Tough question, as there are sooo many great choices. If you would have asked me a couple years ago, I would likely have said Eternal Witness, because I love value/etb creatures and it's hard to beat the value of getting to Regrow the best/most relevant card in your graveyard (and that art ain't too shabby, either!). I started playing around Onslaught Block, and by the time Fifth Dawn came out, I was totally hooked and deep into the game and realized what an amazing, open-ended creature Witness was - especially when abused by repeated usage through things like (at the time) Crystal Shard.
Fast forward to now, and I think I would have to say currently my favorite card is Deadeye Navigator for many of the same reasons. Like I said, I love value, and Navigator is the undisputed king of pushing value to the max. Not surprisingly, Navigator is amazing with Witness among many, many, many others. It's a subtly powerful card that is open-ended and synergizes with so many different creatures it's ridiculous. From creating infinite mana with Palinchron, to drawing masses of cards with Mulldrifter, tutoring whatever you need with Rune-Scarred Demon, littering the board with greenery via Avenger of Zendikar, pumping your team to hilariously large sizes with Craterhoof Behemoth, bouncing everything with Venser, Shaper Savant, or simply acting as a bodyguard for an important creature; Navigator does it all, turning even the humblest of Coiling Oracles into incredible card-advantage machines. He enables so much fun stuff (and a lot of less-than-fun stuff, as well, depending on which side of the table you're sitting on) that he gets my vote for favorite Magic card...at least for now.
(p.s. Can you tell I play mostly Commander? )
He's referring to the fact that Prophet is now banned in the only format in which it was heavily played (Commander).
Granted, it's still not an OP combo or anything, because Prophet only untaps creatures and lands, so you still only get one activation per turn cycle without a lot of added effort (Key, Kiora's Follower and the like). Seedborn Muse would be a better combo (and it's still legal).
One interesting side note: Topplegeist- You've come a long way, Suntail Hawk (or, more accurately, Lantern Kami).
By special request (sort of), I present my Angry Omnath deck.
For now, this is mostly just for future reference. This deck has yet to be tested in a multiplayer game (but has done pretty well in dueling tests), and the current list is quite in-flux and not solidified/tuned. The card advantage is almost there, but still a little sketchy. The burst damage potential can get silly, but it lacks in non-damage-based interactivity...as-is.
It's sort-of a budget list, in that I'm only using stuff I already own unless it's super-cheap (hence the lack of Taiga, Cradle, Exploration, Sylvan Library, etc).
Anyway, I'll save the chitchat for a later date and just post the list for now. BBL.
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Animist's Awakening
1 Tempt with Vengeance
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Farseek
1 Life from the Loam
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Rampant Growth
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Comet Storm
1 Starstorm
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Fervor
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Cultivate
1 Elemental Bond
1 Harrow
1 Journey of Discovery
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Wood Elves
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Genesis Wave
1 Seer's Sundial
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Parallel Lives
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Greater Good
1 Harmonize
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Garruk's Packleader
1 Where Ancients Tread
1 Perilous Forays
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Titania, Protector of Argoth
1 Zendikar's Roil
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Spitebellows
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Nissa's Renewal
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Verdant Confluence
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Mountain Valley
1 Wooded Foothill
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Command Tower
1 Cinder Glade
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Raging Ravine
1 Gruul Turf
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Encroaching Wastes
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 High Market
8 Mountain
12 Forest
Excuse the lazy layout. I'll eventually spiff it up and add more commentary, "maybeboard", breakdown by function, witty deck subtitle, etc.
More ramp:
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Font of Fertility
1 Explore
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Dawntreader Elk
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Summer Bloom
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Into the Wilds
1 Peregrination
1 Ranger's Path
1 Reap and Sow
1 Silverglade Elemental
I've strayed away from more traditional mana ramp like Sol Ring and friends, Birds of Paradise, etc. in favor of more spells that put lands in play (as my playgroup tends to avoid most mass LD). This ensures that my ramp is always relevant in the late game, providing more landfall triggers while remaining mostly immune to collateral damage from sweepers hitting artifacts and/or creatures (related aside- Sol Ring was also excluded because so far, I have only been able to test this deck in duels; for multiplayer, it's probably just too good to not find a spot for).
Also hoping to pick up a Mina and Denn, Wildborn soon. I'll definitely have to make room for that.
More sweepers:
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Pyroclasm
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Firespout
1 Rough // Tumble
1 Chain Reaction
1 Street Spasm
1 Vandalblast
1 Tornado Elemental
I initially had omitted Disaster Radius because I didn't expect to reliably have a relevant creature in my hand; but after my next round of changes, I might have to do a pass on creature density to decide if it would be worth adding.
Random stuff:
1 Doubling Season
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Cyclops of Eternal Fury
1 Flamekin Harbinger
1 Skarrg Guildmage
1 Clan Defiance
1 Beast Within
1 Krosan Grip
1 Atarka's Command
1 Hydra Broodmaster
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Acidic Slime
1 Stranglehold
1 Blood Moon
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 War Cadence
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Grazing Gladeheart
1 Rude Awakening
1 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Purphuros, God of the Forge
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Regal Force
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
I haven't included several of the go-to green goodstuff tutors like Tooth and Nail and Green Sun's Zenith for a handful of different reasons ranging from laziness, to not really having too many key game-winning creatures to tutor for (granted adding Craterhoof to compliment the Avenger I'm already running easily validates the slot, albeit overdone), to choosing to build around theme and function other than simply playing the objectively good cards, as well as attempting to branch out and play different things besides the same cards and combos that I play in a myriad of other EDH decks. That said, if something cute isn't working, I'm not opposed to improvement and change.
Non-basics:
Cycling lands (Tranquil Thicket et al,)Temple of the False God, Flamekin Village, Command Beacon seems like a no-brainer, possibly Valakut + Thespian's Stage (but that would really make me want to pick up a Scapeshift + Prismatic Omen), maybe Oran-Rief, ...that's all off the top of my head.
Disclaimer: I can't go too crazy on the non-basics because the majority of my ramp necessitates plenty of basic lands.
1/29/16:
Paleoloth out, Greenwarden of Murasa in
Skarrg, the Rage Pits out, Cinder Glade in
It's late, so I'm gonna forego the chit-chat and just post the decklist. I'll eventually come back later and edit in a proper write-up, revisions, etc.
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Karn Liberated
1 Contagion Engine
1 The Chain Veil
1 Winter Orb
1 Stasis
1 Propaganda
1 Meishin, the Mind Cage
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Trinket Mage
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Archaeomancer
1 Sakashima the Imposter
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Palinchron
1 Rite of Replication
1 Sphinx of Magosi
1 Lorthos, the Tidecaller
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Spell Burst
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Remand
1 Turn to Frog
1 Counterspell
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Capsize
1 Fuel for the Cause
1 Rewind
1 Expedition Map
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Fabricate
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Mind Stone
1 Sky Diamond
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Unstable Obelisk
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Codex Shredder
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Mindslaver
27 Island
1 Halimar Depths
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Remote Isle
1 Coral Atoll
1 Tolaria West
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Academy Ruins
I believe he means "mana of any color" as in what Birds of Paradise taps for.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/rise-kozilek-2015-12-09
TIL: Jarad is Irish. X)
OT: finally, a Commander in this set I'm actually sorta excited about (other than maybe Kaseto for Tiny Leaders)!
Dromoka might disapprove. X)
Yeah, seems like that's the case. In doing a very brief and by no means exhaustive search, it looks like permanents with X in the cost always use some sort of counter to denote X (at least, I can't think of an example off the top of my head that does otherwise). But that seems like an easy enough fix/tweak to the rules. I mean, it's pretty intuitive; at least in Quarantine Field's case. I wouldn't think anyone would forget what they paid for X by the time the etb trigger resolves. And since it's a set amount of permanents exiled, it's not like there would be any additional book keeping or way to screw up the Ltb trigger. Seems mostly unnecessary, but I could see where it might be an issue with other cards (i.e. an enchantment that let's you gain X life per upkeep or something), but those would be the cases where you would just template it with the counters like normal.
Obviously, they've got a lot of smart dudes working on rules interactions and templating, so they must have had a good reason for it (meaning permanent spells not being able to remember the value of X for simple interactions like etb triggers without using random counters) despite the feeling that it's an unnecessary level of complexity that requires additional wordiness on certain cards.
meh, anyway. sorry for getting off-topic. Just something that randomly popped in my head. I'll shut up and go to bed now.
I'd expect a Magus of the Ancestors (because Magus of the Recall sounds stupid...Magus of Recollection? nah, still sounds dumb) before they printed another easily-abusable Time Walk. Granted they would probably just add the exile rider they've been putting on all the recent Time Walks and/or make him like 8 mana or something. : /
Mmmmm...Magus of Balance, tho.
except for when you want to exile more than one permanent for each opponent, or one particular guy has all the threatening permanents on the table, or you need to deal with a certain permanent or two, but don't want to piss off the rest of the table simply because you have to exile one of their permanents. It's only better than QF up to the point where the number of must-deal-with threats exceeds the number of opponents you are facing.
I wouldn't say that qualifies as putting it to shame. Certainly stronger in the right situation (especially early game), but in no way strictly better or anything. Scaling effects are very powerful in the format.
Speaking of Quarantine Field, and I'm not sure why I am just now thinking of this, but is there really any need for the isolation counter mumbo jumbo? Would it not function exactly the same (and be a bit less wordy) if it simply said "when ~ etb, exile X target nonland permanents..."? Just seems to me like the counter bit is completely unnecessary. Flavor, I guess?