Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Lifeless]

Myrel, Shield of Argive is very close to the type of commander I've been looking for. If only it was RW and also prevented searching libraries.

[Serenade]

Noncreature artifacts having unearth is a flavorful twist. Would be neat for Lorehold to dip into that area when next we visit Strixhaven.

[DirkGently]

Haywire Mite "mite" be the most played card from this set. Caustic Caterpillar is pretty popular already, and this costs half as much to activate, colorless to cast, triggers artifact synergies, exiles, gains life, and the only downside is being unable to hit artifact creatures (and enchantment creatures I guess).

Seems strong.

[duducrash]

Haywire Mite is sweet. You can whip it back with Lurrus too is sweet. I might try in Karador. Exiling is nice. I do already play 2 similar effects I enjoy already in Cathar Commando and Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker

I'll also swap Dosan the Falling Leaf for Myrel, Sheild of Argive I think

[PrimevalCommander]

I like Haywire Mite, and the non-creature clause doesn't sound like a big deal, but last time I cast Cathar Commando, it was targeting a Sythis, Harvest's Hand voltroned up with a bunch of auras. So the restriction isn't negligible in my group. With several other versions of this effect, I'll probably won't play many of these. Definitely getting one for the collection though.

[PrimevalCommander]

Myrel, Shield of Argive is very close to the type of commander I've been looking for. If only it was RW and also prevented searching libraries.

You have to be really careful turning off library searching since so much of the casual ramp package revolves around searching lands. That creates the type of card that hoses casual tables and leaves the fast mana decks alone. So you don't want a card like that do be too appealing to casual tables with the side effect of shutting down everyone's ramp. Probably need to keep an effect like that stand-alone so that most players can ignore it and the stax players know what their doing anyway. So it would be less accidental and more deliberate crushing of fun

[Lifeless]

I'd be more than happy to have the effect only prevent searching libraries for non-lands or simply punishing the search via damage, etc. I just think it's sad that RW used to share some control identity and it's almost all Boros garbage now.

[DirkGently]

The new jumpstart cards look pretty weak to me. I guess geology enthusiast is okay as repeated mana rock generation, but woof is that activated expensive. rescue retriever is maybe okay in soldier tribal though I'm always wary of static effects keeping my creatures alive in combat. And soldier tribal isn't a very well supported tribe.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Sardian Avenger seems like some strong anti-treasure tech.

The Archimandrite is an odd mix of tribal soup and lifegain. Could be cool.

Disciple of Caelus Nin is a bomb, hits land too wowza. This card asks the table a question, and that question is "Anyone got any spot removal?"

[toctheyounger]

Yeah, that Disciple is nuts. Definitely want a copy here. As if Bruna needed to make anyone more miserable lol

[duducrash]

Disciple is pretty sweet. I dream of a day when someone casts Teferi's Protection , thinks they are safe and this hits the table.

Legions to ashes does not suck. Its a sorcery, but it is versatile and can hit armies of tokens. I'll boo the nonland clause though

[Hermes_]

Disciple is pretty sweet. I dream of a day when someone casts Teferi's Protection , thinks they are safe and this hits the table.

or play ti with Equipoise out

[PrimevalCommander]

Legions to Ashes = Maelstrom Pulse for . Though Pulse has lost favor years ago, and Black White has even more competition for removal. I still play Pulse a bit for anti-token tech, but don't see myself playing Legions to Ashes much. I may pick up a copy for cube or budget deck if it's cheap. Solid removal though.

[NZB2323]

Legions to Ashes = Maelstrom Pulse for . Though Pulse has lost favor years ago, and Black White has even more competition for removal. I still play Pulse a bit for anti-token tech, but don't see myself playing Legions to Ashes much. I may pick up a copy for cube or budget deck if it's cheap. Solid removal though.

Legions to Ashes is even better than MP because it exiles and can never take out one of your permanents. It's definitely playable but I don't think I'll pick it up. This is the current spot removal I'm running in my Orzhov deck:

• Path to exile
• Swords to plowshares
• Fateful absence
• Despark
• Anguished unmaking
• Deadly Rollick
• Baleful Mastery

And that doesn't count removal cards like:

• Winds of abandon
• Damn
• Cleansing nova
• Austere command
• Ayli, eternal pilgrim
• Dawnbringer cleric
• Fiend hunter
• Banisher priest
• Yawgmoth, thran physician

And honestly I'm thinking of cutting some removal from the deck, not adding to it.

[folding_music]

i like all these weird enchantments:
In the Trenches
Meticulous Excavation
Thran Vigil
Arms Race (M:TG's raison d'etre lol)

Meticulous Excavation is worded specifically so you can't rescue your own stuff from other people's sweepers, which is funny, just admitting that the card is designed to do nefarious things. I already love Together Forever and Shepherd of the Flock // Usher to Safety and it'd be easy in green/white to pick up BIG mana permanents and use them again. card I instantly thought of: Elvish Guidance. fave card in the set

Thran Vigil is very funny in Colfenor? in a everything has one toughness build that doesn't make it any better than an Anthem, though, but obviously it breaks Persist. In the Trenches is just generic good stuff but again anthems mean more when yr comparing power and toughness in a deck like, eg, Colfenor =P

Arms Race - I hate to be the Coveted Jewel and Memory Jar person buuuuut

[EonAon]

Yeah I'm not feeling this set. Some interesting things sure but because of all the powerstone mechanics in it it warped the ability/cost of things.

I will say I'm glad they didnt lump any of the powerstone mechanics into just one color like they have done to some artifact synergies in the past.

[Mookie]

The set looks fantastic for artifact-based decks - my Sharuum deck is thrilled to have a bunch of Powerstones and splashy expensive artifacts to reanimate. On the other hand, my decks that don't have as many artifact synergies will probably be getting significantly less. Still, it is inspiring me to update my cube to have an artifact subtheme, so I'd say I like the set overall.

[DirkGently]

Arms Race - I hate to be the Coveted Jewel and Memory Jar person buuuuut

Maybe I'm missing something but that doesn't seem that exciting? Memory jar gets a 1 mana discount, and coveted jewel becomes a 1-mana draw 3...but only after a 4 mana initial investment for the enchantment. I guess being able to flash them in gives you some advantage?

Sneak attack is obviously pretty strong with 1 mana activation, but 4 feels pretty damn safe. And at least from what I can think of, I feel like there are a lot more exploitable creatures than artifacts with that sort of effect.

Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded was fun, but a big part of that was the reliability of a commander. If this was a legendary creature, maybe I'd be interested, but I can't really see jamming this as a package into a deck unless there's WAY more exciting payoffs than a 1-mana discount + flash on memory jar.

edit: saw someone mention Spine of Ish Sah...that's a lot spicier. Still don't think I'd run it outside of decks that could get value off both halves, but it's a cute little synergy.

[Cyberium]

I'm glad they put some pseudo MLD in this set, either destroy only to certain # or uses phasing. This is wonderful.

[ukkuhrmakhai]

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor: I've been play testing a Gix deck for the last few weeks. The deck is based on flying men Edric deck, a bunch of evasive/deathtouch one drops and ramp/removal. There aren't enough great one drops or overruns in monoblack to make aggro a reliable finisher but the deck is currently around 25% win rate vs 4 people. Most of the wins come from killing one player with aggro cards and then discarding 10-20 cards to Gix to get enough value or wincons to finish the rest of the table. There really isn't enough control in monoblack to let games go long like Edric so once late game shows up if I haven't won I end up just discarding everything to Gix to play someone else's late game cards.

I was initially worried about the life loss from drawing cards but it usually hasn't been relevant. 40 life is a significant buffer and the two cards Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Whip of Erebos are enough to offset the life loss once you find them.

All that said, Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor is the most FUN commander I've played in a while. My opponents have also said it was enjoyable to play against even in games where I was significantly ahead the entire game.

The theft ability has been the easiest theft ability to resolve (especially remotely) which I've found to be something of an annoyance in the past. No shuffling, everything gets cast at once, anything that doesn't get cast just goes to the regular exile zone with no special counters to track, and only one opponent to deal with at a time. I wish they had used the exile, make a copy, cast the copy (copies of permanent spells become tokens) templating to avoid issues with players leaving the game and putting cards in the correct graveyard but it has been a very streamlined theft experience.


Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist has been the best one drop deathtouch creature in Gix, taking the title from Vampire of the Dire Moon. Deathtouch is only psuedo-evasion and she wants to be swinging to make Powerstones so she will only get a few swings before someone is prepared to trade a blocker for her. One tapped powerstone per turn for a creature is also mediocre value unless you have creatures to sac and a big artifact or ability to build towards.

Arms Race seems too fair compared to Sneak Attack or Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded. Almost all of the big noncreature artifacts don't give great ETB value or special value from being instant speed. Spine of Ish Sah is the obvious stand out and if I were playing a monored deck that was cheating out artifact creatures I would probably include spine as removal anyway. Door to Nothingness and Mindslaver both can be flashed in the previous end step to untap. Eldrazi Monument and Cauldron of Souls can save you from wraths but if you are sacrificing your creatures EOT who cares about wraths. Lich's Mirror is a terrible card but who wouldn't want to flash it in in response to lethal.

[darrenhabib]

Is anybody else getting spoiler season withdrawals? It seems weird to not have a continuous bombardment of cards.

[toctheyounger]

Is anybody else getting spoiler season withdrawals? It seems weird to not have a continuous bombardment of cards.

Especially weird this close to Christmas. Particularly for me because I'd hoped for more to pick up from BRO, too. Not that my wallet is complaining, but I'm definitely missing that dopamine fix of new cardboard.

[folding_music]

^ the monkey's paw has just curled

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

the monkey's paw has just curled

Almost literally, in fact.

[Mookie]

Primeval Herald and Preston, the Vanisher both look quite strong. That said, I don't plan to pay that much attention to JumpStart - I'm still fatigued from the last batch of sets.