Shadrix Silverquill, what's your take?

[Cyberium]

Shadrix Silverquill

I see many directions in this dragon. Politics is obvious, and when in 1v1 we could either champion his abilities or deny our opponent a boon. When all things fail, you can always ignore his combat trigger and smack face.

Cards like Tainted Aether neutralizes the token "gift" while Twilight Drover benefit from token generation on either side. If you manage to kill your opponents' creatures (or they just happen to have none), you can offer +1/+1 counters to oblivion. As a 2/5 double strike flyer, Shadrix benefit from all the traditional WB enhancements, from equipments to auras to good ol' Elspeth, Knight-Errant/Silverquill Command.

Right now I'm inclined to make Shadrix a token/creature based deck with Voltron attached, but there are probably other ways to do him.

[RxPhantom]

Not a fan. I really don't think the 'political' downside is worth the benefit or is all that interesting. And if I don't use the ability, I just have a french vanilla dragon. I read it a few times to see if there was any interesting way to build it, and it just didn't grab my imagination.

[illakunsaa]

I think he goods pretty fun. He seems "weak" so it doesn't eat removal instantly and he does something the turn he comes into play.

It's pretty easy remove the token with stuff like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Kaervek, the Spiteful, Massacre Wurm, Ethereal Absolution etc.

[Sinis]

I think it's a case of great taste, but awful execution. Here's what I think.

Shadrix is 2/5 flying double strike for 5. This isn't super favourable; I guess it's better than Skyspear Cavalry, but probably worse than Heavenly Blademaster. It's a pretty unique set of keywords vs. cost, so it's not clear just how spooky it is, or how well costed it is for the body it has. That said, I think the ability is going to have to pull some weight for me to want to play it, since swinging around with a 2/5 isn't really my jam.

Shadrix's ability has to target two players, so you're forced to 'be nice' to someone if you want a trigger for yourself. First, when you're forced to be nice, I find it's more difficult to get people to cooperate. Second, your options for being nice are pretty harsh; you either give someone a chump blocker for your general, let them draw a card (which is the least controllable thing that you can give someone) or you buff their whole team. I suspect you'll be buffing empty teams somewhat frequently.

Maybe I'm underselling it; even as I'm writing it, I see some appeal. I think a Shadrix deck will need to take advantage of any given mode more than your opponents; so, you better be able to use that 2/1 token better than others, that team-wide buff better, etc. Maybe you can, but, for 5 mana, I wonder if you should. I expect Shadrix will be best as some kind of token deck where giving a card to an opponent won't be as good as giving a legion of tokens +1/+1, or you'll draw a card while giving an empty board +1/+1, etc. Shadrix keywords themselves can help this strategy along with Odric, Lunarch Marshal.

Maybe there's also angles with things like Ghostly Prison or Mystic Barrier, where you can force combat elsewhere and make that combat more lethal with a 2/1 token or board-wide buff.

[Dunharrow]

Reminds me of Bloodgift Demon, since I will be drawing a card every turn most likely. Unfortuntely, Bloodgift has not been a great commander card for years now.
Maybe it fits better in the 99.

[pokken]

Looks pretty fun to me actually The fact that it grows itself and you can give out tokens to kill for cards sounds fun.

[Sinis]

The fact that it grows itself and you can give out tokens to kill for card sounds fun.

Please elaborate? Unless you mean, like, Skullclamp...

[pokken]

Maybe I have a wrong recollection but I recall there being a decent assortment of things you can draw cards when opponents' creatures die. Let me look and see...

And nope, I was misremembering

Still, giving out dudes is usually fun.

(potential shenanigans):

• black market
• blood artist
• toshiro umezawa
• falkenrath noble
• sangromancer
• species specialist
• syr konrad, the grim
• demon of dark schemes
• massacre wurm
• patron of the vein
• thieving amalgam

So not a huge great list but some fun stuff.

[BeneTleilax]

That's what I was thinking, a Grismold-style "give opponents bad creatures, then kill them". I feel like creature sac strategies need to be a bit less predominant though for that not to feel bad.

[FenrirRex]

I cannot remember the last time I was so excited by a cards art only to have my dreams expertly dashed by the card itself (want the alt art, inks are so very pretty). 2/5 french vanilla beaters with downsides are entirely unexciting, and I particularly dislike the anti-synergy that 2/3 of the options have with him- either you're hoping to buff an empty board (best case), or you're giving opponents potential answers with cards or giving them free ways to block your flying beater.

I like how flexible he is, since you'll always be able to pick the "best" option for you and the "worst" for your opponent, but none of the options are particularly exciting. Maybe if I end up building a group slug deck of some kind, but giving my opponents resources has always been a thing I hate the feeling of.

[DirkGently]

Considering it triggers right away, it's not bad.

The downside of targeting another player - politics aside, since I don't think it's actually very political (being mandatory if you want the benefits means you're not REALLY helping, and being timing-restricted means you can't often trade it for a direct favor) - is relatively minor. Someone doesn't have creatures, or doesn't have many? bam, counters. Plenty of decks can't leverage a 2/1 flyer very well. And giving whoever's behind a card isn't the worst - especially if they're low on life, or you want them to solve some other problematic player. So overall I think the second target is mostly either benign or beneficial.

So looking at what YOU get:

Making tokens every turn is fine but not super exciting imo. They are decent tokens, granted, and it synergizes with the other ability, but it just seems kinda low impact.

Draw a card lose a life is solid, obviously pretty universally useful. Bloodgift demon sure, but having it in the CZ lets you modify how you build your deck around it, and it's also a much scarier beater.

The real meaty mode imo is the counters. That's a pretty huge potential boost, and turning into a 3/6 double striker is no freaking joke. That is a fast, fast clock, and additional bodies just increase the value. So I suspect going wide will be the common way to go here.

[Sinis]

So not a huge great list but some fun stuff.

You are not naming "Inkling" with Species Specialist. Just saying.

[FenrirRex]

So not a huge great list but some fun stuff.

You are not naming "Inkling" with Species Specialist. Just saying.

You might be, we don't know what else generates inklings yet.

[Sinis]

So not a huge great list but some fun stuff.

You are not naming "Inkling" with Species Specialist. Just saying.

You might be, we don't know what else generates inklings yet.

Fair point!

[Maluko]

The real meaty mode imo is the counters. That's a pretty huge potential boost, and turning into a 3/6 double striker is no freaking joke. That is a fast, fast clock, and additional bodies just increase the value. So I suspect going wide will be the common way to go here.

Exactly. You can be swinging with a 4/7 double strike on your next turn. That's eight (commander) damage right there.

The card is definitively interesting and unconventional, so I understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea. But that's exactly the kind of card that Commander needs. It's versatile, doesn't have a linear deckbuilding direction, and makes you pause and consider your options when on the battlefield. I honestly hope the other Elder Dragons are as cool as this design.

[Cyberium]

The real meaty mode imo is the counters. That's a pretty huge potential boost, and turning into a 3/6 double striker is no freaking joke. That is a fast, fast clock, and additional bodies just increase the value. So I suspect going wide will be the common way to go here.

In a sense, Shadrix can gradually Voltrons himself while going wide, at a small cost of giving an opponent a creature (which seems to be the least harmful option). White can speed up the Voltron process as black takes advantage at creatures dying. Both skipping combat trigger and helping an ally remain options if situation doesn't call for it.

And I just realize that Shadrix (or any of your creatures) doesn't have to attack to trigger his ability.

[Wallycaine]

I really like this dragon. In addition to the obvious one of "keep them from having a board, +1/+1 counters do nothing", there's some pretty solid ways of keeping the mode you give to the opponent from mattering. For example, if you're running something Elesh Norn or other -1/-1 effects, the token becomes an easy choice. Alternately, slap something that grants your double striking dragon trample out there, and suddenly giving your opponent 1 toughness worth of blockers is a pretty minor cost. If the attack you're making kills them, then giving the opponent a card only matters if they've got mana up. And even beyond keeping someone's board completely clear, there's plenty of times at least one deck won't have much more than a couple utility dudes, so buffing someone's Wood Elves and Solemn to a 2/2 and 3/3 respectively isn't that huge of a cost, especially if you're not the big bad at the table.

[Sinis]

The card is definitively interesting and unconventional, so I understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea. But that's exactly the kind of card that Commander needs. It's versatile, doesn't have a linear deckbuilding direction, and makes you pause and consider your options when on the battlefield. I honestly hope the other Elder Dragons are as cool as this design.

I think I need to walk back my 'great taste awful execution' stance. The more I look at it, the more interesting it seems.

Honestly, I have started to think how if it was more one-sided, it'd be worse for the game (like, let's say Chulane, Teller of Tales).

Maybe it's a home for today's RCotD (Basri Ket).

[hyalopterouslemur]

Once he's out, it's a three-turn clock. Though you might consider Night of Souls' Betrayal: While it's now a four-turn clock, those tokens are now 1/0.

[Cyberium]

I'm considering putting Gideon Jura and Kytheon, Hero of Akros // Gideon, Battle-Forged as a way to manipulate/survive combat. The least harmful effect of Shadrix is to give your opponent a token. Even if our opponent chose not block with it, you still get to draw or add counters. If they don't, forcing them to attack with creatures would force them to attack into your beefed up army.