MTGNexus

Golgari spellslinger dog seems...annoying.

The flavour though, it's top notch. That's clearly Fenrir. Really nice design keeping in line with mythology.

Sarulf, Realm Eater is very sweet. A little slow, but repeatable Pernicious Deed is definitely worth consideration. Also gets pumped by fetchlands and tokens, which is nice. Definitely an interesting deckbuilding challenge, given that you likely won't want to be running that many nonland permanents (or at least not cheap ones). I don't think it quite makes the cut for my Tasigur deck - I don't have enough ways to force things into my opponents graveyards.... but I do certainly appreciate it working with Tasigur's naturally high CMC.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Sarulf, Realm Eater is very sweet. A little slow, but repeatable Pernicious Deed is definitely worth consideration. Also gets pumped by fetchlands and tokens, which is nice. Definitely an interesting deckbuilding challenge, given that you likely won't want to be running that many nonland permanents (or at least not cheap ones). I don't think it quite makes the cut for my Tasigur deck - I don't have enough ways to force things into my opponents graveyards.... but I do certainly appreciate it working with Tasigur's naturally high CMC.

I mean, it's not like a golgari deck needs a lot of permanents:
and then golgari has permanents that it's okay with going to the graveyard:

Inside Sarulf, Realm Eater is two wolves. One of those wolves is goodness - it is anything that puts +1/+1 counters on him at will, like Increasing Savagery or Ancient Animus or Hunger of the Howlpack. The other is darkness - it is removal spells like Krosan Grip and Go for the Throat and Windgrace's Judgment which will kill things and also give him counters. Both wolves win because they ultimately both let him get massive and nuke the board over and over and over again. So maybe actually they're both evil?

Seems sweet and like a unique and interesting spin on a Commander.

Hawk wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Inside Sarulf, Realm Eater is two wolves. One of those wolves is goodness - it is anything that puts +1/+1 counters on him at will, like Increasing Savagery or Ancient Animus or Hunger of the Howlpack. The other is darkness - it is removal spells like Krosan Grip and Go for the Throat and Windgrace's Judgment which will kill things and also give him counters. Both wolves win because they ultimately both let him get massive and nuke the board over and over and over again. So maybe actually they're both evil?

Seems sweet and like a unique and interesting spin on a Commander.

Fenrir is no different than any other wolf/dog. If you trap a wolf/dog and starve it and torture it, it will be aggressive.

ermagerd the synergy with ayasha is too spicy

Hawk wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Inside Sarulf, Realm Eater is two wolves.

On one hand, it's interesting that Toby exists. The Pernicious Deed discourages you from committing to the board, and you're likely to be playing a more spells'y Golgari build. Thing is, it's gonna be all about perpetually tripping up the opposition and killing them with the wolf. Spot removal, Fleshbags, tall draw to refuel. Seems like a kill on sight commander in the interest of being able to play.

Lathril: I'm the jankiest elfball commander ever lol
Ranar: I go infinite with RiP and any sac outlet wheeee
Wizards: What are balance?

Ranar the Ever-Watchful + Food Chain = infinite creature mana

Obviously both need to be in a Bant 99. I have no idea what "foretell" is.

Other people: "Ranar the Ever-Watchful + a way to exile stuff + sacrifice outlet = all the 1/1 flying spirit tokens!"
Me, already playing Teysa, Orzhov Scion + Darkest Hour: been there, done that.

That said, Ranar does look somewhat interesting. There aren't that many ways to exile cards or permanents as a cost, so I find myself somewhat doubtful of him as a combo piece. However, could definitely be interesting as a blink commander, generating a token every time you flicker something. And that's ignoring the foretell ability entirely. As this is a new mechanic, I won't imagine there will be that many cards that work well with it, but Ranar certainly has some other applications outside the set, at least.

Lathril, Blade of the Elves is an interesting alternative to Tana, the Bloodsower. Black has a lot of ways to take advantage of piles of tokens, and elves do have a bunch of tribal synergies. That said, does seem a little win-more-ish. If you can consistently get in for a bunch of damage with your commander, you don't need the tokens - you're killing with commander damage. Simultaneously, if you have 10+ elves, you're probably already winning and don't need the tap ability. Still, I assume they put that clause on for the same reason as Inalla, Archmage Ritualist and Bolas's Citadel - if you're that far ahead, you should be able to just close out the game.

It's properly something along the lines of Forecast, where you exile the card instead

Ranar the Ever-Watchful will go straight into my Brago, King Eternal Tokens and Enchantments build.
I can only imagine how many Tokens he can possibly amass late in the game.

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Ranar the Ever-Watchful will go straight into my Brago, King Eternal Tokens and Enchantments build.
I can only imagine how many Tokens he can possibly amass late in the game.

The "one or more" clause makes him significantly worse, unfortunately - you only get one token per Brago trigger. Still, can be good if you have other flicker effects.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Ranar the Ever-Watchful will go straight into my Brago, King Eternal Tokens and Enchantments build.
I can only imagine how many Tokens he can possibly amass late in the game.

The "one or more" clause makes him significantly worse, unfortunately - you only get one token per Brago trigger.

Argh, no. I misread that one. Not really strong enough for my build then.

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Ranar the Ever-Watchful will go straight into my Brago, King Eternal Tokens and Enchantments build.
I can only imagine how many Tokens he can possibly amass late in the game.

The "one or more" clause makes him significantly worse, unfortunately - you only get one token per Brago trigger. Still, can be good if you have other flicker effects.

Yeah, the "one or more" clause really limits things, but is probably necessary to keep the card from being even more broken than it obviously already is. Tormod, the Desecrator has the same clause, and it makes me sad, because mass graveyard effects net you only one zombie.

I have some distinct fondness for Sarulf, Realm Eater, which will probably surprise no one. I'm more excited for him in brawl than commander, but I'm excited to have a repeatable board nuke attached to a reasonable facsimile of Fenrir.

When you've casually been building green/black elves for your own amusement and they just... print the entire engine... on a single card.

I really like Sarulf, Realm Eater. He does something unique. Is powerful, but requires set-up, so players can play around it a bit. Mostly I love him because I love wolves and Fenrir.

I just hope he will only cost an arm and not a leg.

Ginuqu wrote: ↑

3 years ago

When you've casually been building green/black elves for your own amusement and they just... print the entire engine... on a single card.

I got my wife Miara, Thorn of the Glade and Numa, Joraga Chieftain for Christmas, and I think I still prefer them at the deck's helm. By base, it can be tricky for a 2/3 Menace to connect reliably in Commander and the payoff is just two dorks. Yeah, pumps make it spiral out of control and there's the magical christmasland of curving, I dunno, Lightning Greaves into Elvish Champion into Lathril, Blade of the Elves, swing for 3, make 6-power worth of blocking dorks. Also like @Mookie said, that tap ability is a bit win-more as if you can reliably get to 10 elves, you are probably closer to winning off Voltron damage or an overrun effect. But I find that golgari elves have two major problems - how do you not just fold to the first boardwipe, and how do you leverage your massive mana advantage if there are no 'wipes but you don't draw into 'hoof or Ezuri or some other massive mana sink? Miara solves the first problem to an extent (as would Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel as an alternative), while Numa solves the other, and that's just really great to have in the Command Zone.

Card is cute though - a fine alternative to Miara + Numa, a decent inclusion in the '99, and definitely a better elf tribal commander than Rhys the Exiled , Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, Abomination of Llanowar or Belbe, Corrupted Observer if one didn't care for the partners for some reason.

JWK wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Mookie wrote: ↑

3 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Ranar the Ever-Watchful will go straight into my Brago, King Eternal Tokens and Enchantments build.
I can only imagine how many Tokens he can possibly amass late in the game.

The "one or more" clause makes him significantly worse, unfortunately - you only get one token per Brago trigger. Still, can be good if you have other flicker effects.

Yeah, the "one or more" clause really limits things, but is probably necessary to keep the card from being even more broken than it obviously already is. Tormod, the Desecrator has the same clause, and it makes me sad, because mass graveyard effects net you only one zombie.

You can always think of it as a deckbuilding challenge. Crypting yourself to get twenty Zombies is boring, now you have to think about not-so-standard cards that maximize Tormod's effect. Like Tortured Existence.

I remember when Torbran, Thane of Red Fell came out. I wanted to build him, but realized that the thing I thought of first, direct X-rated burn, wasn't gonna be too good with him. "Oh boy, my Blaze deals +2 damage, wheee..." So I had to go and look for ways to ideally do small damage repeatedly. I know everybody knows Torb tech today, but back then, it was something different.

My main issue with DFC like Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms is how clunky they are to use with double sleeves. It's the main reason I haven't bought any Pathways so far.

The fact that I use Dragon Shield Inners with the darkened backside certainly doesn't help.

DFCs are a good reason to have proxies pre-printed. When you flip the card, put out the proxy.

That's funny, double-face cards are one of the few times I wish I did use inner sleeves. But then I remember that the most expensive double-face card is only like $20 and I stop giving a crap.

They're definitely at their best in digital form, though. Personally I always forget to un-flip them (MDFCs and regular DFCs).