The Command Zone

So we now have product shots and deck names for the 5 upcoming EDH precons, as you are no doubt aware. I assume you are aware, because I'm not vain enough to think anyone would ever come to this little blog for their Magic news. But I am, however, vain enough to share my thoughts and opinions with you.

First, the official anouncement can be found here. I'll wait, if you need a moment to refresh your memory.

Okay, so those shots don't really give us much info, really. We know one new general is a Minotaur Monk and another new general has Deathtouch. Whooptie doo! However, the tantalizing tidbits of artwork were enough to give me the biggest Magic-boner I've ever had. (And yeah, I am vain enough to think you wanted to know that!).

So let's take a quick look at the decks, in order of most exciting to least...

   I'm a little surprised that this one is so exciting to me, but look at that frickin' art, man! A hot goth chick with demon wings and angel wings? She's a Human Cleric, which is odd, but once her abilities are revealed, I'm sure the art will make sense. I can't wait.
   Let's look at that sliver of art on the middle card... I see black feathery wings, red ribbon trailing of some wierd staff, and skulls dangling off a chain. The art seems to indicat either an Angel or a Bird creature. Based on the Flying and Vigilance in the textbox below, I'm guessing Angel is more likely. The name of the deck, Heavenly Inferno also supports this theory.
   Folks, I'm predicting the first ever WBR Angel!

   This is the one I was most looking forward to before I saw these product images. My Vorosh deck is one of my all time favorite EDH decks, but Vorosh was a nearly irrelevant General for it. He wasn't quite as bad as Oros, but damn near, and at least Oros has cool synergy with Basilisk Color. So really I'm just hoping one of the two new guys here will be more relevant and playable than ol' Vorosh. The Mimeoplasm looks pretty cool, but I'm really interested to see what that chick behind him does. She kinda looks like a Gorgon.

   The name is pretty telling here: Mirror Mastery. I predict lots of Copy effects (ooh, BOLD PREDICTION!). Mr. Of Two Reflections looks very intriguing. His mechanic will obviously be based on copying things somehow, but the specifics remain a mysery at this point, and one that is burning in the back of my mind.
   The weird elemental guy behind him is less exciting to me, based on the art. But the art is pretty cool nonetheless. I can't even imagine what sort of abilities this guy will have, other than Protection from something, of course. URG is just a hard color wedge to design in, I think. Finding a common ground between all three of those color is tough, and Copying things is really the only link I can think of.

This one has one thing going for it right now. A Minotaur Monk. The name the Greathearted seems to indicate a "group hug" kinda vibe, and the deck name "Political Puppets" also implies a theme of trading favors and making alliances.
   However, that middle guy, though mostly obscured, looks like a savage beatstick, which implies that this deck might have more teeth than the typical group hug deck. So perhaps this is the sort of deck that wants to extend the hand of friendship early on, then rip your arm off and beat you with it later. Could be cool.
   I expect my excitement level for this deck to either shoot up sky-high or hit rock-bottom when the full decklists are spoiled.

   To be fair, I think this deck will be awesome. It's only last for three lame reasons. First, something had to be last, or it wouldn't be a ranked list, would it? Second, it has the dumbest name of all the decks. Third, we already know what Karador, Ghost Cheiftan does, and while he's arguably an upgrade over Teneb, he's still kinda redundant. So all of these factors do impact my excitement level somewhat, but I'm still pretty pumped regardless.
  The one legitimate worry I have is that Guru of Spores guy. If this is a BGW Thallid deck, I'll be pissed.Thallids, as a strategy, basically require you to overextend into Wrath effects over and over until you just lose to massive card disadvantage.Seeing as how most Wrath effects are rare, that limits the overall number these decks are likely to be packing, so a Thallid deck could be awesome if you're playing it strictly against the other Commander decks straight out of the box.

   I don't expect any of these to really stand up to other non-precon EDH decks. But I'd like to at least keep the theme intact of each deck, while powering it up to play well in my metagame. If Counterpunch is a Thallid deck, I'd likely have to scrap that theme entirely, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

The simple fact is, I can't imagine a scenario where ANY of these decks is so disappointing I won't end up buying it. I need to start saving right friggin' now!