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Food tokens have returned in Strixhaven,_or more accurately, in _Commander 2021, which is related to Strixhaven, about which I am very glad, so, hopefully, clue tokens shall eventually return, as well.

Coward_Token, the fact that WotC is not treating Exquisite Blood the same as Sanguine Bond is very annoying, considering that one card is far more expensive than is the other, and that a creature version of EB would make perfect sense. I understand that they would wish to avoid an infinite combo with Dina, but there have been many other opportunities to reprint that card, or to make a creature version of it, so I hope that WotC does that, soon.

Mcat1999, that does make sense, but blue's methods of opposing creatures should be only temporary; i.e., by either returning the creature to its owner's hand or by shuffling it into its owner's library; directly destroying or exiling a creature intrudes on black and white's territory, in my mind.

FormOverFunction, blue can put creatures atop their owners' libraries, and it can mill cards, but doing both intrudes into black's territory of destroying creatures, so WotC will (hopefully) not make such a card. Similarly, green can have creatures with deathtouch and creatures that fight other creatures upon entering the battlefield, but a creature that has both is too similar to black's ability to destroy creatures.

VampDemigod, I have no problem with Kasmina's Transmutation , because it is an aura, which means that a player can destroy it and restore the creature to its original form, but an instant or sorcery that does that cannot be undone, so that does not feel blue, to me.

Mcat1999, thank you, very much; this issue has been bothering me for some time, so I wished to make a thread about it.

It is late where I am, so I will not comment on every card from the black/green deck, but I am very glad to see Greed reprinted, again, since it needs to be kept available and affordable. However, why did WotC reprint Sanguine Bond , again, when Exquisite Blood needs a reprint far more dearly?

I have another questions: why is it that Regrowth and Recollect do not exile themselves, but Restock and Seeds of Renewal do? Is it because the latter two cards are newer? Is such an effect really that powerful?

The color pie is one of the central elements of this game, or, at least, that is what WotC has stated on multiple occasions, but I cannot help but wonder if they truly care about that, given some of the cards that they have been printing, in recent years.

Cards such as Pongify , Rapid Hybridization , Curse of the Swine , and, most recently, Ravenform , Resculpt , and Oversimplify all are blue cards that destroy or exile creatures, which is supposed to be blue’s major weakness; that it can delay threats, but not stop them entirely. If those cars returned the creatures to their owners’ hands, shuffled them into their owners’ libraries, or temporarily transformed them, as does Ovinize , they would be acceptable, but, in their current form, they go against the philosophy of blue being the least aggressive and combative color; blue is the best color for countering spells, so its deliberate weakness is that it has trouble dealing with permanents that have successfully entered the battlefield.

I feel that I should also mention Beast Within , in this thread, because one of green’s major weaknesses is that it is not supposed to be able to unconditionally destroy creatures, being the most creature-centric color of the game. WotC eventually did print Generous Gift , a white version of that card, which is not a break, since white is allowed to destroy any type of permanent due it having the least emphasis on card advantage of all the colors, but that card has been reprinted only once, whereas WotC has reprinted Beast Within numerous times, including in the most recent Commander set.

Even worse, all of these breaks are examples of green and blue intruding into white’s territory, yet, WotC has not printed any white counterspells in years and has been very slow in providing white with methods of card advantage that work within that color’s philosophy.

I am sorry if I am ranting, but this is severely frustrating, to me, especially since white is my favorite color in the game, and I also worry that newer players to the game will think that it is acceptable for blue to have such efficient creature removal, since those cards have existed since they began playing the game. Hopefully, if a sufficient number of players complain, WotC shall realize that they are undermining a central aspect of the game, and stop doing it.

What does everyone else here have to say about this? Does WotC care about the color pie, at all, anymore?

Another player clearly had the same concern as me, since they asked Mark Rosewater about it, and Rosewater responded by saying that he believes that WotC can focus on both types of products, which pleases me.

Black and white are my two favorite colors in this game, so, naturally, I am excited about the cards in the black and white deck.

Tempting contract is nice, but very unreliable, so I am not certain if I can put it into any of my current decks.

Felisa, fang of Silverquill is nice, but nothing spectacular, and I notice that many cards that are associated with Silverquill generate inkling tokens, just as many cards that are associated with Quandrix generate fractal tokens.

I do not like the wording on combat calligrapher; would it really have taken up too much space to write “whenever a creature attacks one of your opponents, its controller creates…etc.?”

Return to Dust has already been reprinted numerous times, so I dearly wish that WotC had instead reprinted Heliod's Intervention in this set, since that card has been printed only once, and is better in the majority of situations.

Guardian archon is definitely a great card, but its controller shall need to find a way to “flicker” it to truly get great value from it, but that should not be difficult to do, in white. I also like that this is the second card in the game with the text “secretly choose an opponent” and “activate this ability only once,” after Stalking Leonin .

Nils, discipline enforcer is a perfect example of white’s authoritarian nature, and he will definitely be annoying for many players whose decks rely upon putting +1/+1 counters on their creatures; I have a deck with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice as the general, so he could definitely hinder that deck, if I cannot deal with him, quickly. At least he does not have flash, because that would make him ridiculous.

Promise of loyalty will definitely lead to some very complicated political dealings in games that have more than two players, so I will be interested to see how it works.

Sponsorship scholar is another example of how card advantage works in white, and, even better, it allows players to search for any basic lands, not merely plains! Finally, WotC is making white more powerful and helping it to reach the other colors in terms of power!

I really like author of shadows; first, that artwork is amazing, and, second, the effect is very sinister, and will definitely turn the tide of a game, if used properly.

Bold plagiarist is the latest in a long line of cards that punish players who seek to gain advantage, but, at least, this one does not actually stop them from gaining advantage; it merely copies their advantage. Why is it that the opponent is the one who places the counters on the plagiarist, and not the controller of the plagiarist?

In a similar manner, cunning rhetoric is a continuation of black’s ability to discourage an opponent from attacking one’s self, and punishing them, if they do.

Fain, the broker, has serious potential for powerful combos, and could definitely lead to major shifts in games if used properly.

Incarnation technique would be good for either my Mimeoplasm or my Teneb, the Harvester decks, but I cannot remove and existing cards to make room for it.

With keen duelist, I first am very glad that there are still black wizards in this game, now that warlocks are a creature type, and, second, a symmetrical Dark Confidant will definitely lead to some major politics and bargains between players, and it should go without saying that the best way to use it is with the ability to manipulate your own deck, such as with Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top .

Stinging study is a nice way to take advantage of a general with a higher casting cost, especially if that general has been sent back to the command zone at least once, and has become too expensive to reliably recast; given that that card costs 5 mana to cast, I say that a player should have a general with a converted mana cost of at least 5 to truly get good value from it.

Inkshield is like Batwing Brume on steroids, but its high mana cost does mean that it will require strategy and careful timing to be used most effectively; I personally think that it could have cost 4 mana and still have been perfectly balanced.

As for the reprints, did we really need another reprint of Zetalpa, Primal Dawn or Sun Titan ? However, the reprints of Utter End , Oblation , Magister of Worth , and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea are all welcome, and I am glad that WotC has finally reprinted Deathbringer Liege , because that card very badly needed to be reprinted.

Overall, WotC has really increased the quality of this year’s Commander product, compared to those from previous years, so I hope that every Commander product has this level of quality, from this point forward.

Coward_Token, I fully agree that oversimplify is a major color pie break, and I may actually start a thread to ask if WotC even cares about the color pie, any more.

WotC has posted the Planeswalker's Guide to Strixhaven, so I am sharing it, here.

The school was founded 700 years ago, which was obviously well before the mending, so I wonder if any old planeswalkers ever visited that plane, and the fact that the Biblioplex has one of the largest collections of books in the multiverse would suggest that.

The information about the schools was nice, but the information about the rest of the plane of Arcavios was much more interesting, since this set and its associated story, will be focusing almost exclusively on the school.

The fact that WotC put forth effort to draw a map of Arcavios is a clear indication that they intend to revisit the plane, at some point, and the fact that they mentioned that the continent of Galathul is mysterious sounds like foreshadowing for a future set.

What does everyone else here have to say about this? What do you think of the planeswalker's guide to Strixhaven?

Mark Rosewater has rated Phyrexian mana as an 8 out of 10 on the Storm Scale, meaning that it is unlikely to return in a standard-legal set (but, hopefully, it may return in non-standard sets), because it apparently is difficult to balance and too easily leads to overpowered cards.

However, two-brid mana, introduced in Shadowmoor, is very similar to Phyrexian mana in that it allows decks to have access to effects that are outside of their colors, yet few players complain that it is overpowered or difficult to balance. Is paying life instead of mana really that powerful? From my experience, only if a player has a reliable source of gaining life (which requires either black or white) is the ability to repeatedly pay life overpowered, so I do not see why there is such a difference in opinion between Phyrexian mana and two-brid mana.

What does everyone else say about this? What makes Phyrexian mana more broken than two-brid mana?

Geometric nexus is insane, and it will definitely lead to players creating powerful creature tokens, especially if they have card with the proliferate mechanic in their decks.; the fact that its ability triggers from any player casting an instant or sorcery makes it even more amazing.

The amount of card advantage that can be gained from commander’s insight will definitely be impressive, and also will definitely affect the outcome of games.

Curiosity crafter is very nice, but the fact that its ability triggers only from token creatures limits its usefulness.

Deekah, fractal theorist is effectively a creature version of Metallurgic Summonings , which I am certain that many players shall appreciate, and, on that subject, the fact that Metallurgic Summonings is being reprinted in this set is excellent, because I felt that its price was becoming uncomfortably high for a card of its power.

Given the great amount of cards that generate fractal tokens, I suppose that it was inevitable that there would be a legendary fractal, and Esix, fractal bloom will be insane when combined with doubling season or the deck’s other face card, Adrix and Nev.

Oversimplify is a very nice card, but neither blue nor green are supposed to be able to permanently remove creatures from the game, even if they provide a new creature in return, so I strongly dislike how that card is providing those colors with even more effects that break the color pie.

I am very glad that sequence engine can exile creatures cards only from graveyards, because green is not supposed to be able to exile creatures that are currently on the battlefield.

Spawning kraken will become very powerful, very quickly, and I personally think that it should have had a more color-intensive cost, since it is too easy to cast, as it currently is.

Is it just me, or do Will and Rowan feel too similar to Jace and Chandra? The male is calm, contemplative, and studious, while the female is brash, energetic, and defiant. I also was hoping that they would join different schools, to emphasize their different personalities; Prismari is a great match for Rowan, but Quandrix would have been excellent for Will.

This is the first time that Will and Rowan’s birth mother has been mentioned, so I do hope that she is relevant, in the future, possibly when Will and Rowan return to Eldraine; is she dead or merely missing?

This question may be an uncomfortable one, but are Will and Rowan more than just siblings? They share a room, despite being grown adults, and they also share a spark, which means that they must planeswalk together, which I imagine must make romance very difficult for both of them, so their options are limited.

Did the tension between Will and Rowan emerge on its own, or is someone manipulating them? I hope that it is the latter option, because I do not wish for them to be permanently estranged form each other. I also am concerned that Rowan is starting to become obsessed with power and losing her sense of morality, so I really hope that she does not turn evil.

What is Kasmina doing? She is currently very secretive and mysterious, so I wonder if she is manipulating everyone on Arcavios for some sinister purpose? Her conversation with Lukka seemed to suggest that.

On the subject of Lukka, how did he even arrive on Arcavios, anyway, and why does he want to destroy Strixhaven? Why does he even care? Why does he simply not leave the plane?

I also have replaced In Garruk's Wake with Torment of Hailfire , which lowered this deck's average converted mana cost from 4.05 to 3.94, which is excellent.

legendofa, I like to refer to them as "reveal lands," because they require the player to reveal a card in their hand as the condition for entering the battlefield untapped.