Chandra Tribal (Everyone's Here!)
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 67 | 22 COMMENTS | 25194 VIEWS | IN 29 FOLDERS
The MOM Update (Yet another Chandra) —April 22, 2023
And here it is, Chandra number 18 has been introduced to Magic: The Gathering. Presenting Chandra, Hope's Beacon!!!
So, with the newest set having arrived, I've been able (read: forced) to work on this deck once more and update it accordingly, with the newest Chandra being an auto-include for the deck. After looking at other cards and going through the decklist, I made a number of changes, which I will outline below before going into my reasoning behind the changes.
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Added Chandra, Hope's Beacon, removed Leyline of Punishment.
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Added Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion, removed Liquimetal Torque.
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Added Rowan's Talent, removed Tibalt's Trickery. (Flavor of the Month)
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(Re)Added Vandalblast, removed Valakut Awakening Flip. (accidentally had 2 of them... Oops...)
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Updated Chandra, Fire Artisan. Changed from Alternative Japanese into Stained Glass Secret Lair version.
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Got Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh Flip signed by the artist: Eric Deschamps.
So, here's what I've got for my explanations, starting at the first line. Chandra, Hope's Beacon is brand new in MTG, and a necessary auto-include for the deck per my rules for it. As such, something had to give, and this process gets harder and harder as more Chandras are made. As such, the unlucky card to lose was Leyline of Punishment. Sure, it increased my red devotion and shut off lifegain and damage prevention... however, it ultimately didn't feel like it did enough for the deck in the vast majority of games I played. It's not a bad card, but it was definitely on the 'less vital' list of cards for the deck, so it got the boot.
Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion is a card I've seen utilized in other red decks, and I've got to say, it seems to be working really well in my deck as it is. I'm happy that I included it and will likely keep it around for a while. As such, I've removed Liquimetal Torque. The ability to turn something into an artifact, thus making my removal better, was nice but ultimately never used. It taps for colorless, but I felt I do well enough in the early game to no longer neccesitate it for the deck. Neheb simply works better in my deck.
It's time for my Flavor of the Month! Or, in other words, a new card I want to try out in the deck. Rowan's Talent seems interesting to try out, and while the new uptick for the enchanted planeswalker seems bad here, the static effect of copying an ability seems really cool. Tibalt's Trickery is thus getting a break to allow me to see how the new card works out. Ultimately, this change is not necessarily going to be forever, and it may revert back in the future based on my playtesting of the new Talent. So, for now, the Trickery can sit on the MaybeBoard.
Finally, the final few lines. I realized that I added Vandalblast to the deck again a while back and never updated my list. Instead, I accidentally listed Valakut Awakening Flip on the decklist twice. Once on the sorcery section and a second time in the instances. They were also different versions of the card, which made me noticing it more difficult for a while. (I'm fairly sure no one else noticed it either.) So, I corrected the problem and the decklist should reflect it. And plus, with Chandra, Fire Artisan, I changed it out for the stained glass version of her. It makes it easier to understand for my opponents, and still looks really nice for the deck. (Plus, I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a foiled Japanese version.) Finally, I attended CommandFest in Orlando and met the artist of my commander, Eric Deschamps. I got him to sign my Commander, which was really cool!
And there you have it, hope you enjoyed the explanations and my deck. Have fun out there!