Combos Browse all Suggest
- Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Karmic Guide
- Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter + Viscera Seer
- Carrion Feeder + Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter
- Carrion Feeder + Karmic Guide + Reveillark
- Altar of Dementia + Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter
- Karmic Guide + Phyrexian Altar + Saffi Eriksdotter
- Ashnod's Altar + Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter
Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
Karmic Guide
Creature — Angel Spirit
Flying, protection from black ((Remember the acronym debt.) This can't be damaged, enchanted, equipped, blocked or targeted by anything black. Anything black attached to this immediately falls off.)
Echo (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
When this enters the battlefield, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
![Alesha, Who Smiles At Death and (s)Taxes [Primer] thumbnail](http://static.tappedout.net/chart/35-0-35-30-0-small.png)
Sephyrias on
Best Commanders in EDH [Tier List]
3 weeks ago
Nonary27 There are a lot of competitive/fringe competitive commanders in both sets.
New Capenna
Lagrella, the Magpie serves as Fiend Hunter in the command zone, letting you do sacrifice combos with Karmic Guide. She'll probably end up somewhere close to Saffi Eriksdotter.
Cormela, Glamour Thief combos with reanimator spells like Footsteps of the Goryo as long as you have cost reduction cards like Goblin Electromancer or a sac outlet that generates mana. I think she's pretty strong. Anhelo, the Painter is a grixis version of Kalamax, the Stormsire. Probably the best of the new Grixis commanders. Evelyn, the Covetous is weaker than it looks. I don't think there is an infinite blink/flicker/cloning combo piece that's also a vampire. Probably not better than Vela the Night-Clad, even with the extra color. Lord Xander, the Collector has a big impact on casual tables, but is nowhere near as relevant in competitive play. Would put him somewhere close to Evelyn.
Falco Spara, Pactweaver is an okay value engine, but you have to jump through extra hoops to go infinite with it compared to Elsha of the Infinite, so it will be a few tiers lower than Elsha. Rigo, Streetwise Mentor has to compete with Edric, Spymaster of Trest, they want to do more or less the same thing. I'm not sure if Rigo is better or worse.
Ognis, the Dragon's Lash does the same as Grand Warlord Radha. You get an extra color, but have the restriction regarding haste in exchange. Henzie "Toolbox" Torre is just a bad Grim Haruspex that can serve as pseudo-haste-enabler. Not weak, but also not very strong. Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer is a Wargate for creatures in the command zone. Might be the strongest Naya legend to date, although Marath, Will of the Wild is no joke either. Jolene, the Plunder Queen enables untap combos with Black Market Tycoon, but it just ends up being a much worse version of the Freed from the Real combos that other commanders can do.
None of the others are worth mentioning imo.
Commander Legends 2
Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward is similar to Lagrella, all about Fiend Hunter-type flicker/sacrifice combos. Candlekeep Sage is probably the best background for it. Alaundo the Seer is a simic version of Jhoira of the Ghitu, except that it's slower, but also draws cards. Bhaal, Lord of Murder is more or less an Odric's Outrider in the command zone, but that it only counts for nontoken creatures means you can't combo with Scurry Oak, so it's probably not that great. I think Duke Ulder Ravengard combos with Port Razer?
Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy sort of gives all your instants & sorceries flashback, which is usually very powerful. Not sure how good it ends up being in practice however. Ganax, Astral Hunter is basically just Galazeth Prismari. Kagha, Shadow Archdruid is yet another Golgari recursion commander, which are usually at least decent. Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter goes infinite with Clock of Omens and Liquimetal Coating.
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch, Bane, Lord of Darkness, Dynaheir, Invoker Adept, Gorion, Wise Mentor and Jaheira, Friend of the Forest have a lot of combo potential, but I'm not sure how to break them yet.
Guerric on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven: A Giada Guide
1 month ago
sean360 I have considered it! It is a strong card and certainly can stay under consideration. I would appreciate anyone who can testify to how it's performed in their decks so far. My general thoughts on this are this. It's ceiling is super high, because if it gets left untouched we can recur stuff at least once per time around the table (more if Archaeomancer's Map or a similar effect allows us to play additional lands, or if one of our swords/dagger ramps one out. For this reason opponents would be forced to remove it, because if they don't we can just recur any creatures they destroy. The floor is we can't take advantage of it before it gets destroyed, and at 7cmc it is at the high end of our curve. It is of course, the same cmc as Bruna, the Fading Light Meld and is a recursion piece with a much higher ceiling, but the fun and possibility of Brisela, Voice of Nightmares Meld Meld, as well as the fact that we can tutor it, means that we keep that one on the board. It could be a replacement for Karmic Guide, because in this deck we generally want to keep out angels, and guide's echo cost is not something we usually want to pay, but often will, making its cost more over the long term. It'll definitely be on my maybe-board and I will eventually try it out, but for those of you with experience with the card I'd love to hear how it is working for you.
Guerric on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven: A Giada Guide
1 month ago
1) Burnished Hart OUT Pearl Medallion IN
Hart is a great card, and research suggests it's one of the winningest cards in EDH, so naturally in a monowhite deck that a land ramp piece like this would seem to be great. I think the issue for it here is it just isn't fast enough for the deck. Giada doesn't need to ramp a lot to be relevant, and in testing I've found that we often have something more urgent to do cast it initially or sac it to get the lands. It's still a great card, but likely better suited to more controlling decks. What is amazing in this deck, however, are cards that discount creature spells like Herald's Horn, as we can use them to more easily put out multiple pieces in a turn at discount. Making your four drops three drops is incredible acceleration that suits our gameplan just fine. And Medallion does this not just for our creature spells, but any spell in white. It's fabulous!
2) Cosmos Elixir OUT Vanquisher's Banner IN
Elixir is theoretically a good card in this deck as it can draw cards off life-gain or gain life. The problem is it never does both, it draws one extra card per turn at most, and costs 4 mana for the privilege. It's equivalent card would be Sigarda's Splendor, but that always gains us life, and is simply based on not having lost life from the last noted turn, which is more reliable. Banner costs more, but its floor is replacing every angel we cast with a card, and its ceiling is drawing several cards in a turn, so it's better all around. The anthem is just gravy.
3) Welcoming Vampire OUT Mask of Memory IN
While a fabulous card, Giada's ability ensures that we won't draw cards with angels off of vampire. It will definitely find a home in a new deck. Mask of Memory, however, is great. It costs two and equips for one, meaning an easy early line of play would be to cast it turn three, attack it to Giada, and get an engine going. We get to draw two cards and then discard the one in our hand we need least, which allows us to be up a card while moving through the deck to what we need. Sometimes we might even discard a good card only to recur it with another later, so there are lots of nice little possibilities with this one.
4) Mirror Entity OUT Sanctuary Warden IN
So far we've replaced subpar draw with better draw, but no we are upping our count. I've never like entity, but I thought it might be better here since Giada gives it counters that make it more resilient when not being pumped. Still though, like all changelings, its an angel that doesn't fly, which is wicked annoying. Moreover, while its ability is a powerhouse with 1/1 tokens which can be turned to 4 power with 4 mana, it's not so great when the average power of an angel is already 3/3 or 4/4. It will weaken some of your angels, and where it improve them it takes a monstrous amount of mana to do so. Finally, while one might be tempted to add Reveillark to complete the combo with entity and Karmic Guide, we have to remember that Giada shuts entity off from killing the board, effectively shutting down the combo. It's just bad, trust me. This is where a lot of online deck tech's fail. They just throw it in because its an "angel" and a generically good card without thinking through the consequences! Meanwhile, while costly Sanctuary Warden is an absolute powerhouse. It immediately replaces itself, and can draw cards more cards this way for free by being blinked with Sword of Hearth and Home. It's an engine that draws us cards every turn, and we can use our plentiful supply of +1/+1 counters to power it, leaving the shield counters to protect it from most removal and board wipes. It's an all-star card.
5) Plains OUT Tome of Legends IN
I'm hoping I don't regret going down to 35 lands, but I think the deck can sustain it, especially when we are upping the draw. Tome is an amazingly good and underrated card. It can net us an extra card the turn we cast it, and can draw one every turn as long as we attack with out commmander, something that isn't too hard to do here. Keep in mind, Giada has vigilance, so even if we want to tap her to cast an angel we can always do so on our second main phase! The best part of this card is that it costs only two mana, allowing us often to ramp it out turn three with another angel or put it out early with another two drop. It's been great in other decks and I expect no less here!
6) Archaeomancer's Map OUT Eye of Vecna IN
This might be a more controversial cut, but I don't think I need the ramp map theoretically provides, and it can be a tricky card to play here. Ideally you'd want to get this down turn three, in order to ramp lands based upon your opponent's turns, but you'll have to discard if you do unless you played a one drop turn one. It's not as great late game, and the ramp is conditional based on having the extra land in hand and not missing a land drop, which can happen without enough draw. Eye immediately replaces itself and draws one card every turn for the low cost of 2 life, which we aren't worried about at all here. The only downside is that Angel of Jubilation shuts it down, but that is a narrow enough case that it isn't worth not playing a 2cmc draw spell over.
7) Disenchant OUT Together Forever IN
We have plenty of removal and I think we can afford to cut our least relevant piece. Together Forever is amazing, cheap, efficient protection for our entire board, including Giada. It can save our stuff from being destroyed by removal or damage, and has value as repeatable single-target protection and board wipe protection. I expect this to be an all-star piece.
8) Desert of the True and Drifting Meadow OUT War Room and Bonders' Enclave IN
I hated these cycling lands in early testing because they are just not worth having the lands come into play tapped. War Room and Enclave actually draw us cards, and come into play untapped. Sure, 4 mana is a lot for a single card, but there are times we will be happy for it, and in a monocolored deck the colorless nature isn't too much of a drawback.
9) 2x Plains OUT Emergence Zone and Seraph Sanctuary IN
Why not attack lifegain to a land? Sanctuary is just an obvious card for this build that I somehow missed the first time around. Zone is a deeply underrated card that allows you once in a game to get the jump on your opponents by becoming a one turn Vedalken Orrery. The element of surprise is what often wins you games in aggressive decks, and this card allows for that!
So that's the first update! I'll have updates to the primer coming later today or tomorrow. Hope this helps all of you as you build and play the deck!
Guerric on Deck Archetypes in EDH
1 month ago
Hi all! There's an interesting question I've been pondering lately, and I thought I'd share some of my reflections on it and get input from all of you. In sixty card magic we have deck archetypes, namely aggro, control, midrange, combo, and tempo. In commander obviously things look pretty different, and several years ago on the Command Zone podcast they said that like in limited, there aren't really deck archetypes this way, just different flavors of midrange.
As the format has developed and changed a lot over the years I do think something like these archetypes exists in commander, they're just different. For those familiar with sixty card formats some of the hard and fast rules for those archetypes in sixty card magic do not apply, and there certainly is more fluidity on commander and other unique multiplayer strategies as well (ex. Group Hug). Nonetheless, I think the outline of most of these archetypes is still relevant. Here is how I think it plays out-
1) Aggro- I think something more like classic aggro has only become viable in commander in the past couple of years, but I think it is definitely a thing now. In sixty card magic, most creatures are in the one to three drop range, there is often no focus on card draw, and everything in the deck serves to get a single player to zero as quickly as possible. Obviously in commander we need raw engines, some ramp, and are going to play more powerful cards. That being said, I think strategies built around attacking with high value, low cmc creatures from the early game onwards characterizes aggro in commander. This wasn't viable a few years ago due to the lack of board state protection, and really only token pump decks and creature cheat decks tended to do well. But the printing of many premium white board state protection spells like Flawless Maneuver, Teferi's Protection, and Semester's End has changed up the formula a bit. Attacking low to the ground and early is a keystone of aggro strategies, but so are on attack triggers. We have so many of these now, and they incentivize keeping our force swinging every turn. Commanders like Akiri, Fearless Voyager and Trynn, Champion of Freedom incentivize attacking in order to draw cards, make tokens, or do other things the deck is going to want to do. Unlike sixty card magic, we will need to be able to draw cards, and play some removal and interaction, though we'll play fewer pieces of the latter here than in other decks since they compete with resources to keep up the attack. We also need to play one-sided board wipes wherever we have the option, because we can't afford to lose our own board state. We'll also need a way to get through for damage once our opponents' defenses are up, and as such things that give our creatures menace, landwalk, flying, deathtouch or indestructible are key as they help us keep up the assault. We're also very in favor of a few key pump spells to help us finish out the game like Jazal Goldmane or Coat of Arms.
2) Midrange- In sixty card magic midrange is characterized by playing some of the most powerful cards on every point in the curve, and play more removal than aggro decks. Oftentimes they are characterized as "the growing threat." A classic and famous example was the classic Modern Jund deck that Reid Duke piloted several years ago. One of its touchstones was playing Tarmogoyf on turn 2. The goyfs could attack or block where necessary, but they would grow more unstoppable as the game went on, until they were dropping haymakers like Liliana of the Veil. They would use cards like Dark Confidant to keep their hand full till they could inevitably win. In a way, these sorts of decks mirror something of what we see in all commander decks in that they play removal, draw, and powerful cards. Yet what I think sets them apart is this idea of the growing threat, and that they play more removal than aggro decks. One way in which I think some midrange commanders work is to have abilities that allow them to turn other cards into Tarmogoyf like threats. Ezuri, Claw of Progress and Giada, Font of Hope use +1/+1 counters to turn small evasive threates into significant ones. In this sense, I think a lot of counter decks fit well in the midrange categories. These decks will attack, but they don't have to like aggro decks, and are more willing to conserve resources and work on developing board state where feasible. They often have engines that benefit their board passively from the passage of time, and as such they can play more removal and let their board build itself. They still want to protect their board state, and some of the cards from aggro decks that do this or simply counterspells can help with this, and one-sided board wipes are usually th best kind for midrange decks as well.
3) Control- Control decks in sixty card magic are built on trying to shut down almost everything an opponent is trying to do via counterspells and removal until you can work towards a win con. This obviously is not possible in commander where you can not shut down three other players with just counterspells and removal alone, and isn't always necessary since opponents can also shut down each other. As such, controlling strategies fit into two categories: stax and regular control. With stax pieces that shut off lands and mana rocks, eEDH controlling strategies indeed can effectively shut down three other players, usually finding a way to work through it themselves in order to build towards a win con. In standard EDH, heavy land-based stax like that is frowned upon, but cards that disrupt play in other ways (ex. Blind Obedience as well as counterspells and removal are fair game. These decks are still building towards a win con by slowing opponents down, and will devote far more slots to disruption and removal than aggro and midrange decks. They may win with an infinite combo, a planeswalker, a few premium attacking creatures, or in other ways, but most of the deck is devoted to protecting themselves and disrupting opponents. Controlling decks are more likely to play reciprocal board wipes, and generally benefit from keeping the board clear of threats at most times.
4) Combo- Combo decks also exist along a spectrum in EDH, though this archetype is most similar to sixty card magic. The formula is almost unchanged for cEDH, where most of a deck is devoted to playing and protecting a single combo. Outside of cEDH, it is worth mentioning that infinite combos can be included in almost any archetype in the format as a backup win con when other plans go sideways. What makes it a combo deck is that the entire deck is focused on pulling out one of a variety of sometimes elaborate combos, and these decks are generally geared more towards Johnnies than Spikes. A good example would be combo decks built around Teysa, Orzhov Scion that can put together the Darkest Hour in a variety of ways, as well as play Reveillark + Karmic Guide and/or Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood in order to win. These decks play out as trying to put together a combo while fending off opponents with removal and interaction.
5) Tempo- Some might argue that there is no such thing as tempo decks in commander, but it's worth mentioning that they're pretty rare even in sixty card magic across formats. In sixty card magic tempo decks adopt a "disruptive aggro" philosophy, where they slowly chip away at an opponent's life total with small, cheap, evasive creatures, while always holding mana open to protect their board and disrupt threats. While "chipping away" life totals isn't much of a strategy in a multiplayer strategy, I do think there are decks that play out along the lines of this disruptive aggro strategy. As an example, Ranar the Ever-Watchful and Alela, Artful Provocateur can be played this way, where the flying tokens they generate are the main win con, and the rest of the deck is devoted to holding mana open to protect this main game plan and stop others from winning. Unlike in sixty card decks these may win all at once with token pump effects or other affects, but this is the main way.
What do you all think? Do you think there are deck archetypes like this in EDH? Why or why not? What qualifications would you add or take away about them if you do?
Guerric on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven: A Giada Guide
1 month ago
1) Cosmos Elixir OUT Vanquisher's Banner IN
Elixir works in this deck but is my worst draw piece in that it only gives life if I don't draw, I have to have over 40 life to draw, it costs 4 colorless mana to cast, and it at most can net me one card per turn. The all star draw pieces so far are those that allow burst draw such as Well of Lost Dreams and Thorough Investigation. Banner allows for this burst draw as every angel replaces itself with a new card, and tokens net us free cards. Its one mana higher but the upside makes it a far superior card. The anthem is just gravy really.
2) Disenchant OUT Tome of Legends IN
I think there is sufficient removal in this deck, so I can afford to cut my worst piece. This deck needs more draw and better draw, so adding a card that can consistently net me an extra card most turns is great.
3) Welcoming Vampire OUT Eye of Vecna IN
Even though many of my angels are weenies they don't ETB that way. As such, vampire is subpar card draw here, whereas normally it is premium for white. Eye may only get me one extra card per turn but it is cheap, fairly unconditional, and I'll have plenty of life to power it. The only downside is that Angel of Jubilation shuts it down, but I think that in most cases I'll be glad to have the option to draw.
4) Mirror Entity OUT Sanctuary Warden IN
I can't believe I missed Warden on the first round. It is unlimited draw in this deck stapled to an angel which has quite a bit of built in protection due to the shield counters (which we won't have to use to power it thanks to Giada). I'll confess I've never liked Entity, though in this deck it has some additional upsides and additional downsides. As for upsides, the counters help it a lot. One reason I feel like Entity is weak normally is that it often dies to ping effects if you don't reserve mana to pump it. I've seen this over and over again over the years, but the counters Giada gives it here mean we can rest easy. Another advantage is that it is an angel here, so the deck supports it well. A disadvantage, however, is that it is less useful and necessary. It is most powerful when it turns 1/1 tokens into 4/4 threats and provides a massive swing. It does little in this deck unless we pump at least 5 mana into it, and even then the improvement is marginal. A second disadvantage is it doesn't fly. Even an Angelic Page is a huge threat in this deck that can go over a defensive line, whereas Entity can be chump blocked easily. Thirdly, it can't enabled combos in this deck because of Giada. We are playing Karmic Guide, so a thought might be to add Reveillark and enable the combo so we can gain infinite life and do other recurison shenanigans. The problem is that this approach relies on paying zero into Entity to kill the board, but the board won't die to counters, so Giada shuts the combo off. Overall I think this isn't worth it, I sentiment I feel about pretty much all of the non-flying changeling cards that we might think would be good to put in.
5) Plains OUT Together Forever IN
I think with enhanced card draw of the update and Giada's ramp ability I can afford to go down to 35 lands, something I have done successfully in other low-to-the-ground aggro decks. Together Forever is premium protection here that also allows Giada to give herself some protection. What I especially like about this card is that it can serve as protection from both targeted removal and board wipes. The deck has done well so far, but well-played protection is key, and this is one of the most flexible pieces there is.
6) Archaeomancer's Map OUT Mask of Memory IN
This is likely to be my most controversial change as Map is a good card that fetches some lands and can ramp over the course of the game, provided we have the lands in hand. It may be bad! That being said, ramp is less of a problem here because of Giada and because of our curve. Map is bad turn three play where we sometimes want to ramp, because it leaves us often having to discard on our end step. I think with our curve and Giada what is important is simply to draw into our land drops, and extra ramp is gravy. That means more draw is better than more ramp, and between Map and the swords/dagger I think the latter are better land fetching/ramp pieces in a deck with evasive creatures. Mask is great because we can see two cards every turn and discard whatever is least relevant in our hand. It can also go down on turn three and be immediately attached to Giada and used right away to get things going.
7) Angel of Finality OUT Angelic Curator IN
Finality isn't great here, as the body doesn't matter too much and cmc is less conducive to a go-wide and high theme than a 2-drop. I think more turn 2 angels has some advantage here, and this is the best of the bunch (other options would be changelings that don't fly). 2-drop angels allow us to play an angel and a support piece like Tome of Legends on turn three, or even play two angels. Four drops can also be good turn three if they are high impact, which Finality is not. It was only in to be an anti-graveyard piece, but is just bad when there are no serious graveyard threats. As such, I'll address that by putting Scavenger Grounds into the mana base and drop the curve to a better place.
8) Mana Base Changes- I'm going to cut two of three cycling lands as this deck really doesn't want lands coming into play tapped, especially early in the game, and the cycling option just isn't worth it. I'll keep Secluded Steppe for now on account if its efficiency, but the others are gone. They'll be replaced with War Room and Bonders' Enclave, which tap for colorless but come into play untapped and give us additional card draw options that we need. Since we are only in one color we can afford more colorless lands than other decks, but we want as many to come untapped as possible due to the fact that we always have stuff to do early. I'll also add Seraph Sanctuary for more life gain and Scavenger Grounds to deal with problematic graveyards.
Those are the proposed changes. Let me know what you think!
Vessiliana on
Giada Hopes for Help
1 month ago
Thanks for the comments and questions, Guerric!
Well, so far, I've only had Marshal's Anthem come up once in a game, but when it did, it was sweet. Of course, that was mid-game, and I had plenty of mana, so I was able to get back several angels. I do know, however, from long experience with the card, that it can be hit-and-miss. The thing I like about it is the potential for mass recursion in mono-. I do have my eye on it, though. I run Karmic Guide and Reya Dawnbringer and Emeria, The Sky Ruin already, but my Avacyn deck is hogging my Bruna, the Fading Light Meld.
If it is a question of either-or, I would recommend Together Forever over Marshal's Anthem.
This deck is still pretty new, so I've not actually drawn Speaker of the Heavens yet. It has been good in my Avacyn deck for a while, though, and I can only think it will be better in Giada.
Victory's Herald is a blast for the lifelink, and Sanctuary Warden is a gem!
Guerric on
Giada Hopes for Help
1 month ago
Hi Vessiliana! How's Marshal's Anthem been for you? I had thought about playing it as a recursion piece, but I stuck to my mainstay of using the pieces that are attached to creatures (Karmic Guide, etc), but the upside could be good in a rebuild situation. Also, how do you find Speaker of the Heavens? This deck definitely wants one drops and at least in my build it'd be easy to activate (tons of lifegain), and if they remove it would probably be at a mana disadvantage. Nonetheless I wonder because its not an angel and therefore one less angel in my deck. Any thoughts? Thanks so much! Also, I forgot about Victory's Herald, so thanks for reminding me! I also missed the full import of Sanctuary Warden, so I'll think about that one as well.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on Streets of New Capenna
2 months ago
Some commander focused thoughts on the main set since my last little blurb:
Rigo is a cool Tymna the Weaver/Edric, Spymaster of Trest type card that finally gives Bant a token commander.
Bootleggers' Stash will be quite a strong commander card (outside of the highest power levels). It's green, so it's probably coming down on T4, and all of your lands basically become storage lands that can be cashed in right away. I think folks doubting the card need to remember that similar things were said about the fairly similar Old Gnawbone, and that turned out to be quite strong. I think Bootleggers' Stash is a bit stronger than Old Gnawbone since it avoids more removal and doesn't require the combat step.
Shadow of Mortality wins the "best art in the set" award in my opinion. I don't fully agree with the Death's Shadow comparisons since it only ever hits for 7. Feels more like Scourge of the Skyclaves to me.
Seeing Hideaway come back is really cool and fits the set's flavor well. They all seem fairly strong in the right decks, but the red one randomly being 5-color kind of sucks for commander.
Slip out the Back is a cool take on Reality Ripple. It is more narrow, but it has the added benefit of pumping a creature.
All of the ascendancies seem flavorful, the jund one being my favorite
Professional Face-Breaker is an auto include in every mono red commander deck. Most R/X decks will want this as well.
Topiary Stomper could very well put creatures like Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf out of business in non-tribal, non-sacrifice focused decks.
Angel of Suffering is going straight into my Balthor the Defiled reanimator deck. She is very reminiscent of Vilis, Broker of Blood but provides card advantage at a different angle.
Body Launderer is probably a better piece in the Karmic Guide combo than Reveillark due to the cheaper mana cost. That being said, I'll probably just run both in my Tymna the Weaver/Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools deck.
Overall, the set has a couple intriguing individual cards, but I still don't find the set that interesting from either a game play or flavor perspective. Since a fair chunk of the precon legends have been spoiled already, I had originally planned to skip most of the set/precons and just pick up a couple individual cards. But this morning a yet-to-be-spoiled jund legend from the commander precon was leaked. I nearly spit out my tea when I saw the leak this morning. So I guess I'll be grabbing that precon, or at least that particular card if the rest of the deck isn't worth it.
Based on some of the spoilers/leaks so far, I suspect the monetary value in the precons will come from the new white cards (barring an expensive reprint...looking at you Dockside Extortionist).
| Have (2) | Azdranax , torterrapizza |
| Want (4) | corona-jon , peytonm , Auriel , pancakemaster808 |