Continuing with our set reviews, we come to the Arabian Nights set. Arabian Nights marks what I would call the start of the Stone Age as far as Magic design is concerned. We have this wonderful new set of tools that were developed in Alpha, yet they didn't quite know what to do with them. Arabian Nights makes up for what it may lack in adding to Magic technology with its cool top-down, flavor-driven designs.
Arabian Nights has 78 cards (including the infamous Arabain Nights Mountain), and was released in December of 1993 right around the time when Unlimited hit the shelves. So for us, we are looking at only 8 cards to make our Top 10%.
1) City of Brass: The original 5-color land, City of Brass still has some applicability to the 2, 3, and 5 color decks that people love to run, and the life loss is negligible when you start with 40 life. I will say that often times City of Brass may end up getting cut if the player has enough color fixing fetchlands, and especially in green decks with their color fixing spells.
2) Desert Twister: It's expensive, but its so flexible in what it can kill that the extra cost is worth it. It's especillay nice because it gives green access to killing creatures, something that its current color pie status says it shouldn't do very well.
3) Bazaar of Baghdad: Not being able to tap for mana can be a pain, but if your deck is one that wants cards in the graveyard there are very few more efficient ways of doing so that with Bazaar.
4) Diamond Valley: Cheap effects that sacrifice your creatures are very useful in Commander. Making sure that your creatures don't get stolen or exiled is helpful, as if protection you commander from "tuck effects".
5) Drop of Honey: Creature control is definitely not one of green's strong suits, so I am quick to point out when it does get something strong. The fact that this sticks around until the board is clear is also very nice.
6) Guardian Beast: Any deck that runs black and runs a significant number of non-creature artifacts will like having Guardian Beast around.
7) Eye for an Eye: Not as powerful as some similar cards, sometimes just threatening to retaliate can make for some interesting politics.
8) Cyclone: If you can keep this going you can both make the board hostile towards creatures and drain your opponent's life totals pretty quick. As a repetetive source of damage and creature kill, Cyclone can be pretty good.
Honorable Mention
Ali from Cairo, Island of Wak-Wak, Jihad, Old Man of the Sea, Shahrazad (I loathe to even mention Shahrazad, but it exists, its legal, and it has a very unique game effect)
Tribal All-Stars
Elephant Graveyard (Not that I plan on building an Elephant Tribal deck...)
Other Top Removal
None
Best Color Hosers
Magnetic Mountain
Cards That Don't Translate Well to Commander
Ernham Djinn, Juzam Djinn, Serendib Efreet - Undercosted creatures with a drawback just don't cut it in this format, so unless you are playing Djinn and Efreet tribal these cards are typically left on the bench.
Cards Banned in This Set
Jeweled Bird - Banned due to the referenec to playing for ante.
Library of Alexandria - Banned for power reasons
* Ring of Ma'rûf: This is not technically part of the banned list, but if you are not playing with the optional sideboard rule then its basically useless. If you do play with it, I would suggest asking your playgroup how you want to handle what you can get with it. Nobody wants to wait around 15 minutes while you sift through your trade binders looking for something to grab.
Cards That Go In My Decks
Mikaeus, the Lunarch: Eye for an Eye, Jihad
Arcum Dagsson:
Azami, Lady of Scrolls:
Marrow-Gnawer:
Bosh, Iron Golem:
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Desert Twister
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Eye for an Eye
Oona, Queen of the Fae:
Wort, Boggart Auntie:
Wort, the Raidmother: Desert Twister
Rosheen Meanderer:
Captain Sisay: Desert Twister
Rhys the Redeemed:
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Diamond Valley, Drop of Honey
Brion Stoutarm: Eye for an Eye
Experiment Kraj: Drop of Honey
Ghost Council of Orzhova: Diamond Valley, Eye for an Eye
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Bazaar of Baghdad
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Bazaar of Baghdad
Glissa, the Traitor: Guardian Beast
Sharuum the Hegemon: Guardian Beast
Zur the Enchanter:
Sedris, the Traitor King: Bazaar of Baghdad, Diamond Valley
Kresh, the Bloodbraided: Diamond Valley, Drop of Honey
Uril, the Miststalker: Drop of Honey
Rafiq of the Many:
Doran, the Siege Tower:
Ghave, Guru of Spores:
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: Bazaar of Baghdad, Diamond Valley
Riku of Two Reflections: Desert Twister
Maelstrom Wanderer: Desert Twister
Kaalia of the Vast:
Damia, Sage of Stone:
Zedruu the Greathearted: Eye for an Eye
Horde of Notions: City of Brass
Scion of the Ur-Dragon: City of Brass
Sliver Overlord: City of Brass
Progenitus: City of Brass
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Alpha to Zendikar - Alpha/Beta/Unlimited
The Alpha to Zendikar series is where I review each and every set for the Commander format from the very beginning. My goal is to find the top 10 percent of cards from each set and find out how we may use them to make our decks awesome, looking for cool interactions, combos, tribal all-stars, and the most efficient removal spells available. I'll also be listing at the bottom each deck that I am building and the various cards that I will eventually want to look at including.
So first off, is the Magic original Alpha (Beta and Unlimited are essentially the same set). I look at the progression of Magic sets in very much the same way as the technological evolution of mankind. Each block and/or set is equivalent to an age or epoch, and several anlogies and metaphors become applicable to the evolution of Magic. Alpha is representative of the Antlantean Age: a time in the beginning where poeple had seemingly great knowledge to pull off unimaginable feats of creation, planting the seeds of everythingthat was to come afterward. Alpha pretty much every created every card concept and provided the roots for almost every deck archetype that has ever existed. Alpha is also notorious for its overpowered cards, easily producing the largest number of banned spells in the game.
The set has essentially 287 cards (Alpha had 285 plus 10 basic lands, Beta and unlimited had 287 plus 15 basic lands). Alpha was released in August of 1993, with Beta being released shortly after. Beta included some corrections, including rectifying the omission of Circle of Protection: Black and Volcanic Island from the Alpha set. Unlimited was released in December 1993 after Alpha and Beta sold out so fast. So for our list we are looking for the top 29 cards to make our Top 10%.
1) The Dual Lands (Badlands, Bayou, Plateau, Savannah, Scrubland, Taiga, Tropical Island, Tundra, Underground Sea, Volcanic Island): I know I'm starting off on the wrong foot by cheating a little bit, but it seemed silly to write these up as 1-10 individually. On top of that, the ABU dual lands are kind of a category all on their own, and I will probably be doing large cycles of cards like this in the future (making them count as a single card as far as my rankings go).
Having good mana is always at a premium, and your mana doesn't get any better than the orignal Dual Lands. Every two-color deck should be running the appropraite one, and every three-color deck should be running the appropriate three. I would highly suggest that any player serious about the Commander format own at least one of each, and I suspect that if availability and cost weren't as big a factor that everyone would put in as many as they could.
2) Sol Ring: There is always talk about how differently games play out when one player has an early Sol Ring, and probably even more talk about how it basically goes into every deck. All this talk is warranted because it is just that powerful and good enough to be in every deck ever. There are arguments for not including Sol Ring in some very niche situations, but it has to be a really good reason for me to not include this.
3) Demonic Tutor: Whatever you need that card to be, it will be for the low cost of only two mana. Almost all tutors are playable in Commander, but none are as good or efficient as the original.
4) Wrath of God: There is a reason why we call these kinds of cards "Wrath effects", as very few do it as well or as efficiently as the original. The format is typically filled with Wrath effects, and this card is almost always the first Wrath effect included.
5) Nevinyrral's Disk: Sometimes, just destroying all creatures isn't enough, and when those time come up you'll want something like Nevinyrral's Disk as a nice little reset button on the game. The beauty of the Disk lies not only in its ability to destroy pretty much anything, but also that its colorless so it can go into any deck.
6) Counterspell: It is a well-known imbalance of the game that blue has a near monopoly on spells that counter spells, and Counterspell is the one taht started it all. For its cost relative to the things it counters it is usually a tempo blowout in Commander and one of the huge reasons that people are drawn to blue to begin with.
7) Swords to Plowshares: It's amazing to think that even at Alpha we have the seeds of the Exile Zone already planted and that Richard Garfield saw the value of having a creature go somewhere other than the graveyard. In Commander, creatures are always getting recurred from teh graveyard and effects that exile them are at a premium.
8) Basalt Monolith: For the longest time, Basalt Monolith languished as a fairly unusable card due to eratta that didn't let you untap Basalt Monolith with mana made from it. That eratta is now gone thanks to the removal of power-level eratta in 2006, so combos with Power Artifact, Mana Reflection, and Rings of Brighthearth can all produce infinite colorless mana. You can also tap/untap itself as many times as you want to trigger an ability that will trigger from doing so (such as Mesmeric Orb or Wake Thrasher). Basalt Monolith rides the fine line of "useless unless you are abusing it", but I always remind myself that infinite mana can't win you the game on its own.
9) Mana Vault: Often paired with Voltaic Key, sometimes you just want or need a mana boost.
10) Armageddon: There is an ever ongoing debate as to whether mass land destruction is good for the commander format, and to a certain extent Armageddon is its poster-child. I understand both sides of the argument, and the way I see it is that its part of the game so be prepared for it. Peopple in general do not like having their lands being blown up, so consider yourself warned that if people know you are packing Armageddon or any of its similar incarnations then you will likely be seen as a big threat no matter what your board presence is.
11) Wheel of Fortune: Red needs help drawing cards and it typcially has to rely on its various "Wheel" effects in order to do so. Seeing that many decks usually keep a large hand (and thanks to cards like Reliquary Tower, sometimes a massive hand), you can usaully net some significant card advantage whenever you fire this off.
12) Gauntlet of Might: There are lots of cards out there that fall under the category of "Mana Doublers", and Gauntlet of might is the original. Especially when building a mono-red deck, you must weight the upside of any non-Mountain land in the deck versus its usefulness when cards like this, Gauntlet of Power, and Caged Sun are possible inclusions.
13) Winter Orb: "Stax" type decks love this kind of effect, and even though the combo with Icy Manipulator no longer works to turn the effect "off" its still a pwerful tool to slow the game down and let your various sacrifice effects take the game over.
14) Verduran Enchantress: There are now many cards that emulate what Verduran Enchantress does and entire decks have been made centered on her ability. We will be keeping a close eye on all of these various effects and using them where we can take the best advantage of them.
15) Timetwister: As with Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister has the magical phrase "Draw 7 cards" on it. The reasons that Wheel effects are more popular are that blue has plenty of other options to draw cards and can rarely take advantage of it, and that reshuffling the cards from the graveyard into your library is sometimes less desirable than just pitching them into the graveyard wher ethey can be regrown, recurred, or reanimated.
16) Animate Dead: One of the original Reanimation spells, Animate Dead is nice because it is really cheap and has minimal drawbacks. The infinite combo of using this with Worldgorger Dragon should also be pointed out here.
17) Resurrection: I always find it interesting when I find older cards that seem outside the current color-pie restrictions, but it is good to note that black is the second best color at Reanimation after black. Resurrection is one of the better options in any color.
18) Copy Artifact: In a "Highlander" format, being able to copy stuff can be especially good. Copy Artifact allows you to get double duty out of some of the most powerful cards in the game for the low, low cost of only 2 mana.
19) Hurricane: Hurricane does a few things that green really needs. First off, it gives you an X-spell with which to finish off multiple opponents and dump all that mana into that green is notorious for being able to generate. Second, green is light on creatures with Flying and being able to clear the board of them can be very good.
20) Clone: Kills opposing Commanders and other Legendary creatures plus has several ways to be recurred and combo'd with other cards.
21) Earthquake: Sometimes you need to sweep the board and sometimes you need to deal a bunch of damage to all of your opponents. Earthquake does both rather nicely.
22/23) Crusade/Bad Moon: With several ways to generate tons of tokens in both colors, it often comes down to being able to make those tokens do more damage through various "Crusade effects".
24) Braingeyser: When you have access to lots of mana, Braingeyser can be one of the best draw spells in the game.
25) Nether Shadow: When you need access to a recurring creature to sacrifice, Nether Shadow helps a ton.
26) Regrowth: There are now tons of Regrowth effects in the game, but they all owe their existence to the original. With the printing of Eternal Witness and other creature-based Regrowth effects and straight reanimation being a more efficient and powerful option, Regrowth is often passed up for otehr options.
27) Berserk: Any deck that runs green and is attempting to kill people through Commander damage should look hard at Berserk. You should also take note that the effect destroys the creatuer at end of turn and the that creature is not sacrificed. This makes Berserk perfect for decks that already run Shield of the Oversoul or Indestructibility to protect their commanders.
28) Ankh of Mishra: I don't ever see Ankh of Mishra played very often, but it should be, Players are often complaining about "the ramp guy" getting out of control by putting tons of lands into play, and yet they don't want to resort to mass land destruction as an answer. Try dropping this instead. It also helps against all the various Fetchlands people play.
29) Black Vise: Again, I often hear complaints from players about the guy who is sitting on 20+ cards in hand after Playing Praetor's Counsel or Reliquary Tower. Well drop this into play and choose that player and watch them squirm. It only target a single opponent, which can be good otr bad depending o nthe situation.
Honorable Mention
Control Magic, Demonic Hordes, Dingus Egg, Forcefield, Fork, Howling Mine, Icy Manipulator, Instill Energy, Island Sanctuary, Lightning Bolt, Manabarbs, Mana Flare, Meekstone, Mind Twist, Pestilence, Reverse Damage, Stasis, Steal Artifact, Word of Command
Tribal All-Stars
Goblin King, Llanowar Elves, Lord of Atlantis, Zombie Master
Other Top Removal Cards
Blue Elemental Blast, Tranquility, Red Elemental Blast
Best Color Hosers
Blue Elemental Blast, Circles of Protection, Conversion, Death Grip, Flashfires, Gloom, Karma, Lifeforce, Magical Hack, Northern Paladin, Red Elemental Blast, Sleight of Mind, Tsunami, Volcanic Eruption
Cards That Don't Translate Well to Commander
Birds of Paradise: With all the color fixing available in artifact, land, or spell form Birds become more of a liability that anything else.
Dark Ritual: Trading a card for the boost of speed is often not a worthwhile trade in a format where speed and tempo gains are so easily neutralized.
Disenchant: Once a staple in every deck, there are just better options that are not as narrow or have more upside.
Illusionary Mask: Great card to sneak stuff like Phyrexian Dreadnaught into play, but there are so many good options for cheating creatures into play that don't narrow your focus so much that Illusionary Mask often gets lost in the shuffle.
Sinkhole, Ice Storm, Stone Rain: I may make a Wort, the Raidmother deck that seeks to copy nothing but land destruction spells, but running single-shot LD spells or effects is not a very inefficient use of your removal in a multi-player environment.
Cards Banned In This Set
Ancestral Recall, Balance, Black Lotus, Channel, Fastbond, Time Vault, Time Walk, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire: All banned for power reasons.
Contract from Below, Darkpact, Demonic Attorney: All banned due to the removal of the rule for playing for ante.
Chaos Orb: Banned due to the rule for manual dexterity cards being removed from the game.
Cards That Go In My Decks
So first off, is the Magic original Alpha (Beta and Unlimited are essentially the same set). I look at the progression of Magic sets in very much the same way as the technological evolution of mankind. Each block and/or set is equivalent to an age or epoch, and several anlogies and metaphors become applicable to the evolution of Magic. Alpha is representative of the Antlantean Age: a time in the beginning where poeple had seemingly great knowledge to pull off unimaginable feats of creation, planting the seeds of everythingthat was to come afterward. Alpha pretty much every created every card concept and provided the roots for almost every deck archetype that has ever existed. Alpha is also notorious for its overpowered cards, easily producing the largest number of banned spells in the game.
The set has essentially 287 cards (Alpha had 285 plus 10 basic lands, Beta and unlimited had 287 plus 15 basic lands). Alpha was released in August of 1993, with Beta being released shortly after. Beta included some corrections, including rectifying the omission of Circle of Protection: Black and Volcanic Island from the Alpha set. Unlimited was released in December 1993 after Alpha and Beta sold out so fast. So for our list we are looking for the top 29 cards to make our Top 10%.
1) The Dual Lands (Badlands, Bayou, Plateau, Savannah, Scrubland, Taiga, Tropical Island, Tundra, Underground Sea, Volcanic Island): I know I'm starting off on the wrong foot by cheating a little bit, but it seemed silly to write these up as 1-10 individually. On top of that, the ABU dual lands are kind of a category all on their own, and I will probably be doing large cycles of cards like this in the future (making them count as a single card as far as my rankings go).
Having good mana is always at a premium, and your mana doesn't get any better than the orignal Dual Lands. Every two-color deck should be running the appropraite one, and every three-color deck should be running the appropriate three. I would highly suggest that any player serious about the Commander format own at least one of each, and I suspect that if availability and cost weren't as big a factor that everyone would put in as many as they could.
2) Sol Ring: There is always talk about how differently games play out when one player has an early Sol Ring, and probably even more talk about how it basically goes into every deck. All this talk is warranted because it is just that powerful and good enough to be in every deck ever. There are arguments for not including Sol Ring in some very niche situations, but it has to be a really good reason for me to not include this.
3) Demonic Tutor: Whatever you need that card to be, it will be for the low cost of only two mana. Almost all tutors are playable in Commander, but none are as good or efficient as the original.
4) Wrath of God: There is a reason why we call these kinds of cards "Wrath effects", as very few do it as well or as efficiently as the original. The format is typically filled with Wrath effects, and this card is almost always the first Wrath effect included.
5) Nevinyrral's Disk: Sometimes, just destroying all creatures isn't enough, and when those time come up you'll want something like Nevinyrral's Disk as a nice little reset button on the game. The beauty of the Disk lies not only in its ability to destroy pretty much anything, but also that its colorless so it can go into any deck.
6) Counterspell: It is a well-known imbalance of the game that blue has a near monopoly on spells that counter spells, and Counterspell is the one taht started it all. For its cost relative to the things it counters it is usually a tempo blowout in Commander and one of the huge reasons that people are drawn to blue to begin with.
7) Swords to Plowshares: It's amazing to think that even at Alpha we have the seeds of the Exile Zone already planted and that Richard Garfield saw the value of having a creature go somewhere other than the graveyard. In Commander, creatures are always getting recurred from teh graveyard and effects that exile them are at a premium.
8) Basalt Monolith: For the longest time, Basalt Monolith languished as a fairly unusable card due to eratta that didn't let you untap Basalt Monolith with mana made from it. That eratta is now gone thanks to the removal of power-level eratta in 2006, so combos with Power Artifact, Mana Reflection, and Rings of Brighthearth can all produce infinite colorless mana. You can also tap/untap itself as many times as you want to trigger an ability that will trigger from doing so (such as Mesmeric Orb or Wake Thrasher). Basalt Monolith rides the fine line of "useless unless you are abusing it", but I always remind myself that infinite mana can't win you the game on its own.
9) Mana Vault: Often paired with Voltaic Key, sometimes you just want or need a mana boost.
10) Armageddon: There is an ever ongoing debate as to whether mass land destruction is good for the commander format, and to a certain extent Armageddon is its poster-child. I understand both sides of the argument, and the way I see it is that its part of the game so be prepared for it. Peopple in general do not like having their lands being blown up, so consider yourself warned that if people know you are packing Armageddon or any of its similar incarnations then you will likely be seen as a big threat no matter what your board presence is.
11) Wheel of Fortune: Red needs help drawing cards and it typcially has to rely on its various "Wheel" effects in order to do so. Seeing that many decks usually keep a large hand (and thanks to cards like Reliquary Tower, sometimes a massive hand), you can usaully net some significant card advantage whenever you fire this off.
12) Gauntlet of Might: There are lots of cards out there that fall under the category of "Mana Doublers", and Gauntlet of might is the original. Especially when building a mono-red deck, you must weight the upside of any non-Mountain land in the deck versus its usefulness when cards like this, Gauntlet of Power, and Caged Sun are possible inclusions.
13) Winter Orb: "Stax" type decks love this kind of effect, and even though the combo with Icy Manipulator no longer works to turn the effect "off" its still a pwerful tool to slow the game down and let your various sacrifice effects take the game over.
14) Verduran Enchantress: There are now many cards that emulate what Verduran Enchantress does and entire decks have been made centered on her ability. We will be keeping a close eye on all of these various effects and using them where we can take the best advantage of them.
15) Timetwister: As with Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister has the magical phrase "Draw 7 cards" on it. The reasons that Wheel effects are more popular are that blue has plenty of other options to draw cards and can rarely take advantage of it, and that reshuffling the cards from the graveyard into your library is sometimes less desirable than just pitching them into the graveyard wher ethey can be regrown, recurred, or reanimated.
16) Animate Dead: One of the original Reanimation spells, Animate Dead is nice because it is really cheap and has minimal drawbacks. The infinite combo of using this with Worldgorger Dragon should also be pointed out here.
17) Resurrection: I always find it interesting when I find older cards that seem outside the current color-pie restrictions, but it is good to note that black is the second best color at Reanimation after black. Resurrection is one of the better options in any color.
18) Copy Artifact: In a "Highlander" format, being able to copy stuff can be especially good. Copy Artifact allows you to get double duty out of some of the most powerful cards in the game for the low, low cost of only 2 mana.
19) Hurricane: Hurricane does a few things that green really needs. First off, it gives you an X-spell with which to finish off multiple opponents and dump all that mana into that green is notorious for being able to generate. Second, green is light on creatures with Flying and being able to clear the board of them can be very good.
20) Clone: Kills opposing Commanders and other Legendary creatures plus has several ways to be recurred and combo'd with other cards.
21) Earthquake: Sometimes you need to sweep the board and sometimes you need to deal a bunch of damage to all of your opponents. Earthquake does both rather nicely.
22/23) Crusade/Bad Moon: With several ways to generate tons of tokens in both colors, it often comes down to being able to make those tokens do more damage through various "Crusade effects".
24) Braingeyser: When you have access to lots of mana, Braingeyser can be one of the best draw spells in the game.
25) Nether Shadow: When you need access to a recurring creature to sacrifice, Nether Shadow helps a ton.
26) Regrowth: There are now tons of Regrowth effects in the game, but they all owe their existence to the original. With the printing of Eternal Witness and other creature-based Regrowth effects and straight reanimation being a more efficient and powerful option, Regrowth is often passed up for otehr options.
27) Berserk: Any deck that runs green and is attempting to kill people through Commander damage should look hard at Berserk. You should also take note that the effect destroys the creatuer at end of turn and the that creature is not sacrificed. This makes Berserk perfect for decks that already run Shield of the Oversoul or Indestructibility to protect their commanders.
28) Ankh of Mishra: I don't ever see Ankh of Mishra played very often, but it should be, Players are often complaining about "the ramp guy" getting out of control by putting tons of lands into play, and yet they don't want to resort to mass land destruction as an answer. Try dropping this instead. It also helps against all the various Fetchlands people play.
29) Black Vise: Again, I often hear complaints from players about the guy who is sitting on 20+ cards in hand after Playing Praetor's Counsel or Reliquary Tower. Well drop this into play and choose that player and watch them squirm. It only target a single opponent, which can be good otr bad depending o nthe situation.
Honorable Mention
Control Magic, Demonic Hordes, Dingus Egg, Forcefield, Fork, Howling Mine, Icy Manipulator, Instill Energy, Island Sanctuary, Lightning Bolt, Manabarbs, Mana Flare, Meekstone, Mind Twist, Pestilence, Reverse Damage, Stasis, Steal Artifact, Word of Command
Tribal All-Stars
Goblin King, Llanowar Elves, Lord of Atlantis, Zombie Master
Other Top Removal Cards
Blue Elemental Blast, Tranquility, Red Elemental Blast
Best Color Hosers
Blue Elemental Blast, Circles of Protection, Conversion, Death Grip, Flashfires, Gloom, Karma, Lifeforce, Magical Hack, Northern Paladin, Red Elemental Blast, Sleight of Mind, Tsunami, Volcanic Eruption
Cards That Don't Translate Well to Commander
Birds of Paradise: With all the color fixing available in artifact, land, or spell form Birds become more of a liability that anything else.
Dark Ritual: Trading a card for the boost of speed is often not a worthwhile trade in a format where speed and tempo gains are so easily neutralized.
Disenchant: Once a staple in every deck, there are just better options that are not as narrow or have more upside.
Illusionary Mask: Great card to sneak stuff like Phyrexian Dreadnaught into play, but there are so many good options for cheating creatures into play that don't narrow your focus so much that Illusionary Mask often gets lost in the shuffle.
Sinkhole, Ice Storm, Stone Rain: I may make a Wort, the Raidmother deck that seeks to copy nothing but land destruction spells, but running single-shot LD spells or effects is not a very inefficient use of your removal in a multi-player environment.
Cards Banned In This Set
Ancestral Recall, Balance, Black Lotus, Channel, Fastbond, Time Vault, Time Walk, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire: All banned for power reasons.
Contract from Below, Darkpact, Demonic Attorney: All banned due to the removal of the rule for playing for ante.
Chaos Orb: Banned due to the rule for manual dexterity cards being removed from the game.
Cards That Go In My Decks
Mikaeus, the Lunarch: Sol Ring, Crusade, Swords to Plowshares
Arcum Dagsson: Sol Ring, Counterspell, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Copy Artifact
Azami, Lady of Scrolls: Sol Ring, Counterspell
Marrow-Gnawer: Sol Ring, Winter Orb, Nether Sahdow, Demonic Tutor
Bosh, Iron Golem: Sol Ring, Wheel of Fortune, Gauntlet of Might, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Sol Ring, Llanowar Elves
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Sol Ring, Tundra, Wrath of God, Swords to Plowshares, Winter Orb, Stasis
Oona, Queen of the Fae: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Basalt Monolith, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Wort, Boggart Auntie: Sol Ring, Badlands, Goblin King
Wort, the Raidmother: Sol Ring, Taiga, Hurricane, Regrowth, Basalth Monolith, Mana Vault, Fork
Rosheen Meanderer: Sol Ring, Taiga, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Fireball, Disintegrate, Hurricane, Earthquake, Rock Hydra, Fork
Captain Sisay: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares
Rhys the Redeemed: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Reverse Damage
Brion Stoutarm: Sol Ring, Plateau, Swords to Plowsahres, Wrath of God
Experiment Kraj: Sol Ring, Tropical Island, Counterspell
Ghost Council of Orzhova: Sol Ring, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor, Nevinyrral's Disk
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Sol Ring, Tropical Island, Counterspell, Braingeyser, Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister, Earthquake, Mana Vault
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Sol Ring, Bayou, Demonic Tutor
Glissa, the Traitor: Sol Ring, Bayou, Demonic Tutor, Berserk
Sharuum the Hegemon: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Copy Artifact, Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor
Zur the Enchanter: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor
Sedris, the Traitor King: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Badlands, Zombie Master, Bad Moon, Wheel of Fortune, Demonic Tutor
Kresh, the Bloodbraided: Sol Ring, Badlands, Taiga, Bayou, Demonic Tutor, Berserk
Uril, the Miststalker: Sol Ring, Taiga, Savannah, Plateau, Verduran Enchantress, Wild Growth, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Berserk
Rafiq of the Many: Sol Ring, Tundra, Savannah, Tropical Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Berserk
Doran, the Siege Tower: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor, Animate Dead, Resurrection
Riku of Two Reflections: Sol Ring, Taiga, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, Clone
Maelstrom Wanderer: Sol Ring, Taiga, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island
Kaalia of the Vast: Sol Ring, Scrubland, Badlands, Plateau, Demonic Tutor, Swords to Plowshares
Damia, Sage of Stone: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Tropical Island, Bayou
Zedruu the Greathearted: Sol Ring, Tundra, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Control Magic, Steal Artifact, Raging River
Horde of Notions: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Scion of the Ur-Dragon: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Sliver Overlord: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Progenitus: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Phew! That's 1 down and about 74 to go just to catch up by the end of 2013...
Arcum Dagsson: Sol Ring, Counterspell, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Copy Artifact
Azami, Lady of Scrolls: Sol Ring, Counterspell
Marrow-Gnawer: Sol Ring, Winter Orb, Nether Sahdow, Demonic Tutor
Bosh, Iron Golem: Sol Ring, Wheel of Fortune, Gauntlet of Might, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Sol Ring, Llanowar Elves
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Sol Ring, Tundra, Wrath of God, Swords to Plowshares, Winter Orb, Stasis
Oona, Queen of the Fae: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Basalt Monolith, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Wort, Boggart Auntie: Sol Ring, Badlands, Goblin King
Wort, the Raidmother: Sol Ring, Taiga, Hurricane, Regrowth, Basalth Monolith, Mana Vault, Fork
Rosheen Meanderer: Sol Ring, Taiga, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Fireball, Disintegrate, Hurricane, Earthquake, Rock Hydra, Fork
Captain Sisay: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares
Rhys the Redeemed: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Sol Ring, Savannah, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Reverse Damage
Brion Stoutarm: Sol Ring, Plateau, Swords to Plowsahres, Wrath of God
Experiment Kraj: Sol Ring, Tropical Island, Counterspell
Ghost Council of Orzhova: Sol Ring, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor, Nevinyrral's Disk
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: Sol Ring, Tropical Island, Counterspell, Braingeyser, Wheel of Fortune, Timetwister, Earthquake, Mana Vault
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Sol Ring, Bayou, Demonic Tutor
Glissa, the Traitor: Sol Ring, Bayou, Demonic Tutor, Berserk
Sharuum the Hegemon: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Basalt Monolith, Mana Vault, Copy Artifact, Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor
Zur the Enchanter: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Demonic Tutor
Sedris, the Traitor King: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Badlands, Zombie Master, Bad Moon, Wheel of Fortune, Demonic Tutor
Kresh, the Bloodbraided: Sol Ring, Badlands, Taiga, Bayou, Demonic Tutor, Berserk
Uril, the Miststalker: Sol Ring, Taiga, Savannah, Plateau, Verduran Enchantress, Wild Growth, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Berserk
Rafiq of the Many: Sol Ring, Tundra, Savannah, Tropical Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Berserk
Doran, the Siege Tower: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: Sol Ring, Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland, Swords to Plowshares, Demonic Tutor, Animate Dead, Resurrection
Riku of Two Reflections: Sol Ring, Taiga, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, Clone
Maelstrom Wanderer: Sol Ring, Taiga, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island
Kaalia of the Vast: Sol Ring, Scrubland, Badlands, Plateau, Demonic Tutor, Swords to Plowshares
Damia, Sage of Stone: Sol Ring, Underground Sea, Tropical Island, Bayou
Zedruu the Greathearted: Sol Ring, Tundra, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Control Magic, Steal Artifact, Raging River
Horde of Notions: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Scion of the Ur-Dragon: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Sliver Overlord: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Progenitus: Sol Ring, Tundra, Underground Sea, Badlands, Taiga, Savannah, Scrubalnd, Tropical Island, Bayou, Plateau, Volcanic Island, Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Demonic Tutor
Monday, January 7, 2013
My Decks - Introduction and Overview
Now that I've gone through and looked at every commander option available, its time to start looking at which decks I want to build. My initial intent was to pick one in each color combination, but there are some themes that I want to hit and some colors with too many options to limit myself. As of right now, these are the ones I am considering, with a brief explanation of what I want to do with them.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch: I dislike most of the mono-white options, but I think I can get behind a Mikaeus decks that features some of the color's token making and Crusade effects.
Arcum Dagsson: Arcum is one of the more powerful options in the game, but I like the challenge of building both a fun version and a 'broken' version of such a deck.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls: This is basically going to be Wizard tribal, and although Azami can be totally busted I think that I can also find a fun middle ground.
Marrow-Gnawer: I want to build at least one deck that can run lots of Stax effects, and I think a Marrow-Gnawer deck is a fun way to try and do it.
Bosh, Iron Golem: Most mono-Red options bore me. Bosh at least provides some cool theme to build around, even though it is really fragile.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Elf tribal shenanigans.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: This is going to be a place to put all the various taxing and disruptive permanents to good use.
Oona, Queen of the Fae: I want to try and build a 'milling' deck, and as difficult as that is going to be I think Oona has the best chance of pulling it off. Szadek, Lord of Secrets is also a possibility.
Wort, Boggart Auntie: Goblin tribal shenanigans.
Wort, the Raidmother: This is going to be a deck that runs as many instants and sorceries as possible and attempts to copy them as much as possible. It should also feature as many token making spells as I can find to make sure every spell gets Conspired as much as possible.
Rosheen Meanderer: Anything with the letter X on it...
Captain Sisay: Legends and Legendary permanents.
Rhys the Redeemed: Token madness! I may end up making 2 or 3 different versions for stuff like "Saproling Tribal" or whatnot. There are just so many cards that can fit into a deck like this that I can't see just making one.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Lifegain matters. Protection matters. There are lots of ways that we can abuse Trostani's lifegain, perhaps even Populating for profite once and a while.
Brion Stoutarm: A bit like Bosh, but focused on doing it much differently. Lots of Threaten effects.
Experiment Kraj: This is probably going to end up as some broken combo deck, but like some of the other combo options I look forward to breaking it then unbreaking it with two different versions of the deck.
Ghost Council of Orzhova: Black/White control with some token making, plenty of Wrath effects and removal, and plenty of other Drain Life effects.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: The combo versions are well explored, but we will go through the exercise of building one anyway. I look forward to building a non-combo version as well.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Living out of the graveyard for fun and profit.
Glissa, the Traitor: Recurring some artifacts will only be a part of what the deck will do, as I see this as a chance to build a poison-themed deck.
Sharuum the Hegemon: I know that Sharuum combo has been done to death, but I think some sort of fun artifact creature reanimator deck might be fun to do instead.
Zur the Enchanter: We can have a bit of fun with an enchantments matters theme, perhaps incorporating cards like Bruna, Opalesence, and Replenish.
Sedris, the Traitor King: Zombies, with Wheel and Buried Alive effects to keep the graveyard full of cool creatures to reanimate.
Kresh, the Bloodbraided: Sacrifice effects and creatuer recursion. The challenge will be to make sure there is a real difference between this and Jarad.
Uril, the Miststalker: Plenty of Auras to pump Uril, plus an Enchantress theme.
Rafiq of the Many: Plenty of Equipment to pump Rafiq, plus an 'equipment matters' theme.
Doran, the Siege Tower: A 'toughness matters' theme, with some Treefolk tribal thrown in.
Ghave, Guru of Spores: This is another deck that I can see getting out of hand, but playing around with a deck that basically wants/needs Doubling Season in play all the time should be fun.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: Reanimator themed.
Riku of Two Reflections: I think I want to focus more on the copying of creatures, where Wort focuses more on copying instant/sorcery spells. Of course, there are still going to be some instant/sorcery spells that I really want to copy as well.
Maelstrom Wanderer: Along with Intet, this will be a 'Top of the Library matters' kind of deck.
Kaalia of the Vast: I'm decided that this is going to be an Angels and Demons themed deck, with my Dragons going into Scion of Ur-Dragon below.
Damia, Sage of Stone: Maro type cards and cards that trigger of of drawing cards.
Zedruu the Greathearted: Giving my opponents what they don't want and chaos themed cards.
Horde of Notions: Elemental tribal.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon: Dragon tribal.
Sliver Overlord: Sliver Tribal
Progenitus: 5-color 'good stuff', with a focus on cards that can only be played or are maximized in 5-color decks. Cards like the Bringers, Domain cards, Sunburst cards, etc.
That's 38 decks... which should cover most of the themes that I would like to incorporate. A lot of them will basically have two forms at the end of the day; a cut-throat "best" version that optimizes combos and synergies whenever possible, and a more "social" version that will still look to take advantage of synergies but not so much as to run insta-win combos.
Soon, I will start up writing the "Alpha to Zendikar" set reviews with a running list of possible inclusions for each deck above as we go. At the end, we'll take a look at each card we've noted as a possibility an whittle the lists down to a formal decklist (or two). 2013 is going to be a busy year, but I'm looking forward to tackling the task of sorting through the14,000+ cards that Magic has to offer and finding the true cream of the crop.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch: I dislike most of the mono-white options, but I think I can get behind a Mikaeus decks that features some of the color's token making and Crusade effects.
Arcum Dagsson: Arcum is one of the more powerful options in the game, but I like the challenge of building both a fun version and a 'broken' version of such a deck.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls: This is basically going to be Wizard tribal, and although Azami can be totally busted I think that I can also find a fun middle ground.
Marrow-Gnawer: I want to build at least one deck that can run lots of Stax effects, and I think a Marrow-Gnawer deck is a fun way to try and do it.
Bosh, Iron Golem: Most mono-Red options bore me. Bosh at least provides some cool theme to build around, even though it is really fragile.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Elf tribal shenanigans.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: This is going to be a place to put all the various taxing and disruptive permanents to good use.
Oona, Queen of the Fae: I want to try and build a 'milling' deck, and as difficult as that is going to be I think Oona has the best chance of pulling it off. Szadek, Lord of Secrets is also a possibility.
Wort, Boggart Auntie: Goblin tribal shenanigans.
Wort, the Raidmother: This is going to be a deck that runs as many instants and sorceries as possible and attempts to copy them as much as possible. It should also feature as many token making spells as I can find to make sure every spell gets Conspired as much as possible.
Rosheen Meanderer: Anything with the letter X on it...
Captain Sisay: Legends and Legendary permanents.
Rhys the Redeemed: Token madness! I may end up making 2 or 3 different versions for stuff like "Saproling Tribal" or whatnot. There are just so many cards that can fit into a deck like this that I can't see just making one.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: Lifegain matters. Protection matters. There are lots of ways that we can abuse Trostani's lifegain, perhaps even Populating for profite once and a while.
Brion Stoutarm: A bit like Bosh, but focused on doing it much differently. Lots of Threaten effects.
Experiment Kraj: This is probably going to end up as some broken combo deck, but like some of the other combo options I look forward to breaking it then unbreaking it with two different versions of the deck.
Ghost Council of Orzhova: Black/White control with some token making, plenty of Wrath effects and removal, and plenty of other Drain Life effects.
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind: The combo versions are well explored, but we will go through the exercise of building one anyway. I look forward to building a non-combo version as well.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: Living out of the graveyard for fun and profit.
Glissa, the Traitor: Recurring some artifacts will only be a part of what the deck will do, as I see this as a chance to build a poison-themed deck.
Sharuum the Hegemon: I know that Sharuum combo has been done to death, but I think some sort of fun artifact creature reanimator deck might be fun to do instead.
Zur the Enchanter: We can have a bit of fun with an enchantments matters theme, perhaps incorporating cards like Bruna, Opalesence, and Replenish.
Sedris, the Traitor King: Zombies, with Wheel and Buried Alive effects to keep the graveyard full of cool creatures to reanimate.
Kresh, the Bloodbraided: Sacrifice effects and creatuer recursion. The challenge will be to make sure there is a real difference between this and Jarad.
Uril, the Miststalker: Plenty of Auras to pump Uril, plus an Enchantress theme.
Rafiq of the Many: Plenty of Equipment to pump Rafiq, plus an 'equipment matters' theme.
Doran, the Siege Tower: A 'toughness matters' theme, with some Treefolk tribal thrown in.
Ghave, Guru of Spores: This is another deck that I can see getting out of hand, but playing around with a deck that basically wants/needs Doubling Season in play all the time should be fun.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: Reanimator themed.
Riku of Two Reflections: I think I want to focus more on the copying of creatures, where Wort focuses more on copying instant/sorcery spells. Of course, there are still going to be some instant/sorcery spells that I really want to copy as well.
Maelstrom Wanderer: Along with Intet, this will be a 'Top of the Library matters' kind of deck.
Kaalia of the Vast: I'm decided that this is going to be an Angels and Demons themed deck, with my Dragons going into Scion of Ur-Dragon below.
Damia, Sage of Stone: Maro type cards and cards that trigger of of drawing cards.
Zedruu the Greathearted: Giving my opponents what they don't want and chaos themed cards.
Horde of Notions: Elemental tribal.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon: Dragon tribal.
Sliver Overlord: Sliver Tribal
Progenitus: 5-color 'good stuff', with a focus on cards that can only be played or are maximized in 5-color decks. Cards like the Bringers, Domain cards, Sunburst cards, etc.
That's 38 decks... which should cover most of the themes that I would like to incorporate. A lot of them will basically have two forms at the end of the day; a cut-throat "best" version that optimizes combos and synergies whenever possible, and a more "social" version that will still look to take advantage of synergies but not so much as to run insta-win combos.
Soon, I will start up writing the "Alpha to Zendikar" set reviews with a running list of possible inclusions for each deck above as we go. At the end, we'll take a look at each card we've noted as a possibility an whittle the lists down to a formal decklist (or two). 2013 is going to be a busy year, but I'm looking forward to tackling the task of sorting through the14,000+ cards that Magic has to offer and finding the true cream of the crop.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Choosing Your Commander - 5-color Options
Last, but certainly not least, we will look at and discuss the various 5-color legendary creatures available to play as your commander. My guess is that 5-color commanders have been very popular since the beginning of the format, not only for their powerful effects but for the access they give you to any card ever printed. Some players have been known to run a 5-color commander with no intention of ever casting it just so they had access to as many different cards as possible. With the color-fixing technology now available, playing 5 colors can actually be quite easy to make work with your mana base so there is little reason to avoid these gems as your general.
Atogatog: One of the more amusing commander options, Atogatog obviously requires some amount of adherence to Atog tribal to be of any good use. There are 11 other Atogs to choose from, plus Mistform Ultimus and 20+ creatures with Changeling available so its not too far out of the question that such a deck is possible. If you are looking for a bit of a challenge, Atogatog might be a fun one to tackle.
Child of Alara: Since Child of Alara was released in Conflux, it has remained a 5-color "Good Stuff" commander of choice due to its ability to sweep the board if anyone dares destroy it. Of course, that means letting it go to the graveyard instead of the command zone, but utilizing reanimation or recursion strategies to replay Child of Alara can ensure that you always have access to a reset button whenever things might get out of hand.
Cromat: For a creature that seemingly does so much, Cromat actually does so little of any significance that I don't see myself ever wanting to use him as a commander.
Horde of Notions:
I love Horde of Notions not only for its brutal efficiency and elegant design but also for the fact that Elementals are actually a very good tribe with many powerful cards that people want to play anyway. We will be paying close attention to any creature that has been given the Elemental creature type as we go through each set, as it is one of those creature types that randomly pops up all the time without people even noticing much.
Karona, False God: I have seen some decks that use Karona in them, but I have not really seen any that use her as the general to good effect. I guess that if you use it and sacrifice it after you are done attacking then you can mitigate its drawback significantly, but that is not the kind of commander that I would personally like to build around.
Progenitus: You would think that a creature with "Protection from Everything" would be a lot more resilient to removal, but in a format where Wrath and Sacrifice effects are fairly common you would be surprised as to how many things Progenitus doesn't really have protection from.
Reaper King: Scarecrow tribal is definitely NOT a deck that I can recommend, even with 25 other options available. However it is hard to deny that the ability to destroy any permanent as an "enters the battlefield" effect is very, very powerful. The key to a fun Reaper King deck is to get creative with generating Scarecrow tokens with cards like Riptide Replicator, or to bounce or blink you Scarecrows with cards like Erratic Portal or Flicker (Note: Its a shame that Scarecrows cannot be bounced with Cloudstone Curio, as Curio only applies to non-artifact permanents and every non-Changeling Scarecrow is an artifact creature). I think that Reaper King is one of those cards that is a perfect cross between powerful ability with almost no support cards. This gives you something you have to work hard to acheive, but rewards you greatly once you have done so.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon:
Part creature tutor, part clone effect... Scion of the Ur-Dragon makes good use of both parts to be the centerpeice of a Dragon deck that can dole out damage in huge chunks once it gets going. The nice thing about it is that you don't need to play too many Dragons to make Scion a really good Dragon-tribal enabler, which opens up decks space for reanimation and graveyard recursion of the Dragons that Scion fetches. I would think that the hard part would be to try and pare down the long list of good Dragons to the select few you would want to run. Scion is also the 5-color commander of choice for the so-called "Hermit Druid" combo decks that utilize Scion as a Plan B in case their main combo is disrupted.
Sliver Legion: Absolutely awesome personal Coat of Arms for your Sliver army, yet it fails to make the commander slot for such a deck. If you are playing Sliver tribal, then Sliver Legion will always make the maindeck, but it won't be your commander.
Sliver Overlord: Of the three options you have for a Sliver tribal deck commander, Sliver Overlord is the best of the bunch. Not only can he fetch the other two when you want them, but he can make sure that any Sliver you want or need is always on hand. Because such a deck can be very susceptible to Wrath effects, it is important that you have a general like Sliver Overlord that can generate card advantage and continue to build up your Sliver army.
Sliver Queen: The orignal 5-color general, Sliver Queen is a personal one-woman army of destruction especially when combined with some of the better Sliver enablers in the game. She also can create infinite loops with all the usual suspects; Ashnod's Altar or Basal Sliver + Heartstone gets you infinite mana; throw in Gemhide Sliver (plus Haste enabler) or Earthcraft for infinite Slivers and colored mana; throw in Acidic Sliver for infinite damage, etc. And the beauty of it all is that all the peices are tutorable with Sliver Overlord.
Atogatog: One of the more amusing commander options, Atogatog obviously requires some amount of adherence to Atog tribal to be of any good use. There are 11 other Atogs to choose from, plus Mistform Ultimus and 20+ creatures with Changeling available so its not too far out of the question that such a deck is possible. If you are looking for a bit of a challenge, Atogatog might be a fun one to tackle.
Cromat: For a creature that seemingly does so much, Cromat actually does so little of any significance that I don't see myself ever wanting to use him as a commander.
Horde of Notions:
I love Horde of Notions not only for its brutal efficiency and elegant design but also for the fact that Elementals are actually a very good tribe with many powerful cards that people want to play anyway. We will be paying close attention to any creature that has been given the Elemental creature type as we go through each set, as it is one of those creature types that randomly pops up all the time without people even noticing much.
Karona, False God: I have seen some decks that use Karona in them, but I have not really seen any that use her as the general to good effect. I guess that if you use it and sacrifice it after you are done attacking then you can mitigate its drawback significantly, but that is not the kind of commander that I would personally like to build around.
Progenitus: You would think that a creature with "Protection from Everything" would be a lot more resilient to removal, but in a format where Wrath and Sacrifice effects are fairly common you would be surprised as to how many things Progenitus doesn't really have protection from.
Scion of the Ur-Dragon:
Part creature tutor, part clone effect... Scion of the Ur-Dragon makes good use of both parts to be the centerpeice of a Dragon deck that can dole out damage in huge chunks once it gets going. The nice thing about it is that you don't need to play too many Dragons to make Scion a really good Dragon-tribal enabler, which opens up decks space for reanimation and graveyard recursion of the Dragons that Scion fetches. I would think that the hard part would be to try and pare down the long list of good Dragons to the select few you would want to run. Scion is also the 5-color commander of choice for the so-called "Hermit Druid" combo decks that utilize Scion as a Plan B in case their main combo is disrupted.
Sliver Legion: Absolutely awesome personal Coat of Arms for your Sliver army, yet it fails to make the commander slot for such a deck. If you are playing Sliver tribal, then Sliver Legion will always make the maindeck, but it won't be your commander.
Sliver Queen: The orignal 5-color general, Sliver Queen is a personal one-woman army of destruction especially when combined with some of the better Sliver enablers in the game. She also can create infinite loops with all the usual suspects; Ashnod's Altar or Basal Sliver + Heartstone gets you infinite mana; throw in Gemhide Sliver (plus Haste enabler) or Earthcraft for infinite Slivers and colored mana; throw in Acidic Sliver for infinite damage, etc. And the beauty of it all is that all the peices are tutorable with Sliver Overlord.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Choosing Your Commander - Colorless Options
It may seem a bit weird to consider a colorless legendary creature as you commander due to the severe restrictions that such a choice places on your card inclusions, but such commanders exist and I would be remiss to ignore them. Some poeple like the deckbuilding challenge of making a colorless deck, but due to therecent printing of the Eldrazi creatures there are some significant strategic reasons to want to go this as well.
Bosh, Iron Golem: Due to the red mana symbol in his activation cost, Bosh is considered to be Red as far as his color identity. He was reviewed with the other mono-Red cards, so I won't say any more about him here.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: In a format where mana cost is not a big hurdle to jump over in order to play something, Emrakul's 15 mana cost was not enough of a deterrent to people using and abusing him to litterally annihilate whomever stood in its way. Emrakul is banned, both as a commander and as a card in your deck and the format is a better one for it.
Karn, Silver Golem: For the longest time, Karn was your only option for a colorless commander. His power lies in the fact that you can play lots of artuifacts with their many synergies and abilities, then animate those artifacts later to beat down your opponent.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: I'm a big fan of playing Kozilek in any deck that can manage to cast him, and especially in green decks that generate tons of mana but need help drawing cards. I personally don't see the advantage of usign him as your commander over Ulamog.
Memnarch: Just like Bosh, Memnarch has colored mana symbols in his abilities making him blue instead of colorless. I reviewed him alongside his fellow mono-blue commanders.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre:
To me, being Indestructible and being able to affect the board with his removal ability are big reasons to choose Ulamog over Kozilek. I find myself squeezing Ulamog into more decks for his catch-all removal ability and because if I'm going to spend that much mana on something I want to make my opponents have to work for it to remove it.
Bosh, Iron Golem: Due to the red mana symbol in his activation cost, Bosh is considered to be Red as far as his color identity. He was reviewed with the other mono-Red cards, so I won't say any more about him here.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn: In a format where mana cost is not a big hurdle to jump over in order to play something, Emrakul's 15 mana cost was not enough of a deterrent to people using and abusing him to litterally annihilate whomever stood in its way. Emrakul is banned, both as a commander and as a card in your deck and the format is a better one for it.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: I'm a big fan of playing Kozilek in any deck that can manage to cast him, and especially in green decks that generate tons of mana but need help drawing cards. I personally don't see the advantage of usign him as your commander over Ulamog.
Memnarch: Just like Bosh, Memnarch has colored mana symbols in his abilities making him blue instead of colorless. I reviewed him alongside his fellow mono-blue commanders.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre:
To me, being Indestructible and being able to affect the board with his removal ability are big reasons to choose Ulamog over Kozilek. I find myself squeezing Ulamog into more decks for his catch-all removal ability and because if I'm going to spend that much mana on something I want to make my opponents have to work for it to remove it.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Choosing Your Commander - "Wedge Colors"
The next set of cards we are going to look at are the commander choices for the non-allied three-color combinations, also referred to as the wedges. As you can read in the linked article, these color combinations have long beenignored when it came to designing legendary creatures for them, but the Commander Precon Decks gave us 10 new 3-color "Wedge" commanders to use dramatically increasing the number of available options from 7 to 17. Because these commanders were specifically designed with casual, social, and/or the Commander formats in mind, they pack a lot of punch and potential for decks to be built around them. To say that some of these cards have become the cornerstones of the Commander "format" is probably an understatement, and their existence has dramaically changed the entire landscape of what to expect out of your commander. I will review all of these cards here in a single post, with the the thinking that 5 different posts with only 3-4 cards each seems a little silly.
RWU
Numot, the Devastator: Numot is one of the more powerful options for the Planar Chaos legendary dragon cycle. Being able to destroy lands is a very dangerous ability, and the issue I have with running Numot is that everyone will perceive you as being a huge threat because of what Numot can do. Numot can be at his best when combined with other mass land destruction, where white and red both excel.
Ruhan of the Fomori: On the surface, ther ereally isn't a lot going on with Ruhan; he's cheap, he's big, and he likes to swing for the fences. With 7-power, he is meant to be a player killer via commander damage, with the caveat that he has no idea which way to attack. Ruhan has a very real drawback in that there is usually someone that you would prefer to attack, and there are times when attacking with Ruhan is going to seem downright silly. However, there is a slight political advantage to having to choose your victim at random, exhonerating you of some of the political flack you can get when you attack people early. Aside from the political side, Ruhan seems like a nice commaner for a 'chaos and randomness' themed deck.
Zedruu the Greathearted:
I always chuckle to myself a little every time I read the rules text on Zedruu, as his ability seems so ridiculously fun and so potentially infuriating for your opponents all wrapped up in a nice neat package. There are quite a few cards that have abilities that you don't want, and passing those around the table a few times can cause some hilarity to ensue. You can also play political pupeteer by giving someone who is behind a creatuer to block with or a land they need to cast something, knowing that Zedruu will reward you for your generosity.
BUG
Damia, Sage of Stone:
Damia is one of those commanders whose ability doesn't immediately jump out at you as something you build around, but more along the lines of just being a powerful, card advantage juggernaut. I like Damia in conjuncion with the various 'Maro' creatures (cards that have varying power/toughness based on your hand size, i.e. Psychosis Crawler, Aeon Chronicler, Kagemaro, etc.), but any card that triggers when you draw cards or likes that you have a full hand can be very good.
The Mimeoplasm: Its not just 'a' Mimeoplasm, its 'The' Mimeoplasm... and rightfully so. Part clone effect, part reanimator effect, the Mimeoplasm has all sort of cool interactions that are way too numerous to name here, but the nice thing is that you can build such a deck without many accidental combos in it that provide instant wins. You also have several ways of making sure you can tutor up the perfect creature for any removal situation with the various Survival of the Fittest effects in green, or Buried Alive effects in black.
Vorosh, the Hunter: Vorosh isn't bad, but he doesn't do anything that particularly exciting.
WBR
Kaalia of the Vast:
Kaalia is dangerous. Dragons, Demons and Angels are nothing to be trifled with, and she trifles with all of them. She is brtually efficient in getting fairly large creatures into play on the cheap, and some of those cards sre some of the best in the game. From Bloodgift Demon, to Angel of Despair, to Bogardan Hellkite there is no shortage of good creatures to cheat into play with Kaalia. Her only drawback being that she has to attack which can sometimes be problematic, but suting her up with the appropriate equipment can go a long way towards making sure she survives combat. Kaalia comes out fast and hard, so if you see her on th eother side of the table you best be prepared.
Oros, the Avenger: Oros is great if you face a lot of token decks or aggro decks, but those are few and far between and Oros isn't necesarily the best weapon for beating them either.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls: Some people really like Tariel, but I am not a fan. I don't like that the ability is random, and I don't like that it requires that your opponent have a target worth reanimating.
RUG
Animar, Soul of the Elements: Animar is certainly powerful, especially for the low cost of 3 mana. He gets especially powerful with effects that accelerate his +1/+1 counter accumulation and with artifact/colorless creatures that can eventually be cast for free. Pro-white and pro-black are also huge benefits, giving him a surprising amount of protection to a lot of commonly used removal spells. There are some silly infinite combos with Animar, mostly around cards like Cloudstone Curio and Tidespout Tyrant, but these are actually fairly easy to avoid while allowing you to still make a powerful and fun deck.
Intet, the Dreamer: I like Intet, in that he allows you to do something very powerful and proactive rather than something that is powerful and destructive (like Numot). There are also plenty of ways to make sure that juicy cards remain on top of your deck for Intet to use and abuse, and they are all in your colors. Of the Planar Chaos legendary dragons, Intet is one that I can actually see myself playing as a commander.
Maelstrom Wanderer:
In much the same way that a properly built Intet deck can really abuse the top of your library, Maelstrom Wanderer does the same thing only at warp speed. Cascade is a brutal ability, and having double Cascade is nearly broken. your only real challenge is getting to the eight mana to cast him, but once you do you should have the top of your deck ready to go with all sort of busted goodies. Avenger of Zendikar + Primeval Titan used to be one of the best pairs available, but with the banning of Prime Time this obviously won't work.
Riku of Two Reflections:
Copying spells and copying creatures are two of the most powerful and fun things you can do in a game of Magic, and Riku helps you do both. There are all sorts of cool spells that are absolutely insane when you can double up on their effects, and Riku can take any board position and turn it on its head in a hurry. Riku is mana hungry, so cost savings permanents can help as well as having some mana ramp spells handy (which can conveniently be copied by Riku). I think that as long as you aren't copying Time Warps and Regrowths for infinite turns, then Riku has a lot of potential for fun yet powerful shenanigans.
GWB
Doran, the Siege Tower:
Doran is somewhat unique among commanders in that he originally had his success as the centerpeice of a highly competetive Standard and Extended deck. As a commander, he provides a unique ability that has a very real effect on the game state and can be exploited through very creative means. From things as broken as Daru Spiritualist or Angelic Protector + Nomads en-Kor or Shuko, to rather benign cards such as Parapet or Steadfastness, every card takes on a new meaning when seen through the eyes of Doran. He is also a favorite commander for a Treefolk tribal deck.
Ghave, Guru of Spores:
Doubling Season, Corpsejack Menace, and Parrallel Lives were all seemingly made to make Ghave a happy Fungus Shaman. Ghave is actually really easy to break, so if you build him you need to take that into consideration. If infinite combos are your thing, abusing things like Undying or Persist creatures, creating infinite mana with Ashnod's Altar or Earthcraft, or just playing Mikaeus, the Unhallowed are all game-winning moves with Ghave in play. It's actually probably harder to find fun and interesting things to do that don't produce infinite combos with Ghave, so when we build Ghave we will do two different decks; one that abuses his abilities with infinite combos and one that uses his abilities in more fair and honest ways.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain:
Karador takes what I like best from The Mimeoplasm (recurring creatures from the graveyard) and from Animar (cost savings on casting creatures, in this case Karador himself) and throws them together in a different and unique way. Karador plays right into what GBW is usually trying to do anyway; filling up its graveyard for recursion and reanimation shenanigans. Cards like Survival of the Fittest make sure the graveyard stays full while backup plans like Living Death give you additional reasons to feed your graveyard. Karador is great because he has a strong theme to build around that isn't conducive to infinite combos, and his ability is more suited to longer grinding games that some people find more attractive in a social setting.
Teneb, the Harvester:
Teneb plays right into what you are doing with Karador or other reanimation strategies, and he is probably my second favorite Planar Chaos Dragon Legends after Intet. I think Karador may be more powerful, but Teneb can definitely hold his own based on the shear cost savings you can realize when you use his ability.
RWU
Numot, the Devastator: Numot is one of the more powerful options for the Planar Chaos legendary dragon cycle. Being able to destroy lands is a very dangerous ability, and the issue I have with running Numot is that everyone will perceive you as being a huge threat because of what Numot can do. Numot can be at his best when combined with other mass land destruction, where white and red both excel.
Zedruu the Greathearted:
I always chuckle to myself a little every time I read the rules text on Zedruu, as his ability seems so ridiculously fun and so potentially infuriating for your opponents all wrapped up in a nice neat package. There are quite a few cards that have abilities that you don't want, and passing those around the table a few times can cause some hilarity to ensue. You can also play political pupeteer by giving someone who is behind a creatuer to block with or a land they need to cast something, knowing that Zedruu will reward you for your generosity.
BUG
Damia, Sage of Stone:
Damia is one of those commanders whose ability doesn't immediately jump out at you as something you build around, but more along the lines of just being a powerful, card advantage juggernaut. I like Damia in conjuncion with the various 'Maro' creatures (cards that have varying power/toughness based on your hand size, i.e. Psychosis Crawler, Aeon Chronicler, Kagemaro, etc.), but any card that triggers when you draw cards or likes that you have a full hand can be very good.
The Mimeoplasm: Its not just 'a' Mimeoplasm, its 'The' Mimeoplasm... and rightfully so. Part clone effect, part reanimator effect, the Mimeoplasm has all sort of cool interactions that are way too numerous to name here, but the nice thing is that you can build such a deck without many accidental combos in it that provide instant wins. You also have several ways of making sure you can tutor up the perfect creature for any removal situation with the various Survival of the Fittest effects in green, or Buried Alive effects in black.
Vorosh, the Hunter: Vorosh isn't bad, but he doesn't do anything that particularly exciting.
WBR
Kaalia of the Vast:
Kaalia is dangerous. Dragons, Demons and Angels are nothing to be trifled with, and she trifles with all of them. She is brtually efficient in getting fairly large creatures into play on the cheap, and some of those cards sre some of the best in the game. From Bloodgift Demon, to Angel of Despair, to Bogardan Hellkite there is no shortage of good creatures to cheat into play with Kaalia. Her only drawback being that she has to attack which can sometimes be problematic, but suting her up with the appropriate equipment can go a long way towards making sure she survives combat. Kaalia comes out fast and hard, so if you see her on th eother side of the table you best be prepared.
Oros, the Avenger: Oros is great if you face a lot of token decks or aggro decks, but those are few and far between and Oros isn't necesarily the best weapon for beating them either.
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls: Some people really like Tariel, but I am not a fan. I don't like that the ability is random, and I don't like that it requires that your opponent have a target worth reanimating.
RUG
Animar, Soul of the Elements: Animar is certainly powerful, especially for the low cost of 3 mana. He gets especially powerful with effects that accelerate his +1/+1 counter accumulation and with artifact/colorless creatures that can eventually be cast for free. Pro-white and pro-black are also huge benefits, giving him a surprising amount of protection to a lot of commonly used removal spells. There are some silly infinite combos with Animar, mostly around cards like Cloudstone Curio and Tidespout Tyrant, but these are actually fairly easy to avoid while allowing you to still make a powerful and fun deck.
Intet, the Dreamer: I like Intet, in that he allows you to do something very powerful and proactive rather than something that is powerful and destructive (like Numot). There are also plenty of ways to make sure that juicy cards remain on top of your deck for Intet to use and abuse, and they are all in your colors. Of the Planar Chaos legendary dragons, Intet is one that I can actually see myself playing as a commander.
Maelstrom Wanderer:
In much the same way that a properly built Intet deck can really abuse the top of your library, Maelstrom Wanderer does the same thing only at warp speed. Cascade is a brutal ability, and having double Cascade is nearly broken. your only real challenge is getting to the eight mana to cast him, but once you do you should have the top of your deck ready to go with all sort of busted goodies. Avenger of Zendikar + Primeval Titan used to be one of the best pairs available, but with the banning of Prime Time this obviously won't work.
Riku of Two Reflections:
Copying spells and copying creatures are two of the most powerful and fun things you can do in a game of Magic, and Riku helps you do both. There are all sorts of cool spells that are absolutely insane when you can double up on their effects, and Riku can take any board position and turn it on its head in a hurry. Riku is mana hungry, so cost savings permanents can help as well as having some mana ramp spells handy (which can conveniently be copied by Riku). I think that as long as you aren't copying Time Warps and Regrowths for infinite turns, then Riku has a lot of potential for fun yet powerful shenanigans.
GWB
Doran, the Siege Tower:
Doran is somewhat unique among commanders in that he originally had his success as the centerpeice of a highly competetive Standard and Extended deck. As a commander, he provides a unique ability that has a very real effect on the game state and can be exploited through very creative means. From things as broken as Daru Spiritualist or Angelic Protector + Nomads en-Kor or Shuko, to rather benign cards such as Parapet or Steadfastness, every card takes on a new meaning when seen through the eyes of Doran. He is also a favorite commander for a Treefolk tribal deck.
Ghave, Guru of Spores:
Doubling Season, Corpsejack Menace, and Parrallel Lives were all seemingly made to make Ghave a happy Fungus Shaman. Ghave is actually really easy to break, so if you build him you need to take that into consideration. If infinite combos are your thing, abusing things like Undying or Persist creatures, creating infinite mana with Ashnod's Altar or Earthcraft, or just playing Mikaeus, the Unhallowed are all game-winning moves with Ghave in play. It's actually probably harder to find fun and interesting things to do that don't produce infinite combos with Ghave, so when we build Ghave we will do two different decks; one that abuses his abilities with infinite combos and one that uses his abilities in more fair and honest ways.
Karador takes what I like best from The Mimeoplasm (recurring creatures from the graveyard) and from Animar (cost savings on casting creatures, in this case Karador himself) and throws them together in a different and unique way. Karador plays right into what GBW is usually trying to do anyway; filling up its graveyard for recursion and reanimation shenanigans. Cards like Survival of the Fittest make sure the graveyard stays full while backup plans like Living Death give you additional reasons to feed your graveyard. Karador is great because he has a strong theme to build around that isn't conducive to infinite combos, and his ability is more suited to longer grinding games that some people find more attractive in a social setting.
Teneb, the Harvester:
Teneb plays right into what you are doing with Karador or other reanimation strategies, and he is probably my second favorite Planar Chaos Dragon Legends after Intet. I think Karador may be more powerful, but Teneb can definitely hold his own based on the shear cost savings you can realize when you use his ability.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Choosing Your Commander - Bant
The last of the allied three-color combinations is white/blue/green or the Bant shard. Bant is an interesting color combination in that is combines the controlling aspect of blue-white with the token, mass creature pump, and lifegain strengths of green-white. What you end up with is often tilted one way or the other, but the commanders are mostly tilted to the control side. Ironically however, the best Bant commander in the format is arguably a very agressive commander in Rafiq although utlimately I would see that even Rafiq would gravitate towads a more controllish deck.
Angus Mackenzie: At least with Angus Mackenzie you get to Fog an entire attack step, which can have some uses in decks that are trying to stall the game.
Arcades Sabboth: In my opinion, he is the worst of the Elder Dragons.
Jenara, Asura of War: There is somethign to be said for commanders that can be cast early and can be easily pumped tp be able to kill with general damage quickly and efficiently. Although some other commanders ask you to jump through a few hoops in order to pump them, Jenara is nowhere near as demanding on your creativity; just add mana and you have yourself a commander that can start dealing some serious damage almost immediately. If you can find ways to accelerate the +1/+1 counter accumulation, either through Proliferate cards or things like Doubling Season, or by generating tons of mana with Mirari's Wake or Mana Reflection, then you have a dangerous deck on your hands.
Phelddagrif: Phelddagrif is the poster child for what is known as the "Group Hug" deck. The concept is that you play a bunch of effects that help everyone rather than hurt anyone, creating a game state where everyone has access to mana and cards and can pretty much do anything they want. The theory behind such a deck is that if you are helping everyone, they will most likely leave you alone and focus their energies on eliminating your opponents. This should allow you to get into the late game where you can drop big threats and hopefully overwhelm whatever players are left standing. The problem is that in practice the group hug player is actually enabling combo players easier access to their game winning cards and is leaving other players the job of eliminating game-ending threats. This in turn can make the group hug player the perceived biggest threat, and in come circles this type of deck is actively attacked and eliminated before it does too much harm to the rest of the game. Whatever your personal views of the "Group Hug" strategy, it is safe to say that Phelddagrif is defintely well suited for the job.
Rafiq of the Many: Rafiq is a classic "Voltron" style commander. Due to Double Strike, any Aura or Equipment card attached to him will do double duty and the various Swords can make him especially lethal. Along with the usual equipment theme, Rafiq is also usually paired with other carsd that have combat triggers and can benefit from having double strike. The nice thing about Rafiq is that he doesn't need muc to support him, so you have lots of leeway for whatever else you may want to include in such a deck.
Ragnar: If I really wanted this kind of effect I would run Asceticism and a better commander.
Rubinia Soulsinger: She's not bad, but when given a choice I think I would take Merieke Ri Berit over Rubinia Soulsinger based on their not being so much of a downside when she gets destroyed.
Treva, the Renewer: This might be interesting as a "lifegain matters" commander that allows you to play blue alongside the more traditional green and white, but on his own merits Treva leaves a lot to be desired other than just being a 6-power flyer for 6 mana.
Angus Mackenzie: At least with Angus Mackenzie you get to Fog an entire attack step, which can have some uses in decks that are trying to stall the game.
Arcades Sabboth: In my opinion, he is the worst of the Elder Dragons.
Phelddagrif: Phelddagrif is the poster child for what is known as the "Group Hug" deck. The concept is that you play a bunch of effects that help everyone rather than hurt anyone, creating a game state where everyone has access to mana and cards and can pretty much do anything they want. The theory behind such a deck is that if you are helping everyone, they will most likely leave you alone and focus their energies on eliminating your opponents. This should allow you to get into the late game where you can drop big threats and hopefully overwhelm whatever players are left standing. The problem is that in practice the group hug player is actually enabling combo players easier access to their game winning cards and is leaving other players the job of eliminating game-ending threats. This in turn can make the group hug player the perceived biggest threat, and in come circles this type of deck is actively attacked and eliminated before it does too much harm to the rest of the game. Whatever your personal views of the "Group Hug" strategy, it is safe to say that Phelddagrif is defintely well suited for the job.
Ragnar: If I really wanted this kind of effect I would run Asceticism and a better commander.
Rubinia Soulsinger: She's not bad, but when given a choice I think I would take Merieke Ri Berit over Rubinia Soulsinger based on their not being so much of a downside when she gets destroyed.
Treva, the Renewer: This might be interesting as a "lifegain matters" commander that allows you to play blue alongside the more traditional green and white, but on his own merits Treva leaves a lot to be desired other than just being a 6-power flyer for 6 mana.
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