Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Igzex]

Just when I thought I could catch a breath and finally get my The Ur-Dragon update down to 100 cards the Invasion of Tarkir happens and then Zurgo and Ojutai decide to team up to make my decisions even harder. Not gonna worry about Hoarding Broodlord though. Sure the tutor effect makes my lands ramp engine more consistent but triple black mana kills it and when in heck would I ever tap my dragons to convoke things.

Also I like the Defiant Thundermaw's flavor text because you know the phyrexians botched this when Sarkhan of all people is in any position to call something a fool.

[duducrash]

Rankle and Torbran took 2 fun cards and gave us 1 boring carr 😔

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

Zurgo and Ojutai, man things must be dire on Tarkir for Ojutai to let Zurgo ride him like that.

Sadly I get the feeling the minute this alliance ends, Ojutai is going eat Zurgo to cleanse himself of this humiliation.

[ISBPathfinder]

Zurgo and Ojutai, man things must be dire on Tarkir for Ojutai to let Zurgo ride him like that.

Sadly I get the feeling the minute this alliance ends, Ojutai is going eat Zurgo to cleanse himself of this humiliation.

Zurgo is indestructible during his turn so Ojutai is just biding his time.

[pokken]

"my commander is 5 mana anticipate + lightning axe that I can cast over and over" is kind of weird (and of course it gets nastier with more dragons)

[Dunadain]

"my commander is 5 mana anticipate + lightning axe that I can cast over and over" is kind of weird (and of course it gets nastier with more dragons)

Yeah, I'm all for resilience, but I'm not sure paying 5 mana every turn is worth it... then again, we are in jeskai so board wipe tribal anyone? We can even run things like Urza's Incubator to makes it 3 mana a turn, and cards like Path of Ancestry will be awfully fun with this guy(s), man I love finding ways to use tribal cards in not-tribal decks.

Obviously, you can leave him on the battlefield if you think the coast is clear and pick him up before you wipe... Hm... now that I'm writing this out I'm a bit more interested.

[duducrash]

Zurgo and Ojutai, man things must be dire on Tarkir for Ojutai to let Zurgo ride him like that.

Sadly I get the feeling the minute this alliance ends, Ojutai is going eat Zurgo to cleanse himself of this humiliation.

Zurgo is indestructible during his turn so Ojutai is just biding his time.

I think after Sarkhan went back in time Zurgo isn't indestructible anymore, he just runs away from problems

[Dunadain]

Zurgo and Ojutai, man things must be dire on Tarkir for Ojutai to let Zurgo ride him like that.

Sadly I get the feeling the minute this alliance ends, Ojutai is going eat Zurgo to cleanse himself of this humiliation.

Zurgo is indestructible during his turn so Ojutai is just biding his time.

I think after Sarkhan went back in time Zurgo isn't indestructible anymore, he just runs away from problems

In that case, the self-bounce is on-point XD

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

In that case, the self-bounce is on-point XD

Oh, the dash ability from Zurgo Bellstriker! Yep, that's him booking it after Ojutai decides he's had enough of the indignity.

[Ruiner]

Dumb deck idea time. Either Enchanted Evening + Opalescence or Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines (or a similar combo) as a Battles deck. Now your battles fight themselves.

And unless there is a Comprehensive Rules update covering this, I think a Battle that is now a creature could attack itself to remove its own counters.

It's a dumb deck idea, I'd never build it, but someone out there will.

[Igzex]

Hidetsugu and Kairi giving you a brainstorm on ETB is pretty nice. The creature type line "Ogre Demon Dragon" makes me chuckle.

Inga and Eshika is trying really hard to make its card art as adorable as possible to distract you from being yet another obnoxious Simic commander.

I imagine Tribute to the World Tree is gonna be seeing a lot of play...

[Dunadain]

Elesh Norn might be the commander that finally gets me to brew mono-white. she has built-in protection, and while she doesn't offer direct card advantage, a one-sided board wipe every 3 turns is psuedo card advantage.

Couple that with a token producing ability and a great buff, and it's also it's own wincon.

Honestly, the trickiest part is going to be getting the first 3 tokens... hmmm...

[Hermes_]

Dumb deck idea time. Either Enchanted Evening + Opalescence or Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines (or a similar combo) as a Battles deck. Now your battles fight themselves.

And unless there is a Comprehensive Rules update covering this, I think a Battle that is now a creature could attack itself to remove its own counters.

It's a dumb deck idea, I'd never build it, but someone out there will.

*enter me* Step aside peasants

[PrimevalCommander]

Inga and Eshika is trying really hard to make its card art as adorable as possible to distract you from being yet another obnoxious Simic commander.

I imagine Tribute to the World Tree is gonna be seeing a lot of play...

I can't roll my eyes any harder seeing another simic legend with MANA + CARD DRAW on it and still being under 6 mana to cast. Most annoying thing ever.

Tribute to the World Tree ... right in Titania, Protector of Argoth. Garruk's Uprising and Elemental Bond are some of my best draw engines. Also the triple green leans is a step forward for all those on the forum that want cards to be more restrictive and boost mono color advantages. This should help. Very good enchantment for green heavy decks.

City on Fire ... right in Zurzoth, Chaos Rider. Hopefully cheaper to buy than Fiery Emancipation. If so it will be a slam dunk along with Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Mechanized Warfare. Lot of damage multipliers printed recently, compared to years past, that is 3 in very short time.

[Cyberium]

Zurgo and Ojutai, man things must be dire on Tarkir for Ojutai to let Zurgo ride him like that.

Sadly I get the feeling the minute this alliance ends, Ojutai is going eat Zurgo to cleanse himself of this humiliation.

Tarkir dragons can all burn in fire. Sarkhan can weep for the rest of his pathetic existence.

Hidetsugu and Kairi giving you a brainstorm on ETB is pretty nice. The creature type line "Ogre Demon Dragon" makes me chuckle.

If anything, these alliances ignite great hope for wacky tribal decks.

Inga and Eshika is trying really hard to make its card art as adorable as possible to distract you from being yet another obnoxious Simic commander.

This. They could've made it cat and raven related, or something similar to Fable of Wolf and Owl.

Of all the new legends, ones that I'm more interested in are:

Goro-Goro and Satoru - An intriguing approach for ninja and/or dragon decks.

Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos - Curious of seeing other Phyrexian synergies.

Hidetsugu and Kairi - Quite abusable with clones.

Baral and Kari Zev - Spellsling monkey(s).

Rankle and Torbran - Having flying and first strike enables a lot of options Goblin Bombardment/Brazen Cannonade/etc + tokens, for a few.

Zurgo and Ojutai - Repeatable card advantage, and more importantly it touches W/U as a dragon tribal.

Quintorius, Loremaster - Loving Quint and Lorehold in general.

Heliod, the Radiant Dawn - The back side. Group hugging at full table becomes very dangerous.

[pokken]

Man. Rankle and Torbran is so cool. Might get me on a rakdos deck finally. I'll sac Bloodghast I guess. sorry fellas. p.s. Pestilence woof.

[DirkGently]

The more I think about battles, the more I like them. Having mini-games in front of your value is fun, and having those minigames be combat-focused is genius. Invasion of Arcavios is so much more fun than Swarm Intelligence that just gives it to you.

Errant and Giada is probably my favorite commander spoiled thus far. Flash is a pretty narrow keyword, but it's a lot of fun. Keeps your opponents guessing.

[pokken]

I agree, battles are a really neat design. I think they are going to reshape casual commander quite a bit. Really emphasizes having board presence, because you need to be able to defend them and potentially attack them.

I kinda wish that defeating it gave a benefit (for non-owners)

[DirkGently]

@pokken defense seems low-priority since they can just be given to another player. But they do push decks using them towards having attackers.

I suspect we'll see battles that benefit other players to incentivise collaborators. Possibly in the precons for this set.

[Igzex]

I'm all aboard the Battles are cool train myself. Speaking of battles Invasion of Shandalar is going to be in every casual game ever lol.

Also Tandem Takedown...Like, man Lukka is such a scrub even this card makes his death feel unceremonious. That's kinda amazing.

[duducrash]

How to evaluate battles? Put them in for the ETB battlefield and background is bonus?

[pokken]

I think battles are likely best evaluated as similar to aftermath cards. But swinging with dudes instead of paying mana later.

Figuring out the kind of board presence required to regularly trigger them is just really the interesting thing.

The political ramifications of giving the player who is behind some extra life but only against you is so weird.

[folding_music]

Invasion of Shandalar is weird cos I've played Shandalar and returning three cards to yr hand from the grave is something that almost never happens in that game giggle

should be like

Invasion of Shandalar 3gg
Battle - Siege
When Invasion of Shandalar enters the battlefield, conjure 12 Plains, 12 Islands, 12 Swamps, 12 Mountains and 12 Forests into your deck, then create a Giant Spider token.
def 500

//

Defeat of Arzakon
Sorcery
You win the game.

[Ruiner]

Potentially you could defeat battles for your opponents at an inopportune time so that you can use removal to get rid of the transformed side before the owner actually gets to really benefit from it. That's the best benefit I can think of to "helping" someone win their battle, beyond political favors.

I'm guessing future battle subtypes will involve you having to defend your own battle that gives a great benefit to you but if you "lose" penalizes you or gives a great boon to the winner.

[Venedrex]

You ever have an idea for a custom set, but you move on to other projects and you think about it every once in a while?

Well, between the Warhammer Precons and MOM, I feel like half the work has been done by Wotc already.

I had an idea for a RTS inspired massive armies themed set, and we now have Squad, which solved the issue of how do I make a bunch of units but not have them just be all vanilla tokens and Battles, which seem like a slam dunk. So, yeah thanks Wizards. Love to see it.

I do like battles, and I'm happy that Wotc let damage from spells effect them and not just creatures.