Sets Commander 2016 Spoilers

[RavebornMuse]

Raves is a great way to give reach to WB creature strategies. The only struggle I'm having is him versus:

Athreos, God of Passage is unconscionably bad, though. Punisher mechanics like these never pan out - I tried him for a while and cut him after he repeatedly did nothing. He'd be killer as a -aligned, or -aligned card, where turning battle biscuits into spicy meatballs to the face is a likely prospect, but is often home to lots of tokens and recursive tools - neither of which your opponent really cares to pay 3 life to send to your graveyard, since you're either not getting it back (re: tokens), or you're gonna get it back anyway (re: Gravecrawler/Bloodsoaked Champion, etc). It's never a creature, either. Altogether, a dreadfully dull card in cube in my experience, but others may have had better experiences than me..

Ravos, Soultender offers a 2/2 body (hi Reveillark/Alesha, Who Smiles at Death/Recruiter of the Guard) that draws from the graveyard, which is way better than maybe drawing from the board. It's no contest, really.

 

[sigh]

I haven't found him to be a nearly as bad as that, partially because it's a repeatable punisher effect that will run the opponent into a lose-lose at some point. But I am convinced! Ravos is a much cleaner execution, and I like the art a lot also .

 

[psly4mne]

Ravos looks too slow and fragile for me. Needing your 5 mana 2/2 to survive a turn before it does anything is just asking for disaster.

 

[sigh]

Ravos looks too slow and fragile for me. Needing your 5 mana 2/2 to survive a turn before it does anything is just asking for disaster.

It anthems your board right away, which is already worth 4 mana for a 2/2 creature if Kongming has anything to say about it

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Ravos looks too slow and fragile for me. Needing your 5 mana 2/2 to survive a turn before it does anything is just asking for disaster.

I'm sure Grillo would agree there are too many creatures with ETB effects in the average cube anyway

 

[RavebornMuse]

I'm sure Grillo would agree there are too many creatures with ETB effects in the average cube anyway

Yeah; for such a powerful effect as this, I'm okay with it not being a spell-body. It obviously needs a format with a more curated removal suite. I figure, being in , it's likely that it can be tutored/reanimated pretty easily, so it's worth the "gamble" if your top end is reasonable. I think I'm near a place where something like Ravos, Soultender is cube-worthy, but it definitely needs some evaluation in regards to your other top-end plays and removal suite before I'd toss it into any ol' list.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Kongming is pretty shit tho

 

[sigh]

Kongming is pretty shit tho

Yeah, and for you get flying and palace seige, which is like a good 5-6 additional mana worth of effect right there. Seems like a good middling power card overall.

Probably not to be played in ultra cutthroat environments with lots of over efficient removal, but that applies to a lot of creatures.

 

[shamizy]

I love the Ravos art (and it's going to be a foil this time!) and his abilities, but he just feels a tad overcosted at 5 mana. He's going to die to most everything as a 2/2 and I can't imagine that he'll get in all that often in the air that late in the game. I like the anthem and Gravedigger effect as well. He can probably cut it in lower powered cubes (and actually slots nicely into the Tribal Cube I was working on a few months ago), but he's just not quite there for more powerful lists.

I am definitely playing the hell out of him and Tymna in my Teysa EDH though. More clerics!

 

[Golvin]

I agree that Ravos is an interesting card, but he does not naturally fall into any format. If it was not for his mana cost he could be really cool in a WB deck that focuses on grinding out value or likes to be aggressive with its creatures.

Currently I am having a more interesting time deciding if Atraxa can be slotted into my cube. I think that she would be an interesting replacement for Skyreach Manta. They should not be too different if you ignore Atrax's text box. So far, the part of me that also considers Vialsmasher to be a good idea is saying this will probably work too.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

... Is this fun or is this too much? It's always so hard to tell with these commander cards!

Also, apparently there are 4 foil commanders in each deck. Does anyone know if the commanders come in non-foil versions as well?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Ah aha hahahahahaha! This card is too funny Narrow, but funny :')

 

[RavebornMuse]

Intriguing! Activated ability from the graveyard, so no concerns of it getting disrupted in most environs.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Intriguing! Activated ability from the graveyard, so no concerns of it getting disrupted in most environs.

This ability would be more interesting on a small aggressive creature I think, one that actually has a chance to die instead of ending the game if it hits the battlefield, and that is played in a deck that is more often interested in discarding their (empy) hand for a fresh seven.

Also, if you want to reload, how about...

 

[StormEntity]

Hadn't looked at the spoilers yet; thought Magus of the Will was a harebrained custom card until I saw the set symbol. Yeah WotC. That's what I'm talking about.

 

[RavebornMuse]

I would like your post to co-sign it in agreement, but I don't want to be mistaken for endorsing Magus of the Will

 

[GiftsForgiven]

This ability would be more interesting on a small aggressive creature I think, one that actually has a chance to die instead of ending the game if it hits the battlefield, and that is played in a deck that is more often interested in discarding their (empy) hand for a fresh seven.

Also, if you want to reload, how about...

It's worth remembering that these effects are the way they are because of ANT in Legacy. This should give some perspective on why we can't seem to get a good 'wheel-alike'.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

It's worth remembering that these effects are the way they are because of ANT in Legacy. This should give some perspective on why we can't seem to get a good 'wheel-alike'.

I'm fine with the six mana activation cost, that's not the problem for (my) cube. This effect could have seen print on an aggressive creature, say a 3/2 first strike, or whatever, and it would have been not at all dangerous in ANT and a lot more pleasing in draft. in other words, the deck that's interested in a six mana 5/5 flying is usually not interested in a six mana Wheel, because it doesn't empty its hand fast enough.

 

[GiftsForgiven]

I'm fine with the six mana activation cost, that's not the problem for (my) cube. This effect could have seen print on an aggressive creature, say a 3/2 first strike, or whatever, and it would have been not at all dangerous in ANT and a lot more pleasing in draft. in other words, the deck that's interested in a six mana 5/5 flying is usually not interested in a six mana Wheel, because it doesn't empty its hand fast enough.

Yeah, on a closer inspection this magus is pretty neat. Much better than the flyer.

It's worth noting that I've tried Magus of the Wheel in my cube a bunch of times, and he's always been a bit lackluster. That being said, this Yawgwill effect is, as you said, fit for a much slower deck; one that doesn't mind taking a little time to prep the kill.

You have my attention.

Note: Hope this gets a judge foil print. This art is absolutely gorgeous.

 

[shamizy]

Thus far, I don't think I have a single add from this set. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, you were so close. If only it had said "play" instead of "cast". Now how am I supposed to get that insane value from looting away my Seat of the Synod or Vault of Whispers?

 

[safra]

Magus of the Will is a beautiful, busto card and I want it immediately.

e: also i'm an ANT pilot (albeit a terrible one) and good gracious, time to get'em for siding out their removal

 

[GiftsForgiven]

Thus far, I don't think I have a single add from this set. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, you were so close. If only it had said "play" instead of "cast". Now how am I supposed to get that insane value from looting away my Seat of the Synod or Vault of Whispers?

I still quite like him. I just wish he had something like Fear or X-walk or some evasive ability instead of deathtouch.

 

[Golvin]

I find the usage of deathtouch, a great defensive ability, to be interesting combined with Silas Renn's saboteur ability. That and people hate to block anything with deathtouch, so it could come in handy.

I am not sure that fear or landwalk abilities are going to help outside of Commander due to the conditions being unmet. In a cube deck this turns into a gamble of sorts if it had either fear (he seems like the kind of guy who enjoys an artifact rich environment) or X-walk (40% of decks would be my best guess unless the color is either abnormally strong or it is a multicolor cube.)

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I would have absolutely loved Silas if it was nonfoil and had skulk. As is I think I will begrudgingly play it anyway.

Really, my biggest "fear" with this product is that the commanders are only available in foil. They're gonna stick out like a sore thumb in my nonfoil cube. Up until now I have always been able to order nonfoil replacements for foils I open, I would be really bummed if the foil version of these is the only one.

 

[Peter LaCara]

This ability would be more interesting on a small aggressive creature I think, one that actually has a chance to die instead of ending the game if it hits the battlefield, and that is played in a deck that is more often interested in discarding their (empy) hand for a fresh seven.

I think the Soul of Theros cycle has taught us that graveyard spell effects on big dumb beaters is a perfectly good way of ensuring you get value from your finisher without an ETB ability.

I'm probably not going to add much from this set, if anything so far. I hate the Partner text on all the commanders (I only allow Daretti, Scrap Savant in because his effect is nearly impossible to replicate), and the vast majority of the cards in here clearly either are only good in multiplayer, or only balanced in multiplayer. That's probably fine, though. I haven't even finished adding everything I want to from Kaladesh yet, and a bunch of my regular cubers moved away so I haven't even drafted mine in a few months anyway.