Ranking the Companions

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 4 years ago

Let's take a moment to review and rank the newest toy in the Commander arsenal: companions. With all ten revealed, I'm curious to see where people have them sitting, both as companions and as potential commanders themselves.

As Companions:
10. Lutri, the Spellchaser: Banned, poor otter. Understandable though.

9. Yorion, Sky Nomad: Since we're limited to 100 cards in the format this doesn't work for us, so it may as well be banned as a companion.

8. Keruga, the Macrosage: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Absolutely not.
This card is not easy to activate, keeps you off of a large chunk of powerful cards in the format, and doesn't even have all that large a payoff. Having a "free" extra bit of draw available to you is strong, but the hoop here is just not worth jumping through.

7. Lurrus of the Dream-Den: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? No, excepting perhaps some CEDH shenanigans.
Limiting your mana cost this hard in a format full of haymakers seems wildly unwise, especially for as low a payoff as 3/2 that has to survive to get value out of. The real problem is that there are next to no commanders that meet the 2 CMC requirement- it looks like only some wild Karlov of the Ghost Council deck would want him, and the payoff just seems bad.

6. Gyruda, Doom of Depths: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? No.
Losing access to odd cards is surprisingly detrimental, as I find that there are more powerhouse cards and staples sitting at odd costs. The ultimate payoff of getting a one-shot 6/6 body plus a chance at reanimating something else is fine, but not powerful enough to build around. That said, if you are (for some reason) already in on the all-even plan, go nuts, it isn't bad as an extra card in your hand.

5. Zirda, the Dawnwaker: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Maybe, but I'm not sold.
Finding a commander with an activated ability you want to make cheaper that also wants nothing but other activated abilities seems... rough. The payoff is cool, and obviously if your deck meets the requirement this card is great, but you lose access to a lot of power to force just this one card.

4. Jegantha, the Wellspring: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Yes, especially if you're building with a sketchy mana base.
A solid body with a powerful mana ability is great to get for "free," and the deckbuilding cost isn't too great. You lose access to all kinds of powerful cards, but penta/rainbow decks are far from lacking options. The fact that it makes activating cards like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim easy is stellar, and it stops players with mediocre mana bases from adding harder to cast cards to their deck.

3. Umori, the Collector: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Yes, though better if your deck is already heading in this direction.
Behind the banned otter and the number one on this list, Umori is among the easiest to build around. There are a number of "all X permanent type" decks (especially creatures and artifacts), and the "free" 4/5 body that discounts your chosen card type is definitely solid and easy to slot in. Notably, with the increased number of artifact and enchantment creatures, it isn't hard to build a deck with several permutations of these card types that fit Umori.

2. Obosh, the Preypiercer: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Yes. Though it requires some work, I believe the payoff is real here.
"Free" damage doubling is quite powerful, and losing access to even-cost cards doesn't hurt as much as you'd think. You still get your Sol Ring and all kinds of removal options while further empowering the odd cards you keep. The fact that it doubles up your commander's damage can also be extremely relevant.

1. Kaheera, the Orphanguard: Is the deckbuilding requirement worth it? Yes, due to ease of use.
Behind Lutri, this is the easiest companion to actually activate. Are you playing one of these tribes exclusively? Would you like to give Vigilance to your meaty Gishath drops? Do you want to splash a random elemental, nightmare, etc. into your cat deck? It's all good, enjoy your "free" Always Watching. While not the most powerful of effects, the broad tribal applications are legit and (most importantly) the decks that want it are sacrificing nothing to play it.

As Commanders:
10. Lutri, the Spellchaser: Still banned, would've been fine and fun here though.

9. Keruga, the Macrosage: There are a lot of extremely strong draw engines already available in the command zone, and this beefy boy just doesn't stack up with them. He is fine enough in the 99, but cannot recommend him in the command zone.

8. Yorion, Sky Nomad: Mass flicker is interesting, but there are other commanders that do it better or are more readily repeatable. Works well in those decks, but probably not worth making the lead singer.

7. Kaheera, the Orphanguard: An anthem in the command zone can be cool, but this is the rare example of a card that's probably better as a companion than a commander. The fragile 3/2 body makes it harder to justify in the command zone, and forcing you into just G/W locks you out of some of the cooler cards in its various tribes.

6. Jegantha, the Wellspring: Having a big mana dork in the command zone is fun, and he helps power out some of the best creatures and activated abilities in the game, but he suffers from the fact that there are much stronger options. Better in the 99 or as an actual companion.

5. Gyruda, Doom of Depths: Not the most powerful, but the fact that he is the first real "pure" reanimation effect in the command zone for Dimir is interesting. Forcing even costs for his effect is frustrating, but making sure your deck is packed with relevant targets shouldn't be hard. The fact that he has a high shot at whiffing on your opponents is problematic, but a 6/6 body that lets you mill yourself and maybe reanimate some power is more than fine. Bonus points for being two cool tribes.

4. Umori, the Collector: This ooze's flexibility in the command zone is subtly powerful, letting you pick whatever card type is most relevant to current play or to your gameplan at large. Having consistent access to cost reduction in the command zone can also be quite killer, especially if you're trying to power out a combo that uses what you've selected. Not super interesting to build around persay, but a solid goodstuff or combo choice.

3. Lurrus of the Dream-Den: Baby Muldrotha/Karador is still a potentially powerful effect, and this kitty may just have some serious teeth. The little lifelink body isn't irrelevant and it can reanimate some of the most powerful permanents in the format with notable efficiency. I also believe this is the best card in the 99 of the companions.

2. Zirda, the Dawnwaker: While not necessarily as powerful as some of the options that precede it on the list, Zirda gives yet another unique commander option to Boros, which is always struggling for fun build-around cards. Zirda can do some very cool things and offers a great deckbuilding puzzle to take full advantage of her kit, making the card an easy second place.

1. Obosh, the Preypiercer: Damage doubling in the command zone is quite scary, and it isn't hard to run powerful odd CMC cards (including plenty of relevantly scaling X spells) that can take advantage of this effect. Being in the same colors as haste, big damage spells, and all kinds of nasty (odd) beaters makes this a great contender for the commander slot.
Last edited by FenrirRex 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

Wallycaine
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Post by Wallycaine » 4 years ago

I think you're overvaluing Obosh, the Preypiercer a bit, especially as a companion. Making all your spells odd is a pretty severe restriction, and I think I'd probably slot him down at 4 along the "maybe worth it" line. You're removing around 50% of the cards available to you for a 1 time thing, so I'm pretty confident he's less worth it than Jegantha.

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FenrirRex
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Post by FenrirRex » 4 years ago

Wallycaine wrote:
4 years ago
I think you're overvaluing Obosh, the Preypiercer a bit, especially as a companion. Making all your spells odd is a pretty severe restriction, and I think I'd probably slot him down at 4 along the "maybe worth it" line. You're removing around 50% of the cards available to you for a 1 time thing, so I'm pretty confident he's less worth it than Jegantha.
I definitely see that, I'll admit that I have a somewhat unhealthy fondness for forcing esoteric deckbuilding restraints on myself, so Obosh is 100% higher on my personal list than he would be for others. (As companion, I'll stick by him being the strongest commander option, damage doubling is real.) The 4th to 2nd companions are actually all really close to each other.

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

yorion, sky nomad is ridiculously underrated as a commander. It's easily the strongest of the bunch.

It sets up a one-card combo value chain even more egregious than brago, king eternal combined only with a restoration angel or similar blink effect to re-blink it when it returns.

It's possibly #1 in commander power. Play a couple value cards, play yorion, blink your restoration angel, everybody comes back, do it again.

I don't think there are any ETB blinks in azorius in the command zone, much less a slow blink that can protect your board from a sweeper.

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Post by ilovesaprolings » 4 years ago

Meh. most of them have a really weak payoff. Yeah Umori is flexible and whatever, but you can just play cloud key or whatever.
Same for Kahera, anthem + vigilance isn't such a big deal.
The strongest ones will be Zirda and Jegantha, simply for the combo potential

Imho, the only one that looks interesting and with a balanced riskVSreward is Lurrus

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Post by DirkGently » 4 years ago

10/9 Lutri, the Spellchaser/Yorion, Sky Nomad - Both illegal, obviously. I think the 100 card limit is ridiculous, but at the same time Yorion looks pretty gross so I'm not too sorry we won't see him in the companion zone.

8 - keruga, the macrosage - agreed, you lose a ton of the best cards and the payoff is really not that exciting. I could see some janky blink decks playing it but it's really not worth the cost by any stretch. What really chuffs me is that you can only play expensive instants/sorceries, but those cards don't benefit keruga's ability at all. I guess that's also true of Gyruda though.

7 - Gyruda, Doom of Depths - not a huge payoff and the requirements are serious. There are some combos, and if you're blinking him he could be...ok...but giving up so many good cards is not worth if you're going for power.

6 - Umori, the Collector - Do people make all-creature decks? Sure. Are those decks good? No, not really, no. The fact that this will be easy to slot into some decks doesn't really matter to me if those decks were already self-limiting for no good reason. Now at least they have a decent reason. But they still suck. Artifact decks likely can't support green, and enchantment decks likely can't support black, so it's basically just for creatures.

5 - Obosh, the Preypiercer - the payoff is real, but losing all 2-mana rocks, demonic tutor, mana crypt, and a bunch of other stuff is huuuuge. Looks fun to try to make work, but it's almost certainly going to weaken any deck that tries to play him.

4 - Kaheera, the orphanguard - much like umori, there are decks that can play this for free, but those decks suck. The payoff is fine but it's far from game-breaking. If this had been legal in derevi it could be powerful lol. But yeah, it's a niche card that gives benefits to some bad archetypes. That's fine.

----this is the cutoff for cards that might actually improve decks----

3 - Lurrus of the Dream-Den - this is probably my favorite. The ability isn't broken by any stretch, but it's super cool regardless. The biggest issue is how few commanders can actually play him, but I think both of them - ayli and karlov - will have to give this guy serious consideration.

2 - Zirda, the dawnwaker - pretty strict requirement, though there is some serious payoff. Having reliable access to training grounds+ is strong, plus it gives you a couple infinites with those pesky monoliths. This is maybe the highest payoff, but the requirement is steep enough that it can't be handwaved. At least you can play all the instants/sorceries you want.

1 - jegantha, the wellspring - I don't care for this card. Its requirement isn't terribly difficult for a 5c deck. It restricts which cards you can play, but unlike a lot of them it doesn't force you into any glaring weak spots. You can't run counterspell? Ok, but you can still run arcane denial. Can't run austere command, but you can run merciless eviction. Etc. It provides pretty absurd value for some of the 5c commanders, like najeela and golos, who really didn't need it. I hate it, but I think it's definitely the strongest of the companions.

As far as commanders:

10 - lutri

9 - kaheera, the orphanguard - you're going to play a garbage tribe without a good payoff like gishath or arabo? lol k.

8 - umori the collector - 4-mana ramp...meh. There's maybe combos with SDT, but I think most require blue or red. Doesn't really seem very exciting to me.

7 - keruga the macrosage - decent draw etb but not super exciting.

6 - jegantha the wellspring - decent card, has some combos, but probably nowhere near as good as existing 5c.

5 - gyruda, doom of depths - you can pack your deck with big fat fatties I suppose, and you get vamp/seal to control topdeck. It's ok i guess.

4 - obosh the preypiercer - only affects odds, and is a pretty mediocre creature himself. Very predictable. Not super exciting imo. At least you can play your rocks though.

3 - lurrus of the dream-den - powerful ability, definitely lots of potential. Can't really get out of hand with the once-per-turn clause, though. Very flexible. Could build with artifact recursion, enchantments that sac, aura voltron...idk, lots of cool directions. I don't think it'll be incredibly strong, but it'll likely be fun. You don't need a huge density of targets since you can probably keep recurring the same stuff.

2 - zirda the dawnwaker - in the right CI for his infinites, though RW isn't really what I think of when I think activated abilities. Neat with equipment. You're still playing in the weakest pair, though. I think it's fun and I will likely want to play him. Strong but not totally insane. Sunforger time!

1 - yorion, sky nomad - OP got this one VERY VERY wrong. This card is scary as hell. Any other etb blink card and this starts chaining to absurdity, protecting his whole board from wipes while getting constant etb value every turn. As if brago needed an upgrade. Ew.
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UnfulfilledDesires
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Post by UnfulfilledDesires » 4 years ago

I approximately concur with Dirk's assessment.

I'd put Zirda, the Dawnwaker in first on both lists, but it's close. Zirda's cost reduction is shockingly broad.

Gyruda, Doom of Depths is tricky because the card does have an impressive amount of combo potential. & the restriction gets less brutal with full access to the legal Moxen & to Mana Crypt. & even Lion's Eye Diamond for explosive plays. You could pack a Jodah, Archmage Eternal deck with all the eligible clones & flicker effects like Felidar Guardian for a decent chance of chaining Gyrudas for serious value. It still has a mediocre effect unless you build around it & a brutal restriction, but the card has potential. I won't be surprised when see shenanigans.

Jegantha, the Wellspring's restriction, while mild compared with Gyruda's or Obosh's, nonetheless matters. I don't want to cut the best combo pieces in my Najeela, the Blade-Blossom deck in order to get an awkward Bloom Tender for five. Jegantha's a great option for many five-color decks, but hardly a freebie.

I love the companion mechanic in terms of both flavor & crunch. I especially adore cute companions like Lurrus & Zirda. I'm in the process of happily warping my decks to squeeze in as many of the companions as possible. I've found a home (as a companion) for each of the legal ones except Gyruda. I might put Gyruda in the 99 of my Sol'kanar the Swamp King deck. I'm trying to limit myself to using each of the companions only once across my numerous decks. If I drop that I'll probably put Zirda into any deck I possibly can.

My most unexpected companion pickup is Kaheera, the Orphanguard for my creatureless Estrid, the Masked list. Keheera's vigilance synergizes with the Stasis plan & having a creature always available makes Earthcraft seem like less of dead card outside of combo with Squirrel Nest. Shark Typhoon amusingly also helps in this regard.

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Looking over the different companions....

Yorion, Sky Nomad
Difficulty: impossible. Not allowed due to deck construction rules. If not for that, I actually think running 20 extra cards to be pretty doable. You lose a bit of consistency due to a larger deck size, but you also gain a bunch of consistency by being guaranteed Yorion in your opening hand, so sort of a net neutral.
Payoff: high - Yorion looks like a strong enabler for blink decks, and a medium-sized flier isn't bad either.

Gyruda, Doom of Depths
Difficulty: medium. There are a lot of powerful odd CMC cards, so you're definitely taking a hit, but I think the card pool is deep enough to support it if you want to.
Payoff: low. Random creature from the top 4, assuming you hit something with an even CMC. You can do some topdeck manipulation to cheat something in (ex: Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger), but it's still an extra hoop to jump through.

Obosh, the Preypiercer
Difficulty: medium. As with Gyruda, you're giving up a lot of options, but the card pool is deep enough that I think you can find replacements.
Payoff: medium. Damage doublers are pretty solid for the decks that want them, but they don't go in every deck.

Jegantha, the Wellspring
Difficulty: easy. You're giving up options, but not as many as restricting by even/odd. Cards with heavier color weights tend to be more powerful (or alternatively, cards WotC doesn't want to show up everywhere tend to be given more restrictive color weights). On the other hand, there are a ton of powerful multicolor cards with only one of each mana symbol, so you still have plenty of options. (compare Villainous Wealth vs Genesis Wave)
Payoff: high. No generic mana costs, but it's still a 5 mana creature 5/5 that taps for 5 mana, which is quite strong.

Kaheera, the Orphanguard
Difficulty: medium. This specifically goes in tribal decks, but there are very few tribes with enough functional diversity to fill out most decks - you're usually going to be playing some off-tribe utility creatures. Still, if you're already heavily committed to one of the tribes, I think it's possible to make the shift. On the other hand, you can mix between all five of the tribes, so that may make it significantly easier to do than sticking to just one of them. I know elementals tend to be pretty varied, and the cat tribal precon added a lot of utility to that tribe too.
Payoff: medium. A lord + vigilance is pretty solid for an aggro deck. If you're not going wide, its value goes down.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Difficulty: high. It's really hard to build a deck without any permanents with CMC 3+. You can have your topend be in the form of expensive instants/sorceries, but you're still giving up a lot, and I don't think the card pool is deep enough to get everything you want from cheap permanents and spells. Plus a lot of payoffs for cheap permanents are, themselves, fairly expensive (ex: Sun Titan).
Payoff: high. A cheap and efficient source of card advantage - recur Executioner's Capsule, Mishra's Bauble, or utility creatures.

Lutri, the Spellchaser
Difficulty: trivial. Hence why it's banned - almost every deck automatically qualifies.
Payoff: high. Fork is a powerful card, even if it only hits your own spells, and having access to a free one is pretty solid.

Umori, the Collector
Difficulty: very high. I won't say it's impossible, but as a person with a Primal Surge deck, I will say that playing zero instants/sorceries is a significant handicap... and if you restrict it even more, you're in for a bad time.
Payoff: medium. Cost reducers are good, but they're at their best alongside lots of cheap spells, which would restrict Umori to a pretty specific build.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Difficulty: high. I have an activated ability deck, and there are still a ton of permanents I'm playing without activated abilities. You could lean heavily into instants/sorceries, but it would still require a pretty niche deck.
Payoff: medium. There are some powerful combos with Zirda, but a lot of the best activated abilities are already free or cheap to activate, which means you won't get as much mileage from the cost reduction. And if you are running more expensive abilities, they'll look pretty bad when Zirda isn't out. And this is further complicated by the fact that having multiple activated abilities as mana sinks is generally redundant - you can't use all of them without stupid amounts of mana.

Keruga, the Macrosage
Difficulty: medium. Cheap spells are very important to have, and you're almost certainly making your deck weaker by cutting them... but if you're in a slow battlecruiser meta, you might be able to get away with it.
Payoff: low. Can potentially draw a bunch of cards... but if I have a slow, expensive deck, the last thing I'm going to want is another low-tempo play - I'll probably already have a problem with emptying my hand.

Anyway, of the playable companions, I'd say Jegantha is most likely to see play as a companion, while Umori and Zirda are least likely. The others may see some play as companions, but most of them will be build-arounds for niche decks - you'd need to be building around the companion from the start, instead of adding the companion to an existing deck.

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Post by FenrirRex » 4 years ago

Love all the thoughts here, the feedback here has shifted things around a little for me:

Companions:

Obosh, the Preypiercer and Jegantha, the Wellspring trade places (Obosh #4, Jegantha #2). My biggest factor is how easy it is to meet the requirements, and Jegantha's opportunity cost looks better and better, while my boy Obosh looks... rougher. I still think it can be worth building around, but within my own criteria it definitely needs to be lower.

As Commanders:

Meanwhile, I completely whiffed on Yorion, Sky Nomad- I was thinking about just playing him as a "fair" card, and he isn't as abuseable as Brago, King Eternal or even Roon of the Hidden Realm for blink value decks that aren't comboing; however, Yorion crushes the game with some simple combo pieces. While I personally find the card decidedly boring (as I find most combo-centric commanders) he shoots right up the list to #3, scooting everything below that up accordingly.

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Post by Hawk » 4 years ago

Here's my own list, without reading anyone elses. Tried to evaluate them all as a Companion, as a Commander, and as part of the 99.

10. Lutri, the Spellchaser - Banned, obviously, so obviously last place.

9. Keruga, the Macrosage - As a Companion I think it's untenable - there's simply too many staples at 0, 1, and 2 in this format that you deny yourself to run this dude. Nevermind no Sol Ring, Signets, or Rampant Growth - he also turns off most key interaction spells like Rapid Hybridization, Counterspell, Return to Nature, Cyclonic Rift, Mystical Tutor. As a commander and as part of the 99 - Keruga demands a lot of work to be noticeably better than Prime Speaker Zegana or even a simple Mulldrifter, and seems merely "okay" in most Simic beatdown lists.


8. Umori, the Collector - As a companion that restriction feels really bad - I'm sure it's possible but your deck will be a lot worse since in this format it effectively means your deck is either "all creatures" (since your Commander counts), "All Planeswalkers" (we have a few of those), or very maybe "All artifacts" (utilizing Golos or Ramos something) or "All Enchantments" (with Pharika). Your payoff for this? A Cloud Key effect tied to a vanilla 4/5 body for four. That's the problem - that just isn't good enough in the command slot or 99 in my opinion, which means it definitely isn't good enough to warp one's deck around. I can see Umori very occasionally in the 99 of Glissa, the Traitor or The Shattergang Brothers decks that have an Egg-y theme, but mostly I think he's just exceedingly mediocre.

7. Gyruda, Doom of Depths - As a companion I also find him untenable - losing odd costs shuts off the classic Sol Ring which of course you DESPERATELY want to cast your fat six mana card, and his ability is wildly unreliable. As a commander and as part of the 99 - mill is inexplicably popular. Gyruda is basically a supercharged Extract from Darkness for only one more mana. Extract is played in almost 2000 decks despite being what I'd consider draft fodder, and this is way better - for one more we get a 6/6 body for sure and mill twice as much in exchange for only hitting even targets. I think it's more fun than good to run it in my Command Zone, but I could see it being pretty fun in the 99 of the average Mirko Vosk or Wrexiel deck - those are also "fun not good" commanders, mind. Hence the 8th place.


6. Kaheera, the Orphanguard - As a companion she's the first that seems great; if you are already playing Cat, Beast, Elemental, Dinosaur (maybe), or Nightmare (what huh how???) tribal and in these colors it shouldn't be too out of your way to run her. For instance, my wife's Cat Tribal deck can run her straight up with no cuts. Dinos are probably the one tribe where cuts are tough, as they have to lose some human support from the Sun Empire. The thing is that while she's good in the companion slot for those tribes, and good in the 99 for any Cat or Beast tribal deck that supports her, she's just a very average card. Lords are great, lords are good, but she's in historically middling tribes - this is more of a "Finally" for Beast and Cat tribal, as compared to the critical mass a Zombie or Elf lord is for Tier 1 tribes. She's better than our first 4 as a result, but ultimately - it's just a random 3 CMC lord for a slew of random, weaker tribes, which are a dime a dozen in Commander and typically finds their home in middlewight 5/10 tribal aggro decks.

5. Obosh, the Preypiercer - This Companion Restriction at least feels possible - odds is a bit awkard but it does allow you to utilize Ring, Vault, Ritual, and Bauble to boostrap to 3 and then use Spheres, Relics, Lanterns, Powerstones to ramp to 5. Question whether we are in the 99, in the command zone, or in the companion slot is Torbran, Thane of Red Fell text good enough if it only applies to odd cards? That's a surprisingly rough restriction as it means we can't cheese people with Manabarbs or Harsh Mentor. But there are still some potent effects - Sulfuric Vortex, Crypt Rats, Goblin Sharpshooter, Heartless Hidetsugu, and Zo-Zu the Punisher come to mind. A lot of "X" spells also count with Obosh since their printed CMC is often 1 (Earthquake, Banefire) He works with plenty of commanders including Kaervek the Merciless, Vial Smasher the Fierce, and Judith, the Scourge Diva all of whom are spicy. We've never had a double damage effect out of the command OR companion zone before, so I think it's worth testing - and in the 99 he's also plenty interesting to a lot of aggro RBx decks like Rakdos. A fine card, although ultimately everything he does is very fair and linear.

4. Yorion, Sky Nomad - Yorion's Companion Quest is ACTUALLY impossible in our format, at least with the current rules as written. He makes it into the upper half of companions purely because of his strength in any and all Blink decks. I'm not convinced he's better at helming such a deck than Ephara, God of the Polis or Brago, King Eternal, but he instantly goes into the 99 of their decks and most any other "Skies", "Historic", or "Blink" UWx decks (which is a lot of them) - in a vacuum a sort of "Super Flickerwisp" or "Sudden Disappearance on a stick" is very powerful in those decks, and a critical mass of those effects goes infinite in a lot of ways.

3. Lurrus of the Dream-Den - Lurrus' requirement is only probably impossible; while there are more than enough powerful effects and utility cards at 0-2 CMC, all the good payoffs to running tiny drops are 3+ mana (Immortal Servitude, Reveillark, Sun Titan, Ranger of Eos, Shadowborn Apostle nonsense). Your commander counts too which currently means Lurrus is Orzhov only with a very, very small list of eligible commanders - two, in fact. I'm sure someone could build a version of Karlov of the Ghost Council or Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim that meets the requirement, but I think it'd be a much worse version of their normal builds that wasn't worth the extra card in the opener. Lurrus gets this slot mostly on the strength of how good it seems in the 99 or as a Commander itself. Getting an effect like Yawgmoth's Will, even "fixed" to once per turn for permanents CMC 2 or less only, is pretty spicy out of the Command zone or on a lean, efficient body. I see Lurrus in a wide range of Orzhov builds - basically any with any appreciable graveyard theme which is 2/3 of the top Orzhov commanders to date never mind a ton of Abzan and Esper builds. Notably Lurrus hits Permanents not Creatures which can also be very powerful with various artifact or enchantress builds. Lurrus is not only amazing in the 99, he's also a totally reasonable commander on his own that does things not currently in the format - I expect to see him up next to Ayli with over 600 decks of his own in a year or two. Lurrus would be among the most ubiquitous of these folks if it weren't for the next two that are truly crazy.

2. Jegantha, the Wellspring - Our "top 2" are the triple threats. Jegantha is here because her Companion quest is easy for any 5 color deck - chances are, most five color Sliver/Golos/Jodah/Najeela decks meet her requirement outright or can easily do so with minimal tweaking and little lost. Jegantha is a very powerful mana accelerant that can also go infinite in some obscure, complicated Rube Goldberg sorta ways (classic Freed from the Real or crazy Najeela stacking with vigilance). That infinite potential makes her a totally reasonable alternative to Jodah, Niv-Mizzet, or Golos as a Commander as well - I expect to see it more often than Jodah, but less often than Golos. I imagine it won't be in the 99 a lot, but only because of how easy it is to drop it into the Companion slot.

1. Zirda, the Dawnwaker - Zirda is my number one for companions. As a companion, her requirement is challenging but far from impossible and I believe (I don't have the math handy) that she overall slots into more commanders than Jegantha, albeit with a slightly more challenging requirement. She is in particular awesome as a companion to Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Kenrith, Returned King, Breya, Etherium Shaper, Marath, Will of the Wild, Atla Palani, Nest Tender - some of the best commanders in those color combinations. That's important because as a Companion or a Commander, Zirda forms a "one card combo" as soon as you draw into Basalt Monolith or Grim Monolith for infinite mana. That feels better than Jegantha's combos because those combo pierces are perfectly reasonable alone and the combo is overall much more difficult to disrupt - it basically is "counter Zirda or die" once the rock is out. Those are just the most obvious of combos. Finally, as a Training Grounds on a stick Zirda promises to show up in the 99 of plenty of decks even if one doesn't specifically want to build for the combo. I expect to see Zirda just about everywhere over the next few years and I suspect after Lutri, she's the next companion to have a real shot at getting banned.

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Post by if4ko » 3 years ago

As companions (including Lutri):

10. Yorion - Literally impossible. Not designed for the format.

9. Umori - Most of everyone said it - it's a stricter requirement than Primal Surge without the payoffs. A 1-mana discount is nowhere near good enough to justify hampering yourself that hard

8. Keruga - Like most people said, there's just way too much in the 0-2 range to sacrifice for Keruga's effect. You also aren't gonna get to 3 mana without your dorks and rocks.

7. Gyruda - This is low because his restriction synergizes very poorly with his ability. You're giving up a lot of good reanimation and ramp, but you're also giving up almost every good piece of top-deck manipulation (the only 2 that come to mind that are even-cost are Lim-Dul's Vault and Scroll Rack - the latter of which is very cost-prohibitive). Better as a commander.

6. Lurrus - Seems fair for the two commanders that run them. I can see this being effective in some janky Karlov/Ayli soul sisters build. It's fine here, but an absolute mistake in older formats.

5. Kaheera - A fair companion. Strictly tribal, but it's strong, easy to remove, and only a 1-shot effect. Will only be played in the decks it's explicitly designed for.

4. Obosh - Losing access to even cards hurts, but its strategy of beating face is much more accommodating than Gyruda's reanimation and TDM.

3. Lutri - Having the ability to constantly threaten a Twincast is great. This is a corner case where the card was especially not designed for Commander in mind, and was banned because of it. A similar effect in the command zone would be fine (see: Venser, Shaper Savant), but because of how Companion works it's not happening here.

2. Zirda - Much has already been said. The restriction is steep, but the payoff it gives is through the roof. Training Grounds is obviously disgusting and it has the potential to be a 1-card combo. I don't think it's ban-worthy, though, because of the opportunity cost and the "can be broken, but more fun if you don't break it" clause.

1. Jegantha - Absolutely ridiculous with 5cgoodstuff.dek generals. For cEDH, is an auto-win with Sisay. Absolutely disgusting in Golos and Najeela, who are already threats by merely existing, but it singlehandedly makes Sisay that much better. Serves as a great mana dork in a lot of WUBRG tribal decks too - namely slivers - with low opportunity cost. I think this gets banned - it provides absurd consistency for very little opportunity cost.

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Post by Pip_Maxwell » 3 years ago

Jegantha is obviously the first that needs to go. Its just too strong as a companion.
Zirda, I would say is not safe for the format and really gets stronger as more stronger permanents with activated abilities get printed. But should be on the watch list and not banned.

Lurrus is problematic but really only for Vintage as it is now a staple, and when a card becomes a staple in vintage, you know somethings gone wrong.

The other companions are fine.

Gyruda could be a sleeper, it just needs more creatures that can flicker it or that can clone it.
The following is pioneer gameplay but this could very easily be translated into EDH gameplay as you just need a way to Gyruda + Spark Double + Clones/Flicker-Creatures. Gyruda is already causing problems in Pioneer, Legacy, Modern, and Standard with a deck that runs on the above strategy. Its not worth banning now, but it should be considered on the watch list in case it does become problematic.

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Post by Maluko » 3 years ago

If Gyruda ends up being banned from Standard, that will probably be the end of Play Design as we know it. They already screwed up really badly with Throne of Eldraine - I am still baffled at how a team of pros managed to fail to detect the obvious power level of Oko, Thief of Crowns and Once Upon a Time. If a combo involving Companion, one of their most out-of-the-box mechanics printed until today, ends up being too powerful for Standard, then I wouldn't personally trust them anymore with balancing competitive formats.

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Post by Pip_Maxwell » 3 years ago

Maluko wrote:
3 years ago
If Gyruda ends up being banned from Standard, that will probably be the end of Play Design as we know it. They already screwed up really badly with Throne of Eldraine - I am still baffled at how a team of pros managed to fail to detect the obvious power level of Oko, Thief of Crowns and Once Upon a Time. If a combo involving Companion, one of their most out-of-the-box mechanics printed until today, ends up being too powerful for Standard, then I wouldn't personally trust them anymore with balancing competitive formats.
The problem stems from their insistence on free spells/permanents, increasing consistency, and cheapening costs. This applies to both cards that are getting printed and also the London Mulligan rule. The companions are just the latest headache in this nonsensical parade.

We have had eight products with the FIRE philosophy. It started with War of the Spark, then we got Magic 2020, Thrones of Eldraine, Eldraine Brawl, Ikoria Lair of Behemoths, Ikoria EDH, Theros Beyond Death. The only change was actually Eldraine when they started amping up the power.

Its clear that the play design team has too many novice designers who don't understand restraint and are only justified by the FIRE philosphy. Many of their cards, if custom, would get laughed off for how absurd they actually were. And while the joke is late, yes the play design team is "playing with fire".

It wasn't too long ago when Ramunap Ruins was banned in Standard for creating "invisible power" with its game ending reach. Yet the ruins seem like small potatoes compared to what has come recently. We now have an EDH combo consisting of Lands + Eerie Ultimatum + Eternal Witness + Zuran Orb. The process is really simple, one land must be a sacrifice outlet like High Market. You need enough other lands to also generate the cost for Eerie Ultimatum + one mana. You tap your lands to float mana, except the outlet, then you sacrifice the witness to the land, then sacrifice all of your lands to the orb, then you cast Eerie Ultimatum to do it all over again as the Eternal Witness will grab the Ultimatum. You generate infinite life and mana in the process.

The point I'm trying to show is that in such a short amount of time there is a lot of problems cropping up in the format in just the past year. And if the announcement is just the reaffirmation of the ban of just Lutri, the Spellchaser, then it will feel like the committee is not reading the room correctly.

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Post by Sinis » 3 years ago

My own baseless speculation on them!

Strong:

Jegantha, the Wellspring: This card is really good, and has notable synergy with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain and Horde of Notions. It's a lot of mana, and while the restriction will exclude some powerful cards, but there are often near-as-good substitutes that will work just fine. Tap for 5 mana is really great. Ultimately, it will come down to how much you can leverage the mana output while not being able to use it for colourless costs. That might mean playing a lot of WUBRG cards, like Maelstrom Archangel, etc. I'm unsure if I'd ever maindeck it; I'm not exactly itching to play Prismatic Geoscope.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker: Training grounds has been a favourite for many for a long time, and Zirda is just that, but ultra-reliable. I plan on playing this with Kenrith, the Returned King (and I can still maindeck Biomancer's Familiar!). The costs will be deceptively high; many staple permanents have triggered abilities (like Eternal Witness), but the virtual mana Zirda could provide might be worth the trade. It's also worth noting that the restriction to make Zirda a companion leans into the payout; if you have a bunch of activated abilities, you'll benefit more from the discount.

Okay:

Obosh, the Preypiercer: Double Damage is a lot. The restriction, while punishing, still leaves a lot of wiggleroom in what you're going to play, and unlike Gyruda, doesn't deny you Sol Ring, though, does deny you all the 2-mana rocks and Mana Crypt... but... maybe a deck trying to leverage this plays low enough to the ground that we're not all that interested in playing 2-mana rocks, or we're in green. I'm sad this doesn't dovetail with Extinction Event, but, oh well. Just remember to make your Fireball analogues odd CMC when you cast them (and don't play even ones like Comet Storm at all). Heh, oddballs.

Yorion, Sky Nomad: I'll be honest, I don't get the hype. You can't Companion it, so you're maindecking it. It mass blinks your guys. Cool, I don't know anyone clamouring to play Ghostway, Eerie Interlude and similar for your creatures. You could even combo one of those cards with Archaeomancer and do it over and over. Is bridging to artifacts/enchantments/walkers that you wont' get to activate this turn really that cool? You could also play Brago, King Eternal and do this more than once... but people aren't clamouring to maindeck that, either. The effect is good, yes, but it's hardly unique and since it can't be a companion, I struggle to see it as earth-shatteringly good. The technology to do this has been around for a while, and while it could be a hair better for being in the command zone, I'm not impressed.

Kaheera, the Orphanguard: There are a lot of tribes on this card. It will cause you to exclude some significant cards, like Eternal Witness, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Sun Titan, etc. etc. etc.... Eh. Once you bite that bullet, the bonus is not insignificant. I expect a few Arahbo decks will want to use this, and maybe some Nethroi ones, too.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den: I don't think I could abide by the Companion restriction to play this from outside the game (what are we even playing at that point? Karlov of the Ghost Council or Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim? Okay.), but the actual text box is totally good and reasonable for a 3/2 for 3, and you can just maindeck this guy. I could definitely recur Sakura-Tribe Elder, or Wayfarer's Bauble, Mind Stone, etc. etc. etc.

Probably bad:

Keruga, the Macrosage: The companion requirement is very steep. All the best mana rocks, cheap counterspells, many tutors, all out. There's still potential, though, depending on how it's built; there are plenty of cards with alternative costs that could fill some holes in a deck constructed this way or provide some action in the first couple of turns, like Snuff Out, Journey of Discovery, Baloth Cage Trap, etc. The payoff isn't really there; it reminds me mostly of something like Regal Force, but across all permanents and slightly discounted (but, also it only sees the costly permanents, so there won't be some elf-token swarm it can draw a million off of). It could see play, but I think it will lose its slot to cards that exploit wide token boards, or spells that draw independent of your board state. Keruga is notable in that it is highly likely to be a companion when it is played at all, IMO.

Definitely bad:

Umori, the Collector: As a companion, since we're playing Commander, our commander will have to be a creature, or Lord Windgrace. That means we're either playing ~60 creatures or ~60 walkers, the latter of which, it turns out, is not impossible. 60 creature decks are hard to build; even in 5 colours, you'll be using some serious chaff. The payoff, IMO is not really there; a four mana okay body and a 1-mana discount on your creatures (or walkers). It might work out in some lands-oriented deck where you're playing 60+ lands, and only a handful of the other permanent (well, the remainder, which is 40). As a maindeck, it doesn't really inspire; cards like Cloud Key, Semblance Anvil, Urza's Incubator or notably Centaur Omenreader see scattered play, and maybe Umori would supplant one of these... but probably not. All that analysis aside, Umori could have potential as a Companion for Golos (who could then use Mana rocks wait, no, not even that) or an all-creature Muldrotha. But, really, I still have my doubts.

Gyruda, Doom of Depths: This card has hype in other formats, but its home isn't EDH. The cute clone-chains are neat and everything, but I doubt you can flip that many of them in a game of EDH, and you could inadvertently just hand the game to a graveyard-centric opponent. The deckbuilding restriction denies Sol Ring and a few other choice 1- or 3-mana spells, but the damning thing about it is the payoff just isn't there. Mill everyone for four and maybe find a guy? Anyone who has played these kinds of effects before (like Extract from Darkness or Guild Feud) will let you know that this effect in EDH is tremendously unreliable. I would be unable to even maindeck this guy.

Sadly killed in the prime of his life:

Lutri, the Spellchaser: Companion restriction trivial so it's definitely playable (unless you have a burning need for a different companion, since you can only pick one), effect is half-decent if unremarkable. Banned. I don't want to provide even a remote chance to derail this thread so I'll say no more, but I'm sad this guy isn't playable, even if it meant (almost) every future U/R/x deck would have Lutri as a companion (the decks that wouldn't have Lutri would have some other Companion). That wouldn't have bothered me at all, to be honest.

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