Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Guardman]

As a fan of the Wild West setting and westerns of all kinds in general (Trigun was my jam back in the day), I have to say I am really enjoying what I am seeing so far. My only complaint is that I wish it wasn't so villain focused and was more Wild West focused.

As for the new cards, Honest Rutstein seems like a slam dunk in my Henzie "Toolbox" Torre to replace Chainer, Nightmare Adept (who honestly doesn't pull his weight most of the time). Returning a creature to my hand plus cost reduction is great. I can already imagine returning Kokusho, the Evening Star to my hand and blitzing him out again for only seven mana total that turn. Great investment.

Vaultborn Tyrant also seems like a great fit for Henzie. Blitz it, gain 3 life, draw two, and even get a copy that sticks around to keep drawing cards and gaining life.

Oltec Matterweaver seems neat and strong in the right shell. Probably in something like Urza, Chief Artificer or Urza, Prince of Kroog, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is some shell that can do really funky stuff with it.

Speaking of doing funky stuff, Roxanne, Starfall Savant seems like it has the potential to doing some crazy stuff especially since thanks to her EtB she will only cost one for each recast. I can't think of it off the top of my head, but I am sure there must be a way to easily copy all those metorites (you know, other than a ton of token doubling effects).

Riku of Many Paths is just straight bonkers. Not sure if good, but bonkers none the less. Never thought we would get a modal commander.

Ruthless Lawbringer is just a great value card in any sacrifice deck.

Gisa, the Hellraiser seems like a fun mono-black commander. The interesting thing to me is I can imagine a bunch of different ways to build her. First is the standard Zombie deck. Next is to focus on a more spellslinger build to get zombies each turn. Then she makes Zombie Rogue tokens, so maybe some sort of mono-black rogue tribal deck could be in play with stuff like Stinkdrinker Bandit, Mari, the Killing Quill, Oona's Blackguard, and Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake, plus whatever new Outlaw stuff we get in the set (like Rakish Crew for example).

As for Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, I love any card that lets me play my opponent's deck. This seems like a perfect card for me in that regard. While it is kind of disappointing it doesn't have red, I appreciate that it doesn't have red since I always enjoy when they let different color groups use themes that don't always get.

Finally, I love the Breaking News art style. Has to be one of my top border fun, up there with the Sketches from Modern Horizons II.

[yeti1069]

As for the new cards, Honest Rutstein seems like a slam dunk in my Henzie "Toolbox" Torre to replace Chainer, Nightmare Adept (who honestly doesn't pull his weight most of the time). Returning a creature to my hand plus cost reduction is great.

Really? I find that I'm always happy to see Chainer, though I also blitz him pretty freely, essentially adding a tax of or to whatever I wanted to blitz from my yard. He's also really good with any additional reanimation in the deck, especially Living Death, since he provides haste to everything.

Vaultborn Tyrant also seems like a great fit for Henzie. Blitz it, gain 3 life, draw two, and even get a copy that sticks around to keep drawing cards and gaining life.

Gain 6, draw 3--the token it makes of itself when it dies will also trigger its ability. I'm almost certainly adding this to my Henzie list, along with Roxanne, Starfall Savant--blitz for 4, shoot two things for 2, or one for 4, ramp 2.

Note that Gisa with a sac outlet and Blood Artist can make the zombies every turn, using one of the zombies you made on the previous as fodder for the trigger.

[Hermes_]

Double Down looks fun or something and Lavaspur Boots is a maybe but i'm not sure I'd run them over Swiftfoot Boots

EDIT: Sadly you can't kill Cactarantula with fire

[DirkGently]

Well, Rags can't use lands, and half the time it exiles a nonland, that card is too expensive to cast in the moment, even if it would be useful/is a bomb.

Ragavan really isn't a good comparison here since his main selling point is being a Savannah Lions with upside for a voltron build, which Gonti doesn't support.

P+N is a poor comparison [...] inability to be built around well.

So what I'm hearing is that you want the worse effect because you have to work harder to achieve it?

I built P+N, you can look at my decklist if you're curious. Incidentally the last time I remember playing it, it must have triggered 15-20 times before I won the game, because stealing cards from enemy decks really isn't very effective most of the time. You need something like P+N who do it very efficiently for it to be any good tbh. The buildaround for Gonti is going to be most of your deck in order to trigger reliably, and that's really, really not worth it.

The closer comparison to Gonti is Evelyn, who does largely the same thing, but with ETB triggers from a subset of creatures. I think that's definitely better than Gonti on the whole, but swapping red for green means you've more options for big mana to make use of all those resources you've been accumulating and Gonti provides a discount on those spells to make it easier to make use of them.

Evelyn is much easier to exile a ton of cards with, not being limited to 1 trigger per turn, and hitting yourself so you're not relying on enemy cards to be good. That said, her once per turn casting limit makes her pretty atrocious imo. That templating is so ugly too. There are major plusses and major minuses relative to Gonti (but they're both bad).

Maybe a comparison you'll appreciate more than P+N is Marcus, Mutant Mayor. 5 drop, similar colors, except instead of "drawing" from enemy libraries full of synergy cards that will be useless to you, he's drawing from your deck full of cards that synergize with your strategy, AND he's not limited to one trigger per opponent. And...he's not popular. I know the set hasn't been out for a very long time, but 39 decks on EDHrec is not promising.

Gonti may see some play because stealing cards is more interesting than drawing them, but from a power level perspective he is traaaash.

I just think you're too quick to %$#% all over cards.

I think I've evaluated enough cards in my lifetime to be able to make judgments quickly and accurately, most of the time.

Gonti is an outlier btw. There are some VERY powerful commanders in this set. Gonti just isn't one of them.

[Guardman]

As for the new cards, Honest Rutstein seems like a slam dunk in my Henzie "Toolbox" Torre to replace Chainer, Nightmare Adept (who honestly doesn't pull his weight most of the time). Returning a creature to my hand plus cost reduction is great.

Really? I find that I'm always happy to see Chainer, though I also blitz him pretty freely, essentially adding a tax of or to whatever I wanted to blitz from my yard. He's also really good with any additional reanimation in the deck, especially Living Death, since he provides haste to everything.

With Chainer I usually find one of two things, either I don't have the mana to play him and something else in the same turn and he always dies before my turn comes around again, I don't have a graveyard currently, or I have better things to do with my turn. Plus, he fills the same slot as Genesis who is harder to interact with.

Honest Rutstein is ramp and recursion, but the best part is that I don't have to cast the card right away if I don't need to.

[Airi]

Honestly I'm just praying that nothing in the set is must have. I came back to Magic a couple months too early, cowboys has to be the worst theme for me.

At least nothing currently stands out as a 'must run'.

[ilovesaprolings]

Gonti is an outlier btw. There are some VERY powerful commanders in this set. Gonti just isn't one of them.

Really? Which ones?

[yeti1069]

I feel like they really failed flavor-wise with Loan Shark. I don't know exactly what it should have been, but I feel like it should have involved some sort of exchange with an opponent where you get the better deal. Maybe:

At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player may create a treasure token. If they do, at the beginning of your next upkeep you create two treasure tokens and each opponent loses 1 life.

[DirkGently]

Gonti is an outlier btw. There are some VERY powerful commanders in this set. Gonti just isn't one of them.

Really? Which ones?

Gisa, the Hellraiser looks like a doubled-up Koma, Cosmos Serpent (minus the extra modes, but costs 2 less and has ward).

Rakdos, the Muscle looks like Korvold, Fae-Cursed King (you have to sac nontoken creatures to get value, but you get a LOT of value and he has built-in protection and a sac outlet).

selvala, eager trailblazer has at least a couple infinites off the top of my head. (staff and mantle)

The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride probably isn't broken broken, but still very scary.

Vraska, the Silencer is kinda Shelob, Child of Ungoliant for half the price.

[duducrash]

@void_nothing - You were right, Bonny Pall, Clearcutter

[pokken]

the paul bunyan riff was what finally broke my spirit on this set, I really, really hate it :D

[duducrash]

Every card is a legend, it seems

[CommanderMaster999]

Bonny (Paul Bunyan based legend)… oh for peak sakes

What on earth is that second ability?! You just attack with one or more creatures (doesn't even have to be bonny) you get a Growth Spiral/Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath attack trigger minus life gain.

And the cherry on top is the Ox having power and toughness equal to lands.

[Dunadain]

Every card is a legend, it seems

[duducrash]

Resilient roadrunner

Do you know when Rey is going to train with Luke and they can't stop making silly ass jokes and it felt shallow and devoid of comedy?

[Hawk]

the paul bunyan riff was what finally broke my spirit on this set, I really, really hate it :D

What, it wasn't the Archangel of Tithes in a cowboy hat with a gun?

For real though, the Paul Bunyan isn't even a magic take on the card really - it's just a gender swapped Paul Bunyan. Bonny Pall, Clearcutter is like basically the name.

I was liking this story more than most and as a design nerd I appreciate Saddle as a mechanic, but yeah - this is peak "the most obvious Theme Park version of a theme" they've ever done.

[duducrash]

Three Steps Ahead - Seems really really good. Modal spells always overperform.

Good news for @BaronCappuccino and his all counterspells deck I suppose

Edit:

What, it wasn't the Archangel of Tithes in a cowboy hat with a gun?

I tought this was a joke and searched it... i don't get it . at all

[5colorsrainbow]

My mom was a teacher and used to read a picture book of Paul Bunyan to her kids, I just showed her the card and she thought it was cute ^.^

[Serenade]

That was me showing my mom the Eldraine border Lathiel!

I wish there were not so many legends, but the flavor of this set is outstanding!

[NZB2323]

Every card is a legend, it seems

canvas_1_200-1.jpg

Legendary decks get a boost, but at the same time Urza's Ruinous Blast isn't as effective. I remember running that in a Captain Sisay deck in 2017 and it would wipe my opponents' boards.

I guess it would deal with Terror of the Peaks, which I'm glad to see getting reprinted. I still may build my Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer deck with Terror of the Peaks, Angel of Jubilation, and Yasharn, Implacable Earth.

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

Probably the thing that upsets me the most about this set so far is the horrifying treatments in the breaking news cards. those cards are ugly af.

Yeah... not really a fan of those either. I like the "wanted" Gisa alternate art by Greg Staples though, she looks so morbidly cheerful:



Regarding the face legendaries of the OTL commander decks, I like Gonti the most I'd say. He is obviously not as powerful as top sultai commanders like Muldrotha and Tasigur, but sure, I would build him.

[Hermes_]

My mom was a teacher and used to read a picture book of Paul Bunyan to her kids, I just showed her the card and she thought it was cute ^.^

well...that's it guys we can quit...magic is now ruined forever .

[Mookie]

More stuff!

• Terror of the Peaks and Archangel of Tithes are both somewhat expensive reprints that are nice to see.
• Three Steps Ahead is an interesting Cancel variant - it can also provide a copy effect or filtering, which gives it a lot of flexibility. I'm always interested in counterspells that work well with Kess. Not sure if it's worth paying three mana, but certainly tempting.
• Malcolm, the Eyes is an efficient value engine. Not sure if it makes the cut in commander, but I could see it in other formats.
• Bonny Pall, Clearcutter is a lot of stats and a lot of value. Sort of generic, but I do appreciate the attack trigger encouraging aggression on an otherwise very value-y card.
• Bruse Tarl, Roving Rancher is another value card that comes with a pile of stats.
• Riku of Many Paths looks gimmicky, but amusing.
• Lively Dirge is interesting. It can directly tutor up a 4-drop or less into play, which seems strong, plus it has a bunch of additional flexibility.
• Marchesa, Dealer of Death means I need to do a crime check for Kess now. I suspect the count is high though, given how much spot removal I'm running.
• Roxanne, Starfall Savant looks like a lot of fun. Inferno Titan that also ramps? Sign me up!
• Aven Interrupter is more stack interaction for white, which is always interesting to see. There are a lot of cards that become much worse when delayed by a turn, plus it's a permanent answer to counterspells.
• Servant of the Stinger is potentially a Demonic Tutor, which is certainly interesting. Case of the Stashed Skeleton is probably more consistent, but cheap creatures with strong abilities are often worth consideration. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death?

From a design perspective, I've noticed a lot of creatures recently that have both ETB and attack triggers, which is interesting. Roxanne, Bruse Tarl, Bonny Pall, Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice, Boomer Scrapper, Agent Frank Horrigan, Izoni, Center of the Web, Sentinel of the Nameless City... it's not a new thing - Sun Titan and friends have been around for ages - but I do feel like it has ramped up in frequency.

I'm generally in favor of encouraging creature combat and being proactive, but certainly something to note. I think cards that have some variance generally make for more interesting gameplay - there is tension when considering whether the creature will live a turn cycle and get to attack. Getting immediate value off an ETB trigger reduces variance, and can potentially lead to designs that are difficult to interact with. Hmmm...

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

Why, hello there Bristly Bill, Spine Sower.

You're not a pitcher-plant, but you'll do nicely for now.

[PrimevalCommander]

Outcaster Trailblazer, wow we are getting a lot of this type of effect. I think after this one I'll have enough of this in Titania, Protector of Argoth that next iteration displaces Garruk's Packleader. Vaultborn Tyrant does this in the same set even.