Exclusive: Commanders write to Santa!

Imagine my surprise when I was walking down Elgin street one night and found an empty mailbag. Being an upstanding, honest and responsible citizen, my first inclination was of course to head to the post office and drop it off. But then, a biting curiosity took hold of me and I opened said bag.
What did I find but a bunch of letters to Santa Claus, from some of the more popular commanders in the format?

Let's take a look inside the mailbag and see what we can learn.


Dear Santa, my Commander needs...

Azami, Lady of Scrolls: "It's not much fun being a wizard without an Academy to attend..."

Azusa, Lost but Seeking: "Fastbond isn't really that much better than Exploration is it? With 40 life and three other players, I'm not sure it's even playable. Can we give it a test unban please?"

Captain Sisay: "I really wish the rest of the Weatherlight crew outside Karn and Rofellos were, you know, useful?"

Damia, Siege of Stone: "To become One with Nothing for the rest of the game."

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician: "Dear Santa, I really wish someone would get rid of all these needles sticking out around the house. They're stopping me from spreading my wings."

Edric, Spymater of Trest: "A better spy network. Why is everyone directing their frustrations at me?"

Karador, Ghost Chieftain: "A Morality Shift for the late game, and perhaps being reunited with Protean Hulk or Griselbrand?"

Maelstrom Wanderer: "What I'd really like is a friend."

Memnarch: "1UU: Target Santa becomes an artifact. 3U: Gain control of target Santa. You make toys only for me now, elf."

Omnath, Locus of Mana: "I'd love to focus my energies into a Doubling Cube for something more constructive, like world domination."

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher: "A short term alliance with Purphoros, God of the Forge. I bring friends and you bring the pain."

Rafiq of the Many: "Bant Commander seeks creature companions willing to work alone. Infectious personalities welcome."

Riku of Two Reflections: "Reuniting with Primeval Titan would be great, capturing Jingzhou before the next event even better."

Ruhan of the Fomori: "A distributor for my new hit single: 'We are Fomori, I've got all my bounce spells with me.' "

Sen Triplets: "I don't need anything really, I'll just use whatever you keep lying around."

Sliver Queen: "That all the servant races realize that I am, indeed, imbued with Omniscience."

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: "Some enchanted weapons please. It's nigh impossible to get them here due to extortive duties on items."

Thraximundar: "An audience of one."

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter: "Ask not what Vish Kal can do for you, but what you can do for Vish Kal. *Sacrifices entire kingdoms, burps slightly.*"

Zur the Enchanter: "I'd really like Aggravated Assault as a blue aura, with a blue or white activated ability. Or a horsemanship aura maybe. Wizards riding horses is really cool!"


Other Items of EDH Interest:

Just a small reminder that there is no Commander event at CBS Sunday of this week, as GP Toronto is going on. It resumes next week with a 1 v 1 event and six spots open for the Invitational. Get playing!

Wizard's Tower is hosting 1 v 1 events starting at 4 p.m. every Saturday night. It's a more casual environment so give it a try, entry $5 and prize is Wizard's Tower coins (store credit).

Not really tied to Commander, but December 7th there will be the annual CHEO event over at Wizard's Tower. It's for a fantastic cause and there will be some cool stuff for auction if you want rarities or alters. It all ends up helping a great plce so there we go!

The importance of paying taxes, Sleeper Commander 2013 picks.

Welcome back to the EDH in Ottawa blog after a somewhat prolonged absence.

This week we'll look at why you should be looking at "tax" strategies like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or even throwing the odd Winter Orb into your deck to make your EDH games less monotonous and more taxing, if you'll forgive the pun.

So what do EDH players like to do? Ramp. How do they ramp? Fetchlands, green cards like Kodama's Reach or Cultivate, artifacts like Solemn Simulacrum or Wayfarer's Bauble. Why do they ramp? Well, the more lands you have the quicker you can deploy your strategy. The quicker you deploy your strategy the quicker you can win. You want to do that too right? Ehhhhhhh maybe not.
While it would be great if we all played group hug and drew a zillion cards and so on, someone has to put the reins on all this growth and proliferation. That person can be you. Why should it be? Read on, dear reader and we'll get you into a stifling new comfort zone.

Asking someone why you want to be THAT guy/gal that wears the black hat is a lot like asking John Wayne why he'd want to be a nasty sumbitch in The Searchers, which you should really see even if you're not a big western-genre fan. Sometimes having a target painted on your deck, err...neck can improve your play and make you a better and somewhat reviled EDHer. In the case of our first friend, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, there isn't much to like if you're looking across from him. He makes all your stuff cost more while your opponent's spells cost a bit less to play. What are the benefits of playing Pope, as he's knowin in the parlance of our time? Well, you're in maybe the two best control colours around. You have access to sweepers, great planeswalkers, a ton of other tax effects in blu and white and like any pope worthy of his name, probably a little mind control thrown in.

GAAIV lends himself to other "slow to a crawl" cards like Winter Orb, which is woefully underplayed these days. Let's face it, EDH is a greedy format and we tap out all the time. All. The. Time. So much so that you can sometimes resolve a Rhystic Tutor. Pope probably isn't going to get you through commander damage, but his friends will put you behind as well, whether it's in card draw from Consecrated Sphinx or just stealing your recently played hope for the red zone with Sower of Temptations. Magic (in whichever format you prefer), is all about pace. You want that early Sol Ring to cast Cultivate, but if the Sol Ring costs 2 and Cultivate 4 you're not going to get there, sorry.
And hey, who says you can't equip up GAAIV with a sword or two and smack your opponent around? Stranger things have happened, like the time my Thalia deck overcame pope and Tabernacle to gnaw away 40 life points.

Speaking of Thalia, she's another commander that would see a little more play if people weren't afraid of being complete douchenozzles, or being tied to a colour with really weak card draw and an entirely combat-based strategy. But hey, throw a Tangle Wire in here, a Thorn of Amethyst there and your opponents will sit helpless until they reach 7+ mana and just cast Malestrom Wanderer for no penalty since it's a creature and all that. But hey, no plan survives contact with an Opposition or whatnot.
The important thing is that tax sttrategies are somewhat viable and certainly shouldn't be discarded without a second look. If nothing else they turn the game into a bit more of a chess match and a little less of 52 pickup, or 100 pickup, as you were.

Sleeper picks from Commander 2013

With the new Commander product flying off the shelves faster than a Lightning Greaves equipped Ball Lightning, the focus (and rightly so) has been on the big guns like Prossh, Jeleva and utility like Toxic Deluge and Unexpectedly Absent. There are a few eyebrow-raising (and possibly   game-altering) cards left in the pile though. While these probably won't be traded for much return, they will cause your opponents to pay attention to the battlefield a little more, which is never a bad thing.

White

Darksteel Mutation 1W
Enchantment - Aura (Uncommon)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature is a 0/1 Insect artifact creature with Indestructible and loses all other abilities, card types and creature types.

A better Lignify in a colour that really needed another, somewhat more permanent, way to deal with creatures on the battlefield. There have been a lot of 'semi-exile" cards (Chained to the Rocks being the most recent), but this one zeroes your target to the point of no return. Again, there are probably stronger options in this colour but it isn't a bad start for utility depth.

Tempt with Glory 5W
Sorcery - (Rare)
Tempting Offer - Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Each opponent may put a +1/+1 counter on each creature he or she controls. For each opponent who does, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Probably way overcosted for 1 v 1 play but interesting in multiplayer. If you're running a commander that relies on counters and your opponent just has beaters then who cares? You're getting more fogs out of your Spike Weaver, more Ghave shenanigans and so on and so on. There are likely much, much better options to use though (Doubling Season comes to mind) but hey, it could end up being a make or break in a group game.

Blue

Borrowing 100,000 Arrows - 2U
Sorcery - (Uncommon)
Draw a card for each tapped creature target opponent controls.

If it draws you four to five cards it's more than paid for itself. It's eminently splashable and can serve as gas to find a sweeper as well, particularly useful in a mono-blue build that's gaining a lot of hate.
If nothing else, it's an always useful semi-cantrip. If your meta doesn't field many creatures then you're looking elsewhere in blue for answers.

Djinn of Infinite Deceits - 4UU
Creature - Djinn (Rare)
Flying - 2/7
T: Exchange control of two target nonlegendary creatures. You can't activate this ability during combat.

Pretty meh as far as mana costs go, seeing you've got Consecrated Sphinx which is much more of a game breaker in that same range. However, it's just to be fun just to exchange a creature that's about to be hit by Doom Blade for their commander or something that's alive. And hey, you don't lose control of the creature when you untap so you can keep giving them your crap all game long.

Illusionist's Gambit - 2UU
Instant - (Rare)
Cast Illusionist's Gambit only during the declare blockers step on an opponent's turn.
Remove all creatures from combat and untap them. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. Each of those creatures attacks that combat if able. They can't attack you or a planeswalker you control that combat.

The new blue Fog, Reins of Power being the first that comes to mind. Has the capacity to totally blow out an unprepared player at your table, especially if they've already tapped their Maze of Ith, Kor Haven, Mystifying Maze et al. on a previous opponent. If nothing else it saves your planeswalkers for an extra activation, which can be huge tilt in and of its own.

Strategic Planning - 1U
Sorcery - Uncommon
Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them cards in your hand and the rest in your graveyard.

Subtly powerful, this "graveyard impulse" will lead to endless shenanigans. You can set up a Genesis trigger, a Crucible of Worlds usage, a potential reanimation target and many things beside. And you still get one of the three as well, hopefully to put the rest to good use. Even if you're just dumping extraneous cards away it's still a "mini-Top". Should see some play, though I'm not looking forward to seeing it in action.

Tempt with Reflections - 3U
Sorcery - Rare
Tempting offer - Choose target creature you control. Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of that creature. Each opponent may put a token on the battlefield that's a copy of that creautre. For each opponent that does, put a token on the battlefield that's a token of that creature.

Oh shenanigans thy name is blue. Give everyone a Solemn Simulacrum? How about a copy of your Edric (Then choose a copy to keep for yourself, perhaps the new untapped one)? Or a tapped Magus of the Disk? Or...? Nice rattlesnake effect that can potentially pull some aggro off yourself if you gift things right.

Black

Price of Knowledge 6B
Enchantment - Rare
Players have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, Price of Knowledge deals damage to that opponent equal to the number of cards in that player's hand.

Hmm, permanent Sudden Impact mixed in with a Reliquary Tower for each player. Anyone have a Krosan Grip?

Black has been underserved in the Commander product, exclusing multi cards. The early returns on Toxic Deluge have been mixed at best, Baleful Force hasn't seen a lot of play and the black Temptation card hasn't raised a lot of eyebrows. Thankfully there have been some nice reprints like Decree of Pain and Sanguine Bond, both of which do see some play in EDH decks all over.

Red

From the Ashes - 3R
Sorcery - Rare
Destroy all nonbasic lands. For each land destoryed this way, its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then each player who searched his or her library this way shuffles it.

So people hate Ruination and Armageddon effects. Sure. How about Ruination with Ghost Quarter tied to it? Weak for competitive play unless the deckbuilder can't get any nonbasics, but will get rid of all those annoying Mazes of Ith, Gaea's Cradles and so on and give them something just not nearly as good.

Mass Mutiniy - 3RR
Sorcery - Rare
For each opponent, gain control of one target creature that player controls until end of turn. Untap those creatures. Those creatures gain haste until end of turn.

Well it's no Insurrection, but it's not bad. Your average "Ray of Command" Costs four converted mana, this costs one more and gets you three creatures. The problem is for the same mana cost (and as an Instant) you can just Word of Seizing their irritating Kiki-Jiki or any other permanent with impunity. Could still be a fun card in a casual build.

Sudden Demise - XR
Sorcery - Rare
Choose a color. Sudden Demise deals X damage to each creature of the chosen color.

Pretty superfluous card but a clear push to players to play multi-coloured decks. I guess if you need an extra sweeper in your deck and your meta leans toward mono-color it's not bad, but I'd still rather Startstorm or Bonfire of the Damned or Earthquake or...

Widespread Panic - 2R
Enchantment - Rare
Whenever a spell or ability causes its controller to shuffle his or her library, that player puts a card from his or her hand on top of his or her library.

In love with this design. There is a metric ton of shuffling and this comes as a tax effect in a colour that hasn't had access to that in a while. Sure it stops being useful once their hand is empty but unless they have a Top or incoming card draw on the stack this should slow people down enormously. And hey, it's not like this costs five or six mana. At three mana you can get this out turn two and cost your opponent some enchantment removal they might need for other targets or...they start trading cards in hand for lands from their fetchlands. Not a choice I'm looking forward to.

Green

Curse of Predation - 2G
Enchantment - Aura Curse (Uncommon)
Enchant Player
Whenever a creater attacks enchanted player, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.

Could be a nice sleeper pick for a Ghave deck or someone using Spikes or a Triskelion or whatnot. With Doubling Season or another card featured in the Commander product (Primal Vigor, see below) could get out of control. Even if you aren't tricksy, your creatures are still getting bigger and your opponent is getting crushed. Sounds good to me!

Primal Vigor - 4G
Enchantment - Rare
If one or more tokens are put onto the battlefield, twice that number of tokens are put onto the battlefield instead. 
If one ore more +1/+1 counters are put onto a creature, twice that number of +1/+1 counters are placed on that creature instead.

The fixed Doubling Season. Bruce Richard on the mothership explained why Season had unintended consquences and needed a tweak:

"Since Doubling Season was printed, it has been the gold standard for any card that doubles. It doubles token creatures and any counter that can be put on a permanent. The problem with Doubling Season is that Planeswalkers didn't exist when Doublng Season was created. Planeswalkers present two problems when combined with Doubling Season:

1. Double the starting loyalty. If you double the starting loyalty on most Planeswalkers, reaching that final ability is just far too easy. Look at Elspeth, Sun's Champion (or any Elspeth for that matter). If Doubling Season is out when you play Elspeth, you start with eight loyalty counters. You can use her -7 ability the first turn she is in play! That is not supposed to happen.
2. They don't work the way most people think. Many players believe that when you use Elspeth's +1 ability with Doubling Season on the battlefield, you get 2 loyalty counters. Doubling Season doubles effects, not costs. Adding a loyalty counter to Elspeth to get 1/1 Soldiers is the cost to get the Soldiers. This is not intuitive, since Doubling Season basically reads, "double token creatures and counters."

So the new one won't hit your Planewalkers and your friends get to use it before you do, since it affects all players. Even without the added functionality, it still gives you a secondary copy of a token doubler, just as splashable as the original. Wouldn't be surprised to see this pop up in some new Marath or Ghave builds down the road.

Restore - 1G
Sorcery - (Uncommon)
Put target land from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.

Wording is key. It isn't from your graveyard, it's from any graveyard. That means you can re-use your opponent's Strip Mine, fetchlands, destroyed lands, whatever. With the amount of land churn in the format, this eminently splashable sorcery should find room in nearly any deck. The limited testing I've done with it had me holding it until turn 4 or 5 (people were wary of using fetchlands and so on) but it still got excellent mileage.

Multicolor

Shattergang Brothers - 1BRG
Legendary Creature - Goblin Artificer (Mythic Rare)
3/3
2B,Sacrifice a creature: Each other player sacrifices a creature.
2R,Sacrfice an artifact: Each other player sacrifices an artifact.
2G,Sacrifice an enchantment: Each other player sacrifices an enchantment.

Black and Red finally get some enchantment removal not named Dystopia or Apocalypse.
Having played against this dude in his Prossh precon home, I can honestly say he's a massive pain in the ass. I don't even want to think about what kind of weirdo would throw a Lifeline into a deck, use the Brothers to sacrifice a Porphoros creature, have it come back as (potentially) an enchantment that keeps its creature type, two for one? Hopefully I'm terribly wrong about this.

Wizard's Tower CHEO Event

So CHEO is pretty amazing. I had the opportunity to go there as a kid to deal with a hip issue and the staff are top notch, the hospital wing itself just screams "comfy for kids" and it's been going for seemingly decades now. Wizard's Tower is hosting a CHEO Event, proceeds going to the hospital, on December 7th. If you can make it, drop by, if only to taste some of Mama Noworaj's goodies; if you're lucky enough to play against her son Andrew, you'll be seated against one of the most skilled Magic players in the region. There will also be an auction with various goodies too, like alters, a dual land and lots more being sorted out!

EDH This Week:

Saturday, November 16th:
Wizard's Tower Fallowfield - 3350 Fallowfield Rd (613) 843-0705
Casual play all day and 1 v 1 tournament starting at 4:00 p.m. $5 entry for the tournament, prize in Wizard's Tower coins.

Sunday, November 17th:
Comic Book Shoppe - 228 Bank Street (613) 594-3042
1 v 1 tournament, $5 entry fee, prizes distributed in store credit.
Be there early folks! Gilles has alerted us that the cutoff for reg is 11:50. so try to be there well before that.

Congrats to Chris DiNardo (boo Edric booooooooooo!), Dan Lanthier, Danny Sit and Gilles Labelle for getting the invite to the swanky EDH Invitational! Hope you guys crush all that opposes you.

Until then, may you never be group hugged by a sorority of gorgons.

An invitation to compete, Quick look at new commanders.

Welcome back to the EDH in Ottawa blog. This week will be a bit of a mixed bag as we have an Overrated and Underrated and a quick look at some of the new commander product. First though, the topic of the day in Ottawa...

The EDH Invitational

To the delight, shock and dismay of some, Gilles Labelle announced early last week that he and Vincent Laplante had been tabulating tournament results for close to a year and planned to do something really cool about it, the first EDH Invitational, to be hosted at CBS in early January 2014!
Fantastic idea and it adds an another element to the already high level of competition in Sunday events.

There has been some concern over the event, however. How would the event be seeded? How were invites decided? Have we all had a chance to get in? What if we weren't around then? We didn't know about it until now, so how could we prepare for it? Why oh why? Let's start with any concerns about invites. Gilles and Vince have been spending hundreds of hours over the past while hosting these events. They've often chosen to bow out and not play so others could do so in their stead. Some of us have been agitated at the events, others have shown with some casual mixes, still others have gone home during the summer, lots of concern here.

The seedings have been announced and there will be twelve people selected (no duplicates) from among the 1 v 1 and Gaunlet winners; one for attendance, one wild card (due to October events being sparse), one for sportsmanship and one for "general" variety, if you'll pardon the pun.

To those that are worried about it, I empathize. But the bottom line is everyone has an equal chance to participate in these events. they only cost $5 and a few hours of your week and the goals should be to put a good showing, even if you have ancillary goals as well. Mine are to socialize and, well, while not griefing, to make games memorable, whether through a splashy spell or squeezing every last bead of sand out of that hourglass. Others might have store credit for a goal, or testing a new deck, or just being the top dog. Gilles and Vince seem to have made allowance for all our supertypes by using standings, variety of commanders, sportsmanship and so on in their selection process. Like the tournaments themselves, this is going to be a work in progress. Trust them and give them time and it will work out for everyone.

And if you're worried about not being in? You still have a good two months to make your mark. There are multiple gauntlets and 1 v 1s to attend, so get out there and get your game on!

New Commander Product

Creeping up on us is a bunch of new commander product, which will hopefully come stocked with some staples like Sol Ring, Cultivate variants, Chaos Warp, Scavenging Ooze and other Commander-only staples. Some of the commanders have been released, so we'll take a quick look at some of those leaked and how berserk they might get in our warped little EDH minds.

 Without futher ado, here are some of the new spoiled commanders...

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
GUW Legendary Creature - Bird Wizard - Mythic Rare
Flying - 2/3
Whenever Derevi, Empyral Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.
1GUW: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone.

Instant speed, uncounterable access to your commander, flouting the commander tax AND a useful (and combo-enabling!) ability all on one body. Oh, he also flies and does decent damage as well.
Since you're in Exalted colours already, you couldn't possibly do anything abusive by attacking with your guys, flashing him in to remove a tough blocker, then tapping any remaining unused blockers post-combat, then attacking a second time and untapping all your previously used lands or mana rocks, sacrificing him somehow then flashing him for further use...He's also a wizard, if that ever comes up when you might have Azami on the table.
And hey, you can untap another player's stuff too so they can help you out. Or you can pair it with Deadeye Navigator and Gilded Lotus for infinite mana. Wheeeeeeee!

Marath, Will of the Wild
GWR - Legendary Creature - Elemental Beast - Mythic Rare
0/0
Marath, Will of the Wild enters the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it.
X, Remove X +1/+1 counters from Marath: Choose one -- Put X +1/+1 on target creatures; or Marath deals X damage to target creature or player; or put an X/X green Elemental creature token onto the battlefield (X can't be 0).

A 3/3 that can immediately ping away a mana dork or two, move counters onto Spikes or other token enablers and that can help finish a player as well. And he's in three colours that have some of the best ramp and utility in the format. Doubling Season aside, you can still get a good bit of utility just by using a few Spikes (Weaver, and somtimes Feeder, are always popular) or say, just attacking with him, since he'll just get meaner each time he dies. As you ramp up, so does Marath and so, downwards, goes your opponent's life total due to Elemental token beats or just some direct damage. Snce EDH is also a multiplayer format, you can always move some of those tokens onto an opponent's creature too, providing they are not attacking you...

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 3WUB - Mythic Rare
Legendary Creature - Giant Soldier 4/5

At the Beginning of your upkeep, you gain 2 life.
Whenever you gain life, you pay pay 1.
If you do, draw a card and each opponent loses 1 life.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Oloro is in the command zone, you gain 2 life.

The poster boy for "Slow and steady wins the race", Oloro is faily bonkers. Your life total already starts at 40 and you could be close to 50 or 60 by the time you cast him. Throw in those Academy Rectors in with your Tests of Endurance for an easy win, or just consistently use his damage and draw ability to slowly drain yoir opponents. And hey, they are plenty of good cards that gain life as an ancillary effect: Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow, Kokusho, the Evening Star (three triggers, pay 3 and Ancestral? Yum!) and so on and so on. Even more noxious is that the "pillow forting" continues once he's in the command zone. Oh, and Black doesn't have anything that can turn extraneous life into cards right? I already feel a slow building hatred for this guy, which will no doubt turn into full rage once he sees regular play.

There are also 15 new cards in each set, so even if you get Cultivate variant #3 or so on, these will probably be worth picking up. Since they release in a scant few weeks, you should start seeing previews on the mothership before long and you should start seeing new commanders blowing you up shortly thereafter.

And now...

Overrated vs. Underrated
By Shane Shuster

This week:

"So this week I got a suggestion from local EDH player Sean O’Keefe that he would like to see a tilt between the overrated Tarmogoyf and its budget replacement, Scavenging Ooze. Both of these green creatures share a cost with Grizzly Bears but they bring impressive tools to bear.

"Tarmogoyf starts out as a 0/1 that gets +1/+1 for each card type in all graveyards. You can quickly get a 6/7, a 7/8, or an 8/9 on your side of the battlefield for a measly two mana. Scavenging Ooze starts as a 2/2 (just like Grizzly Bears) but has a fantastic ability to attack the graveyard. For single green mana, you exile a target card of your choice from any graveyard and if it's a creature, you put a +1/+1 counter on the Ooze and you gain one life.

"Scavenging Ooze will be much more consistently powerful, not to mention useful and versatile. Additionally, Tarmogoyf can cost anywhere in the range of $110-175 whereas the Ooze sits between $15-30 and is much easier to get your hands on. Not that Tarmogoyf isn't a powerful card, it's just much less powerful in EDH where a card like Scavenging Ooze performs much better. Tarmogoyf is very much a build-around card that can be maximized to be really mana efficient but since you can only have one copy in your deck (and it can’t be your general) it becomes a vanilla creature that at some points may be a 1/2 and at other times might be a 5/6 and neither will push you over the top in EDH. Scavenging Ooze's arsenal of graveyard hate, aggressive attacking, efficient blocking, and a useful place to channel your mana (at the end of the other player’s turn, of course) – for the same cost as a measly grizzly bear, pushes it far over the top in this matchup!"
 

Until next time, may you all enjoy the new Commander previews on the mothership this week.


 

Greeking out over Theros in EDH.

Welcome back to another episode of the EDH in Ottawa blog. This week we'll browse through the Theros spoiler to see which cards you're more likely to see in your playgroups. Theros has the potential to be a new Kamigawa Block as pertains to legendary permanents, with the added twist that enchantmetns are coming back with a vengeance as well, mostly in Aura form so far, but with some interesting creature-enchantment hybrid spells too.

Theros is heavily influenced by Greek folkore and while you can make the case this has bled into functionality of some cards (Chained to the Rocks requiring a mountain to play is great on a flavour level, but forces you into a second colour) but mostly ties it all into a nice package that should create some nice gamestates down the road. Evaluation will be on an A - B - C basis, with A being "You'll likely see this card at your EDH table", B being "Could see it, but by no means is it a must-include" and C being "Maybe try it out but might get pulled down the road". I'm not going to assign a dollar value to these; Standard play will dictate the bulk of that with Modern and eternal formats pushing value as well.

The new card types include the God creature type, which starts as an Enchantment and slowly turns into a creature as you supply it with more "Devotion", or commitment to a specific colour in the parlance of our times. These are indestructible, large and have a nice bonus ability tacked on for the mid to late games. Auras have receiveda bit of a reboot as well; while Wizards no longer admits to the existence of Licids, these are as "fixed" a set of Licids in the Bestow mechanic is as we're likely to get. You may cast them as an Aura, gaining the associated bonuses and if they happen to fall off the enchanted creature, they simply revert to a critter with some nice abilities like Reach, First Strike, Flyine or so on.

Without further ado...the review.

White

Celestial Archon: B
3WW - Enchatment Creature - Archon (Rare)
Bestow 5WW - Flying, First Strike, 4/4. Enchanted Creature gets +4/+4, Flying and First Strike.

The first of the Bestow creatures is perhaps the splashiest and seemingly a game-ender. A permanent +4/+4 bonus is nothing to sneeze at, flying is always great and so is first strike. That said, the Bestow cost is a little high, as I'd prefer something four mana and below, even less so in a truly aggressive deck.

Chained to the Rocks: C
W  - Enchantment - Aura  - Enchant Mountain you control. (Rare)
When Chained to the Rocks enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controles until Chained to the Rocks leaves the battlefield.

Right. So there are a bunch of much better options for exiling single creaturs in this colour, from Path to Exile to Swords to Plowshares to even narrower stuff like Last Breath (also reprinted) and if you're playing WR, you have access to Lightning Helix and all that good stuff. It could be another Journey to Nowhere but just seems too limited for persistent Commander play.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion: A
4WW Planeswalker - Elspeth Loyalty 4 (Mythic Rare)
+1: Put three 1/1 white Soldier Tokens onto the battlefield
-3 Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater.
-7: You get an Emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and Flying"

Here's our first star player in White.  She gives you three chumpblockers to impede attacks on her loyalty, boardwipes larger creatures and makes your recently made tokens (and other controlled creatures...) a permanent buff and evasion. Yes, the chance exists that any 2/2 creatures you have might get wiped from her Retribution of the Meek ability if it gets to that while you have the Emblem, but at that point you should have whittled down your opponent considerably, no?

Gift of Immortality: B
2W Enchantment - Aura  (Rare)
Enchant Creature
When enchanted creature dies, return that creature to the battlefield under its owner's control. Return
Gift of Immortality to the battlefield attached to that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Given how prominent recursion is in EDH, this allows you to set up a mini-loop with an enters the battlefield (ETB) creature. It's splashable, it returns itself and it's aggressively costed at 2W. Even if "all" you do is tack this onto a Solemn Simulacrum with a sacrifice outlet around, it's still going to add up in a hurry.

Heliod, God of the Sun: B
3W Legendary Enchantment Creature - God 5/6 (Mythic Rare)
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white is less than five, Heliod isn't a creature (Each W in mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to White.)
Other creatures you control have Vigilance.
2WW: Put a 1/1 white Cleric enchantment creature token onto the battlefield.

So...an indestructible Mobilization that cranks out clerics instead of soldiers and costs one more to activate. There's a fair amount of buzz going on about these as potential commanders, but they aren't really better than any other mono-coloured ones. Indestructible is great, of course, but I'd rather have had Hexproof on these. In any case, there are only so many exile effects around so you can probably throw one of the gods into your library (the Red and Black ones look pretty saucy), but I simply can't get excited about Heliod. His spear, however, is another story.

Hundred-Handed One: C
2WW Creature - Giant 3/5 (Rare)
Vigilance
3WWW: Monstrosity 3 (If this creature isn't monstrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
As long as Hundred-Handed One is monstrous, it has reach and can block an additional ninety-nine creatures each combat.

Bursting with flavour mixed in with functionality, this Giant isn't half bad as a 3/5 with Vigilance for 2WW. Its monstrosity makes it a 6/8 that can block...everything. If your opponent ever gets to infinite tokens you're likely to lose the game anyway, so his blocking anything more than four or five creatures is gravy. Of course, some of those attackers might have trample, which will likely leak over the eight toughness. Still, he's fun enough and might merit a try in an otherwise casual deck.

Last Breath - C
1W Instant (Common)
Exile target creature with power 2 or less. Its controller gains 4 life.

Narrow exile effect that can remove some of the more obnoxious low-mana commanders like Edric, Thalia, Captain Sisay but is by no means an auto-include. Sadly does not hit any of the gods, but might get rid of some pesky early beats.

Soldier of the Pantheon - C
W - Creature - Human Soldier 2/1 (Rare)
Protection from Multicolored
Whenever an opponnent casts a multicolored spell, you gain 1 life.

Ehhh, just not that great. If your opponent has a fair amount of devotion and tilts toward mono-coloured he's a Savannah Lions, which isn't that great these days. The more colours your opponents master, the less a 2/1 for W is likely to matter as their toolbox widens. Might see some play in DuelCommander though with their 30 starting life.

Spear of Heliod - B
1WW - Legendary Enchantment Artifact (Rare)
Creatures you control get +1/+1
1WW, T: Destroy target creature that damaged you this turn.

Not bad at all! It's a Glorious Anthem (a decent enough card in and of itself) that tacks on a Reciprocate effect as well, which can winnow down your opponent's ranks and at worst cause him to be a bit choosier with his attackers. Of course, you do need three mana open to benefit from that ability, which is far from assured in a truly aggressive weenie deck.

Blue

Artisan of Forms - C
1U - Creature - Human Wizard 1/1 (Rare)
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Artisan of Forms, you may have Artisan of Forms become a copy of target creature and gain this ability.

Unfortunately for the Artisan, there are still a ton of good clone cards out there, even with the change to the legend rule that stops them from being kill spells. I keep wanting to throw something like Flickering Ward on these that might "break" them, but they still don't seem like they're worth the investment in your regular pile.

Bident of Thassa - B
1UU - Legendary Enchantment Artifact (Rare)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage, you may draw a card.
1U, T: Creatures your opponents control attack this turn if able.

Since each opponent takes their turn one at a time, you're only getting attacked by one creature group if they choose to attack you. Of course, having all their creatures tapped opens them up to a counter attack from yourself or another player. Think of it this way, if Player C is to your right and you force them to commit, you get the first crack at them to draw more cards on your turn. Since you're in Blue, you might have Propaganda or even blockers available too...Fun card, political shenanigans will abound.

Curse of the Swine - A
XUU - Sorcery (Rare)
Exile X target creatures. For each creature exiled this way, its controller puts a 2/2 green Boar token onto the battlefield.

Yes, this card is bonkers. Unlike duels in which you'd be tapping out to receive perhaps 8-10 damage to the dome on your next turn, the multiplayer nature of EDH turns this into a delicious exercise in cherry-picking targets. "I'll remove that Solemn Simulacrum, that Academy Rector, that Thassa and hey, enjoy that crispy bacon everyone!" Yeah, in this idealized scenario no one had a sac outlet but the point remains that spreading the love makes this card likely to cause endless groans at your table.

Dissolve - C
1UU - Instant (Uncommon)
Counter target spell. Scry 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)

There really isn't a lot of room for new countermagic in today's streamlined EDH decks and this is already fighting with Dissipate, Spell Crumple, Hinder and the sometimes played Faerie Trickery in the three mana slot. It's fine, but...

Meletis Charlatan - C
2U - Creature - Human Wizard  2/3 (Rare)
2U, T: The controller of target instant or sorcery spell copies it. That player may choose new targets for the copy.

Tweaked Echo Mage that can only make one copy. Of course, this version adds the political fun of handing another player the choice of directing the spell elsewhere; while this will inevitably backfire on you, you can simply keep copying your own stuff. A fun addition to your Rayne, Academy Chancellor deck at the very least.

Prognostic Sphinx - B
3UU - Creature - Sphinx 3/5 (Rare)
Flyng
Discard a card: Prognostic Sphinx gains Hexproof until end of turn. Tap it.
Whenever Prognostic Sphinx attacks, Scry 3.

Good sized body with evasion and protection. If you've already declared him as an attacker and he's the target of a spell or ability, tapping it to gain Hexproof is meaningless. Yes, you will lose a card but you'll gain some nice card selection out of the attack step and a 3 point hit to the dome. Things get trickier on the defense end as you never want to open up a lane for an opponent. Either way it involves some nice combat decisions, which is never a bad thing.

Shipbreaker Kraken - C
4UU - Creature - Kraken 6/6 (Rare)
6UU - Monstrosity  4 (If this creature isn't monstrous, put four +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous).
When Shipbreaker Kraken becomes monstrous, tap up to four target creatures. Those creatures don't untap during their controller's untap steps.

Another for the casual EDH decks out there, joining Lorthos in the big huge marine monsters that can devastate your opponents. It's a lot of mana to commit to locking down four permanents for a single turn, especially when Yosei can do more for less. Still, it's bound to be fun in a theme deck of some sort.

Swan Song - A
U - Instant (Rare)
Counter target Instant, Sorcery or Enchantment spell. Its controller puts a 2/2 blue Bird creature token onto the battlefield.

Yes, it's narrow. Yes, it has some pushback. Yes, it will see play. How many sorceries, instants or enchantments are played  in your average EDH game? Five? Ten? Now ask yourself if you'd rather face a 2/2 Bird instead of Terminus, Fact or Fiction, Moat, Cruel Ultimatum, Sphinx's Revelation...good card, will make inroads sooner rather than later.

Thassa, God of the Sea - A
2U - Legendary Enchantment Creature - God 5/5 (Mythic Rare)
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to blue is less than five, Thassa isn't a creature. (Each U in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, Scry 1.
1U: Target creature you control can't be blocked this turn.

Aggressively costed, lets you manipulate your library and can make itself unblockable for five commander damage per turn, and it's indestructible due to its godly status. Not sure this gets fished out on a first Zur swing as has been posited on the interwebs, or even if Zur adds this in an already tight build, but at absolute worst it's Scry 1 and a consistent damage push by another creature each turn. And it's a 5/5 for three. Not bad at all.

Black

Abhorrent Overlord - B
5BB - Creature - Demon 6/6 (Rare)
Flying
When Abhorrent Overlord enters the battlefield, put a number of 1/1 black Harpy creature tokens onto the battlefield equal to your devotion to black (Each B in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature.

A prime target for reanimation spells, getting a minimum eight power and toughness for seven mana isn't too bad. Since black tends to be fairly mana-hungry in its own colors, you can reasonably expect to receive five to six harpies when it enters the battlefield. The sacrifice can work to your advantage if you have any Grave Pact effects or even any leaves the battlefield triggers. Solid card but not over the top by any means.

Erebos, God of the Dead - A
3B - Legendary Enchantment Creature - God (Mythic Rare) 5/7
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature (Each B in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to black.)
Your opponents can't gain life.
1B, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.

One of the better gods in Theros, a 5/7 indestructible body for four mana is nothing to sneeze at. Preventing your opponents from gaining life is a nice bonus as it will shut down Kokusho, the Evening Star, Serra Ascendant's combat trigger or just ancillary life gain off cards like Absorb or Soul Warden effects and so on. Having a two mana activation Greed tacked on isn't horrible either. Starting a 40 you can afford to draw a few extra cards to begin and given the lifegain black has at its disposal, you'll probably be using this more than once or twice a game.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel - C
3BB - Creature - Zombie  2/4 (Common)
When Gray Merchant of Asphodel enters the battlefield, each opponent loses X life, where X is your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Each B in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to black.)

I wish this were a Spirit instead of a Zombie so I could throw into my Iname mix, but he's still a cheap reverse Kokusho. Assuming a standard four-player Commander game, you gain six life without any other permanents. Since you're likely to have a Phyrexian Arena or Necropotence or other zombies/critters, it's reasonable to posit you'll gain anywhere from 5-6 life per opponent, which gives you a nice cushion for incoming combat steps. Another critter to relentlessly abuse with your reanimation suites, but he is expensive enough to not be an auto-include.

Hero's Downfall - A
1BB - Instant (Rare)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker.

They made Dreadbore better and Dreadbore sees EDH play. Being able to EOT gank your opponent's Jace, Elspeth, Garruk or any obnoxious critter that's in your way is fantastic. I'll be throwing this in pretty much any deck that runs black as there will always be targets out there.
Also, Pol Ka Roo hax by having two of these in a row at the pre-release. :(

Hythonia the Cruel - C
4BB - Legendary Creature - Gorgon 4/6 (Mythic Rare)
Deathtouch
6BB Monstrosity 3 (If this creature isn't monstrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
When Hythonia the Cruel becomes monstrous, destroy all non-Gorgon creatures

Hythonia is fairly expensive for a fairly vanilla creaure. While Deathtouch is quite relevant in combat, the lack of evasion might well mire this in multiple ground battles; now, it will eventually win these once its monstrosity kicks in or it whittles down blockers but...you can play Kagemaro, First to Suffer for a recurring Damnation for the same converted mana cost (including activation), and you won't need to spend eight more mana after you play it. I'm sure I'd love this at the pre-release though.

Nighthowler - B
1BB Enchantment Creature - Horror 0/0 (Rare)
Bestow 2BB (If you cast this spell for its Bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with Enchant Creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached to a creature.)
Nighthowler and enchanted creature each get +X/+X, where X is the number of creature cards in all graveyards.

A Bonehoard that can double as an attacker and is harder to remove due to its Enchantment nature.  As we know, creatures are the grist of the format and there are a ton of sweepers played during your average EDH game. There really isn't any drawback to playing this outside of the limited number of slots available to your creature count. Its additional survival makes it pretty enticing though.

Read the Bones - A
2B Sorcery (Common)
Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life.

Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood already see play in the format. This asks for a single black mana and total of three converted maan for the ability to select the top two cards. That extra mana might push you into some hard corners if you're tightly curved, but ultimately that extra selection might well be worth the cost.

Thoughtseize - A
B Sorcery (Rare)
Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.

One of the best discard spells in a long time gets a long-needed reprint. Hopefully its price reaches the $30-$35 range or lower, the Lorwyn ones should still retain its collector's value though. Always nice to have in hand to nab that early Sol Ring or draw spell.


Whip of Erebos - A
2BB - Legendary Enchantment Artiract (Rare)
Creatures you control have Lifelink
2BB,T:  Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate this ability only if you could play a sorcery.

Gives any creature in your graveyard Unearth, basically. The added provision that the card will get exiled if it goes anywhere unfortunately stops potential blink shenanigans but this is still darn tootin'. Lets you get a a little more gas mid to late game and your creatures gaining lifelink means a little more time for yourself in winning those protracted battles.

Red

Anger of the Gods - B
1RR - Sorcery (Rare)
Anger of the Gods deals 3 damage to each creature. If a creature dealt damage would die this turn, exile it instead.

A more limited Slagstorm but bound to be a nice way to exile those pesky gods (assuming creature form) at some limited events. Push through some attackers, make sure they have at leat two to three damage assigned to them and exile with Anger of the Gods. Not too bad in other cases either, will exile all manner of Solemns, Reveillarks and other pesky graveyard enabling nuisances.

Ember Swallower - C
2BB - Creature - Elemental 4/5 (Rare)
5RR: Mostrosity 3 (If this creature isn't monstrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
When Ember Swallower becomes Monstrous, each player sacrifices three lands.

Just a little too slow for most Commander games. It's already vastly easy to cripple an opponent's manabase with lower cost cards and this one hits you as well. If you're going to destroy all lands just use Jokulhaups or Obliterate instead. The body is nice but even that is fairly unremarkable given the high demands of Commander arsenals.

Hammer of Purphoros - A
1BB - Legendary Enchantment Artifact (Rare)
Creatures you control have Haste.
2B,T: Sacrifice a land: Put a 3/3 colorless Golem enchantment artifact creature onto the battlefield.

Yeah, this is pretty good. Giving all your creatures hate is great. Being able to get some extra juice out of your lands, which you can return with Crucible of Worlds or Life from the Loam and other sources is fantastic. The body is a nice size as well. Is it odd the gods' weapons seem a lot more exciting than the gods themselves? Another card I'd love to have at a limited event.

Purphoros, God of the Forge - A
3R - Legendary Enchantment Creature - God 6/5 (Mythic Rare)
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to red is less than five, Purphoros isn't a creature (Each R in the mana costs of permanents you control counts towards your devotion to red.)
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, Purphoros deals 2 damage to each opponent.
2R: Creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.

I can already see this guy in a Krenko deck: "Make five goblins, take ten then swing for another ten?"
Purphoros' abilities are outstanding, rewarding commitment to playing creatures and giving extra steam when the battlefield gets crowded. The pump ability can let you finish off an opponent or eat into some toughness your smaller beaters might not otherwise overcome. And he's very splashable (as is his ability) at 3R to play.
Great stuff.

Rageblood Shaman - C
1RR Creature - Minotaur Shaman 2/3 (Rare)
Trample
Other Minotaur creatures you control get +1/+1 and have Trample.

The long-awaited Minotaur lord isn't half bad. His trample ability will likely never come up seeing his low power, but he will pump the rest of your tribe and give them some combat overreach as well. Perhaps we'll finally see a Minotaur tribal deck climb up the rungs of the EDH ladder, Tahngarth is getting pretty lonely out there among Minotaur playables.

Stormbreath Dragon - B
3RR - Creature - Dragon 4/4 (Mythic Rare)
Flying, Haste, Protection from White
5RR: Monstrosity 3 (If this creature isn't monsrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it  and it becomes monstrous.)
When Stormbreath Dragon becomes monstrous, it deals damage to each opponent equal to the number of cards in that player's hand.

Solid and aggressive but by no means over the top, a 4/4 that can doge Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and any number of annoying white cards while swinging for four every turn isn't bad. It can potentially deal another twenty-one points to your opponents through its monstrous, which will be quite nice in a multiplayer environment. Unfortunately, the five mana slot in red has a certain combo-enabling goblin taking a huge spot, so this will struggle to make a spot for itself.

Green 

Anthoussan, Setessan Hero - C
3GG Legendary Creature - Human Warrior 4/5 (Rare)
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Anthoussan, Setessan Hero, up to three lands you control each become 2/2 Warrior creautres until end of turn. They're still lands.

Only mentioning this one because of potential creature untap shenanigans you might be able to do with the three untapped creatures down the road. Otherwise, a 4/5 for five likely isn't seeing inclusion in many EDH piles.

Bow of Nylea - B
1BB - Legendary Enchantment Artifact (Rare)
Attacking creatures you control have deathtouch.
1G,T: Choose one: Put a +1/+1 on target creautre; or Bow of Nylea deals 2 damage to target creature with flying; or you gain 3 life; or put up to four cards from your graveyard on the bottom of your library in any order.

Another fine card in the vein of Trading Post, Bow of Nylea also ensures your beaters are finishers in close combat. The ability to add a +1/+1 counter or deal 2 to a flyer can help liberate clogged boardstates, the life gain can give you some breathing room while the graveyard recycling probably won't come up as much but can add some additional staying power by throwing some removal or creatures back into your library. Great diversity on this one.

Nylea, God of the Hunt - A
Legendary Enchantment Creature - God 6/6 (Mythic Rare)
Indestructible
Other creatures you control have trample.
As long as your devotion to Green is less than five, Nylea isn't a creature.
(Each G in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to green.)
3G: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

Another gargantuan game ender, Nylea's 6/6 indestructible body isn't anything to sneeze at, its ability to tack on extra damage to creatures that now have trample means your opponent should be on the losing side of a war of attrition. And hey, in multiplayer you can pump your opponent's stuff as a political tool if you're backed into a corner.

Polukarnos, World Eater - C
2GG - Legendary Creaure - Hydra 5/5 (Mythic Rare)
XXG: Monstrosity X (If this creature isn't monstrous, put X +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
When Polukarnos, World Eater becomes monstrous, it deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures your opponents control. Each of thos creatures deals damage equal to its power to Polukarnos.

I was originally super excited about this on first blush, thinking the counters came off on resolution of the Arena ability, so that you'd have a permanent sweeper. Unforunately, the golden RTFC rule kicked in and he's considerably less broken. As stated abundantly, a 5/5 for four isn't that great to begin with and though it probably can cut a swath through a bunch of smalller dudes (or even a troublesome larger critter), if you have nine mana to spend in green, aren't you probably casting a Tooth & Nail and actually, you know, winning?

Sylvan Cariatid - B
1G Creature - Plant 0/3 (Rare)
Defender, Hexproof
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

A slightly better Utopia Tree variant that sacrifices the ability to attack for hexproof and an extra point of toughness. Nothing wrong with this in format rife with signets and other artifact and creature baubles that fix and ramp your mana. Worst comes to worst, it has to chump something and you use it one last time at instant speed. or it dies to a sweeper like everything else on the field would.

Multicolor

Anax and Cymede - B
1RW Legendary Creature - Human Soldier 3/2 (Rare)
First Strike, Vigilance
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Anax and Cymede, creatures you control get +1/+1 and trample until end of turn.

While it's efficiently costed and has two fine combat abilities, I can't help but find this one a little underwhelming. I keep wanting it to have a "bigger butt" or at least Haste (perhaps instead of Vigilance?) to grab me. Might be worth a look in some more casual decks.

Ashen Rider - A
4WWBB - Creature - Archon 5/5 (Mythic Rare)
Flying
When Ashen Rider enters the battlefield or dies, exile target permanent.

Well, here's Angel of Despair's spiritual successor and it comes packing a punch. Not only will it exile a permanent (not a non-land permanent, any permanent) entering the battlefield, but if it dies, there goes another. Sure to see play in all sorts of annoying toolbox/flicker decks, will enter the battlefield early through reanimation, will cause all kinds of headaches and you know what? I love it.
It will deal with those annoying gods popping up left and right and timed right, can potentially stop a loop of some sort. Great card.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - B
1BU - Planeswalker - Ashiok - Loyalty 3 (Mythic Rare)
+2: Exile the top three targets of target opponent's library.
-X: Put a creature card with converted mana X exild with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver onto the battlefield under your control. That creature is a Nightmare in addition to its other types.
-10: Exile all cards from all opponnets' hands and graveyards.

Let's cut straight to the chase: you're probably never going to get to Identity Crisis the entire table.
On the plus side, this planeswalker's initial ability has some very fun interactions in the format, which is rife with Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library, Mirri's Guile and all sorts of "to top of library" spells and abilities. While Ashiok sits there happily if you tutor end of turn, it can turn the game into an interesting battle of wits: do you draw that one card you need with Top and lose the Top and another two cards? Do you aggressively (even moreso?) draw off Sylvan and hope of the best on the next trio of cards? Well, you probably just run Ashiok over and make the point moot. With EDH decks having a pretty aggressive mana curve, you should be able to nab something that costs five or less if it survives a turn.

Daxos of Meletis - B
1WU - Legendary Creature - Human Soldier 2/2 (Rare)
Daxox of Meletis can't be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater.
Whenever Daxos of Meletis deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library. You gain life equal to that card's converted mana cost. Until end of turn, you may cast that card and you may spend mana as if it were mana of any color to cast it.

Semi-unblockable with an interesting ability. It's important to note that you can't play land cards off the top of your opponent's stack, as you can't "cast" a land. On the plus side, if it is a land and it gets exiled, there's a potential tempo loss for the other player. Daxos is another take on making the next draws your opponent takes an asset to yourself, unfortunately he's tiny and has no innate protection. The abundance of large bodies in the format probably lets him get through for a good amount of commander damage though and hey, equipped with a variety of swords he could get really ugly.

Destructive Revelry - A
GR - Instant (Uncommon)
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Destructive Revelry deals 2 damage to that permanent's controller.

Naturalize on steroids, Destructive Revelry doesn't have the versatility of its Gruul cousin Hull Breach, but it more than makes up for it by being an instant and tacking on a Shock effect to the removal. And hey, you can direct that two damage to a planeswalker they control as well, so you be able to get a two for one in some instances.

Medomai the Ageless - B
UW4 - Legendary Creature - Sphinx 4/4 (Mythic Rare)
Flying
Whenever Medomai the Ageless deals combat damage to a player, take an extra turn after this one.
Medomai the ageless can't attack during extra turns.

First, from kaldare on the MTGCommander.net forums, a way to go infinite with Medomai:

"Vesuvan Shapeshifter + (Emeria or Reya) is infinite turns as long as you can hit an opponent consistently, is only three cards, and doesn't involve any actively bad cards.

How it works:
1. Hit opponent with Medomai, and get an extra turn.
2. On that turn, attack with face down Vesuvan Shapeshifter, then immediatly turn it face up into a copy of your Medomai and choose to keep the copy. Your Medomai dies. You get another extra turn.
3. On that turn, stack your upkeep abilities so that Medomai/Vesuvan turns face down, then Emeria/Reya returns the actual Medomai.
4. You're back at step 2. Rinse and repeat as desired and as able.

Note that this combo is much easier to pull off if your opponent is the one who controls Medomai. Then you just need a shapeshifter and you get turns as long as you have an opponent left to whack. :p"

There might be easier ways to bring back Medomai as well, I'm sure you creative EDH players will find a way to exploit the crap out of this. All shenanigans aside, even one extra turn is a weighty advantage, needing the combat step to get there reins in it somewhat though. Of course, if you could somehow copy the triggered ability, that might resonate a bit throughout your matches.

Prophet of Kruphix - B
3GU - Creature - Human Wizard 2/3 (Rare)
Untap all creatures and lands you control during each other player's untap step.
You may cast creature cards as thought they had flash.

A more limited Seedborn Muse (or better Awakening, as you have it) that has the extra kick of giving your creatures flash as well. Do I have to remind anyone of how annoying Seedborn is? This one at least won't untap your artifacts and is in bolt range, which are small mercies indeed. I already regret trading this to Kenneth Gallagher at the pre-release, but he was kind enough to trade me that Elspeth, Knight Errant I needed in another trade so...

Reaper of the Wilds - B
2GB - Creature - Gorgon 4/5 (Rare)
When another creature dies, scry 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)
B: Reaper of the Wilds gains deathtouch until end of turn.
1G: Reaper of the Wilds gains hexproof until end of turn.

I don't know why this guys reminds me of Spiritmonger...It's too bad he isn't any colour pairs I'm currently using because there could be a LOT of Scry triggers after a board wipe, especially with the abundance of tokens that may pop up on the table. Reaper's very reasonably costed, its body can take an enormous beating and Hexproof is almost a must on higher end creatures these days.

Steam Augury - A
2UR - Instant (Rare)
Reveal the top five cards of your library and seperate them into two piles. An opponent chooses one of those piles. Put that pile into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.

Reverse Fact or Fiction where you make the critical decision to split the cards and they get to decide your fate. Your opponent has information on the boardstate and not your hand or top of library, so they probably won't give you the Wrath effect you might need, or do you? Of course, I'm hoping I won't get a top five like I did last week with Fact or Fiction, revealing five lands and needing none of the five...

Triad of Fates - C
2BW - Legendary Creature - Human Wizard 3/3 (Rare)
1,T: Put a fate counter on another target creature.
W,T: Exile target creature with a fate counter on it, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
B,T: Exile target creature that has a fate counter on it. Its controller draws two cards.

"Hey, you can double up with Oblivion Stone!" is probably the first thing that comes to mind, but that's a fairly clunky starting point. The three abilities are fairly enticing but somewhat time-intensive. Say you're in Orzhov and have 6 mana open and a Swiftfoot Boots online. You pay four for this, equip, eot add a Fate counter...or main phase add a fate counter, then you need an untap mechanism to use the Triad again. While I'm sure this will see some play, it just feels like there are better methods to blink out permanents; I'm ready to be surprised though.

Tymaret, the Murder King - B
BR - Legendary Creature - Zombie Warrior - 2/2 (Rare)
1R: Sacrifice another creature: Tymaret, the Murder King deals 2 damage to target player.
1B: Sacrifice a creature: Reeturn Tymaret from your graveyard to your hand.

Following in a long list of recursive damage for red and black, Tymaret's been compared to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch recently and I have to give the match to Lyz, due to her ability to target creatures OR players and to draw cards as well. That said, there is something to an inexorable threat to an opponnet's life total, and he's cheap enough he'll likely swing for some early Commander damage as well. Worth a look either way.

Underworld Cerberus - A
3BR - Creature - Hound 6/6 (Mythic Rare)
Underworld Cerberus can't be blocked except by three or more creatures.
Cards in graveyards can't be the targets of spells or abilities.
When Underworld Cerberus dies, exile it and each player returns all creatures cards from his or her graveyard to his or her hand.

Well, that escalated in a hurry. What's not to like here? A 6/6 that needs at least three (probably smaller) blockers to get in the way, that paralyzes your graveyard play and adds a nice "bonus" when it dies. Of course, since you are in black you've likely whittled down your opponents' graveyards and they won't get much back right?

Xenagos the Reveler - A
2RG - Planeswalker - Xenagos - Loyalty 3 (Mythic Rare)
+1: Add X mana in any combination of R and/or G to your mana pool, where X is the number of creatures you control.
0: Put a 2/2 red and green Satyr creature token with haste onto the battlefield.
-6: Exile the top six cards of your library. You may put any number of creature and/or land cards from among them onto the battlefield.

Another fantastic planeswalker for your stack. In the odd eventuality where you play him with no other creatures on the battlefield, you can generate a 2/2 that can swing in for a few or hold back to block for Xenagos. Xenagos should produce 2-3 mana when he's played (assuming an early mana dork and another creature), so he's almost paying for himself with that mana, which can be used on any type of spell, by the way. The ultimate should be ending the game in a hurry. Even if you hit six lands that's still a lot more resources to use to your own advantage.

Artifacts

Akroan Horse - C
Artifact creature - Horse - 0/4 (Rare)
Defender
When Akroan Horse enters the battlefield, an opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent puts a 1/1 white Soldier token onto the battlefield.

Flavour overload! The Trojan Horse homage seems like a great fit into a Zedruu or group hug build. It's like a smaller scale Death By Dragons that repeats itself every upkeep. Sure, you can have the Horse but those are a lot of invading soldiers heading your way...can probably be used as a political tool, if nothing else.

Burnished Hart - B
Artifact Creature - Elk - 2/2 (Uncommon)
Sacrifce Burnished Hart: Search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped then shuffle your library.

Let's be serious. This is leagues worse than fetchlands and Expedition Map gets you any land you'd like. That said, it is fairly solid mana fixing, it's a creature (which can be recycled ad infinitum) and it might actually affect combat once in a while. I could certainly see myself throwing one in to a few multi-colour decks every now and then. That or it might be the start of a Hart deck, perhaps an homage to Bob NewHart? All I'd need were a few innkeeper cards, an inn or two, some psychologists and a driving instructor...

Pyxis of Pandemonium - B
1 - Artifact (Rare)
T: Each player exiles the top card of his or her library face down.
7.T: Sacrifice Pyxis of Pandemonium: Each players turns face up all cards he or she owns exiled with Pyxis of Pandemonium, then puts all permanent cards among them on the battlefield.

Another seeming "anti-scry" measure, this one has the potential to lead to hilarious gamestates down the road. If nothing else it can quickly deal with a fetched Miracle card (use the Pyxis in response, the card gets exiled and a new card is on top of its owner's library) and hey, not all decks are created equal...for example a Melek deck might have fewer permanents than say, Uril or Sigarda.
Oh, if they ever give us an equipment that acts as clothing, it could also feature in a Pyxis in a blanket deck...

Lands

The Scry Lands (Temples of Abandon, Deceit, Mystery, Silence and Triumph) A
~ enters the battlefied tapped. When ~ enters the battlefield, Scry 1 (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.) (Rare)

Lots of hubbub about these lands. They're rare, they don't start untapped, they're glorified guildgates.
Let's start with their entering the battlefield status. If they'd come into play untapped you could have used their mana ability to immediately profit from the Scry at no cost and at no loss of tempo. That was never going to happen. They're probably rare because they didn't want too much of them showing up in limited. The temples are fine. Your EDH deck probably isn't going to pack all ten anyway, so you're now able to replace tapduals like Urborg Volcano or whanot with something that gives you a little selection. They'll see some play and they may even help decide some games down the road.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - B
Legendary Land - (Rare)
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
2,T: Choose a color. Add to your mana pool an amount of mana equal to your devotion to that color. (Your devotion to a colour is equal to the number of mana symbols of the color in the mana costs of permanents you control.

It looks good but...if you're in black you can use Urborg/Cabal Coffers, Crypt of Agadeem (assuming graveyard shenanigans, should give you 8+ mana for 2,T); if you're in green you have Cradle, mana elves, Mana Reflection; That leaves blue, which will (like most other colours) be using a bunch of mana rocks for colourless. but can probably get some use in Azami or Clique, Red which might see some use in Krenko or Kiki-Jiki and some burdenson white deck. It does tap for a colorless at all times, which is great. I'll be trying it out in Ezuri and Iname, but at the moment am unimpressed.

Thanks for bearing with me in this delayed EDH in Ottawa column, we'll be back soon with a closer look at the Wizard's Tower franchise here in Ottawa and a closer look at the new Commander products once they begin getting spoiled.

Until then, may your EDH games get back to basics.

(Editor's Note: We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the families of Connor Boyd and Kyle Nash, both gone far too soon. Much strength to family and friends.)


EDH events this week:
Game Breakers (780 Baseline Road) , 613-228-9554. Casual EDH tournament. Thursday, October 3 $5 emtry 6 p.m. start time, arrive early to register.
Comic Book Shoppe 2 (228 Bank Street) , 613-594-3042. The Gauntlet makes up for lost time. Sunday, October 6 5$ entry. Noon start, arrive early to register:
Wizard's Tower Barrhaven (3350 Fallowfield Road) 613-843-0705. Saturday casual EDH starting around noon.

Throwing Gods Before Swine

Welcome back to another edition of EDH in Ottawa! I hope you'll forgive the tardiness of this week's entry. Today we'll look at a few spoiled Theros cards and their impact on EDH. Theros, this fall's expansion, looks to be loaded with legendary goodies and has a renewed focus on Enchantments as well. It should all add up to some fun pre-releases, so check out the MTGOttawa and Magic the Gathering in Ottawa Facebook pages to find one that's close and convenient to your location.

That being said, Theros' aura is heavily influenced by Greek folklore and thus the new hybrid creature type we have now. The gods start out as enchantments, but when enough "Devotion" is reached (calculated by counting the number of concordant mana symbols on your side) they become a creature card. There's one for each colour and all of them have large bodies, a repeatable activated ability and are Indestructible. Add to that the difficulty some colours have with removing enchantments and you're sure to have a few headaches around your table, whether Limited or Commander.

Here's Thassa, God of the Sea:

As we can see, big body with useful ability and the indestructible keyword. Potential difficulties are in the offing when you play a spell that will give you devotion and calculations need to be done about your boardstate, but these should be resolved pretty easily by stating "Playing X, Devotion 5" so that decisions can be made by both players. Of course, since these are legendary you can use them as commanders, but there are just better options in their respective colours. Still, an indestructible commander will entice some to try them out.

Which brings us to our next headache, Curse of the Swine. Blue has the ability to exile, but it's generally limited to spells on the stack and not creatures on the battlefield. Even leaving aside that you grant them a 2/2 token for every creature you remove, that's probably less power, toughness and utility than they had before. Now, in a duel you're probably going to have blockers of your own so you need to gauge whether spending four to five mana with potential retribution is worth it.

Things get dramatically different in EDH though; imagine the three other players at the table each have something obnoxious, say an Academy Rector, some obnoxious and non-Hexproof commander (*cough* Edric *cough* ) and a utility card like a Solemn. By gratuitously cherry-picking your targets, you give them a useless token and give yourself some breathing room. Of course, nothing says you can't exile your own stuff if you need some enter the battlefield triggers to win, like Warstorm Surge for example. Fully expect this around your tables in a few weeks and perhaps counter it with a Privileged Position or just killing the blue player first. That always works.

Following the theme of Enchantment Creatures introduced in Theros, we have Bestow, which grants itself Aura status when targeting a creature. Additional utility occurs when you play it as a creature, in this case a Grizzly Bears with Reach, and the Bestow card resolving even if its target is removed, unlike previous Aura cards which would be countered if the target was invalid. The usual gamut of combat tricks are represented, from flying to reach to first strike. Hopefully you all open a few of these at your limited events, they look pretty tasty in that format.

The new multiland cycle gives us the ability to Scry 1 and access to two colours in exchange for a loss of tempo. While I can empathize with players that want these untapped to start, R&D probably erred on the side of caution in this case, since you could play your land, Scry, use some immediate draw and start ramping up your draws. You're probably not playing a full set of these in a deck, but a few library peeks might be that small edge you'll need to get over the top. For EDH you probably have a ton of better options but you can always throw an extra one into your library to dump that unneeded stuff to get that Terminus or Temporal Mastery to go off. And hey, you can replay them with Crucible if you're really digging.

Expect a more comprehensive EDH breakdown in the next few weeks once we have a full spoiler, in the meantime here's Shane Shuster with another edition of Overrated and Underrated:

Overrated and Underrated

This week, Phyrexian Arena vs. Dark Confidant

"Bob (named after  its creator, Bob Maher) is a an all-star in every format where it is legal. For (1)(B), you get a 2/1 creature that grants an extra draw each turn at the cost of but in revealing that card and paying life equal to its converted mana cost (CMC). There is not much more you can ask from a two-drop, especially in a deck where you have four of him and your mana curve doesn't go past three or four. But this is EDH, the format that is famous for playing the fattest creatures, having absurd amounts of ramp and mana, using the wackiest cards and combos, and fun, political, multiplayer situations. It isn't generally not the format of low-cost spells, as you will find yourself drawing a card and paying six, seven, eight or even sixteen (call-out to my homeboy Draco) life which negates any usefuless it may have, as you would have to build the whole deck around this single card, not recommended.

"On the other hand, Phyrexian Arena costs (1)(B)(B) which is only one more black mana, which really isn't a big deal in EDH, and has the following benefits: it's an enchantment which makes it harder to remove, it only costs you one life each turn and finally, it doesn't make you reveal the drawn card. Also, the price point is drastically different with Bob at roughlly $80 and Phyrexian Arena sitting under $10. One of the advantages to using Bob is that you can get him down on turn two (or one because of the obscene amounts of ramp) and you are not drawing which can get around cards like Consecrated Sphinx and Chains of Mephistopheles. Bob is also really effective in some competitive, mono-black, EDH decks with lower mana curves such as Xiahou Dun. Overall, both are very powerful cards that can be useful in many decks but if I had only one card slot left in the deck, I would choose the Arena.

Shane Shuster

Please reach me at shaneshuster@gmail.com for any comments, future comparison suggestions or just to drop me a quick line.