goes a long way toward making them all decent, and the tutor dwarf kinda sweet. Not busted or anything, but could be playable.
The recruiter isn't ETB anything. It has to attack to use the boast, and that's a very expensive boast. I don't think I like it, but I could see how it could grind out an opponent in a longer/slower game.
It's not three Mana, it's five over two turns. Pretty mediocre.
LOL.
This card is fantastic. Plenty of times when control will be happy to just play the 5-mana wrath when it needs it. But this can be a turn 3 wrath, or a turn whenever wrath that leaves you with more mana up afterward.
That land art is glorious. Also cool to see that the saga art is actually a tattoo. (Though maaaybe a little creepy in light of current events in the US involving people who happen to have tattoos celebrating certain atrocities or the groups that perpetrated such atrocities...)
That's an interesting idea, and something I don't actually think wotc has explored at all, despite jumping into a lot of other areas of commander design space. I could see something like a legend, creature, or enchantment that let all your creatures deal commander damage, or all creatures of a certain type. Maybe even something that reduced the required commander damage for opponents.
...and when did we think we'd ever be seeing THAT said about any commander deck ever? I'm happy to see it!
I like how Prismari got two suspend cards, one in each color, and Lorehold got two landcyclers. I'm betting each deck will get dual cards with a different mechanic.
I don't think that follows at all. Chain lightning isn't a popular multiplayer card - it's an iconic old burn spell that inspired the "chain of" cycle, which probably inspired this "demonstrate" mechanic. But a lightning bolt with demonstrate, or a creature that casts a lightning bolt with demonstrate when it enters the battlefield, isn't chain lightning. The "copy for me, copy for you" on demonstrate is not chain lightning's RR to copy effect. And demonstrate seems like it was clearly designed to be the marquee commander-focused mechanic that we get a cycle of practically every year - while it is possible the red demonstrate spell would be a simple lightning bolt, that seems a little boring and wouldn't be tied to a creature.
I disagree with this card evaluation. The white one is pretty strong - the "creature mode" is late game only, but a very powerful creature. And the equipment mode is a real bonus; +2/+1 is STRONG with flyers, tramplers and lifelinkers.
The blue and black ones are great, but the white one is third in my opinion. +1/+2 and reach is not nearly as great of a bonus, making the green "equipment only" mode pretty weak in my book. And you guys are overrating a 2/3 reach for 2G. The red one seems worst as a creature but good as an equipment.
edit: I think my standings are the as a creature, the white one is about middle of the pack, as an equipment it is near the top of the pack (probably second to red). The blue one is great as a creature but probably the worst as an equipment. The red, white, and black equipments turn any creature into a legit threat (though the black one is very expensive to do so). The blue one doesn't do much of anything unless it is equipping something that is already sizeable and threatening.
Exactly.
Yeah, people are underrating this aspect. A 2 mana "draw a card" that sticks around to be sacrificed to doom foretold or something else, and/or that activates your enchantment/constellation synergies is alone enough to maybe be worth it in some cases.
I expect that b/w doom foretold would at least want to experiment with running a runeforge champion and an on-color rune or two.
I meant commander too, actually. Sure, a life and a 1/1 each upkeep is nice, and the promise of more life if you churn out more elves is good, but on a 4/4 body for 6 mana I'm just not thrilled. There are a lot of awesome elves and I don't think this will get a spot in my deck where my larger spells are either refilling my hand or ending the game like a craterhoof.
The recruiter isn't ETB anything. It has to attack to use the boast, and that's a very expensive boast. I don't think I like it, but I could see how it could grind out an opponent in a longer/slower game.
Really? I don't think the elf makes the cut in my elf deck. Very little immediate impact for 6 mana.
LOL.
This card is fantastic. Plenty of times when control will be happy to just play the 5-mana wrath when it needs it. But this can be a turn 3 wrath, or a turn whenever wrath that leaves you with more mana up afterward.