Welcome to my set review where I will pick my five favourite cards of each colour from The Brothers’ War booster set!
Given that The Brothers’ War also comes out with a pair of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article. I also won’t be touching on reprints in either review.
Without further ado, here are my favourite Black cards from the set and the accompanying Commander sets.
Ashnod is a character I have been waiting to be printed for a long time. I’ve been a fan of Ashnod’s Altar, and I have long waited to see this genius on a card herself. I’ve actually got an Serrated Scorpion decklist brewing that while I’m disappointed she doesn’t work with her own altar, I am excited for the possibilities.
This version of Ashnod – Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist – seems like a really aggressive commander. Plug in all the one drop creatures worth running like Serrated Scorpion, Banehound, and Barrier of Bones, then swing with Ashnod. Give her Blade of the Bloodchief or any other means of pumping her power and toughness, and you’ll have a solid beater in no time.
The real juice is in the “skeleton” effect. Bloodsoaked Champion is fantastic in this deck. Attack with Ashnod, sacrifice the Champion, create a Powerstone token, and because you already attacked, you can bring back the Champion to play. Granted the Powerstone comes into play tapped, but the next time you do this, the Champion’s ability only costs B.
Cult Conscript, Bloodghast, Brackish Trudge, Death Tyrant, Nether Traitor, Persistent Specimen, Razorlash Transmogrant (you’ll see soon), and of course Reassembling Skeleton – these all get way better when you can make Powerstones to help get them back to play. Pack the rest of the deck with artifacts or cards with lots of activated abilities and BAM! You’ve got a deck. The new Necron precon will definitely help with this.
Eventually she uses the Powerstones to exile the cards from your graveyard to make a Zombie swarm, and you can play Coat of Arms to wreck face!
In the 99, I unfortunately don’t see much of a future for Ashnod. I don’t know where I’d put her. Having to attack to sacrifice and get the Powerstone means a lot more hoops than I’d want for a card in a deck that it’s dedicated to her.
This is like one of the “skeleton” cards I mentioned above. A creature that returns to play cheaply for you to abuse in your dance with the graveyard. For two mana, a 3/1 that can’t block just beats face because your opponents won’t want to trade anything for it considering you can just bring it back.
This is Commander – your opponents will likely have four nonbasic lands by turn four if they’re playing a three colour deck. This condition will likely be easy to meet. I think we’ll see the Razorlash Transmogrant in decks that thrive in the late game pulling off graveyard shenanigans. You can bring it back with an Animate Dead or with a Goblin Welder. It’s versatile and interesting! I’m going to test it in a few decks.
Gix is also a character we’ve waited a long time to see and we finally have one of the most badass looking cards out there. Gix is a dastardly character and his lore is flavourfully represented in his first ability which is basically Edric, Spymaster of Trest with the quintessential black exchange of life for a card.
You’ll want to play a swarm of creatures to get a ton of cards, but you’ll want lifelink too. Whip of Erebos is a fantastic inclusion in this deck as it lets you recoup the life you’ll spend on card draw, and allow you to return a creature to play one last time when you discard it to Gix’s second ability.
Imagine having a full grip of cards, paying 4BBB, discarding your hand and then exiling your opponent’s top seven and you get to play everything – even a land. That’s power. That’s insane. Peer into the Abyss to draw your deck and then pull this ability off. Play half of your opponent’s deck, why don’t you!
I’ll be testing this in my Thalisse, Reverent Medium deck, and if I build Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist, this is slotting right in.
Seven mana is a lot, but repeatable creature destruction at the cost of a creature sacrifice on attack is really strong. You can Unearth this for five and give it haste, too. The flexibility is solid and artifacts are really easy to discount. Thalisse, Reverent Medium is getting a lot of cards to test. Necron players, get in on this and start thinking of your utility lines. Not much else to say besides this is a solid card that will be fun to see go off.
I am surprised by how much I like this card. Every second card you draw gets you a bigger creature from your graveyard without the tribal rider on it like Body Launderer has. It definitely is limited to once a turn for counter growth, but if you’ve got cheap creatures and you want them in and out of your graveyard, by turn three of having this out, you’ve got enough for a four drop to return. Not to mention it’s a Horror, so Captain N’ghathrod decks can definitely use a flying Horror that gets bigger and has added utility. I’ll give this a go in my Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck, considering her ability allows me to draw and I draw a lot in that deck and creatures go in and out of the graveyard.
Come on back for the next colour! Coming soon!
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Welcome to my set review where I will pick my five favourite cards of each colour from the upcoming Brothers’ War booster set!
Given that The Brothers’ War also comes out with a pair of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article. I also won’t be touching on reprints in either review.
My general thoughts on reprints are this: Was it expensive before and is it inexpensive now? Do you want to buy the card at its more affordable price? If you said yes to all of these, hey! Congratulations, you’re buying some cards! Be sure to check out threekingsloot.com to see if we have them and pick up as many as you need.
Without further ado, here are my favourite White cards from the set and the accompanying Commander set.
What’s not to like about a creature that will no doubt draw you cards at your end step? Platoon Dispenser costs five, but this is easily reduced by cards like Cloud Key, The Immortal Sun, Foundry Inspector, Etherium Sculpter, etc.
It is entirely possible to bring the cost of this down to 0, but that takes some building around. Any deck that loves Mycosynth Golem loves this. As long as it has White, that is.
This is also where Powerstones come in. Powerstones cannot pay for nonartifact spells. Platoon Dispenser and its ability are eligible for Powerstones to pay. At the end step, if you control two or more other creatures, you draw a card. And if before your end step, if you don’t have two other creatures, the ability can help make that happen.
All this isn’t even taking into account that this can be Unearthed. White is one of the primary colours for blink and flicker strategies. If you Unearth Platoon Dispenser with Conjurer’s Closet, you can hit your end step and get your card draw trigger and also flicker Platoon Dispenser. Because it was already headed to exile, it returns as a new object. I think there’s a lot to like in this card.
This is a card that was partly spoiled, but mistakenly labeled as costing WW and as a 2/2. Everybody was absolutely floored by it, but there were skeptics. I definitely did not believe it. It is very cool to have a type of Grand Abolisher effect in your command zone. This card is reminiscent of Krenko, Mob Boss and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin in that Myrel makes tokens equal to the amount of a certain tribe (Soldiers) and has to attack.
With your opponents blocked from casting spells and activating abilities of most permanents, you have free reign during combat to pull tricks without any fear.
I’ll say that I am not excited about her in the 99 of dedicated token decks. My Thalisse, Reverent Medium deck can benefit from having a way to not only create tokens, but also to protect any sort of combo to end the game.
There are Boros soldier decks out there that are going to snap pack the Shield of Argive into the 99 easily. Darien, King of Kjeldor might have a tag team partner for those who want to play with interchangeable commanders.
We just got Welcoming Vampire in Crimson Vow and here is another “welcoming” card that grows your hand when creatures enter. Welcoming Vampire cares about power two or less, but what if you’re playing Tendershoot Dryad and have the City’s Blessing? Your creation of creature tokens every upkeep is a lot less useful once you hit three power.
With Toscasia’s Welcome, it doesn’t matter what power your tokens are, you’ll get that card. Playing Ophiomancer in your Orzhov aristocrats deck? Have a card every upkeep, as long as you can sack the Snakes. Tendershoot Dryad, Beledros Witherbloom, Dragon Broodmother, Dreampod Druid, First Response, Koma, Cosmos Serpent, Seance, Tombstone Stairwell, Verdant Force, and Wolverine Riders create a token creature each upkeep.
If you play Ant Queen and have the mana up, you can keep creating the tokens on other players turns to make each activation a cantrip, too. Maybe Platoon Dispenser!
White finally has a Reclamation Sage. A 2/1 Vigilant creature means that you can swing when opponents are open. You can also make a deal if you need combat damage triggers or a safe attack. “Hey, I need to swing Loran for my Sword of the Animist trigger. If you let her through, I’ll tap her to give you a card.”
Making an ally is powerful in Commander. I think the ability to draw and offer another player a card is a good way to get favours at the table. It’s also a good way to get your opponents to misevaluate you. If you’re building Loran, that ETB effect is going to be important to you. Let your opponents cast the enchantments and artifacts that you’ve drawn them into… you get to blow them up.
I’ll keep this one short and sweet.
This is a powerful combo card that is so cool and weird. There is no limit to how many times you can do this, just when you can. You can only do it during your turn. Not sorcery speed. Anytime, during your turn, you can activate the ability to return a permanent you control to its owner’s hand and because the set cares about Unearth, it also gets around that.
Dockside Extortionist where you create six Treasures means that you have infinite mana unless somebody does something. If you have creatures with good ETBs that you want to retrigger with white in the deck, this is bound to be an amazing inclusion.
Oh, wait, no not just creatures. ANY PERMANENT!
“I choose to Oblivion Ring your commander.” “I’ll put it in my command zone.” “Great, I bring it back to my hand and can do it again.”
This is going into my clones deck. I cannot wait to make even more annoying use of my Clever Impersonator.
And now, a list of my Honorable Mentions:
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Hello and welcome to A Seat at the Table, the column where I pick a commander and talk about what I’d include in the 99. This edition is more Brothers’ War Commander goodness!
Urza, Chief Artificer is the face commander of the Urza’s Iron Alliance preconstructed Commander deck coming alongside the Brothers’ War set. For 3WUB, you get a 4/5 Legendary Human Artificer with a textbox that gets your artifact creatures in the red zone. Check it out:
“Affinity for artifact creatures (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact creature you control.)
Artifact creatures you control have menace.
At the beginning of your end step, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with “This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.””
This deck will need to focus on having artifact creatures and getting them to turn sideways, swinging at your opponents. Each of your end steps gets you another Karn-struct token, which buffs your other ones. Let’s talk the 99.
Foundry Inspector is a classic for artifact decks, reducing your artifacts by one. Cloud Key does the same, but offers some flexibility. Artificer Class does this for your first artifact spell each turn – a thing to note for Shimmer Myr and Vedalken Orrery. Artificer Class also has two other modes that can get out of hand really quickly. Solemn Simulacrum is a given in a deck revolving around artifact creatures. Urza, Lord Protector is a Goblin Electromancer that also reduces artifact costs by one. Not to mention when paired The Mightstone and Weakstone, you get to Meld the two into Urza, Planeswalker which is bonkers for any deck that can have it.
Mycosynth Golem gives your artifact creatures affinity for artifacts as does…
One of my favourite planeswalkers and one of the best rewards for an artifact deck. For six mana, you get a 5 loyalty planeswalker that ticks up to 7 with an insane loyalty ability: It deals X damage to each opponent where X is the number of artifacts you control, which will be MANY. Then you gain X life. All while reducing the costs of your creatures and planeswalkers. The -3 ability is great recursion for artifacts. The ultimate ability is pretty nuts, but I can’t get past that cost reduction static ability and the +2. This is a finisher and sets you up. A true all star.
The tokens Urza makes count as artifacts. Anointed Procession is an obvious inclusion to double up all tokens created with Urza or Smothering Tithe or any of these other incredible additions to the deck.
Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant lets you copy the artifacts you cast on each of your turns and turns casting instants, sorceries, and artifacts into a difficult ordeal for your opponents.
Echo Storm is a card I’ve always really loved. In decks where your commander gets cast a bunch, Echo Storm can copy a ton of artifacts. Use Biotransference to turn all your creatures into artifacts and Mycosynth Lattice to turn everything into artifacts for you to copy. It’s never a bummer to cast Echo Storm copied two or three times to get four Seat of the Synods or Gilded Lotuses.
Mirrorworks allows you to pay two mana anytime a nontoken artifact enters under your control. Ancient Den coming into play in the late game? You just paid one mana to ramp. Especially with Mycosynth Golem and Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge, you’ll end up just paying two mana for fully reduced artifact creatures plus a copy.
A new card from the Brothers’ War main set, Drafna, Founder of Lat-Nam, can bounce artifacts back to your hand so you can copy with Mirrorworks or get another Baleful Strix trigger out of the iron bird. Not to mention, when you cast an artifact spell, you have the option to copy it with Drafna’s second ability.
Need more artifacts? Why not play Efficient Construction or cards that do a pretty good impression of it, like Mirrodin Besieged and Sai, Master Thopterist.
Digsite Engineer lets you tack 2 mana onto any artifact spell you cast for another Karn-struct that your commander makes. With all the cost reduction in the deck, you can pay regular price for an artifact and get a bonus Construct that buffs others like it.
When you’re playing a deck with so many of one particular type, you’re bound to run into a player who has your number. A Vandalblast will mess up your board like nobody’s business. A Bane of Progress will ruin your day.
Triumphant Reckoning and Brilliant Restoration will bring your artifacts and enchantments back from your graveyard to play all in one go. The Reckoning also throws in your planeswalkers for good measure.
Open the Vaults does the same for all players. Roar of Reclamation does the same for all players, but only for artifacts.
If you’ve got enough mana for it, pumping a ton of mana into X on Dance of the Manse will bring back all the artifacts and non-aura enchantments from your graveyard and turn them into 4/4s for a big swing next turn. The flexibility is key with this card. If you pay less than 6 into X, you still get five artifacts/enchantments with mana value five or less back to play, which is pretty nutty value.
Tameshi, Reality Architect is a card I’ve been fascinated with since its release in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (aka a million years ago). I tried my hand at building a Commander deck around Tameshi, but I don’t think I’m ready to lean into stax, which this build practically requires. Not only does it give you a draw once a turn any time noncreature cards are bounced to hand from play, Tameshi also allows you to play enchantments and (more likely) artifacts from your graveyard for the extra cost of a W mana and returning a land to your hand. Oh, and would you look at that, the land bouncing to your hand just drew you a card! Tameshi provides a lot of interesting decision points that I am excited to see play out in this Esper artifact precon upgrade.
That does it for this one! Let me know which commander you’d like me to cover next time on A Seat at the Table. Message me on Twitter @mikecarrozza and I’ll see you at pre-release!
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Hello and welcome to A Seat at the Table, the column where I pick a commander and talk about what I’d include in the 99. This edition is more Brothers’ War goodness!
This time we’re taking a look at Tawnos, the Toymaker, truly the strangest iteration of Tawnos. Even if you’d given me a year to guess what he’d do, I’d start by saying the wrong colours to begin with.
Tawnos, the Toymaker is a 3/5 Legendary Human Artificer for 3GU – that’s right, GREEN! and BLUE! I would have never ever guessed, but here we are. Would I have guessed that he’s also a TRIBAL COMMANDER? Never in a million years. Let’s look at that text box:
“Whenever you cast a Beast or Bird creature spell, you may copy it, except the copy is an artifact in addition to its other types. (The copy becomes a token.)”
Things to note and remember:
– Tawnos triggers on casting a creature and not it entering the battlefield. Panharmonicon will likely still be good in the deck, but not for doubling creatures.
– Tawnos costs five mana which while we are in green is easy, but we’re still going to need lots of ramp. Bonus points if the ramp is attached to a bird or beast.
– These copied spells are of the type that was cast, meaning that Ego Erasure and Wings of Velis Vel get doubled when you cast them with Tawnos out. While that’s cute, I don’t see this being very useful.
Time to start naming cool cards.
Green has the classics: Kodak’s Reach, Rampant Growth, Three Visits, Nature’s Lore, etc. But what about the other stuff? Who could forget the bird? Birds of Paradise gets out early and helps, but when Tawnos is out, two birds for one mana means a coloured Sol Ring with summoning sickness. Or you could play Lightning Greaves or Concordant Crossroads to mitigate that.
Other solid creatures to fill this need are Gilded Goose and Arboreal Grazer, assuming you have enough Food or lands in hand. Lullmage’s Familiar is a beast that is a colour producing Worn Powerstone when you cast it with your commander out.
Tribal decks usually want lands like Path of Ancestry, but not this deck. Unclaimed Territory and Secluded Courtyard are your friends, depending on how heavy you lean toward either bird or beast. If you’ve got an even split, you’ve got a decision to make. Think on it.
Cavern of Souls just got reprinted this year, so it’s the cheapest it will be for a little while. Heads up to all my Tribal lovers out there.
Pack your artifacts like Cloud Key, Herald’s Horn, and Urza’s Incubator for more reductions. These will also help you cast your Changeling creatures, like Masked Vandal and Moritte of the Frost. You could also go all out and include Maskwood Nexus and Arcane Adaptation to be sure it applies to all of your creatures.
A lot of great Mutate creatures in these colours are Beasts and Birds! And they copy on casting, meaning you can target different creatures! Migratory Greathorn belongs in the first category, ramping you a bunch. Draw cards with Dreamtail Heron or flip the top with Parcelbeast. Destroy things with Gemrazer and Sawtusk Demolisher. You can steal noncreature artifacts with Souvenir Snatcher. Bounce creatures with Pouncing Shoreshark. Make an army with Trumpeting Gnarr. Or you can spin the wheel with Auspicious Starrix. You can’t Mutate onto Tawnos because he’s a human, but otherwise, your deck full of Birds and Beasts should have a ton of targets to Mutate onto for all this sweet value.
Let’s bring the beefy heat first. Everybody’s favourite overrun on legs is a Beast, eliciting groans at tables it graces. I’m talking of course about Craterhoof Behemoth. Really overkill with Ol’ Hoof hitting twice with Tawnos. Blossoming Bogbeast does a fine impression if you gain life. Two of them! With the guaranteed four life a combat, that’s +4/+4 and trample for your team each combat they attack.
Aarakocra Sneak and Displacer Beast let you go dungeon diving twice. Not to mention Displacer Beast can be bounced to your hand and played again for another two moves through dungeons.
Crookclaw Elder comes down with two bodies, allowing you to draw immediately or make use of your Birds of Paradise and Gilded Geese for cards instead of mana in the late game.
With all the tokens you make, Curiosity Crafter and its token buddy allows for tokens to draw two cards per smack.
For removal, Indrik Stomphowler and Manglehorn can destroy artifacts and enchantments. Meanwhile, Aven Fogbringer can bounce lands back to your opponents’ hands.
Get yourself two Elder Gargaroths for two triggers per attack/block. With all of these copy tokens being artifacts, Broodstar is probably going to cost two mana for two at least 8/8 flyers.
Double up your Rampaging Baloths for two 4/4s per landfall! Thragtusk for 10 life on ETB and two 3/3s on leaving the battlefield.
A great way to make sure you get the most out of your cards, you should get them back in your hand to cast with Tawnos in play again. Cloudstone Curio won’t let you bounce for your artifact copy tokens, but the originals will let you send back another creature, like Arboreal Grazer or your Mutate pile. Keeper of the Nine Gales makes use of all your birds, turning these into ways to bounce opponents threats and your own goodies. Pair with Seedborn Muse for extra fun.
Distant Melody draws you cards for how many of a creature type you control, Kindred Discovery gets cards on ETB and attack, and Vanquisher’s Banner gives you a card when you cast a card of the chosen type. Descendants’ Path lets you CAST a card you reveal from the top of your library, which will trigger Tawnos. Kindred Summons lets you get right through your deck if you’ve got a ton of creatures that share a type in play.
Reflections of Littjara is like a double Tawnos for one of the two types. Door of Destinies is a solid anthem as you make your way casting Beasts or Birds thanks to your Herald’s Horn and Urza’s Incubator. It might turn off your Mutate cards, but Steely Resolve is fantastic if you’re in a removal heavy meta.
Finally, a finisher that I love very much, even if it pumps all the the other tribal decks at the table – Coat of Arms. Buff all your Beasts and Birds for each other Beast or Bird out there. Make sure not to play this into Maskwood Nexus unless you’re ready for a ton of math.
And that does it for today’s A Seat at the Table! Let me know which commander you’d like covered in the series by messaging me at @mikecarrozza on Twitter!
Thanks and see you at pre-release!
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It is time to dive into the past of Dominaria in The Brothers’ War! Travel back to the legendary battles between the artificer brothers, Urza and Misha, as they clash for arcane power, and awaken the Phyrexians!
Two Thran Powerstones have been discovered – one by Urza and one by Misha. Yet, they each desire both for themselves. The result? A decades long war that led to massive destruction across Dominaria, and a cultural suspicion of mages and artifacts. Choose your side in the conflict: either join in Urza’s artifact warrior alliance, or into Misha’s Phyrexian army!
Players and collectors alike will fall in love with the upcoming commander decks for this set, each one designed around either Urza or Misha! Each of these decks will be made entirely in the retro frame, including the commanders themselves. It’s time to add a whole new legion of cards into our retro collections!
Also included in this set will be special edition retro schematic artworks! See how the powerful artificers designed terrifying creatures and awe-inspiring structures alike. With designs like these, who knows – maybe you can design your own.
The Brothers’ War comes out on November 18th, 2022!
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