Battlebond Spoilers Threaad
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on May 21, 2018, 6:01 p.m. by sylvannos
Posting since there isn't a topic yet.
Some interesting things so far:
Amazing Comeback
Instant
If you and your partner would lose the game this turn, instead draw 7 cards and your life total becomes 1. Exile Amazing Comeback.
I like this one as a draw 7 in Ad Nauseam.
New reprint!
And of course, the new partner mechanic:
Battlebond will be released on June 8th. 2018. It will be a set meant for team play, specifically 2-Headed Giant.
The friend or foe mechanic is probably going to give a lot of new toys for edh. Can see a lot of new group hug cards and some good 2+ for 1s.
May 21, 2018 11:24 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #4
Do i get it right that the new "partner with" mechanic also implies legendaries with it can also be partner commanders?
May 22, 2018 12:40 a.m.
Yes, Legendaries with Partner with can be Partners with the named card. So Pir and Toothy can both be your Commanders at the same time.
May 22, 2018 2:15 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #8
DemonDragonJ, there are some significant biological differences between men and women that could lead to choices made to have different lengths of hair, such as the fact that "[d]uring cold exposure, women will likely experience greater hypothermia than men", which means that long hair may be helpful in keeping warm for them. (Source)
On top of that, it makes sense that sometimes "real-world trends" arise due to the effects that we see in the real world, and that those effects being changed don't actually improve the fantasy world significantly. Even in this world, some men have long hair, and some women have short or no hair at all. So maybe, Will and Rowan's adherence to this "real-world trend" is indicative of their personalities, and to change that simply for diversity's sake would be creatively ill-fitting.
May 22, 2018 8:24 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #10
I honestly didn't know this set was a thing until today, but I love that this set is strictly two-headed giant.
The new "Partner with" mechanic is interesting, especially since you automatically tutor for the other partner when you cast the first. Just an FYI, you can not partner a "Partner" commander with a "Partner with" commander (i.e. Thrasios, Triton Hero with Krav, the Unredeemed)
Assist looks like a fantastic political tool for EDH.
Holy reprints Batman! Doubling Season, True-Name Nemesis, Diabolic Intent, Vigor, Land Tax, and Sower of Temptation all are much appreciated. Teammates are going to have to set some ground rules on who gets to keep what prior to drafting for sure.
The W/B partner legends look very interesting as commanders and that planeswalker tutor seems a bit OP.
May 22, 2018 12:02 p.m.
Anyone seen Arena Rector yet? The THE most broken card i've seen
May 22, 2018 1:55 p.m.
Arena Rector hype is definitely for realz. Smart on Wizards for making the Partner Walkers Izzet and not Selesnya
May 22, 2018 3:42 p.m.
I saw the spoilers for the first time today and immediately pre-ordered two boxes. Needless to say, I’m quite pleased with how this set is developing...I think whoever said EDH Masters hit it right on the nose.
May 22, 2018 5:55 p.m.
It is a tad disingenuous to call a fashion choice a trend when it was already an ancient practice during short-haired Augustus’ reign. From being safer in battle, to easier to clean, to showing you have the wealth to be constantly barbered, etc., there are numerous reasons why a fantasy character might wear their hair short.
Besides, Gideon, Sorin, and Tezzeret would like to remind you there is not a lack of long-haired planeswalkers.
Back on topic, this set is not really for me, but I appreciate what they are doing. It should be very interesting to see what unusual mechanics they come up with.
May 22, 2018 6:55 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
I really like the reprint of Land Tax, as it has been too long since that card was last reprinted, but not that of True-Name Nemesis, as that card is extremely difficult to defeat if you are the chosen player.
Since WotC has not yet revealed their relationship, are Will and Rowan Kenrith lovers, siblings, or something else?
MagicalHacker, that is very informative; I did not know that, so I thank you very much.
MWorl91, I am sorry that I need to ask, but why does it matter what colors the planeswalkers are?
cdkime, that is very true, and is also the reason that modern military men in actuality wear their hair short, as well. Also, as a side note, one of the reasons that long hair is considered a sign of beauty (more often for women) is that it is evidence that a person can afford the luxury of caring for their hair, as a hunter/gatherer or a farmer will be so busy with their job that they likely will not have time to care for their hair. As another side note, that is also the reason for which many cultures consider fair skin to be a sign of beauty; someone with fair skin can afford the luxury of remaining inside, while someone with dark skin likely is toiling outside all day long.
May 22, 2018 9:35 p.m.
DemonDragonJ: The Kenriths are likely to be siblings.
Regna and Krav however...
It's highly possible that they're lovers. Anyway, on the two themselves: My hype died down on the Kenriths when I saw this pair. They are glorious together: Regna triggers on each end step. As long as you got some open, you're going to get a lot of cards and more. There's already Grave Pact and its ilk, Soul Sisters, and token-related stuff.
May 22, 2018 9:51 p.m.
DankStompy says... #18
DemonDragonJ short hair on a dude seems like a rather silly thing to be upset about.
May 22, 2018 10 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #19
So add on Greater Good and Seedborn Muse reprints, hot dayum!
Phaetion, I too am extremely interested in Regna and Krav. They ooze an aristocrat style build...but I just want them to lead an Angel and Demon tribal build. Also they are most definitely lovers (see Regna's Sanction flavor text).
May 23, 2018 12:23 a.m.
Some more spoilers:
Virtaz's Virtue
Sorcery
For each player, choose friend or foe. Each friend returns a creature card from their graveyard to their hand. Each foe sacrifices a creature.
This card is funny, but I don't think it's all that playable:
You're more limited by there not being any really obscene planeswalkers (vs. Academy Rector which grabs Omniscience or Yawgmoth's Bargain). About the most broken thing you can get is Garruk, Apex Predator or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
This is also interesting:
It's a solid EDH card because players that are behind will help you cast it. It's not completely unplayable in 2HG, either, since you and your teammate can each play 3 mana to help cast it, meaning you can cast it early on. It's especially powerful if your team was able to dump most of the cards out of their hands first and letting the other team only draw 3 or 4 cards.
It also feels like there's better reprints than Iconic Masters lol:
May 23, 2018 1 a.m.
I know about the flavor text of the card. It just isn't fully explained. The love could be unrequited for all we know.
Also, aristocrats is one way to do it, but I also see tokens and lifegain here. Maybe a deck that has all three elements working together?
May 23, 2018 8:47 a.m.
@DemonDragonJ
By putting cards that are extremely good with Planeswalkers in the same colors of those Planeswalkers you create a limited environment that is very unbalanced in the colors of the Planeswalkers. If the Kenrith’s were white/green and could easily be paired with Arena Rector and Doubling Season they could be arguably broken in a limited environment. By putting them in different colors than those cards it makes it harder to balance your mana if you decide to play (get lucky enough to get) all those cards making them a bit fairer.
May 23, 2018 9:47 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #24
Phaetion possibly, but that flavor text and Krav's artwork seems pretty clear to me. Though if it was a situation of unrequited love, you would have a total role reversal from what you would expect between a demon and an angel. That would make for some spicy story telling.
When I think aristocrats I automatically think tokens and lifegain. They are so intertwined in B/W that I it would hamper the deck by not including either. Quite frankly, these two look powerful enough to knock Elenda, the Dusk Rose from her perch as commander, or they go into her 99 as a value engine/wincon at least.
May 23, 2018 10:31 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor: Elenda would actually be a auto-include in the deck. Sacing 2 creatures each turn to make Elenda bigger sounds really good.
We'll wait and see on their lore though. I'm definitely curious.
May 23, 2018 11:06 a.m.
I personally don't see why Arena Rector's tutor effect is limited to Karn or Ugin. On turn one, you Flash the Arena and grab Nicol Bolas, then use its mass discard effect each turn. It grinds the game really quick as you are building up your board.
May 23, 2018 1:38 p.m.
...Well I'm happy about the Sower of Temptation reprint for my budget Naban wizards, but I can't see Spellseeker being inexpensive. Seeing people use the words "vintage" and "playable" when describing it...
May 23, 2018 2:18 p.m.
New Vintage playable and possibly needs to be restricted from the get go:
This card is nuts. Grabs Mana Drain, Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, Burning Wish, Flash...and it's blue so it pitches to Force of Will? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
I wish this was in Modern:
Nirkana Revenant
Creature - Vampire Shade
Whenever you tap a Swamp for mana, add to your mana pool (in addition to the mana the land produces).
: Nirkana Revenant hets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Also another reprint:
May 23, 2018 2:33 p.m.
Catalog9000--this set will not be Standard-legal, though a more apt analogy would be the Conspiracy sets.
May 23, 2018 10 p.m.
DankStompy says... #30
Catalog9000: considering the reveal of Swords to Plowshares and True-Name Nemesis, i think even without googling the set its safe to say it will not be standard legal.
May 23, 2018 10:04 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #31
The reprint of Seedborn Muse is another reprint that I have been desiring very much, since I will be needing one for an EDH deck that I am building. With all the great reprints in this set, would it be too much to hope that WotC may reprint Rhystic Study in it?
I also am very fond of archfiend of despair, since I am surprised that it took WotC so long to print a creature version of Wound Reflection, and I actually made such a creature as my own custom card quite some time ago.
I also am very pleased to see black cards that are causing loss of life, rather than dealing damage, as Dominaria had me worried that WotC was changing how black functioned.
Another reprint of Swords to Plowshares is always welcome, but I really wish that it had new art, because the current art, while awesome, has been used numerous times, currently.
May 23, 2018 10:58 p.m.
Honestly I love this sets legendaries so far. Like each of them are interesting and interact with their other half really really well.
May 23, 2018 11:38 p.m.
Some more reprints:
New Storm card, although I'm not sure how playable it is. If Storm can untap with it, it will absolutely kill someone.
This guy ate his partner!
"Be a real shame if someone bounced your Kor Spiritdancer..."
These guys are really neat:
I especially like that they don't have to attack first before they get their coin flips.
I wish this had haste so I could jam it into my Goblin deck:
Still an interesting card.
May 24, 2018 4:45 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #34
Big fan of the red and blue legend pair. They just seem like a whole lot of fun. The reprints of this set just keep hitting it out of the park as well.
We also got a 5-color warrior legend for all of you warrior tribalists out there:
May 24, 2018 11:08 a.m.
...and just like that, a few things happened in 12 hours:
I built Zdnrsplt and Okaun.
Frenetic Efreet is now $15.
I buy into Warrior tribal.
...this set just keeps pulling money out of my wallet.
May 24, 2018 11:15 a.m. Edited.
5 warriors + Najeela + Druids' Repository = Infinite.
It's kinda nuts. If you were lucky, you could run weenies and get infinite combat.
May 24, 2018 11:48 a.m.
Suns_Champion says... #37
Extremely excited to use this bad boy in Neheb, the Eternal:
May 24, 2018 12:22 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #38
Would it be too much to hope for a reprint of Chromatic Lantern in this set? That card definitely is much more expensive than it should be, so could use another reprint.
May 24, 2018 8:19 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #39
I gotta say, this set looks like a blast and the reprints are on point. Doubling Season, Greater Good, Seedborn Muse, Vigor, Beast Within, Veteran Explorer, Skyshroud Claim, War's Toll, Magmatic Force, Nirkana Revenant, Diabolic Intent, Mystic Confluence, Sower of Temptation, Land Tax, Mycosynth Lattice, and Mind's Eye are all commander staples in need of reprints. Plus we even got some other great commander goodies with these awesome partner legends and Arena Rector.
And we were blessed with this amazing card/artwork:
This set is a solid 'A' in my book, but then again, multi-player formats are my jam so I may be biased.
May 25, 2018 12:14 p.m.
So what would be the archetypes/themes to look for when drafting this set? So far I'm thinking
- UR storm
- Abzan/bant +1/+1 counters
- BR(W?) warriors
What do you think? Also, how will this set be drafted? I have never done a 2HG draft.
May 25, 2018 12:46 p.m.
I have to admit. I was excited for Regna/Krav, but Najeela and Zndrsplt/Okaun stole the spotlight for me.
I had some wacky things happen with the latter (Drawing 10 cards with Zndrsplt and having a 24/24 Okaun that dealt double damage as examples).
May 25, 2018 12:57 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #42
May 25, 2018 1:03 p.m.
Today has thrown up some really bizarre reprints. Flavour all over the place - Urborg Drake, Oreskos Explorer, Dinrova Horror, Eyeblight Assassin, Pulse of Murasa, Kraul Warrior ...
Don't get me wrong, the good reprints are amazing and the set overall is great. The feel of some of these is very odd though.
Reminds me of the junk plane from Thor, Ragnarok where stuff just shows up from other places. Maybe it's supposed to? Is there background to this?
May 25, 2018 4:05 p.m.
Today has thrown up some really bizarre reprints. Flavour all over the place - urborg drake, oreskos explorer, dinrova horror, eyeblight assassin, pulse of murasa, kraul warrior...
Don't get me wrong, the good reprints are amazing and the set overall is great. The feel of some of these is very odd though.
Reminds me of the junk plane from Thor: Ragnarok where stuff just shows up from all over. Maybe it's supposed to? Any background to that effect?
May 25, 2018 4:07 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #46
I really like how there is now a white equivalent of Morphling, Torchling, and Thornling: brightling. Hopefully, there shall eventually be a black equivalent, to complete the cycle.
With the printing of arena rector, a reference to Academy Rector, will there eventually be equivalents that search for artifacts, creatures, and lands?
How is fan favorite black? Black is the least cooperative and most selfish of all the colors, so I believe that it should be either red, white, or green, the colors of community and cooperation.
May 25, 2018 4:47 p.m.
@BS-T: yeah it does seem odd. There's a lot of Ravnica and Theros cards reprinted this set that are specific to those two planes.
May 25, 2018 4:52 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #48
BS-T: Agreed. We have one more story until the current Dominaria story line ends. When WoTC did oddball sets in the past (i.e. Unstable and Conspiracy #2) they did a few stories centered around each plane to break up the main story line. My guess is we will find out what the deal is with Kylem in two weeks.
May 25, 2018 5:54 p.m.
In non Standard sets like this they’re not as strict on every card being flavorfully accurate. Reprints get added to balance limited regardless of flavor and lore. Similar things happened with Conspiracy. UnStable was only different because they didn’t want to print a bunch of black border reprints alongside the silverbordered cards
May 25, 2018 10:20 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #50
I am very surprised that the surge mechanic from Battle for Zendikar was not reused in this set, given that it was intended for the two-headed giant format, as is this set; does anyone have any guess as to why WotC did not use that mechanic in this set?
DemonDragonJ says... #2
I am rather displeased that Will Kenrith has short hair, as this is a fantasy setting, so real-world trends should not apply; the idea that short hair is masculine is a human concept that has no basis in biology, so why is it so persistent?
On a more positive note, I am overjoyed that Doubling Season is being reprinted, again! I need a copy for and EDH deck that I shall soon be building, so this reprint is perfectly timed. I dislike how it has been increased to a mythic rare, but it should still definitely decrease in price.
May 21, 2018 10:02 p.m.