On the one hand, I'm glad they decided to do an art refresh for the elf, but on the other hand, I find the art bland and somewhat comical. "Oh, I'm an elf ranger, and I'm in a L'Oreal commercial."
Had a bit of a strange idea for a crow/magpie commander. I originally wanted it to be combat with fliers = discard, but I think this works a bit better.
Arvoc, Treasure Thief 2UB
Legendary Creature - Bird
Flying
Whenever three or more creatures with flying you control deal combat damage, create a Treasure token.
As long as you control three or more artifacts or have three or more artifacts in your graveyard, creatures with flying you control get +1/+1.
2/2
I know that the Black doesn't show here except in the graveyard, but I am adamant that for flavor reasons, any bird depicted as a corvid should be both Blue and Black, in the same way that Owls are depicted as being Blue and White.
I kind of like the fact that it has a near permanent anthem effect if the conditions are met, but that might be too strong, even with the hoops you have to jump through to turn it on. The mana cost might have to go up by 1 (because it is so wordy), but if that's the case, I think an extra point of toughness would make that worth it.
Felisa, because Edgar Markov needed to be even stronger.
Felisa cares about nontoken creatures with counters on them dying, which then generate tokens, and Edgar makes tokens that get counters. Yeah, they're both vamps, but their intersectionality seems very limited to me.
Edgar makes tokens when you play non-tokens, and he typically runs a lot of them. A whole deck, in fact. I'd say that's about as much intersectionality as it gets.
I think that's a bit of a stretch. Their game plans will work against each other rather than with one another. Edgar wants you to play vampires, which will make you token vampires, all the while slowly increasing the power of your army. Felisa requires that you play some sort of suicide aggro/counters matter deck that will reward you with tokens. Orzhov counters isn't exactly a well-supported archetype - you have cards that care about counters in both White and Black, but this is new territory.
This deck looks like a PITA to play against. Too much to remember about who can attack who and who can't attack someone. I'll politely not want to play against this. Magic is supposed to be fun.
Dude, all the cards stop aggression just toward the player of this deck. I’m not seeing anything that stops attacks against any other player.
While that's true, what is the end game of this type of play? What are you going to be doing that will ensure you win by keeping attackers away from you? Are there any combos present in the deck?
Felisa, because Edgar Markov needed to be even stronger.
Felisa cares about nontoken creatures with counters on them dying, which then generate tokens, and Edgar makes tokens that get counters. Yeah, they're both vamps, but their intersectionality seems very limited to me.
So it seems like the majority of cards in this deck are not so much political as they are pillow fort variants. It's not about "if you let me do this, there's something in it for you too", it's about "Your opponents are the other two, not me".
There's something quite unappealing about your commander deck being built on an abundance of non-interaction and defense.
Scholarship Sponsor seems like great land ramp hate. If it sees play, it might lead to a trend of increased use of mana rocks.
I can see Shadrix Silverquill getting better with some of the cards in this deck, particularly the bird that stops Inklings from attacking you.
Couple things:
Why was Nils not given art by Nils Hamm?
Fain looks exactly like Loki.
I'm actually mildly disappointed with this deck. Fain is about the most exciting thing I see in it, as a Trading Post on a stick. Felisa is sort of okay, I guess, but it seems messy to mash together tokens, counters, and aggro strategies onto one card.
Yeah, toss down an asceticism and you're good to go.
Nope - Asceticism grants hexproof which makes Ruxa unhappy.
Does this actually imply the Oracle text of Asceticism is functional errata? The original wording does not read that your creatures get hexproof. To me that would be:
"Creatures you control have "This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.""
Instead it just says your creatures can't be targeted.
No, an inability to be targeted would be Shroud, not Hexproof.
In any case "X is unable to be targeted by spells and abilities your opponents control" and Hexproof are one and the same, because the rules text for Hexproof is exactly that.
For example, Privileged Position used to read "Other permanents you control can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control". When the Guild decks came out a few years ago, the card was reprinted, only it now read "Other permanents you control have hexproof". Same card, different wording, but same ability.
Ruxa isn't so much a Bear tribal card as a Vanilla tribal card. Which, I think, is a first. Not sure how to feel about that. If this had been in Strixhaven, it might've been more useful during Drafts and such, but even then it's...weird. It's...Stompy without Trample because you can just deal damage even if you're chump blocked. Really weird direction they went in with this.
It'll be the cheapest Green deck you ever throw together. None of the cards needed for it are staples or bank-breaking. The only problem is that if you use a card that gives your creatures protection or indestructible or hexproof, it'll switch off Ruxa entirely that turn. Regenerating them is a better bet.
Kinda want to just throw my hands up and go "Screw this place and all this convoluted BS."
But...
Kinda wanna stay, since this is kind of the biggest MTG forum out there.
Decisions, decisions...
Also, the art on this is the creepiest I've seen in a long while. I'm getting major Hellraiser vibes here.
They could've made it instant speed, and turned that upside on the end into "you lose life equal to its mana cost/number of counters/whatever".
Arvoc, Treasure Thief
2UB
Legendary Creature - Bird
Flying
Whenever three or more creatures with flying you control deal combat damage, create a Treasure token.
As long as you control three or more artifacts or have three or more artifacts in your graveyard, creatures with flying you control get +1/+1.
2/2
I know that the Black doesn't show here except in the graveyard, but I am adamant that for flavor reasons, any bird depicted as a corvid should be both Blue and Black, in the same way that Owls are depicted as being Blue and White.
I kind of like the fact that it has a near permanent anthem effect if the conditions are met, but that might be too strong, even with the hoops you have to jump through to turn it on. The mana cost might have to go up by 1 (because it is so wordy), but if that's the case, I think an extra point of toughness would make that worth it.
I am quite partial to that Blood Crypt.
I think that's a bit of a stretch. Their game plans will work against each other rather than with one another. Edgar wants you to play vampires, which will make you token vampires, all the while slowly increasing the power of your army. Felisa requires that you play some sort of suicide aggro/counters matter deck that will reward you with tokens. Orzhov counters isn't exactly a well-supported archetype - you have cards that care about counters in both White and Black, but this is new territory.
While that's true, what is the end game of this type of play? What are you going to be doing that will ensure you win by keeping attackers away from you? Are there any combos present in the deck?
Felisa cares about nontoken creatures with counters on them dying, which then generate tokens, and Edgar makes tokens that get counters. Yeah, they're both vamps, but their intersectionality seems very limited to me.
There's something quite unappealing about your commander deck being built on an abundance of non-interaction and defense.
Scholarship Sponsor seems like great land ramp hate. If it sees play, it might lead to a trend of increased use of mana rocks.
I can see Shadrix Silverquill getting better with some of the cards in this deck, particularly the bird that stops Inklings from attacking you.
Why was Nils not given art by Nils Hamm?
Fain looks exactly like Loki.
I'm actually mildly disappointed with this deck. Fain is about the most exciting thing I see in it, as a Trading Post on a stick. Felisa is sort of okay, I guess, but it seems messy to mash together tokens, counters, and aggro strategies onto one card.
No, an inability to be targeted would be Shroud, not Hexproof.
In any case "X is unable to be targeted by spells and abilities your opponents control" and Hexproof are one and the same, because the rules text for Hexproof is exactly that.
For example, Privileged Position used to read "Other permanents you control can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control". When the Guild decks came out a few years ago, the card was reprinted, only it now read "Other permanents you control have hexproof". Same card, different wording, but same ability.
It's the most Timmy card I've ever seen. And yet I find myself wanting to play with it. Leatherback Baloth, Gigantosaurus, Kalonian Tusker, etc, etc...
It'll be the cheapest Green deck you ever throw together. None of the cards needed for it are staples or bank-breaking. The only problem is that if you use a card that gives your creatures protection or indestructible or hexproof, it'll switch off Ruxa entirely that turn. Regenerating them is a better bet.
Monologue Tax is so wretched it doesn't even deserve the effort of a scathing critique.
They missed a trick here not reprinting the Ruby and Pearl Medallions. Would've much preferred them (or even one of them) to another Daretti reprint.