Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[duducrash]

I have a UW Planeswalker deck and I might put int some vehicles in it, I like to run a lot of wraths in it, I will try. The clone one, the catch up ramp mecha and iron soul enforcer sound like they could see some play.

Kotori, Pilot Prodigy in a Poe Dameron alt/ secret lair is totally worth building just because of the flavour.

[Serenade]

Whoever is running Rin and Seri, Inseparable is probably pretty happy with these two sets overall. Hooray for equipment creatures!

[Hawk]

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade - the deck seems so unplayably awful I had to immediately post a correction.

I'mma respond here to something you said over there: this is not the least coherent commander deck. That award should always belong to Political Puppets, the deck that was 1/3rd Zedruu the Greathearted, 1/3rd Ruhan of the Fomori, 1/3rd generic control deck. The one big finisher spell was Insurrection, but it was also playing above average number of board wipes. It had Rapacious One but no way to make it connect. It had Punishing Fire but the only guaranteed way to recur it was to donate Zedruu after stealing something of theirs. It had a clash subtheme. Just pure nonsense.

Fair - I dismantled and then rebuilt Zedruu so fast I didn't recall. I do also recall now that you've said so that 2013's "Mind Seize" was also a bit of a mess mostly because Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge isn't that stronk to begin with - the deck had 23 instants and sorceries including a few great Jeleva hits but also several Jeleva whiffs in the form of "X" spells and reactive spells. The curve of that deck was a trainwreck. And like Chishiro and Zedruu, there was too much support for the deck to also try to do Nekusar, the Mindrazer things.

Ironsoul Enforcer makes me sad because he feels awkward in his own deck (at least if you keep Kotori, Pilot Prodigy as the pilot), is terrible in my Quintorious deck, and is honestly not great in a lot of slots. I read it and was hyped because I skipped to the end - but there's just too many conditionals on that thing.

[BeneTleilax]

The new decks look neat. I don't think I'm picking up either, but I'm definitely aiming to trade for the drumbellower and some of the artifact synergy things.

[5colorsrainbow]

I do like these decks are "new" spaces for the color pairs to play in. Chishiro can be a counter and/or aura and/or equipment which GR didn't have a lot of focus on (and if you want a funky RG Samurai deck) and WU needed more than flying counter and/or blink. Both color pairs also have some synergy already there just needed legend to help bring that into focus.

[Gashnaw]

Swift Reconguration is pretty nice, especially when paired with something like barrenton Medic

Also Nexus needs to fix their typo. They missed the FI in reconfiguration.

[Dragoon]

Swift Reconguration is pretty nice, especially when paired with something like barrenton Medic

Nice find! I guess we can add that to the list of things that can combo with Devoted Druid. It might also be cute with other niche stuff like Psionic Sliver or even Goblin Kaboomist.

[vandertroll]

Swift Reconguration will boost many selesnya decks as combo enabler. It already costs the price of the whole deck in europe..

[Dunadain]

Swift Reconguration will boost many selesnya decks as combo enabler. It already costs the price of the whole deck in europe..

how does this combo work? I'm not seeing it.

Edit: I think I got it now, you can put infinite -1/-1 counters on things like Devoted Druid without them dieing, right?

[pokken]

Was there a rule change I missed somewhere that allows legendary vehicles to be your commander now?


ooh I see it's on the card Shorikai, Genesis Engine. Missed it at the bottom. good times.

[Mookie]

Hmmm.... I initially ignored Shorikai, Genesis Engine (crew 8 is a lot), but it could be an interesting just as a draw engine, particularly in Sharuum - it filters through the deck, discards stuff to reanimate, and generates chump blockers. It's also excellent with Manifold Key and similar effects.

...not sure if it makes the cut in a vacuum though. My general heuristic is that an unconditional Coercive Portal (4 mana card that draws each turn) is playable, but I'm not sure if that holds true in decks that are already playing blue. It does come with some pretty significant upsides though.

[DirkGently]

Could play it reanimator style to abuse the discard. Or madness. Draw 2 discard 1 is a lot better than draw 1 (even without exploiting the discard but especially if you do).

[DirkGently]

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned seems broken. I know of at least three Targets near my hometown, and I think there are probably a lot more. Isn't it a big chain?

[kirkusjones]

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned seems broken. I know of at least three Targets near my hometown, and I think there are probably a lot more. Isn't it a big chain?

Jazz Cabbage, is that you?

[ukkuhrmakhai]

These two sets definitely grew on me. There are a few things that are going to be strong/staples (Channel Lands) but overall it looks like nice selection of cards that will be relevant in the right deck but not dominant. They also pulled off the art better than I expected.

Imposter Mech seems pretty unreliable since you can only hit opponents creatures but a lot utility creatures don't mind being turned into non creatures. At the average table I think this would almost always have targets.

Swift Reconfiguration[/cards] is fairly strong as a combo piece/pseudo haste/removal/protection although I'm not sure what deck it will find a place in. Turning your commander into a car to keep from getting turned into plowshares is pretty hilarious though.

[card]Collision of Realms is a red wrath that doesn't do damage or send creatures to the graveyard and is still (1) cheaper than insurrection so I am planning on trying it out in monored decks. It also will double as a polymorph if you are cheating creatures into play.

I will find a place for Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant even if the effect is going to draw more hate than it will be worth. Not blocking creatures makes it much weaker as a disruption piece and it comes down at a point where someone will have the resources to remove it (assuming they even need to).

The Reality Chip is better than I though it would be since you don't need it to be attached to look at your top card so you can get value without attaching and then equip it once you have the spare mana.

[Mookie]

<secret lair warning>
Street Fighter cards are somewhat interesting. Ignoring absolutely all UB/Secret Lair discussion and focusing exclusively on the cards...

• Ken, Burning Brawler is somewhat interesting as a Boros spellslinger commander. Free spells are quite strong.
• Chun-Li, Countless Kicks looks interesting. The only instant-speed extra turn spell can't be in your graveyard, which shuts off the obvious combo, but even just casting a few cantrips could be pretty potent - sort of like a miniature, more flexible Azor, the Lawbringer trigger.
• Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist is support for reach tribal, I guess?
• Zangief, the Red Cyclone gives Zurgo Helmsmasher vibes, mixed with some potent disruption.
• (I don't have much to say about the other cards)

I don't know that I would run any of them in the 99, but certainly some interesting build-arounds in the command zone.
</secret lair warning>

[materpillar]

<secret lair warning>
Street Fighter cards are somewhat interesting. Ignoring absolutely all UB/Secret Lair discussion and focusing exclusively on the cards...

• Ken, Burning Brawler is somewhat interesting as a Boros spellslinger commander. Free spells are quite strong.
• Chun-Li, Countless Kicks looks interesting. The only instant-speed extra turn spell can't be in your graveyard, which shuts off the obvious combo, but even just casting a few cantrips could be pretty potent - sort of like a miniature, more flexible Azor, the Lawbringer trigger.
• Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist is support for reach tribal, I guess?
• Zangief, the Red Cyclone gives Zurgo Helmsmasher vibes, mixed with some potent disruption.
• (I don't have much to say about the other cards)

I don't know that I would run any of them in the 99, but certainly some interesting build-arounds in the command zone.
</secret lair warning>

I'm pretty happy with the design on all these cards. They're mostly designed around getting into the red zone to do their thing. None of them seem particularly obnoxious. None of them really speak to me but they look like fun to play against.

[pokken]

As a longtime sf player these cards are mostly great. The only one I hate is zangief which seems just bad

[Hawk]

Notable for Chun-li, Countless Kicks is that you do not get to cast those spells without paying their mana cost. Definitely seems like the best tactic will be to spam out cheap cantrips, efficient removal, or heroic-y ways to help Chun-li survive combat like Shadow Rift and Sheltering Light. Also notable, however, is that like Mairsil, the Pretender she's got legs and will keep track of all spells you've kicked out into exile over a match letting you start there and work your way up to being able to spam Cyclonic Rift (overloaded) or Fated Retribution (+ a spell to make Chun-li indestrucitble) over and over in the end game. Overall she seems awesome and fun. We were just talking about an Azorius commander who can do something different, and here she is. Especially great is that by limiting her to instants, there are currently no ways to take infinite turns with her and there's also currently no obvious ways to give her Prowess/Magecraft for surprise turn 4 lethal (closest is Soulblade Djinn who will be great in her deck). So she feels clever but not obvious.

More broadly, I've been surprised at the reaction to these compared to other UB stuff. I feel like The Walking Dead drew endless amounts of hate and consternation and mockery, while Stranger Things landed with a wet thud of non-response. These, meanwhile, seem more accepted even by the skeptical and more adored by more folks. I suspect the reason why is...

1) This is our 3rd UB property (plus three "Overlays" in Godzilla, Dracula, and Arcane/LoL stuff) plus we got D&D stuff last year. So, we've all sort of gotten used to it now.

2) Street Fighter, despite the presence of wrestling rings and cars in some of the art, "feels" like a fit for Magic in a way that TWD and Stranger Things didn't necessarily. I don't know if that's the martial-arts silliness feeling good, or the art style feeling like a better fit compared to the hyper-realistic "real world" art of the first two?

3) Those that truly hate the crossovers can rest knowing we'll see a Magic-fied version of Chun-li sometime this year (probably in Dominaria United?).

4) There's a history for Street Fighter that the other properties have largely lacked - the franchise is closing in on its 35th Anniversary. Even if the size of the fandom isn't that much larger than TWD or ST's, they are a more enfranchised and diverse bunch perhaps?

5) The prior designs, while often flavorful, didn't feel as thematically cool and didn't inspire designs as well. TWD played it safe as the "first" (minus Rick being a Legacy card?), while Stranger Things played it safe due to all the legends having "Partners With Each Other". Here, they decided to feel good about exploring some fun, interesting territory and making interesting cards. And the addition of "flavor text in the text box", as we saw in Forgotten Realms, helps drive that flavor out of the park.

[Dunadain]

I'm interested in Chun-Li, Countless Kicks and Blanka, Ferocious Friend

Chun li looks like she'd be fun to slowly grow into a powerhouse (I'll see if she replaces my Skullbriar, the Walking Grave deck, probably not, haste is a big deal). I think you'll want to include some bounce effects with her, (maybe some of those new ninjas!) to keep adding to her options.

Blanka is my second choice simply because haste is a big deal for commanders that need to get into the red zone.

[TheGildedGoose]

Chun-Li is 10/10 design. Absolutely fantastic. Can't wait for the real card to be printed.

[Cyberium]

I'm pretty happy with the design on all these cards. They're mostly designed around getting into the red zone to do their thing. None of them seem particularly obnoxious. None of them really speak to me but they look like fun to play against.

Good thing WotC remembers that these are Street Fighters, not sit-on-the-couch wizards. EDH needs more combat.

And their design, regardless of power, is impeccably flavorful.

[pokken]

I think interestingly the thing that makes the sf cards work for me is that the art style is far less discordant with mtg than the aesthetic of say twd or warhammer 40k.

If you took original sf2 ryu and made a magic card out of it I don't think it would be that out of place.

That is just my weird gut instinct. I didn't look at these cards and instantly go blech that isn't magic, for some reason.

[DirkGently]

I'm out of bile to vent. At this point my reaction to UB is weary resignation. But I'll absolutely never touch these things.

That said, I'm glad they're making normal versions. None of them super excite me though.

[materpillar]

I'm out of bile to vent. At this point my reaction to UB is weary resignation. But I'll absolutely never touch these things.

That said, I'm glad they're making normal versions. None of them super excite me though.

It's a shame that you have only negativity for these. I read them all and got a warm fuzzy amusement out of them. I've discovered with Kamigawa Neon Dynasty that I'm not locked into wanting magic to be a high medieval fantasy like I thought I was. My favorite card arts in the set are Moonsnare Specialist|70948 and Inkrise Infiltrator|70821

Love me some attractive, anime cyber ninjas I guess. >.>

I was also very disappointed that they didn't have custom cards like these for Jinx and Vi in the arcane secret lair since I really like both of those characters. Instead we just got kinda related alt art.

I'm significantly less bothered by these secret lairs now that they're really close to being things I want and my lessened connection with needing magic to be high fantasy. Especially because they're doing high fantasy reskins in actual packs so people can acquire them reasonably.

I'm probably never going to buy a secret laid because they're too expensive and still a bit predatory but I have a lot less vitriol for them than I used too.