By James Stewart 17/6/11
Commander decks are being released shortly. With the
whole set already being spoiled we here at Cantrip Games figure that we should
give you the inside scoop of what we think the best new cards are to help in
your deck buying decision!
I based my “Real Values” before SCG (Star City
Games) released their pre-order lists and adjusted a few prices to what I feel
is a sensible value that reflects true market value and demand for cards.
My “Star Rating” is a reflection of what I feel is a
card’s worth/potential in the Commander format alone.
Editor: These new cards are yet to be put into
Gatherer. In the mean time you can check
them here in the Commander
Visual Spoiler.
Acorn Catapult: A wacky card that
can kill pesky creatures or help build up your own squirrel army! Acorn
Catapult can give you attackers or blockers or even help out one of your
buddies if need be.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3-4
Alliance of Arms: An awesome
inclusion to a deck with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Doubling Season. Alliance of Arms can build you an army in a single
turn that can help swell the tide of aggression. This is a great late-game card
but can also be used to feed a giant Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter or Fallen Angel.
Three Stars
Real Value: $4
Animar, Souls Elements: One of the
best commanders of the set. Animar can rapidly turn cards in hand into creatures
on the battlefield. His protection abilities are not totally irrelevant either
as they can let you dodge some of the best spot removal in the format and dodge
past a fair chuck of the better commanders out there (Uril,
the Miststalker, Rafiq of the Many, Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund and so on).
Five Stars
Real Value: $10-12
Archangel of Strife: One of the early
spoilers packs a powerful punch. She feels a little bit too much like a Red
card and most players will choose war over peace which makes her into more of a
global buffer that can considerably shorten games. She is an amazing angel to
throw down with Kaalia of the Vast and becomes real mean when put into a token
strategy of some kind.
Four Stars
Real Value: $5
Avatar of Slaughter: If you thought the
Archangel would speed up games you haven’t seen this guy. Playing this and
following it up with an Insurrection
for the game could be a great sequence of play.
Three Stars
Real Value: $4
Basandra, Battle Seraph: A great
commander to beat face with and probably the best in her colours. Her abilities
make her an awesome equipment holder and when coupled with a Leonin Shikari can be an unstoppable commander machine! The ability
that stops players casting spells means that players have to fog before combat
or not at all which lets you plan your attack for maximum value. The added
bonus that many people fail to recognize is that Terese Nielson, the artist, has truly out done herself on this
beautiful piece. Absolutely amazing!
Four Stars
Real Value: $5-6
Celestial Force: A great defensive
card that can reverse non-general damage quite quickly. Its ability is little
weak considering Verdant Force and Magamatic Force, Celestial Force’s cousins, have better
game winning abilities. Not a bad beater than can bring you back from the brink
of death.
Two Stars
Real Value: $3
Champion’s Helm: A Lighting Greaves that doesn’t offer haste or shroud to non-legendary
creatures. On the upside, making your creatures bigger for a cheap equip cost
and giving Hexproof to your commander feels like a good deal. Unfortunately an already
spoiled card from M12 has ruined my taste for this because it offers haste,
instead of the +2/+2 bonus, and hexproof for 1 mana less in the casting cost.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3-4
Chaos Warp: the Red version of Oblation offers up some interesting game dynamics and can
create some wacky starts and finishes. Not only can it hate on commanders, it
can give you a shot at an early Eldrazi or whatever other permanent monstrosity
you play in your deck. Very neat. Very Potent. Very Commander-esque.
Three Stars
Real Value:$6
Command Tower: An awesome auto-include
for two colour+ decks that makes me wish they would print 30 more copies with
different names. This should be put in most people’s commander decks so demand
will be high. This is a must-have and doesn’t relent on giving its owner an
easy mana fix. Luckily this is in every commander pre-constructed deck so they
should be easy enough to grab hold of. (Hopefully)
Five Stars
Real Value: $3-5 (This one is
a hard card to price as its availability is still unknown. It is never going to see a reprint outside of
Commander sets because of its specificity.)
Collective Voyage: An awesome ramp
spell that will make everyone hate you or love you depending on what happens in
the next turn cycle. Combo’s well with Stranglehold for a one-sided ramp to
infinite synergy. This is very much a fringe card as it is awkward to include
in a deck without it back
Four Stars
Real Value: $3-4
Crescendo of War: This feels like a
Red card because of how combat-based it is. I feel that this was put into the
wrong pre-constructed deck and should have been in the Heavenly Inferno deck
which is more about combat. This can make for some pretty crazy combat, making
creatures really big really fast. In a five player game this makes your
attacking creatures on the following turn +5/+0! And that is only after one
turn cycle!
Three Stars
Real Value: $5
Damia, Sage of Stone: On the surface
Damia has quite a powerful ability. Her flaw, however, is that it’s an upkeep
trigger so you can invest a whole turn in her and not get any benefit out of it
because a someone cast Wrath of God. Her combat stats feel a little meek and the
Deathtouch, while flavorful, feels underwhelming. Not a bad card but definitely
one I would prefer to sub in as my commander from time to time.
Three Stars
Real Value: $6-7
Death by Dragons: It has been said by
many that the dream is Turn 5 Sarkhan the Mad, Turn 6 Death by Dragons and Turn 7 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund. Unfortunately this line of play is very much a
“Magical Christmas Land” kind of plan i.e. Very specific. A cool and unique
effect; I give it the Timmy thumbs up.
Two Stars
Real Value: $1
Dread Cacodemon: The cocoa demon is
coming to eat all the creatures! Mmm cocoa. Well, all your ones anyway. His
upsides include obliterating all opposing forces and giving you an 8/8 beast as
a kicker. His downside means you can’t attack after you destroy their men unless
you can untap your creatures or give the cocoa monster haste. This seems like a
fair trade off though, and one I’m happy to make for some excellent value.
Cocoademon!
Three Stars
Real Value: $4
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: A well-balanced
blue/green legendary creature that has a fun ability is definitely met with
joy. Blue and Green get a bad rap for being Over Powered in commander but Edric
may change that. His cheeky political strategy is fun for everyone and can help
the aggressive decks keep up with those combo and control players. Edric’s
price is influenced by its potential in some other formats.
Five Stars
Real Value: $12
Flusterstorm: This doesn’t feel
like a Commander card but one designed for an Eternal format that never quite
made a set with Storm. A little bit disappointing for a Commander card and not
really in the spirit of the game. Again, Flusterstorms’s price is influenced by
other formats potential.
One Star
Real Value: $6-8
Ghave, Guru of Spores: This guy is
so cool and can interact with a whole bunch of cards. The most obvious being Doubling Season but lesser known cards like Sigil Captain (which comes in the deck) also provide some whacky
scenarios where he can get out of hand very quickly. This is one of my favorite
new cards from the commander set.
Five Stars
Real Value: $10
Homeward Path: A great way to get
back your stolen merchandise without having to pack specific hate like Brand or Brooding Saurian. Has no real downside in any deck that can afford to
miss a coloured land (unless it is counter intuitive to your strategy, of
course). There is very little reason not to have one of these in your deck
waiting to ruin the blue player’s day. This may cause an increase in land hate
from blue players, so beware!
Four Stars
Real Value: $8
Hornet Queen: Green’s new best
answer to fliers is in fact five answers! Not only that, but when paired with a
Reveillark the Queen can bust out a whole bunch more drones to
do her bidding. If you were after another token producer to go with your Avenger of Zendikar I can recommend this quite happily.
Four Stars
Real Value: $6-7
Hydra Omivore: Big beats are big.
The great thing about this is that people can’t complain so much for picking on
them and it also gets around the new white enchantment Soul Snare. Not only is
the omnivore big and mean he can interact with powerful cards like Hatred for the multi-kill awards!
Three Stars
Real Value: $5
Kaalia of the Vast: For a long time I’ve
waited for something to let me put all my big monsters into play and Kaalia
seems to provide a suitable answer. The biggest and best creatures from White,
Black and Red are Angels, Demons and Dragons respectively. Very cool card with
beautiful art. Great job, just what we wanted!
Four Stars
Real Value: $7-9
Karador, Ghost Chieftain: This was the
teaser for the set when it was first announced and it still hasn’t lost any of
its shine. Karador has a strong “build around me” feel and when obliged should
not disappoint. Bringing back a Fleshbag Marauder or Shriekmaw each turn is fair but when you get back your Reveillark or Karmic Guide it can become bonkers really quickly.
Four Stars
Real Value: $10-12
Magmatic Force: Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle sees play so why shouldn’t a man who throws Lightning
Bolts every upkeep. This beast
demands some attention and respect. Picking off a token every turn or hitting
someone across the head a couple of times can really stack up a lot of damage
to someone’s board or leave them vulnerable to one final push.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3
Mana-Charged Dragon: What a way to kill
someone. The great thing about the dragon is that it lets Red play some
politics that can knock out their main competition and not have to spend a lot
to do it! What’s more is that they can do every turn! My favorite of the “Join
Forces” cycle as it is the only permanent and the only asymmetrical one.
Three Stars
Real Value: $4
Martyr’s Bond: A white Gravepact for all permanents including itself! Note that with Enchanted Evening out, if one of your creatures dies you can force
opponents to sacrifice any permanent,
not just creatures! Great Asymmetry in this card that fits into a prison style
deck and works well with Smokestack! Very mean.
Four Stars
Real Value: $6
Minds Aglow: A card that gets
better the lower the play skill is at the table. This seems like the ultimate
trap card for the new commander player who wants to get the most out of their
deck as fast as they can. NEVER GIVE BLUE PLAYERS CARDS; THEIR CARDS WILL
ALWAYS HAVE MORE VALUE THAN YOURS!!!
Three Stars
Real Value: $4
Nin, the Pain Artist: Our first hint at
enemy bi-colour in the set has lost a bit of her shine but should not be
underestimated. Her feeble body is a disguise for her amazing card drawing
powers and being just 2 to cast is not much of a mission to bring to the battlefield
time and time again.
Three Stars
Real Value: $6
Riddlekeeper: Kind of janky and
probably should have been an enchantment to make it harder to kill but more
homunculus are never a bad thing. This should see some play in a mill-based
strategy like Kami of the Cresent Moon or Szadek, Lord of Secrets.
Two Stars
Real Value: $2
Riku of Two Reflections: This guy is
amazing. Not only can you make your Tooth and Nail twice as juicy, you can make
those four creatures you just searched for twice as juicy. Note: Makes infinite
mana with seven lands and a Palinchron.
Five Stars
Real Value: $10
Ruhan of the Fomori: His impressive body
just about makes up for his lackluster ability. The cool thing about Ruhan is
that you can always plead innocence for attacking a whiny player thanks to the
die you roll. I am a little frustrated that he has no other combat ability but
at four mana I can’t complain too much.
Three Stars
Real Value: $4-5
Scavenging Ooze: If you wanted a Withered Wretch for your green deck, you got one! Not only can this
exile pesky reanimation or regrowth targets it can get bigger and give you some life in
the process. This is a great card, has creepy art and extra awesome points for
being an Ooze.
Three Stars
Real Value: $5-6
Scythe Specter: Not quite as good
as its omnivore companion (Hydra Omnivore) and will probably attract a whole
bunch of hate. It is by no means a bad card and is probably one of the best
discard creatures out but is not on quite the same level as its stronger
counterparts: Sadistic Hypnotist and Mindslicer.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3-4
Sewer Nemesis: Again, this suits a
mill-based strategy and can grow very big like Lord of Extinction (or a mini one at least). Landing this one Turn 4 can
get him upwards of 10 power by turn 7 or 8 which is not a bad investment in
time, cards or mana.
Two Stars
Real Value: $3
Shared Trauma: The most specific
“Join Forces” card that can be very powerful when built around. It is the only
spell that mills multiple opponents at the same time for a decent cost. I am
not a huge fan of this strategy but if ever was there a card to change that,
this would be it.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3-4
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave: This has been overrated time and time again. It is only ever really
good as a commander and even then there are far superior commanders in these
two colours. I don’t think it is trash, I just think it is not as good as
people hype it up to be. (Editor - It is awesome, I will be vindicated!)
Three Stars
Real Value: $5-6
Soul Snare: A cool card that
can fend off unwanted commander attacks or other large beaters. This will
probably be used more as a rattlesnake than a removal spell for that reason.
Being only one mana means you can get it back with Sun Titan every turn!
Two Stars
Real Value:$2
Spell Crumble: If Hinder wasn’t enough now we have Spell Crumble to hide those
pesky commanders. If you already play Hinder you may either wish to switch or
add another one to your list.
Three Stars
Real Value: $3
Stranglehold: They fixed Mindlock Orb and made it even better! Now not only can we stop
anything from Survival to fetch lands we can stop Time
Warp and we can do this all without wrecking our own stuff or playing blue!
Fantastic art, fabulous flavor and a great ability: not much more you can
demand from a card.
Four Stars
Real Value: $5
Syphon Flesh: A neat twist on Syphon Mind which has been interweaved with Innocent Blood that showcases the power inverse proportionality. At
a five player table this can net you eight power of men which is a good effort
for an uncommon.
Three Stars
Real Value:$2
Tariel, Reconer of Souls: As much as I
like the card, I would prefer her to be in my deck than as a commander.
Positive points for the option as a commander, negative points for being not
quite good enough.
Three Stars
Real Value: $7
The Mimeoplasm: This has a very
cool ability that lets you take the form of any dead creature and get even
bigger from another dead creature. When milling your opponent you will almost
always hit a juicy, fat creature in the graveyard for The Mimeoplasm to take
the form of.
Four Stars
Real Value: $9-10
Trench Gorger: By far the worst
card in the entire set (both old and new cards. Yes I know they put Deadly
Recluse in the set). This is utter jank and my level of disgust that this
made it to the final print is astounding. The problem I have with this is that
you must invest so much in a card that might not win you the game… it might not
even kill anyone! (Compare a card like Avenger of Zendikar which can be lethal damage on a player without having
to exile all your lands.)
Thumbs down Wizards L
(I cannot represent the number of stars in negative
form so I am writing here instead)
Real Value: Whatever the
cardboard cost to produce
Tribute to the Wild: A very nice
multiplayer card that doesn’t hate on anyone specific. Can be a little
frustrating when one person has multiple things you don’t like but definitely a
good design.
Three Stars
Real Value: $2
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter: Reveillark and Karmic Guide just keep getting better and better. Vish Kal can
consume your opponent’s side of the field while you’re happy getting to cast
your Shriekmaw for its Evoke cost and sacrificing it with its
trigger still on the stack. Vish Kal is a little over-costed but that’s nothing
to worry about since he can turn a losing game into a winning game in a couple
of attacks.
Four Stars
Real Value: $7-8
Vow of Duty: Vigilance is the
worst one of the Vows because you don’t want to give your opponents’ guys
vigilance most of the time. If your opponent attacks they attack someone else
leaving the way open for you to attack them. This is probably the worst of the
Vow cycle.
Two Stars
Real Value: $2
Vow of Flight: Vow of Flight is
quite cool because it can be used with Hakim Loreweaver to some degree of success. It reduces the damage of Mind Control effects while convincing the enchanted creature’s
controller to attack with their bigger, beefier creature.
Two Stars
Real Value: $2
Vow of Lightning: First Strike and
+4/+4 to my Uril, the Miststalker feels like a good deal. This Vow feels like the vow
that will let the creature it enchants live the longest which can be good when
setting up to steal it later on.
As it was pointed out to me the flavor text of this
card, “’Ruhan would never agree to such terms’ – Ruhan of the Fomori” Ruhan
talks about himself in the third person! Awesome.
Two Stars
Real Value: $2
Vow of Malice: This is probably
the best of the vow cycle. It almost always makes a guy unblockable to one
player and if you were the one taking the beats before it will stop that
creature in its tracks and point it a different direction.
Three Stars
Real Value: $2
Vow of Wildness: The name should
have been “Vow of Wilderness” to make it sound better. This vow stops chump
blocking from opponents which can lead to it becoming a huge threat to your
opponents. It, like its counterparts above, enjoys spreading love to other
players.
Two Stars
Real Value: $2
Zedruu the Greathearted: This truly
feels like a Red, White and Blue commander. A very unusual ability that has a
build around me feel to it. Zedruu is not the worst Commander from the new set
and will probably be more fun to play against than any of the other new
commanders. Good cards to use with him: Howling Mine, Zur’s Weirdng and Jinxed choker!
Three Stars
Real Value: $7
After looking at the lists available here I feel that
the most value for money is available in the Devour for Power deck as this deck
contains not only great new cards (The Mimeoplasm and Damia Sage of Stone) but
also awesome old staple cards: Eternal
Witness, Solemn
Simulacrum and Living
Death.
All the decks look like great fun to play with and
some really wacky and exciting card scenarios are just begging to crop up in a
free-for-all pre-constructed battle!
That’s all for this week, hope you enjoyed the
article. I’m looking forward to playing some Commander with the new set and I’m
sure anyone who picks up one of the new decks will have a blast! Good luck at
Launch Party!
Ciao,
James