Here are my overdue card summaries/evaluations for Zendikar Rising and Commander Legends. I just bunched them all together and tried to limit the scope of what cards are being discussed. There might be something I missed of course, but hopefully I got the main ones.
Angel of Destiny - This is an interesting card for the deck as it gives the deck the ability to win with an alt-wincon which could be important in some cases. With the equipment the deck has and the speed it is trying to move at, it could offer a pretty quick kill of someone. The main issue of course is that we really don't want our opponents gaining life and we still have a lot of hoops to get through to to 55 life to ensure we can actually kill that person.
I think this is a reasonable flier, and does offer life gain for us, so I don't want to just ignore it. But I think the symmetry of it ultimately ends up potentially hurting us in the long run.
Farsight Adept - This color combination typically struggles with card draw so anything that can help is worth considering. However, a symmetrical effect is not what we want so while we are moving in the right direction in terms of white getting card draw, this isn't what we want.
Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist &
Armored Skyhunter - I don't have a lot of equipment here, though I do have some. I don't think that number is quite high enough to include either of these cards that might be whiffs more often than not.
Keeper of the Accord - The token production in this deck probably ends up being fairly useless, though the creature count is low enough that it can probably trigger enough to get *some* use out of it. The main effect is the ramp and while it can't get Mountains, it can help get Gisela out a little quicker. I think it is worth a try just to see how much it really speeds up the deck or, at the very least, allows it to simply keep up.
Hellkite Charger - This offers an interesting sequencing where Courser can come down turn 6 to get Gisela onto the field and attacking. Then, turn 7 Gisela can be cast to double up the damage Courser can do as well. I think the larger benefit though is beyond this type of sequencing and instead helps when Gisela has already been cast a couple times and is just expensive to cast. It is permanent but getting her out for free for a turn while I, hopefully, have a board presence, means it can really help with getting some much needed damage in.
Jeska's Will - The important thing here is that this is probably going to be one or the other. Gisela is expensive enough that I might end up using this to either cheat her out faster if possible or just get some more cards when she isn't around. I wouldn't expect both modes to be chosen too often. Even without that though, I think there is merit to the card and probably competes with Valakut Exploration (detailed below). I am not sure if I want both or which is better than the other but I think it is this card if I absolutely had to choose.
Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar - I want to include this in the discussion even though I don't think I end up wanting to play it. Gisela hitting someone for 10 means this triggers and hits everyone else for 20. That is a massive amount of damage but is exceptionally narrow in its application. Having a card that is basically dead without Gisela on the board is a concern. The ceiling is obviously quite high though. The main consideration for this would be potentially swapping it for Hidetsugu and that is more because it tries to do the same thing, it costs less, and it isn't as much of an instant win "combo". Practically, the difference is minimal of course, though this can come down after Gisela instead of before to get people.
I might think more on that specific swap but I am not entirely sure that is what I want to do. And if I decide against it, I likely won't find a place for the card in the deck.
Leyline Tyrant - Sort of in the vein of
Smothering Tithe, this can help us build up mana across turns. However, unlike Tithe, we likely can't expand on the mana we have while also still committing to the board. It creates situations where we need to do nothing in order to get a more explosive turn later and doing nothing is not what this deck wants. I can see this card being good at certain points, but probably only once (maybe twice) a game where we can actually afford to store enough mana to make much of a difference.
Moraug, Fury of Akoum - Extra combats are really good for this deck. It only takes our normal land drop each turn to really start benefitting from this card. We won't be able to get more than that 1 very often since we have no real ramp, but even that could be enough to really get some damage in on our opponents. I think this is worth trying out. This doesn't strike me as the best deck for this card, but I think it is decent and can be better than some others so I am willing to slot it in to see what it does.
Relic Robber - Hmm, at first glance this seems decent for some repeatable, incremental damage. Since the tokens can't block, and they have no power, it seems possible that a player can accumulate a number of these that continuously deal damage to them. Like
Chandra, Awakened Inferno's Emblem but 3 times the damage (counting combat damage) at one half the cost. Granted, it doesn't affect everyone at the same time, but it could be decent.
The main consideration is whether this effect really plays into the list as it is now. Sure, it wants to be aggressive but a number of changes have been made sacrificing some aggression for consistency. Basically, would this Goblin do enough or is the damage not substantial enough to really add much to the damage the larger creatures are already doing? I am leaning toward the latter I think.
Roiling Vortex - If your meta has a bunch of things like Jhoira or Narset, this could be a decent addition. But the other abilities just aren't good enough when we have things like
Sulfuric Vortex.
Valakut Exploration - I think I might actually like this better than
Prophetic Flamespeaker. It exiles 1 fewer cards but doesn't rely on combat damage to exile it. And, if I can't cast/play the card for some reason, it just goes to my graveyard (and deals damage) allowing me to potentially use it later. I think this is an easy swap for now as the Flamespeaker is here more for his "draw" than his Trample/Haste.
Wheel of Misfortune - With the different cards above being discussed in the vein of card draw/advantage, I think this card needs to be included in the conversation. It is not always going to be a symmetrical draw, but the question is whether or not that is good. In a general sense, 3 out of 4 people are going to draw cards (probably). If anyone chooses 0 they probably just don't want to draw which means forcing them to draw would be better.
And then for the people that want to draw, they don't even need the highest number. They just need to not be the lowest. And with Gisela on the board, players are incentivized to choose lower numbers as it is so the amount of damage actually dealt, even with Gisela, is minimal. I think if this sort of effect is wanted, Wheel of Fortune is probably just the best as that at least forces people to draw that don't want to even if it doesn't deal any damage.
Akiri, Fearless Voyager - This deck is not going too high on the equipment count. I currently count 10 equipment and even with the tutors, I am not sure this is enough to trigger Akiri. I think there needs to be at least twice that many for her to be included so I think she is easy to pass over for now.
Wyleth, Soul of Steel - I don't think my equipment count is quite high enough for Wyleth in this deck, but I want to call it out because there is a chance I explore the equipment subtheme a little more with a new deck with Wyleth at the helm. Previous comments in this thread have kept me open to the idea of reducing the equipment count here and with a general that it makes more sense with, I might do it. This deck may suffer (it might not) with the removal of those cards and the identity of a Wyleth deck seems pretty bland and unoriginal, so I am not sure where I want to go. But the mere existence of this card might lead me to cutting the Swords here and just leaving it open to trying them out elsewhere.
Commander's Plate - Even with the possibility of reducing the equipment package, this might be worth slotting in. It gives Gisela Pro Blue, Black, and Green and means she is hitting for 16 which makes her a 2 turn clock instead of the 3 she is now.
Jeweled Lotus - I am still not sold on this card. There seems to be quite a few people that think it is absolutely broken while others don't feel it is quite good enough. I think I am in the latter camp. Yes, it gets Gisela down quicker but then what? I spent a card to accelerate out Gisela and if she is removed, I am probably even further behind since I focused more on just getting her out. I might end up waiting for other's experiences with the card but it is far too narrow for my tastes.
Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge - This might be a better card than
Thrill of Possibility. It does cost one more but also scales a bit better. If I just want to "discard" a card, I still get 2 cards so I am at parity at that point with Thrill (though, for one more mana). But, if I want to ship 2 cards, I can. Or 3 or more. Or, worst case, I just use it as a cantrip to replace itself. And, in a pinch, I get to play it as a land. I think swapping these two cards is the right call.
