Gleeock You know, being doomed by Wand of Wonder sounds like a really fun way to lose a match, so still a good time : )

Honestly, I'm not really sure how "commits a crime" works yet, but good to know that it might be something fun to explore. I was trying to get back into the game a bit and then the Princess Bride cards kind of broke my brain, so not really sure if I will check out the new sets right now. It's kind of weird that they don't have reminder text for these effects. I mean, I guess I should know what these effects do, but I really kinda don't.

And yep FormOverFunction the original Terror was such a creepy card, but in the best way. Part of me misses those legitimately scary cards, but then part of me thinks it went maybe a little too far with something like Ad Nauseam, so I don't know, but I love the original terror!

To be honest, I'm not a huge Aerosmith fan, but I do think that Steven Tyler is massively talented. I've heard interviews with him where he is singing the instrumental parts of the songs and it really seems like he is incredible at hearing what he wants the whole song to sound like and then the band can build it from that. There is something truly special in the way he's not just the singer, but also in a large part the composer of their music.

I also really appreciate that they are one of those bands that was in tune in an era before electronic tuners and auto tune. Sometimes you listen to classic rock and it's like, yikes, they were way off (Bruce Springsteen, love you guys, but looking at you here). But Aerosmith was always in tune and on the same page, and there is an attention to detail in their music that they probably didn't need to have, but did it anyways.

Ha, sorry, I just find the nuts and bolts of classic rock fascinating because it was such an anything goes time. Guns and Roses tuned themselves like an orchestra, the Ramones couldn't have cared less, and Led Zepplin had 3 people in perfect rhythm and then Jimmy Page was all over the place, but then Jimmy Page was the one fans loved. Even The Beatles who largely sang in unison, which is normally a huge no-no, but then they were the most popular band in the world.

I guess I think of Aerosmith as a hugely talented band that wanted to make songs that people can just sing along with in the car, and that's pretty awesome.

Oh, and it may seem a little weird but I really love targeted removal in EDH. One of my favorite things in a game is to look around the table, assess threats, and have lots of flexible answers. Cards like

Cast Out

Lightning Bolt

Mutiny

Path to Exile

Swift Reconfiguration

Tragic Slip

Actually, yep, Tragic Slip is definitely my pet removal spell : ) It's always the best card in my hand, it just depends on when it gets used.

I guess part of it is that when I used to play board sweepers it always felt so uninteractive. So many games became, somebody doing a combo, does anyone have Cyclonic Rift? And that's so chance dependent that it feels unfun, to me at least. I like target removal because they always have a target, so I can play enough of them to always have some answer, and then it's on me if I don't save it for the correct threat.

You know, I just realized that with red in it's colors, Voja is probably nuts with extra combat step effects. Just untapping creatures like Priest of Titania and Marwyn, the Nurturer multiple times a turn is big, whil also drawing cards...wait...wow...

I mean, I used to play an elfball deck that would go infinite turn 4 very consistently, and thinking about it, I worry what Voja would do to that kind of deck because if you can try to go infinite as fast as possible, get interrupted, then cast Voja, then try to draw into another infinite, all in a way that synergizes, this could be pretty rough for the other 3 players at the table.

Really though, I don't think Voja will be some cEDH powerhouse or anything, but it may be too much for casual, something like Narset, Enlightened Master

And maybe it's just me, but I do kind of wish they shuffled up the cast of characters a bit more. Like, I'm cool with Jace and Vraska stories, but what about characters that have been huge in magic lore of the past like Serra, Titania and Gaea, the Weatherlight crew minus Karn, the Sliver Queen, Baron Sengir, Radiant, or even something more modern like Questing Beast. I'd love to see a day in the life of the Questing Beast story : )

I mean, some probably can't come back due to where their stories ended, but I feel like there is a lot of characters that got left strewn about in continuity while the Gatewatch has to have each character wear a hundred hats, figuratively (well, kinda)

Dense Canopy is such a good one! Definitely one of the most unique effects, and cards like that that are game changing but not game changing from straight up power level, I love those cards.

My biggest pet card has to be Warrior Angel When I built my Kami Neon deck, I finally found a place for this card that has been my favorite forever. I remember getting Sliver Queen and Mox Diamond in packs of stronghold when I was a kid, but I never played anything as much as I played Warrior Angel

Also, I'd have to say Willbreaker I have a 60 card deck that uses the venture into the dungeon mechanic to hit target abilities like, target creature gets -2/0, which sounds underwhelming until it becomes a steal a creature : ) The whole deck became my pet deck, mostly because it was a pretty unhinged idea that I expected to not go anywhere and then it worked so crazy well.

Gleeock Yep, it's pretty rough that the best werewolf deck is now also the best elf deck with some random wolves. I think the original werewolf transform mechanic was so fun, actually rewarding you for holding things in your hand and having to plan when to play and when to not, and I really wish they expanded on that mechanic rather than make a weird replacement and now a top tier wolf commander that has nothing to do with any of it.

They kind of took a deck that interacts with the board in a unique way and rolled it into elfball. I mean, you can always still run a casual werewolf fun deck, but the more they make omni-powered 3 or 4 color good stuff commanders, the harder it gets to play something like original werewolves with anyone outside of your playgroup.

My real question is, why does a wolf and elf commander draw cards? It's not just that Voja is possibly overpowered, it's that with one line of card text this became a very stagnant possibly overpowered card. It's by far the best aggro commander ever printed and it not only locks you into creature types but also locks you into a ramp-draw playstyle.

I just massively dislike this one because it's like they are trying to make the best aggro deck ever printed, but also make the list basically solved at printing.

FormOverFunction Completely agree on the X-files, and I think just in general that pop fiction really has a fear of doing an anthology or an atmosphere story. For the most part, writers and producers try so hard to cling to the characters that people like, and they end up forcing stories that really drive home the worst parts of those characters.

Like, I think Scully is great. She's by the book, wry funny, but then does wildly reckless things sometimes. She's a very well rounded and intelligent character, but at the same time, she has to keep saying "I don't believe" even after she has been the center of an alien storyline, just because they deemed both her character story and how she fits in the formula episodes uncuttable. They're seeing it as, this is how she has to be, how do we explain it? Rather than, this is how she is, what would she do?

Just my opinion, but I do think that going too far trying to please the reader eventually kills it for the reader.

When wizards used to do more atmospheric storytelling it did a great job of catering to different players. There was story for players who wanted to read it, there was cards that could fit different themes for casual and commander decks, there was flavor for just flavor sake, and best of all there was a ton more room for a player just to fill in the gaps in their mind. But since they moved towards more character based storylines, it feels like they want one kind of player with one kind of interest in the story, and then atmosphere comes from the atmosphere of some universes beyond nonsense.

Last_Laugh I agree with you, in commander it looks like a very snowballey enchantment. I think Pain Magnification might take the right deck to be great, it's not a rakdos staple, but in the right build it would absolutely be a must remove threat.

The main drawback I could see with it is that in commander players can get very salty about discarding and not everyone will have enchant removal, so you may become the archenemy when you play this.

Just throwing out ideas here, but Pain Magnification might be brutal in a rakdos Blade of Selves deck that runs Balor and Archon of Cruelty as reanimated blade carriers.