Court of Grace, the best new white card?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Dec. 7, 2020, 8:57 a.m. by Peligrad
Of all the courts, Court of Grace is not only the least expensive in terms of CMC, but it is one of the only ones that help you both keep and regain the monarch.
Phyrexian Arena has long been a staple of the format, as cheap card draw at 3 CMC. I honestly feel like Court of Grace is a comparable card.
It is 4 CMC, true, but it draws a card the turn it ETBs unlike arena which draws the turn after... so they draw cards on the same turn essentially.
Rather than losing you a life every turn, it instead gives a 1/1 flying or 4/4 flying body.
True the monarch can be lost and your opponent may gain it an gain value, however with you gaining these flying creatures every turn it is highly likely that you can use them to block and keep the monarch or attack with them to regain it.
I personally think this might be one of the best (if not the single best) card draw spells ever printed in white.
Additionally it plays into all white's best strategies. It synergizes with enchantress, flyer, weenie, and token strategies and gives the player a body to equip to for equipment strategies. It also is a nearly perfect value engine in a control or stax deck.
A white card that has powerful consistent value both when you are ahead and when you are behind? Am I dreaming?
I really feel like this card is being slept on.
What are your thoughts?
TriusMalarky says... #2
Peligrad people are going to be attacked. I mean, cEDH players chip in with their board when someone is open. If you're open, be prepared to get slapped.
And by 'early' are you referring to turns 1, 2 and 3, in which Green Tymna and Edric decks both attack early, or are you referring to less than 8, where I'd be slapping people with Korvold?
I mean, my brother's Nikya deck is slapping people with Eldrazi t4-5. Combat, while not really the biggest part of higher end EDH, is still important.
December 10, 2020 4:12 p.m.
Of course there are some decks that attack early. But the majority do not.
A card doesn't become invalidated because one deck/strategy counters it. Being attacked early doesn't usually matter in the grand scheme the majority of the time
So people being afraid of having monarch because they might get pinged for a couple extra damage is silly.
December 10, 2020 6:26 p.m.
In gameplay the worst drawback I have seen is typically an evasive commander will come at me as there are so many of those with keywords stapled on that can do their thing in combat regardless of the direction of the deck, that is alot more prevalent than the T4-5 eldrazi situations. Usually I can afford the wrist slap if it even happens. Though that is playing in a really fun weenie-to-midrange Marisi deck which significantly changes the dynamic of opponents leaving themselves open & being able to steal back monarch... I think in general playtesting though it would probably still be similar.
Peligrad says... #1
Many decks don't even play creatures early. A lot of decks are ramping with non-creatures, filling graveyards, playing non-creature value engines, and playing non-creature combo pieces in their opening turns.
The bigger point though is unless the creature has infect, being hit with a 2/2 doesn't matter beyond losing monarch. You can lose a lot of life before it ends up mattering in the majority of games.
Even decks that tend to win through combat tend to ramp up to such significant damage numbers through things like infinite combos, multiple combat steps, damage multiplication, and mass pump like Pathbreaker Ibex and Craterhoof Behemoth that it doesn't matter if you have 16 life or 60 life, you die to the attack in a single turn.
That's my point, being afraid of being pinged for a couple damage because you're monarch is nonsense.
Even the early swings from a voltron deck tend to not matter in the long run. The one and only exception being infect.
December 10, 2020 10:38 a.m.