MTGNexus

Curtain. GAVIN and PLAYERBASE.

GAVIN: Hohoho it's me the Gavin! Here to bring you exciting news about the community beloved Brawl format!
PLAYERBASE: Gavin, take a chill pill. Some of us were excited for it for like five minutes after it became a thing. We do that. Who even remembers Tiny Leaders or Frontier. Our current five minute thing is Oathbreaker. Brawl is dead. There was that photo once upon a time of a solitary guy entering some Brawl event with prizes. That's how dead it is.
GAVIN: Shush you. We're making precons!
PLAYERBASE: So?
GAVIN: Arcane Signet! Now all the EDH players have to buy these too! Also reprints and baller new legends probably!
Disgruntled rustling of wallets being pulled out. R&D walks in.
R&D: This man, who led and ruined two consecutive EDH precons, sending the players' trust into a tailspin, and somehow got promoted, is a genius! A genius!
GAVIN: hahaha

Curtain

Dammit Gavin. I hope that at least WotC will have enough foresight to print this into the trash going forward, as this is going to be near Command Tower/Sol Ring ubiquitous in a format capable of routinely increasing the pricing of random bulk by multiple orders of magnitude.

Tried putting together a list for Chulane! It's essentially a "flash hatebears" strategy, which focuses on interfering with opponents and slowly seizing control of the field, until we're ready to get one of our combos going. It's still a VERY rough draft, but I feel the potential is there. Thoughts?

Arcane Signet is one way to make us all buy these silly decks. Auto-include in all non-green, non-colorless commanders for sure as a near-"strictly better" Guild signet/Fellwar Stone/Coldsteel Heart/Guild Talisman (the current crop of auto-includes).

Auto-include in all non-mono green. Because in multicolor decks this is still much better than the average Rampant Growth or even Farseek variant green card.

PLAYERBASE: Gavin, take a chill pill. Some of us were excited for it for like five minutes after it became a thing. We do that. Who even remembers Tiny Leaders or Frontier. Our current five minute thing is Oathbreaker. Brawl is dead. There was that photo once upon a time of a solitary guy entering some Brawl event with prizes. That's how dead it is.

Brawl on Arena will make revive the format. As a Commander player, I will now play Arena only and exclusively because it will have Brawl in it.



On an unrelated note: There's no quote button? Because I have to manually write it each time I want to take only segments of a posts.

Just, wow. So, basically, this is card draw, ramp, and being able to reuse entry triggers (and his own cast trigger) at once. It's like they looked at an EDH checklist and said "What can Bant do?"

Lucifer, Sapere Aude wrote: ↑

4 years ago

On an unrelated note: There's no quote button? Because I have to manually write it each time I want to take only segments of a posts.

There is, it's the button with quotation marks " in it on the upper right hand side of the post you want to quote.

Lucifer, Sapere Aude wrote: ↑

4 years ago

On an unrelated note: There's no quote button? Because I have to manually write it each time I want to take only segments of a posts.

On a computer, if you highlight a section of text from a previous post, a little "quote" button pops up allowing you to directly quote the highlighted text. Not sure how it works on phones. If that doesn't work on your platform, just hit the " button that SyntheticDreamer mentioned on the post you want to quote, and delete all the bits you don't want to quote. Hope that's helpful

SyntheticDreamer wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Lucifer, Sapere Aude wrote: ↑

4 years ago

On an unrelated note: There's no quote button? Because I have to manually write it each time I want to take only segments of a posts.

There is, it's the button with quotation marks " in it on the upper right hand side of the post you want to quote.

No no, I'm talking when I want to do multiple quotes of a same post, because I analyze different segments (and maybe even from different users) each time. When I click the button you say, I just have this, a quote of the entire post, but not what I want for longer posts.

Lucifer, Sapere Aude wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Contact Lucifer, Sapere Aude

Unread post by Lucifer, Sapere Aude » 50 minutes ago

Arcane Signet is one way to make us all buy these silly decks. Auto-include in all non-green, non-colorless commanders for sure as a near-"strictly better" Guild signet/Fellwar Stone/Coldsteel Heart/Guild Talisman (the current crop of auto-includes).

Auto-include in all non-mono green. Because in multicolor decks this is still much better than the average Rampant Growth or even Farseek variant green card.

Eh, I don't know. In most 3-color or 4-color decks, this is probably better than Rampant Growth/Sakura-Tribe Elder but worse than Nature's Lore/Three Visits/Farseek (unless you are on an extreme budget and aren't even running Shocks, Battlelands, or Cycling Lands) just because artifact destruction/theft is so much more common than land destruction/theft. In a two-color deck, I'm not sure it's even necessarily better than Elder/Growth; it'll depend a lot on the deck. I don't run Signets or Talismans in The Gitrog Monster, for instance, because lands are so important.

Also, you can highlight any text and then press "Quote"

Lucifer, Sapere Aude wrote: ↑

4 years ago

No no, I'm talking when I want to do multiple quotes of a same post, because I analyze different segments (and maybe even from different users) each time. When I click the button you say, I just have this, a quote of the entire post, but not what I want for longer posts.

Oh, in that case, do what CubJay mentioned (I'm quoting it again in case you missed it) and you should be able to quote multiple lines from the same post. It probably works the same on mobile but it's not as easy -

CubJay wrote: ↑

4 years ago

On a computer, if you highlight a section of text from a previous post, a little "quote" button pops up allowing you to directly quote the highlighted text. Not sure how it works on phones. If that doesn't work on your platform, just hit the " button that SyntheticDreamer mentioned on the post you want to quote, and delete all the bits you don't want to quote. Hope that's helpful

Arcane Signet pleases me greatly. There aren't many colored 2 mana rocks available for monocolor decks, which means you need to compromise with things like Mind Stone, Charcoal Diamond, and Fellwar Stone, all of which have downsides compared to the Signets and Talismans available to 2+ color decks. Signet is an upgrade for 3+ color decks, but I think that the upgrade is smaller there, despite the improved fixing - there are more than enough 2 mana rocks to fill a 3+ color deck already, and insufficient rocks to fill a 1 or 2-color deck. Still, while it is likely to be an immediate staple (comparable to Command Tower), I think that improving manabases is a relatively inoffensive method of adding power creep. More than anything else, I would say that the primary limitation on manabase quality has always been price - if you're using a fetch / shock / dual manabase, better mana fixing likely doesn't matter to you nearly as much as someone using guildgates, so raising the floor a bit is a good thing, IMO.

Chulane is.... interesting. Draws cards, ramps, and is capable of protecting himself (with the bounce ability), which are all signs of a powerful commander. There are already creatures that provide Glimpse of Nature on a body (such as Beast Whisperer), but significantly fewer that do so in the command zone. Definitely a loud signal for 'play lots of creatures!', which is already a common Simic theme. At 5 mana, looks like a commander that takes a little time to get going, but is extremely powerful if left unchecked - compare Riku of Two Reflections.

SyntheticDreamer wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Oh, in that case, do what CubJay mentioned (I'm quoting it again in case you missed it) and you should be able to quote multiple lines from the same post. It probably works the same on mobile but it's not as easy

Oh yeah cool, I didn't realize that should work. thank you both!

Hawk wrote: ↑

4 years ago

just because artifact destruction/theft is so much more common than land destruction/theft.

that's actually a metagame problem. If in a meta Kaalia runs wild with Armageddons or Urza with Winter Orb and similar, artifacts are a save investment. Because everybody play lands but not everybody play artifacts, so lands-hoser cards will always be effective in the 100% of games.

Hawk wrote: ↑

4 years ago

but worse than Nature's Lore/Three Visits/Farseek (unless you are on an extreme budget and aren't even running Shocks, Battlelands, or Cycling Lands)

Disagree. You can cast this even if you don't have green mana available at turn 1 or 2, and still give you untapped free mana in un-conditional way to cast something else maybe (I very commonly stacks 1-2 cmc mana rocks together this way). Those are very strong and relevant advantages that can't be ignored.

Hawk wrote: ↑

4 years ago

it'll depend a lot on the deck. I don't run Signets or Talismans in The Gitrog Monster, for instance, because lands are so important.

Yes of course, it depends also from the context and sinergy of the general. With a general that explicitly goes in sinergy with lots of lands you will prefer land ramp over 2 cmc rocks of course. But normally, with a generic commander, and a generic deckbuilding, personal experience proved that mana rocks are always an excellent investment and worth the risk to see it blow up. Are high risk, high reward cards.

Rumpy5897 wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Some of us were excited for it for like five minutes after it became a thing. We do that. Who even remembers Tiny Leaders or Frontier. Our current five minute thing is Oathbreaker. Brawl is dead. There was that photo once upon a time of a solitary guy entering some Brawl event with prizes. That's how dead it is.

Fun fact: in my LSG there is a little community of die-hard brawl players that play almost only brawl, refuse to play command and build 2-3 new decks every time a new set come out. I don't know why.

By the way, i see this has having 4 commander precons each year + a dozen of miniprecons with new legendary so... i see this as an absolute win. Let me have my multiple tricolor legends baby.

I'm pretty happy about Chulane. He does everything I like to do in my favorite colors, and is a druid to top it off. I didn't expect all of these things to coalesce into a potential commander. I'm definitely going to slot him into Arcades, though I might just have to build another deck around him if I can make it different enough.

All that being said, these are some great previews to kick things off with. I'm assuming the other brawl precons will be the remaining shards sans Naya. If so, I'm curious to see what creature ends up representing Grixis.

Chulane, Teller of Tales is pretty credible. The fact that the land doesn't come into play tapped is pretty awesome.

This could easily be a lands deck, and things like Shrieking Drake are going to allow you to have a Braingeyser every turn, while being able to put all the lands from your hand into play. Then each land comes into play untapped, thus allowing you to do these things a few more times each turn.

Storm Cauldron or Meloku the Clouded Mirror with Gaea's Cradle will be pretty busted.

You can use Amulet of Vigor with bounce lands Azorius Chancery, Selesnya Sanctuary, Simic Growth Chamber, to continuously have mana. This is a nice way to make sure you always get value out of the cast trigger by returning the bounc land itself while tapping for two mana.

Come on Land Tax, pappa needs a Land Tax.

about the legend. He has the "draw a card" in the text + some other abilities, so 5 cmc is reasonable for this guy. Obviously a lightning rod for removal, but the decks that would use him probably has some counterspells.

don't understand anything about Brawl, because I don't play or care about Standard.

The Fluff wrote: ↑

4 years ago

about the legend. He has the "draw a card" in the text + some other abilities, so 5 cmc is reasonable for this guy. Obviously a lightning rod for removal, but the decks that would use him probably has some counterspells.

don't understand anything about Brawl, because I don't play or care about Standard.

Well, he can actually dodge removal by bouncing himself, and that way you don't have to pay the commander tax when you cast him again.

SyntheticDreamer wrote: ↑

4 years ago

The Fluff wrote: ↑

4 years ago

about the legend. He has the "draw a card" in the text + some other abilities, so 5 cmc is reasonable for this guy. Obviously a lightning rod for removal, but the decks that would use him probably has some counterspells.

don't understand anything about Brawl, because I don't play or care about Standard.

Well, he can actually dodge removal by bouncing himself, and that way you don't have to pay the commander tax when you cast him again.

Also, his colors are the three colors that are very good at protecting their creatures, either through enchantments or through instants.

My Breya, Etherium Shaper deck in particular loves Arcane Signet. Getting to unbounded mana of all four colors with the Dramatic Reversal plus Isochron Scepter combo can be tricky since I don't own a Mox Diamond or Mox Opal.

I'm going to need a ton of copies of Arcane Signet.

Is it possible that WotC intends to start putting Commander/Brawl legends into these kind of decks, so they could free the space of rare/mythic in booster for draft/tournament usage? A lot of people don't enjoy seeing their booster rare/mythic being a flavorful card instead of a powerful/expensive one.

Perhaps from now on they'll get what they need from booster, while EDHish formats will get what they want from thse new decks?

SyntheticDreamer wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I also notice the collector numbers on these cards are missing the total number of cards in the set (i.e. "[card number]/[total # of cards]"). I guess they've decided to drop that given how many "extra" cards get printed in each set?

Since the Mythic M appears after a space, it is more likely that they have blacked out the total number for some reason.

Hunterofsalvation wrote: ↑

4 years ago

SyntheticDreamer wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I also notice the collector numbers on these cards are missing the total number of cards in the set (i.e. "[card number]/[total # of cards]"). I guess they've decided to drop that given how many "extra" cards get printed in each set?

Since the Mythic M appears after a space, it is more likely that they have blacked out the total number for some reason.

I saw a tweet by Foresythe that said the estra cards will no longer have the /total numbers in the info

Cyberium wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Is it possible that WotC intends to start putting Commander/Brawl legends into these kind of decks, so they could free the space of rare/mythic in booster for draft/tournament usage? A lot of people don't enjoy seeing their booster rare/mythic being a flavorful card instead of a powerful/expensive one.

Perhaps from now on they'll get what they need from booster, while EDHish formats will get what they want from thse new decks?

I won't hold my hopes. It's not like you can spit out 15 modern staple every set, commander isn't the only obstacle

Sigh. Yet another bant/simic commander that draws cards. Don't they realize how boring that is? Where is the suspense in hoping for a key top deck? Now every friggen card is a cantrip and rediculous cheap powerful tutors everywhere. Am I the only one left who liked edh at first because of its random nature due to one copy only? So boring and unoriginal.

People like being able to play the game. If you have a card advantage deficient shell, you'll play your stuff out, someone will wipe, you'll grumble as you fill up your 'yard, topdeck for a while, contribute little and die. Stapling draw onto something out of the command zone is an easy insurance policy against getting blown out too hard if you get caught up in a wrath crawl. They've been quite fond of doing that recently, one could argue that they crutch onto it, homogenising legend design and gameplay. In my opinion, they ultimately fit into the current EDH world swarming with various pushed "casual terror" legends that can helm solid decks if utilised correctly. I still remember how a friend chose to build Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer when C18 came out - he snagged a precon, swapped maybe 10 cards for random bulk he had laying around that he liked, and accidentally comboed around turn six the very first game without even trying.