Innistrad / FTV: Legends Spoiler

GENTLEMEN! BEHOLD!

Looks like Ghave, Guru of Spores decks have a new auto-include. Doesn't seem too great overall, but his synergy with Ghave cannot be overlooked. Add a healthy dose of Doubling Season, some Persist creatures and Maybe Ajani Goldmane and you can quickly turn an army of 1/1 saprolings or 0/1 plants into a much scarier army of 5/5's.

To bad he's off-color for Animar decks, though... he'd be pretty good there too.

Commander Spoiler Roundup Wrap-up

WotC has added the remaining cards to their visual spoiler, so I now have the card images to complete my new card roundup. Many of these have been known for a while, we just didn't have art for them.

 Cool art. I'm having a hard time imagining any scenario in which, if I am casting an eight-mana White creature, I'd rather have this than, say, Akroma. It's a neat creature, though, and should be popular among the EDH crowd overall. I just like something a little more proactive than gaining three life...

Underwhelming. Hexproof - the newly minted keyword for "troll shroud" - is pretty enticing though. I'd rather have the Greaves 2.0 from M12, but there are times and places where +2/+2 will be better than Haste, but not often.

As much as I dislike the idea of using this on someone's General, it's nice to see Red getting and option like this. Red needed this card, but they probably could never have printed this in a core set or an expansion. The Commander product was likely their sole opportunity to print something like this - I'm glad they took it. Red can now deal with Enchantments.

Boring.

For folks complaining about how Karador basically did the same thing as Teneb, well, congratulations, here's a different choice that is actually different!

By the way, you already had Doran too, so it's actually pretty fair that two of BGW's Generals step on each other's toes a bit.

I like this guy quite a bit more than I expected too. Nice job!

Stil only like the Green one, overall. Drawing cards is awesome, but I rarely want to share this effect with my opponents.

Nice. I may have to snag an extra copy of this guy for my Wrexial deck. I like his ability and, surprisingly, his stats are great for a 3-mana blue critter. He can be an okay chump blocker if the mill ability isn't enough to fend off an attack. I like that he can block 3/3 Beast Within token and Treetop Villages.

Sweet! Graveyard hate and efficient beater in one package. Without evasion, he's not likely to get through for much damage, but that shoud be easy to come by. The only problem is that he's competing with Fauna Shaman at this cost.

Normally, specters are cheaper and smaller, but in EDH, that makes them worse. This guy is actually really cool for EDH purposes. The CMC-based life loss is a cute bonus, and fits the expensive spell nature of the format nicely.

I like it. Normally you want your Instant-speed removal to be a surprise, but sometimes you want a "rattlesnake" card to just warn off attacks. This is a card that just sits there saying "go attack that other guy, not me".

I am not a fan of these effects at all. I don't like countermagic much, and I particularly don't like Hinder. I can't wait to cut this from the decks. Unfortunately, I do think these effects are a necessarily evil in the format as a whole - the help combat broken, unfun generals, and that is a valid use for them.

Meh, not as exciting as the other Vows, but it is marginally better than the white and blue versions. Well, Flying is a better keyword than First Strike, but this one  you might actually cast on your own guy once in a while.

Intimidate is nice evasion. Sometimes it will be blank, sometimes it will be Unblockable. The green one still wins, though.

 Huh, I wonder about this one. Would your opponents ever pay into this? I don't see it happening.

I prefer targeted, pinpoint removal, but this could wind up being very good. I'm still on the fence.

Commander Spoiler Roundup, Part 4!

More spoilers!

 Holy cow! Nice combat incentive. I still prefer Glory of Warfare, but this has the potential to surpass that card. This might even go into Rafiq decks. And I can see it being a 2x in Battle Cry decks. Can't wait to try this out, see how it plays.

 Awful. Yeah, it's a Plague Wind with an 8/8 body attached, but I don't even like Plague Wind.

This is just awful, and the art sucks too.

Holy crap. This is what is known as a "Game Changer". I strongly believe this card's impact on the format will be felt for years to come. I'm still not sure if I love it or hate it. It does kinda hose one of my favorite creatures of the last two blocks: Geth, Lord of the Vault.

 This feels like a Core Set poo rare. That said, it seems playable enough. Six power of flying deathtouchers for 7 mana is not a strictly bad deal. The fact that it comes in the form of a 2/2 and some 1/1 tokens means a single spot removal spell will not cut the mustard. You need a Wrath effect. Or a Massacre Wurm.

Yeah, on second thought, this is a card I'd rather see on my opponents' side of the board, not my own. Because I play the shit out of Massacre Wurm!

This is the one card that bridges the gap perfectly between "disappointing" and  "awesome". It's undeniably cool - putting Angels, Demons and Dragons into play for free is hot stuff. But having to attack with your 2/2 General seems very risky.

She's build-around in that you need enough tribal support for her ability to be relevant, and you need ways to protect her long enough to use her. And you need to protect her in combat.

This one will take some playtesting to determite her true strenghts and weaknesses.

Oh hell yes! I love me some Grave Pact. Lately I've been trying to fit Grave Pact into every deck, even when it doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing the same thing with this card.

The good news is, it's White, so it automatically goes into any deck along side Academy Rector.

I'm already thinking Vish Kal is going to make a better general than I initially thought... Vish Kal, Academy Rector, Grave Pact and Martyr's Bond... oh boy!

Edit: Weird, I guess Blogger didn't like what I had to say about Riku, as it ate the paragraph I wrote...
Anyway, Riku has the potential to be the most degenerate of all the new Legends. Just imaging copying a Time Stretch and you'll have some idea of the hijinks Riku can get up to.

But just how broken Riku really is depends on what else is in your deck. Copying a Mulldrifter or a Prophetic Bolt is one thing, but copying Warp World or Genesis Wave could be game-ending.

For the most part, though, I think killing Riku on sight will usually be the smart play.

 Ha ha ha, eat it, Blue mages! Do you have a doucebag player in your group that likes to take infinite turns with Time Stretch? Well, this isn't going to stop him by itself, but it's a powerful tool in your arsenal, so combining this with other hate will shut down a lot of stuff.

Zur. Birthing Pod. Demonic Tutor. Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Captain Sisay. Eye of Ugin.

Mana ramp. MANA RAMP!

Skyshroud Claim? F U.

I play the shit out of some Flesh Bag Marauder. Barter in Blood finds a home in many of my decks too.

Syphon flesh is not as good as either of those cards. But it is good. In any deck with a Zombie tribal theme, it's going to be fucking amazing. Anywhere else, it's just okay.

If it was 4 mana, I'd probably play it everywhere.

Neat. Better than I expected. I knew this would be the set's "Group Hug" general, and that's exactly what she is... but the surprise here is that she looks like she could actually win games!

Saavy players will only fall for her once, if at all, but here's the thing... you only need to get one player on your side, and start giving that player stuff to beat down on your other opponents. Then the player(s) who know what your up to might want to stop you, but they have to choose between killing you or the opponent you are helping out the most.

If they try to kill you, the probably leave themselves open to attack from that player.

The thing I'm worried about here is "king-making", where one player basically hands another player the win. That's annoying. But Zedruu and her deck look like they are capable of playing to win, rather than just handing someone else game after game.

Spoilers the Third

Finally, we get a crop of spoiled cards that are (mostly) more exciting than the "meh" sort of cards we've looked at so far. Still, though, the most exciting things spoiled to date are still Sol Ring and Lightning Greaves.

This guy is really cool. I'm not sure yet how good he'll actually be, but I love anything that gives your guys doublestrike.

The problem is that he gives your opponents' creatures doublestrike as well. On the other hand, if you put him in the right deck and choose the right time to cast him, you will probably be in good shape.

I really like how this guy interacts with Urabrask the Hidden. Sticking both will be hard, but it will win you games if you pull it off.

 Oh snap! City of Brass just got owned. By a common. I guess I don't need to point out that this literally does nothing outside of EDH, but within the format it's basically every-deck-ever status (every deck with two or more colors).

Finally, one of the new generals lives up to the hype! Okay, yeah I kinda hate the 7 mana cmc, and for a 4/4 Deathtouch that seems rather steep.

But then the draw ability! OMG! Those of you who know me already know this, but... I am a whore from card draw. Drawing cards is my favorite thing to do in Magic, hands down.

So, yeah. Mimeoplasm is fantastic, but I think Damia is my new favorite general ever.

 Whoah. An 8/8 for 6 is cool... not having evasion is not so cool. But it's in Green so Trample is probably easy to come by. And in a 4-way game, there will usually be one person sitting there with their proverbial pants down. The great thing about this card is, you can kill someone who has their defenses up by attacking someone else!

I am picturing this guy in two decks: First, in a R/G deck with that Avatar of Doublestrike above. Second, in Rafiq. The gist, in case you didn't pick up on it, is that I really want to give this guy doublestrike!

 An cross between Verdant Force and Inferno Titan, this guy seems like he should be solid overall, but is just a tad too under-the-curve for my current playgroup. I feel like I'd still rather have Bogardan Hellkite in the 8-mana slot here.

The question here is obvious: will anyone ever actually help you kill another player by paying into this? The way I see it is, this guy is expensive, unreliable anti-Planeswalker tech. I can definitely see people Joining Forces to kill a Nicol Bolas or Jace the Mind Sculptor - IF you get an opening to attack, that is.

God this guy blows. I mean, a 7/7 for 4 mana is cool, but I hate it when people use randomization to decide who they attack. This card gives them a legitimate reason to do it.

On the flip side, this guy sort of gives precedent for demanding that your opponent does NOT use a die-roll or whatever... because you can now make the argument that you can only do so when a card specifically requires you to. Much like how you cannot legally shuffle your deck unless a rule or card text specifically allows or requires it.

So from now on, I think we can consider randomly deciding your attacks is an illegal action unless you are playing this guy.

I know I said, about the White one in this cycle, that if it had Flying instead of Vigilance, I'd like it better... well, I guess I was wrong. I don't like this. I guess it's just cause it's Blue, which means most of your best creatures will already have Flying. So there is really very little appeal in playing this on your own guy, unlike the Green one.

That said, my friend's Intet the Dreamer deck, which has always been hard-up for good removal, will love most of these Auras - she won't need removal if the scariest stuff on the board simply can't attack her!

Commander Spoiler Roundup (continued)

GENTLEMEN! MORE SPOILERS!

Sweet! Squirrel tokens make a come-back. Unfortunately this card is somewhat poopy, but I can't help but love it for flavor reasons.

As for playing this card, well, if I build that Nin, the Pain Artist deck with Stuffy Doll, this could make the cut. Pinging the Doll to give myself a 1/1 Squirrel and dealing 1 to an opponent seems reasonably good.

This is a very interesting design, and he is acceptably cheap. Pro-White and Pro-Black are pretty relevant. His other two abilities seem really cool until you factor in how many Wrath effects are in the format. The problem with Animar is that he seems to want you to over-extend, which could lead to disaster.

 Sweet Jebus, yes! This card rocks. Early game, I don't really mind if my opponents get some lands too, it just jumpstarts the early turns which are usually boring anyway.

My dream here is to be going 4th in turn order, have everyone play an untapped land and pass, then I cast this on my first turn and everyone gets three basics!

The downside to that is, like most symmetrical cards, your opponents will get to untap their lands and use them before you do. That sucks, but not enough to stop me from playing this.

I'm going to hate casting this against Thraximundar, though.

 Meh, I hate random effects, but I love reanimator effects... do not know if want? I just have to play her and see how she does, but my initial reaction is "mild disappointment".

 This guy is better than I expected. It was obviously going to be some sort of Clone variant, but I wasn't sure how the Black and Green in his color identity would be represented.

Well, graveyard hate and +1/+1 counters fit those colors nicely. All rolled up into one sweet package, it's hard not to love this guy.

Ugh. The thing I hate about this guy is that resolving him is going to take forever, as you have to wait for your opponent to search for all the lands in his deck (except, probably, a few key non-basics). But that's not the end of it! After the game, the caster is going to have a huge clump of his lands RFG'ed in one stack, which is going to require extra shuffling to avoid having all his lands clumped into one small section of his deck.

In short, people complain about Sensei's Divining Top slowing things down... those folks are going to HATE this guy resolving.

 This seems cool until you see the next card...

Okay, yeah, this is way better. First off, Vigilance is NOT evasion, but Trample is. I just don't get it, really. These two cards cost the same, but the green one gives you better pump AND a much better Keyword ability.

If the white one had Flying, it'd be much closer to this one in power, but Vigilance is poop. This card, though, will easily fit into a number of decks - Uril, Rafiq and any deck that is already having to resort to stuff like Lignify for "removal".

The political aspect of these Aruas is pretty cool though. It acts as a theft-deterrent on your own guys, but put it on a big scary beater like Blightsteel Collosus or Ulamog and you remain safe from attack... but not your opponents!

The only question is, who will be more pissed at you: The person whose creature you enchant, or the person THAT player attacks with the enchanted guy?

Commander Spoiler Roundup

It's been slow, so let's talk spoilers. I'll post a batch of the latest officially spoiled cards from the upcoming Commander decks and talk about them. This won't be like a set review, because these cards are basically designed specifically for EDH play. That doesn't mean they'll all be good, though, so I'm just going to talk about what ideas, if any, I get from reading these cards

 This was the first card with the Join Forces mechanic to be spoiled. Overall, I'm not terribly impressed. Symmetrical effects like this can easily backfire by giving  your opponent an advantage over you. Mostly, these effects are relegated to "Group Hug" decks.
I do think this will be fine in token decks that are built in such a way that the tokens you get will be bigger or better than the tokens you give everyone else.
Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm have been brough up as ways to exploit the symmetry, and those are fine suggestions, but I'm still not overly impressed with this card for EDH play. Incedentally I kinda want 3 or 4 of them for a 60-card Suture Preist deck I'm working on.


 Best art spoiled so far. Underwhelming card, but seems like she'll be playable in the right decks. Ironcially she's good IN Elesh Norn decks and AGAINST them.

I'm really hoping to see her become the target of a kicked Rite of Replication some day.

 Yet another card whose art is of disproportionate quality to that of the card itself. Beautiful, yet rather dull. The whole "Players can't cast spells during combat" seems like it doesn't really hose anything widely played in EDH. No one plays Giant Growth.

She DOES hose Tainted Strike, though. So in some groups that might be enough to justify running her. As a general, I think the recently printed Jor Kardeen is about 100 times more interesting AND playable. Meh.

This goes in every Kaarthus, Tyrant of Jund deck EVER. Conversely if you have a Kaarthus deck in your group that you are NOT the pilot of, you want to say clear of this.

I'm really digging this dude's style. He's going to be very interesting, I think, to see how he plays out. He seems like the coolest one of the two-color legends to build around, and he can easily fit into many decks as one of the 99. I probably will want to play him in Rafiq, but he might even wind up as a General of his very own deck.

The best part is how intricately designed his simple ability really is. He nets YOU card advantage, which makes people want to kill you or him, but at the same time he offers to share that same card advantage with the rest of the table... IF they go after each other, rather than you! Brilliant!

 Obviously, this guy was meant to be a successor to Teneb for reanimator shenanigans. This guy has some pluses and some minuses in comparison to Teneb, but all-told I think he will be a slightly stronger General. That doesn't mean Teneb is wholly obsolete. Combine this with Sheoldred, Teneb and Geth, and you have some serious reanimation going on.

Nin is pretty interesting, but I'm a little concerned that right off the bat, most Nin decks will all look annoyingly similar. They will all play Stuffy Doll for example. Still, a compelling reason to actually play Stuffy Doll can't be all bad, can it?

This seems terrible to me. It does fill a niche or two - Dredge decks will have a field day with this guy targeting themselves, but on the whole I really don't want to run this too many decks. Also, he dies to Time Spiral.

I'm still debating if he's even worth a slot in Wrexial... I would like to think so, but I can't help but feel like Nemesis of Reason is still just plain better.

I'm still not sure about this one. His ability is cool and unique, which will be enough for some people to be all about this guy. I'm actually more intrigued that he has Haste. A two-mana Haste guy that gets bigger and bigger even if you kill him does have merit. I expect him to be very popular right away, but I don't know if the decks built around him will live up to expectations or not... time will tell.

For now, he's probably the least interesting or exciting to me, and I'm just not inspired to build a B/G deck for him.

I really wish they'd come up with a cheaper Legend for the WB guy, but I gotta say, this guy lives up to his price tag. & mana gets you a 5/5 flying lifelinker that eats your guys AND your opponents guys. I love him. He's playable as one of your 99 in any WB deck, but could very easily be promoted to General status.

Again, personally I was hoping for a 3 or 4 mana Legend, as this guy doesn't really fit the specific WB deck I was hoping to build, but I feel like he's good enough to warrant changing my design paramaters to fit him better.










There are a few others spoiled, but I'll get to those tomorrow or Wednesday...