MTGNexus

Another place Pyre of Heroes looks good is in Inalla, Archmage Ritualist - sac the tokens to the Pyre in the second main, and fetch more wizards that you then clone more of? Saccing a token Vindictive Lich to go get a Bloodline Necromancer (copied) sounds spicy.

Pyre of Heroes — Yeah, hard pass. Survival and Pod get really boring really fast. If I wanted to play the exact same cards every game, I wouldn't be playing Commander.

A huge heap of wood was ready,
Hung around with helmets, and battle
Shields, and shining mail shirts, all
As Beowulf had asked. The bearers brought
Their belovèd lord, their glorious king,
And weeping laid him high on the wood.
Then the warriors began to kindle that greatest
Of funeral fires; smoke rose
Above the flames, black and thick,
And while the wind blew and the fire
Roared they wept, and Beowulf's body
Crumbled and was gone. The Geats stayed,
Moaning their sorrow, lamenting their lord:
A gnarled old woman, hair wound
Tight and gray on her head, groaned
A song of misery, of infinite sadness
And days of mourning, of fear and sorrow
To come, slaughter and terror and captivity.
And Heaven swallowed the billowing smoke.
Then the Geats built the tower, as Beowulf
Had asked, strong and tall, so sailors
Could find it from far and wide; working
For ten long days they made his monument,
Sealed his ashes in walls as straight
And high as wise and willing hands
Could raise them. And the riches he and Wiglaf
Had won from the dragon, rings, necklaces,
Ancient, hammered armor--all
The treasures they'd taken were left there, too,
Silver and Jewels buried in the sandy
Ground, back in the earth, again
Abd forever hidden and useless to men.
And then twelve of the bravest Geats
Rode their horses around the tower,
Telling their sorrow, telling stories
Of their dead king and his greatness, his glory,
Praising him for heroic deeds, for a life
As noble as his name. So should all men
Raise up words for their lords, warm
With love, when their shield and protector leaves
His body behind, sends his soul
On high. And so Beowulf's followers
Rode, mourning their belovèd leader,
Crying that no better king had ever
Lived, no prince so mild, no man
So open to his people, so deserving of praise.

Pyre of Heroes? They just want to make it impossible to decide what cards to run in my changeling tribal deck. I currently don't have any sacrifice synergies in the deck... but sacrificing Impostor of the Sixth Pride to go find Haakon, Stromgald Scourge sounds delicious. I'd have to do a fair amount of work restructuring my deck though. Hrmmm.

Pyre of Heroes, eh? The guys at WotC do know that everything and their mom is either a Wizard and/or Human, rite?

Would love to see some cool Dross Scorpion lines, but as we all know, that's not what most people will use it for.

I am surprised by Birthing Pyre (that's what I'm calling it) on several levels. We just had Party and the next few sets appear to be heavily tribal, so are we to believe this won't be in any way broken for Standard, or will it just be another Oku/Uro/Omnath-level mistake of the sort they keep making by putting heavily-pushed stuff into standard?

Oh well, I honestly don't care how much they screw up standard. For Commander, this is a nice card, opening up Pod shenanigans to all colors. Some tribes will definitely benefit from this, especially those which feature a lot of ETB creatures who don't serve much purpose after entering the battlefield. I think Meren will like this as Pod #2, and it might do some work in Rhys. I imagine a lot of human and dragon and zombie decks will really benefit from this. My two vampire decks, I'm not so sure. Vampires tend to function in part by mass synergy, and Pyre not being usable at instant speed in reaction to removal really limits its value there. Same thing with allies, really. I will give it a look, though.

JWK wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I am surprised by Birthing Pyre (that's what I'm calling it) on several levels. We just had Party and the next few sets appear to be heavily tribal, so are we to believe this won't be in any way broken for Standard, or will it just be another Oku/Uro/Omnath-level mistake of the sort they keep making by putting heavily-pushed stuff into standard?

Oh well, I honestly don't care how much they screw up standard. For Commander, this is a nice card, opening up Pod shenanigans to all colors. Some tribes will definitely benefit from this, especially those which feature a lot of ETB creatures who don't serve much purpose after entering the battlefield. I think Meren will like this as Pod #2, and it might do some work in Rhys. I imagine a lot of human and dragon and zombie decks will really benefit from this. My two vampire decks, I'm not so sure. Vampires tend to function in part by mass synergy, and Pyre not being usable at instant speed in reaction to removal really limits its value there. Same thing with allies, really. I will give it a look, though.

Worth pointing out that Birthing Pod itself, to the best of my recollection, did not do terrifically well in standard, and that is much better than Pyre. I'm very skeptical that an artifact that costs 4 mana before it does anything will break standard, especially since the most abusable option (sacrificing titans in response to their ETB) is cut off by the sorcery speed restriction.

That UW pathway art sure is nice. I probably won't play a lot of them but man I like the art.

pokken wrote: ↑

3 years ago

That UW pathway art sure is nice. I probably won't play a lot of them but man I like the art.

I've felt that way about much of the art lately. "What a gorgeous card I won't be playing". This hurt particularly bad for me with Growth Spiral (for several reasons). Love that art.

Wallycaine wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Worth pointing out that Birthing Pod itself, to the best of my recollection, did not do terrifically well in standard

Naya Pod was one of the top 3 decks for a whole standard season. With such gems as Blade Splicer and Huntmaster of the Fells.

pokken wrote: ↑

3 years ago

That UW pathway art sure is nice. I probably won't play a lot of them but man I like the art.

Anybody here played Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice? That's what this set's art reminds me of.

Birthing Pod was a problem in Modern for due to two combo decks:

1. Murderous Redcap, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Kitchen Finks combos
2. Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combos

I just don't see Pyre being an issue in modern. The combo decks just don't exist within a specific creature type.

For commander, I am excited to put in my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. Lots of wizards! A bunch of rogues.

Dunharrow wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I just don't see Pyre being an issue in modern. The combo decks just don't exist within a specific creature type.

I could see something with Humans being a thing, maybe.

Lots of interesting stuff from the Theme / Set boosters.

Valkyrie Harbringer is a self-enabling Angelic Accord, which seems sweet.
Surtland Elementalist is expensive, but free spells are free spells.
Canopy Tactician does a reasonable Elvish Archdruid impression.

I'm also a fan of Orzhov Valkyries as a limited archetype. Rampage of the Valkyries looks amusing. Although I guess that these cards aren't in draft, so not clear if it will actually be a thing in limited...

Fire Giant's Fury is Hunter's Insight in red. Limited to giants only, but a strong payoff.
Gladewalker Ritualist suggests that changelings are returning, which is sweet.

From the actual set, Magda, Brazen Outlaw looks like an interesting dwarf tribal commander... while also working well with Dragons and beefy artifacts. It may be a bit heavy-handed, flavorwise, but I like it. Needs a lot of Treasure production though.

Seems like there will a be a lot of cool archetypes in Kaldheim. Let's hope they'll give us some legendaries for them too.

So far I am liking the flavor of this set quite a bit. Much moreso than the embarrassing and lame "metal" marketing stuff. That crap honestly had me a bit worried at the outset, but so far the actual cards are pretty good. The guy who came up with that marketing strategy should be fired and sent to work on Taco Bell ads instead.

I don't know exactly how I'm going to utterly blow someone out with Moggcatcher → Mirror Entity → Absorb Identity but it's gonna happen.

Yay changelings!

[edit]: Magda, Brazen Outlaw, get in my changeling deck noooooooooooooooooooow. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator it did not take long for you to get outclassed at all.

Realmwalker is sweet.

Dunharrow wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Birthing Pod was a problem in Modern for due to two combo decks:

1. Murderous Redcap, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Kitchen Finks combos
2. Deceiver Exarch, Pestermite, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combos

I just don't see Pyre being an issue in modern. The combo decks just don't exist within a specific creature type.

For commander, I am excited to put in my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. Lots of wizards! A bunch of rogues.

Birthing Pod wasn't banned in modern until Siege Rhino was printed and value Pod with no combos but Voice of Resurgence into Kitchen Finks into Siege Rhino with the ability to tutor for any sideboard card games 2 and 3 became an issue. All 3 of those cards, as well as the important sideboard cards, are all different creature types, so the deck won't come back in modern.

I love everything about Rampage of the Valkyries, top to bottom. The all around flavor, the art, the actual card, the flavor text...everything about that card is pure win. They know what they printed Liesa, Shroud of Dusk for.

I mean, it's a Serra Angel|4ED with a tribal Grave Pact grafted on it. Wizards, do you seriously want me to dust off my Desolation Angel? Do you?! Because by whatever Kaldheim god it is who wields a hammer, I'll do it!

ZenN wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Realmwalker is sweet.

You can say that again. Given me (and my wife's) adoration of tribal decks it looks like I need a playset of these badboys - a reasonable body that's also a (tribe-only) Vizier of the Menagerie seems like a great boon especially to a deck like Cats or Dogs or Unicorns that is A) low on playables B) low on card flow. Of course its even better for established tribes like Elves or Warriors too.

Antis wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I love everything about Rampage of the Valkyries, top to bottom. The all around flavor, the art, the actual card, the flavor text...everything about that card is pure win. They know what they printed Liesa, Shroud of Dusk for.

I mean, it's a Serra Angel|4ED with a tribal Grave Pact grafted on it. Wizards, do you seriously want me to dust off my Desolation Angel? Do you?! Because by whatever Kaldheim god it is who wields a hammer, I'll do it!

Jesus. I love it. Currently building Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, might need to save a slot.

Oh joy, more non-draft-booster cards that will be an annoying pain in the ass to acquire. My faaaaaavorite.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Fire Giant's Fury is Hunter's Insight in red. Limited to giants only

Cries in Zada, Hedron Grinder...

Realmwalker and Elven Ambush will go straight into my Ezuri, Renegade Leader deck!
Canopy Tactician might as well, not sure yet.

I love everything about Magda, Brazen Outlaw!

This IMGUR Post outlines a hysterical combo for Magda, Brazen Outlaw that almost makes me want to build a new monored deck.

Cards required: Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Dwarven Bloodboiler, Runed Stalactite, Battered Golem. Outcome - make Magda or Bloodboiler arbitrarily large while generating an unlimited amount of treasure to then have infinite mana or to yank every artifact and dragon out of your library.

Redundancies: Anything that lets you tap your Golem at will will work here instead of the Bloodboiler - Kyren Negotiations, Viridian Longbow, Paradise Mantle, any old vehicle. Amorphous Axe can also make your Golem into a Dwarf.