Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table where I pick a commander and talk about what I’d include in the 99. Today, in keeping with the trend of my last articles wherein I discussed the backup commanders from Warhammer 40k, here is another!
Magus Lucea Kane is the Human Tyranid Wizard backup singer of The Swarmlord and she’s going to be a pretty fun build-around ability. Let’s take a look at this 1/1 for 1GUR a little closer. Here’s a textbox:
“Spiritual Leader — At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Psychic Stimulus — {T}: Add {C}{C}. When you next cast a spell with {X} in its mana cost or activate an ability with {X} in its activation cost this turn, copy that spell or ability. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A copy of a permanent spell becomes a token.)”
What a strange mana dork. A Luminarch Aspirant / Sol Ring hybrid isn’t crazy in Commander, but leave her alone too long and you’ll regret it. This commander living in the zone means that your opponents know they can expect 6 or 7 drops like crazy. But with that X cost doubler, it means we’re looking at a direction this deck kind of takes itself.
I won’t mince words here – a lot of great cards that belong in any good Magus Lucea Kane deck are supplied with the Warhammer 40k Commander precon she is printed in. That being said, here are some of my favourite inclusions.
If your commander is unique save for an enchantment that does something similar, you bet your butt you should pop it in the 99 for redundancy. The difference is that the permanent spell does not get copied by Flourishing but rather its X gets doubled. However, with Magus Lucea Kane out, you’ll be copying doubles. Snake eyes, baby! Not to mention if you cast something like (#4 on this list) you’ll copy it twice and that means you’ll get its effect three times. That’s a spicy meatball.
Animar is a longtime format boogieman. One of the most ridiculous commanders to come up against when you’re sitting down against it for the very first time.
Want to use removal on it? Good luck Orzhov players. Whoops! Bedevil is black, too! How about that. The cost reduction for all of your X creatures means that as you continue to cast and copy creatures, you’re going to make things a lot cheaper over time.
Don’t have a creature to cast or need one more mana taken care of? No problem, Magus Lucea Kane can give Animar another +1/+1 counter and bring down the cost of all creatures you cast. A fantastic inclusion in this deck that I will groan at constantly.
Thousand-Year Elixir is here because your commander costs four and gives you two mana back if you can tap her right away. Hell, tap her to float two, use one to tap the Elixir to untap Magus Kane again, and you’ve got three mana and your commander effectively cost one! Untap effects are very strong in this deck. Fatestitcher and Kelpie Guide, maybe ever Intruder Alarm can make a big difference.
I also would like to draw your attention to the fact that this mana does not need to be used toward the X spell or ability to be copied by Magus Lucea Kane. She says “when you next cast a spell […] or activate an ability with X”, which means you tapping your commander to untap herself with Thousand-Year Elixir and then playing a Sol Ring, and then casting an Altered Ego with other mana still means you’ll get that copy. You don’t even need to pay into the X to get the effect!
I teased this one because I love it so. Electrodominance is the card that got me a clean 3-0 at prerelease and I’ll never forget it. Even paying two mana into the X on this spell and copying it means that Sol Ring or Talismans or Signets coming down at instant speed while you’re sniping an Oracle of Mul Daya. Unfortunately, you can’t tap Magus in response to casting the card from Electrodominance because casting it is part of the resolution. But getting to pop down two cards from your hand while dealing double the damage is just an ode to all the burn players of the world.
Come on, it’s Twinning Staff! The name says it all! Automatically, when Magus Lucea Kane copies a single spell, you get another copy. That is some serious value. Spending seven mana to copy an instant or sorcery spell twice is steep, but your commander can pay into this pretty well, especially if you listened to section #3.
It’s a value card that draws hate and will either get dealt with, keeping attention off of other pieces, or get to stick around. At three mana, it also perfectly curves into your commander and asks – nay, tells the table who came to play!
Kalamax is a popular Temur commander who doubles the first instant you cast each turn as long as he’s tapped. The big dino is already leading a ton of decks and I could bet you good money that a few of those are X spells matters decks. Pop Kalamax in the 99 and give him a whirl with stuff like Storm King’s Thunder. Just don’t forget to pack your Magecraft all-stars Archmage Emeritus and Storm-Kiln Artist.
That does it for me in this edition of A Seat at the Table. Find me on Twitter @mikecarrozza and let me know what commander you’d like me to write up next. I appreciate you reading and I’ll see you soon!
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Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table where I pick a commander and discuss what would go well in their 99. This week, following in the backup commander from the Warhammer 40k decks trend of my last article, I’m talking about Bothersome Quasit from the Grixis Warhammer commander precon.
For 3UBR, you get a Flying 6/5 Legendary Demon Noble which is fine, but the real juice comes from its two other abilities. Let’s check out that textbox.
“Flying
Prince of Chaos — When Be’lakor, the Dark Master enters the battlefield, you draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of Demons you control.
Lord of Torment — Whenever another Demon enters the battlefield under your control, it deals damage equal to its power to any target.”
Talk about a Demon payoff.
Believe it or not, we haven’t really had an amazing Demon tribal commander yet and with this Dark Master, A.K.A. Prince of Chaos, A.K.A. Lord of Torment coming in the next month, we’re about to see a ton of Demons in the sky. Sure, there are some people with their pet Demon decks, like Rakdos the Defiler or Rakdos Showstopper. Not all the demons will be mono black. Here’s a spotlight on those that aren’t mono black or part of the new cards in the precon.
Here are a few of my favourite picks.
Starting with a couple role players that I think are great in this deck. Immersturm Raider is a Demon with an optional rummage on ETB. It’s fine. But it’s low on the curve and is a Demon in early turns, fills your yard if you need, is a fine target for flicker effects when your commander isn’t available, like with Conjuror’s Closet or Thassa, Deep-Dwelling. Most of all, it’s cheap enough to tack on an extra card draw when you’re about to play Be’lakor and when the commander is out, the Raider also Shocks. That’s not bad.
Bothersome Quasit on the other hand is a powerhouse that nobody has seemed to notice yet. Three mana is a good spot to be in this deck and then every mana rock, or draw spell, or Warstorm Surge also becomes a way to goad a creature an opponent controls and make sure they can no longer block. It’s removal, it’s evasion, and it’s a low cost Demon that gets you what you need.
While Grixis isn’t known for its big mana, with black and red rituals, you can have a hell of a turn.
Oh, wait. I almost forgot about Dockside Extortionist.
Anyway, if you pump enough into Orcus, you can bring back a solid stack of creatures. Of course, being Demon tribal means that you’re going to need A LOT of mana, but it can still make for a turn that nobody saw coming. You can also use Orcus as removal. Even without the X, you can get five damage anywhere with your commander out. In black, you have many ways to bring this guy back to your hand to make a loop happen. Sacrifice him, Phyrexian Reclamation, boom. Time to party.
Prince of Thralls makes the list simply because it is undeniably a cool card that does not stand up to current power creep, but deserves some love. I remember seeing Prince of Thralls for the first time and wondering why you’d ever want to bring back permanents for your opponent, then reread it and screamed.
It is very expensive at eight mana. Again, with the commander costing six and being in black, you’ll have ways to cheat this beefy, spiky Demon into play or you’ll focus enough on ramp to bring this out. Whenever an opponent cracks a fetch, they have to pay four life if they don’t want you to get a fetch land. Whenever you kill any permanent, they lose 3 life or you gain more board presence. If there’s ever been a time I’ve been tempted to play mass land destruction spells like Ruination, it’s here.
Ikoria’s Companion mechanic was busted for other Eternal and Constructed formats, but really was just a way to get another commander into the command zone with a deck building restriction and only as a one time shot. Gyruda, Doom of Depths is a popular commander and companion. You can even run it as a companion with Be’lakor! Hell the only card I’ve highlighted so far that doesn’t fit is Bothersome Quasit. If you go the blink route with Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Panharmonicon, Gyruda is going to get very annoying for your opponents. Toss in a Sakashima of a Thousand Faces and make a bunch of copies to be extra powerful.
Balor is a mythic rare from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, which means it has the same drop rate as the Ancient (blank) Dragon cycle and yet only costs a fraction of the price. Yes, the Dragons are very flashy, but I anticipate all Be’lakor decks will want a Balor in the 99. Balor triggers on attack and death, so if it resolves once, unless it gets exiled, you get to throw a lot of hate everywhere. I love Balor in a bunch of my decks and see it shine brightest in Jaxis, the Troublemaker. I absolutely anticipate this card being an all-star in the Grixis Demon Tribal deck we’re talking about today.
Here’s a list of the rest of the Demons I considered talking about!
Thanks for reading. Come on back! Let me know what Commander you’d like covered for next article! @mikecarrozza on Twitter.
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Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table, the series where I take a look at a commander and discuss what should go into their 99.
This week, we are diving into the flurry that was the Warhammer 40k Commander Deck spoilers, and I’m talking about the backup legend that has everybody chatting – Marneus Calgar, a 3/5 legendary Astartes Warrior for 2WUB.
Time for a textbox!
“Double strike
Master Tactician — Whenever one or more tokens enter the battlefield under your control, draw a card.
Chapter Master — {6}: Create two 2/2 white Astartes Warrior creature tokens with vigilance.”
What a beautiful line of text that first one is for the value monsters among us. Any token. You create a Clue token? I like your style, here’s a card draw for you. I know the Clue itself will draw you a card eventually, but by yourself something nice with this extra card right away. Treasure token? What are you going to spend that mana on if you have no cards?! This simply won’t stand, have a card!
This line of text could have been the only one, but this guy enables his damn self. A steep activation cost to make two vigilant 2/2 is fine, but when you’re drawing a card too, that’s not bad. Not to mention there’s already a three-piece infinite combo ready for you to use. Let’s dive in.
Let’s not mince words: people are going to hate seeing Marneus Calgar. This guy gives you a card every time you make a token. There are cards that trigger a token creation for minor game actions and now that’s a token and a card for each one. That means Marneus becomes enemy target number one or at least puts the nail in the coffin for an opponent holding a board wipe. You want to protect your general. Cards like Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Whispersilk Cloak keep him from being targeted. The Cloak can also put a clock on the game, forcing your six commander damage through with an unblockable boos man. Toss a few anthems like the new Ultramarines Honour Guard (creates tokens, too!) and you’ll be swinging for more than just six.
Gift of Immortality ensures that Calgar comes back and keeps protection. Shielded by Faith is another good aura to keep him from being destroyed. Teferi’s Protection for when your board is in danger.
Here’s something I rarely say… counterspells. Pack some stack interaction because your commander is going to draw the ire of the table without a doubt!
You need to make tokens to get those cards, honey! The obnoxiousness of the following card puts it squarely in the “man, this should be banned, but it’s White’s best card” category. Smothering Tithe is one of the cards that triggers for each draw and therefore whenever you create a Treasure token off of it, when Marneus is in play, you’ll be drawing a card for each one.
Marneus turns good cards into incidental cantrips. Bastion of Remembrance is a staple of any aristocrats strategy, which coincidentally, you can build with Marneus. With Calgar in play, Bastion comes in and gives you back a card. Court of Grace becomes a super charged Phyrexian Arena, Archon of Sun’s Grace does a good Eidolon of Blossoms impression, and Curse of Disturbance turns any attack on the cursed player into another card draw. Marneus makes players think twice while you accrue value constantly. That’s why section one is so important!
If you’re going to draw a ton of cards, you need some payoffs or ways to play them. Omniscience isn’t bad in this deck. If your hand is going to be stacked, might as well unload it into play! Psychosis Crawler is a fantastic card that pings all of your opponents whenever you draw a card. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse gains you life keeping you out of reach as your opponents’ life totals dwindle as they attempt to amass the necessary resources to take you down. Minn, Wily Illusionist makes your second draw each turn and when those illusions die, you get to put a permanent card into place with mana value less than their power. Minn is a sneaky good payoff in this deck! Chasm Skulker gets bigger and bigger every time you draw. The Council of Four turns your second spell into another token, and therefore another card draw, which then triggers the Council for a third card! If your opponents plays two spells, you draw a card. What is this madness!
You might notice that I am leaving a few options off for now. That’s because they’re either part of the combo or…
You’re damn right – mill! Psychic Corrosion, Sphinx’s Tutelage, Teferi’s Tutelage, each one of these lets you mill a ton of cards just for doing what you need to do! Altar of the Brood in your token making deck means each opponent snips one off the top for every single one. Mindcrank, one of my all-time favourite cards, gets to shine when opponents lose life, milling them for that much. If you’re going to mill…
… might as well Reanimate. Animate Dead, Reanimate, Puppeteer Clique, all fantastic ways to make use of milling your opponents. Two of these can bring your commander back even. Altar of Bhaal lets you turn one of your tokens into a very cheap way to get around commander tax. Plus, its Adventure side lets you draw a card and make an attacker while drawing you a card when Marneus is out and about.
If you do end up leaning into the reanimation, Tormod, the Desecrator gives you Zombies when cards leave your graveyard and Zombie tokens equals card draw for each trigger! Bring back Death Tyrant with its own ability when an opponent swings at another opponent with tons of little blockers. That’s a bunch of Zombie tokens for you and each one is its own trigger, meaning its own card. Why have this in the Reanimation instead of Token Production sections? Because it’s both and it’s a nice surprise for the end of the article.
Ashnod’s Altar + Anointed Procession + Tormod, the Desecrator
This is of course only one of many Calgar combos that draw your deck and give you bodies. It’s up to you to have Altar of the Brood or Corpse Knight or Bastion of Remembrance or Thassa’s Oracle to really put the nail in the coffin.
Want more Calgar combos? Take a look at this:
https://www.commanderspellbook.com/search/?q=card%3A%22Marneus%20Calgar%22%20ci%3Aesper
That does it for us today. Don’t forget to pre-order your Warhammer 40k decks because they are already in very high demand! threekingsloot.com has them available for cheaper than surrounding areas from what I’ve seen and I’ve got mine in already. I’m going to get a second and third order in. I wish I was kidding. These decks are bonkers! Buy in early because these cards are so freaking hard to reprint and WotC has no plan to do so anytime soon!
Let me know what commander you want me to write about next! @mikecarrozza on Twitter!
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Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table where I pick a commander and discuss some inclusions to their 99. This week, another sweet legend from Dominaria United – Meria, Scholar of Antiquity.
This legendary 3/3 Elf Artificer for 1GR should give you a hint for what she’s all about. Let’s see that textbox:
“Tap an untapped nontoken artifact you control: Add G.
Tap two untapped nontoken artifacts you control: Exile the top card of your library. You may play it this turn.”
What a party. A Gruul artifact commander who says to hell with destroying artifacts, let’s make them our friends. With ramp and card advantage stapled to a commander, there are already cEDH implications here. Let’s talk about some inclusions:
Let’s start by talking about value. Pop Mycosynth Lattice into this deck and even your enchantments and creatures can impulse draw you into answers or ramp you. They do have to be nontoken, but definitely amazing. One Vandalblast though and you’re done. So Darksteel Forge is a solid lock piece for yourself and turns a Vandalblast from you into a full board wipe. Armageddon WISHES, honey!
That said, be weary of Merciless Eviction or heaven forbid a Farewell. You can get blown out pretty hard, but with something as fragile as this, I would recommend having a Krark-Clan Ironworks or a Street Urchin ready, or even Bosh, Iron Golem to punish the person making you sacrifice the Mycosynth Lattice.
Be careful! But hell yeah, get that value!
This one gets its own slot. It’s not going to be a long explanation because here it is: this card rules in this deck. If you’ve got a Flash enabler like Shimmer Myr, your Unwinding Clock is your Seedborn Muse. Oh, yeah this is an artifact deck in Green, so we get to straight up use Seedborn Muse. These cards let you turn your opponents’ turns into your own turn, keeps your mana up for reactions if you can exile cards you can play. That’s gravy the whole way home!
We quite literally just got a Commander precon deck called Exit from Exile with Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald at the helm. I recommend a ton of cards in that deck. Jeska’s Will is a big “OF COURSE” fit in this deck. With Meria out, it’s likely you’ll cast more artifacts, and while Will is a big ritual, having the ability to either tap artifacts for mana or make more exiles makes this even more potent.
Cards like Passionate Archaeologist can be a finisher in Meria decks that aren’t focused on playing “eggs” (artifacts with 0 for their mana cost). Nalfeshnee allows you to double dip on some spells and permanents for a turn. Important to note that you can’t tap the tokens with Meria. That’s why cards like Inspiring Statuary also fit in the deck. Giving your non-artifact spells improvise allow you to make mana dorks of even your token artifacts so long as you’re casting non-artifact spells just like most in this section.
Wild-Magic Sorcerer, similar to Nalfeshnee, triggers off of casting things from exile. Delayed Blast Fireball is one of the best one-sided board wipes in a while and deserves a slot in your 99 for sure. A lot of these are already Prosper, Tome-Bound staples and if there’s any commander whose homework to copy, it’s the most popular Rakdos commander of all time who has only been around for a year.
You want good artifacts in your nontoken artifact matters deck. Mirage Mirror can double up effects or borrow from your opponents and tap itself to pay for the cost if you’ve got Meria and don’t need to copy something with a tap ability. Shimmer Myr and Vedalken Orrery ensure that you’re getting the most out of your turns and your opponents’ turns like when you’ve got Unwinding Clock and Seedborn Muse out.
Low cost utility like Tormod’s Crypt and Soul-Guide Lantern can threaten the graveyard players but then also can draw you cards or make mana when Meria is out and there aren’t any good reasons to pop graveyards yet.
Artifact lands are perfect inclusions for Meria. While they don’t gain much from the ability to tap for green mana, being able to tap two of your nontoken artifact lands to impulse draw a card feels really good. Here, to save you a Scryfall search, are all the artifact lands that work in the deck: Darksteel Citadel, Great Furnace, Power Depot, Slagwoods Bridge, Treasure Vault, and Tree of Tales. Pack a Ghirapur Orrery to let you play the lands as you exile them from Meria’s ability.
Mystic Forge lets you see what’s coming up next so you know whether or not to impulse draw, even allowing you to forego the ability altogether by letting you cast artifacts from the top anyway. Trading Post is your one stop shop to let you bring back artifacts that you’ve used or had removed. Artifacts have so much synergy together and looping a bunch is powerful. Just ask Scrap Trawler.
You need to end the game. Here’s how you win. Reckless Fireweaver and Ingenious Artillerist both ping your opponents for artifacts entering the battlefield. Having a ton of artifacts and untapping every turn with Unwinding Clock means that sometimes, you’ll have a lock on the game and just need to end it so Ghirapur Aether Grid lets you ping for one per two artifacts tapped.
Got a lot of artifacts? Hellkite Tyrant’s alt-win condition can come at your upkeep. Hellkite Igniter can swing in for the kill with its activated ability. Or, better yet, Nettlecyst can do it on its own or Meria can wear the equipment for a commander damage finish.
Look. I know that not everybody likes Stax effects. I don’t like them, but in the right circumstances, they present an interesting puzzle to figure out. It’s also extremely viable in cEDH. Go nuts, have fun, and of course, ruin someone’s day/give them a real challenge.
Thanks for reading and come on back next time!
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Hello! Welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table, the column where I discuss what cards to include in the 99 of a selected commander. This week, I’m continuing with a new legend from Dominaria United – Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim.
For WB, this legendary 2/2 Phyrexian Kor Cleric has some of the simplest, yet smile-inducing text (at least it makes me smile). Let’s check out the textbox:
“Deathtouch
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life. Whenever another creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life.”
Wow! We have this in the command zone now? I know we just got Agent of the Iron Throne, but that’s a Background that requires you to play your commander, costs three mana, and it doesn’t gain you life. Daxos, Blessed by the Sun is the closest analogue I could think of, gaining you life when your creatures enter the battlefield and die.
If you know me at all, you know I absolutely live for Aristocrats strategies. Will there be overlap with my article about Garna, Bloodfist of Keld? Yes. Absolutely. Lyzolda, the Blood Witch and Thalisse, Reverent Medium have competition for that command zone slot because Garna and Elas are very good. Let’s make that 99 pop.
White and Black are often big token generator colours. Cards like Call the Coppercoats and Ancient Gold Dragon can turn the tide of a game in this deck. Grave Titan on ETB and attack will make you two 2/2 Zombies. Anointed Procession is a very win-more card in my opinion, but when a deck knows what it wants, it gets what it wants. Combine the colours and you get cards like Inkshield which can not only protect you from damage, it will gain you life, help you crack back at the player with the highest life total and then ditch your board for Elas to drain the rest out. Thalisse, Reverent Medium gives you tokens for each token you make. Elenda, the Dusk Rose sees creatures dying and when it’s her turn to go, she leaves behind an army of 1/1 Lifelink Vampires. Felisa, Fang of Silverquill loves when you put counters on your creatures because you’ll be getting more. You’ll be gaining life like crazy in this deck and that’s why you need…
Aetherflux Reservoir is the cleanest use of a lifegain. Got lots of life? Use it to kill an opponent or all of them.
Got lots of life? Toxic Deluge can be huge!
Got lots of life? Necropotence turns that into cards.
Gaining lots of life, Well of Lost Dreams lets you pay to draw some cards per life gained. Tymna the Weaver lets you pay life for each opponent damaged during your combat and with the tokens you’re swinging with, you don’t care what happens, you’ll probably get to draw some cards. Got lots of life? Bolas’s Citadel welcomes you.
Heliod, Sun-Crowned will beef up a member of your team with every life gained. Archangel of Thune thinks Heliod is lazy and beefs up the whole team instead. Marshland Bloodcaster lets you cheat on mana, letting you cast a spell with life instead. Plague of Vermin for 40 and gain it all back. Sacrifice the rats to drain the table for a win! If you want to make this pretty linear, Razaketh, the Foulblooded lets you tutor for two life and sacrificing a creature, which are two very cheap costs for you here.
Here’s the overlap I was talking about. Sacrifice outlets are a way for you to control when your creatures die and how you’ll take advantage of that. Cards like Ashnod’s Altar and Phyrexian Altar provide you with mana. Altar of Dementia lets you pivot into a mill strategy if you’re closer to that than a life loss win. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician turns your life and your token creature into removal and card draw. Viscera Seer lets you scry and costs one mana.
Martyr’s Cause lets your sacrifice a creature to prevent damage from a source. This could be used politically or to save yourself! Fanatical Devotion allows you to regenerate your commander, keeping her around after a boardwipe like Fumigate. Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim lets you essentially Utter End for three mana and a sacrifice. Maw of the Obzedat lets you sacrifice a creature to pump your board for a big swing. Mind Slash and Sadistic Hypnotist, while not instant-speed, do a great job of eating away at your opponents’ hands. While you’re sacrificing so much, make sure to pack Smothering Abomination for that card draw for every sacrifice.
Yes, she gets her own section! I have been extremely impressed with Ellyn in every game I’ve cast her. I never run her unless I can create at least 3 or more tokens in a turn, but even just tapping for one means White card draw. If you create like 20 tokens from Animate Dead-ing an opponent’s Dockside Extortionist, tapping Ellyn to look at the top 20 cards of your deck and taking the best one is such amazing selection, I’m tired of not talking about it! Let’s see Ellyn at more tables!
These two cards are fantastic in this deck, turning every creature entering your battlefield into a ping machine lowering your opponents’ life totals. Vito has added utility in that like Vault of the Archangel and Whip of Erebos, he can give your creatures lifelink which spells out trouble for your opponents for each instance of your tokens swinging. Sanguine Bond on the other hand is an enchantment which is just harder to kill. That said, run both of them. You could go the Exquisite Blood combo route, but I don’t like a combo that easy, to be honest.
I have had an Orzhov Cleric Tribal deck helmed by Tymna the Weaver and Ravos, Soultender for some time. It is all themed. Sun Titan is out. Bishop of Rebirth is in.
Elas il-Kor is making it difficult to keep the partners in the command zone. Orah, Skyclave Hierophant was already vying for the position and now Elas is throwing her hat in the ring. Give her a go as cleric tribal. Rotlung Reanimator and Conspiracy / Maskwood Nexus with a sacrifice outlet, that’s game!
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Welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table, the column where I pick a commander and discuss a few cards that I’d slot into the 99.
This week, with Dominaria United officially releasing, I have decided to pick one of the legends that got my heart racing. Is it a fancy new mythic? Is it a rare that rips?
Nope. This commander is a new uncommon legend and that means you’ll be able to find plenty of copies to go around for this new and interesting deck leader.
For 1BRR, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld is a 4/3 Legendary Human Berserker. Let’s check out the textbox:
“Whenever another creature you control dies, draw a card if it was attacking. Otherwise, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld deals 1 damage to each opponent.”
There’s lots to love about a commander who rewards you for your creatures dying. The added tension of when they die is what makes this so good. The combat step is wild and complicated. Swing with creatures that will die, your opponents face either taking damage or giving you card draw. If you have a big enough board, a wrath effect can significantly harm your opponents. It must be noted that Garna does not count herself. With that in mind, here we go!
Sacrifice outlets are ways to have your creatures die on your own terms. I mentioned that the combat step is wild – it is possible to attack, deal damage, and then before leaving the combat step, having your creatures that just swung die for sweet card draw if that’s what you need. Sack outlets allow you to that have agency and control over your board. Sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar and Phyrexian Altar are mainstays in a sacrifice player’s arsenal. Goblin Bombardment allows you to ping while your creatures hit your graveyard when you want them to. Viscera Seer provides a Scry 1 per sacrifice. Carrion Feeder gets beefed up when you feed the zombie. Altar of Dementia provides you with the option to mill yourself or your opponents. With self-mill, you can pack the deck with recursive effects. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can weaken or outright kill your opponents’ creatures while drawing you a card on top of whatever you choose to do with Garna.
Of course, there are cards like Plumb the Forbidden that allow you to sacrifice any number of creatures you control to draw a card and lose a life for each one. Don’t forget to pack some payoffs like…
When creatures die or you sacrifice permanents, you want to have things that trigger for more advantage. Mayhem Devil and Juri, Master of the Revue trigger specifically on sacrificing, but stuff like Zulaport Cutthroat and Bastion of Remembrance will trigger when your creatures die, draining each opponent. Have your opponents get hurt on the way in with Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge. The Meathook Massacre and Agent of the Iron Throne are enchantments that ping your opponents when your creatures die. Liliana, Dreadhorde General fills your hand up so you can either double up on your draws when attacking creatures die or so you can get the best of both worlds in Garna’s triggers. One of my favourite cards is Vicious Shadows. Any creature dies, you decide which player gets hit for their hand size. Games go pretty quick when you’re nugging players for seven damage a death.
You’re going to need creatures to sacrifice. I suggest token makers. Ophiomancer and a sacrifice outlet means a clock on your opponents when each snake hits them for damage. Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia only triggers once on your turn, but at two mana, that’s not bad. Besides, the decayed zombie tokens sacrifice themselves at the end of combat turning into cards in hand. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder provides you with 1/1 Thrulls equal to the mana value of the creature you just cast. Because you can sacrifice creatures at instant speed in this deck (very likely), as long as you cast creatures with less than seven mana value and sacrificed all your Thrulls, you’re going to be churning out the tokens. Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools can generate tokens or sacrifice creatures to draw two cards. Genuinely underrated planeswalker.
Death Tyrant will turn your attacking creatures dying for card draw into more tokens. If they kill blocking creatures too, hey! More tokens! Plus, you can return Death Tyrant to play from the graveyard, an ability that is super fun and useful in this deck. As a matter of fact…
Token generators are fantastic for this strategy, but good old fashioned reanimation and skeleton effects are great too. The new Squee, Dubious Monarch can be pseudo-Escaped from your graveyard and creates a token on attack. Nether Traitor costs just one black mana to return to play when a creature you control dies. Bloodsoaked Champion and Reassembling Skeleton come back pretty cheap, too. Phyrexian Reclamation returns creature cards back to your hand from the graveyard. Chainer, Nightmare Adept skips your hand and lets you cast your creatures from your graveyard directly.
Fiery Emancipation is a stand-in for all damage doubling cards like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Gratuitous Violence. While Gratuitous Violence won’t double your Impact Tremors, it will double Garna’s one damage pings.
Attach Basilisk Collar to Garna or pop Whip of Erebos into place and you’re looking at gaining three life for each of your creatures dying when they’re not attacking. Whip can also return some pretty important creatures for you to add to the beatdown.
Lyzolda, the Blood Witch has been one of my favourite commander decks for a few years. I love having a sacrifice outlet in the command zone, and I love that the colours of creatures I sacrifice matter. I love this deck. Garna, Bloodfist of Keld is the first time I’ve considered swapping commanders of that deck, but I know I’ll keep Lyzolda in the 99 if I make the swap. I might do something like roll dice and decide between Lyzolda, Tymaret, the Murder King, and Garna! Keep things fresh!
That does it for Garna. Who are you looking forward to building from Dominaria United? Let me know and I’ll write something up.
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Welcome back to A Seat at the Table! This week, I have been breaking down my favourite cards to come out from Dominaria United. Now it’s time for the multicoloured cards, I’ll be giving brief opinions on ten of my favourite multicoloured cards in the main set. There are so many interesting multicoloured cards, but here are my favourite ten.
As a die hard aristocrats player, seeing a card like this lights up my world. Reminiscent of Suture Priest and a handful of others, this is finally in the command zone and she’s a CLERIC! Which means she’s going right into my Tymna/Ravos Cleric tribal list. Two mana for a blocker that’s a hell of a deterrent. I might even put her at the helm of the deck.
As a die hard aristocrats player, seeing a card like this lights up my world.
Wait a sec, I’m having a spell of deja vu.
It should be extremely clear to all those who’ve experienced me talking Magic that my favourite colours in Magic are “not Green”, but also my fave colour combos are Mardu, Rakdos, and Orzhov. Garna, Bloodfist of Keld is a dream come true for someone like me who values a free sacrifice outlet.
Garna allows for interesting decision points. Attack and deal damage, but at the end of the combat step, there’s still a window for you to sacrifice those attackers for card draw. Or if you want to finish the job post-combat, you can send a flurry of damage for every death on your watch. Give Garna lifelink and watch the table groan. Garna is going to be taking a spot in the 99 of Lyzolda, the Blood Witch and even making the alternate commanders list for the deck.
It is absolutely brutal that this card’s colour identity isn’t just black.
Well… let me rephrase.
It is absolutely brutal that this isn’t in a colour combination I enjoy playing. That said, what a boon for Abzan players. Kick it twice to offset the life you’ll lose by six life. Turn a myriad creature into three Bob (Dark Confident) triggers. It’s capped at a max of one trigger per opponent you hit, but getting three draws in non-Blue colours for combat is like Coastal Piracy with a little bit of pain. If only Araumi of the Dead Tide could run this…
As a die hard aristocrats player, seeing a card like this lights up – okay, I can only do this bit so many times. Varina, Lich Queen who was just reprinted can have a weird legendary creature build with this bad boy at her side. Leyline of Singularity anyone? Creating non-legendary versions of powerful legendary creatures in colours known for being able to reanimate creatures pretty easily – I’m shocked the ability doesn’t exile the cards as they die! Teysa Karlov belongs in this deck. Anointed Procession. The list builds itself. I am a huge fan of whatever this enables and I can’t wait to see how creative people get with this.
I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a bit of a cop out. Jodah, the Unifier is insane. I have been working on a Saskia the Unyielding legendary matters deck until they announced the Dihada, Binder of Wills precon deck. Then they go and spoil Jodah, which gives legendary spells cast from your hand “legendary cascade”. PLUS, he’s a huge anthem for legendary creatures. Every game feels like it could be pretty chaotic and random, but you’ll get to see a cast of characters you know and love. I have no idea how to balance this deck between all the fun I want to fit in it and the necessary bits oof ramp and draw.
Stenn was a pain in the ass in the story, but here, he’s just all the help in the world. Throw him in any deck that could use a Cloud Key for noncreature cards, like enchantress builds or artifacts. He can protect himself and reset to be useful for other card types. I’ll be trying him out in my Aminatou, the Fateshifter planeswalker deck and in my Sakashima / Livio clones deck where instants and sorceries do a lot of the heavy lifting. I can also clone him in and make things cost even less. I’m really digging this paranoid dork.
In my world, this is getting kicked every time as a blanket for a huge army of tokens the turn I need to sacrifice them to go off or if I suspect they’re getting wrecked in a wrath next turn.
Don’t get too excited as I did the first time I read this – only the creatures you control at the time of this being cast get to draw you spells.
Not much to say here. He digs for the card types he supports. Equipment decks and Vehicle decks are popular. Astor making the equip costs on stuff like Colossus Hammer drop to one mana is nuts. He can live in the command zone which is scarier. Vehicles, I’m not too taken with, frankly. Depala, Pilot Exemplar has been in this space in these colours for a little while and I can see this shifting that a little.
Ivy is nuts. I wrote up an article for The Bag of Loot that you should be able to read soon. Ivy loves it when you only target one thing. Targeted an opponent’s goaded creature with a Rancor, get one for your Ivy. That creature dies, get Rancor back, do it again. Put the Impetus cycle to use. But most of all… make mirrored Mutate piles. Huge piles of disgusting Mutate effects that get copied over to Ivy. She costs two, she’s got evasion, she’s in Simic, the most disgusting of colour combos. You have to give credit where credit is due – Ivy is pretty badass.
Meria is on this list because she was charming in the story and because this is new space for Gruul. We don’t see many artifact commanders in Green. Tapping nontoken artifacts means you can go mean and run Winter Orb and Trinisphere. You can also go the Mycosynth Lattice route and turn everything into artifacts, tapping your lands to impulse draw. You can turn Meria into an equipment wearing tank, tapping for cards and mana. Turn your utility artifacts into whatever utility you need. Let your Tormod’s Crypt taunt your opponents. Glaring Spotlight becomes a mana rock and more with some added protection. Make your Heap Doll work for you. Save that Jeweled Lotus for when you really need it.
That does it for my Dominaria United set review. I’ve got thoughts on the Set Booster exclusives, Legends Retold, and Commander cards. More to come soon!
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Welcome back A Seat at the Table! It’s time for round two on my favourite cards from Dominaria United! This set has a lot of fun to it, but it’s pretty difficult to pick for each colour because so many of them are multicoloured! Let’s take a look at my favourite cards divided by colour as best as I can.
RED
I love this kind of chaos effect. Especially with a guaranteed hit. It makes it possible to build around a single enchantment. There are plenty of ways to churn out creature and artifact tokens which you can turn into something valuable from your deck. Turn your opponent’s Nykthos into a basic land. Get rid of Smothering Tithe and have them turn it into something else. Not to mention getting rid of a planeswalker rarely leads to another planeswalker coming out. Yeah, it’s six mana, but it changes the game. Have a little fun!
Jaya is a pretty flexible and strong planeswalker. Of course, you’ll want to play her in decks where you play red instants and/or sorceries like storm or spellslinger decks. I have a Zaffai, Thunder Conductor deck that’s going to want to try this out. Being able to create Monks with prowess is a solid uptick, but that -1 is the one that’s got me eager to try this with Prosper, Tome-Bound and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald.
The Defiler cycle is really powerful in permanent based decks of certain colours and the red one gets the nod here despite my extreme excitement for Squee’s return. I’m disappointed in the Squee card, it’s basically got Escape, that’s fine, whatever, it’s okay.
This Defiler though! It’s brutal. A 4/4 for four with First Strike is already great, but then it makes it so permanent spells cost you two life instead of one of your red pips. Curse of Opulence only costs you two life and lets you ping anything for one damage. Give this deathtouch with like Basilisk Collar and you’ll take down a board with your basically free goblin spells. It has other applications in that now Prosper, Tome Bound costs three mana and two life. Anje Falkenrath costs two and two life. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer costs just two life. Can you infinitely bounce Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh back to your hand with Defiler of Instinct in play? It’s time to shuffle up, buddy, you’ve got the win.
Honorable Mentions: Keldon Flamesage, Rundvelt Hordemaster, Shivan Devastator, Squee, Dubious Monarch, Twinferno
GREEN
I’m going to start off by reminding anybody who has ever read me and welcome those who haven’t to my opinion on the colour Green in Magic: The Gathering – I think Green is too easy. The entire Defiler cycle is powerful, but compare this green one to the White or Black ones and you’re like “who the hell okayed this card”. If you cast a Green permanent – a colour that largely plays mostly permanents – put a +1/+1 counter on EACH creature you control. Not to mention that instead of having to spend mana on that Llanowar Elves, you can pay two life. Save your mana and pump your team. Meanwhile the Black one says target creature gets a temporary buff and evasion. Come on. This thing is disgusto busto!
Give the creature colour the best Swiss-army knife they could ever ask for, go ahead. For five mana, you get the beefiest ape shaman – oh yeah, shaman, say hi to Harmonic Prodigy – that destroys an artifact or enchantment, finds you a land to play from the top five cards of your library, or gains you four life… whenever you CAST A CREATURE SPELL! This colour has it so easy, this creature’s so damn good. It’s hard to talk about it because it does it all already.
Elfball decks get one of the best lords they could ask for. Two mana gets you an Elven anthem and a Lifecrafter’s Bestiary triggered ability for elves stapled to a synergistic creature. It’s fair to say if this comes down early, the table has to have their eyes set on the Elves player immediately. This turbo charges a deck whose top speed is already rivalled only by very few other archetypes.
Honorable Mentions: Floriferous Vinewall, Quirion Beastcaller, Slimefoot’s Survey, Threats Undetected, The World Spell
ARTIFACTS (And One Land)
I could faint. I love this card. Two mana that scries every time a creature you control dies, then starts drawing cards instead when you hit seven counters or seven deaths. It’s a flying 5/5 once you hit four counters. It’s a beloved vehicle from the history of Magic that’s been corrupted, it’s a vehicle without a crew cost. What’s not to like. Kotori, Pilot Prodigy and Astor, Bearer of Blades will want this no doubt, but I want this mostly for Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, my pet aristocrats deck, and of course my Thalisse, Reverent Medium deck. I really, really love this card.
If there’s ever been a card in a recent set that screams “every commander deck”, it’s this one. A land that taps for colourless or for any colour for legendary spells is already good. But then it becomes a legendary-matters Meteor Crater a la Mox Amber. Fantastic. Then, it can protect a legendary creature of your choice by giving it hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. Better look out for Farewell, but hot damn, this is spicy. Any deck that needs to protect their legends and has a heavily multicoloured commander needs this. Hell, monocoloured decks could use this. I love this land.
I love Honor-Worn Shaku. I was upset to realize this doesn’t untap by tapping legendary permanents in general. But, instead, we get an Urza, Lord High Artificer-esque way to turn our legendary creatures into mana dorks. King Macar, the Gold-Cursed decks will be stoked to pack this in their 99. Any commander that doesn’t like being goaded can use this to tap it down. This is my favourite mana rock in a little while. Pick yours up while they’re cheap!
Honorary Mentions: Golden Argosy, Karn’s Sylex, Inscribed Tablet, Jodah’s Codex, the common dual tap-lands that have land types.
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