The New Teferi
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on June 6, 2020, 10:36 a.m. by RiotRunner789
Does anyone else think this card is the absolute worst? Particularly in commander you can, the second turns he's out, have gone looting* through 8 cards and get a free Time Stretch while still having him on board. And, that's with no interaction with effects like Oath of Teferi or Doubling Season.
Don't get me wrong, I need 10 of these but it's ridiculous that I will need to get 10 of these.
*Corrected rummage to looting
SynergyBuild says... #3
Honestly it's more powerful than that.
Assume this is a normal commander game, ever had someone drop a Avenger of Zendikar in a landfall list or a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker? Tons of creatures have incredible, immediate value when they hit and need instant-speed removal or else they could get out of hand, or in a plurality of cases, win the game.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria may have a often considered more powerful removal effect, since it can hit more permanents, but unlike this one, which can loot 3 times and phase a creature out each turn cycle all at instant speed, it's really arguable.
Also, is looting 4 times really worse than drawing a card? especially when it is instant speed, so if you need the draw after you tutor to top, or in response to a removal spell on your Laboratory Maniac effect with an empty library?
Point is, I think this is a better walker in edh than Oko, Thief of Crowns, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Dack Fayden, etc. I think is has a stronger on the game than people assume. I think it is a cEDH playable card that will be commonly run in semi-competitive, casual, or mid-tier games.
It's not easy to see why when it hits the field the game changes so drastically. It immediately can plus, so a Lightning Bolt isn't a clean answer, and once it plus on your turn the next player's turn it can remove a creature and survive. That means any game-changing creature card that has immediate impact can be stopped for long enough to be dealt with. Suddenly people will pass, knowing their bomb creature spells, oftentimes their commanders are liable to be phased out. Assuming a player wants to cast a Sram, and then toss an aura on it, if the Sram is phased out in response, the aura goes away, and they only got a card.
If someone casts a Godo, to grab helm, and moves to attach it and then it is phased out, suddenly they need to hope their helm isn't dead by the time they come back, and even if it isn't, the 3 loots from the Teferi will lead the godo player to basically be in the same place, "Do I waste 5 more mana and just hope eventually they don't phase it out?" or until godo or helm is removed.
The same thing goes for tons of other creatures. Now this is a game of not playing things until teferi is gone. However, as a walker in commander, lots of people are packing creature removal, enchantment removal, and artifact removal, assuming their creatures will deal with it, but the walker will be able to dissuade them from playing powerful, teferi-killing creatures. Ever been in combat with a tribal deck, make fair blocks, then remove their lord? Oftentimes, the tribal deck suddenly lost all of their traded creatures without killing on of your creatures.
Now imagine instead of a removal spell, it's a teferi on the field. Instead, since your opponents know about it, they won't even attack, now you get to loot, the next player might have the same thing, showing the threat of removal means that neither player will even attack it.
This gives you absurd board control and card selection, to a game-changing state, for one card, with capabilities outside of that, yes, the ultimate. Taking two turns for most decks means that you win. With a walker in play? It means you have to be unlucky to have a chance to not win.
Have a large amount of card selection right before the two turns, often 7-8 loots? Unless your deck can't win, you should almost always win. Yes, two turns is enough time to win, if it wasn't, maybe the fact that you have a walker that ticks up in those two turns over time, to get you two more later will make that an easy win. The point is this card gives you the tools to control the board, fix your hand, and win the game, in a way that scales hard with the EDH format, to the point that it is outclassing a large number of the engines that were already considered busted in the format.
Seedborn Muse/Thrasios, Triton Hero engines in decks like Medium Green or the variety of Akiri/Thrasios value lists are nearly combos, that in a 1v1 of this gets beaten. The draw may be more powerful than the loot, but fact that it is harder to remove, doesn't give removal, and doesn't immediately win the game at a certain point means that I'd argue this new teferi is better.
That is insane. This card isn't super overpowered since it isn't the easiest thing to get out, but I am putting a copy in basically ever EDH deck with blue I can fit it into.
June 6, 2020 11:57 a.m.
SynergyBuild you seriously hit the nail on the head, it’s pretty bonkers the influence it will have.
June 6, 2020 1:53 p.m.
SynergyBuild says... #5
Btw as a side note it can be pitched to Force of Will in seperate copies like Oko, Thief of Crowns, Delver of Secrets Flip, Dack Fayden, Jace, the Mind Sculptor etc. which makes it particularly powerful for other formats like legacy in cases where you can't cast it, most often due to mana issues, you'd be able to get some value from it.
Also, instant speed doesn't just mean 2x/4x (format dependent) of the activations, it means the difference of any instant-speed draw effect or any sorcery speed draw effect. You activate it after you decide if you need to use something else on an end-step, or in response to a spell that would stop you from using it.
Narset, Parter of Veils may seem like a good counter, and while relying on Narset isn't what I want to do, it also just is bad at it. Activating it on an opponent's turn will work fine, and that just means you only activate it 3/4 times in a 4 player game, or 1/2 times in a 2 player game, with no downside, and you certainly can still +1 even after you draw in a lot of cases, especially when you are either a graveyard or madness deck or are hellbent at any point. Narset and effects like it work minimally against this.
Obviously cards like Needle, Spyglass, counterspells, removal, and anything else can kill it, but like Oko, Thief of Crowns, this protects itself against creatures, and has way too much loyalty/ability to gain loyalty. It's just too good, specifically in EDH, but elsewhere it has value too. Any way to abuse phasing opponents creatures or the massive looting effects, perhaps in any graveyard matters deck, and suddenly this card is going to be overpriced as well as overpowered.
A good walker can handle it's price if it is an EDH only thing, but as soon as it is a legacy or modern or vintage staple people need more than 1 copy, and mythics suddenly become impossible to find.
Get your copies.
June 6, 2020 6:26 p.m.
RiotRunner789 says... #6
I kinda miss some of the old way magic did things. Core were 'beginner' boosters that were mostly reprints that helped smooth out standard. The block sets were 'expert' boosters that added flavor and some power.
I like a good powerful set but the frequency of those sets is becoming overwhelming. WOTC should push the envelope but I don't believe they should try to push it this hard almost every set.
I'm just crossing my fingers Teferi gets banned in EDH. It's just going to be a bumpy ride waiting the few months before it happens and trying to fit him into every blue deck I have until it happens.
June 6, 2020 9:15 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
I definitely think that this new Teferi is overpowered, but, unlike Jace, he, at least, has a reason to be overpowered, since he is centuries old and has experienced much during that time.
I definitely think that four mana is too low of a cost for such a powerful planeswalker; I would have had him cost five, or even six, mana, to prevent him from being too powerful.
Why is it that only he, of all the planeswalkers in this set, has a static ability? Also, why is he mono-blue, again, after having been blue-white for his past several incarnations?
Given how powerful this new Teferi is, I can only wonder if WotC could ever actually print a card of Urza as a planeswalker (not counting Urza, Academy Headmaster), since such a card might be too powerful, or, perhaps, no card could truly and properly portray Urza at the height of his powers (which is also the case with Yawgmoth).
June 7, 2020 8:58 a.m.
RiotRunner789 says... #8
I believe the reason he is mono-blue is because the last core set had a highlighted mono-color planeswalker as a theme. Last set was Chandra (with the Mythic kinda having a static ability) and I wouldn't be surprised if we also get a rare and uncommon Teferi from different ages/times (which would make the mono-blue a more appropriate throwback to early Teferi /cards.
My guess is each core set with have a planeswalker theme until we've gone through each of the colors. The only thing that doesn't make sense with my guess is why Teferi and not Jace. It would make the most sense to do the original 5.
June 7, 2020 9:39 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
RiotRunner, I thought that WotC said that that was a rare special treatment for Chandra, portraying her at different parts of her life/training, and I would rather it remain that way, to keep planeswalkers feeling special and awe-inspiring.
Gidgetimer says... #2
Technically it is looting, not rummaging but yeah he is nucking futs.
(Forgive me if you just meant "rummaging" in a more. general sense. I was just thinking along the lines it is used to refer to actions in MtG. Merfolk Looter vs Rummaging Goblin)
June 6, 2020 10:54 a.m.