[C19] Commander '19 Preview Panels Thread

[gilrad]

I like how they're not playing with the command zone this time around (eminence, "total casting cost" effects). They're fun and strong effects, but they kind of crowd out all other commanders since they never really worry about being taxed out of effectiveness.

All throughout Dominaria 'till now, whenever I saw a new commander, I'd immediately think "how well does it stand up against commander tax compared to previous Commander Deck guys?" It's good to see these new guys balanced around the tax, but not built do ignore it:

Populate guy: I see him in a similar place as Riku of Two Reflections - you're going to be casting him and hoping he doesn't get killed, but if he survives until your next untap, you're getting a really powerful effect. Getting taxed to 9 mana is going to really hurt, but having a gnarly token-producing card in hand means it's still a viable plan to tap out, hope he survives, then get an extra tapped-and-attacking token from your precombat main spell.

Flashback guy: This guy feels a bit more like a 10-mana commander - you're probably not running him out until you have a tasty target in your 'yard, at which point you cast him with mana up to value-cast the card in your 'yard immediately after. After a few trips to the command zone however, that might not be a very effective plan - 12 mana for your commander and two cards off think twice sounds like the kind of thing you would do only if you really need the extra card. As your 'yard fills with more targets, he becomes a higher threat, and the tax becomes more of a burden. Kind of a cool design when I think about it that way. Another interesting point is his protection ability, which is a rather rare one that shuts off a very narrow band of spot removal that people usually don't expect to be shut off, which I kind of like.

Madness guy: The haste and small body make this guy pretty safe from directed removal I think. He'll still get sent to the command zone through sweepers, but you can probably just run him out turn three and get plenty of value. As a value dude getting three or four cards for 3 mana is pretty good. As the tax gets heavier he might be relegated to "discard this card that belongs in my 'yard but I don't have any other discard outlets" duty. But since I don't see people intentionally wasting spot removal on him, I can't see his tax getting all that high unless everyone is playing sixteen sweepers in their decks.

Morph guy: This guy I think wins the "dodges command tax the most" award for the set, as he's hopefully going to always come accompanied by a morph dude and an extra card. His cheaper cost keeps him relevant for more command zone castings, and assuming each morph included is high-impact, he always brings an interesting quandry of "do I kill the commander or this question mark creature before he untaps?". Killing the morph denies a possibly powerful effect, killing the commander denies cards and more free morphs. Playing him into a sweeper probably feels the worst though since you get nothing out of the whole affair, but at least the lost creature replaces its self.

[Atraxian]

Nice to see Gerrard. Makes me hope for more reworked old bad legends. Too bad that 3 out of 4 of the face cards have no lore background whatsoever and will never have one apart from a small blurb or if we are lucky, an article which will not be exhaustive enough to give us any information on them and unless they go the Kaalia way, we will never see them again.

New Gerrard makes me hope for at leasy one of the followings:
- new Radiant (can make angels tokens to go with the populate commander, may be?)
- new Gabriel Angelfire (can make knight tokens or be just a combat centric naya angel, but with Rienne printed just a little while ago, it is out of the question)

What I'm sad I won't get for this year are:
- 4th sister (no white-black in any combination)
- Asha (no bant combination)
- new Selenia (ditto)

[SecretInfiltrator]

I hope the new Gerrard card is just a functional reprint of Master of Arms except its legendary... and a static ability restoring the rule that tapped creatures don't deal combat damage.

I'm not too impressed with the new cards so far. Not that they won't find a home, but they are just mechanics mixed together, nothing as innovative as, say, Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle or Xantcha, Sleeper Agent. Hopefully they reserve the wacky designs for other legends.

Neither of the two was a face-legendary though. The secondary legendary creatures are usually more experimental since they aren't cycled-out or used to sell a cycled-out set theme, but either minor secondary themes, more out-of-the-box ways to interact with the main theme, or open-ended designs meant to inspire entirely unique builds. The most cycled-out secondary legendary creatures were the original partners and those were meant to be mixed-and-matched anyway.

These face-cards do what they are supposed to do: Tell you what the deck theme is and amplify it.

[Krishnath]

Kadena is somewhat nice, but truth be told, Animar is still FAR superior for the morph-centric decks.

Not really. Using Animar to throw down all the morphs in your hand for free isn't as helpful as many people believe, because you still have to pay to turn it face up, and it's pretty easy to overcommit into a board wipe. Kadena at least makes your morphs replace themselves, so a board wipe is less crippling.

That's not really how you win with the Animar deck, the trick with him is to get down a massive horde that you can pump up, and do it quickly. Get in one or two creatures that lets you draw when you cast creatures to make sure you don't empty your hand, and you can end up drawing half your deck in a turn and then winning before your opponents have a proper response. They did it once on Game Knights, deck was surprisingly effective.

[Jace]

I'm really not feeling it this year. The most exciting thing for me was the exceptional quality of Gerrard's new art, which I do admire. Ideally he will be mono-white. Decks based on mechanics was never going to intrigue me as a Vorthos, and if they did, the mechanics would have had to be something like Landfall, Constellation, Devotion, Monstrosity, or something more appealing, at least to me personally. Let's just say the four selected here are not.

It's nice at least seeing a requested character like Anje Faulkenrath receive a card. Although I don't care for this character, I know the thrill of getting a sought after card, because Arixmethes will forever be my fondest memory and card in the game. But I don't suspect this year's product is going to have anything remotely as interesting for me. My attentions are focused more on Thanasis, Pavios and the remaining Kamigawa novel characters. So really, the past character cards are for others now that I have Arixmethes.

I'm just not really into the new cards, the mechanics, or more three-color Commanders. Here's to some good reprints, hopefully. At least that. The set crest this year looks remarkably like last year's, not that I mind. I like both.

[CalebLost]

MaRo said more than once that Gerrard should've been WR so I think that his new card will be those colors, so he can fit either Jeskai or Naya

[Sefir]

Not really. Using Animar to throw down all the morphs in your hand for free isn't as helpful as many people believe, because you still have to pay to turn it face up, and it's pretty easy to overcommit into a board wipe. Kadena at least makes your morphs replace themselves, so a board wipe is less crippling.

Dropping many morphs at one turn doesn't mean you also want to turn them all at once too. It simply means you need to have mana open for a simple counter behind these morphs (there are usually many) while Animar becomes a 12/12 protection from W and B monstrosity that gives no time to react because it kills far too fast OR draw your entire deck with Primordial Sage/Beast Whisperer/Soul of the Harvest. Kadena costs more, has no protection on himself, he is no threat himself at all, Animar also makes non-morphed creatures that help the strategy (Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, Ixidor, etc) cost less too. And ofc. the fact that Animar uses tokens has many ways to be abused. Yes, Kadena can replace the first morphed creature you play. His mana cost and mana reducing ability is still far too slow for an aggro/combo strategy (like Animar) and his value engine far too insignificant for a midrange/control strategy (unless you also have flash shenanigans like Vedalken Orray/Leyline of Anticipation. Then you play 4 morphs/round that replace themselves and you can go bonkers, but it is a best-case scenario that needs too many things to happen). There is only 1 reason that I could see Kadena seeing play over Animar. Wanting to play B over R. You are losing creatures like Akroma, Fortune Thief, Dwarven Blastminer, Jeering Instigator, etc for creatures like Bane of Living, Silent Specter, Ebonblade Reaper, Grining Demon, etc. But as sheer engine power level goes, I simply cannot unsee Animar as the superior one here.

[Candlemane]

I like this set of commanders. None of them are over-powered in a way I can easily abuse without much effort. Of the four, the Populate one intrigues me more for the color Red than the card itself, but it can be built around, and it adds some interesting lines of play with stealing creatures perhaps (specifically, Bramble sovereign a thing and steal it). The Morph legend also intrigues me because I wasn't expecting Black, and I want to see where both decks go with the added color.

The Madnesss mechanic never really drove it home for me, but I did love Hellbent because at that time I was always dropping all of my cards. I'm hoping there's a few cards of Hellbent in the deck, even if it doesn't jive completely with the commander.

The flashback guy is cool, and it makes Red board wipes very nice in the deck, though I don't know which one you'd copy and get any benefit. I guess it's more for stuff like Electrodominance. Still, I've gone through many spellslinger type decks, and it's not my thing (Feather is a blink deck, really).

I'll definitely pick up Naya and Sultai decks, and maybe some singles from the others.

[CommanderMaster999]

Oh you know what maybe we will get a new and improved volrath as well in the morph deck

He does know how to shapeshift

[YawgmothPrime]

Not really. Using Animar to throw down all the morphs in your hand for free isn't as helpful as many people believe, because you still have to pay to turn it face up, and it's pretty easy to overcommit into a board wipe. Kadena at least makes your morphs replace themselves, so a board wipe is less crippling.

Dropping many morphs at one turn doesn't mean you also want to turn them all at once too. It simply means you need to have mana open for a simple counter behind these morphs (there are usually many) while Animar becomes a 12/12 protection from W and B monstrosity that gives no time to react because it kills far too fast OR draw your entire deck with Primordial Sage/Beast Whisperer/Soul of the Harvest. Kadena costs more, has no protection on himself, he is no threat himself at all, Animar also makes non-morphed creatures that help the strategy (Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, Ixidor, etc) cost less too. And ofc. the fact that Animar uses tokens has many ways to be abused. Yes, Kadena can replace the first morphed creature you play. His mana cost and mana reducing ability is still far too slow for an aggro/combo strategy (like Animar) and his value engine far too insignificant for a midrange/control strategy (unless you also have flash shenanigans like Vedalken Orray/Leyline of Anticipation. Then you play 4 morphs/round that replace themselves and you can go bonkers, but it is a best-case scenario that needs too many things to happen). There is only 1 reason that I could see Kadena seeing play over Animar. Wanting to play B over R. You are losing creatures like Akroma, Fortune Thief, Dwarven Blastminer, Jeering Instigator, etc for creatures like Bane of Living, Silent Specter, Ebonblade Reaper, Grining Demon, etc. But as sheer engine power level goes, I simply cannot unsee Animar as the superior one here.

I get your love of Animar and your point that he is more powerful, but the thing is, he was designed as a generic creature enabler, not a morph commander. Just like the other wedge legends of his set, he is generically powerful bc they wanted their first commander attempt to go well. Kadena at least cares about facedown cards which means both morph and manifest are good for her. Morph in Animar is not about playing morphs for morphs, it's to benefit Animar by giving him counters and eventually combing with Cloudstone Curio for infinite, among other strategies. Kadena is def not as powerful as Animar, but that's not a bad thing. It was designed for a slower, value based style and gives players a commander that rewards facedown creatures in a different way. More options aren't bad and we still have some new cards that can boost Kadena as well.

[Couver]

I'm eager to see more of the madness deck. I have a Hazoret, The Fervent EDH deck and madness is very useful for the almost hellbent strategy that deck has to take. The Anje's Ravager already has me excited.

I'm liking that the spoiled cards so far all have the ability to go in other EDH decks if people don't want to use the pre-con as is or upgrade it. It adds a versatility to the cards that is very welcome.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Anje might be confusing since we already have an Anya. (They're pronounced the same way.) If you can get enough spells with madness, he might be worth it, though. You're probably also playing things like Bog Witch and Notorious Assassin as additional discard outlets. (Kinda wish this deck had green.)

Ghired looks interesting, and they give you access to Anger just so he doesn't get wrath'd. (Spot removal is still an issue, though.) I figured he'd add either blue or red.

Sevinne is hard for red or green to kill, but a huge target for everyone else. So, bladebait, not boltbait.

Kadena looks nice. Cast morphs for free, and cantrip? Yes please.

[theMarc]

That's not really how you win with the Animar deck, the trick with him is to get down a massive horde that you can pump up, and do it quickly. Get in one or two creatures that lets you draw when you cast creatures to make sure you don't empty your hand, and you can end up drawing half your deck in a turn and then winning before your opponents have a proper response. They did it once on Game Knights, deck was surprisingly effective.

Dropping many morphs at one turn doesn't mean you also want to turn them all at once too. It simply means you need to have mana open for a simple counter behind these morphs (there are usually many) while Animar becomes a 12/12 protection from W and B monstrosity that gives no time to react because it kills far too fast OR draw your entire deck with Primordial Sage/Beast Whisperer/Soul of the Harvest. Kadena costs more, has no protection on himself, he is no threat himself at all, Animar also makes non-morphed creatures that help the strategy (Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, Ixidor, etc) cost less too. And ofc. the fact that Animar uses tokens has many ways to be abused. Yes, Kadena can replace the first morphed creature you play. His mana cost and mana reducing ability is still far too slow for an aggro/combo strategy (like Animar) and his value engine far too insignificant for a midrange/control strategy (unless you also have flash shenanigans like Vedalken Orray/Leyline of Anticipation. Then you play 4 morphs/round that replace themselves and you can go bonkers, but it is a best-case scenario that needs too many things to happen). There is only 1 reason that I could see Kadena seeing play over Animar. Wanting to play B over R. You are losing creatures like Akroma, Fortune Thief, Dwarven Blastminer, Jeering Instigator, etc for creatures like Bane of Living, Silent Specter, Ebonblade Reaper, Grining Demon, etc. But as sheer engine power level goes, I simply cannot unsee Animar as the superior one here.

Maybe my playgroup runs a lot more removal, or maybe I just have garbage luck, but nobody ever let me stick Soul of the Harvest et al. And without the constant stream of card draw, the whole strategy falls apart; casting a bunch of vanilla 2/2s, even for free, just doesn't cut it. Moving the Soul of the Harvest effect to the command zone so you always have access to it is, I feel, too good to pass up.

Any time I try doing what you've described, I get shut down by removal. Morphs are, by their nature of being vanilla, fragile, and most tricks they have of protecting themselves only work once. And you only have so many Willbenders and Stratus Dancers to work with. Even the most %$#% basic boardwipe will absolutely ruin you, so you have to counter every single one, and once you run out of counters, that's game over. At least Kadena will leave you with a bunch of cards in hand to help get back in the game. Rebuilding Animar is harrowing at the best of times, and it's worse when your biggest payoff for doing so is Akroma, Angel of Fury or something, rather than, like, a bunch of eldrazi.

And people have way less reason to be afraid of a giant Animar when they know it's just being used to enable morph shenanigans. In a normal Animar deck, letting him get huge is dangerous because you can cast some big threats for free, and because he's got a bunch of big, scary creatures sitting next to him on the battlefield. In a morph deck, getting a discount bigger than -3 doesn't do much. And the vast majority of morph creatures are about power 2-4, especially when you filter out the copious limited trash; attacking with a 12/12 Animar and a bunch of vanilla 2/2s that might become something slightly more threatening is way less scary than attacking with a 12/12 Animar and a bunch of 6/6s with varying abilities. Your opponent is just going to chump block Animar all day long, unless they're running an Orzhov deck, and then they'll take their chances with your morphs in combat.

I am curious to see the list they used on Game Knights, though.

[SocorroTortoise]

More previews coming in the "Meet the Rules Committee" panel. First one:

[Rumpy5897]

Some stuff from the panel:

• WOTC liaises with the RC when making new cards
• CAG was made to get more insight into the player base, with a consciously sampled range of mentalities (Rachel name-dropped as super spike, Shivam as super casual)
• CAG did not get votes in the banning, but got to curate a spreadsheet of problematic cards and partake in banning discussions (JLK and Adam Styborski name-dropped as anti-banning)
• Planeswalkers as commanders are great for flavour, but drag out games and are more structured, less wacky/buildaround
• Walker commanders from the commander sets got RC requested to not generate emblems, and to be mindful of Doubling Season
• RC EDH design desires: better red/white cards, interesting non-combat-related Boros decks, Feather as a good example; some counterplay to land ramp ("green is the best colour in the format - Sheldon); more "out there" legend designs
• The RC puts trust in the players' exploratory nature to keep the format from homogenising

[Jace]

My enthusiasm for this set is plummeting

[CubJay]

Wait why does Yawgmoth have a son? Did we know that before?
EDIT: we do know who this is, it's Kerrick, who was a sleeper agent who infiltrated the Tolarian Academy back in the day. The title "son of Yawgmoth" is confusing to me though. Any high caliber Vorthoses wanna weigh in?

[caulkwrangler]

This will be a fantastic set.

[YawgmothPrime]

Def thought they were building up to Gix when they said it's a character never given a card, but def not let down with K'rrik and his design!

[SyntheticDreamer]

Um, as far as I know K'rrik was just a plain ol' Phyrexian sleeper agent, not Yawgmoth's son.

In any case, holy crap Phyrexian mana lord is ridiculous. All I have to say is that you can Dark Ritual for free for that to be scary. Thankfully he's rather fragile.

EDIT: Explanation for the "Son of Yawgmoth" title...he gave it to himself, he isn't literally Yawgmoth's son.

[CommanderMaster999]

My enthusiasm for this set is plummeting

You got to be lying

Kerrick is probably crazier than yawgmoth

[CubJay]

My enthusiasm for this set is plummeting

You got to be lying

Kerrick is probably crazier than yawgmoth

The characters or the cards?

[YawgmothPrime]

Also, as it is written, looks like K'rrik effects activation costs too. If true, I would love to get 'free' proliferate activations in my Yawgmoth, Thran Physician deck, growing K'rrik at the same time!

[CommanderMaster999]

My enthusiasm for this set is plummeting

You got to be lying

Kerrick is probably crazier than yawgmoth

The characters or the cards?

Card wise not character wise

[CommanderMaster999]

Kerrick is in the madness deck