The new Channel Legend Lands are very capable performers
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 28, 2022, 10:05 p.m. by jaymc1130
Boseiju, Who Endures is definitely the best performing of the cycle at the moment, but all these lands are extremely strong in competitive settings.
Often times these end up being 1 mana "spells" that can't be countered or interacted with via normal means, and if you don't need that particular effect at the moment they are still excellent etb untapped lands for single colors. Most of them can be made to be win conditions when looped in some fashion as well. It's some pretty astonishing flexibility and I think these are some of the most powerful lands ever printed at the moment, though they are still very new so perhaps once their play patterns become established it'll be easier to see how truly impactful they are when proper counter play techniques are used against them.
Just a heads up on the competitive front folks, if you weren't already seeing more Bloom Combo style archetypes in your metas then you should expect to start seeing quite a bit more of them now. The Bloom Combo has already been one of the top 3 best performing combo concepts by expected win rate potential for the last 2 years (more winning even than some other very powerful combo concepts like Thoracle Consult) and this new land cycle kicks Summer Bloom loops into overdrive.
Grubbernaut You can find it in a number of my lists. Sisay, Durdle Captain and Sky Pirate Has one of the sillier descriptions for how the bare bones most basic version of the essential combo works in the "Digging for Treasure" --> "Operating the Treasure Chest" section of the primer.
There are many more convoluted methods to perform the same feat depending on exactly what tools a pilot has in place. The hot new spice from a little bit back was the addition of Bala Ged Recovery Flip to the combo, which allows a lot more colors to perform the same general loop effectively and bypasses some of the need for Horizon lands (sac, draw) and certinaly Mystic Sanctuary. The core of the concept is that Summer Bloom is a spell that produces 6 mana of any color. That's not quite accurate, but, if land drops can be assumed to be infinite, then as long as recouping the Summer Bloom to hand only costs you 3 mana you can produce a profit of 1 mana of any color each iteration of the loop. Getting to infinite lands for land drops is the trickier part, and this is where most of the different methods diverge.
March 29, 2022 1:41 a.m.
I've mostly used Takenuma and Otawara in my Yuriko deck and they've been great utility pieces. I'm not a cEDH guy myself, but I can appreciate the versatility of this cycle for a lot of environments. Now that I know about the combo I can understand why Boseju is by far the most expensive!
March 29, 2022 8:11 a.m.
SynergyBuild says... #5
Yeah, while I agree on Boseiju, what I've been most personally impressed by in comparison to my assumptions is Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, it's not card advantage, and barely feels like even selection most times, but even a land with cycling that is colored and coming into play untapped feels really good.
March 29, 2022 8:35 a.m.
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire + Shigeki, Jukai Visionary can do some nifty things together, and yeah, just picking back up an important combo creature with it at times is just what the doctor ordered.
Grubbernaut says... #2
Can you post some bloom combo links? I've never run into it.
March 29, 2022 12:54 a.m.