MTGNexus

Kiora, the Crashing Wave. I like the -1 better and the emblem gives eventuality.

Victory's Herald or Akroma's Memorial?

Inkeyes22 wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Victory's Herald or Akroma's Memorial?

Memorial, by a country mile. I could talk about how the protections are super relevant and make things like Blasphemous Act catastrophically asymmetrical, or how lifelink isn't really that important on Victory's Herald, but, for me the big draw on Akroma's Memorial is the mass haste. Mass haste is common enough in red, and Concordant Crossroads exists, but... It's basically unheard of anywhere else. The printing of Crashing Drawbridge was kind of a big deal, IMO. But, that leaves you with just these two cards for mass haste.

Have we had this matchup yet?

- OR -

I don't think we've seen this before. Gary is streets ahead of Kokopuffs to my mind, but does need a bit of external setup. His ceiling is just much higher, even outside of a mono colored build. It's easy to spam Koko in a reanimation build, but then the same can be said of Gary and with potentially a greater impact and less work. Ultimately I think it's going to be build dependent, but with appropriate planning Gary just needs less work. Plus he gets it for financial cost and CMC; Koko wins out for evasion, but that's a minor thing, you're here for the bleeder effect mostly.

Let's give Memorial a more even matchup:


vs

So I didn't want to reply too early as that might be a thing, but I think the 7 cmc makes it a little closer than it might appear. I do think that Akroma's Memorial still wins because Concordant Crossroads effects all creatures so you are likely using it to combo kill out of no where, maybe?

What about Pendelhaven vs. Growing Rites of Itlimoc?

Growing Rites for sure. The ceiling on it is so high, and the contitions are so easy to meet. Pendelhaven goes further in Modern, but is kind of ineffective in Commander.

And yes, I'm necro-ing this thread because I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Not only that, plenty of new cards have come out in the last two years and player attitudes on things are always shifting. So without further adieu:

vs.

Nyxbloom, because it's not conditional.

kirkusjones wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Nyxbloom, because it's not conditional.

Ok, but now you like, have to submit your own.

Okay, I remember this game.

Here's one that's been bugging me for some time:

Necrologia or Damnable Pact?

Necrologia, because it's vastly more mana efficient and the upside of Pact being a burn spell to take someone out of a game happens once in a blue moon.

Austere Command or Cleansing Nova?

This one is literally on the front page!

How about Imperial Seal or Grim Tutor?

Ah, the battle of the PR stunt reprints. Imma go with Grimmy on this one, the sorcery speed on Seal hurts it a lot in my opinion. Plus given its great scarcity, it gets you flagged as an extreme tryhard immediately. We'll see how the landscape changes post-reprint - Grim Tutor used to be wildly unattainable as well, so it gave off similar big wallet energy vibes. That one made it to a core set though.

How about some topical white stuff - Archivist of Oghma versus Smuggler's Share?

I go archivist. Smugglers I think relies too much on the land clause, which I think people overestimate.

I'll just pick a couple of my favorites: Mirage Mirror or Sunforger?

Sunforger. I love the Boros guild and this one doesn't even need a specific thing to be on the battlefield to do shenaniganery.

or

I'm gonna say return, just because I prefer going tall to going wide. Plus, the overrun ends a nonzero amount of games here and there.

Loyal Apprentice or Dreadhorde Invasion?

Dreadhorde, but it was a tough decision. Being an enchantment makes it tougher to kill and being able to possibly recoup the life via the lifelink rider is pretty good.

vs. vs.

This one makes me curious because Grip was considered the best for so long, but I'm finding that exiling and grave hate are pretty necessary these days too so I wanted to see what people thought.

Return to Nature just for the versatility. Split-second is amazing but I think the gy hate is slightly better, very close though.

Took Too Long:
Loyal Apprentice or Dreadhorde Invasion Return of the Wildspeaker or Beast Whisperer Two Commanders I have been looking at for artifacts:
OR +

Jaheira and Clan Crafter if only because Urza is broken and often a chore to play against.

vs.

Stunt Double. I don't find myself using red in most of my clone decks, and flash is better than haste and dethrone in my opinion.

An Offer You Can't Refuse or Swan Song?

Swan song, obviously. Birds are excellent, on-the-nose pop culture references less so.

Silvos, Rogue Elemental or Carnage Tyrant?

Silvos, Rogue Elemental because it can survive wraths and being blocked. I initially put Carnage Tyrant but I realized as big as these creatures are, trample vanilla creatures usually die in the attack or to wrath.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury or Praetor's Grasp

I'd say Gonti, Lord of Luxury because it's faster to resolve, you don't need to be in the right colours and it can be abused more easily, but it's a close call.

Black Market Connections or Sylvan Library ?

Sylvan Library and it's not even particularly close. Library is probably the strongest green card draw spell in the game, whereas Connections is just another in a long line of decent black draw spells.

vs

Oooooooh, this is hard.

Yawgwin does exactly what it's called, but breach can do similar insane things without an exile clause holding the reins.

Gonna say Yawgwin anyway. It's cleaner to resolve, less bookkeeping and setup, and it gives me warm fuzzies thinking about all the games I won with TES back in the day.

Archangel of Thune or Nykthos Paragon?

Archangel because I think I can reliably gain small bits of life repeatedly rather than big chunks once per turn. It also can't be Disenchanted. They make a really good team though!

VS.

Illicit Shipment, hands down. Goons are expendable, mana is precious.

Fervent Mastery or Ideas Unbound?

I'm gonna go with Ideas Unbound. I like both cards a lot but the art for Ideas is better

OR