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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Cenn's Tactician
Creature — Kithkin Soldier
, : Put a +1/+1 counter on target Soldier creature.
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it can block an additional creature.
legendofa on How Do You Feel About …
4 weeks ago
Battles are in kind of a weird spot at this point. Battles have shown up in one set, and they all have the same subtype. While that does make it easy to predict that more battles will show up in the future, it makes it hard to guess what they'll look like. Also, I would say they're the most flavor-restricted card type. Any plane that has a physical location will have lands. Planes with some form of biological (or abiological, theoretically--Elemental world?) activity will have creatures. Any plane that has magic, or tactics, or anything that happens will have instants, sorceries, and enchantments, and any plane that has manufactured goods will have artifacts. Planeswalkers show up wherever they want. Not every plane will have battles.
Military conflict is a core part of the game, but some planes and stories aren't as conflict-centric as others. Aside from weird events like the Battle of the Bridge or the Decamillennial, I don't see Kaladesh or Ravnica having many domestic large-scale battles (and the Battle of the Bridge arguably wasn't domestic), and I'm not sure what a Lorwyn battle would be like. A Cenn's Tactician gets antsy and decides the flamekin are being too rambunctious? Elves unite and make a determined assault against eyeblights?
On the production side, the developers are being very careful, testing the waters and seeing what the reaction is. If they wanted feedback before creating any more, and they started to receive mass feedback in the last couple months, it's going to be another 3-4 years before we see another set with battles.
So battles are in kind of an amorphous state right now. One variety has been seen that suggests more will come, no information on what other varieties could look like has been provided, they're not appropriate for all sets or locations, and it's possible there aren't any battles in production at all right now.
Were they necessary in the strictest sense? Honestly, I don't think so. The game could probably continue indefinitely without them, and I don't think anyone specifically requested or expected a new card type before Atraxa, Grand Unifier was previewed. They do, however, represent new innovation and variety. Successful experiments become standards, and unsuccessful experiments become lessons. I think battles are going to finish as successful experiments, but it's going to take several analyses to fully get there. If my eyeballed production timeline is right, I don't expect to see more than two or three more sets with battles before 2030. After that, either they'll start coming in full force or they'll be shelved as a weird footnote.
irmsilver on Legolas' Quick Reflexes + Tap …
2 months ago
You are correct that triggered abilities controlled by the same player and simultaneously triggering can be placed on the stack in the order of your choosing. But that's not what's happening here. There's an activated ability, and a triggered ability. They are different, and aren't simultaneous.
Cenn's Tactician is an activated ability. Activated abilities follows this format: cost, colon (:), effect. The cost is {W},{T}, followed by a colon, and the effect is to put a +1/+1 counter on target soldier creature. It's not a trigger. You can activate it whenever you choose as long as you have priority.
Legolas's Quick Reflexes creates a triggered ability on the targeted creature. Triggered abilities follow the format of "when certain conditions are met, do the following action(s)." You don't "activate" it, even though you can cause it to trigger with Tactician's activated ability. It will trigger for any reason the creature becomes tapped, and go on the stack as soon as possible. But it will not trigger unless the creature becomes tapped first. In this case, it cannot trigger without you first activating and paying the costs to place Tactician's ability on the stack, and as soon as you do, only after does it trigger. The it goes on the stack after the activated ability already has, and then the stack resolves top to bottom, with the triggered ability resolving first, and the activated ability second.
irmsilver on Legolas' Quick Reflexes + Tap …
2 months ago
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Yes. After your opponent declares attackers and you’ve untapped Cenn's Tactician with Legolas's Quick Reflexes, you can proceed to Declare Blockers Step. After you’ve declared Tactician as a blocker, both players have a chance to cast spells/activate abilities before the Combat Damage Step. Tapping it as part of a cost to activate its ability won’t remove it from combat, and its ability will resolve and give itself a +1/+1 counter before you proceed to the Combat Damage Step.
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Sadly, no. Legolas's Quick Reflexes creates a triggered ability that triggers whenever the creature becomes tapped for any reason, and will be placed on the stack whenever this happens as soon as possible. Once you’ve activated Tactician’s ability by paying the cost of {W} and tapping it, the triggered ability triggers and goes on the stack above it, and will resolve before Tactician gets a counter.
Andromedus on Legolas' Quick Reflexes + Tap …
2 months ago
I have a tapped Cenn's Tactician in play. Opponent attacks. I cast Legolas's Quick Reflexes on the Cenn with intent to both block and use the Cenn's tap ability to a) pump itself and b) ping a creature.
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Does the +1/+1 counter land before the block happens? I assume that one is yes. But the one I'm stumped on is
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Does the +1/+1 counter land before the ping damage from Legolas?
Thanks much for your help on this.
Andromedus on Cenn's Tactition and Gang Blocking
5 months ago
Ok, thank you! I'm still confused about how to apply this in an actual game, where there may be two Cenn's Tacticians in play creating the opportunity for all kinds of triple-block-with-gang-block overlap shenanigans. I'm just not sure how to untangle everything much less use it to my advantage when defending.
Andromedus on Cenn's Tactition and Gang Blocking
5 months ago
Let's say I have a Cenn's Tactician (with one +1/+1 counter on it) in play, and two Botanical Brawlers both of which have 4x +1/+1 counters. I also have a Giver of Runes in play (no summoning sickness).
My opponent attacks with 3x Acid Web Spiders.
A. Can I assign each Botanical Brawler to block two Acid Web Spiders so that one of them is gang-blocked while the other two are blocked only by one Botanical Brawler?
B. Alternatively, could I also block the two solo-blocked Acid Web Spiders with the Cenn's Tactician so that all three spiders are double-blocked and one is also gang blocked?
Is it just me or does damage assignment in this case get very complicated (assuming this blocking is allowed)? And we only have one Cenn's Tactician in play, imagine if we had more! I get that the attacking player assigns damage first, choosing which gang blockers he prioritizes in order. That part seems relatively straightforward.
C. But then how is the double-block and gang block damage assigned by the defending player? The defending player chooses which creature to assign double-blocked damage, and then what happens with gang blocker damage?
D. And then after my opponent assigns combat damage I assume I can potentially respond to save one of my creatures with the Giver of Runes, which further complicates things for the attacker?
Maybe I'm overthinking this?
HeadinPants on
Avatar: The Last Airbender
9 months ago
I absolutely love the flavor that you put into this deck, it's awesome! My main critique is about Sokka. You're absolutely right that he's a 2/1 (minimally I doubt his total P/T is more than 4), but I feel that your current representation of him sells him short- he earned his reputation in the gaang as the ideas guy, and is a brilliant strategist! You might also consider representing him with something like Blade Instructor or Dueling Coach in book III as a nod to Piandao, or finding a piece of equipment that well represents the sword Sokka makes in that episode. I do see some of the problem with trying to represent him well, though- it's difficult to find a way to both do the character justice and not oversell him as a powerhouse that he isn't. The closest balance to that I've found is Bushi Tenderfoot Flip, but that really sells him as a combatant rather than a tactician.
Here's the thing though- I think the only way you're going to get a card that has good Sokka art is with a card alter. If you are willing to make that happen, it would open up a lot of options. I've been looking for about 3 hours, and I'm not even done, but here are a few that I think might loosely fit:
legendofa on
Boros Legion
2 years ago
EDH evaluation isn't really my strong point, but here's what I got.
Daru Warchief is reliable Soldier tribal support, and Cenn's Tactician offers another 1-drop creature.
I'm not really seeing the purpose of Eldrazi Conscription. It's a good card, but it doesn't offer much to the go-wide, strength in numbers approach that Soldier tribal decks usually take. I also don't see a way to get it out quickly and reliably, so it's just kind of there.
Related to this, any effect that pumps a single creature probably isn't worth it. Sanctuary Blade, Angelic Gift, Eternal Thirst, and Gift of Orzhova in particular don't seem right for this deck.
I see a lifegain subtheme, which is fine as long as it works. How often does Angelic Accord trigger? Unless it's going off every turn, that's another one that can be taken out. Outside of that, I don't see any other payoffs for the lifegain. If you don't have any reason to include it other than "not losing," I would also drop Take Heart; there are better combat tricks.
Duress seems out of place, and doesn't really contribute anything to your soldiers. Champion of the Parish would be better served in a more Human-focused deck, since many of your creatures and almost of your tokens don't have the Human subtype.
Makeshift Battalion and Skymarch Bloodletter are generally pretty weak creatures.
For upgrades and replacements, you have some budget room, so I'm going to try to use that up. Rootborn Defenses should be Heroic Intervention, to save mana and get hexproof for your stuff instead of another 1/1 token. Switch Navigator's Compass for another mana rock that can provide mana instead of just changing it, like Fellwar Stone. Unless you regularly see regeneration, like multiple times every match, Dreadbore is better than Terminate.
Your lands are generally pretty slow, and I don't recommend the bounce lands (Rakdos Carnarium and friends) without a specific purpose beyond simply mana fixing. If you can, get the shocklands (Blood Crypt and friends) in their place. There are other land cycles as well for every level of budget. Look for ones that give the option to enter untapped. Clifftop Retreat is a good start. The Luxury Suite cycle (I forget what the nickname is) can get expensive, but if you can afford the investment are definitely worth it.
When looking for cuts, keep one question in mind: "How does this help advance my strategy?" If the answer is only "Because it's a Soldier" or "Because it gains me life," it's probably cuttable. Soldiers in particular are a very synergistic tribe, and ideally every card should help support every other card.
Hope this helps!
