Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Rumpy5897]

Musician for the win!

Perrie, the Pulverizer feels like bait to buy reserved list cards with weird counters.

You're laughing now, but give me a few more upkeeps and the Trade Caravan will be good enough at archery to snipe that commander of yours if you try to swing it into me... actually I probably shouldn't have brought it up. Here, become bribed with some life from Wall of Shards and don't come at me for a bit longer?

I think the "correct" way to build Perry is to do some blinking and wiping, but that's not that interesting. The weird counter route will probably build itself, as there's only so many arrowhead counters and the like in the game, but it made me laugh enough to at least merit a Cockatrice test build.

[DirkGently]

My review of the commander commanders:

Kitt Kanto, Mayhem Diva is cute, but honestly really weak. Compare her to Marisi, Breaker of the Coil and it's pretty embarrassing. The timing is even annoying, if she dies pre-combat and you needed to goad, you're SOL. I feel like it should have at least been "tap two untapped creatures you control: goad and +2/+2 and trample" so you can do it repeatedly and in response to removal. Maybe a candidate for me to play in my super casual group lol.

Henzie "Toolbox" Torre looks like a lot of work to make good. 3 to make my expensive creatures cost 1 less and cycle eot seems pretty narrow? Pretty good for the Solemn Simulacrums of the world, but how many of those are there? Once you've recast him two or three times he's pretty spicy, but that's a ton of investment. Seems like a cool design to me overall, I like it.

Anhelo, the Painter looks the most threatening to me. You probably don't wanna copy Lightning Bolt, you wanna copy Expropriate. I know I won't want to let him live long enough to see that happen. Copying spells sounds so much cooler on paper than it ever turns out in reality.

Kamiz, Obscura Oculus is interesting, although obviously being so combat-oriented means it's probably not amazing. Unblockability is good with saboteur effects, which is also good for double strike, although things like deathtouch play better with the latter. Idk seems kinda fun.

Perrie, the Pulverizer - types of counters is a fun thing to care about. The payoff is pretty meh, though. Shield counters are a copy of divine shield from hearthstone, so I guess add one more to the pile of stuff those games have copied off each other. Someone mentioned blinking + wiping but honestly that seems like way too much work when you can just make all your dudes indestructible with 1 spell. autoinclude Crystalline Giant?

Overall I like this batch, they seem fun and casual compared to most. Anhelo is the only one I'll be annoyed to see across the table, and there are probably nastier ways to do that thing already.

[pokken]

I really like the Maestros Theater cycle if that's a cycle. Man, what nice design! I'll play the heck out of those in budget decks.

[BeneTleilax]

Are we looking at the same card? He looks painfully fair to me. It's only a 1-mana discount until you've cast him twice, and you need to be okay with sacking the creature so it requires build-around.

My concern is combining him with a repeatable sac outlet to chain a bunch of ETB/death triggers, and looping with all of GB's recursion and ramp. I can very easily see him slowly evolving from a value and combat deck to repetitive non-deterministic combos.

As for Angelo, yes he can go turns, but so can any spellslinger or spellslinger adjacent general. I still think the best way to win with him is going to be incremental value from using his ability on good instants each turn, plus aristocrats synergies. That might just be my bias from playing Feather though.

[Lifeless]

Titania will be pretty psyched if Theater really is part of a cycle.

[folding_music]

the syntax on Elspeth is horrendous ))))) "put a counter on it from among x"? it's even a mythic and could use a more conversational, less computer programmed manner to describe the ability.

[Gashnaw]

Halo should get banned. I mean the RC continues to talk about the social contract Halo fountain does the exact opposite of what they want.

That said. It probably will not get banned until one of them abuses it.

15 tapped creatures, with such high white mana dedication, doesn't come easily in a group game.

Do, do people not play swarm decks outside of my group?
I mean guys GHAVE exists. (Already broken, this is just one more card to add to his arsenal)
Rhys also exists.

[Dragoon]

I really like the Maestros Theater cycle if that's a cycle. Man, what nice design! I'll play the heck out of those in budget decks.

Aren't they just variants of Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse though? They're not bad but I don't understand what makes them so appealing.

[Gashnaw]

I really like the Maestros Theater cycle if that's a cycle. Man, what nice design! I'll play the heck out of those in budget decks.

Aren't they just variants of Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse though? They're not bad but I don't understand what makes them so appealing.

Same reason the aforementioned are played.
Budget fetch.

[pokken]

Aren't they just variants of Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse though? They're not bad but I don't understand what makes them so appealing.

A little thing called critical mass ! plus incidental lifegain is really fun and enables some other strategies.

If they make this cycle a 10-piece eventually you could make a deck with like 30 lands that etb lifegain, that sounds cool as heck.

[Crazy Monkey]

So I've realized that animating Halo Fountain into a creature lets it untap itself as part of the same cost which tapped it. Another excellent draw engine for Sydri, Galvanic Genius with (also animated) Gilded Lotus.

[Mookie]

Arcane Bombardment is sweet. Hard to tell whether or not it is actually good - 6 mana enchantments with no immediate board impact tend to be high-risk, high-reward, but it looks a little like a one-sided Eye of the Storm. Seems fun.

Evelyn, the Covetous looks like a powercrept Gonti, Lord of Luxury. I guess the stolen card isn't hidden, and Evelyn has to actually be on the battlefield, but... seems strong.

I like Maestros Theater, and look forwards to the rest of the cycle - they're a nice budget fixing option, and some additional redundancy for Evolving Wilds / Terramorphic Expanse in budget landfall decks. I also appreciate that they effectively dodge Thalia, Heretic Cathar and similar effects. You don't get to delay cracking them for Brainstorm or other shuffle-relevant cards though, which is a downside, but gaining 1 life is nice.

[Gashnaw]

So I've realized that animating Halo Fountain into a creature lets it untap itself as part of the same cost which tapped it. Another excellent draw engine for Sydri, Galvanic Genius with (also animated) Gilded Lotus.

Does that work. I thought the tap and untapping goes at the same time, meaning you cant use halo since it is utapped when paying the cost.

[NZB2323]

If you deal damage to 3 opponents with Professional Face-Breaker on the field do you get 3 treasure tokens or 1?

I also think it's funny that we have topics on how Wizards can make white better, and then Wizards prints Halo Fountain and people are calling for it to be banned.

[Crazy Monkey]

So I've realized that animating Halo Fountain into a creature lets it untap itself as part of the same cost which tapped it. Another excellent draw engine for Sydri, Galvanic Genius with (also animated) Gilded Lotus.

Does that work. I thought the tap and untapping goes at the same time, meaning you cant use halo since it is utapped when paying the cost.

The important bit is that you pay the costs in any order, so by the time you need to pay the "untap a tapped creature" cost, the fountain itself can be tapped. It's in rule 601.2h, which allows for more use of this effect that I first thought (the text on the card could have the untap first, but by paying in any order this still works).

Professional Face-Breaker checks for each opponent hit, so you should get 3 treasure. It's also a warrior for those tribal Najeela, the Blade-Blossom decks.

[pokken]

If you deal damage to 3 opponents with Professional Face-Breaker on the field do you get 3 treasure tokens or 1?

I also think it's funny that we have topics on how Wizards can make white better, and then Wizards prints Halo Fountain and people are calling for it to be banned.

fairly sure yes.

re; Halo Fountain
whatever, WWWWW + have 15 creatures win the game or just cast Akroma's will and win when you attacked =P

[Jemolk]

Arcane Bombardment is a powerful but somewhat durdly effect that isn't really useful for comboing with absolutely beautiful art. Eminently answerable, too, and there's likely to be time in between it becoming a major threat and it winning the game. I love it. More of these, please, and less things that just instantly end the game regardless of the rest of the boardstate.

Maestros Theater is a pretty cool design for a budget fetch. As part of a cycle, these will be quite good with land recursion and for redundancy, and the incidental lifegain is a nice, if small, bonus. I approve.

For the record, my dislike of Halo Fountain has nothing to do with the card being strong. It's not all that powerful, TBH. It just combines effects that I, on principle, do not believe should be combined into a single card, whatever its power level. Value engines should be bigger threats based on their accrued value over time than on their ability to immediately end the game when you hit a certain threshold. As I said, I know this is a losing battle, and has been ever since game-winning planeswalker ultimates became commonplace. I still maintain it's bad for the game for them to exist, though, and the more of them there are, the worse it is.

[Outcryqq]

Professional Face-Breaker seems really powerful! Seems good in a number of situations: tribal human/warrior, heavy treasure synergy, or even just most mono red decks for a source of card advantage.

[NZB2323]

If you deal damage to 3 opponents with Professional Face-Breaker on the field do you get 3 treasure tokens or 1?

I also think it's funny that we have topics on how Wizards can make white better, and then Wizards prints Halo Fountain and people are calling for it to be banned.

fairly sure yes.

re; Halo Fountain
whatever, WWWWW + have 15 creatures win the game or just cast Akroma's will and win when you attacked =P

Are you saying yes to 3 treasure tokens or 1?

[Mookie]

Are you saying yes to 3 treasure tokens or 1?

Professional Face-Breaker will trigger once per opponent you hit, similar to Thopter Spy Network.

I may give Cormela, Glamour Thief a shot in my Kess deck - Grixis isn't exactly known for its mana dorks, and a delayed Archaeomancer effect is certainly interesting.

[pokken]

Are you saying yes to 3 treasure tokens or 1?

One per player you hit, afaik.

(the wording is very similar to Breena, who you can get 2 triggers on by attacking the two highest life opponents, but not one per creature)

[DirkGently]

Phabine, Boss's Confidant Is just dr melfi from the sopranos, right?

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil kinda ruins this set. Kros, Defense Contractor just looks so incredibly pathetic compared to him. Kros's ability isn't even optional, so when it's 1v1 you're kinda screwing yourself over. You'd really think they could have made him a little spicier, or at least cost 3? The concept is fun but it just looks so pathetically weak.

So I guess kros is probably my next commander.

Are we looking at the same card? He looks painfully fair to me. It's only a 1-mana discount until you've cast him twice, and you need to be okay with sacking the creature so it requires build-around.

My concern is combining him with a repeatable sac outlet to chain a bunch of ETB/death triggers, and looping with all of GB's recursion and ramp. I can very easily see him slowly evolving from a value and combat deck to repetitive non-deterministic combos.

As for Angelo, yes he can go turns, but so can any spellslinger or spellslinger adjacent general. I still think the best way to win with him is going to be incremental value from using his ability on good instants each turn, plus aristocrats synergies. That might just be my bias from playing Feather though.

Play a sac outlet, absolutely, but how are you chaining through creatures indefinitely? They still cost a lot of mana, plus you'll hit lands, plus most creatures are going to cost colored mana, etc. I mean sure, if you have a deck of 4 cmc colorless creatures, ashnods altar, fecundity, and cast your commander twice, then you can pull some shenanigans but that seems like a ton of work. Show me the faster combo?

Feather can't run extra turn spells (besides lose eot ones) and doesn't have synergy with them so it's not a relevant comparison. Feather is also free and as many times per turn as you can, so small spells are great. If you can only do it once per turn and have to pay a significant cost, you're a lot more motivated to get major value from it. And extra turns are pretty much the best value around.

[Gashnaw]

For the record, my dislike of Halo Fountain has nothing to do with the card being strong. It's not all that powerful, TBH. It just combines effects that I, on principle, do not believe should be combined into a single card, whatever its power level. Value engines should be bigger threats based on their accrued value over time than on their ability to immediately end the game when you hit a certain threshold. As I said, I know this is a losing battle, and has been ever since game-winning planeswalker ultimates became commonplace. I still maintain it's bad for the game for them to exist, though, and the more of them there are, the worse it is.

And then there are the PWs while have abilities do not end the game, but the effect.is bad enough just make people scoop. You cant ban them all.

[BeneTleilax]

Feather can't run extra turn spells (besides lose eot ones) and doesn't have synergy with them so it's not a relevant comparison.

I didn't say it was necessarily relevant, I was just saying that's where my experience playing spellslinger decks has come from. So that's how I think about building the archetype. I was stating my bias, not trying to reinforce my claim. I hope he doesn't become another grixis turns general though.

Play a sac outlet, absolutely, but how are you chaining through creatures indefinitely?

Most of the preliminary lists I've seen are running stuff like Pitiless Plunderer and Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma to minimize costs.

[pokken]

Omniseer Arbiter is pretty legit. I love me some board control shenanigans, and being both blink and beat friendly is super cool.