MTGNexus

Voja, Jaws of the Conclave continues in wotc's march to make changeling tribal the most busted tribe of all.

Massacre Girl, Known Killer is definitely going to make its way into a few of my decks.

I will definitely be giving some of these Surveil Duals a try in my Kess, Dissident Mage reanimator deck. They could enable some dumb set up on Turn 1 with a bit of luck. Not sure that I'll run all three, but at least one (since the three fetches I run can grab it too).

I like the idea of the surveil lands, but I'm not playing any 2-color right now, and with no option for entering untapped, I think their primary competition will be the bicycles. I probably like them better than bicycles since the have more value when fetched. If they are cheap enough I'll definitely pick some up, but I'm not playing the bicycles very often anyway since I like the tangos better. I say the Tango's have about 50% or better chance of entering untapped, which give them a lead in my mind over these. They are auto include in 2-color, and highly playable in 3 color where you don't have the tier 1 land availability. All I want is the dang Tango cycle to be finished out. They are my favorite budget dual since I still play a healthy basic count even in my budget-less decks.

Damn they trolled us so hard with that fish merfolks.... incredibly underpowered also

How about Teysa, opulent oligarc ? It's not quite Odric, Blood-Cursed but I'm frustrated at highly atencipated return of legends to be tied with the sets gimmick. She is ok, but I had hopes.

Homicide investigator Damn you "this only triggers once per turn" !!! damn you I say!!!

I'm a bit confused about the tactical implications of the "suspected" mechanic. Not that the mechanic is confusing, but the cards utilize it like it's a drawback, and I feel like for aggro decks it's often a good thing.

I suppose beatdown will just be better in this draft environment, which isn't a bad thing.

Spoiler season formally starts!

Mechanics:

• Disguise - I'm not particularly a fan of morph, but it's fine. I do appreciate that it pushes more towards actually being able to flip the creature, which is the actually fun part of morph. Hate the idea of more Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks running around though.
• Cloak - manifest with upside. It's also fine, although more dependent on the individual cards it appears on. I do hope to get some new stuff for Brago.
• Investigate - great value mechanic, good to see it return. There has been a lot of token creep though. Pick up your Academy Manufactors now.
• Suspect - mix of upside and downside. I don't think it's that exciting in a vacuum (just another combat mechanic), but cards that care about suspected cards open up some more design space. There are some memory concerns though.
• Collect evidence - feels like a mix of delve and delirium / threshold. Interesting in that it can work with both effects that mill lots of cards and ways to mill expensive cards specifically.
• Cases - a bit like Classes / Sagas. They seem fun, although dependent on the exact card - I expect their requirements to be too diverse to build a dedicated Case deck.

Cards:

• Teysa, Opulent Oligarch - new Teysa card looks quite solid. She strongly reminds me of Tymna the Weaver in that she turns aggression into card draw. Paying mana to crack clues is a higher cost than paying life, but life loss is easier to trigger than combat damage because you can trigger her with stuff like Zulaport Cutthroat or Leechridden Swamp. Making clue tokens also has plenty of additional upsides with stuff like Thalisse, Reverent Medium and Inspiring Statuary. She also self-enables - deathtouch gives her soft evasion, plus the spirit tokens provide extra attackers. I will call out that there isn't much existing black clue support, but I imagine the set will bring more. Overall, I think she looks quite nice in both the command zone and the 99.

Overall, the set looks to have lots of fun stuff (or they're frontloading all the good stuff, as usual). They did mention that the 3-year Standard cycle means they are increasing the power level slightly, but hopefully there won't be too much power creep.

I think i'll switch out some of the taplands from my sliver pre-con with the Surveil lands

Oh the Surveil lands are fantastic for Lord Windgrace! Time to swap out the bicycles.

Why the hell is Crime Novelist missing the once-per-turn clause, while Homicide Investigator gets one!?

Warleader's Call is probably bonkers in Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second alongside Purphoros, God of the Forge.

I'm a fan of Etrata, Deadly Fugitive. Manifesting (cloaking) regularly is a fun enough effect, what's better is you can cast non-creature spells from morphs.

Cyberium wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I'm a fan of Etrata, Deadly Fugitive. Manifesting (cloaking) regularly is a fun enough effect, what's better is you can cast non-creature spells from morphs.

Yeah I'm really looking forward to running this in my Ikra/Ludevic face down deck. Does the cast ignore timing restrictions?

Dragonlover

I will give Etrata the nod also because she lets you Manifest with impunity. Is that enough to make a Morph\Manifest\Cloak deck that isn't boring? IDK, but at least she's not burning all your spells in the process.

I was super pumped for Assemble the Players at first, but thinking about it more it's probably a dud for most decks. Looking at my two whitest weeniest decks (Heliod and Lurrus), Heliod runs 30 creatures but only 23 that can be played off the top with Assemble. Lurrus fairs a bit better with 29 creatures, 27 or 28 of whom can be cast off the top (I can never remember if Bronze Guardian is a 0/5 or a #/5 while on top), but that's still only "drawing a card" about a quarter to a third of the time. It may make it in Lurrus anyways but I think often we're at a point where White offers better draw engines, and as soon as you're out of monowhite you definitely have better draw engines.

Mookie wrote: ↑

5 months ago

Spoiler season formally starts!

Mechanics:

• Disguise - I'm not particularly a fan of morph, but it's fine. I do appreciate that it pushes more towards actually being able to flip the creature, which is the actually fun part of morph. Hate the idea of more Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks running around though.
  
  Overall, the set looks to have lots of fun stuff (or they're frontloading all the good stuff, as usual). They did mention that the 3-year Standard cycle means they are increasing the power level slightly, but hopefully there won't be too much power creep.

I love morph, and was excited for a morph-adjacent mechanic, but am kind of disappointed that much of it is in colors that can't go in Kadena. The variation here of pushing for a more aggro-centric morph plan than the controlling one that Kadena leans into is interesting, but I don't know that it's all that interesting...yet.

Etrata is cool. For most actual morph cards, is a cost increase, or parity, so it's not offering much, but there's space to build a manifest big spells deck, which looks interesting, and another way to make use of manifested non-creatures to go along with Primordial Mist. Her ability seems to be manifesting from the top of your opponent's library, which can be fun, but also kind of a headache, and I don't know how many assassins I'd be able to squeeze in Kadena to make it worth playing for that effect.

Dunadain wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I'm a bit confused about the tactical implications of the "suspected" mechanic. Not that the mechanic is confusing, but the cards utilize it like it's a drawback, and I feel like for aggro decks it's often a good thing.

I suppose beatdown will just be better in this draft environment, which isn't a bad thing.

"Can't block" is a drawback. It looks small-ball, but interesting. Kind of annoying to track, I think, especially if you start suspecting opponents' creatures as well.

Now the question is how can I integrate Etrata into my Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow "biggest cards I could find" deck considering it doesn't morph anything at current.

Hawk wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I was super pumped for Assemble the Players at first, but thinking about it more it's probably a dud for most decks. Looking at my two whitest weeniest decks (Heliod and Lurrus), Heliod runs 30 creatures but only 23 that can be played off the top with Assemble. Lurrus fairs a bit better with 29 creatures, 27 or 28 of whom can be cast off the top (I can never remember if Bronze Guardian is a 0/5 or a #/5 while on top), but that's still only "drawing a card" about a quarter to a third of the time. It may make it in Lurrus anyways but I think often we're at a point where White offers better draw engines, and as soon as you're out of monowhite you definitely have better draw engines.

Same here - Teysa has ~22 creatures (out of 35) that it can cast, but that doesn't feel like enough. I was hoping that the card would either have some additional rules text or be on a creature itself. The once-per-turn limitation is also awkward. I could see it going in Shadowborn Apostle / Persistent Petitioners decks if not for that limitation.

Mookie wrote: ↑

5 months ago

[*]Tomik, Wielder of Law - affinity on a card that only costs one colorless mana looks... weird. Otherwise, seems fine for pillowfort / superfriends. Base stats are quite good, at least.
[*]Warleader's Call looks like a strong anthem. Not sure if it beats Flowering of the White Tree or other premium anthems, but if you care about the damage it goes way up in value.

I had the same reaction when I read Tomik, then figured it was to negate commander tax. Still, very odd.

Warleader's Call is Impact Tremors with an anthem for +1 mana and a more restricted color identity. 100% going in Eowyn.

Mookie wrote: ↑

5 months ago

Hawk wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I was super pumped for Assemble the Players at first, but thinking about it more it's probably a dud for most decks. Looking at my two whitest weeniest decks (Heliod and Lurrus), Heliod runs 30 creatures but only 23 that can be played off the top with Assemble. Lurrus fairs a bit better with 29 creatures, 27 or 28 of whom can be cast off the top (I can never remember if Bronze Guardian is a 0/5 or a #/5 while on top), but that's still only "drawing a card" about a quarter to a third of the time. It may make it in Lurrus anyways but I think often we're at a point where White offers better draw engines, and as soon as you're out of monowhite you definitely have better draw engines.

Same here - Teysa has ~22 creatures (out of 35) that it can cast, but that doesn't feel like enough. I was hoping that the card would either have some additional rules text or be on a creature itself. The once-per-turn limitation is also awkward. I could see it going in Shadowborn Apostle / Persistent Petitioners decks if not for that limitation.

I really don't know why this needed to be once per turn either. The green versions like Elven Chorus and Augur of Autumnhave no restrictions on what you can cast off the top, nor how often, and often come with additional upside. This seems like it's playing it unnecessarily safe.

yeti1069 wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I really don't know why this needed to be once per turn either. The green versions like Elven Chorus and Augur of Autumnhave no restrictions on what you can cast off the top, nor how often, and often come with additional upside. This seems like it's playing it unnecessarily safe.

My assumption is that it's because WotC is limiting white card advantage to once per turn.

On the other hand, Delney, Streetwise Lookout has no such limitation. Not sure if it goes in Teysa though - I only have ~11 abilities it can copy, including the commander. Hmmm... awkwardly, Morbid Opportunist, Welcoming Vampire, and a few other cards can only trigger once per turn, which lowers it in value. The mass skulk ability can have some use though. Meanwhile, Brago has ~18 creatures to copy, which makes it look a bit better (although still a downgrade from Panharmonicon).

Mookie wrote: ↑

5 months ago

Other, less important stuff (everything else)

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• Tomik, Wielder of Law - affinity on a card that only costs one colorless mana looks... weird. Otherwise, seems fine for pillowfort / superfriends. Base stats are quite good, at least.

my understanding is that they're mechanically telling the story that he's married to Ral Zerak, thus has affinity for one as printed. Tomik and Ral are together (and technically got married in a secret lair)
the artwork from the SL

Hermes_ wrote: ↑

5 months ago

my understanding is that they're mechanically telling the story that he's married to Ral Zerak, thus has affinity for one as printed. Tomik and Ral are together (and technically got married in a secret lair)
the artwork from the SL

Well, mechanically it's probably for the commander tax, but story-wise he also buddies around with Kaya a lot. Man does have an affinity for planeswalkers.

Mookie wrote: ↑

5 months ago

yeti1069 wrote: ↑

5 months ago

I really don't know why this needed to be once per turn either. The green versions like Elven Chorus and Augur of Autumnhave no restrictions on what you can cast off the top, nor how often, and often come with additional upside. This seems like it's playing it unnecessarily safe.

My assumption is that it's because WotC is limiting white card advantage to once per turn.

On the other hand, Delney, Streetwise Lookout has no such limitation. Not sure if it goes in Teysa though - I only have ~11 abilities it can copy, including the commander. Hmmm... awkwardly, Morbid Opportunist, Welcoming Vampire, and a few other cards can only trigger once per turn, which lowers it in value. The mass skulk ability can have some use though. Meanwhile, Brago has ~18 creatures to copy, which makes it look a bit better (although still a downgrade from Panharmonicon).

Still super-lame, especially since it's card advantage you have to pay mana for (in the 2nd worst mana-producing color) and gets turned off by any card on top that doesn't meet the already fairly strict criteria. Now, sure, you could have a bunch of 1-drops, but you're still unlikely to get more than 2 or 3 in a row. A Greed that says "Pay : Put a tiny creature from the top of your library onto the battlefield" at 2-mana seems strong, but not necessarily any more so than many other cards no one has expressed issues with. The once per turn eliminates some combo potential, but I can't think of anything this would combo with that isn't convoluted.

Delney looks interesting. I'm not sure what I have that this would synergize with. Your Teysa deck is probably worth an inclusion just for the interaction with the commander. I'd strongly consider it if I still had Teysa assembled.

The mass psuedo-skulk also looks really nice, especially if you have a lot of 1/3+s, 2/3+s, or ways to boost toughness to 3+.

yeti1069 wrote: ↑

5 months ago

Still super-lame, especially since it's card advantage you have to pay mana for (in the 2nd worst mana-producing color) and gets turned off by any card on top that doesn't meet the already fairly strict criteria. Now, sure, you could have a bunch of 1-drops, but you're still unlikely to get more than 2 or 3 in a row. A Greed that says "Pay : Put a tiny creature from the top of your library onto the battlefield" at 2-mana seems strong, but not necessarily any more so than many other cards no one has expressed issues with. The once per turn eliminates some combo potential, but I can't think of anything this would combo with that isn't convoluted.

Delney looks interesting. I'm not sure what I have that this would synergize with. Your Teysa deck is probably worth an inclusion just for the interaction with the commander. I'd strongly consider it if I still had Teysa assembled.

I would put conditional Future Sight effects as roughly equivalent to red impulsive draw - it's card advantage, but you only have a single turn to cast the card before it is exiled forever // drawn naturally. If you cast two creatures off Assemble the Players, then it's equivalent to Wrenn's Resolve. That's... playable, but unexciting. I think it's good if you can consistently hit 3+ creatures off it, but that seems challenging for most decks. You'll want to have a very high density of castables, topdeck manipulation, or some other way to put creatures back on top.

I think Delney depends on the build. I would pass for my current build - I wouldn't run just for Teysa, but I don't think it would be difficult to add another 5-10 small creatures to support it either. The main appeal is all the random small ETB creatures, IMO - copying Thraben Inspector / Karmic Guide / Skyclave Apparition seems quite nice (and none of those are currently in my build). I would need to run the numbers to compare to Teysa Karlov and Roaming Throne first though - they generally play in the same space, but with different restrictions. I think 'power 2 or less' is more broad than 'death trigger' and 'human', but hard to estimate.

Best thing to do with Etrata is probably Arcane Adaptation.

Overall liking a lot of the designs, especially the precon ones. A lot of Power: C Design: B grades in my initial reading, which is a good place to be imo.

I'm surprised more people aren't freaking out about Delney, Streetwise Lookout. At minimum, I think it's one of the most powerful mono white commanders ever printed, right up there with Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines but probably will get less hate. Things like Sram, Senior Edificer or Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle are now just better in the 99. A generalization, i know but i think you get the point. This is powercreep at its finest. 5 years ago something like this would have cost 3WW.

With Delney and a 2power creature Helm of the Host Blade of Selves you are swinging in for 12 unblockable damage to your opponents if I'm reading cards correctly, not to mention, now you get 7 extra triggers off of Stoneforge Mystic lmao

There are A LOT of commanders XXW with power 2 or less. Wanna double up on Zedruu the Greathearted triggers? Brago, King Eternal Calix, Guided by Fate Eriette of the Charmed Apple... the list goes on.

I'm all for new-card hype, but you're out of your mind if your calling Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines up there with the most powerful mono-white commanders ever printed XD.

Delney, Streetwise Lookout does look sweet though.