Unreleased and New Card Discussion

[Serenade]

The RW Reprocess sac-draw reminds me of Leave // Chance. At least it is something different.

[darrenhabib]

The commands said little about the schools themselves, more like enforcing what the color combinations had been doing for a while, except Lorehold with its 3/2 spirit and sac-draw-2. Did they add an extra mana for Lorehold Command just so its outside of Sunforger range?

I doubt Commander comes into card design all that much outside of targeted sets. At the end of the day, Standard, Limited, Modern are where most cards are designed around as far as casting costs.
Legacy, Vintage and Commander are more like what happens when cards just so happen to work into decks.
Sunforger is only played in Commander so there would have been zero thought into anything like that.

Boros is actually pretty good in Standard so I can see where Lorehold Command at 4 mana would actually be pretty big tempo swing.

As long as dueling with 20 life is the primary goal of card design, Commander will always get a lot of unplayable cards because of cost to impact.

[DirkGently]

I doubt Commander comes into card design all that much outside of targeted sets.

Gotta disagree pretty hard on that one. Look at the legendary count today compared to ten years ago. Of course we don't get as many cards targeted towards commander as, say, Standard, because a new set is going to be a pretty large % of standard-legal cards whereas it's a tiny fraction or what's legal in commander (and it's 100% of what's legal in the limited environment). But behind those two formats I'd say we're a strong third in terms of priorities for standard sets, even ignoring the constant deluge of precons.

[umtiger]

The commands said little about the schools themselves, more like enforcing what the color combinations had been doing for a while, except Lorehold with its 3/2 spirit and sac-draw-2. Did they add an extra mana for Lorehold Command just so its outside of Sunforger range?

I doubt Commander comes into card design all that much outside of targeted sets. At the end of the day, Standard, Limited, Modern are where most cards are designed around as far as casting costs.
Legacy, Vintage and Commander are more like what happens when cards just so happen to work into decks.
Sunforger is only played in Commander so there would have been zero thought into anything like that.

Boros is actually pretty good in Standard so I can see where Lorehold Command at 4 mana would actually be pretty big tempo swing.

As long as dueling with 20 life is the primary goal of card design, Commander will always get a lot of unplayable cards because of cost to impact.

I'm pretty sure they do design with cdmr in mind. So much so that I actively wished they actually would stop doing so. It's not their priority like limited or standard, but it's there.

Commander isn't the only format where most cards are "unplayable." In any given set, most cards are unplayable in any competitive format outside of limited. Only in cmdr it's moreso you "wouldn't play" rather than can't play since winning is not the only goal.

[Serenade]

These shifted-to-have-old-borders cards look off, right? They all look...poorly fake. The spacing seems off. The font size is too big. Not enough flavor text. Or am I imagining it?

[Wallycaine]

These shifted-to-have-old-borders cards look off, right? They all look...poorly fake. The spacing seems off. The font size is too big. Not enough flavor text. Or am I imagining it?

I haven't really felt like that? I think it might just be the old formatting and it having been so long since we've seen new cards in it. The only one that seemed particularly off was Mystic Confluence, and I think that's just because it's the first time seeing a bullet pointed card in the old frame (that I know of).

[capitacommunist]

I haven't felt that way either, most of the chosen cards look really good in the old border. I'm definitely looking forward to replacing a lot of cards in my decks/collections with these.
The selection is also positive, with the majority being highly playable in EDH.

[Serenade]

Yeah, maybe it's the newer templating with the bullets and "Legendary Creature - " taking up so much space. Maybe I just need to see them IRL.

[tstorm823]

Honestly, old border Relentless Rats is almost enough to interest me in a Relentless Rats deck. It just looks so classic rat.

[DirkGently]

I felt they looked weird when I saw the low-res spoiled versions of the cards. In high res they look fine I think. Could be that I'm just not used to seeing old borders in low res. That or the fact that the expansion symbol looks like an "off" version of an existing expansion symbol.

[NGW]

Have added quite a bit of Kaldheim to my decks, have gotten to test very little of it unfortunately.

Breya didn't get anything, too optimized a list for what the set offers and I don't expect to make many changes to her in the future beyond if I ever manage to get LED, Mox Diamond, OG duals.

Godzilla got quite a few nifty little upgrades. Goldspan dragon doubles as both an efficiently costed, hasty beater as well as a ramp engine in a deck with a very high average CMC. Rootless Yew is a semi-relevant body (virtual 5/5 for 5 is totally ok) and and I don't run tutors in the list really so it gives a relevant effect. Svella is a great ramp package and a "cheat" engine, good semi-mana sink. Toralf is the most recent add from the set, haven't had a chance to test him in a game and unfortunately goldfishing with him doesn't quite work due to the way his ability relies on other people having creatures, it's like goldfishing your removal package. Search for Greatness got me a free Fiery Emancipation, scried me into a Xenagos and has otherwise felt fine as an engine. It won't always hit, but 2 mana to scry 1 every turn at worst is totally fine. Few more cards I'd like to try and fit in from the set, still need to grab a Tibalt's Trickery for instance. Getting increasingly harder to find room for new cards in this deck though.

Amareth picked up a few lands (snow duals, one of the pathways). Glorious Protector made it in as well, haven't had a game where I got the chance to use it, but not running/owning a Teferi's Protection it feels like a decent budget option that can also get me some triggers off of Amy. Moritte of the Frost found its way in, was wanting to test out some clone effects and it felt like a decent option. Ravenform I decided to test out over Path to Exile (already running Swords), haven't had a game to cast it in yet. Glittering Frost makes for another ramp enchantment option. Also stuck in Niko, feel like it's worked out so far. Can get triggers off of making shards, was able to remove something big and dumb with the minus ability and the plus ability, while I haven't used yet does let me get triggers off of bouncing and replaying something. Again, few more cards I'd like to run in here that I haven't picked up for the deck yet.

Abomination got a lot of support this set, but I haven't played the deck since upgrading it to try them out. Have goldfished a bit, and the deck always plays out fairly well there but it's my least played deck in general in person so can't say much here. Pulled a nonfoil Lathril from a CB that made its way in, so that's nice. Too many other cards to list that I stuck in here. Honestly probably should just get the Elven Empire deck and use that to upgrade a bit more at some point but this is the deck I am least invested in, I want it to remain my low power budget deck that I don't put too much effort into.

Esika/Prismatic Bridge..didn't even exist before Kaldheim. Bridge (I've never bothered casting Esika) has proven to be an incredibly powerful engine that I've surprisingly had very few games (in person or goldfishing) where I haven't had it out by turn 4 or 5 at the latest. The deck itself is a pile of legendary creatures without many directly intended synergies, I just wanted it to be a fun, chaotic deck (but not a chaos deck) so actually gauging the power level here is a bit tough. Handful of Kaldheim cards in here besides the commander that I've not been able to try just yet like Toski, Alrund, Tergrid, Koma, World Tree, Valki/Tibalt. I did stick Maskwood one game and, while I couldn't get Tree out for the combo, it did make for a very nice swing with Silumgar. Kardur also proved to be quite a solid play that saved my skin by goading people to do some real damage and clear up some scary boards.

[toctheyounger]

Yawgmoth, but Timeshifted? Good lord, I bet it's beautiful.

Side note, disappointed to not have seen Children of Korlis reprinted (thus far). It's a weirdly hard card to track down and my lich deck needs a copy.

[Krishnath]

That Vampire Hexmage is beautiful in the old frame. My god. A little odd they made a wrath (Damnation) mythic though.

[TheGildedGoose]

I decide to build Hippo Control and then they print Tasigur in the classic card frame? Life is suffering.

[toctheyounger]

Man, I just noticed they printed Crovax, Ascendant Hero at mythic. I would be preeeeety disappointed to crack that from a pack as a mythic tbh. It's not a bad card per se, but white these days can do better, and that's saying something as arguably the worst single color in the format.

I mean I love my Bruna build, but honestly I wouldn't add it in.

[Wallycaine]

Man, I just noticed they printed Crovax, Ascendant Hero at mythic. I would be preeeeety disappointed to crack that from a pack as a mythic tbh. It's not a bad card per se, but white these days can do better, and that's saying something as arguably the worst single color in the format.

I mean I love my Bruna build, but honestly I wouldn't add it in.

A lot of it is the limited competition. I mean, you can check: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Sear ... anced&set=|[%22Time%20Spiral%22]|[%22Planar%20Chaos%22]|[%22Future%20Sight%22]&color=+@(+[W])&rarity=+[R] ← Here's all the mono White Rares in the 3 sets. Not a ton there that jumps out as mythic quality, and Crovax, Ascendant Hero at least features the fancy new legendary frame. He's also probably a beating in limited and may have been one they wanted to avoid having show up too often? It also looks like they may have been going for a cycle of mythic legendary creatures, and it's either him or Mangara of Corondor in that slot, with the other as a Rare.

[toctheyounger]

Man, I just noticed they printed Crovax, Ascendant Hero at mythic. I would be preeeeety disappointed to crack that from a pack as a mythic tbh. It's not a bad card per se, but white these days can do better, and that's saying something as arguably the worst single color in the format.

I mean I love my Bruna build, but honestly I wouldn't add it in.

A lot of it is the limited competition. I mean, you can check: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Sear ... anced&set=|[%22Time%20Spiral%22]|[%22Planar%20Chaos%22]|[%22Future%20Sight%22]&color=+@(+[W])&rarity=+[R] ← Here's all the mono White Rares in the 3 sets. Not a ton there that jumps out as mythic quality, and Crovax, Ascendant Hero at least features the fancy new legendary frame. He's also probably a beating in limited and may have been one they wanted to avoid having show up too often? It also looks like they may have been going for a cycle of mythic legendary creatures, and it's either him or Mangara of Corondor in that slot, with the other as a Rare.

Fair point. I guess he fits the 'mythic bomb' slot for draft and such. I guess it's just strange to see him at mythic and Angel's Grace at rare. Not that I'm complaining, I could definitely use a copy of the latter for cheaper than it currently is.

[NGW]

A little odd they made a wrath (Damnation) mythic though.

WotC gotta protect them secondary market dolla bills yo.

It's certainly not for limited, given we just had Wrath of God at rare in Double Masters, which also had twice as many rares per pack...

[folding_music]

ooh old-bordered Evolutionary Leap, a card I'm a big fan of <3 but I got used to the m15 border already!

it's just one part of my all-permanents tutor chain that's really looking for Vigor in the end. I know the card's already in use but I love Evolutionary Leap's compound sac-outlet/Abundance for creatures effect - I wouldn't run Abundance by itself in my decks, though I like the art, and I probably wouldn't run a dedicated sac catalyst like Claws of Gix, but both effects on a single card that's fairly mana efficient is one I find irresistible. The only card along the same lines that's come out since is Fiend Artisan, and for all its power you can only activate that at sorcery speed.

[Serenade]

I don't want to start speculation on the set in this topic, but I still figured I would post this as a new update.


Also, always glad to see snakes getting named. And not naga. =P

[Hawk]

Reading the speculation for white on Reddit has cracked me up all morning.

"Draw 3 cards. You lose the game.
"You and target opponent draw 3 cards. Then, you discard your hand"
"Draw 3 cards. Each opponent may draw up to 6 cards"
"Don't draw 3 cards. Don't collect 200 dollars"
"Draw 3 cards. Cast ~ only if you've lost exactly 10 life this turn"

My wife also pointed out that "Whenever you draw 3 cards, create an Angel token" is possible - I think that template is a bit off, but it wouldn't shock me for MaRo to be trolling the ever-loving heck out of us and the card is a trigger or replacement effect for drawing, and not actual white card draw.

[pokken]

I bet it's basically as close to Standstill as you can get in white.

[Dunharrow]

Which land cycle is getting finished, you think?
I think it is the BFZ duals. the other good option is Cycling duals, but they belong in a set that has cycling. I just don't think they are putting more cycling into Standard right now.

[Wallycaine]

I bet it's basically as close to Standstill as you can get in white.

Interestingly, he recently called out Standstill as something that wasn't in white's color pie. But the direction of "rule setting enchantment that, when the opponent/someone breaks it gets sacrificed for a draw" definitely seems plausible. But probably not as strict of a rule as Standstill.

[PrimevalCommander]

Which land cycle is getting finished, you think?
I think it is the BFZ duals. the other good option is Cycling duals, but they belong in a set that has cycling. I just don't think they are putting more cycling into Standard right now.

On the edge of my seat for this. If either of the basic-typed dual cycles get completed I'll do a happy dance. Tango lands are more likely as you stated, unless they throw in a small cycling theme.

My only two 3-color decks are both Wedge and only get one of the 3 for these dual-typed duals.