Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Mookie]

NGL, these precons seem above average. I think I'll get one. All but the horror one I find very appealing. So weird. A set from which I want nothing has 3/4 decks I'd feel fine buying.

Yeah, not as many new cards as they usually have (10/deck instead of 15), but lots of solid reprints. Skullclamp, Mutavault, Jeska's Will, Stolen Strategy, Curse of Opulence.... I wish there were more good reprints in the main set itself.

[Arebennian]

Black Market Connections is interesting to contrast with Phyrexian Arena - it costs an extra life, but you also get the card immediately.

Precombat main. Unless you can flash it in on upkeep, you'll be waiting until next turn.

Idk why it's precombat main instead of upkeep tbh, seems random.

Precombat main > upkeep. You've got to draw a card and have already paid costs, so you can best assess your needs from BMC. It's a weird, slight buff if anything. Personally, I would pay four just to give it the frontier siege treatment and collect on both main phases. That would be sweet.

Yeah. I was MUCH higher on the card before I realised this.

I thought, 'Well, even if it is answered, you are essentially cycling the card for 2 mana and 3 life.' (with obvious caveats).

It's much closer to Phyrexian Arena then I first considered. I wonder if it is as good as people on Reddit think. It's likely more synergistic than Phyrexian Arena would be in any deck (due to the variations of choice) with the exception of a Devotion deck.

I'd penciled it in for tribes with big bodies that want early draw to hit land drops (Angels, Dragons etc.) but I'm not so sure about that now.
I'd considered it in other lower to the ground tribes, but the card draw and ramp in those is usually better (Elves, Zombies etc.). Slivers might want it though.

I've been considering it for Vilis, broker of blood as it's a solid car with scalable life loss (as I hate running dodgy cards like Wall of Blood ust so they can turn into Yawgmoth's Bargain when Vilis is out.

I'd originally considered it better than Smuggler's Share, but now I'm not so sure.

[kirkusjones]

Precombat main. Unless you can flash it in on upkeep, you'll be waiting until next turn.

Idk why it's precombat main instead of upkeep tbh, seems random.

Precombat main > upkeep. You've got to draw a card and have already paid costs, so you can best assess your needs from BMC. It's a weird, slight buff if anything. Personally, I would pay four just to give it the frontier siege treatment and collect on both main phases. That would be sweet.

Yeah. I was MUCH higher on the card before I realised this.

I thought, 'Well, even if it is answered, you are essentially cycling the card for 2 mana and 3 life.' (with obvious caveats).

It's much closer to Phyrexian Arena then I first considered. I wonder if it is as good as people on Reddit think. It's likely more synergistic than Phyrexian Arena would be in any deck (due to the variations of choice) with the exception of a Devotion deck.

I'd penciled it in for tribes with big bodies that want early draw to hit land drops (Angels, Dragons etc.) but I'm not so sure about that now.
I'd considered it in other lower to the ground tribes, but the card draw and ramp in those is usually better (Elves, Zombies etc.). Slivers might want it though.

I've been considering it for Vilis, broker of blood as it's a solid car with scalable life loss (as I hate running dodgy cards like Wall of Blood ust so they can turn into Yawgmoth's Bargain when Vilis is out.

I'd originally considered it better than Smuggler's Share, but now I'm not so sure.

As a fellow Vilis player, I'll be swapping out Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz for Black Market Connections. Curious to see your list, if you have one.

[Arebennian]

It's a bit in flux at the moment. I put it together and bought the cards, but I've never actually played it. I then reconsidered the goal and benefits of the approach that I took when I built it, and so have that list but have also sort of got it disassembled at the same time, so it is all theory craft and in pieces at the moment.

<EDIT>
I didn't really want to make Vilis into a ramp-into-him-and-draw-deck-and-win.deck, so I considered the fact I had a copy of Hatred. I looked at the idea of including small dorks that have lifelink to exploit Hatred (and 1 shot somebody) and deathtouch to disincentivise blockers. The payoff is that with death touch they will also disincentivise opponents attackers, which tend to (again, theory crafting) cut down my life total early in the game and reduce my card draw options (all of which cost life) in the mid to late game.

There are also equipment that scale well with Swamps (Lashwrithe Nightmare Lash) and require the payment of life which, in my head, work well with Vilis' draw (and make him a 2 hit clock) and give the small lifelink creatures a way to regain life in the later game to retain Vilis' effect for longer. There are also cards that get swamps into play for Cabal Coffers (Sword of Hearth and Home and Sword of the Animist] so the deathtouch on the little creatures hopefully prevents anything which would kill them from blocking and trading with them so I can get multiple triggers (over 2-3 combats) rather than suiciding these smaller guys into blockers.

The issue is that the deck is currently a bit creature light and you probably want 3+ creatures on the battlefield in order to pass the equipment around at sorcery speed to activate Vilis' draw effect when he is out. There also isn't an abundance of creatures in black with both of the keywords. These are the only ones I really like like (in order of preference):
Vampire of the Dire Moon
Gifted Aetherborn
Nighthawk Scavenger
Vampire Nighthawk
Grimdancer
Henrika, Eternal Seer

[kirkusjones]

It's a bit in flux at the moment. I've also only put it together and bought the cards, but I've never actually played it, so it is all theory craft.

I'm pretty sure this is up to date. The idea is that I'm either going to kill the table or kill myself in the process. Nine times out of ten I'm killing myself before an opponent knocks me out. It's a lot of fun.

My original build was all about ramping into Vilis and drawing all the things, but most of the time he just ate removal and became uncastable pretty quick. I started adding more kill-on-sight cards at lower mana values to bait removal and then slow roll into Vilis when the coast is more clear. That said, if I have Magical Christmasland potential in the first few turns, I usually go for it. I have grindier decks that I play more regularly, so Vilis is more for when I want to do something different. It's hard to describe how satisfying it is to Exsanguinate the table when you're at zero life.

[folding_music]

(wakes up at 3am n says out loud: "Astral Dragon... copying Training Grounds twice!!!") my one wish is that Dynaheir was worded slightly differently x3

[hyalopterouslemur]

I don't even like die rolls, but I'm liking the ancient dragons. Ancient Gold Dragon, Ancient Brass Dragon, and Ancient Bronze Dragon are wincons on their own, and the other two are also pretty nice.

[DirkGently]

It wasn't until I sat down and played it that I realised Shameless Charlatan doesn't end at the end of turn. Damn that card is so cool.

[Skello496]

So I just got back from CommandFest Richmond, and I gotta say… I started deckteching Mahadi, Emporium Master the day he got spoiled, and then pulled a foil etched Mahadi in my set boosters from the prize wall. I built the deck Sunday morning and played it six times. It's real good. He's a sweet commander and the machine works really well. Only difficulty is getting the treasures at end of turn, but that's fixed by a vedalken orrery hitting the table. Flashing in a pathrazer of ulamog on your opponent's end step is brutal. He's a great commander, super super fun deck.

[Serenade]

Some of these borderless cards went back to the old method of stretching out/zooming into the art instead of just showing more of what got cropped. Some move the art around a little but are mostly the new way.

Archivist of Oghma and Displacer Kitten are old method. Gross, bad.
Astarion's Thirst and Fraying Line are newer method of true extended borders on the artwork. This way always felt right to me.
Caves of Chaos Adventurer and Earthquake Dragon are the third, new method. Maybe it's just to center them better with the extended border. Likely no one will notice. Still peculiar to me.

[folding_music]

hmm, got a foil illustrated Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion I'm excited about using. got a few nice etched backgrounds, too... Flaming Fist, Guild Artisan and a Scion of Halaster! also for some reason I got a Day's Undoing, lol, slightly surprising but very welcome. I love this set, so many interesting legends and so many utility commons (Your Temple Is Under Attack!) and dwagons everywhere, I love Monster Manual and Wyll's Reversal and a bunch of other splashy stuff <3 only downer was that I was hoping for an illustrated Alora, Merry Thief but opened none of her at all. I wanna try the Alora + Sage deck Dirk's spreadsheet hinted at and I have a lot of redundant self-bounce stuff, both Barrins and a few mono-blue guys who appreciate being unblockable, eg the Cephalid Constable, Ghost of DiPietro, a bunch of Planechase ninjas etc.

[Hermes_]

Cryptic Spires that's one way to fix your mana

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

I...have so many questions.

Does the choice reset between games? Do the symbols mean this thing has a 5-color identity?

[Dragoon]

I...have so many questions.

Does the choice reset between games? Do the symbols mean this thing has a 5-color identity?

I'm pretty sure this will only work in draft anyway.

[Hawk]

Well at least Dockside Extortionist is getting a reprint...at mythic...in a premium limited print-run set...so, yeah, that's gonna be a huge help on the price of the card.

Amused to see Dark-Dweller Oracle down to common.

[TheGildedGoose]

Um, they done did it.

Imperial Seal will be mine. Everything else in the set could be reprints of Homelands and I would be okay with it.

[Hawk]

Imperial Seal, Phyrexian Altar, Sensei's Divining Top, Teferi's Protection, Dockside Extortionist, Mana Vault, Bloom Tender, Weathered Wayfarer, and some primo commanders like Atla Palani, Nest Tender and Muldrotha, the Gravetide. Where in the world was all this stuff for Commander Legends??!?!? (we also are getting reprints of a few other $$$ cards like Wrenn and Six, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Allosaurus Shepherd but those cards at least see play in non-EDH formats too).

[materpillar]

Imperial Seal, Phyrexian Altar, Sensei's Divining Top, Teferi's Protection, Dockside Extortionist, Mana Vault, Bloom Tender, Weathered Wayfarer, and some primo commanders like Atla Palani, Nest Tender and Muldrotha, the Gravetide. Where in the world was all this stuff for Commander Legends??!?!? (we also are getting reprints of a few other $$$ cards like Wrenn and Six, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Allosaurus Shepherd but those cards at least see play in non-EDH formats too).

Yeah, this set feels like EDH bait to me, it's pretty annoying. WTF is Mizzix of the Izmagnus doing in a non-EDH set? Feels really weird.

[EonAon]

Well this is bait I'm willing to take. Freaking imperial seal alone makes this worth it considering the price. A decent amount of the other cards in the higher rarities seem decent as well

[Venedrex]

Imperial Seal, Phyrexian Altar, Sensei's Divining Top, Teferi's Protection, Dockside Extortionist, Mana Vault, Bloom Tender, Weathered Wayfarer, and some primo commanders like Atla Palani, Nest Tender and Muldrotha, the Gravetide. Where in the world was all this stuff for Commander Legends??!?!? (we also are getting reprints of a few other $$$ cards like Wrenn and Six, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Allosaurus Shepherd but those cards at least see play in non-EDH formats too).

Yeah, this set feels like EDH bait to me, it's pretty annoying. WTF is Mizzix of the Izmagnus doing in a non-EDH set? Feels really weird.

I mean, the numbers tell Wotc that EDH is THE format outside of "cards I own" so, it makes sense that they want to try and appeal to the biggest format. They've found the cash cow, and by golly they will milk it. Also, in fairness, while Muldrotha is prolly another appeal to commander players, it does make sense to bring it back as a payoff for the Sultai graveyard matters archetype.

Frankly, I really don't care what format cards are targeted at, as long as we see expensive cards get reprinted. But when all is said and done the set will no doubt be known for: "Double the rares, double the picks, double the excitement, double the price, double the disappointment." I'll snap some of the cratered cards and pick my way gingerly through the 5000 dollar boxes.

[Wallycaine]

I...have so many questions.

Does the choice reset between games? Do the symbols mean this thing has a 5-color identity?

I'm pretty sure this will only work in draft anyway.

It's legal in other formats, just unlikely to get used since it's just a come into play tapped dual land, which are a dime a dozen these days. The color identity is whatever two symbols are circled.

[RowanKeltizar]

Um, they done did it.

Imperial Seal will be mine. Everything else in the set could be reprints of Homelands and I would be okay with it.

Now I have to decide if I actually want to slot it into a deck. I've always thought Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor were objectively the best black tutors. I think I'd even slot in Grim Tutor before Imperial Seal. I guess if I have a way to get that card from the top the turn I cast the tutor it could be fine. Kaalia, Zenith Seeker for example.

Speaking of tutors, I have both sets of fingers crossed for Enlightened Tutor . Foil etched and alternate borderless art would be amazing. I will buy 4 copies.

[duducrash]

Premium sets are so weird with prices. Fetches got to a nice spot, but most mythic reprints will not make a dent on card prices sometimes.

[pokken]

I will probably play seal in breena and varina who both rhyme and have synergy with it. Maybe cut some etutors.

[TheGildedGoose]

Now I have to decide if I actually want to slot it into a deck. I've always thought Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor were objectively the best black tutors. I think I'd even slot in Grim Tutor before Imperial Seal. I guess if I have a way to get that card from the top the turn I cast the tutor it could be fine. Kaalia, Zenith Seeker for example.

Erebos, God of the Dead wants all the playable tutors. I still have Beseech the Queen in since I don't have a Black Market Connections and haven't bothered proxying it in yet, but I think Seal is obviously much, much better.

I'm not sure if it's better than Grim Tutor outside of combo, but it's still very good. Mainly it's one of those cards (like Mana Drain before it) that I thought I'd never be able to afford and 15 year old Goose is little kid excited about it.

EDIT: Grimmy can't find a Sol Ring on turn 1. That's a huge point in Seal's favor.