Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Ulka]

I really like JumpStart conceptually, so much so that I'm working on my own cube. It's really fun.

I also had a lot of fun designing these packs. But I will also join in and say that i honestly love the jumpstart packs as a fun way to play.

[NZB2323]

I like jumpstart and like the new legendary snow commander, but I hope we get a 5 colored snow commander so they can play all the snow cards.

[Dunadain]

Idk... Snow matters feels like it's as limiting as tribal decks, but with significantly less options and a much less clear win condition.

I do like snow lands as a way to reward players for playing basics though. Dead of Winter is pretty great

[NZB2323]

Idk... Snow matters feels like it's as limiting as tribal decks, but with significantly less options and a much less clear win condition.

I do like snow lands as a way to reward players for playing basics though. Dead of Winter is pretty great

That's why I feel a 5 colored snow commander would be needed over a 3 colored snow commander, because there are so few options.

[TheGildedGoose]

I like Kaldring, the Rimestaff as a pseudo-Crucible of Worlds and the new yeti as a pseudo-Oracle of Mul Daya but eh.

[Cyberium]

Ashnod the Uncaring is yet another Time Sieve abuse.

Tawnos, Solemn Survivor is like Osgir, the Reconstructor, except he creates only one copy but could also hit nonartifact creatures.

[Hawk]

I want to like Isu the Abominable but the tension of the deck feels too off and too predictable if you get it snowballing - feels like you'd want to jam a ton of exploration effects to keep playing Snow lands (Exploration, Oracle of Mul Daya, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Wayward Swordtooth, etc.) but all those cards are non-snow. Ditto all the good ways to prevent yourself from "bricking" (fetches, Sensei's Divining Top, Soothsaying). Rather than finding that puzzle of balancing the need to have a critical mass of Snow cards with enough enablers fun, I find it frustrating. On top of that, he's just a dumb beater. I've wanted a Bant Snow commander to play with Diamond Faerie but this isn't what I'm lookin 'for.

Ashnod the Uncaring not working with her iconic altar is a shame although that's more the rules don't work for it than anything. Also a shame that while I can think of all sorts of cutsey fun things to do, the deck likely just wants to jam Time Sieve and Mindslaver and spam them over and over to make them game miserable.

[PrimevalCommander]

I want to like Isu the Abominable but the tension of the deck feels too off and too predictable if you get it snowballing - feels like you'd want to jam a ton of exploration effects to keep playing Snow lands (Exploration, Oracle of Mul Daya, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Wayward Swordtooth, etc.) but all those cards are non-snow. Ditto all the good ways to prevent yourself from "bricking" (fetches, Sensei's Divining Top, Soothsaying). Rather than finding that puzzle of balancing the need to have a critical mass of Snow cards with enough enablers fun, I find it frustrating. On top of that, he's just a dumb beater. I've wanted a Bant Snow commander to play with Diamond Faerie but this isn't what I'm lookin 'for.

Well he is not "just" a dumb beater. He is card advantage + relevant threat, which is a good place to be for a fair commander. I appreciate the fact that it doesn't say the words "Draw a Card" on it, which is lazy mode to get a niche theme into the main stream. While lands off the top is nothing new or interesting, this card gets better every time a card with snow is printed in the type line. So it could end up working quite well as support increases for snow, which seems to be happening more quickly in recent years.

[Dunadain]

There are 56 non-land snow cards in bant.

A part of me wants to literally run every bant snow card, fill in the gaps with basic snow lands, and see what happens. It's gonna be real bad, but sometimes I just get this urge to do something stupid.

Least interesting deck of all time XD.

[Jemolk]

Honestly, in some ways, my initial thoughts are that I'd almost rather Isu wasn't such a huge, constantly-growing beater. I dunno, I feel like it can paint a bit too much of a target on him, especially if he's dealing commander damage. I think I might actually not grow him past being large enough to effectively block, and keep him on defense, if I ever built a snow deck around him. That might make him seem less threatening, hopefully, and thus lower priority for removal. Seems unlikely I would, though, since I already have a Jorn snow deck. Well, a Kaldring snow deck, really, more than Jorn, but still. OTOH, a second snow deck is not out of the question, and there are quite a few nice white (and white-including) snow cards, like the aforementioned Diamond Faerie. I was willing to build three different dragon tribal decks in different color combinations (might soon be four); two snow decks could work. I'm actually already warming up (cooling down?) to Isu as I write this. Could be pretty nifty.

Also, can I just say, that new art for Coldsteel Heart is amazing. Takes quite a lot for me to put up with post-M15 borders when I don't have to in order to play a card. This version of Coldsteel Heart is one case where I would absolutely do so.

[Dunadain]

Nobodies talking about Ardoz, Cobbler of War So I'll be a special snowflake.

Honestly, red is full of effects that create a token, give it haste, the exile/sacrifice it at eot, throw in the many Goblin Rabblemaster/Squee, Dubious Monarch/Legion Warboss effects, and you've got the makings of a casual aggro deck.

I'm in, I'll brew that.

[Venedrex]

Whelp, Prototype is super neat. I had always wondered if reverse kicker could be a thing, and now, here it is.

[Ruiner]

Part of me wants to combo Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor with Peer into the Abyss. It's stupid mana intensive but essentially "Mill half your deck, play the top half of target opponent's deck for free". It's silly and janky, and sometimes you need that.

[Cyberium]

Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

Every Teferi card is up for some level of abuse. XD

[Dunadain]

Guys! I figured out how to break Chromatic Orrery!

Urza, Prince of Kroog + Chromatic Orrery +Training Grounds + Lightning Greaves Infinite mana and infinite card draw

XD


Also, how many urza's are they going to print? We are at 5 now.

Urza, Chief Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord Protector
Urza, Powerstone Prodigy
Urza, Prince of Kroog
(Honorary)
Urza, Academy Headmaster

Remember when everyone was super hyped about Urza, Lord High Artificer because Urza finally had his own card? Pepperidge farm remembers.

I'm not really complaining, I have plenty of other things to complain about, and I get this set is all about Mishra and Urza, but why? Are they running out of name ideas or something?

[Dunadain]

Whelp, Prototype is super neat. I had always wondered if reverse kicker could be a thing, and now, here it is.

Isn't reverse Kicker just kicker? Like unless you have MV matters cards it's just kicker with the kicked cost on top and the unkicked cost in the rules box instead of the other way around?

insert obligatory and over-played "all abilities are kicker" joke here

[DirkGently]

Isn't reverse Kicker just kicker? Like unless you have MV matters cards it's just kicker with the kicked cost on top and the unkicked cost in the rules box instead of the other way around?

Well, tbf, you couldn't template prototype with kicker since the cheaper cost is also more color-specific (at least in this case). You can play the wurm in a non-black limited deck and just intend to always hardcast it.

[NZB2323]

Guys! I figured out how to break Chromatic Orrery!

Urza, Prince of Kroog + Chromatic Orrery +Training Grounds + Lightning Greaves Infinite mana and infinite card draw

XD


Also, how many urza's are they going to print? We are at 5 now.

Urza, Chief Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord Protector
Urza, Powerstone Prodigy
Urza, Prince of Kroog
(Honorary)
Urza, Academy Headmaster

Remember when everyone was super hyped about Urza, Lord High Artificer because Urza finally had his own card? Pepperidge farm remembers.

I'm not really complaining, I have plenty of other things to complain about, and I get this set is all about Mishra and Urza, but why? Are they running out of name ideas or something?

Do you remember the original Urza they printed, Blind Seer? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Gamazson]

Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

Every Teferi card is up for some level of abuse. XD

Oh. That is getting a pre-order. He'll be very happy in Pir & Toothy

[folding_music]

Hurkyl's a nice diggy commander, like a speedier Amareth. just random goodstuff text rather than anything dramatic, though, actually weird that's she's so restrained compared to her bonkers signature card.

[darrenhabib]

Hurkyl, Master Wizard ooh metrics!
You can either focus on one particular card type so that you almost guarantee getting a card each turn or you can spread it between card types.
So if you choose 4 types (noncreature) and spread them evenly, so say 16 of each then you'll have a 60% chance of finding one in the top 5. You'd have a 32% of hitting 2 cards if you cast 2 different card types.
If you went 3 types evenly spread then it would be 72%.
2 cards types evenly spread 87%. The chances of hitting both card types is 73%
You can get more quantity by diversifying but lowers chances, and of course trying to cast one of each type per turn is tricky.

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is the new Edric, Spymaster of Trest. The life loss is more of a deal than you think because one thing if you've ever played Edric, Spymaster of Trest before is that opponents never attack you for obvious reasons. So life totals do matter when opponents are attacking each other desperate to not miss out on card draw. Very powerful commander.

Titania, Voice of Gaea is Splendid Reclamation from the command zone. Just add Hermit Druid with only a couple of basic Forest and Life from the Loam to get Argoth, Sanctum of Nature. Once you have all your lands in play from your deck just cast Creeping Renaissance to get all your creatures (or whatever) and cast them with ample mana.

[benjameenbear]

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is the new Edric, Spymaster of Trest. The life loss is more of a deal than you think because one thing if you've ever played Edric, Spymaster of Trest before is that opponents never attack you for obvious reasons. So life totals do matter when opponents are attacking each other desperate to not miss out on card draw. Very powerful commander.

I was literally just coming over here to type the same damn thing. Combined with the new Sheoldred, and you have the makings of a very powerful Aggro deck in EDH. Black has lots of evasive creatures, and Gix'a trigger doesn't care if it's a token or not. So. Good.

[Mookie]

Is it spoiler season again?
>WotC: iTs AlWaYs SpOiLeR sEaSon
(insert scare chord here)

Anyway, BRO looks to be delivering on the expected theme of sweet artifact shenanigans. I appreciate the repurposed flavor of unearth - on Grixis, it's all about corpses rising from the grave... but here, it's digging up ancient Thran war machines. Prototype is also nice, and may have some implications for blink decks.

As for individual cards...

• Splitting the Powerstone is some nice design, but seems a bit weak as a Worn Powerstone with downside. May go up in value if there are a lot of artifact / sacrifice synergies in the set though.
• Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is sweet. Mono-black Edric, Spymaster of Trest is one thing, but repeatable Villainous Wealth is what I'm here for. I guess I'm sort of low on it these days - it tends to be pretty weak vs synergy-heavy decks - but scaling with cards in hand instead of mana opens up some interesting options. I guess if you look at the entire card, Gix both lets you draw a bunch of cards and cash them in for a high-tempo play, so seems like a solid package.
• Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim looks a little generic in terms of abilities, but certainly can do some shenanigans if paired with Arjun, the Shifting Flame or other wheel effects.
• Mishra, Excavation Prodigy and Urza, Powerstone Prodigy both look fun. Paying to loot / rummage is a little awkward, but providing mana back makes them look quite interesting. Or just throw in other ways to discard artifacts - I can see Urza getting out of control pretty quickly.
• Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa is interesting. His unearth ability is for artifacts, not creatures (unlike Sedris, the Traitor King), which opens up some new options. Mindslaver? Spine of Ish Sah? Gleemax? Definitely some options.
• Hurkyl, Master Wizard looks a little generic, but fine. 'Cast a card, get a card' is a fine payoff, and there are some deckbuilding considerations if you want to maximize your value, but otherwise I'm not that excited.
• Urza, Prince of Kroog is another interesting value engine. Again, plenty of interesting artifacts to clone, although turning them into 1/1 (well, 3/3) creatures limits some shenanigans.
• Titania, Voice of Gaea looks fine - Splendid Reclamation in the command zone is pretty sweet, but you do need some other support to find Argoth, Sanctum of Nature. Competes a bit with Titania, Protector of Argoth as a monogreen 'lands in graveyard' commander, but both seem to work well together.
• Tawnos, Solemn Survivor looks a bit clunky - he doesn't do anything without an actual artifact token generator. Still, to clone a thing is pretty efficient.
• Ashnod the Uncaring gives me Teysa Karlov // Verrak, Warped Sengir vibes. Does look like a lot of fun though - you could copy sac outlets like Trading Post, but you could also run Aether Spellbomb and other things that sacrifice themselves for value. Lots of options, lots of value.

[Guardman]

Splitting the Powerstone is some nice design, but seems a bit weak as a Worn Powerstone with downside. May go up in value if there are a lot of artifact / sacrifice synergies in the set though.

I actually have Splitting the Powerstone as my sleeper "it plays a lot better than it looks". In any deck with one or two drop artifacts that want to be sacrificed like Mycosynth Wellspring, lots of artifact tokens, or artifacts that are being played mostly for their EtB, then this becomes a pretty decent ramp card. In those types of decks, the Powerstone drawback should be small. It could even be played in decks with some artifacts, but are looking for a way to get to 6 mana as quickly as possible for reasons, like Jacob Hauken, Inspector // Hauken's Insight for example.

[DirkGently]

Maybe a hot take but I think splitting the powerstone is omega bad. Worn powerstone isn't that amazing and this is much worse even without the sac. So you'd better be getting reliable value from the sacrifice to even consider it. Plus it's not an artifact spell so it has anti-synergy with the deck that wants to play it.

There's probably some niche deck where it's marginally playable but that's the absolute most I can see happening with it.