the upcoming M13 core set.
Legends:
Odric is definitely a worthwhile legend in my book, and while he may not be the most stellar commander ever his ability is extremely useful in the right decks. I can see him commanding a deck of his own or as a one-of in Ghave or Rith for example and he pairs really well with Vault of the Archangel.
Talrand is a very "build around me" kind of card. He has great synergy with flashback spells and spells with rebound and the tokens coming with built in evasion is a plus, though I have to say that he doesn't interest me that much. I'm interested to see if he sees any play either in standard or in EDH. As it stands I'm not sure that he packs enough of a punch for either format unless he turns out to be a combo piece or something and even that seems unlikely to me.
Very reminiscent of Chancellor of the Forge except with a more narrow application in that it requires Goblins rather than just creatures like the chancellor. It should see some play in goblin tribal I suppose but I'm not terribly excited; though I guess I should say that I've not been much of a fan of the goblin tribe anyway.
Fun tidbit: Krenko is apparently from Ravnica.
Another inhabitant of Ravnica, Yeva is pretty useful in my book though you might have to build around her if you use her in a multicolored deck. She's no powerhouse like Zur but she interests me enough to build a deck at least. Flash >>> No Flash. ;-)
I suppose some people might prefer to just use Alchemists Refuge should they be in the right colors to do so. Though what Yeva has over Alchemist's Refuge and Winding Canyons is that her ability is static and free once she's on the board.
Other Stuff:
Pretty much a staple for my Rafiq deck and I think this should see tons of play in any deck that looks to abuse the Exalted mechanic.
Another great card that is definitely finding a slot in Rafiq. Sakura-Tribe Elder now has Exalted too? Yes please! xD
Featured here because I felt like I had to say that this is most likely going to be banned in EDH. Its reminiscent of Sway of the Stars which is also banned so...
Interesting card which could be best friends with Swiftfoot Boots and Darksteel Plate for example. I think its a great addition to any of the fortress decks out there.
That's it for today, and I think that M13 is turning out to be one of the best core sets in the history of core sets though time will tell I guess. Hope you guys and gals out there are enjoying this spoiler season.
Thank you for reading, 'till next time.
Regarding Neferox - he's definitely going in my Savra deck once M13 drops. And yes, you're right that he's probably a good fit for most Thrax decks too.
ReplyDeleteAs for the flavor, I think the only sticking point is the name "Exalted". Strip away the mechanic name and what the mechanic does makes sense for Black. It fits well enough with the U/B "Loner" mechanic they had going in AVR and it has a very selfish feel to it.
As for storyline stuff, it also makes sense. In Alara Reborn, the five shards were reunited, so the lines between the shards blurred. They already bled the shard abilities over into other shards in Alara Reborn - we had an Artifact Creature (Esper) with Exalted (Bant) for example.
What makes it jarring to most of us (me included!) is that the name Exalted is just a horrible fit for the mechanic in Black. I am all but certain that if they knew back then that one day Exalted would appear on black cards, they'd have picked a different name.
Anyway, hope that helps clear up the confusion. It definitely took me a while to warm up to the idea...
Thanks, it does clear it up a little. =)
DeleteAs for me, I'm not sure I've warmed up to the idea yet. Its a decent card mechanically but the flavor is all wrong.
Also, I figure that if flavor was really an issue to Wizards, they could have cut out the exalted and just made him a 6/6 and he could've kept the sacrifice ability. I dunno, thats just me I guess. ^.^
I am still not sold on exalted in black. Actually the name fits black just fine for me. While exalted has a religious stigma to it, by definition it just means elevated in status. Black could be seen as religious too, and elevating a black holy icon is as appropriate as any other. But, what gets me is that the ability does not fit black at all. The mechanic is all about creatures helping out each other, something black simply doesn't do.
DeleteAs for the other generals: They all seem like they would be ok, if only they included more colors. I really feel that their mono colorness holds them back from being effective commanders.
I see what you mean, if another creature attacked alone while Nefarox was on the field that creature would get +1/+1 and the flavor there would be that Nefarox helped him. Which again just seems all wrong flavor-wise.
DeleteAs for the other legends, my opinion on monocolored decks in EDH is that if the deck is going to be limited by its color then it needs to really excel at what it does. Push the power envelope without breaching the color pie if you will.
I think that the legends in M13 are decent but probably won't be commanding any competitive decks anytime soon. Not that I care about competitive decks though. ^.^
I feel that the fact that they have decided to add "gold" "cards" into the main set means they should actually add some. Legends are supposed to be something above the cut for a normal creature. Making them "gold" would have been perfect to confer this.
DeleteOdric- His picture looks black/white and we are really missing a legendary BW knight. Being black would make him perfect to have deathtouch, which would be sick on him. Or leaving his abilities as they stand could have easily been Red/White without any tweeking.
Talrand- His is alright being mono blue, but if I wanted to build an all spell deck around him I would like to play red as well. Red/Blue would give it the old izzet feel, which would make sence as we are going back to ravnica (maybe this is why they are mono colored). The only thing I would change making him R/U is his creature type, Djinn, Minotaur, or Veldakin would be better.
Nefarox- I'd make him a black/white angel. Really doesn't fit black as listed. Being black white, noone would bat an eyelash.
Krenko- ok, I can make a mono red goblin tribal deck with this guy at the command, but why would I want to? Adding black or green opens up so many more goblins to chose from. Either color would be more likely to make tokens (not that its that unusual for any color.) If I were designing this card it would have been 2Rg/b as there is no grixis colored legendary goblin and that is a shame for tribal commander.
Yeva- Mono green? Yeva stands at the end of a long list of possible commanders. Even in tribal she needs to compete with Ezuri or thrun... I would like to have seen her green/blue where it actually makes sence to be playing creatures as an instant.