The Wakanda Forever! deck is revealed. It had been my most anticipated of the bunch because of the GW artifacts theme, but it's by far the least interesting, thanks to a heavy focus on the Monarch mechanic. Of the ~15 unique cards for the deck, 8 of them reference the monarch and 4 of them are related to commanders. Most of the rest beyond that make a unique token! Just a big whiff for me, and it's too bad. Still, I've got some things to talk about.
Zuri, Warrior of Wakanda is a 2/2 trampler for 2 that grows your entire board whenever you cast a big artifact. I have more big artifacts than most, but it's hard to imagine the deck that wants to go wide
and play those big artifacts, and even if you did have the deck, there are simply not enough big artifacts to play! You'd maybe trigger this once or twice a game if you're working for it, and that's fine, but nothing special. Theoretically, this is just what I wanted but it's simply not enough. Getting 3mv artifacts for
Simulacrum Synthesizer is hard enough, and that gives you a whole karnstruct token!
What bugs me the most is that this is close to the kind of design I was looking for in this set I think even reducing the requirement of the artifacts you cast to 3MV would've made it a good test for me, as
I have quite a few artifact creatures at 3MV. Would love to have followed this up with a
Simian Simulacrum, for example.
Bast, Panther Goddess feels like a pushed version of an old school card. I like the restriction on attacking and blocking unless you've got three creatures, and I like how it's tied in with the flavor text. I like a good ol' 4/4 for 4 with trample and indestructible that gets bigger with your creatures, and can share the love if need be.
I don't mind that it's a bit "fair" for modern Magic, but what I do mind is that it's either a 0 or a 10. I don't care about passing the
Vindicate test (which I suppose this does with indestructible) but it's just not the sexiest payoff for going wide or doing tokens. Surviving a wrath is helpful, sure. But it's not the "cool" kind of big dumb beater that makes a players' eyes go wide like
Anzrag, the Quake-Mole, and that feels both stronger and more play-around-able. Am I making sense here?
Speaking of feast or famine:
Panther Robot is very cool.
Most cards with "Affinity for Artifacts" either have a bunch of pips in their cost or cap out fairly small (see
Frogmyr Enforcer,
Sojourner's Companion, and
Myr Enforcer, all of whom cap out with 4/4 bodies. There are some bigger, but this is the first one you get a really beefy threat from that can often be cast for free in the right deck!
Thanks to my trinket theme, I've been toying around with payoffs that utilize "affinity for artifacts" lately, especially since cards I'd generally like to play like
Metalwork Colossus doesn't play well with food and treasure.
Imskir Iron-Eater appealed greatly to me when it first was spoiled, and I've considered it again recently, but the colors send the wrong signal and my Rakdos section is too tight already.
Ethersworn Sphinx is a little closer, but I look at it and
Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant and get dissuaded by all the pips all the same.
Now this? Panther Robot feels exciting and simple and like a great payoff. Just perhaps not splashy enough. I worry it'll get ignored for its overall simplicity like
Godzilla, Primeval Champion or
Greater Gargadon (which is perhaps my favorite
Magic card and currently occupying red's part of the "top end for the trinket deck" slot).
Vibranium Strike Gauntlets is the newest in a line of "auto-equippers" that feel real good. This is a modern take on
Loxodon Warhammer, asking only a single additional mana on the top for an improved version of a card that dominated the first 5 years of my Cube nights. Flash and auto-equip are great, but drawing cards? Even better. The drama that will come from this I think is worth trying out.
Shuri's Fabricator is yet another oblique Universes Beyond artifact that does repeatable reanimation, as last discussed with
Doom's Time Platform yesterday. Because of the Vibranium tokens, it's only really 4mv to recur an artifact every turn...but it's 4mv to get this thing started. It really needed a lower upfront cost to justify itself, so I will continue running the very silly
Scarecrone instead. It's not like I run
Gate to Phyrexia,
Nexus of Becoming, or
Chimil, the Inner Sun anyways (though I'd love to grab a copy of the latter two and try them out).
To finish off,
W'Kabi, Shield of the Nation is another example of a card that I would have killed for a version not specific to Commander. I've never thought it was great to have cards that specify their format like this, but this one's of the most egregious type, where the card is fundamentally useless outside of Commander. At least I can play with
Sarah Jane Smith in my casual 60 cards and Cubes without worrying about the "Doctor's Companion" text. Just imagine if this said "whenever you attack with
this creature". Wow!!
EDIT: one more
Royal Talon Fighter Jet is a card I glossed over somehow on first read-through, and looking at the art...I understand why. But it's an incredibly good rate.
I ran
Grand Crecendo until recently and
Secure the Wastes before that. They were both fine, but the Crescendo rarely blew people out like I wanted and Secure the Wastes usually played more like a control card you cast if your opponent had nothing good to counter or blow up that turn.
Not having flash is a big loss, but I like how it makes simple 1/1 white soldiers and not some obscure type, I like how it does it when it attacks, and I like how you also get an artifact out of the deal. I had been eying
Champions from Beyond for a bit last year, and this strikes me as a similar, but much better version of it. I'll need to consider it since it's such an effective way to get a ton of tokens in a repeatable fashion a la Cube darling
Jacked Rabbit
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Tomorrow is the last of the Marvel spoilers with the scene decks, and I'm thankful, as I get deeply distracted by spoiler season.
hybrid prowess guy:
