Secret Lair "Sheldon's Spellbook"

[duducrash]

A new secret lair honoring sheldon and benefitinga great cause will be avaliable soon. contents of the secret lair will be announced today on the RCs stream.

[onering]

Might be the first one I actually buy

[DirkGently]

Calling it now: Winter Orb, Stasis, Thassa's Oracle, Armageddon, and Limited Resources.

[ISBPathfinder]

Calling it now: Winter Orb, Stasis, Thassa's Oracle, Armageddon, and Limited Resources.

Even better, it should just be a bunch of actually banned commander cards.

[Mookie]

Calling it now: Winter Orb, Stasis, Thassa's Oracle, Armageddon, and Limited Resources.

Even better, it should just be a bunch of actually banned commander cards.

Plot twist: Sheldon's will is a list of cards to unban.

More seriously, I'll signal my interest - I haven't bought any SLs yet, but I could see myself getting this if it has stuff I want and is for a good cause.

edit: Sol Ring, Command Tower, Greater Good, Ruhan of the Fomori, Eladamri's Vineyard, Teferi's Protection, and Inkshield. Definitely feels very Sheldon-y.

[duducrash]

I'll pick up. First SL I'll buy as a whole.

Was expecting a Karador, Ghost Chieftain , as I know sheldon was a fan but the selection is pretty good I think

[Treamayne]

Alternate Ruhan

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[RxPhantom]

Did Sheldon ever discuss or play Eladamri's Vineyard or are they only playing up his love of wine?

Anyway, I'll probably pick this one up. Most of the cards are playable and that sweet looking Teferi's Protection is probably worth it on its own.

[DirkGently]

I do kinda wish that Sheldon's favorite commander was something more interesting than Ruhan.

No amount of respect for Sheldon could make me play Ruhan. I hated Ruhan from the moment it was spoiled until the day I die.

[Dragonlover]

Did Sheldon ever discuss or play Eladamri's Vineyard or are they only playing up his love of wine?

Anyway, I'll probably pick this one up. Most of the cards are playable and that sweet looking Teferi's Protection is probably worth it on its own.

He picked the cards, so I'm assuming it's a reference to the wine.

Dragonlover

[Hermes_]

I watched the match they played before they showed of the spell book and it was very battle cruiser magic.

[Hawk]

The value on this product is off the chain.

Sheldon's Spellbook

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

1 Teferi's Protection

1 Command Tower

1 Sol Ring

1 Ruhan of the Fomori

1 Inkshield

1 Greater Good

1 Eladamri's Vineyard

Approximate Total Cost:

Note this is a first new card face printing for Vineyard, and a first time in foil printing for Vineyard, Ruhan and Inkshield on top of that value. Good on WotC for cramming this with great value and also not making it a limited run product.

My only secret hope is that our bonus card is Deep Analysis (or possibly something like a Fact or Fiction or some other card draw spell) with "The secret to this format is in not breaking it" for flavortext.

[RxPhantom]

I do kinda wish that Sheldon's favorite commander was something more interesting than Ruhan.

No amount of respect for Sheldon could make me play Ruhan. I hated Ruhan from the moment it was spoiled until the day I die.

Sir this is a Wendy's.

[DirkGently]

I do kinda wish that Sheldon's favorite commander was something more interesting than Ruhan.

No amount of respect for Sheldon could make me play Ruhan. I hated Ruhan from the moment it was spoiled until the day I die.

Sir this is a Wendy's.

That's a common misconception - it's actually a thread for talking about a secret lair product, which is what I was doing.

[benjameenbear]

I think this is the ONLY Secret Lair I would consider getting simply out of respect for the man. RIP to Sheldon, the legend that popularized and mainstreamed EDH to the world. A tip of the hat and a moment of silence for a great dude.

And the cards in the drop are actually pretty good. Tef's Protection and Inkshield is enough to justify the value most likely.

[CommanderMaster999]

I do kinda wish that Sheldon's favorite commander was something more interesting than Ruhan.

No amount of respect for Sheldon could make me play Ruhan. I hated Ruhan from the moment it was spoiled until the day I die.

Well it shows his favorite deck was probably "Why are you hitting yourself" (Reflect Damage type of cards tribal)

[DirkGently]

Well it shows his favorite deck was probably "Why are you hitting yourself" (Reflect Damage type of cards tribal)

Yeah I was aware of that, but honestly Ruhan is, like, the worst possible choice for that sort of thing. It's literally the opposite of "you did this to yourself"; it's "this is happening to you for no reason whatsoever".

Just to make sure I wasn't missing something, I read his article about the deck from 2021 and the only things he says about Ruhan helming the deck are:

As I was building the deck, I wanted a commander that was the least likely to be leading a deck like this. That's why I settled on Ruhan of the Fomori, who always wants to be battling—the exact opposite of what the deck does.

I've gotten a surprisingly small number of commander damage kills with Ruhan over the years. Because of the random nature of the attacks and its normal lack of evasion, it just doesn't get through that often. I'd say in all the games I've played with it over nearly a decade, the number of commander damage kills is barely into double digits.

Not sure why the commander that makes the least sense for the deck, or being chronically ineffective, would be a selling point? The deck was originally built in 2012 according to the article, at which time there weren't a ton of options for Jeskai tbh, but given that we now have many, many alternatives it seems like at some point in the intervening years he would have considered changing the commander, but apparently not.

[Hermes_]

Not sure why the commander that makes the least sense for the deck, or being chronically ineffective, would be a selling point? The deck was originally built in 2012 according to the article, at which time there weren't a ton of options for Jeskai tbh, but given that we now have many, many alternatives it seems like at some point in the intervening time he would have considered changing the commander, but apparently not.

I was going to link to the article myself hours ago and simply go with the explanation of he went with it for the colors and his reasonings seem to go with that. I'm sure you can pick a better commander for the deck now with our choices. In fact, which Jeskai commander would you go with for his deck?

[DirkGently]

@Hermes_ interesting question - assuming I'm not allowed to change the decklist at all (which obviously eliminates a lot of possible options) I think there are two strong candidates that I favor:

Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker + Jeska, Thrice Reborn keeps a commander damage wincon while 1) not sucking horribly and 2) keeping in theme with the deck by being buffed by enemy spell castings - if you didn't cast so many spells, ishai wouldn't be lethal etc.

Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest is also a decent commander damage killer, but even better he can buff enemy creatures, including those who are attacking you to increase the damage you're reflecting (admittedly most of these effects only trigger "the next time", and so won't work with double strike, but some like Mirror Strike apply to all instances, or you could use multiple spells to reflect each instance of damage if you have enough of them available).

[Guardman]

Per Good Morning Magic, Sheldon chose Ruhan of the Fomori and Inkshield personally. The reasoning can be found in the video below.

[DirkGently]

@Guardman It makes perfect sense that Ruhan would be chosen for the collection given that it helmed his favorite deck for a decade - I'm just expressing my disappointment that his decision to never update the commander to something more compelling has inevitably resulted in his signature card being one that hardly anyone wants to play.

Inkshield, teferi's protection, sol ring, command tower, greater good - people are going to pick up the secret lair and then play those cards in their decks. But the one with his name on it is going to rot in trade binders, if not bulk bins. Seems a shame.

[Guardman]

@Guardman It makes perfect sense that Ruhan would be chosen for the collection given that it helmed his favorite deck for a decade - I'm just expressing my disappointment that his decision to never update the commander to something more compelling has inevitably resulted in his signature card being one that hardly anyone wants to play.

Inkshield, teferi's protection, sol ring, command tower, greater good - people are going to pick up the secret lair and then play those cards in their decks. But the one with his name on it is going to rot in trade binders, if not bulk bins. Seems a shame.

I will say, I have seen a Giant tribal Ruhan deck once that looked like a lot of fun. And he is the right colors for it. So while not as popular as Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, I do think he is a fun, if a bit niche commander, which is better than fine. It's the type of commander that the format is all about. It rotting away in a trade binder is not a concern. Let the other cards around it be the staples and money. Sheldon, the Commander should be the commander that spoke to him the most.

[DirkGently]

I will say, I have seen a Giant tribal Ruhan deck once that looked like a lot of fun. And he is the right colors for it. So while not as popular as Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, I do think he is a fun, if a bit niche commander, which is better than fine. It's the type of commander that the format is all about. It rotting away in a trade binder is not a concern. Let the other cards around it be the staples and money. Sheldon, the Commander should be the commander that spoke to him the most.

Ruhan is used for giant tribal purely because it's the only legendary giant in that CI. He's bad enough that plenty of non-giants would almost certainly be superior options, but tribal players gonna tribal so the commander needs to have the same tag. But the nanosecond any other decent legendary giant gets printed in Jeskai - let alone one with an actual tribal payoff - everyone who played Ruhan for giant tribal is dropping him like a hot potato.

All he does is attack, and he even denies you the ability to interact with one of the most compelling parts of multiplayer magic - threat assessment. I'm sorry but I cannot consider that "fun", and it's barely even "niche" because he doesn't support any niches outside of having a particular creature type. None of that, in my opinion, constitutes "what the format is about".

Shu Yun is "fun and niche", Sevinne is "fun and niche", Zedruu is "fun and niche". Ruhan is boring and aimless.

If that's the commander that spoke to Sheldon, well, it is what it is. No accounting for taste. But I'm just saying, it would be nice if people had the option to build decks in tribute to him without the commander being a millstone around the deck's neck.

[Hermes_]

I will say that the match that i watched before the previews no one did any real comboing that I could tell, It was all swinging with creatures. I will note however that I barely paid attention and was more focused on the chat lol.

[Guardman]

I will say, I have seen a Giant tribal Ruhan deck once that looked like a lot of fun. And he is the right colors for it. So while not as popular as Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, I do think he is a fun, if a bit niche commander, which is better than fine. It's the type of commander that the format is all about. It rotting away in a trade binder is not a concern. Let the other cards around it be the staples and money. Sheldon, the Commander should be the commander that spoke to him the most.

Ruhan is used for giant tribal purely because it's the only legendary giant in that CI. He's bad enough that plenty of non-giants would almost certainly be superior options, but tribal players gonna tribal so the commander needs to have the same tag. But the nanosecond any other decent legendary giant gets printed in Jeskai - let alone one with an actual tribal payoff - everyone who played Ruhan for giant tribal is dropping him like a hot potato.

All he does is attack, and he even denies you the ability to interact with one of the most compelling parts of multiplayer magic - threat assessment. I'm sorry but I cannot consider that "fun", and it's barely even "niche" because he doesn't support any niches outside of having a particular creature type. None of that, in my opinion, constitutes "what the format is about".

Shu Yun is "fun and niche", Sevinne is "fun and niche", Zedruu is "fun and niche". Ruhan is boring and aimless.

If that's the commander that spoke to Sheldon, well, it is what it is. No accounting for taste. But I'm just saying, it would be nice if people had the option to build decks in tribute to him without the commander being a millstone around the deck's neck.

Look I don't want to throw stones (though I kind of do), but I find it funny when you're main Commander is Phelddagrif, one of the most unfun and miserable commanders to play against that actively promotes an unfun playstyle (and a certain amount of griefing), that you are complaining that Ruhan of the Fomori is boring and aimless. (And before you get into it, yes, I understand your Phelddagrif deck is different than a kingmaker or group hug deck, but I have never played against the Purple Hippo of Grief when it wasn't leading some sort of kingmaker or group hug deck that just wanted to make the game as miserable as possible). I could see myself enjoying Ruhan a lot as a person who enjoys Giants, Overstated Creatures, Strange Restrictions on Creatures, and Chaos.

Every commander is someone's favorite or least favorite. I love Etali in all her forms. I hate any commanders that are meant just for uninteractive combos. I have people at my LGS who believe in the exact opposite of that. And I would much rather people be encouraged play a fair commander like Ruhan of the Fomori who supports interactive gameplay than something like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Animar, Soul of Elements, or Gaddock Teeg.