This list was produced for Bleeding Cool, in review of the Commander 2019 deck Faceless Menace.
The list of changes is as follows:
-
Biomass Mutation
>
Ebonblade Reaper
(Onslaught)
This deck needed a bit more of a surprise element to it, so the slow, clunky
Biomass Mutation
was removed in favor of a more potent effect in the form of
Ebonblade Reaper
.
-
Chromeshell Crab
>
Weaver of Lies
(Legions)
We don't necessarily want to give our morph creatures to just anyone, even at our own whims, so
Chromeshell Crab
was nixed. In its place I added a card that would let us reuse any of our morph abilities among face-up creatures we control, and any of the triggered abilities that might come with them.
-
Echoing Truth
>
Brine Elemental
(Time Spiral)
The "Pickles Lock," a famous game-stalling combo from 2006's Standard season, involved the cards
Brine Elemental
(which was not in the deck already), and
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
(a card which was). For one generic mana and one blue mana during each of your turns, you could instill a complete end to all opponents' untap steps. Needless to say, this combo had to be added to the deck.
Echoing Truth
felt like a card that was added to the precon strictly to stop token decks from flourishing (namely Primal Genesis, or Commander 2019's Populate deck). In a more diverse Constructed environment, tokens are still a threat but not as pronounced, and so
Echoing Truth
was removed in favor of a hard stop to most opposing resource usage.
-
Explore
>
Temur Sabertooth
(Commander 2017)
Temur Sabertooth
is a card which allows for degeneracy in most decks, and this one is no exception. Because we like to reuse morph abilities, returning cards with morph to our hand will allow us to do so covertly (this deck generally likes to keep a large hand), while providing us with a creature that is mostly immune to conventional removal.
Explore
does not net us cards (in fact, if you play the extra land it lets you play, you're giving yourself one less card in hand!), and we have a whole mess of ramp already, so it gets cut.
-
Foul Orchard
>
Talisman of Dominance
(Archenemy: Nicol Bolas)
The Faceless Menace deck comes with 40 lands, a lot of which are relatively weak. Sure, cards like
Foul Orchard
make mana with some versatility, but they come in tapped unconditionally (save for effects like
Amulet of Vigor
, a card that shouldn't be run if it's strictly for cards like this alone). Instead, we are adding in the Talisman cycle of artifacts that fit our colors. Sure, they cost 2 mana and deal damage to your if you want colored mana from them, but they enter untapped meaning you can still use them right away if need be. Plus, if we want to play our morph creatures face-down and have already done so with our commander,
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
(or we don't even have Kadena out in the first place), the colorless mana will do fine for us.
-
Golgari Guildgate
>
Talisman of Resilience
(Modern Horizons)
See point #5 for the reasoning behind cutting
Golgari Guildgate
for
Talisman of Resilience
.
-
Great Oak Guardian
>
Leyline of Anticipation
(Magic 2020)
Flash is not only a good mechanic for this commander's abilities, but absolute madness when it comes to doling out a huge board state. Combined with cards like
Seedborn Muse
, cards with flash are made extremely powerful. Luckily, the Muse is already in the deck. Now then, as for why
Great Oak Guardian
is getting cut when it has flash?
Leyline of Anticipation
gives all your cards flash, so it makes the Guardian's usage rather superfluous except as a clunky combat trick.
-
Grismold, the Dreadsower
>
Birds of Paradise
(Gruul Guild Kit)
Grismold, the Dreadsower
just feels like a card that is suited for another commander deck entirely. the morph-centric strategy we want to pursue doesn't rely on tokens, and so old Grismold seems pretty noneffective. In contrast, a card like
Birds of Paradise
is hugely useful as a mana-producing creature - many if not most green decks will run it especially with more colors than just green. So, too, with our improved Faceless Menace.
-
Hex
>
All Is Dust
(Ultimate Masters)
Board wipes are a key part of the commander experience, but Hex targets, and has to target, six times in order to work. When the opposing board all have some sort of inability to be targeted, whether via
Asceticism
or even a
Lightning Greaves
on a top target, it just feels bad to not be able to destroy what you want to.
All Is Dust
is a card that is more global and will most likely kill your permanents as well, but will spare your face-down creatures (and your artifacts), giving you an edge in combat for a time, while your opposition rebuilds.
-
Hooded Hydra
>
Muraganda Petroglyphs
(Future Sight)
I decided early on that a go-wide, token-based strategy would clash with some cards in this deck (think
Grim Haruspex
and some others), so I cut
Hooded Hydra
early. In its place I am running
Muraganda Petroglyphs
, a card which, while good for some kinds of tokens (including those the Hydra makes), is probably a bit more helpful for your face-down creatures to utilize. Besides, token generation in the precon is limited as it is, and detracts from the overall synergy.
-
Pendant of Prosperity
>
Unblinking Bleb
(Future Sight)
There is no need for group hug-type effects to grace this deck. As
Pendant of Prosperity
can just not be used, rendering your mana investment a waste, it gets cut in favor of
Unblinking Bleb
, a card that benefits heavily when your morphs and manifests are flipped face-up.
-
Rayami. First of the Fallen
>
Urborg Elf
(Apocalypse)
Mana is not only necessary, but vital for the game, and efficiently-costed, versatile mana producers are the best thing for the early-to-midgame rush to gain resources.
Rayami. First of the Fallen
has no real use in a morph-centric deck except as a newly-printed commander for another deck entirely. So, it gets cut, in favor of
Urborg Elf
, an admittedly less-spectacular addition, but a vital one nonetheless. See point #8 for more on this need.
-
Scaretiller
>
Salt Road Ambushers
(Dragons of Tarkir)
To be honest,
Scaretiller
is one of the least effective commons released for Commander, in my opinion. It has an ability that ramps you, sure, and it's an enter-the-battlefield effect, but the effect isn't worth 4 mana unless it's in a deck which plans on reusing the ability at least twice more.
Salt Road Ambushers
is a gift that continues to give and give. Buffing your creatures, especially if when face-up they are smaller than they are face-down, is a huge boon when keeping pieces alive.
-
Simic Guildgate
>
Talisman of Curiosity
(Modern Horizons)
See point #5 for our reasoning for cutting
Simic Guildgate
for
Talisman of Curiosity
, and note that we aren't cutting
Woodland Stream
strictly because it isn't a Gate, and we wouldn't want some rogue play by a player running
Maze's End
to somehow win them the game on our (admittedly very minor) deckbuilding mistake.
-
Tezzeret's Gambit
>
Primordial Mist
(Commander 2018)
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
already gives the deck so much draw power that one-shot cards like
Tezzeret's Gambit
are hardly necessary to keep our hands full of firepower. However, there will be times when the firepower we need is already on the field, but in an inaccessible form.
Primordial Mist
negates that problem and adds more fuel to the fire without a need to necessarily cast anything.
-
Thelonite Hermit
>
Primal Whisperer
(Legions)
Thelonite Hermit
is a fragile one-card army, and the Saprolings it makes can all be pumped by
Muraganda Petroglyphs
, but the Hermit itself has a small body, costs a ton of mana to flip, and the pump it itself gives to the tokens it makes goes away once he dies.
Primal Whisperer
is a stronger card especially if you manage to moderate your unmorphing. It's remarkably refreshing when your opponent doesn't block it (amid a bunch of other attackers) and you have at least six other face-down creatures out - its ability pumps it by +2/+2 for each face-down creature you control, which is so strong when you can make it connect in combat.
-
Thought Sponge
>
Voidmage Apprentice
(Duel Decks: Jace Vs Chandra)
While
Thought Sponge
is not a totally useless card in matches outside of the four Commander 2019 precons duking it out, it is a niche card with situational uses. We can still add other cards to this deck which perform in a more synergistic way, so it's best to cut it. By that token, we add in
Voidmage Apprentice
, a creature-based counterspell. This is pretty helpful, since we don't have many counters in the deck as is.
-
Voice of Many
>
Serpentine Basilisk
(Onslaught)
Voice of Many
is a card that was printed more for Primal Genesis than Faceless Menace, and isn't exactly that helpful for strategies that don't go wide. Based on that consideration, it can be cut for one of the sneakiest of one-card combat tricks:
Serpentine Basilisk
. Since your opponents, ideally, won't know what they're blocking, when they block this creature, it'll do its job well.
-
Volrath, the Shapestealer
>
Whisperwood Elemental
(Fate Reforged)
Like
Rayami. First of the Fallen
,
Volrath, the Shapestealer
is not a morph-synergistic card, despite being one of the alternate commanders of Faceless Menace. We can cut him. In his place we input
Whisperwood Elemental
, a creature that works wonders in manifesting things when in a tight boardstate.
-
Vraska the Unseen
>
Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
(War of the Spark)
See point #7 for why Flash is a good idea in the deck, thus justifying the
Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
inclusion. We have enough removal already, so
Vraska the Unseen
, a planeswalker who costs more mana and is more color-intensive than our replacement, isn't totally necessary here.
