just to back up my comments about white. the mtgoldfish commander guys just ranked the colors in the format (and did a pretty good job overall imo), and they had white second just behind green: ua-cam.com/video/Sj3WQNy3YYE/v-deo.html&ab_channel=MTGGoldfishCommander
@@baconsir1159 you know it was a 2 part video right? And they spent like 10-15 minutes on draw in part one? I’m with you that they were wrong about cyc rift tho
@@Spirited_skiing Aaah, my bad. Put part two as a reference so I watched that one, didn't notice it was a two-parter. Still disagree with a lot of the observations on that one (they REALLY underrated blue removal in general imo) but I guess I'll have to watch part 1
@@baconsir1159 it’s worth it. I do agree that with how fast the meta has gotten, bounce removal has gotten pretty good and is better as you get more powerful towards cedh because interrupting sequencing is often enough to survive a person’s turn I personally really agree with their assessment of mono-white though. And crim + tomer had more respect for blue’s removal at least- and that’s what I love about their stuff: they bring widely different viewpoints and at least tomer and Richard play both cedh and normal edh so they understand the format at different levels. But I think disagreement and discourse around magic is super good, and keeps things interesting because if we all agreed on commander philosophy it would be much more boring to play
@@Spirited_skiing Watched it. Richard saying Secret Rendevous is a good card I adamantly disagree with, and him saying "Kodama's Reach is card draw" almost gave me a stroke.
Unpopular opinion I know but: I actually like that this set isn't super powerful and synergistic. I think what this set brings most to Commander is a bunch of Jank, which is where commander is really supposed to shine. Playing suboptimal things just for self expression and fun. A full set of jank is exactly what I like for my commander decks tbh
I keep mine semi competitive with cards that I want to use. Not a fan of net decking because it's similar to inputting God mode in videogames and that takes the fun out of the game. I'll still face net decks no problem but I never expect to win against them.
@@Ascendedninja6 Personally, I don't see how it turns god mode on. Maybe I suck, but I used edhrec to make most of my Kediss/Falthis deck for a $99 budget thing my buddies and I were doing, and I'm still not winning most games. It lets me feel like I'm a bit closer to where they are if anything
@@guyinthecorner0 I dont think he meant it by god mode = very strong but meant it by turning on cheats and not having fun. Some people have fun turning on cheats too and some people enjoy the brewing part as much as the playing aspect.
24:00 love the Blind Seer shoutout there! Random fact- Blind Seer is actually Urza. Pretty neat! I have this card in foil and man those old foils are just built different..
Someone (maybe it was you Demo) said that these white cards should just have more white pips. I totally agree - it disincentivizes people from just slamming them in their 3, 4, or 5-color decks. If the Archivist and Terramancer both costed WW instead of 1W, hopefully people would be more hesitant to auto-include them in their multicolored decks. Smothering Tithe at 1WWW is way less format-warping than at 3W.
Agreed. I think you need 3 mono coloured pips to deter players from putting a card in a 3+ coloured deck. I still put cards in a 3 colour deck that have 2 mono pips no problem.
I agree about the white card problem. The only reason I haven’t made any mono white decks is because all the staple cards are over $10. It’s a big feelsbad.
Great picks, I agree with your point about the strong white cards being available for use in every deck with white. Those two cards should have had double white pips at the very least.
I love this set :D , its just very intresting and looks like a lot of fun. in point of the terramancer i think you are right, also it would be better if they just made reprints instead of just push more and more white card draw.
So far one of my favorite background combinations is Wilson and cultist of the absolute. You get a 5/5 voltron commander with just so many keywords on like turn 3
I agree with your opinion. Whether other people agree or not may not even matter. It's coming from someone who obviously has a deep passion for the game. You're also expressing yourself in an attempt to make the game better for the players. That's what matters. Thank you from one of those players.
I'm building a deck around Deep Gnome. A Rocco deck and a ton of removal that gives opponents lands. Path, Gost Quarters, etc. Him being 2/2 plus a few different commanders makes him very easily tutored. He's crazy
cards i like from the choises you made: - wild magic surge (btw i would place this onto my top 3^^) - navigation orb - irenicus's vile duplication - elmister's simulacrum - elturel survivors - balor - barroom brawl things i would add: - Popular Entertainer works for each commander, means in the 98 if a partner commander this means you could goad up to 6 creatures, 2 per enermie^^ oh and doublestrike works too. - Mocking Doppelganger strait up goads the go wide token deck xD - speaking of goad... what is this fun card i instandly wanna put in each red deck? Spectacular Showdown - oh and Traverse the Outlands or Jaheira's Respite are the reasons we got those white cards that help against tutors without stoping them... - Shameless Charlatan is a insanly good background! cause the effect is added by the enchantment you can use it again over and over! - Kindred Discovery also can be a new staple for tribal decks^^. - Windshaper Planetar, you redirect attacks... ALL OF THEM??? this set is bonkers, its one of the few times i like more then 10 cards from a set.
Cloudkill in K'rrik seems good. You are right about the break in the color pie with the last couple sets leaning into white mana acceleration and card draw. But to be fair, green has already done that in that it has just about everything.
There’s one great synergy in backgrounds, Abdel Adrian and the background Candlekeep sage. Probably gonna be the best azorius blink deck, goes infinite with Restoration Angel effects and facilitates a lot of blinking
oh to actually help you case on "Deep Gnome Terramancer" there's something even worse I'm not sure you missed it since you didn't talk about but on further inspection.....where's the word "Basic" and for playing at home that allows you to get the Shocklands/triomes/snow dual lands from kaldheim/tango or battle lands/Mistveil Plains/Mistveil Plains/and original dual lands with no drawbacks (via Savanah) so in other words you can put it in a 5-color deck easily because you can fix the mana
I was watching Gavin Verhey (who was lead designer on CL1 and second in command for CL2) open a draft booster box. One thing he pointed out is that they are trying to design very niche legendaries to inspire very narrow decks because there are just so many great wide-range designed commanders now. He said it after pulling Raggadragga, which is a pretty niche commander.
Ghired, Conclave Exile loves any and all of the Myriad creatures in his colors since you can stack the attack triggers to get the myriad token out, populate it with Ghired's trigger, and that populated token sticks around after combat Then on the next attack, you have two myriad creatures and triggers! It snowballs really fast.
I think the big problem with Deep Gnome Terramancer is that it doesn't say *basic* plains... just plains! Playing three colors? Go fetch your triome, shockland, checkland, etc...
Fraying Line + Sphinx of the Second Sun can be a board wipe on your turn. With Sphinx giving you a second upkeep during your post combat main phase, you'd be able to decline Rope's upkeep clause without anyone else getting an opportunity to pay for it.
Great match: Scion of Halaster with Erinis, Gloom Stalker. Discard a land with Scion, play it when you attack with Erinis. There's also a lot of mill/recur in Golgari, so there's a good amount of support for the pairing.
A decent commander/background combo i’ve found is Renari, Merchant of Marvels with Haunted One, its not really game-breaking at all, but its really fun to play because Renari gives all your dragon spells flash and Haunted One just helps your creatures stick through combat so much easier, its an interesting combination but fun to play. The only trouble I had building the deck is that Renari likes artifacts and Haunted One is obviously a black background, so not a ton of artifact support there, but you’re already in blue with Renari and most of the artifacts in my list are colorless anyway, so it ended up being only a minor build-around.
Interesting perspective about how much tutoring/shuffling goes on in a game. I never edited a gameplay video so I wouldn't really know. Surprised you didn't include any of the Mythic dragons. And I agree White has received a considerable bump in the past year.
i think people might be a little disappointed in those dragons. spending 7 mana on a creature, then waiting a turn to attack then rolling a 1 or 2 seems pretty bad.
@@edhdeckbuilding I couldn’t disagree more. I think they’re all bomb creatures. Can always run them in a graveyard deck if you think they’re too expensive.
@@edhdeckbuilding If you're rolling a D20 the average is around 10 (if my math is correct) which makes these pretty nuts I imagine. I actually love the variance, I think it will lead to some fun, cool, memorable moments, one way or the other.
I agree with you on Terramancer. They could have even had it get a "basic plains land", being able to fetch a "Plains" is way too powerful for only 2 cmc.
Love your videos! You have a really fun refreshing and coherent perspective on cards. Let’s just say some other channels are starting to give confusing messages about what they stand for. I half agree with you on white draw. I don’t think it’s too much now. But it is on the cusp. I can tell this because I made a Naya tokens deck recently and realised 80% of the card draw was coming from white! I think white draw is in the same category of almost too much as treasure and goad. Wizards really need to take their foot off the pedal now with those three things, I think!
The white weenie value engines are nuts! They we're juiced without the flash keyword, but being able to use them as a trap with an effect on the stack just pushes them over the top. I recently built Jetmir and I've been looking for one or two more low cost value engines, preferably on creatures. These are going to fit perfectly.
Abdel Adrian+Candlekeep Sage is a great Background combo, its in flicker/blink colors, and Candlekeep Sage rewards you with 2 cards for flickering Abdel :)
I don't know if you do Arena, or arena only sets, but love to hear your thoughts on balders gate alchemy for historic brawl, might be too complicated if you don't know the format or such, but even just if these cards were in commander if they be good.
One very good Background combination I've seen so far is Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant + Cloakwood Hermit, they have really good synergy! Honestly I feel like there's a few very cool combinations, you just have to dig a little deeper or have a strategy that works _with_ your commanders rather than them being the entire engine.
Erinis + Street Urchin gives you a deathtouch pinger. Add in artifact/creature lands, and you can sac them, then have Erinis attack and bring them right back. Not really my playstyle, but I'd love to see someone else pull it off!
Black Market works VERY well in a lot of deck that want to lose life - like Dinah, Greven and the like will love this card. A lot of decks with incidental life gain and in particular vampires could also benefit. If you have some creatures with lifelink, paying 6 to get a card, a treasure and another "vampire" isn't a bad deal.
I can understand the concerns for the new powerful white cards from this set, but taking a look at the cleric and the gnome they both have flash and are creatures. This is a great direction to be heading imo because it changes the gameplay and interactions outside turn order with removal/counter spells where as before it's just games where nobody has any removal and then the game is over. With boardwipes sweeping the meta I think it was best to put these on second tier tribal creature cards.
Elturel Survivors goes in any Dwarven Warrior type deck. Make a creature with power 2 or less unblockable then swing and pump. Going into one of my Goblin decks for sure.
The epic dragons cycle while random are still stupid OP in any dragon/dice deck, just because a d20 can roll you a 1 it's still a 10.5 average, people need to start respecting the d20 real fast once one of those dragons hit the battlefield. Also myriad in any aristocrat deck is just so good fodder, 2 free tokens to be sacrificed each combat phase, even if they connect.
They specifically said they made the background mechanic to enable the draft of Baldur's Gate and didn't have constructed commander in mind. They also didn't want to do partner since they couldn't effectively play test them in time.
Those top cards are pushed so hard. And I agree that they should cost all white mana.. To make it very hard to play in anything but mono white. Mono white does need cards like these.
I drafted I really powerful Background commander pair with Wilson, Refined Grizzly and Raised by Giants. A 10/10 with vigilance, trample, haste, and ward 2 is pretty great in the command zone. Only downside is the Background costs 6, but that shouldn't be too hard with the ramp in green.
My best picks from the set are The Council of Four, Irenicus’s Vile Duplication, and Aboleth Spawn. I really slept on Council until I ended up drafting them, and it’s a new level of value and fun! Aboleth Spawn is literally so much free value for only 3 mana. I would go so far to say it’s a new blue staple.
i think with cards like Archivist/Deep Gnome and smothering tithe they need to at least use more restrictive casting costs like WW for the former and 1WWW for the tithe so they cant be abused by the other 4 colours, doesn't fix it but its better for mono white overall
backgrounds for commanders compared to prismatic piper ... that's my thought. Seems like it's mainly for drafting commander and being able to get two colors. We will see if any get broken open
Deep Gnome Terramancer also fetches ANY plains, so dual lands can be grabbed as well, because it doesn't say 'basic Plains'. Any white deck, especially the multi-color ones, will want this.
Deep Gnome is super powerful, however if your playgroup doesn't play fetches it is significantly weaker. I get the green players are still going to trigger this multiple times, but it will not trigger from rocks.
I'm building a Karlach/Inspiring Leader Boros deck that focuses on Myriad and Extra Combats. Depending on how much I enjoy it, I may stick some of those Myriad cards in a Jetmir deck. Myraiding to 9 creatures and giving them all double strike? Yes please!
I think that you're giving the Gnome too much credit. Yes, it is powerful, and yes it will work a lot, but it wont be as powerful or consistent as Tithe. Every deck, no matter the color or playstyle draws cards, it's literally a step of the turn. Not every deck runs fetchlands though. Lots of 2 color decks don't run them due to budget or just they don't want to, and plenty of people with 3 color decks don't run them due to budget. And of course, almost no mono colored decks run them. Aside from fetchlands, not everyone plays green and that's the only color that you will see any consistent effects putting lands into play other than Wayfarer's Bauble and a couple other colorless artifacts. Again, it's great, even with just one trigger when you flash it out, it's a Three Visits that leaves behind a blocker/attacker, which is just great, but comparing it to Smothering Tithe is just not realistic. I can realistically seeing it trigger around 10% of the time that Tithe does, sure in certain games when you're playing against Omnath or some other kind of landfall deck it will trigger around 10+ times that game if you draw it early enough, but not every deck is a landfall deck and it has a once per turn limit. If you're not going against green decks, that means each 2-color deck may have one fetch land, and if you're going against three 3-color decks then there's maybe nine total fetchlands, out of 300 cards, those odds are much less than the guaranteed card that every plays takes on their turns.
39:07 that's true, Kenny doesn't need it, but then again, how many plains will Kenny have? I think that it should say "basic plains" there won't be many decks that would play it.
I think the Archivist is more generally applicable than the Terramancer, honestly. One of the things about Smothering Tithe is it's unlimited; you cannot run out of treasure tokens to make. Similarly, Archivist should not run out of cards to draw. But if my mana base gets greedy enough? I can easily run out of Plains. Both cards are fantastic and belong at the top, and you can make your argument that this isn't how to fix White, but I think its far more true of the Archivist than the Terramancer; if I'm running 3-5 colors, my mana base could quite literally be too greedy to support it.
I agree that Deep Gnome Terramancer is really strong. I agree that smothering tithe, and cards like it, aren't the answer. But one point in Deep Gnome Terramancer's favor is that you specifically have to grab a plains, which means that like a 5, 4, or even 3 color deck (where smothering tithe is great) can't really get as much out of it like a mono white deck could
It doesnt say BASIC PLAINS, it says PLAINS. A PLAINS card is any card that is a plains such as a triome that is a plains/mountain/island making the Terramancer not only be ramp but also perfect fixing
Acolyte of Bahamut + Ganax seems great for a dragons ramp deck. I will be using Tharkus though cause almost all of my dragons are from this set and are pretty weak compared to normal ones
Yes the best case for the gnome is turn two get it down and gain some value from the green deck ramping out of control. What about when this is a late game top deck it's just a 2/2. Also it only gets a plains so that limit's its usability in 3-4-5 color decks. Probably should have been WW or only gotten a basic plains but we will see. If this becomes a thing maybe people will start opening their eyes and saying we need some LD or at least more punishment cards for explosive ramp.
Mate, it gets a PLAINS card… not a Basic Plains. The reason its so busted is because you can tutor a dual land or triome with it straight onto the battlefield making it not only ramp but also PERFECT colour fixing for 3/4/5 colour decks, which is nuts.
Terramancer also doesn't say basic Plains. It's says Plains, meaning dual lands and Triomes are also on the menu. If it even just had basic Plains, it'd be a more restricted and balanced card.
I think the background commanders wer designed to be simple and straightforward so draft could function and slot into 99s in constructed. Imo they are not meant out shine Elminster or miiryam or myrkul. Altar of Bhaal is a callback to recurring nightmare which is fun. Overall I think they did pretty well with this set as long as you don’t want commander masters. Which I’m pretty sure will be coming lol…it’s going to be 400 a box and have that dockside and tithe and fierce guardianship everyone wants so bad.
Actually white looks like not even close to the title of worst colour in commander nowadays. It ramps, kills anything, draws cards, wraths...it does literally everything...
If the terramancer mentioned basic plains, then it would be balanced for white and white only. Since it is ANY plains, you can get duals, triomes, etc.
I don’t mind the low power level of this set. It’s just that it’s not particularly interesting. I remember they were going through the draft archetypes and it reminded me of something we’d see in a core set. Very dull. I personally can’t stand the price they’re charging though.
It seems like every second set has phenomenal green cards with the sets in between picking a different color to focus on.......but with four other colors that is still letting green outpace them dramatically.
Super strong... against specifically green. Against anything else you pretty much have to pray they draw/play a fetch or Simulacrum. The former means you're likely just punishing decks for playing 3+ colors in a way that's not backbreaking, and the latter is a single card. I guess there's also burnished hart but that's falling out of favor as time goes on.
You're still wrong about Archivist of Oghama and Deep Known Terramancer. They are powerful effect that goes in every deck, because white has not enough other options yet. All other colours have "Powerful options that go in every deck" that aren't super expensive, because the other colours have heaps of options. They need more and more card draw options so that these cards aren't ubiquitous, expensive cards that go in every deck.
Even though the cards from the main set are printed into commander, I still prefer them to precons. I love commander as making decks with the cards you open. Planning a deck and buying specific pieces is just bizarre to me
Imagine you have a Deep Gnome Terramancer and excited to tutor out Lands off of other Tutors, but one of your opponents has an Archivist of Oghma. Ouch.
I do agree that the background commanders are kinda underwhelming. I was super excited to see how many weird janky combos I could do in different colors and after coming through them, most of them don’t really add much interest to what your commander is already doing.
Totally agree with everything you said. I’m happy for the people that are excited for the flavor of the set that are D&D fans but to me it’s kind of a dud. Definitely a singles set for me. I wanted to buy a box but just can’t see it making sense for me since I just want the lands and a few singles. Kinda stinks that the set booster box only has 18 boosters too
I disagree with your opinion on the Backgrounds. There are wonderful ones, and don't forget that non-creatures are generally much harder to remove than creatures. Almost every deck has mass creature removal nowadays, but mass enchantment removal is rare, and most of the time opponents aren't going to spend their precious artifact/enchantment removal on your Backgrounds that can be recast. This is great! Also, I don't think the best combo is Halsin + Inspired Leader, since it would be enough to remove Halsin. The huge 6/6 tokens are powerful, but they have no evasion, and they can't block flyers. Without Halsin you will probably be limited to 1/1 tokens, and it would be very difficult to win. I consider Baeloth + Clan Crafter much more powerful combo: you aren't that frightening, but almost nobody can attack you, and you have both the card draw and time for the victory. Without Baeloth, you still keep the card advantage you've already gained, and it can be immense, since Clan Crafter ability is limited only by your mana, which you will have a lot in artifact deck. I don't like Black Market Connections at all. If you need Treasures, it gives you just one per turn, which is too slow. If you need cards, it also gives you just one per turn, and you pay more than usual 1 life for it. I guess it will be played only in the decks that benefit from losing life. Archivist of Oghma punishes the players for searching their libraries. Commander wasn't meant to be played with 20 Tutors! It has 100 cards with only one copy of each right to be unpredictable! Of course, now Archivist is too good, but I guess Wizards will fight until people won't move to the more straightforward decks with no Tutors and no fetchlands. Then you will find that your Archivist is just a 2/2 bear with Flash :) Same about the Terramancer. Can you win without "putting your lands into play"? Probably yes, unless you're playing a deck that's based on that. You can use creature-based ramp, artifacts or enchantments, or play several lands per turn. If nobody plays the fetchlands and the green spell ramp, Terramancer is the same 2/2 bear with Flash. Moreover, the value of Terramancer quickly decreases in the game: getting +2 Plains on turn 3 is broken, but getting them on turn 7 may mean nothing. My personal card #1 is Green Slime. Now this card will really be played in every deck with Green. Who doesn't want a way to prevent opponent's victory for just G?
just to back up my comments about white. the mtgoldfish commander guys just ranked the colors in the format (and did a pretty good job overall imo), and they had white second just behind green: ua-cam.com/video/Sj3WQNy3YYE/v-deo.html&ab_channel=MTGGoldfishCommander
They also said Cyclonic Rift isn't a board wipe and didn't talk about draw power at all, whole vid is largely clown to clown communication imo
@@baconsir1159 you know it was a 2 part video right? And they spent like 10-15 minutes on draw in part one?
I’m with you that they were wrong about cyc rift tho
@@Spirited_skiing Aaah, my bad. Put part two as a reference so I watched that one, didn't notice it was a two-parter. Still disagree with a lot of the observations on that one (they REALLY underrated blue removal in general imo) but I guess I'll have to watch part 1
@@baconsir1159 it’s worth it. I do agree that with how fast the meta has gotten, bounce removal has gotten pretty good and is better as you get more powerful towards cedh because interrupting sequencing is often enough to survive a person’s turn
I personally really agree with their assessment of mono-white though.
And crim + tomer had more respect for blue’s removal at least- and that’s what I love about their stuff: they bring widely different viewpoints and at least tomer and Richard play both cedh and normal edh so they understand the format at different levels.
But I think disagreement and discourse around magic is super good, and keeps things interesting because if we all agreed on commander philosophy it would be much more boring to play
@@Spirited_skiing Watched it. Richard saying Secret Rendevous is a good card I adamantly disagree with, and him saying "Kodama's Reach is card draw" almost gave me a stroke.
Unpopular opinion I know but: I actually like that this set isn't super powerful and synergistic. I think what this set brings most to Commander is a bunch of Jank, which is where commander is really supposed to shine. Playing suboptimal things just for self expression and fun. A full set of jank is exactly what I like for my commander decks tbh
Pauper commander is where its at
I keep mine semi competitive with cards that I want to use. Not a fan of net decking because it's similar to inputting God mode in videogames and that takes the fun out of the game. I'll still face net decks no problem but I never expect to win against them.
@@Ascendedninja6 Personally, I don't see how it turns god mode on. Maybe I suck, but I used edhrec to make most of my Kediss/Falthis deck for a $99 budget thing my buddies and I were doing, and I'm still not winning most games. It lets me feel like I'm a bit closer to where they are if anything
@@guyinthecorner0 I dont think he meant it by god mode = very strong but meant it by turning on cheats and not having fun. Some people have fun turning on cheats too and some people enjoy the brewing part as much as the playing aspect.
This set should have had equal commander staple reprints compared to the last set. Jeweled lotus should have been in this set at the very least.
24:00 love the Blind Seer shoutout there! Random fact- Blind Seer is actually Urza. Pretty neat! I have this card in foil and man those old foils are just built different..
I think this is actually one of the best sets in quite awhile I mean art and flavor are just pretty great lots of fun jank too looks pretty great
Someone (maybe it was you Demo) said that these white cards should just have more white pips. I totally agree - it disincentivizes people from just slamming them in their 3, 4, or 5-color decks. If the Archivist and Terramancer both costed WW instead of 1W, hopefully people would be more hesitant to auto-include them in their multicolored decks. Smothering Tithe at 1WWW is way less format-warping than at 3W.
Agreed. I think you need 3 mono coloured pips to deter players from putting a card in a 3+ coloured deck. I still put cards in a 3 colour deck that have 2 mono pips no problem.
I agree about the white card problem. The only reason I haven’t made any mono white decks is because all the staple cards are over $10. It’s a big feelsbad.
Just a word of caution regarding Battle Angels of Tyr: if two players are TIED for highest for any of those resources, the ability does not trigger.
Great picks, I agree with your point about the strong white cards being available for use in every deck with white. Those two cards should have had double white pips at the very least.
This set bumped the power level of my Umbris deck a lot.
“Rhystic study is probably the best enchantment in their deck” … *flips rhystic study into omniscience*
I love this set :D , its just very intresting and looks like a lot of fun.
in point of the terramancer i think you are right, also it would be better if they just made reprints instead of just push more and more white card draw.
So far one of my favorite background combinations is Wilson and cultist of the absolute. You get a 5/5 voltron commander with just so many keywords on like turn 3
Burakos, party leader with the “Folk Hero” background is the best one I’ve come up with so far.
I agree with your opinion. Whether other people agree or not may not even matter. It's coming from someone who obviously has a deep passion for the game. You're also expressing yourself in an attempt to make the game better for the players. That's what matters. Thank you from one of those players.
thanks. alot of people think i'm just whining and complaining but i don't want to see this format get ruined like so many others have.
I'm building a deck around Deep Gnome. A Rocco deck and a ton of removal that gives opponents lands. Path, Gost Quarters, etc. Him being 2/2 plus a few different commanders makes him very easily tutored. He's crazy
Thanks for this video. I watched a bunch of other CLB card reviews before this one, but I like yours the most. Very interesting take on it.
Robe of the Archmagi is basically my favorite card in the set, it’s perfect for my Derevi swords deck, the perfect wizard 🥲
cards i like from the choises you made:
- wild magic surge (btw i would place this onto my top 3^^)
- navigation orb
- irenicus's vile duplication
- elmister's simulacrum
- elturel survivors
- balor
- barroom brawl
things i would add:
- Popular Entertainer works for each commander, means in the 98 if a partner commander this means you could goad up to 6 creatures, 2 per enermie^^ oh and doublestrike works too.
- Mocking Doppelganger strait up goads the go wide token deck xD
- speaking of goad... what is this fun card i instandly wanna put in each red deck? Spectacular Showdown
- oh and Traverse the Outlands or Jaheira's Respite are the reasons we got those white cards that help against tutors without stoping them...
- Shameless Charlatan is a insanly good background! cause the effect is added by the enchantment you can use it again over and over!
- Kindred Discovery also can be a new staple for tribal decks^^.
- Windshaper Planetar, you redirect attacks... ALL OF THEM???
this set is bonkers, its one of the few times i like more then 10 cards from a set.
Cloudkill in K'rrik seems good. You are right about the break in the color pie with the last couple sets leaning into white mana acceleration and card draw. But to be fair, green has already done that in that it has just about everything.
The whole concept of "commander draft" was a very fun concept. I hope it becomes a more actual draft format that lgs do.
There’s one great synergy in backgrounds, Abdel Adrian and the background Candlekeep sage. Probably gonna be the best azorius blink deck, goes infinite with Restoration Angel effects and facilitates a lot of blinking
Great minds think alike! :D it is an awesome combo!
You’d need two blink effects to go infinite.
oh to actually help you case on "Deep Gnome Terramancer" there's something even worse I'm not sure you missed it since you didn't talk about but on further inspection.....where's the word "Basic" and for playing at home that allows you to get the Shocklands/triomes/snow dual lands from kaldheim/tango or battle lands/Mistveil Plains/Mistveil Plains/and original dual lands with no drawbacks (via Savanah) so in other words you can put it in a 5-color deck easily because you can fix the mana
yes even worse. 2 mana instant speed go get a triome. even more reason for multi-colored decks to play it.
I was watching Gavin Verhey (who was lead designer on CL1 and second in command for CL2) open a draft booster box. One thing he pointed out is that they are trying to design very niche legendaries to inspire very narrow decks because there are just so many great wide-range designed commanders now. He said it after pulling Raggadragga, which is a pretty niche commander.
Gavin was also adamant they stop making legendaries who can draw as well as ramp which has been true since prosper.
Ghired, Conclave Exile loves any and all of the Myriad creatures in his colors since you can stack the attack triggers to get the myriad token out, populate it with Ghired's trigger, and that populated token sticks around after combat
Then on the next attack, you have two myriad creatures and triggers! It snowballs really fast.
OH MY GOD HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THIS?!?!? I am immediately making my Ghired precon remade as a Myriad deck!!!
I think the big problem with Deep Gnome Terramancer is that it doesn't say *basic* plains... just plains! Playing three colors? Go fetch your triome, shockland, checkland, etc...
with Patriar's seal my Kiki-Jiki etb deck is mow down to only one 2cmc ramp, good job wizard for pushing those 3cmc mana rocks
Fraying Line + Sphinx of the Second Sun can be a board wipe on your turn. With Sphinx giving you a second upkeep during your post combat main phase, you'd be able to decline Rope's upkeep clause without anyone else getting an opportunity to pay for it.
Great match: Scion of Halaster with Erinis, Gloom Stalker. Discard a land with Scion, play it when you attack with Erinis. There's also a lot of mill/recur in Golgari, so there's a good amount of support for the pairing.
A decent commander/background combo i’ve found is Renari, Merchant of Marvels with Haunted One, its not really game-breaking at all, but its really fun to play because Renari gives all your dragon spells flash and Haunted One just helps your creatures stick through combat so much easier, its an interesting combination but fun to play. The only trouble I had building the deck is that Renari likes artifacts and Haunted One is obviously a black background, so not a ton of artifact support there, but you’re already in blue with Renari and most of the artifacts in my list are colorless anyway, so it ended up being only a minor build-around.
Interesting perspective about how much tutoring/shuffling goes on in a game. I never edited a gameplay video so I wouldn't really know. Surprised you didn't include any of the Mythic dragons. And I agree White has received a considerable bump in the past year.
i think people might be a little disappointed in those dragons. spending 7 mana on a creature, then waiting a turn to attack then rolling a 1 or 2 seems pretty bad.
@@edhdeckbuilding I couldn’t disagree more. I think they’re all bomb creatures. Can always run them in a graveyard deck if you think they’re too expensive.
I would’ve definitely included Ancient Copper Dragon. In a Magda deck would be sick.
@@edhdeckbuilding If you're rolling a D20 the average is around 10 (if my math is correct) which makes these pretty nuts I imagine. I actually love the variance, I think it will lead to some fun, cool, memorable moments, one way or the other.
I agree with you on Terramancer. They could have even had it get a "basic plains land", being able to fetch a "Plains" is way too powerful for only 2 cmc.
cloudkill in phenax god of deception. Phenax is 5 mv and most of my creatures are 6+ toughness. definitely gonna consider it for a slot.
Love your videos! You have a really fun refreshing and coherent perspective on cards. Let’s just say some other channels are starting to give confusing messages about what they stand for.
I half agree with you on white draw. I don’t think it’s too much now. But it is on the cusp. I can tell this because I made a Naya tokens deck recently and realised 80% of the card draw was coming from white!
I think white draw is in the same category of almost too much as treasure and goad. Wizards really need to take their foot off the pedal now with those three things, I think!
The white weenie value engines are nuts! They we're juiced without the flash keyword, but being able to use them as a trap with an effect on the stack just pushes them over the top. I recently built Jetmir and I've been looking for one or two more low cost value engines, preferably on creatures. These are going to fit perfectly.
I personally love the new horrors I can add to Umbris.
I like your videos bro, I hope you don’t stop
What white needs (or needed) is more mid level redundant draw effect (like rumor gatherer) not pushed cards that like you said will stay too expensive
Abdel Adrian+Candlekeep Sage is a great Background combo, its in flicker/blink colors, and Candlekeep Sage rewards you with 2 cards for flickering Abdel :)
I don't know if you do Arena, or arena only sets, but love to hear your thoughts on balders gate alchemy for historic brawl, might be too complicated if you don't know the format or such, but even just if these cards were in commander if they be good.
One very good Background combination I've seen so far is Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant + Cloakwood Hermit, they have really good synergy! Honestly I feel like there's a few very cool combinations, you just have to dig a little deeper or have a strategy that works _with_ your commanders rather than them being the entire engine.
I think Sarevok + Cultist of the Absolute is an amazing fit for a mono black voltron deck, which I've been looking forward to for quite some time.
Erinis + Street Urchin gives you a deathtouch pinger. Add in artifact/creature lands, and you can sac them, then have Erinis attack and bring them right back. Not really my playstyle, but I'd love to see someone else pull it off!
Black Market works VERY well in a lot of deck that want to lose life - like Dinah, Greven and the like will love this card. A lot of decks with incidental life gain and in particular vampires could also benefit. If you have some creatures with lifelink, paying 6 to get a card, a treasure and another "vampire" isn't a bad deal.
i would say willowdusk is the best fit.
I love this set. Bought two collector boxes and split a box of set boosters with a friend of mine.
I can understand the concerns for the new powerful white cards from this set, but taking a look at the cleric and the gnome they both have flash and are creatures. This is a great direction to be heading imo because it changes the gameplay and interactions outside turn order with removal/counter spells where as before it's just games where nobody has any removal and then the game is over. With boardwipes sweeping the meta I think it was best to put these on second tier tribal creature cards.
Elturel Survivors goes in any Dwarven Warrior type deck. Make a creature with power 2 or less unblockable then swing and pump. Going into one of my Goblin decks for sure.
The epic dragons cycle while random are still stupid OP in any dragon/dice deck, just because a d20 can roll you a 1 it's still a 10.5 average, people need to start respecting the d20 real fast once one of those dragons hit the battlefield.
Also myriad in any aristocrat deck is just so good fodder, 2 free tokens to be sacrificed each combat phase, even if they connect.
They specifically said they made the background mechanic to enable the draft of Baldur's Gate and didn't have constructed commander in mind. They also didn't want to do partner since they couldn't effectively play test them in time.
I feel like the bear commander and the raised by giants background will be super popular
Those top cards are pushed so hard. And I agree that they should cost all white mana.. To make it very hard to play in anything but mono white. Mono white does need cards like these.
I drafted I really powerful Background commander pair with Wilson, Refined Grizzly and Raised by Giants. A 10/10 with vigilance, trample, haste, and ward 2 is pretty great in the command zone. Only downside is the Background costs 6, but that shouldn't be too hard with the ramp in green.
My best picks from the set are The Council of Four, Irenicus’s Vile Duplication, and Aboleth Spawn. I really slept on Council until I ended up drafting them, and it’s a new level of value and fun! Aboleth Spawn is literally so much free value for only 3 mana. I would go so far to say it’s a new blue staple.
i think with cards like Archivist/Deep Gnome and smothering tithe they need to at least use more restrictive casting costs like WW for the former and 1WWW for the tithe so they cant be abused by the other 4 colours, doesn't fix it but its better for mono white overall
That's why early on, our group decided to search when it's best for time flow and announce when the search was to take place in game time
Love your content
The Black Enchantment is going straight into my Abzan Lifegain... As long as it doesn't get that expensive
backgrounds for commanders compared to prismatic piper ... that's my thought. Seems like it's mainly for drafting commander and being able to get two colors. We will see if any get broken open
Deep Gnome Terramancer also fetches ANY plains, so dual lands can be grabbed as well, because it doesn't say 'basic Plains'. Any white deck, especially the multi-color ones, will want this.
Deep Gnome is super powerful, however if your playgroup doesn't play fetches it is significantly weaker. I get the green players are still going to trigger this multiple times, but it will not trigger from rocks.
I'm building a Karlach/Inspiring Leader Boros deck that focuses on Myriad and Extra Combats. Depending on how much I enjoy it, I may stick some of those Myriad cards in a Jetmir deck. Myraiding to 9 creatures and giving them all double strike? Yes please!
I think that you're giving the Gnome too much credit. Yes, it is powerful, and yes it will work a lot, but it wont be as powerful or consistent as Tithe. Every deck, no matter the color or playstyle draws cards, it's literally a step of the turn. Not every deck runs fetchlands though. Lots of 2 color decks don't run them due to budget or just they don't want to, and plenty of people with 3 color decks don't run them due to budget. And of course, almost no mono colored decks run them. Aside from fetchlands, not everyone plays green and that's the only color that you will see any consistent effects putting lands into play other than Wayfarer's Bauble and a couple other colorless artifacts.
Again, it's great, even with just one trigger when you flash it out, it's a Three Visits that leaves behind a blocker/attacker, which is just great, but comparing it to Smothering Tithe is just not realistic. I can realistically seeing it trigger around 10% of the time that Tithe does, sure in certain games when you're playing against Omnath or some other kind of landfall deck it will trigger around 10+ times that game if you draw it early enough, but not every deck is a landfall deck and it has a once per turn limit. If you're not going against green decks, that means each 2-color deck may have one fetch land, and if you're going against three 3-color decks then there's maybe nine total fetchlands, out of 300 cards, those odds are much less than the guaranteed card that every plays takes on their turns.
39:07 that's true, Kenny doesn't need it, but then again, how many plains will Kenny have? I think that it should say "basic plains" there won't be many decks that would play it.
I think the Archivist is more generally applicable than the Terramancer, honestly. One of the things about Smothering Tithe is it's unlimited; you cannot run out of treasure tokens to make. Similarly, Archivist should not run out of cards to draw. But if my mana base gets greedy enough? I can easily run out of Plains.
Both cards are fantastic and belong at the top, and you can make your argument that this isn't how to fix White, but I think its far more true of the Archivist than the Terramancer; if I'm running 3-5 colors, my mana base could quite literally be too greedy to support it.
I agree that Deep Gnome Terramancer is really strong. I agree that smothering tithe, and cards like it, aren't the answer. But one point in Deep Gnome Terramancer's favor is that you specifically have to grab a plains, which means that like a 5, 4, or even 3 color deck (where smothering tithe is great) can't really get as much out of it like a mono white deck could
You forgot about all dual lands and triomes :)
It doesnt say BASIC PLAINS, it says PLAINS. A PLAINS card is any card that is a plains such as a triome that is a plains/mountain/island making the Terramancer not only be ramp but also perfect fixing
Black market connections will be amazing in whip of erebos strategies
Acolyte of Bahamut + Ganax seems great for a dragons ramp deck. I will be using Tharkus though cause almost all of my dragons are from this set and are pretty weak compared to normal ones
Yes the best case for the gnome is turn two get it down and gain some value from the green deck ramping out of control. What about when this is a late game top deck it's just a 2/2. Also it only gets a plains so that limit's its usability in 3-4-5 color decks. Probably should have been WW or only gotten a basic plains but we will see. If this becomes a thing maybe people will start opening their eyes and saying we need some LD or at least more punishment cards for explosive ramp.
Mate, it gets a PLAINS card… not a Basic Plains. The reason its so busted is because you can tutor a dual land or triome with it straight onto the battlefield making it not only ramp but also PERFECT colour fixing for 3/4/5 colour decks, which is nuts.
The background mechanic isn’t busted. Good!
Terramancer also doesn't say basic Plains. It's says Plains, meaning dual lands and Triomes are also on the menu. If it even just had basic Plains, it'd be a more restricted and balanced card.
Love that they brought back adventures
I dont know if anyone mentionned it but myriad fits very well with Isshin
No monster manual? That card seems like the best card by miles
I think the background commanders wer designed to be simple and straightforward so draft could function and slot into 99s in constructed. Imo they are not meant out shine Elminster or miiryam or myrkul.
Altar of Bhaal is a callback to recurring nightmare which is fun.
Overall I think they did pretty well with this set as long as you don’t want commander masters. Which I’m pretty sure will be coming lol…it’s going to be 400 a box and have that dockside and tithe and fierce guardianship everyone wants so bad.
Actually white looks like not even close to the title of worst colour in commander nowadays.
It ramps, kills anything, draws cards, wraths...it does literally everything...
Volo is a popular entertainer in the books and games. The card is likely popular entertainer.
If the terramancer mentioned basic plains, then it would be balanced for white and white only. Since it is ANY plains, you can get duals, triomes, etc.
I don’t mind the low power level of this set. It’s just that it’s not particularly interesting. I remember they were going through the draft archetypes and it reminded me of something we’d see in a core set. Very dull.
I personally can’t stand the price they’re charging though.
It seems like every second set has phenomenal green cards with the sets in between picking a different color to focus on.......but with four other colors that is still letting green outpace them dramatically.
Deep Gnome Terramancer is a White Three Visits/Nature's Lore for Plains. It is SUPER strong.
Super strong... against specifically green. Against anything else you pretty much have to pray they draw/play a fetch or Simulacrum. The former means you're likely just punishing decks for playing 3+ colors in a way that's not backbreaking, and the latter is a single card. I guess there's also burnished hart but that's falling out of favor as time goes on.
Nautifild will be great in my anowon deck
its not totally a synergy but karlach + inspiring leader makes for a fun boros tokens shell
Great video as alwayz brother 🤘🏻
Elturel Survivors (or really any Myriad card in Mardu) goes so well in Isshin as Myriad triggers 2x
great content!
Nautiloid Ship gets crewed by Captain N'gahthrod! Luckily he can crew it by himself because the pre-con didn't have any other pirates 😢
Black market connections goes in a vilis broker of blood deck. When vilis is out you're drawing cards for each life you lose.
Ooh I’m gonna put frayed line in my opponents choice deck!
Can you pay more with Fraying Line to save more creatures?
You're still wrong about Archivist of Oghama and Deep Known Terramancer.
They are powerful effect that goes in every deck, because white has not enough other options yet. All other colours have "Powerful options that go in every deck" that aren't super expensive, because the other colours have heaps of options.
They need more and more card draw options so that these cards aren't ubiquitous, expensive cards that go in every deck.
Even though the cards from the main set are printed into commander, I still prefer them to precons.
I love commander as making decks with the cards you open. Planning a deck and buying specific pieces is just bizarre to me
Imagine you have a Deep Gnome Terramancer and excited to tutor out Lands off of other Tutors, but one of your opponents has an Archivist of Oghma. Ouch.
I do agree that the background commanders are kinda underwhelming. I was super excited to see how many weird janky combos I could do in different colors and after coming through them, most of them don’t really add much interest to what your commander is already doing.
It’s not a fun opinion, but I do think it’s the correct one. More fundamental pieces and less chase cards is the way to fix white
Totally agree with everything you said. I’m happy for the people that are excited for the flavor of the set that are D&D fans but to me it’s kind of a dud. Definitely a singles set for me. I wanted to buy a box but just can’t see it making sense for me since I just want the lands and a few singles. Kinda stinks that the set booster box only has 18 boosters too
I disagree with your opinion on the Backgrounds. There are wonderful ones, and don't forget that non-creatures are generally much harder to remove than creatures. Almost every deck has mass creature removal nowadays, but mass enchantment removal is rare, and most of the time opponents aren't going to spend their precious artifact/enchantment removal on your Backgrounds that can be recast. This is great! Also, I don't think the best combo is Halsin + Inspired Leader, since it would be enough to remove Halsin. The huge 6/6 tokens are powerful, but they have no evasion, and they can't block flyers. Without Halsin you will probably be limited to 1/1 tokens, and it would be very difficult to win. I consider Baeloth + Clan Crafter much more powerful combo: you aren't that frightening, but almost nobody can attack you, and you have both the card draw and time for the victory. Without Baeloth, you still keep the card advantage you've already gained, and it can be immense, since Clan Crafter ability is limited only by your mana, which you will have a lot in artifact deck.
I don't like Black Market Connections at all. If you need Treasures, it gives you just one per turn, which is too slow. If you need cards, it also gives you just one per turn, and you pay more than usual 1 life for it. I guess it will be played only in the decks that benefit from losing life.
Archivist of Oghma punishes the players for searching their libraries. Commander wasn't meant to be played with 20 Tutors! It has 100 cards with only one copy of each right to be unpredictable! Of course, now Archivist is too good, but I guess Wizards will fight until people won't move to the more straightforward decks with no Tutors and no fetchlands. Then you will find that your Archivist is just a 2/2 bear with Flash :) Same about the Terramancer. Can you win without "putting your lands into play"? Probably yes, unless you're playing a deck that's based on that. You can use creature-based ramp, artifacts or enchantments, or play several lands per turn. If nobody plays the fetchlands and the green spell ramp, Terramancer is the same 2/2 bear with Flash. Moreover, the value of Terramancer quickly decreases in the game: getting +2 Plains on turn 3 is broken, but getting them on turn 7 may mean nothing.
My personal card #1 is Green Slime. Now this card will really be played in every deck with Green. Who doesn't want a way to prevent opponent's victory for just G?
im hopin backgrounds can be super useful in th 98 of partner decks
Funny you said "Greed is a factor" for Black Market Connections - Pay {B} and 2 life: Draw a card! ;)
Terramancer is so cracked lol, it’s floor is a flash blocker, its ceiling is grabbing 4-5 lands which is just disgusting
I'm wrecking it with Myrkul.
Vhal, Candlekeep Reasearcher...Raised By Giants. Have fun!