East Coast Commander

In which we review the black and red cards from Commander 2014

Welcome to part two of my review of all new cards from CMDR14. I covered white and blue in a previous article, and today we’re going to look at black and red cards. To clarify, I’m not going to look at new legendary creatures or planeswalkers from the set, as these are covered in their own articles. I am approaching this review not from the standpoint that they will remain in the pre-constructed decks, but as pieces of hand-built decks.

So, without further ado, let’s get started. In black, we have the following:

[cardlist] [Black Cards] Demon of Wailing Agonies Flesh Carver Infernal Offering Malicious Affliction Necromantic Selection Overseer of the Damned Raving Dead Spoils of Blood Wake the Dead [/Black Cards] [/cardlist]

A decent mix of spells and creatures here, we have a good mix of power level as well. For creatures, we have [card]Demon of Wailing Agonies[/card], [card]Flesh Carver[/card], [card]Overseer of the Damned[/card], and [card]Raving Dead[/card]. The first, the Demon of Wailing Agonies, is black’s Lieutenant mechanic entry, making it a 6/6 flying creature for 5CMC, that forces a player to sacrifice a creature when he hits them. Honestly, this sounds cool but is not that good. The board state will need to be pretty specific – a defender having creatures that cannot block a flying attacker, and few enough that they have to choose a good one to sacrifice – to make it work that it’ll whiff far too often. Flesh Carver, on the other hand, is quite good, and is a ton of value in a 3CMC body. He starts at 2/2, but gets bigger over the course of the game, then drops a replacement body after a boardwipe. There is no downside to this guy, and I’ll run one in every black deck I can. Overseer of the Damned is another solid entry, and I would have quite liked a copy of this in my [card]Sheoldred, Whispering One[/card] deck, back when I didn’t care if anybody had fun. He requires spot removal, or one-sided board wipes, but both are pretty common. This will see play, but will be underpowered in about half the decks it is in. Rounding out the creatures is Raving Dead, which looks amazing but will be cut from every deck after two or three games. Forced attacks are never fun, and this is never getting through to take half a life total. Especially with a casting cost of 5 – this will be chumped for days, and will be the target of every removal spell and exile effect at the table.

Moving on to the new black spells, we have two sorceries and three instants. [card]Infernal Offering[/card], a sorcery, is the black member of the cycle, and is honestly one of my favourites. Forcing sacrifice on a player who doesn’t want it is mean, sacrificing

You’re probably winning this deal

one of your own for profit at the same time is awesome. Giving another player a creature – or not, you can choose someone with no creatures in their yard – and getting one back yourself is a kick in the teeth. This card is 100% EDH, and I love it. The other sorcery, [card]Necromantic Selection[/card], is a weak attempt to placate us for not reprinting [card]Damnation[/card]. I do like that it’s another black sweeper that adds an effect, but I just want a Damnation reprint. Coming in at a casting cost of 7 will hurt this – it will work, but there are better options.

[card]Malicious Affliction[/card] is our first instant, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s a [card]Dark Banishing[/card] for BB, which is nice, but with Morbid it gets copied. I like the effect, but I’m not sure how many decks I would put this in. I feel this would be a late cut in most builds, but I may be wrong. [card]Spoils of Blood[/card], however, I have no doubt about at all. Couple this with a sweeper like Necromantic Selection, [card]Phyrexian Rebirth[/card], or [card]Blasphemous Act[/card], and you’re going to lose some friends. This is an auto-include to punish players who sweep the board a lot. Rounding out the new black cards, we have [card]Wake the Dead[/card], the only true combat trick in this list. Basically, an X spell that gives you surprise blockers. Which sounds fun, but let’s be honest – if you’re playing black, you shouldn’t have that many creatures coming at you anyway because you’ve killed them all. It’s a nice pressure release valve, and I’ll run it, but I can’t see me casting it that often. I’ll feel better having it in my hand, though.

Black has a decent mix of cards, but Infernal Offering and Flesh Carver are the two standouts. Neither are off the charts, but may show up in other formats.

Moving on to red, we have this list:

[cardlist] [Red Cards] Bitter Feud Dualcaster Mage Impact Resonance Incite Rebellion Scrap Mastery Tyrant’s Familiar Volcanic Offering Warmonger Hellkite [/Red Cards] [/cardlist]

Fewer creatures this time around, with three, though we get an enchantment as well. Let’s look at the permanents first. I’m going to start with [card]Bitter Feud[/card], the enchantment, because it’s the first in the list, but also because it deserves to go first. This is an extremely political card, and it is a way to even the table when two players get out of reach of the rest. Unless something has gone very, very wrong, you’re never choosing yourself for this effect. The upside is the two tanks are now targeting each other. The downside is, maybe they don’t want to, and both come after you. You really, really need to pay attention with this card – not to the board state, but to the way your opponents think, play, and react. If you target the wrong personality with this, you may as well scoop. I like this card, but I will be terrified every time I play it.

[card]Dualcaster Mage[/card], on the other hand, hits every good spot in my brain. Cheap to cast – check. 2/2 body – check. Flash – check. And it copies spells when it hits.

Snapcaster’s best friend/worst enemy

This will see Legacy play, and should be in 99% of EDH decks that run red. Amazing, amazing card. [card]Tyrant’s Familiar[/card] is red’s Lieutenant mechanic entry, and is a damn good one. Expensive to cast, but it becomes a 7/7 flying hasty dragon that deals 7 damage to a creature the defending player controls. Note that this happens when it attacks, not when it deals combat damage. So it blows a defender out of the way – I like this guy, and he’s the top end of the mana curve in my Daretti deck. The last red creature is [card]Warmonger Hellkite[/card], and it is the card in the red deck that doesn’t really fit. I really don’t like this effect, because I want to choose when I attack. I really dislike forced attack steps, and this craeture doesn’t fit in the pre-con list. I can see it having a place in a [card]Ruric Thar, the Unbowed[/card] deck, but my personal preference is to avoid forced attacks.

For red spells, we have two instants and two sorceries. At instant speed we have [card]Impact Resonance[/card] – a lively little effect that punishes alpha strikes, and will be an early addition to most red decks – and [card]Volcanic Offering[/card]. Red’s entry into the Offering cycle is a little weird. I’m not sure if I like this or not, and will need to cast it a few times before I decide. At face value, I like it. I like that “you don’t control” caveat on both effects, but I’m not sold on giving your opponents the choice, even if you get the same one. [card]Incite Rebellion[/card] is a risky sorcery-speed effect. In a creature-light build, this could be back-breaking. But it could also backfire in a hurry, and I am hesitant to recommend this. It’s flashy, for sure, and could win a few games, but I can’t see myself ever casting it. Saving the best for last, we round out red’s new cards with [card]Scrap Mastery[/card], which is [card]Living Death[/card] for artifacts. I. Love. This. Card. When I bought the red pre-con and took it apart for pieces, I built [card]Daretti, Scrap Savant[/card], and this was the first card I slotted in; there was never any doubt. Artifacts tend to run heavy in most environments, but if you build your deck with the knowledge that you can do something like this, the advantage will be all on your side after resolution. This is a perfect card, in my opinion – it will not be in every red deck, but the decks that could use it will be absolutely insane with it.

A look at the new white and blue cards in Commander 2014

With the new Commander pre-constructed decks we get, as always, new cards. These are created solely for the Commander series, and while they are legal in Vintage and Legacy, these are generally tailored toward our favourite format. Some of these make the shift to Standard, by being reprinted in core sets or blocks – [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] started in a Commander deck, for example.

With the latest release, I want to look at these new cards, and give my impression of each. I am skipping the new legendary creatures, as we have articles covering these already (or will, soon). I am looking at these not as pieces of the decks they are in, but with my thoughts of their impact in Commander as a format, overall. Let’s start with white.

[cardlist] [White Cards] Angel of the Dire Hour Angelic Field Marshal Benevolent Offering Comeuppance Containment Priest Deploy to the Front Fell the Mighty Hallowed Spiritkeeper [/White Cards] [/cardlist]

In white we have four creatures, two instants, and two sorceries. [card]Angel of the Dire Hour[/card] is the first creature, and comes in at 7CMC on a 5/4 body. Flash is always nice, and I really like that it’s a somewhat better [card]Sunblast Angel[/card]. It affects attacking creatures only, and exiles them. No bouncing shenanigans, though. Expect to see this in a lot of defensive decks as a way to keep aggressors in check. [card]Angelic Field Marshal[/card] boasts the new Lieutenant mechanic, which I love, and becomes a 5/5 flyer that gives all your other creatures vigilance. In the right deck, this will be amazing, but it’s a niche card. [card]Oathsworn Giant[/card] does this better,

Basically, ‘Nope’.

with no restrictions. [card]Containment Priest[/card] is, in my opinion, the [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] of this release. This is a beast of a card, and will be in Legacy decks forever. A two-drop with flash that stops reanimator strategies cold. No more cheating in fatties on the cheap. [card]Hallowed Spiritkeeper[/card] is a solid little body, 3/2 vigilance for 3 is not a bad deal. It’s the die effect that sells this, though – cast [card]Wrath of God[/card], then cast and sac this to [card]Ashnod’s Altar[/card], and you got a stew goin’. Will not be in every white deck, but expect to see this is white/black builds – Teysa 1.0 loves this guy.

For instants, we have [card]Benevolent Offering[/card] and [card]Comeuppance[/card]. The offering is probably the weakest of the cycle, but like the others it is a very political card. The wording is confusing at first glance, though, and it will not make new players love it. At a casting cost of four, and the fact that it helps one (or two) opponents, this will be in a lot of group hug decks, but even then it will be sparse. Comeuppance also costs 4, but will be seen more often. I like that it not only saves you and your planeswalkers, but it reflects the damage back to the controller – aggro players will hate to swing into 3W with this card around.

[card]Deploy to the Front[/card] is the card that people will want to cut first – I always want to play the pre-cons straight a few times, just to get a feel for them, but there is always one card that is just bad. This is that card. It will be played in niche decks, and serve a redundancy role. It will not be a splasy, game-winning card in anything except [card]Rhys the Redeemed[/card], but that deck doesn’t need any more of these effects. [card]Fell the Mighty[/card] is my favourite of the new white cards, and when I first read it my thoughts immediately turned to [card]Blood Artist[/card], and how back-breaking that play is. This is in every white deck ever, from now on.

Moving on to blue, we have these:

[cardlist] [Blue Cards] AEther Gale Breaching Leviathan Domineering Will Dulcet Sirens Intellectual Offering Reef Worm Stormsurge Kraken Well of Ideas [/Blue Cards] [/cardlist]

Surprisingly, four creatures in blue, two instants, one sorcery and one enchantment. [card]Breaching Leviathan[/card] is similar to Angel of the Dire Hour in that it costs a lot, you have to cast it, and has a neat ETB effect. If you manage to land this, just about everyone will sweep. If you manage to land it. At 9CMC, that’s a big if, even in Commander. [card]Dulcet Sirens[/card] is far more practical, and kind of amazing. I like this card, a lot. I want one for my newly-built [card]Tromokratis[/card] deck – I like that you can threaten other players with somebody else’s creatures. This is a huge card, and will be popular at tables. [card]Reef Worm[/card] is a fun little card that becomes a scarry big card in a hurry. 0/1 for 4 is a terrible investment, but paired with some sweepers or sac outlets, this quickly becomes very worthwhile. Expect to see a lot of 6/6 Whale tokens in play from this guy, as that is the ideal place to stop killing it yourself. [card]Stormsurge Kraken[/card] is the final new blue creature, and is the Lieutenant of the blue deck. I can see this as a source of card draw in a lot of Ux decks that needs that effect, but the fact that it has to be blocked is worrisome to me. Yeah, it’s a 7/7, but [card]Ambush Viper[/card] doesn’t care how big you are. The only other new blue permanent is [card]Well of Ideas[/card], which is an enchantment version of [card]Howling Mine[/card] that will get you punched in the face. Yes, that blue player will run this. Yes, it is alright to call her names when she does.  She probably has [card]Consecrated Sphinx[/card] in her deck, too.

[card]AEther Gale[/card], a sorcery, makes me happy. I want seven copies of this card. At 5CMC, it bounces any six non-land permanents. They do not need to have the same owner, and they don’t even have to be controlled by an opponent. Amazing card, expect to curse at it a lot. [card]Domineering Will[/card] is a great political card, but it lacks a certain something – the fact that nobody knows you can do this until you do lessens the impact – it makes you less a nice guy at the table than it makes you the jerk who ruined one opponent’s plans. I like the card, and it will see a lot of play, but it’ll end up like [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card] – an amazing card, but one that nobody plays because it leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

*maniacal laughter*

Finally, we have [card]Intellectual Offering[/card], one of the better members of the cycle. The first option is more card draw, because blue was lacking in that, but the second is what pushes this over the top. This is a puppet master card – say Player A is attacking into an overextended Player B, who has no untapped defenders. Arch your fingers like Montgomery Burns, and untap all of those defenders, but give the attacker three cards to see what they can do. Laugh maniacally. I absolutely love this card, and will expect this out of every blue deck.

Taking a look at Gisa

I’ve thought about it a lot lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason I like black’s slice of the colour pie so much is that it is not subtle. Black pretty much tells you what it wants to do, and then does it – regardless of your protests.

Our new non-Walker black general is not subtle. She doesn’t hide what she’s trying to do – it’s right there in her name. [card]Ghoulcaller Gisa[/card] is a zombie-making sac outlet. In terms of raw power, she’s pretty solid. Pay one mana and tap her to sacrifice a creature, and make X 2/2 zombies, where X is the sacrificed creature’s power. This is deceptively good – black likes sacrificing for fun and profit, black can load up on front-end power and get mileage out of those heavy hitters, and black can abuse the graveyard better than any colour.

But the reason I like this card is pure story. Ignoring the mechanics and the power level for a minute, let’s look at a small storyline that played out in the flavour text of the Innistrad block.

Because this is where Ghoulcaller Gisa – and [card]Stitcher Geralf[/card], mentioned in the flavour text here – comes from. Innistrad was, at it’s heart, a tribal block. The blue/black tribe was zombies, and each colour made them in different ways. Black tended to sacrifice living things, or simply make 2/2 zombies with things like [card]Army of the Damned[/card]. Blue tended to use your graveyard to make it’s zombies, which tended to be stronger but required the exile of creatures out of your graveyard – or self-mill. Black zombies were call zombies or ghouls, and blue ones were called skaabs. Geralf made skaabs, and Gisa made ghouls, and the two were fighting back and forth. It was interesting, and funny, and way more popular than WOTC ever thought it would be.

Which is why we have these two cards, and why Gisa makes a lot of 2/2s and Geralf makes a single X/X. It’s also why they are both 3/4 creatures for the same converted mana cost – they hit at the same time, and can’t kill each other in combat.

My advice is to take a pass on Titania

I’m going to make an admission here – I have never enjoyed mono-green. I like green mixed with other colours, but rarely on its own. I find it to be boring, to be perfectly honest. The strategy is almost always the same – ramp into massive land-based mana, drop fatties, and bash. I like doing this in red, but not so much in green.

Which is funny, because I want green to do what red is normally supposed to do – multiple lanes of attack, a variety of options for damage, etc… – while I have the most fun in red doing what green is best known for – smashing mindlessly on my opponents.

[card]Titania, Protector of Argoth[/card] is the latest mono-green general of the non-planeswalking variety. [card]Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury[/card] gets all the glory in this year’s green general options, and rightly so. The novelty of ‘walkers as commanders adds a lot of shine, but the fact that she makes [card]Llanowar Elves[/card], is a [card]Naturalize[/card], and is a massive card draw engine all makes her pretty nifty. But the second option for a commander in the green deck is pretty weak. Let’s take a look.

Meh

Green likes lands. Generally, green likes to get lands out of your library and into your hand, but better effects get lands from your library onto the battlefield. It sometimes likes to pull lands from your graveyard to hand – [card]Life From the Loam[/card] is a powerhouse in a lot of formats – and sometimes likes to hit people with lands, a la [card]Liege of the Tangle[/card]. What green doesn’t like that much, though, is putting lands into the graveyard. Which makes this a difficult card to really like. Yeah, you get extra uses out of your fetchlands or [card]Evolving Wilds[/card], and some extra value by cracking a fetch to get a land, while also getting the Elemental token, but this is Commander. We’re not looking for small, incremental value. We’re looking to make a splash.

Titania, in mono-green, is weak. Unless you’re willing to go very high risk, she doesn’t do a whole lot for you. And going that route will be fun once in a while, but it won’t take long before people hold on to the disruption pieces they already have to stop you from really doing anything degenerate. Even in this pre-contructed list, there is very little support for Titania, and I get the feeling she was made just for nostalgia. Which is fine, but so was Freyalise, and she makes me want to squeal like a 19 year old girl at a dance bar. Sure, Titania makes the buyback cost on [card]Constant Mists[/card] hilarious, but what else? [card]Copper-Leaf Angel[/card]? [card]Excavator[/card]? [card]Lotus Vale[/card]? None of these are going to bust her open.

Reviewing the new red Planeswalker/General

I have a long, painful relationship with mono-red decks, in all formats. I love red. It’s fast, powerful, and flings damage everywhere. It can require a lot of thought and planning, but if you feel like just slamming cards down and turning them sideways, red can do that and still win.

Red, in Commander, is an absolutely fantastic support colour. On its own, it’s not that great, though. I’ve seen some red decks that are mean, but if you plan for them, they’re pretty fragile. [card]Purphoros, God of the Forge[/card] is pretty much the premiere mono-red general, though some [card]Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer[/card] decks can get pretty solid. For the most part, though, mono-red Commander decks are linear – spam the board with dudes, attack every turn, finish people off with burn.

With CMDR14, however, we have a new option. A shiny, planeswalking, artifact-centric option. We have [card]Daretti, Scrap Savant[/card]. And oooooh man is he good.

Let’s take a look at the card itself.

Magnificent

Casting cost is reasonable. 3R is pretty good for a ‘walker anyway, and for your general it’s low enough to be effective. Starting loyalty is only 3, which I am not sold on. We’ve not seen planeswalkers as commanders before this round, though, so I am not sure where that sits in terms of the ‘sweet spot’. Let’s break down the abilities, one by one.

+2: Discard up to two cards, draw that many cards

I like this. It immediately throws his loyalty up to 5, which is good, and is a decent draw effect in red. Red rummages (discards, then draws) while blue loots (draws, then discards) – both want the power of more cards, but red knows what it doesn’t want and gambles, while blue plots and holds off on a decision as long as possible. I like that it’s “up to two”, as well. Forcing a rummage of two is a lot worse than making it a variable amount. If you have a mittful of good cards and one useless one, you don’t want to pitch something useful just to get rid of a dead card. This is the best card draw we can expect in red, in today’s game. I like this a lot.

-2: Sacrifice an artifact. If you do, return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Here is when we get to the meat of Daretti. Artifact-heavy builds are pretty common in most metas, but usually in blue, white, or Esper colours. [card]Sharuum the Hegemon[/card] is the queen of artifact decks. But red uses artifacts a lot as well, mainly to fill holes in red’s slice of the colour pie. Artifacts give you card draw, they give you stability on defense, utility, and reach. They allow you to interact with permanents that red would usually be forced to ignore or hope that somebody else will take care of them. I like that this requires a sac, first, and that it brings the target back to the battlefield. I also really like that you can sac something, then bring that same thing back. Attack with your [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card], do six damage (and gain six life), then sac it after combat for the tokens and a freshly untapped Wurmcoil Engine.

I think that’s how that works, anyway. Correct me if I’m wrong. Even if I am, that ability is bonkers.

−10: You get an emblem with “Whenever an artifact is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, return that card to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.”

The ultimate. This is what you’re shooting for with Daretti, every time you cast him. The only downside to this is that nobody will ever let you get there easily. If somebody casts Daretti, you absolutely must do everything you can to keep that player off this ultimate. This is on par with [card]Venser, the Sojourner[/card]’s ultimate – absolutely backbreaking, in even the most cursory build-around deck.

This time around, the red deck is, in my opinion, the best of the five. The white deck has better pieces to pull out for other decks, as does blue, green, and black. But the red deck, out of the box, is very, very good. And Daretti has a lot to do with that – mainly because the staple pieces for him are already there. Really, the cards that are going to win the most games under Daretti – from the whole pool, not just the ones in the box – are Wurmcoil Engine, [card]Spine of Ish Sah[/card], [card]Goblin Welder[/card], and [card]Hoard-Smelter Dragon[/card]. Maybe [card]Hellkite Tyrant[/card]. And look, all but one of those are in the pre-constructed deck.

The guys here at East Coast Commander have decided to do their part to change the face of men’s health.

There have been times in the recent past where the Magic community has really come together to help out their brothers & sisters in need. It’s time for myself & and guys here at East Coast Commander to do our small little part. It’s time for Movember! Commander Style!

The four of us here have started Team Legendary Mo and are looking to raise money to support research into mean’s health issues. You can check out the Movember Website here. So here’s now it works. Starting on November 1st our three team members – myself, James Davey, & Chris Tremble – will be growing epic mustaches in an effort to raise money. It’s pretty simple really, we commit to growing (which in my case is sure to be a terrible) mustaches and you stop over to our official team page and make a modest donation. It doesn’t have to be big, we’ll take anything. All donations are processed through the official Movember website, by their services.

We are always looking for new team members and donations so please get behind this worthy cause. The three of us will be posting photo updates as the month progresses.

A little review on each of the new Commander decks coming out.

Hello fellow commander players and welcome back to the most wonderful time of the year! No it’s not Christmas we are talking about but instead the annual commander release. We have many cards that we will be taking an in-depth look at, but first I figured I’d hit the sets and a little bit about them. Hold on tight because this is going to be a wild one, we will hit a little bit of finance, a little bit about the decks, and some heavy hitters.

Unless you live under a rock you probably have seen the spoiled deck lists and are anxiously awaiting the release on November 7th. The first thing I hear everyone talking about is Heavenly Inferno, will there be another one. In short the answer to that is no. Wizards is moving to a print on demand type of distribution which means that except for very rare sets, like the from the vaults type of products, Wizards will keep printing as long as there is demand. This makes sense, as Wizards has nothing to do with the secondary market, so the money they make is on the initial product that is sold, so why not get what you can.

Secondly, this allows them to plant cards for all the different formats without having huge buyouts; this is why you can find Mind Seizes still, despite how popular [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] is. The argument people have with this idea is it devalues a collectable card game, which is not exactly true. While there will be more supply at first and that will keep prices down, you will be able to obtain the card you want cheaper and collectability has never been about the short term. So with more and more players every day the cards will be able to gain more dollar value over time. Which also means you get the cards you want now at a good price.

Another exciting aspect about this release is that Wizards is getting more and more behind this format. Just take a look at the new Commander specific cards like the Walkers and the Lieutenants. Even with all this commitment Wizards is still leaving the rules to the rules committee, which I think is great for the game and the players. You can agree with the godfather or not, but that group has a huge amount of experience to draw from as well as a social circle big enough to influence change even as high up as the Wizards staff.

Okay, enough with my opinion of the economics of the decks lets take a look at the decks themselves and see what we got! Honestly, I feel like these decks are the most refined and best built decks wizards have put out thus far, and yes I realize that is much easier to do with a mono colored deck, but these are still pretty solid.

My new friend!

White: Forged in Stone, is probably the weakest deck as it relies too much on tokens, although it does have great creature buffs with the enchantments and the equipment. If you lose those, the white deck doesn’t really have enough finishers to finish the job. Can we get another white finisher besides [card]Serra Avatar[/card]? The upside side to this deck is that it has a ton of sweepers and removal, which will go along way to keeping you in the game. This deck also has a low curve, hitting many useful cards at 3 mana. Add the recently reprinted [card]Reya Dawnbringer[/card], [card]Rout[/card] and maybe a [card]Heliod, God of the Sun[/card] and some better equipment and this deck could take off.

Blue: Peer Through Time, seriously although I have a known dislike for all things blue they keep on making the color way to strong. Now on top of card draw blue is aggro? This deck has a billion card draw options, some great creatures that will be pure houses to try and beat, and enough counter and removal to keep your opponents at bay. [card]Reef Worm[/card] is going to be a huge card aside from [card]Teferi, Temporal Archmage[/card]. This deck can be improved on, but honestly this will be the strongest deck straight out of the box by a long shot.

Green: Guided By Nature, is frankly another green elf deck with a sprinkle of beaters mixed in, it’s right on point for theme, has some removal focusing on flying as green should, and a great creature buff in [card]Beastmaster Ascension[/card]. However, the real standout in this deck will be [card]Lifeblood Hydra[/card]. Now, being a hydra, I’m sure it will never get too expensive, but this card will be huge for green decks! In fact here is a sample of how I think this card will play out:

Player 1: Lifeblood Hydra with ten counters and I have haste so swinging in.

Player 2: Looks down at his [card]Weathered Wayfarer[/card], damn [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card].

Player 1: Wait I gain 20 life and draw 10 cards… So worth it!

Look at all the fun!!!

Red: Built from Scratch, Wizards has heard the complaints about red not being strong, so they fixed it, they gave us artifacts! The best way to fix red is to add stuff like [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card], [card]Steel Hellkite[/card] and [card]Solemn Simulacrum[/card]. Other standouts are [card]Feldon of the Third Path[/card] and [card]Dualcaster Mage[/card]. This should be a fun and interactive deck with lots of interactions.

Black: Sworn to Darkness, has lots of solid role players but nothing that stands out as meta game warping. That being said, this will be a solid deck with a lot of recursion and graveyard shenanigans. Plus [card]Ghoulcaller Gisa[/card] should be a great addition to any zombie deck!

I can’t wait for all the fun new toys, but if you can’t get them all on the 7th don’t worry you will have time to collect them all. Also, I am considering do an unboxing video of the Commander sets so please leave some comments below if that would be of any interest.

Until next time this is EDH.Ghost out.

Editor’s Note: This is being posted on behalf of our own Jonathan Pflug. Thanks Jon for another great look at the Planeswalkers from Magic’s newest sets.

Still a Little Mad

Fall usually denotes the time for leaf colors changing, ghouls abound, and cooler weather. It also brings us the greatest Magic gift of all: new big set! Khans of Tarkir brings its wedge-colored goodness to the masses, along with a few new Planeswalkers for me to preview. Since Khans only adds two ‘Walkers to the fray ([card]Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/card] and [card]Sorin, Solemn Visitor[/card], I’m going to add in one that I neglected to preview over the summer: Conspiracy’s [card]Dack Fayden[/card].

Let’s start with the planeswalker who’s returning home. [card]Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/card] has become a fixture in the current standard metagame, but for EDH he’s a mixed bag. His plus ability is great, letting him become a 4/4 indestructible, flying, hasty beater. It’s very similar to [card]Giden Jura[/card]‘s creature ability except that it is more difficult to block. It allows him to swing in hard without fear of losing loyalty and avoids just about every wrath effect. This would allow him to fit in a more controlling red style of deck. 4/4 is still not the greatest of p/t and is a bit lacking as far as gravity of the hits he gives, and you’ll need to protect him if you want to keep swinging away. His minus ability is pretty steep, clocking in at -3 to do 4 damage to another creature. That is a lot to pay for such an effect and I forsee it just being used in a pinch if you really need to get rid of a smaller creature. You’ll generally be adding to his loyalty over throwing [card]Thunderbolt[/card]s at passing creatures. His ultimate is a double [card]Grafted Skullcap[/card], allowing a draw of two additional cards a turn for the drawback of having to discard your hand at your end step. I love the ability from a flavor standpoint, as it really highlights red’s aggressive nature and pedal to the metal attitude. In actual practice, it isn’t very smart to go into your opponent’s turns with no cards in hand to react. You’re definitely at the whims of the table and will find yourself at a disadvantage more often than not. You’d have to be piloting a niche deck that wants no hand size such as someone running [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card] or going with a Hellbent theme. I’m pegging [card]Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker[/card] at a 4/10. He’s a great constructed card but his power doesn’t end up cutting it when he’s running with the 99.

Where Sarkhan treads into new design space for planeswalkers, [card]Sorin, Solemn Visitor[/card] feels like a retread. He’s extremely similar to

Better than a visit from the Tooth Fairy

Sorin’s last iteration [card]Sorin, Lord of Innistrad[/card]. They both make vampires, pump your creatures, and look to get rid of your opponent’s creatures in some way, shape, or form. The Solemn Visitor’ + ability grants lifelink and a +1/+0 to all your creatures till your next turn. It works as a great in either aggressive or defensive decks, as you can attack to gain a large chunk of life with your army or hold them back in order to protect Sorin while deterring attackers from you since you’re able to benefit from an attack. His -2 ability nets you a 2/2 Flying Vampire token. Though its not the most imposing of creatures, the Vampire protects Sorin from flying threats and can move to the offensive if need be. I’d like him to be gaining loyalty while you pump out creatures but that is nitpicking. Protecting your ‘walker is what I’m always preaching, and Sorin does a decent job at it. His ultimate, which comes about after subtracting 6 loyalty, causes each opponent to sacrifice a creature at the beginning of their upkeep. It is a strong ability, and puts a hurting on decks that rely on a small number of creatures. It does little to recursion decks such as [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card] since they can easily get their creatures back (and abuse their EtB triggers to boot) or token swarms that just lose a small, non-important part of their swarm. EDH decks tend to be more resilient in the face of an ability like this so I’m not overwhelmed by it, but it can still be effective. I still like [card]Sorin, Lord of Innistrad[/card] better in EDH, but this solemn visitor still has a place in the format. I’m putting [card]Sorin, Solemn Visitor[/card] at a 6.5/10.

Finally we come to [card]Dack Fayden[/card]. The greatest thief in the multiverse graced our presence in the wonderfully enjoyable Conspiracy expansion over the summer. I’ve held off on reviewing him because I wanted to have a few more ‘walker reviews to pair him with, and with our 2 from Khans I can finally bring my opinions on him to light. And they are quite favorable. His +1 causes a player to draw 2 cards then discard 2. This ability has a ton of applications across most formats, and EDH is no exception. It digs you deeper into your deck, allows you to pitch cards for abilities (such as [card]Wonder[/card] or [card]Anger[/card]) or for recursion shenanigans. Cards like [card]Faithless Looting[/card] are seen on occasion, but the versatility that Dack provides along with the ability to reuse it vault it over the top. His -2 ability is another gem; gain control of target artifact. PERMANENTLY. If you’ve failed to realize this before, Commander is filled with useful artifacts of all kinds, and whichever one you want on the battlefield can be yours via the sticky fingers of Mr. Fayden. Your opponent’s mana rocks, Swords of XYZ, even a [card]Trading Post[/card] could be yours. Even if

He stole my heart

you only get one activation from Dack, his 3 mana cost will be worth advancing your own board state at the cost of an opponent’s. Dack’s ultimate is the one lackluster thing about him. Though it allows you to steal a permanent anytime you target said permanent with a spell, it is a little narrow in focus and you would really need to build your deck to take full advantage of it. Most single target spells in the format are generally removal of some kind so they’re more likely to destroy or exile it without you getting it over to your side. The best application I can think of is targeting Indestructible cards like the Theros Gods or silly things like [card]Radiate[/card]ing a spell to target every permanent somehow. Even with that slight, [card]Dack Fayden[/card] still clocks in at a 7/10 on the ‘walker scale. His abilities are rock solid and even a single use of either his first two brings enough value to warrant his casting.

That wraps it up for this royal decree of planeswalking, but in a few short weeks we’ll have the full set of Commanderwalkers to preview and I’ll be taking stock of these new entities. Happy ‘walking till then!

Have you added any of these ‘walkers to your Commander arsenal? Do you agree with Jon’s breakdown of their impact in Commander?

Help right the ship so Hanna can rule the skies!

    Hey welcome back to Building the Chromatic, we had great participation with the votes for the commander and it was a wild one! [card]Isperia, Supreme Judge[/card] jumped out to an early lead and I thought she might have it hands down. But [card]Hanna, Ship’s Navigator[/card] doesn’t go out without a fight and that is exactly what she did! She clawed and fought her way back into the lead and what would become a pretty decent margin of victory. So the commander to lead the new Azorius deck is none other than Hanna!

Look what I got! A picture of Hanna!

So here lies the problem, as we all know I am not a control type of player, in fact throwing down the beats is what I have always done and is always within my comfort zone. But Hanna is not one built for a beatdown, instead she is built to cruise into battle adding her blades swiftly and precisely. This is where you come in, Hanna’s ship is a mess and in disarray. Take a look at the deck below and see what needs to come out, what needs to be changed and what will set the ship right.

  Deck list

  Honestly I wasn’t sure there were many options for a deck like this but the further I dug in the more I found! I had thought of running [card]Coastal Piracy[/card] and then some Shadow walkers to get in for free points and free cards, but then I stopped. Is that really what Hanna would do? Still, piracy and fighters in the shadow, there is some thematic fun there for sure!

So how do you see Hanna entering the fray? Does she do it with bureaucracy and law like Azorius in known to do, or does our heroine color outside the lines a little? Should the deck perry with counterspells or does it build enchantment after enchantment until she rides to battle in a well armored and controlled ship? Should she be master of destruction and rain wrath upon wrath on the other unsuspecting commanders? Maybe her forte is drawing lots of advantage in battle through card draw and battle tricks. So many ways she can go, what do you see?

  Run to the other side!

So here is the game, we are going to go for a 2 for 1, which means take out 2 cards for every 1 you put in. We are well over what we should be, but I’m sure there are good cards not on the list. Not to mention, really isn’t a 2 for 1 where we want to be anyway? If you just see a card that doesn’t fit feel free to recommend some a cut as well. This is the hardest part of the series; getting enough people to contribute their voice and to poke and prod your friends to come contribute to the deck. Lets get it to a playable level and I will construct it and we can test it out and see how Hanna can do!

So won’t you be a good neighbor and help right the ship that Hanna built?

Khans of Tarkir has been out in the wild for over a week now and it’s time we start talking about how this new Magic set is impacting Commander. With the addition of new tri-coloured tap lands, a new three colour mana dork, and of course, FETCHES – there is no shortage of things to talk about.

New Commanders for Old Wedges

The new three-colour aligned clans bring new legendary bodies to the roster of possible commanders. The Abzan Houses bring their embodiment of Endurance of the Dragon to the field with [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card]. The Jeskai bring [card]Narset, Enlightened Master[/card] to the table and gives us a very powerful U/R/W general that isn’t [card]Zedruu the Greathearted[/card]. If graveyard shenanigans are more your style you can try a build featuring [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant[/card] & The Sultai Brood. If you love R/W/B for it’s strong removal and tutors, but don’t want to play [card]Kaalia of the Vast[/card] then you may want to get into the red zone with [card]Zurgo Helmsmasher[/card] & The Mardu Horde. Lastly The Temur Frontier brings savagery to the battlefield with [card]Surrak Dragonclaw[/card] leading the charge, as an excellent alternative to people who want to smash face the old fashioned way.

Five new clans and five new legends get Khans of Tarkir off to a great start as far as Commander players are concerned. A quick look through the

Evil monk that looks so good!

decklist database over at MTGSalvation proves that there are people out there brewing and building with these new powerful generals. There has never been this many choices in the wedge colours when picking your commander and it is very refreshing. Many of the commanders in these colours come from the original commander precon decks and have a reputation that might get you hated out of the game early – looking at you [card]Kaalia of the Vast[/card] & [card]Riku of Two Reflections[/card]. It’s nice to have choices and mix up the usual fare. Personally I was pretty underwhelmed by the commanders overall, but after writing up a review for [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card] I am strongly considering a new deck.

I think overall [card]Narset, Enlightened Master[/card] is probably the most overpowered of the five new legends, with her ability to cast noncreatures spells on attack, not when damage is dealt. You like extra turns much? That being said don’t discount [card]Surrak Dragonclaw[/card]. He is an excellent voltron target and a great alternative to Riku if you love R/U/G but don’t want to be hated out of the room the minute you take your deck out (like me). [card]Sidisi, Brood Tyrant[/card] is a little underwhelming with only one token when one or more creatures hit the yard from the library, but with calculated, small dose self mill there could be a deck there.

Go Fetch!

Obviously the big deal from the set is the reprinting of the Onslaught fetch lands. [card]Windswept Heath[/card], [card]Polluted Delta[/card], [card]Bloodstained Mire[/card], [card]Flooded Strand[/card] & [card]Wooded Foothills[/card] are all welcome reprints and give us Commander players a chance to streamline our mana bases without shelling out some serious cash. As an added bonus these reprints have had a notable impact on Modern & Legacy, dropping the prices of the Zendikar fetch lands considerably as well. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t super pumped about scoring a foil [card]Wooded Foothills[/card] for my favorite deck – [card]Xenagos, God of Revels[/card]. The new art on many the fetches depicts dragon bones or skeletons, making them very flavorful, especially in a dragon or shaman theme deck. Anyone feel like brewing [card]Scion of the Ur-Dragon[/card]?

At the uncommon slot we have 5 new tap lands that produce each of the three colours of the Khans of Tarkir clans. Similar to cards like [card]Jungle Shrine[/card] they can get great early drops to quick fix your mana in a three or five coloured deck. They are absolutely fantastic budget options for what can sometimes be expensive mana bases in multicoloured builds. WotC really went to town with lands in Khans of Tarkir and we are Commander players are reaping the benefits.

Obviously of lesser value – but still pretty useful – are the new “refuge” lands. These ten new common lands come into play tapped but give a small one life point bonus when they hit play. They are simple mana fixers that really can go into any deck, and are a nice budget way of making your mana work alongside other duals and utility lands, especially  in three or five colour decks.

Spellslinging

BOOM!

Khans also gave us some notable spells in all five colours that can easily find a home in many decks. [card]See the Unwritten[/card] is a six mana cost mythic rare that gives the best two abilities of [card]Garruk, Caller of Beasts[/card] in one sorcery speed package. You get to dig down 8 cards and put a creature directly into play. You get two dudes if you already control a creature with power four or greater. Welcome to value town. [card]Icy Blast[/card] is an excellent option in blue control builds, especially if you are using a couple big finishers instead of combo to close out the game. At instant speed you can dump a bunch of mana into the spell to tap down an opponent that is about to swing for the win, with the added bonus of those creatures not untapping during their controllers next untap step if you have ferocious online.

The art on [card]Rakshasa’s Secret[/card] is creepy as hell and would fit in nicely with any discard package you are running. It gets two cards out of an opponent’s hand for three mana and self mills you for two. We all know how easily black can get access to cards in the graveyard so this can act like sudo card advantage in the right deck. If your playing B/W you may already be running the grand daddy of spot removal in [card]Vindicate[/card], but if sorcery speed isn’t your thing you can pay just one more mana and play [card]Utter End[/card]. Sure it doesn’t hit land cards, but it does exile, making it a handy piece of removal for any deck that can run it. It’s also the full art Game Day promo if you are able to attend, and do well at the event.

[card]Duneblast[/card] is an interesting wrath like effect. Obviously the colours are a little restricting, but this is the card every [card]Doran, the Siege Tower[/card] player dreams off. It’s on colour and it will clean the board while saving their precious voltron tree. Suit up Doran, or [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card], for that matter with a [card]Loxodon Warhammer[/card] or [card]Behemoth Sledge[/card] and clear the way to rack up the commander damage. Speaking of voltron generals, if you are often on the recieving end of the beatdown, consider [card]End Hostilities[/card]. Sure it’s one more mana than the usual [card]Wrath of God[/card] but it will nuke all permanents attached to creatures as well. Stop that [card]Sigarda, Host of Herons[/card] dead in her sword swinging tracks!

Charming

With a new tri-coloured focused set comes a new cycle of charms. [card]Abzan Charm[/card], [card]Jeskai Charm[/card], [card]Mardu Charm[/card], [card]Sultai Charm[/card], & [card]Temur Charm[/card] each give the five clans of Tarkir a multi-optioned spell that typically has one very powerful effect and then two slightly less powerful effects that align to the colours of said clan. I am not going to rank these in order of power or usefulness as they are very dependent on the colours you have access to and the overall strategy of the deck, but as with the charms that have come before them – you can never go wrong with one card that has multiple functions. Despite that none of the abilities on any of the charms are completely over the top powerful, they still represent three different abilities for one card slot of the 99, which makes them very versatile and a pleasure to run.

Mighty Morphin Power Creatures

Morph is back! If you have been watching the recent SCG events, or the Pro Tour from Hawaii this past weekend you can see that in limited and draft environments the morph guys are very strong and always add an element of surprise to a game. Morph creatures up until now haven’t seen a lot of play in my local meta and the usual joke when one comes down is someone yelling “It’s [card]Chromeshell Crab[/card]!” Each playgroup is different, but I am willing to bet that in your group you don’t have to play the morph guessing game to often. [card]Brine Elemental[/card] sees some play in the greasier, “pickle lock” decks, and [card]Bane of the Living[/card] can be a pseudo board wipe for black decks. I ran [card]Soul Collector[/card] in my [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card] tribal vampire deck for a while but it was never that impressive. Everyone once and a while someone really makes a big swing with [card]Exalted Angel[/card] but for the most part morphin wasn’t a big part of Commander.

With Khans of Tarkir we have access to a whole new cycle of morph creatures and some of them are pretty damn impressive. The three colour common cycle featuring interesting cards like [card]Ponyback Brigade[/card] and [card]Abzan Guide[/card] are great budget cards & [card]Efreet Weaponmaster[/card] can make for a big pump to another guy, and as a 4/3 with first strike really he’s not to shabby himself. We also get a new and potentially powerful mana dork with morph in my personal favorite creature from the set – [card]Rattleclaw Mystic[/card]. [card]Sagu Mauler[/card] is a big body with awesome abilities that a lot of big mana Simic decks are happy to see, & [card]Hooded Hydra[/card] is just waiting to be abused in green decks that focus on +1/+1 counters. I don’t think that this first block of Khans is going to add a ton of morphs to your Commander games, but it will be nice to not automatically have a pretty good idea of what creature is hiding under that morph token. Variety is – after all – the spice of life.

Now for my Personal Favourite

With every new set comes a new favourite card, and Khans of Tarkir is no exception. With all the new cool toys we get in 2014’s fall set my fave has got to be [card]Burn Away[/card]. This is a little situational for me, but my [card]Tibor and Lumia[/card] deck is quickly moving from “pet project” to one of my favourites and Burn fits in perfectly, letting my cut the sometimes useless [card]Tormad’s Crypt[/card] for a card that has synergy with the rest of the deck, and can combat the frequent graveyard abusing decks that I see in my meta.

Well that is my general overall look at Khans of Tarkir. Let us know what you think of the set in the comments below. What is your favourite new card. How are you changing up your decks to fit in a new bomb or trick? What do you want to see in the next block of this very flavourful set?

Time to get our general on!

Welcome back! The community has spoken and they have chosen Azorius. Now I think you all might be crazy, but let’s be honest, that is what I love about the community! So now we will take a look at who the options for generals are and pick one. But wait there is a little twist to it this time. So vote for a general but also leave a comment on what you think the deck should do. What will the theme be, maybe what sub-themes should be in the deck. With all the Azorius generals out there we better get this started. So without further ado:

[card]Ayesha Tanaka[/card], wow what can I say banding talk about a game breaker! I band all my 2/2’s and then… Well if you can finish that sentence then you really do have too much time on your hands. Also, she has a different ability with artifacts, but it misses on most of the more power pieces in the game. [card]Brago, King Eternal[/card], new flying beats that gives you blink. Now if only white and blue had value creatures that we want to keep bouncing. Maybe there is an sphinx.deck just waiting to come out of the wood works. [card]Bruna, Light of Alabaster[/card], everyone loves Bruna, she is so cuddly and has so many different angles in which to build from… or she is an Aura machine. But maybe there is a whole lot more that we have yet to find with this fiery angel. [card]Daxos of Meletis[/card], words words words, so basically if he does damage he steals things. Tables tend to not be happy with that course of action even if you are.

Embrace the light or parish…

[card]Ephara, God of the Polis[/card], Theros block brought a ton of highly playable options for commander and where I don’t consider it one of the most ground breaking sets, all the options at commander were a breath of fresh air. Ephara is one of the gods that I fear they were afraid would be broken so they dialed her back. Baby got back, but really draw a card on the next turn if you dropped a creature the turn before? Slow advantage if you are playing a creature heavy deck, otherwise, ehhhhh. [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card], can be down right oppressive, throw some swords on and games quickly get one sided. Also, I guess people don’t enjoy a Hexproof guy having protection from the colors they are playing and only needing to deal 21 points of damage. On the plus side he is way more affordable now, which I guess is a plus only if you don’t already have a few of them. [card]Gosta Dirk[/card], a 4/4 for 7, but hey he has First Strike and he takes away Islandwalk, which is very relevant if you have blue mages that play blue for the creatures. Also if you have blue mages that play blue for the creatures you should probably question their sanity a bit. [card]Grand Arbiter Augustin IV[/card], feels like sometimes it is the most hated card a person can play, and the effect is a powerful one but incrementally so. Still, at every play opponents seem to be one mana short to do what they want, and that is frustrating normally but when they can look at the person doing it, then you better be ready because the wrath of Khans (yeah that was pretty bad, sorry) is coming. Also three words come to mind when I see Arbiter, durdle durdle durdle. [card]Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer[/card], so I built this deck for my son because he wanted to sit back and prevent others from attacking him, so out came pillow fort.deck and boy is it bad, you just make it so they can’t attack you and you beat them up with you single flyer (generally a 4/4). I think I may have fallen asleep during some of these games, plus side is more nap time as we all can need more sleep. [card]Hanna, Ship’s Navigator[/card], I won’t lie I think this can be an interesting deck using artifacts and enchantments over and over again, but the question I have is only one a turn and it goes back to your hand. Is there enough value that it is worth it? Also, does this become the artifact deck for U/W and not have it’s own identity? [card]Hunding Gjornersen[/card], has a ton going for him, well really one thing, no one will know how to pronounce his name, winning! Other than that, Rampage one? I have to brush up on Rampage again but I’m pretty sure terrible is in the definition. [card]Isperia the Inscrutable[/card], oh oh here is the Sphinx deck, play [card]Telepathy[/card] and similar cards and try and guess what they have and go get a sphinx! Seems pretty straight forward, but tell me people wouldn’t be preoccupied with all the sphinx’s. Also, this deck would have to be foiled because really you have to dazzle your opponents! [card]Isperia Supreme Judge[/card], I have often thought about building this deck with [card]Alluring Siren[/card] effects with a bunch of walls and then just drawing cards, and then… squirrel! Or I meant and then, yeah got nothing… [card]Ith, High Arcanist[/card], ummmm see above. [card]Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer[/card] [card]Jedit Ojanen[/card], a 5/5 for seven, but he’s a legend and a bad assed cat. You can do cat things, oh and these colors have birds. This deck could be cats and birds working together to take over the world, then the cats eat the birds… Wait this deck is growing on me, really. [card]Kangee, Aerie Keeper[/card], remember above when I said birds, I was totally making that up then I saw this guy, I was like wow, they do exist! He could be expensive to buff birds enough to compete with other creatures in EDH, but bird beat down could be a thing. [card]Kasimir the Lone Wolf[/card], a vanilla 5/3 for 6 that just happens to be a legend, smashing! [card]Lavinia of the Tenth[/card], detain seems good but in EDH there seems to be very few things that are under four mana that most times your opponents can’t lose for a turn or two. Rather than being a game breaker this becomes a minor annoyance. [card]Medomai the Ageless[/card], another sphinx, but this time one that can yield you an extra turn if you can connect with an opponent. Also a very popular card, your taking another turn and doing what? [card]Rasputin Dreamweaver[/card], so a lot of text to say prevent one damage to himself or add one mana. At one point I could see him being a decent power house but now, he leaves a lot to be desired. [card]Sygg, River guide[/card], hey Merfolks, oh and you know what else he is good at, Merfolks. Also you can just swing in eleven times into someone that has islands, very strong. [card]Tobias Andrion[/card], another solid contender for my general is just there. He is a 4/4 for 5 and frankly the art isn’t that inspiring.

So there you have it the all U/W generals at our disposal, which one tickles you fancy and why? Where would you take the deck? I can’t wait to hear all the comments and get building. Please vote below and leave a comment on the theme the deck should follow. Oh yeah and as another update while typing up this massive list of generals on a night I couldn’t sleep and I wondered why I wasn’t into the colorless deck, and lo and behold I ended up spending a bit of the night brewing it. So [card]Karn, Silver Golem[/card] is almost done, apparently I have been stock piling cards for it so short of a [card]Metalworker[/card] and a few random pieces it’s kinda done. More to come on that front but for right now it’s all about the Azorius!

Until Next time this is EDH.Ghost out.

By reader request

I have a bit of a problem when it comes to Commander.  I have a very hard time keeping decks in place.  I like to brew, and tear things apart, and build them again a little differently.  Or wildly different.

Just build.

Lately, I have been keeping the same tree decks, though – I’ve hit three that I like, and that I feel comfortable bringing out at any table; either that, or my recent foray into Legacy has distracted me enough that I have not felt the need to brew.  Regardless of the reason, the decks are [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card], [card]Riku of Two Reflections[/card], and [card]Zurgo Helmsmasher[/card].  I’ve professed my love for Zurgo before, both here and on Facebook, and I’ve had a few people ask about the deck.  I am not one to give play-by-play renditions of games – I’m sorry, but I’m too focused on the table in most games to keep track of that sort of thing; I know somebody asked for it, and I’d love to provide, but I just can’t.  However, I can show you the deck, and talk about it a bit.

So here, without further ado, is the list:

[cardlist] [Commander] Zurgo Helmsmsasher [/Commander] [Creatures] Archon of Justice Avacyn, Angel of Hope Blazing Archon Eight-and-a-Half-Tails Karmic Guide Odric, Master Tactician Dark Hatchling Rune-Scarred Demon Sepulchral Primordial Balefire Dragon Boldwyr Intimidator Felhide Spiritbinder Hellrider Inferno Titan Ogre Battledriver Aurelia, the Warleader Boros Battleshaper Figure of Destiny Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Mogis, God of Slaughter Spark Trooper [/Creatures] [Planeswalkers] Ajani Vengeant [/Planeswalkers] [Enchantments] Cathars’ Crusade Honor of the Pure Oblivion Ring True Conviction Death Pits of Rath AEther Flash Assemble the Legion Gift of Orzhova Legion’s Initiative [/Enchantments] [Artifacts] Godsend Whip of Erebos Hammer of Purphoros Lightning Greaves Sol Ring Whispersilk Cloak [/Artifacts] [Instants] Fissure Flash Conscription Aurelia’s Fury Boros Charm Mortify [/Instants] [Sorceries] Day of Judgment Wrath of God Demonic Tutor Diabolic Tutor Killing Wave Profane Command Rise from the Grave Banefire Blasphemous Act Fissure Vent Fury of the Horde Mizzium Mortars Relentless Assault Death Grasp Dreadbore Merciless Eviction Obzedat’s Aid [/Sorceries] [Land] Akoum Refuge Badlands Barren Moor Battlefield Forge Blackcleave Cliffs Blood Crypt Boros Garrison Clifftop Retreat Command Tower Crypt of Agadeem Dragonskull Summit Godless Shrine Graven Cairns Isolated Chapel 3 Mountain Nomad Outpost Opal Palace Orzhov Basilica 5 Plains Rakdos Carnarium Rugged Prairie Sacred Foundry Shizo, Death’s Storehouse Slayers’ Stronghold 5 Swamp Temple of the False God Temple of Malice Temple of Triumph Vault of the Archangel Wind-Scarred Crag [/Land] [/cardlist]

There is a lot going on here, but at it’s heart it is a pure aggression deck.  It can branch out into the long game, but the core idea here is to cast Zurgo, smash face, and repeat.  To that end, the mana base is pretty balanced – I want to drop Zurgo on turn five, every game.  And then again on turn seven, because he inevitably gets killed by somebody.

There is a basic protection package here, in [card]Lightning Greaves[/card] and [card]Whispersilk Cloak[/card], but most of my protection for Zurgo is in his cheap cost and the fact that spot removal is scarce.  I don’t mind sweepers, as he’s easy to cast, and they just pave the way for his damage.  What really bothers me is chump blockers – token decks are a pain.  This is why [card]AEther Flash[/card] has a slot, and is a common tutor target.  And you can’t have the Flash without [card]Death Pits of Rath[/card], which also works nicely with things like [card]Inferno Titan[/card] and [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card].  Basically, I want to punish board states as much as possible, and keep Zurgo alone on the field.

A subtheme of the deck is lifegain.  The following cards acomplish this:

[cardlist] Vault of the Archangel Death Grasp Flash Conscription Gift of Orzhova Whip of Erebos True Conviction Spark Trooper [/cardlist]

Some of these are one-shots, some of these are permanent sources.  Either way, when swinging for seven a turn, my life total can get pretty high pretty fast.  It’s not something I like to rely on, so each piece is effective without the lifegain, but I like to have it in place as a backup.

The removal suite is a little more extensive and diverse, with the following:

[cardlist] [Spot Removal] Death Grasp Dreadbore Banefire Fissure Vent Mortify Fissure Oblivion Ring Archon of Justice [/Spot Removal] [Sweepers] Mizzium Mortars Blasphemous Act Killing Wave Day of Judgment Wrath of God [/Sweepers] [Flexible] Aurelia’s Fury Merciless Eviction [/Flexible] [/cardlist]

I like to have options in this department, as you can see – I never want to NEED a removal piece and not have one.  But what I really like with this deck is the way that I can control combat, with the following suite:

[cardlist] [Controlling Blockers] Eight-and-a-Half-Tails Odric, Master Tactician Boldwyr Intimidator Boros Battleshaper Aurelia’s Fury Profane Command [/Controlling Blockers] [Multiple Combat] Aurelia, the Warleader Fury of the Horde Relentless Assault [/Multiple Combat] [Rattlesnakes] Godsend [/Rattlesnakes] [/cardlist]

With any one of these pieces, I can change the way combat works, almost always in my favour.  Most of this is when I am attacking, which is what this deck wants to do.  But I can remove deadly blockers from my path, or push through the damage that I want while killing specific threats in combat.  I can lull you into confidence by swinging into an even fight, then untap and do it again, crushing your defenses entirely.  Or I can simply exile serious threats, as needed.

In all, I like this deck.  It has a clear purpose – attack, attack, attack – and most people see it as a straight aggro deck.  But this build has legs, and it can hold its own in a control playtyle as well, which a lot of people don’t expect from the general, or from me.  I’ll be sticking with this build for a while, I think – I may tweak a few cards in an out, but the main components will stay in place.

Just four decks left what should be the next project?

Hello and welcome to the latest installment of the Chromatic project! I had such a fun time building Sedris that I thought why not put the next deck back in the hands of the community to help me choose the general and direction of the next deck. Okay okay, so Sedris wasn’t the last deck I built, right after that Grimgrin was looking at me saying “You know I have been sitting here, just waiting for you to build me…” So needless to say I did have a short love affair with a lot of ugly mindless but amazing zombies! If you have never tired tinkering with the undead, I do recommend it, never has there been so much power in what appears to be an archtype many feel are so weak. Let’s move on to the puzzle before us…

Do you see the problem here?

Then there were four…

I guess if we counted colorless there would be five decks remaining in the Chromatic Project, but I’m not sure I count it as a true option. Or maybe it’s because there isn’t too much you can do with a colorless deck that differs from just a few over used ideas. Not only that, but the mana base has to be a pain to put together because if you are keeping color out of it then you can’t use basics or any land that produces a color. So for now, until I have the last four decks in place, we will keep colorless off the table.

Out of the four there is only one 2-color deck left and three 3-color decks left, so without further ado here are the options: White/blue (Azorius or not interesting, hahaha), Red/white/blue (American or Jeskai) Red/blue/green (Rug or Temur), or Red/green/white (Naya). Even though there are only four different decks with all the great commanders of late we still have many options to consider. In this article we will only look at a few of the commanders within each choice to get a feel for the type of decks out there, but rest assured after we pick what deck we are going to be building we will look at the different generals that are present and vote on our direction (this time I won’t forget all the new generals). So keep that in mind while we are voting on the next deck.

Azorius is a color combination that isn’t as exciting to me as together they tend to push for longer games and incremental advantage. Where longer games aren’t bad I just often feel like the only thing I do is respond to what other players are doing and not press my own agenda enough. These colors have commanders such as [card]Daxos of Meletis[/card], or otherwise known piss the whole table off, [card]Grand Arbiter Augustin IV[/card], see previous comment, or maybe [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card], because who doesn’t like to get beat to death by a 2/2 with swords and a lackey angel. Maybe [card]Hanna, Ship’s Navigator[/card] as that does create a different spin, or maybe [card]Ephara, God of the Polis[/card], but then what does that look like, a crazy creature build that generates you cards over the long haul?

Why? Because I can…

Naya, I can’t figure out why I have never built a Naya deck; oh yeah that’s right very few options exist but those that do seem like they lend themselves to a few different directions. [card]Marath, will of the Wild[/card]… oh look counters, I have never done that before… really I never have, might be fun with [card]Hardened Scales[/card]. Maybe [card]Mayael the Anima[/card], ummm big beats? Maybe [card]Jacques le Vert[/card], play defenders and do nothing… mahhhahaha! Well you get the idea.

Jeskai now has a new spicy option in [card]Narset, Enlightened Master[/card], but my concern is can you build a deck that doesn’t break the world or just is terrible. If you read my set review article, you know my feelings on this card already, although that didn’t stop me from picking up a few cheap copies. This is also the colors for [card]Ruhan of the Fomori[/card], for whatever that is worth. As far as I’m concerned both [card]Numot, the Devastator[/card] and [card]Zedruu the Greathearted[/card] are dead to me, and until someone can make a good argument that they aren’t all bad they shall remain so.

Temur lends itself to just a few options as well. I just built my son an [card]Animar, Soul of Elements[/card] and he is great for value creatures, of course anytime you are paying way less for a creature it is always a value. Let’s not forget everyone’s favorite Elemental, [card]Maelstrom Wanderer[/card] also known as cascade broken stuff. But what if it was tribal elemental and you where cascading into an elemental and not something insane?

Just a few thoughts on where this deck build can go. So what do you think, which color combination should we build next? Vote below and don’t forget to tune in for the results and picking the next general.

Until next time this is EDH.Ghost out.

Tonight we take a look at one more legendary creature from the newly minted Khans of Trakir. Where does this one rank in comparison to other heavy hitters like [card]Zurgo Helmsmasher[/card] and [card]Narset, Enlightened Master[/card]?

[card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card], is a 4/4 Legendary Human Solider for the low low cost of three mana. Everything about me whats to call her the new Junk general. but we all know the proper term is Abzam. Along side her 4/4 body she packs a couple of interesting abilities. Whenever Anafenza the Foremost attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on another target tapped creature you control. Putting a counter on only one other creature that also has to be tapped isn’t the splashiest ability ever but there are always ways to abuse that in EDH. Her second ability is where she really shines, especially if your meta is populated by abusive graveyard powered decks like [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card]. If a creature card would be put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. That’s spicy indeed.

Let’s take a look at the first ability. White and green are no strangers to +1/+1 counters. Green especially gets the edge here when you consider abilities like Evolve & Graft. Anafenza is going to want to get into the red zone like any good solider and graft and evolve will help you get the counters flowing. Graft might be your best choice to pair with Anafenza as many of the utility creatures pack other solid abilities that you can take advantage of when you pump your creatures up with Ana. [card]Sporeback Troll[/card], [card]Simic Basilisk[/card] and [card]Aquastrand Spider[/card] will all give very relevant abilities to any other creatures you can get counters on to. [card]Cytoplast Root-Kin[/card] is the big daddy of graft creatures that will make any other creatures with counters on them bigger when he enters the battlefield and then those counters can be transferred to the Rootkin in a pinch to make for a big hit or a kill in blocking.

Graft can give Anafenza’s army some utility, but it’s slow to get going, & there are only so many counters to go around without access to blue & cards like [card]Deadeye Navigator[/card] to keep blinking your grafters.

Sound the bell for [card]Cathars’ Crusade[/card]. Take up arms with [card]Archangel of Thune[/card] and make sure to proliferate. Getting counters on as many creatures as possible will not only make your forces hit harder, but will give plenty of targets for Anafenza and make difficult blocks for opponents.[card]Ajani Steadfast[/card]‘s -2 will put counters on your guys in a pinch and runs double duty if you also happen to be running planeswalkers. Same goes for [card]Ajani Goldmane[/card], although his ability gives vigilance which won’t help give targets to hit with Ana. While we are talking about Ajani, how could I not mention [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card], which as of this writing is more reasonable priced than it has been of late and can distribute counters as well. Oh, and let’s not forget Gain 100 Life.

Coming to the battle with Anafenza is [card]Abzan Ascendancy[/card] which fits right in, putting a +1/+1 counter on each creature when it enters the field, and acts as a brilliant recovery against board wipes by bringing all your nontoken creatures back as 1/1 spirits with evasion. Not to shabby. If you prefer a token army to the real thing, the Ascendancy can be huge. White gives plenty of options to tutor it up when your army hits critical mass, and dropping it at the right time with enough bodies in play could push you over the edge.

Tokens give you bodies, but I think there are just to many quality creatures that love counters to not use them. [card]Fertilid[/card], [card]Mindless Automaton[/card], [card]Mycoloth[/card], and especially [card]Champion of Lambholt[/card] are all stars. Anafenza also brings from Abzan utility with her in the form of [card]Abzan Falconer[/card] & [card]Abzan Battle Priest[/card]. I love these two creatures and they work amazingly with Anafenza and can put counters on creatures themselves with outlast.

[card]Hardened Scales[/card] is another Khans card that you probably hated to open in your box as it doesn’t have a lot of Standard or Modern uses, but it can really shine here. It works well, allowing Ana to put two counters on per trigger, but it also plays very well if you are playing (X) creatures in your build. [card]Hooded Hydra[/card], [card]Kalonian Hydra[/card], & [card]Genesis Hydra[/card] all get a little bit scarier with Hardened Sclaes in play. While we are talking about enchantments it might be worth trying out [card]Death’s Presence[/card] in a Anafenza build. If you can resolve a big threat that your opponents have to answer you can transfer counters equal to it’s power to another creature. This can help if you want to voltron up Ana to get to the magic 21 damage ASAP, or if you want to make a lowly [card]Reclamation Sage[/card] a beast. In G/B/W you have access to many powerful enchantments like Arena, [card]Doubling Season[/card], [card]Sylvan Library[/card], [card]Pernicious Deed[/card], & [card]Greater Good[/card]. Find slots for creature tutors like [card]Academy Rector[/card] or spells like [card]Enlightened Tutor[/card] or [card]Idyllic Tutor[/card] to get these bombs into your hand and battlefield.

Speaking of [card]Doubling Season[/card], [card]Corpsejack Menace[/card] doubles all your counters and has legs to boot. Oh yeah!

One last point I’ll make about Anafenza is her colours also give you access to some of the best removal in the format. You get great spot removal with [card]Mortify[/card] and [card]Putrefy[/card]. You get the big daddies of board wipes in [card]Wrath of God[/card], & [card]Damnation[/card], and because Anafenza creature exile ability only hits your opponents, cards like [card]Living Death[/card], and [card]Twilight’s Call[/card] just got bonkers.

I’ll be honest, I sort of dreaded writing this review. I love – love love – the the B/W/G colour combo and [card]Doran, the Siege Tower[/card] is a deck I have played for a long time to great enjoyment and my fair share of wins. I was very underwhelmed by [card]Anafenza, the Foremost[/card] when she was first spoiled, but getting down and dirty on Gatherer for this article has really changed my opinion. I think there is an interesting deck waiting to be built around her, where you want to not only get into the red zone early and often, but you get to use some underplayed cards in her colours that can really shine with a focus on +1/+1 counters. Anafenza might be a good choice for you if – like me – you think there is a lot of power in her colours, but don’t want to voltron up a tree, or play the king of combos with [card]Ghave, Guru of Spores[/card].

  Editor’s Note: Due to some technical problems I will be posting our own Jonathan Pflug’s look at Surrak Dragonclaw. Please feel free to comment below or you can reach Jon on Twitter at @Pflugtalk.

I don’t know if I’ve ever stated this explicitly, but Blue is my least favorite Magic color. I dislike playing against it, where the never-ending stream of countermagic rains from the sky. My metagame has a very strong blue contingent and I’m usually facing the specter of a blue mage’s trickery in many of the games I play. I’m getting to the point where running [card]Red Elemental Blast[/card] main deck in my red builds is sounding like a good idea.

Something needed to be done to deter the Blue control players. I’ve been brewing a [card]Ruric Thar, the Unbowed[/card] that looked to [card]stifle[/card] their strategy by forcing my spells through via cards like [card]Vexing Shusher[/card] and [card]Boseiju, Who Shelters All[/card]. Creatures would have no fear of being countered as long as [card]Gaea’s Herald[/card] was in play. In addition to that, I was angling to nuke their [card]Island[/card]s via [card]Boil[/card] and [card]Wake of Destruction[/card]. Harsh, I know, but I was getting to my breaking point.

As I was brewing, Khans of Tarkir  previews were starting to roll in and I was diligently following them along with the rest of the M:TG community. I was absolutely loving what I was seeing thus far and I was eagerly awaiting what legendary offerings we would be getting. The first 4 were intriguing, but none of them really caught my attention. Then, manna from heaven.

[card]Surrak Dragonclaw[/card] was exactly what I was looking for. His combination of abilities brings a strong option to the table that affects the field in numerous ways. With him in play I would no longer have to fear [card]Counterspell[/card] and its many variants from trumping my plans for getting creatures into play. Big beaters such as [card]Hamletback Giant[/card] and [card]Malignus[/card] not only get his protection from counters but the ability to trample their way into the red zone. Being able to flash in at a moment’s notice is also another feather in this Khan’s cap. He’s the swiss army knife of the Temur wedge.

In comparison with the other legends in his wedge, [card]Surrak Dragonclaw[/card] isn’t quite up to the sheer power that his RUG predecessors hold, but I still believe him to be a worthwhile choice as a Commander.  He’s not going to toss out value ([card]Maelstrom Wanderer[/card]), doubles of spells or creatures ([card]Riku of Two Reflections[/card], high-CMC spells ([card]Intet, the Dreamer[/card]), or reduce costs dramatically ([card]Animar, Soul of Elements[/card]. Sensing a pattern here? Surrak is the first RUG general that doesn’t cheat or dramatically reduce costs. Cheating in spells and getting value as the Temur predecessors do are incredibly powerful in the commander landscape, and there’s no shame in not hitting that plateau. With his collection of abilities Surrak can certainly find a niche among EDH players who are craving a new offering in the color.

What will that niche be? Surrak’s strength lies in making sure that your creatures hit the field and are as effective as they can be once they’re there. He won’t beat you with numbers or giant creatures hitting the field early, but he ensures that your creatures hit and makes them difficult to chump block. There are a lot of giant creatures in the wedge that are clawing at the chance to swing in with trample, and Surrak will make it happen. Couple in some protective elements such as [card]Asceticism[/card] and [card]Spearbreaker Behemoth[/card] along with waiting for the right moment to play the Khan and your opponents are going to have a tough time of keeping you from what you want to do. I’d strongly advise running him if you play in a counter-heavy meta, if you want a RUG general that isn’t quite insanely powered as the other ones, or if you want to bring your inner Timmy to the battlegrounds.

Surrak does have a few weaknesses, such as his not hitting the coveted 7-power threshold that leads to a natural 3-shot Commander damage kill. He also doesn’t provide himself with trample so he can be chump blocked easily. Once he hits the field he needs to add to the levels of protection he gets so that he can protect himself also. None of these are particularly deal breakers so equip yourself with the Claw of the Temur clan and set out for the battle. Here’s hoping that everyone had a great prerelease and a few of you pulled [card]Surrak Dragonclaw[/card] so you can start brewing yourself!

Community member & long-time reader Richard W. is back with some more Commander goodness. Today he is looking at an oft overlooked wincon in our favourite format…. Mill. 

Today I have put together a list I have wanted to do for a very LONG time, and that is EDH Mill. Every Mill list I have seen has opted to run [card]Szadek, Lord of Secrets[/card] as the general due to his increasing power and ability to do mass amounts of mill as a result, but I decided to turn to Standard for this build and grabbed [card]Phenax, God of Deception[/card] as my general of choice.

Why? Szadek is much focused on combat, and when you have a Mill deck, combat is IMO typically not your strongest factor, so I opted for a general that turns all my beaters into milling machines, and some of them (such as [card]Mortivore[/card]) get bigger for doing it. Szadek definitely was able to find a home in my 99 however.

THE DECK

So how does this deck work? The main win condition is obviously by milling out massive amounts of cards from your opponents deck, so the deck has a few combos based around my currently favorite two cards; Aphetto Alchemist and Illusionist’s Bracers, to accomplish this:

    Alchemist Bracers combos:

[card]Aphetto Alchemist [/card]+ [card] Illusionist’s Bracers[/card] + mana rock + Mill X card [card]Sands of Delirium[/card],[card]Increasing Confusion[/card] and [card]Mind Grind[/card] are one motion combo pieces that simply involve making Infinite Mana. [card]Keening Stone[/card] is a mill X card that requires your opponent have at least one card in their graveyard (which if they don’t have, you did something wrong) in order to go off, but without a “counter target ability” spell or effect in play this card with Infinite mana is GG.

Individual Mill:

I wanted cards that were more interactive with an EDH environment and as such, some mill options are better than others. (Note Mind Sculpt will be replaced with [card]Glimpse the Unthinkable[/card] as soon as I can obtain one) Basically I wanted cards that got multiple uses out of them, so [card]Paranoid Delusions[/card] with its Cypher mechanic and Increasing Confusion due to its flashback and “if this card is played from the graveyard” clause made them auto includes.

Jace’s Erasure doesn’t seem like much, but it is a card that affects all of your opponents, so if an opponent decided he needs to draw off of Skullclamp or Sensei’s Divining Top he will pay for it (more so with Top as after top has resolved they will mill the Top away).

Finally, I wanted to stay away from cards that milled less than 5 per use, but Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver is added value in that you mill 3 per turn (25 turn clock people, jk) and can later use your opponents threats against them, or swarm the field with exiled creatures if you have been hit with a reset button.

Everybody already knows the [card]Duskmantle Guildmage[/card]+[card]Mindcrank[/card] combo, so no need to go into detail here.

Combat:

Finally, this deck does thank you for milling opponents out in multiplayer. With an arsenal of creatures that get bigger as you mill, this decks weakness of not being combat efficient will become its greatest strength.

Enough with the strong points, what is this deck weak against?

Aggro decks will easily overtake this as most of its creatures have a high CMC to go with their P/T and as such this deck can’t put out a lot of blockers. So not a good option if your local EDH meta is all agro players.

A mid game reset button will hurt this deck, especially if that button takes combo pieces with it. The best way to deal with this is attempt to re-establish a board presence with some of the decks beaters and shift gears for a combat strategy.

Control is not a dominate deck, but when it’s there, this deck has no way around control other than restocking the deck with Elixir of Immortality and if you can’t faster than you get countered, you are in for a world of hurt.

Lastly, Multiplayer politics will eat this deck alive, a player whose graveyard is fueling something like Sewer Nemesis might just get everybody to kill him/her with damage or concede so that you lose your biggest mill machine. The only way to combat this is hopefully have some people at the table who are your friends. An established mill player who can take out every player at the table over “X=amount of players-1” turns is not a threat to be taken lightly.

Hope everybody enjoyed reading this. I know it’s not the most competitive deck in the EDH format, but is definitely one of the most fun decks I’ve ever got to pilot. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Rikel Wirkkunen

Review of the most hated general in the game!

Evil monk that looks so good!

Good evening ECC crowd, or whatever time this article finds you. Today we will have a look at a new general that is unfortunately going to be the new combo overlord. Although, I will say the artwork is strong and the foil of this card will be very sweet. So, who might you ask am I talking about? If you haven’t figured it out we are talking about Narset, Enlightened Master. It’s funny because if you listen to chatter most find her outrageously strong but there are a few that don’t think she will be very good. For all those that don’t feel like she will be good I’m afraid you need to play a few more games of EDH!

Lets dig in and see what she is made of. First and foremost six-mana for a 3/2 is hardly impressive. With a six casting cost general I have often found you will only get three appearances at most, but those three are going to be quite the pill with this one! A 3/2 in Commander is nothing too impressive and, lets be honest, I can’t see you doing a whole lot of combat damage with Narset unless (spoiler alert) you have lots of extra combats. Lets take a look a little deeper, First Strike and Hexproof are the next text lines on Narset. First Strike won’t really help too much as a power of 3 still isn’t doing a lot of killing. On the other hand, Hexproof will do quite a bit of work, and if you have ever played against [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] you will quickly understand how effective that is. Sweepers still will hit Narset but very likely the damage could already be done.

Now for the real meat of the card “Whenever Narset, Enlightened Master attacks, exile the top four cards of your library. Until end of turn, you may cast non-creature cards exiled with Narset this turn without paying their mana costs.” Holy hell, honestly that is all I can think of to say. No combat damage needs to be done, just that she attacks! This means [card]Maze of Ith[/card] and similar effects keep her back and still allow for her ability. Not only that but non-creature spells can be cast without paying the mana cost… Hmmm, I wonder if there are any big spells in blue or red that it could benefit us by playing for free? As we all know blue has some huge over the top spells, think [card]Omniscience[/card], [card]Blatant Thievery[/card], or maybe even [card]Eldrazi Conscription[/card].

So what do the other colors bring? Well white adds the ability to kill the other creatures with spells such as [card]Mass Calcify[/card], [card]Retribution of the Meek[/card], [card]Solar Tide[/card] or [card]Winds of Rath[/card] (if enchanted). However, I’m afraid red adds an element that makes Narset even more deadly and that is the ability to have additional combat steps. Think about it, if you don’t need your mana to cast spells then you can use them to give you extra combat steps which just gives you more cards to cast for free. How many turns could your opponents survive with even two swings a turn? Add multiple turns that blue can offer and then you could easily cast up to 20 cards before your opponents can untap. Let’s be honest if you can cast 20 spells before the next person gets a turn, how can you not have either already won, or at least be so far ahead that it’s a foregone conclusion.

Round the deck out with mana rocks and ways to protect Narset and you will have a very potent deck. In fact I’m not sure how the deck isn’t just downright oppressive. Of course I would run any other creatures as I just can’t see their use and honestly in a build like this spells in their place would be a stronger move. That being said, I’m sure the people will demand [card]Aurelia, the Warleader[/card], and if cast natively she could be good, but really I don’t see a need for her.

Here are some other cards that would be allstars in this type of deck: [card]Savage Beating[/card], [card]Fury of the Horde[/card], [card]Relentless Assault[/card], 
 [card]Seize the Day[/card], [card]Waves of Aggression[/card], [card]World at War[/card], [card]Beacon of Tomorrows[/card], [card]Capture of Jingzhou[/card], [card]Temporal Manipulation[/card], [card]Temporal Mastery[/card], [card]Time Stretch[/card], [card]Time Warp[/card], [card]Fervor[/card], [card]Hammer of Purphoros[/card], [card]Mass Hysteria[/card], [card]Lightning Greaves[/card], [card]Need for Speed[/card], [card]Aggravated Assault[/card], and of course [card]Strionic Resonator[/card].

  Bring it on Narset, bring it on…

So, lets be honest, I have considered building this deck and I feel dirty just for thinking on it. I feel like the key you must remember if you do decide to build it is how not to make it insane. Not sure I can even answer that questions as every time I consider what I could or would do with this deck it’s always broken. That being said, I did go preorder her for $3.50, because I think she will be outrageously expensive as soon as she starts to see play. I would recommend buying or trading for at least one copy as the price will quickly jump in my opinion and I think she will be much harder to find as soon as people start playing her.

If you see Narset across the table from you, you will have to hold back a counter or removal spell or two, because mark my words if she hits the table and can swing unanswered you probably won’t live to see the next turn, and if you do, the second turn will be even worse. Lastly, watch out for land destruction, as this is probably the best land destruction general we have seen to this point, kill the lands and just keep swinging. There is nothing that says fun like watching your board get demolished as you take 3 damage and cringe at every spell that lights off. I wish I could say this card has me excited, but I’m afraid this will lead a good many oppressive decks for a while. With all that in mind, she is an all-American women and she has the attitude to prove it! Build responsibly and remember kill her on sight!