Quick Update

This is just a quick update to let you all know that the Standard Legal EDH experiment is going really well, and I'm about ready to post those lists. I'm going to be running the lists by the forums this week for last-minute improvements and suggestions, but after I make any possible changes based on feedback from the forums, I'll post them ASAP!

Also, we're knee deep in C14 spoilers and they are pretty exciting so I'm eager to start writing about those. As always, though, I will wait until the spoilers are 100% complete because it's extremely hard to judge things accurately in a vacuum. I'm a big-picture kind of guy so I want to have as much context and info as possible before I commit to an opinion (even though at the end of the day pre-lauch set reviews are all theorycraft anyway).

So, just know that I have finally renewed my motivation to build decks, play games and write about it.

See you again real soon!

Khans of Tarkir EDH Set Review, Part 6: The Unaligned

After a bit of an intermission, we're back with the last section of our Khans set review. We've covered all 5 clans but we still have quite a few unaligned cards that are worthy of mention. At the end, I might talk a little bit about the set as a whole, if there's room.

White

A fairly playable card, this will be a Day of Judgement for 5 most of the time, which is pretty bad, but against Equipment-heavy decks, it'll shine.

Also hoses Bestow, not that Bestow was in need of hosing.

Blue

This is quite obviously one of the most universally-playable cards in the set. One of the best clone variants ever printed. Probably even better than Phyrexian Metamorph, though there are specific decks that'd prefer the Metamorph, but honestly, you could run both in most cases and be happy as a clam. This may well be the best blue mythic since Consecrated Sphinx. 

Black

One of the few commons in the set that I'm fairly excited to play. In a vacuum, I don't really like Sign in Blood-type cards in EDH, but when they have just a little upside, they can be pretty playable. Read the Bones from Theros was pretty great. This is a little more narrow... costing 4 instead of 3 kinda hurts, but in decks where putting those two cards into the graveyard really matters, this is almost like drawing four cards for 4 mana and 2 life, which is a great deal.

In a way, this is a lot like a black Foresee, which is not terrible.













Red

So, basically, you're rarely gonna play this face down to start with. The morph cost is too high. You're better off just hard casting it, and then after it dies, it's a race to unmorph it before it can die again. 

Meh. It's a cute design, but not very powerful in EDH. Hope it finds a home somewhere though.

That +1 is a saucy little number, but I'm not sure how good it'll be at getting through in EDH where 5/5 and 6/6 flyers are pretty darn common.




















Green

Obviously goes in Morph.dec.

Obviously, doesn't go in any other decks.



















Multicolor

This guy lacks an immediate "wow" factor. He's not "sexy" the way, say, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was. But I think he's probably deceptively powerful.

EDH probably isn't the place for this 'Walker to shine, but he's probably not terrible, either. He's likely to be a solid performer but only in the right decks.

There was a time when Simic Sky Swallower was an all-star staple of these colors. Yet I find myself wanting less and less to run him these days.

Here, I think the lack of Flying hurts more than the addition of Morph and a slight cost reduction. In this light, I don't see this guy doing much in the format, but anything with a Morph theme is probably already running worse creatures, so he's got a shot, at least.

I still like Vindicate better, but I'm old-fashioned that way. Really, Instant speed and exile over destroy are both huge incentives to play this over Vindicate, but not being able to kill Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle is a minor downside here.

Honestly, most of the time, I'd try to run both if possible.

Not nearly as awesome as Deflecting Palm, but still a pretty neat combat trick and potential Sunforger target. For when you absolutely, positively have to get that last bit of General Damage through.



















Artifact

The Banners - The banners are strictly better than Alara's Obelisks, and those were playable. However, I still prefer the more versatile mana rocks like Chromatic Lantern, Coalition Relic and Darksteel Ingot, though.

Nice. Can be used as Graveyard hate, or to recycle your own 'yard. It's cheap, but not dirt cheap, though, and I think that hurts it. Also, it self-exiles which really sucks.

It'll do in a pinch, but not the best option out there.

Awfully expensive, at 9 mana to cast, equip and activate it all in a single go, but possibly game-winning if you do. But luckily, you can pay the mana out in installments to make it easier to manage, and if the first activation doesn't get you there, you're free to keep trying!

Seems fun in a deck with lots of little guys and a big General - like maybe a Mardu deck helmed by Zurgo?

Ha ha, actually, this card might be the one and only compelling reason to let Emmara Tandris helm your GW Tokens deck... okay probably not a good enough reason, but still fun to imagine.

With such a minimal opportunity cost, it'll be hard to imagine too many mill decks passing this up. Only trouble is, many of those decks are quite heavy on the non-permanent spells. This is also a ridiculously awful topdeck in the late game.

I like hosing extra turns, but then taking them yourself is awfully hypocritical. Not to mention that this + Prototype Portal + any sac outlet is a really easy infinite turns combo.

On the positive side, in most decks this will be perfectly fair.

But still, it's hard to really imagine jamming this into too many decks, because there seems to be a very high probability it'll  just sit there having zero impact on the game. It'll be a silver bullet for specific metagames but most folks will likely have little use for it.










Land

Seems fine for "mono-Brown" decks like Karn, Silver Golem or Ulamog, to the extent such a deck might or might not care about lifegain. The opportunity cost is minimal, though, so might as well jam it in there.

Actually, between this, the unbanning of Metalworker, and Muzzio being in Conspiracy, I really want to retool my Oloro deck to be much more Artifact-focused that it currently is.















Well, readers, that's it! We've wrapped up or set review of Khans of Tarkir. Overall, I'm pretty excited about this set. While the average power level of cards seems to be a little weaker than we're used to, and there aren't quite so many obvious bombs and future staples, I think that's a good thing! Even if there were quite a few individual cards that I do really wish were a bit stronger, so that they'd have a change to really justify being played, there are nonetheless a high number of cards that I think will add to the format.

New wedge Legends are always a plus. And then, of course, there are the fetch land reprints and the new wedge-colored tri-lands to help with our mana bases. Basically, this set looks like it has a lot of fun cards that might do cool things. Really, what more could we want?

Until next time, enjoy!