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.
