Cool mechanic. It's the perfect progression from split cards. The bant one is pretty neat, but we'll have to see if there are any rare ones that aren't 8 mana.
Force of Will isn't honestly a bad choice. It's price has been relatively stable with eBay completed listings has been $50-55 range for a long time. Considering they reprinted Loyal Retainers and Imperial Recruiter in premium products, I don't see a major problem with reprinting Force of Will.
There is an Orzhov event deck on Reddit with a similar style of misprinting, albeit on much worse cards. That one was completely miscut, but the cutting got worse as the sheet progressed. Your particular deck is still unique...but be on the lookout for others.
Hey guys, I'm excited to post my ideas and list for Zegana. I think it is different enough to the others
When I started playing Commander, the second deck I attempted to build was Multani, Maro-Sorcerer. I quickly fell in love with mono green, and now it is my baby, sitting currently at around 80% foiled. A main strategy I quickly developed was the massive draw plan: I used Greater Good, Momentous Fall, and (later) Garruk, Primal Hunter on Multani to draw a crap-ton of cards and win the game.
Fast forward to now, Zegana gets spoiled and I get real happy. My favorite strategy in Multani, now collapsed into one Commander! Sure, it takes other creatures to work properly but that isn't too big of a problem for me.
So we know we need some big creatures, some ramp to get there, and some good utility spells (like counters and such). Now that we have Zegana on the field and a million cards in hand, now what?
First things first, we ensure that we can keep our hand. We have Venser's Journal, Library of Leng, Reliquary Tower, and potentially Tamiyo's emblem and Praetor's Counsel to ensure that.
Second, we have Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant. When you have 14+ cards in hand, it is really easy to end up with 7 lands to flip Sasaya. For her cost, she is easily the most hardcore mana "doubler" ever printed. After landing here, Genesis Wave is an easy way to seal the deal.
Finally, we have Eureka and Hypergenesis. When your hand has a billion more cards than everyone else's, these are pretty one-sided, especially with Akroma's Memorial and Concordant Crossroads to beat in the same turn. A plethora of free counterspells ensure that we can resolve what we need to without having to waste mana
Is this supposed to be one of those examples for bad cards existing to make other cards good?
While the old adage of "well, at least it is good in EDH" is code for "the card is bad", this card actually is decent in EDH (and making it not such a skill tester as many think this card is). There is no such thing as too many tutors for Commander.
There is my list. The detain and populate on-upkeep enchantments won games all over the place. Soulsworn Spirit was a boss (as expected) and Skymark Roc did a lot of work too. I was a bit worried that I didn't quite have the powerful token makers to make the best out of Growing Ranks, but it turned out alright.
Round 1: Played against a guy running 5-color...not a good sign. I populate some 8/8 elementals with Growing Ranks Game 1 and run over him Game 2 when he gets mana-flooded.
Round 2: This guy was straight Azorius. Martial Law plus fliers and Soulsworn Spirit get the job done Game 1 and he gets mana-screwed and Martial-Lawed out of Game 2.
Round 3: Next round is straight Rakdos. I lose to a turn 4 Desecration Demon Game 1. Game 2, I mull into 5 lands and Aerial Predation. He lands the T4 Demon again, but this time I smile and beat him down with Skymark Roc. Game 3, the game goes very long and his discard rips the Horncaller's Chant and Eyes in the Skies out of my hand before I can populate with Growing Ranks. I finally get my Centaur's Herald and let the board state stall with Palisade Giant until I alpha with 6 3/3 Centaurs.
Round 4: I'm 3-0 and hopeful for the win into first place. My opponent is on Grixis with the Izzet pack. Game 1, I get stuck on two lands while he beats me down with Belltower Sphinx. Game 2, he dies to my fliers before he can get anything going. Game 3 is a nail-biter: I get stuck on 3 Plains and 1 Island, but I draw my Griffins, Soulsworn Spirit, and Martial Law. I'm left with my Soulsworn Spirit against his increasing board state of unleash dudes. He uses his Daggerdrome Imp and Traitorous Instinct to gain some life to avoid dying. I get very lucky and kill him one turn away from his critical turn. The very frustrating thing about this game was the lack of Forests: my hand quickly filled with green cards and there was a 4-turn window where I could have killed him with Giant Growth if I drew a Forest.
Round 5: Yay, I can draw for 1st! My other 4-0 is a Jund opponent with the Golgari pack. I think that Growing Ranks with his good buddy Grove of the Guadian makes and an appearance Game 1 despite my slight mana screw. Game two is dominated by both Soulsworn and Martial Law after much trading and dealing with the multitude of scavenging dudes.
Impressions: I went into the prerelease conflicted: Azorius was touted as the "best" all-round, Selesnya had great support cards for Golgari and Azorius, Izzet had the "best" included bomb in Hypersonic Dragon, a good aggressive Rakdos pool couldn't be beat, and Golgari had the best sealed mechanic in scavenge. It came down to Golgari vs. Selesnya vs. Azorius for me, because my impressions of Izzet and Rakdos were unfavorable in my eyes. I wanted the Golgari promo the most and Golgari was a good base to go in either the red removal from Izzet/Rakdos or the white removal from Selesnya/Azorius. In the end though, I couldn't lock myself out of the blue cards though. Why I went with Selesnya, I don't really know. I'm glad I did, although my rares certainly helped. Growing Ranks is bonkers in Sealed, as is Martial Law. I probably wouldn't draft the populate deck in draft, but the board tends to stall in Sealed and populating every turn with Growing Ranks means the board will break eventually. As for my general enjoyment, I loved the format. The guild pack mechanic was very interesting and thought-provoking, although I hear that some stores got screwed in the prize-support department. I had some intense games too, but luckily I had a deck that had a good late-game strategy. As for my other pulls, I got 2 Overgrown Tombs and bought a third off another player for $5 (his offer). My prize for 4-0-1 was the 2 packs per person and $20 store credit, which I spent on a Liliana of the Veil. I opened a Havoc Festival (meh) and a Counterflux (score! I needed one for my Ruhan Commander list).
I'm picking the rare mostly to see how it plays. My opinion could wildly change in a month, but rares with an uncertain power level make for good learning exercises.
My current list so far. It's cool because I've been wanting to play a straight BR Commander deck for so long but my curve was always too high. Not anymore due to Radkos!
I'm not a big fan of Tim creatures like Cunning Sparkmage. I know why they're here, they activate Rakdos and trigger his discount ability. However, they're really not good without him and even with him, one damage just isn't enough of an impact. I'd recommend Pestilence-style effects over them. Shepherd of Rot is the closest thing to a pinger that I endorse.
To add to this comment, here are the Pestilence effects you might consider:
Another good idea is Vedalken Orrery as sometimes you might not be able to attack anyone, but someone else could attack another player. Orrery would then allow you to cast discounted creatures on your opponent's turn. Finally, Heartless Summoning is a good back-up for Rakdos' cost reduction in case he gets tucked.
Please show me how Painters ends the game on the spot, or Staff. No using 2 card combos, I can show you 100 not on the banned list.
Painter's Servant and Staff broke the "broken due to uniqueness of Commander" tenent since them with Iona and Rofellos (unbanned at the time) were instant "I wins". I'm allowed to use 2-card combos when one is always available.
No, it isn't. I can't even believe that someone would be willing to list those cards with Primeval Titan. Those other cards, when played correctly, end the game on the spot. They create toxic game states and require very specific answers to beat. Primeval Titan doesn't end games like these cards do at all.
So if the group that does the banning says there won't be cascades, and you say there will, who do I think might have better insight? It broke the tennant about warping games into who can control/destroy this thing before it gets out of hand.
It's all about the precedent. The precedent of banning an enabler for being too good at enabling without breaking the other tenents (this is so vitally important, no banned card only breaks this tenent) is terrible and it will be attached to multiple bans in the future, I guarantee that. Primeval Titan is not in this unique position: many format staples skirt the line of not being oppressively-game-ending yet enabling many wins. None of them are safe anymore. I cannot trust the RC anymore.
And every mechanic is a variation of kicker, right?
Cool mechanic. It's the perfect progression from split cards. The bant one is pretty neat, but we'll have to see if there are any rare ones that aren't 8 mana.
Fast forward to now, Zegana gets spoiled and I get real happy. My favorite strategy in Multani, now collapsed into one Commander! Sure, it takes other creatures to work properly but that isn't too big of a problem for me.
First things first, we ensure that we can keep our hand. We have Venser's Journal, Library of Leng, Reliquary Tower, and potentially Tamiyo's emblem and Praetor's Counsel to ensure that.
Second, we have Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant. When you have 14+ cards in hand, it is really easy to end up with 7 lands to flip Sasaya. For her cost, she is easily the most hardcore mana "doubler" ever printed. After landing here, Genesis Wave is an easy way to seal the deal.
Finally, we have Eureka and Hypergenesis. When your hand has a billion more cards than everyone else's, these are pretty one-sided, especially with Akroma's Memorial and Concordant Crossroads to beat in the same turn. A plethora of free counterspells ensure that we can resolve what we need to without having to waste mana
10 Forest
11 Island
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Command Tower
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
//Land/Artifact/Creature Ramp
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Simic Signet
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Urban Evolution
1 Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Mana Reflection
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
//The Boom
1 Concordant Crossroads
1 Hypergenesis
1 Natural Order
1 Eureka
1 Rude Awakening
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Omniscience
1 Mind Spring
1 Genesis Wave
//Creatures
1 Eternal Witness
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Hunted Troll
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Kodama of the North Tree
1 Sturmgeist
1 Psychosis Crawler
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Masumaro, First to Live
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
1 Kalonian Behemoth
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Pact of Negation
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Library of Leng
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Sylvan Library
1 Time of Need
1 Mana Drain
1 Greater Good
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Foil
1 Venser's Journal
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Asceticism
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Mystic Genesis
1 Force of Will
1 Recurring Insight
Please let me know about your ideas/comments, I want to work on this as much as I can. Thanks!
While the old adage of "well, at least it is good in EDH" is code for "the card is bad", this card actually is decent in EDH (and making it not such a skill tester as many think this card is). There is no such thing as too many tutors for Commander.
2 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Transguild Promenade
5 Forest
3 Island
5 Plains
1 Centaur's Herald
1 Gatecreeper Vine
1 Azorius Arrester
2 Axebane Guardian
1 Centaur Healer
1 Tower Drake
2 Sunspire Griffin
1 Selesnya Sentry
2 Soulsworn Spirit
1 Skymark Roc
1 Korozda Monitor
1 Palisade Giant
1 Risen Sanctuary
1 Aerial Predation
1 Growing Ranks
1 Martial Law
1 Eyes in the Skies
1 Trostani's Judgment
1 Horncaller's Chant
There is my list. The detain and populate on-upkeep enchantments won games all over the place. Soulsworn Spirit was a boss (as expected) and Skymark Roc did a lot of work too. I was a bit worried that I didn't quite have the powerful token makers to make the best out of Growing Ranks, but it turned out alright.
Round 1: Played against a guy running 5-color...not a good sign. I populate some 8/8 elementals with Growing Ranks Game 1 and run over him Game 2 when he gets mana-flooded.
Round 2: This guy was straight Azorius. Martial Law plus fliers and Soulsworn Spirit get the job done Game 1 and he gets mana-screwed and Martial-Lawed out of Game 2.
Round 3: Next round is straight Rakdos. I lose to a turn 4 Desecration Demon Game 1. Game 2, I mull into 5 lands and Aerial Predation. He lands the T4 Demon again, but this time I smile and beat him down with Skymark Roc. Game 3, the game goes very long and his discard rips the Horncaller's Chant and Eyes in the Skies out of my hand before I can populate with Growing Ranks. I finally get my Centaur's Herald and let the board state stall with Palisade Giant until I alpha with 6 3/3 Centaurs.
Round 4: I'm 3-0 and hopeful for the win into first place. My opponent is on Grixis with the Izzet pack. Game 1, I get stuck on two lands while he beats me down with Belltower Sphinx. Game 2, he dies to my fliers before he can get anything going. Game 3 is a nail-biter: I get stuck on 3 Plains and 1 Island, but I draw my Griffins, Soulsworn Spirit, and Martial Law. I'm left with my Soulsworn Spirit against his increasing board state of unleash dudes. He uses his Daggerdrome Imp and Traitorous Instinct to gain some life to avoid dying. I get very lucky and kill him one turn away from his critical turn. The very frustrating thing about this game was the lack of Forests: my hand quickly filled with green cards and there was a 4-turn window where I could have killed him with Giant Growth if I drew a Forest.
Round 5: Yay, I can draw for 1st! My other 4-0 is a Jund opponent with the Golgari pack. I think that Growing Ranks with his good buddy Grove of the Guadian makes and an appearance Game 1 despite my slight mana screw. Game two is dominated by both Soulsworn and Martial Law after much trading and dealing with the multitude of scavenging dudes.
Impressions: I went into the prerelease conflicted: Azorius was touted as the "best" all-round, Selesnya had great support cards for Golgari and Azorius, Izzet had the "best" included bomb in Hypersonic Dragon, a good aggressive Rakdos pool couldn't be beat, and Golgari had the best sealed mechanic in scavenge. It came down to Golgari vs. Selesnya vs. Azorius for me, because my impressions of Izzet and Rakdos were unfavorable in my eyes. I wanted the Golgari promo the most and Golgari was a good base to go in either the red removal from Izzet/Rakdos or the white removal from Selesnya/Azorius. In the end though, I couldn't lock myself out of the blue cards though. Why I went with Selesnya, I don't really know. I'm glad I did, although my rares certainly helped. Growing Ranks is bonkers in Sealed, as is Martial Law. I probably wouldn't draft the populate deck in draft, but the board tends to stall in Sealed and populating every turn with Growing Ranks means the board will break eventually. As for my general enjoyment, I loved the format. The guild pack mechanic was very interesting and thought-provoking, although I hear that some stores got screwed in the prize-support department. I had some intense games too, but luckily I had a deck that had a good late-game strategy. As for my other pulls, I got 2 Overgrown Tombs and bought a third off another player for $5 (his offer). My prize for 4-0-1 was the 2 packs per person and $20 store credit, which I spent on a Liliana of the Veil. I opened a Havoc Festival (meh) and a Counterflux (score! I needed one for my Ruhan Commander list).
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Grove of the Guardian
5 Plains
4 Island
7 Forest
White
1 Azorius Arrester
1 Selesnya Sentry
1 Sunspire Griffin
1 Trostani's Judgment
1 Runewing
1 Soulsworn Spirit
1 Stealer of Secrets
1 Tower Drake
Green
1 Archweaver
1 Axebane Guardian
1 Gatecreeper Vine
1 Giant Growth
2 Towering Indrik
1 Druid's Deliverance
1 Aerial Predation
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Azor's Elocutors
1 Centaur Healer
1 Coursers' Accord
2 Selesnya Charm
That would be my list. Pretty light on the fixing unfortunately, but Isperia is worth the splash.
1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
The Lands/Ramp
9 Swamp
6 Mountain
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Shivan Gorge
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Graven Cairns
1 Blood Crypt
1 Badlands
1 Tainted Peak
1 Command Tower
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Sol Ring
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Coalition Relic
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Mindclaw Shaman
1 Heartless Hidetsugu
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Shriekmaw
1 Charmbreaker Devils
1 Duplicant
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Inferno Titan
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Dread Cacodemon
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
The Enablers
1 Shepherd of Rot
1 Sign in Blood
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Heartless Summoning
1 Bitterblossom
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Honden of Infinite Rage
1 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Pestilence
1 Pyrohemia
1 Subversion
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Sorin Markov
1 Staff of Nin
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Animate Dead
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Murder
1 Chaos Warp
1 Ambition's Cost
1 Honden of Night's Reach
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Fumarole
1 Torrent of Souls
1 Cauldron Dance
1 Vicious Shadows
1 Decree of Pain
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Rakdos's Return
My current list so far. It's cool because I've been wanting to play a straight BR Commander deck for so long but my curve was always too high. Not anymore due to Radkos!
To add to this comment, here are the Pestilence effects you might consider:
1 Pyrohemia
1 Thrashing Wumpus
1 Pestilence Demon
Another good idea is Vedalken Orrery as sometimes you might not be able to attack anyone, but someone else could attack another player. Orrery would then allow you to cast discounted creatures on your opponent's turn. Finally, Heartless Summoning is a good back-up for Rakdos' cost reduction in case he gets tucked.
Painter's Servant and Staff broke the "broken due to uniqueness of Commander" tenent since them with Iona and Rofellos (unbanned at the time) were instant "I wins". I'm allowed to use 2-card combos when one is always available.
No, it isn't. I can't even believe that someone would be willing to list those cards with Primeval Titan. Those other cards, when played correctly, end the game on the spot. They create toxic game states and require very specific answers to beat. Primeval Titan doesn't end games like these cards do at all.
It's all about the precedent. The precedent of banning an enabler for being too good at enabling without breaking the other tenents (this is so vitally important, no banned card only breaks this tenent) is terrible and it will be attached to multiple bans in the future, I guarantee that. Primeval Titan is not in this unique position: many format staples skirt the line of not being oppressively-game-ending yet enabling many wins. None of them are safe anymore. I cannot trust the RC anymore.