Herald of Secret Streams or Abzan Falconer?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 14, 2020, 4:46 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
In my Atraxa EDH deck, I have Herald of Secret Streams, because of how awesome that card is, but I am considering replacing it with Abzan Falconer, which I actually had in that deck before I replaced it with Merfolk Skydiver.
Being unblockable is very awesome, but the falconer has a lower mana cost than does the herald, it can put a +1/+1 counter on itself, and flying is usually more versatile than is unblockability (i.e., it has both offensive and defensive uses, whereas unblockability has only offensive uses), so such a replacement does seem to be very appealing.
What does everyone else say about this? Should I replace Herald of Secret Streams with Abzan Falconer?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
hejtmane, that sounds to me like another point in favor of Abzan Falconer; it will not be as major of a target of removal spells as will be Herald of Secret Streams, so I thank you for that advice.
March 14, 2020 5:10 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #4
If fliers are a problem or herald gets removed a lot then make the switch.
March 14, 2020 5:20 p.m.
TaurenMonk says... #5
demondragonj, how is someone saying that herald is better, a point in favor of falconer?
March 14, 2020 7:29 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #6
TaurenMonk he likely considers the fact that people are more likely to target herald a mark against it.
March 14, 2020 7:44 p.m.
If you want flying for your creatures I would go Levitation over Abzan less enchantment removal thn creature and less likely to get hated on for enchantment removal
March 14, 2020 7:55 p.m.
TaurenMonk says... #8
DrukenReaps: i guess. kinda a weird stance to take though. thats like saying Shock is better than Lightning Bolt because if an opponent uses an Inquisition of Kozilek and sees both they'll take the bolt lol.
March 14, 2020 8 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #9
Why not include both for redundancy? I mean exile is a thing.
March 14, 2020 8:20 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #10
TaurenMonk I think it depends on how a group reacts to a card. When I pull out my Mairsil deck I know that I'm getting targeted that game. At one point I almost pulled the deck apart because every single piece of removal anyone draws was being pointed at me... (not really a problem anymore, btw) So if the sight of Herald of Secret Streams causes his whole group to come after him until the card is destroyed/exiled. Then it is perfectly logical to remove it for something that people target less. That said your argument that it is a silly reason to not play something also has merit.
March 14, 2020 8:48 p.m.
TaurenMonk says... #11
DrukenReaps: i also can't help but feel that he should know whether or not his playgroup has fliers. if they do, the herald is clearly superior, whereas if they don't then its pretty much equal. honestly though, i just don't understand why the question is being posed as though he can't run both. multiple sources of evasion is generally a good thing.
hejtmane says... #2
Depends on your deck but when I drop Herald I always become target number one in my proliferate deck. I was running atrax but switched to bant proliferate to be different. Anyways I am not sure about the rest of your deck but when I drop creatures like Kalonian Hydra and Jenara, Asura of War Managorger HydraPrimordial Hydra hearld is 500 ties better than Abzan. Really comes down to deck but I prefer herald
Here's my deck if interested +1/+1 Counter/Proliferate
March 14, 2020 5:02 p.m.