MTGNexus

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. More immediate impact (state-based action speed, even - faster than split second!), and a significantly more unique effect (black has a ton of sacrifice and reanimation, but -2/-2 to your opponents' creatures is hard to replicate).

....I also saw one hit the board recently against two Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks. The morphs were not pleased.

Battle of the one-mana mystics!
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Remora. I actually quite dislike mana dorks in commander. They're too often collateral damage to other things in the game, and there goes my mana ramp.

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Etali. Invocation is still cool, but Etali takes stuff you otherwise don't have access to, and that's just a recipe for craziness.

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Zacama. It's close, but Zacama's abilities, especially the built-in Naturalize, are just super useful.

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Cream of the Crop is my pick, it's just hate cumulative upkeep.

Tough choice. I'm going to give the edge to Smothering Tithe for being a more unique effect (blue has a lot of other options, white doesn't), but both are pretty strong.

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Sol for affordability. Crypt is strong, but I'll never own one because I don't already and I'm not made of money.

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Sol Ring|CMD cause Arcane Signet is way more expensive than it has any right to be, and because in general it's just a much better mana rock imo.

Craterhoof Behemoth|AVR

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Avenger of Zendikar|WWK

Hoof Daddy, because it can break through gummed up boards and finish games.

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Containment Priest. Flash can entrap opponents into taking a certain line of play, only to be left with nothing but ash. Lavinia just says "no you may not" and that 'no' is so telegraphed that it will only prevent your opponent from taking action, but will never truly punish them for it.

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Personally, I like the Crashing Wave, but primarily because she's one of the first walkers I ever pulled.

For sheer power, Ashnod's. My personal favourite is Dementia though purely because the scenario in which I have to check to see if I'm adding a combo piece to a non combo deck is less frequent. Strong but not over powered.

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Sidisi, because spiders, of course. And even if she's the zombie version I might enjoy having that across the table more than the version of Tasigur I used to run.

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I've never played either. Matrix seems more globally useful in a stax environment, so that's my pick.

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I feel like we might have done this one before, apologies if so.

I have to go with Clock of Omens, I think. It's just a better card in my mind, because you can do it multiple times.

This is one I feel strongly about: Boros Charm. I'm a big fan of spells being modal, and Boros Charm has three great modes; one (the mode clearly being compared to in Heroic Intervention) is commonly used, but the other two can dunk planeswalkers, or you can double-strike a player out of the game (maybe even with another player's creature)! If we only see so many cards in the game, I would rather they are able to do many different things than just one thing really well.

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Heroic Intervention - Boros Charm has options and there are times for all of them but I find that MOST of the time people run it for the protection option. The versatility of it just isn't as impressive in a lot of decks that the charm can fit where as I think both parts of hexproof and Indestructable cover from different elements of removal with Intervention. I think for them to be close you potentially need to be a deck with voltron elements so that the Double Strike picks up more value.

Dangit ninja posts. Time Warp every time. Blue too often has additional draw options and I don't find Miracle to be very consistent. Also as a side note, the fact that Time Warp goes to grave means you get options with things like Snapcaster Mage and Eternal Witness to abuse it.

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Necromancy is my pick there, I like the classic nature of it, haha.

Both are great with Kederekt Leviathan or Worldgorger Dragon. In terms of versatility outside of that I think I prefer Necromancy for being flashable.

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I hate both of these cards. But, I think people are more likely to scoop to Jin, so that's a point in his favour.

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You'd hate my Dralnu deck then. Literally all of the last 2 matchups are in it (Jin, Sphinx, Necro, Animate). It's for 'game hard' games when you hold nothing back.

Mystical gets the nod for me for instant speed. Classic play is end of turn cycle topdeck fix - it gives your opponents far less of an opportunity to actually respond to it.

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Going with Rakdos charm. Typically a boros deck has better removal options than Boros Charm's mode 1, and mode 3 is seldom going to make a huge difference in games. Rakdos Charm's mode 1 is useful in nearly every game, red's artifact removal is typically rather dedicated, so having it as a flex option on a card is very nice, and mode 3 can blowout any deck that goes too wide. Boros Charm's mode 2 is very impressive, but one fantastic mode is not a better choice than three very good ones.

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Ensnaring Bridge, because can't > can.

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Repay seems more of a finisher to me, and it's in colours to close out the game shortly afterwards.

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Lord of Riots by a country mile. The tempo gains to be made are deliriously funny. The other two, while they appeal to my sense of 'burn it all down' just don't have the raw capability the Lord of Riots does.

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