Sets (40K) Warhammer 40,000 Commander Set Previews

TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Making a preview thread because we don't have one yet and spoiler season is starting soon.

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New mechanic comes with tokens! Cool! This particular card seems pretty decent. You never want to cast it for {3}{U}, but once it starts squadding it provides a ton of value!
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

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Deathleaper is interesting. I'm not sure how strong it is, but it's interesting.

The other cards that have been spoiled are a little too... commander-y for my tastes?
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Me: Oh cool there are sagas in this set!
The sagas:
thefirsttyrannicwar.jpg

To be fair, this isn't a bad cheat card, it just has a lot of underwhelming additive distractions for a card that should just be a free elvish piper trigger.
 
Zoss

Zoss

I can't help but agree with LadyMapi, these cards are juiced. It doesn't feel like it's been done in an interesting way, either.

Also, Deathleaper is good. I would just run a 3/3 haste double striker for 4 on its own; flash lets it eat a X/3 for free. It can't be used in a vacuum, but I think it will be a fun buildaround.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
It's mostly Old One Eye that seems very pushed so far. Vanguard Suppressor is a Thieving Magpie with slightly better stats and a great mana sink mode, it looks pretty cool actually. Deathleaper is a sweet haste build around card, and by no means undercosted. I would have been okay with it also having trample, to be honest. The First Tyrannic War is as good as your cheat targets. I think the X cost rider is actually relevant, since those are so relevant when supporting ramp decks so they can also do something in the early game. I mean, it's pretty sick with Shivan Devastator!
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

It also kinda makes sense that Old One Eye is so pushed, since it's intended for a 4+ player format where everyone has double life. In that context, getting a 6/6 and a 5/5 isn't that crazy.

It's just that it's wildly pushed for any format where you don't need to chew through that much health.
 
MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

inscho said:
View attachment 7339

This seems pretty solid.....would be a blast with Sneak Attack...and Greater Good lol
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I like it. I'm currently running Honored Hydra, a card that fits a similar role but is weak enough in the context of my cube that it hasn't been maindecked once. In all fairness, in many games, it's just a Colossal Dreadmaw, but I'm always eager for more cards that like to sit around in a graveyard that are still worth casting on the frontend.

Old One Eye is certainly the opposite end of the power-level spectrum from Honored Hydra, but as far as over-corrections go, it's a lot less dangerous for your 6 MV dudes to be stupid powerful. I don't think this is going to contribute to unfun games for its power level -- if anything, just the opposite, in a straightforward "Timmy" way that's sometimes hard to capture in Cube.

All that said, I've got three issues with the card remaining:

1. It's called Fast Healing but you're going to have to wait a full turn on average to get it back in your hand with the ability, let alone into play. Doesn't seem terribly "fast" to me (even if I find it power-level appropriate).

2. "Other creatures you control have trample" is such an unnecessary ability on this card. I wish they'd give the token trample to avoid the extra line of text. What, are you really worried about getting 2-3 trample damage in the turn you cast it, knowing you're swinging for 11 trample the next turn? Very silly.

3. It doesn't look like a green creature.

I was going to make a point about how aesthetically I don't care for it being a 6/6 and a 5/5 partner, and how I'd prefer they be more different or more similar, but the notion of dropping "11 power" with 1 card feels pretty cool.

Not convinced I'm going to cube it still, as I do like the hasty-ness, artwork, and lore of Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider as a potential replacement for Honored Hydra and this 40k stuff means nothing to me, but "11 power" is sick as hell and you can't convince me otherwise.
 
MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

Sorry for the double post but I just realized they made a black border (well, kinda) Garbage Elemental-D, a card I cubed with for a few good years before the wealth of red 5 drops pushed my dear friend out.


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Why anyone would make the swap is beyond me, but maybe if you don't like actual silver border and are ok with pseudo silver border, you're in luck! It's a cool set of effects.
 
Zoss

Zoss

Yeah, a lot of my gripes come from these cards being significantly more powerful than the cards in the regular EDH products and the cards' abilities and ability names feeling fairly arbitrary. They're probably perfectly balanced for Commander, tbh.

Compare the following:



One of these is a LOT more powerful than the other. Also, the 40k legendaries are very generic in their theming, which to me screams that WotC is pushing them for widespread adoption. This could have been a chance to do something thematic and instead we got . . . kicker.
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
I think I like Old One-Eye? It's possible that it just stamps on any interesting part of itself with its raw numbers but if I'm pushing the envelope elsewhere I want my sixes to take over games and this one does that while tying into other themes I like and being splashable (an upside here since I want a UB Control deck or whatever to have finishers like this without needing a lot of Grave Titans in each colour). Mostly I'm amused by the strong opinions the card has evoked so far and how it seems to bring out the worst biases of each respective Cube community
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Zoss said:
Yeah, a lot of my gripes come from these cards being significantly more powerful than the cards in the regular EDH products and the cards' abilities and ability names feeling fairly arbitrary. They're probably perfectly balanced for Commander, tbh.

Compare the following:



One of these is a LOT more powerful than the other. Also, the 40k legendaries are very generic in their theming, which to me screams that WotC is pushing them for widespread adoption. This could have been a chance to do something thematic and instead we got . . . kicker.
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If anything, I think the opposite is happening.

Outside of that one super beefy mono-green Tyranid, most of these cards seem way over rate for what they actually do. Inquisitor Greyfax, for example, is a hill giant sized goldmeadow harrier with a C+ anthem stapled to it. That's obviously not a bad card, but when you compare it to the more powerful cards we've been seeing in some of these commander products, it ends up looking silly.

I'd have to wait to see the rest of the set before making a final judgment, but most of these cards strike me as safe for their intended use.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Zoss said:
Yeah, a lot of my gripes come from these cards being significantly more powerful than the cards in the regular EDH products and the cards' abilities and ability names feeling fairly arbitrary. They're probably perfectly balanced for Commander, tbh.

Compare the following:



One of these is a LOT more powerful than the other. Also, the 40k legendaries are very generic in their theming, which to me screams that WotC is pushing them for widespread adoption. This could have been a chance to do something thematic and instead we got . . . kicker.
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Galea's base 4/4 stats are simply better than 3/3, putting it out of range of a lot of common removal spells and giving it better survivability in combat. The ability is arguably better as well. Tapping an opposing creature down to investigate is good, but you do have to pay mana to crack those clues and to activate the ability in the first place. Conversely, Oracle of Mul Daya taught us all how powerful playing stuff off the top of your library is. As a commander, I'm not sure I can agree with Greyfax being obviously more powerful, let alone by a LOT.
 
MilesOfficial

MilesOfficial

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I didn't think much about this until I realized it started as a 1/1. Stonecoil Serpent that draws you a card if you play it as a 6-drop? And it has the potential to come back late game after you traded it off as a 2/2 or 3/3 to fit your curve? I've stepped away from having green be as aggressive as it used to be, but Contortionist Troupe was nearly playable for the few drafts I tried it out, and this doesn't take quite as many things to go right to be good. Consider me interested.

I love getting all these green creatures that you can get back from the graveyard, even if it's priced too fairly!
 
inscho

inscho

MilesOfficial said:
View attachment 7344

I didn't think much about this until I realized it started as a 1/1. Stonecoil Serpent that draws you a card if you play it as a 6-drop? And it has the potential to come back late game after you traded it off as a 2/2 or 3/3 to fit your curve? I've stepped away from having green be as aggressive as it used to be, but Contortionist Troupe was nearly playable for the few drafts I tried it out, and this doesn't take quite as many things to go right to be good. Consider me interested.

I love getting all these green creatures that you can get back from the graveyard, even if it's priced too fairly!
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The 1/1 base is so huge for its playability. I'm very interested!
 
Humpty_Dumpty

Humpty_Dumpty

Zoss said:
Also, the 40k legendaries are very generic in their theming, which to me screams that WotC is pushing them for widespread adoption.
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I thought this set would be much more science fiction in terms of theme, but more of the humanoids seem to be carrying swords than guns. The tyranids don’t look that different from phyrexians to me. I could imagine playing a card from this set, if we get one that is mechanically appealing.
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

zoanthrope.jpg


Zoanthrope - {X}{U}{R}
Creature - Tyrannid
Ravenous (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. If X is 5 or more, draw a card.)
Flying, Ward 2
When Zoanthrope enters the battlefield, it deals X damage to any target.
0/0

So... it turns out that, if you make Shivan Devastator cost {U} more, you get this thing.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
LadyMapi said:
zoanthrope.jpg


Zoanthrope - {X}{U}{R}
Creature - Tyrannid
Ravenous (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. If X is 5 or more, draw a card.)
Flying, Ward 2
When Zoanthrope enters the battlefield, it deals X damage to any target.
0/0

So... it turns out that, if you make Shivan Devastator cost {U} more, you get this thing.
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Haste is a notable difference, and you get ward 2 here, but I'm picking up what you're putting down

Others:
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This might just be good? I know 2 mana dorks are kinda meh, but this is a real upside.
I guess it's upside in the "things are going fine" case, whereas something like Llanowar Loamspeaker or Incubation Druid is better in topdeck wars?
My time playing 40k predates the release of genestealer cults so all these human tyranids look so weird to me

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You know, as counters payoffs go, maybe 5 mana 4/4 flying haste is the floor you want, and while fervor on your 5 mana card is EDH as fuck, your 5 drop jumping your whole team probably kills people.
Of course assumes this card is in the right colors for your counters cards. Blue is a bit weird?

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Okay so if you can remove 4 counters from your team you get a 4 mana 12/12.
I think from that sentance alone you'll know if you like this, but I've never been a huge fan of things like Ghalta, which this is probably worse than, on the whole.

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I think if you're excited about this, try Trumpeting Herd, more people should be playing that card

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Solid design. Honestly might be a bit underpowered? It's an X mana X/X at base, but it's multicolor, I'd expect trample or haste or something on this.
I guess the draw text on ravenous matters a lot more in EDH than the 7 mana price tag will in cube.

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We got Fertilid for the new age? I'm sure green 3s are stacked for everyone at this point, but hey landfall synergy.
I don't think this is that great as a pure ramp card, those lands come tapped so you're waiting a while for that mana.

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This on the other hand: 3 mana 1/1 rampant growth, 5 mana 2/2 boomveggies, etc etc
Not that bad. Also achievement unlocked if you ever cast the 11 mana draw 1 :p

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This is also pretty solid. Dauntless Escort is one of those "fine but multicolor so I'm not gonna add it", and I think adding hexproof (so this actually works more often, looking at you exile spells) and the option of playing it as a 4/4 for 4 for 5/5 for 5 up the curve is enticing.
 
LadyMapi

LadyMapi

Chris Taylor said:
Haste is a notable difference, and you get ward 2 here, but I'm picking up what you're putting down

View attachment 7352
We got Fertilid for the new age? I'm sure green 3s are stacked for everyone at this point, but hey landfall synergy.
I don't think this is that great as a pure ramp card, those lands come tapped so you're waiting a while for that mana.
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1) If you think about it, "burn any target for X" is just an upgraded version of "swing in for X". :p

2) I feel like I'd honestly prefer Fertilid to Purestrain Genestealer if I was looking for a 3-mana creature who can ramp me, simply because " {1}{G}, remove a counter: do the thing" is more flexible than "when ~ attacks, you can remove a counter to do the thing" is far more flexible.

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These are honestly my favorite designs so far? We have an Elusive Krasis that swaps "can't be blocked" for a frankly absurd line of text, and we have a Needlethorn Drake that got +1/+1 and hexproof in exchange for costing {1} more.

Oh, and a hilarious graveyard hate card. I think I'll call it Malcolm.
 
TrainmasterGT

TrainmasterGT

Chris Taylor said:
I think if you're excited about this, try Trumpeting Herd, more people should be playing that card
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Cards I wish I had room for volume 69.

LadyMapi said:
venomthrope.jpg


...and we have a Needlethorn Drake that got +1/+1 and hexproof in exchange for costing {1} more.
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I don't understand why they printed this card in a straight-to legacy non-draftable set. This seems like the sort of thing that would go into a core set booster draft as a good signpost (with reminder text for slightly difficult keywords).

Like I could sort of see this in a non-draft set if it cost 2 mana to cast. Maybe that would be a fine Zoo card or something. But a wind drake with some evergreen keywords just seems like a copout.




All in all, I have not found the Tyranid cards to be particularly interesting or powerful, Save for Old One Eye. I think they're mostly overcosted by one or two mana. It's like someone took a sharpie and added {1} to every mana cost right before the set went to print.
 
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