Promises to Keep - Oath of the Gatewatch Review

Hi, everyone! Welcome back!

We've got a new set on the horizon, and I've got you covered with my Commander picks from Oath of the Gatewatch!

Let's get to it. Avengers Gatewatch, ASSEMBLE!

White

Linvala, the Preserver

... At least the art is nice?

I have my doubts that Linvala will make an impact. A six mana 5/5 with flying is average. If you're behind, she can help, but compare her to Thragtusk. Being a 5/5 for 6 (and that's it) while you're ahead might not be enough to keep you there. And you only get the ETB triggers when you're behind, so blinking it (and you can't do that with Restoration Angel, even) only nets you value until you're caught up!

Linvala's more fair than Thragtusk, and offers flying, but why would you jump through all these hoops when Thragtusk saw print at a lower rarity, smaller colour commitment, and lower CMC? Old Linvala's where it's at.


Oath of Gideon

Stop right there, criminal scum!

Three mana gets you two 1/1s in a potentially relevant tribe. The real draw here is the utility in a Superfriends deck. Entering with an extra loyalty can be a big deal. It allows Garruk Wildspeaker to be a cheaper Overrun, Elspeth Tirel to be a cheaper (and arguably better) Hour of Reckoning, and Liliana of the Dark Realms to survive after pumping (or killing) a creature. It helps to add some resilience to your planeswalkers, and combos nicely with Doubling Season (everything does). Venser can blink it for additional value, to boot. The tokens are no hell, but they can chump for planeswalkers that tend to do a bad job at protecting themselves, or need to use another ability to forward your gameplan.

Not bad for three mana, but needs to be in a dedicated deck.


General Tazri

Needs more Eisenhower.

I debated filing this under "multicoloured," but I didn't. At long last, and after some handwaving by the Rules Committee regarding colour identity, we have a 5-Colour Ally Commander. A 3/4 for 5 is not awesome, but an ETB tutor effect is strong. Combined with Conspiracy, you can even tutor for your non-Ally utility creatures (Eternal Witness, Imperial Recruiter, etc.). Given that Allies offer a diverse pool of effects and abilities, Tazri is an always available tutor that enables a toolbox deck by herself. Her activated ability is okay, and should be easy enough to get online for maximum value. I'll be picking one up for sure; with enough Allies and a viable commander, I don't have to run Reaper King and Changelings anymore!


Call the Gatewatch

We ain't 'fraid of no ghost...

I love tutors, and I love planeswalkers. Naturally, I think this card is awesome. I wish it were an instant, like Eladamri's Call, but I'm still very pleased that we finally have a dedicated tutor for planeswalkers. I don't know about widespread play, given that Demonic Tutor exists, but like with the Oath cycle, in a dedicated deck, this will shine.


Blue


Sphinx of the Final Word

Last word: "Can't touch this."

Well, that's tough to answer. Sort of.

Seven mana is a lot, but I guess you could more-or-less comfortably tap out and reasonably expect this thing to survive until your next turn. Enables your instants and sorceries, too. Maybe it'll be good in a Melek or Mizzix deck? Offers more coverage than Boseiju, but it's hard to say whether or not this will be worth the cost.


Crush of Tentacles

Rollin' in the deeeeee-eeeeee-eeeeep!

A fairer Upheaval with an upside? This will almost always be cast for its surge cost. Having an 8/8 on an otherwise open field is a good position to be in. Helps combat token decks, and late enough in the game might force your opponents to discard at least a couple things. Likely worth the effort.


Oath of Jace

High five!

Meh. Just... meh.

Offering some way to filter cards and fill your graveyard is alright, but for three mana? It does offer scrying at your upkeep, but only if you control at least one planeswalker. Unlike Oath of Gideon, which is proactive in that it offers defense and added utility to your planeswalkers, Oath of Jace offers you limited utility if you can jump through his hoops and keep your friends alive. This is why no one likes you, Jace. Well, that and your haircut.

Black

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

Shortsighted leadership, indeed.

Unlike Anafenza, Kalitas doesn't exile creature cards sent to the graveyard from an opponent's hand or library. But a 3/4 for 4 with lifelink is good, and he grows easily enough. I don't know if he's quite good enough for hardcore competitive play, given that his ability cost three mana to activate, but he's another fun alternative for something like vampire tribal.


Red

Kozilek's Return

A more expensive Pyroclasm that's colourless? And that deals extra damage when you cast a big Eldrazi, simply by being in your graveyard? This seems alright, for three mana. Two damage isn't a lot, but it does deal with creatures like Geist of Saint Traft and utility creatures with protection from red. Could be worthwhile.


Chandra, Flamecaller

Fire, at will.

This is the card I'm most excited for from Oath of the Gatewatch. Chandra cards traditionally haven't been good Commander picks, but I think Flamecaller might be the Chandra to play over Chandra Nalaar and Chandra, Pyromaster. Her +1 puts two 3/1s onto the battlefield, which, apart from being six power, has the added benefit of being able to push damage through if they only have one blocker. This can help deal with planeswalkers that defend themselves, like Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Her 0 ability helps you fill your graveyard (useful in certain Grixis builds), nets you +1 card, and has a little added utility in Niv-Mizzet decks and Nekusar builds that use Psychosis Crawler. Her -X is symmetrical, as a blend of Chandra Nalaar's -X and -10, but you'll only use it when you're behind, anyway. This Chandra, like Pyromaster, helps you catch up when you're behind, and unlike Chandra Ablaze, seems well worth the six mana.


Oath of Chandra

Stop right now, thank you very much....

This is a flavourful card, at least. Half-assed oath, half-assed card. I'm reviewing every planeswalker support card they've printed out of principle, but I really don't think I want this. If it triggered for each planeswalker that entered under your control, then it might see play in a Narset Superfriends build, where you get free planeswalkers from the top of your library, but the payoff's too small to justify it as-is. At least, unlike Jace's oath, the planeswalkers don't even have to survive to your end step to get the token payoff. Yay.

Edit: A reader has pointed out that when combined with Venser, the Sojourner, Oath of Chandra offers incidental damage should you choose to 'reset' your planeswalkers by targeting them with Venser's +2. While not a gamebreaking interaction, it's still very cool, and was worth mentioning.


Green

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Land, ho!

Nissa doesn't do anything new. She makes small tokens, like Elspeth. Puts counters on your team, like Ajani. Draws you cards, like Freyalise. Three mana is intriguing, with Sun Titan in the format, and token builds should seriously consider Nissa for the same reason they run Ajani Goldmane. She's nothing new, but a welcome addition to decks that want what she's got. Redundancy has value.


World Breaker

It's not easy, being green.

A seven mana 5/7 is pretty bad. A seven mana 5/7 that exiles an artifact, enchantment, or land when you cast it is pretty good. Has built in recursion, too, for when he dies. This kind of ability is a rattlesnake in its own right, since your opponents aren't going to want you to exile something else, even if it's going to cost you ten more mana. Protection from green isn't that common, especially for noncreature permanents, so World Breaker being colourless won't be that relevant, but worth remembering. Can block a creature with Sword of Feast and Famine, if your opponent doesn't RTFC.

Oath of Nissa

Getting really hard to shake this Vulcan vibe, Nissa...

One mana, you say?

This is the oath we need. Cheap, offers a good chance at a land or a threat, and then fixes your mana if your aim is to cast planeswalkers. This will make it easier to cast planeswalkers with awkward mana costs (looking at you, Bolas) in five colour decks. Bouncing this will net you value, as with all of them, and limits your selection (unlike Jace's oath, which also fills your graveyard). Limitations aside, I expect this one to see play.


Multicoloured

Jori En, Ruin Diver

Now in Predator-vision!

A three mana 2/3 that maxes out at drawing you one extra card per turn. She sort of reminds me of Sygg, River Cutthroat. Both are merfolk, both only draw you one extra card per player turn, and only after you jump through a hoop. I guess it'd come down to whether or not you prefer red or black as your support colour. The full art promo for gameday, as an aside, looks amazing.

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

Aayyyylimao (I tried).

Well, that's aggressively costed. I expect Ayli to become a very popular BW Commander. Life gain, wins fights against much larger creatures, and can eventually exile things for the price of a Vindicate. She needs a little work to reach that last part, but gaining ten life shouldn't be too difficult. A few token producers, a pile of removal, and Ayli, here, and you'll get the pseudo-Legacy Weapon online in no time.

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

Denn can dance if he wants to, apparently. Look at that kick!

I don't know if I'd run Mina and Denn in their own deck, but in an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck... So. Many. Elementals. You can also bounce utility lands for extra mileage, offering trample to your guys in a Stonebrow deck. Mina and Denn will find a home, no problem.


Colourless

Kozilek, the Great Distortion

For the sake of my appetite, I will keep watch.

I expect Kozilek to become a fairly popular commander. Colourless card draw and countermagic on top of being difficult to block make him a well-rounded package, offering things not often found in colourless decks for a fair price.

Reality Smasher

Reality: fragile.

An efficient beater that punishes your opponent for trying to remove it. If you're ahead, this will help you run away with the game. I don't usually like "win-more" cards, but this is enough of an anomaly that I'd say it could be worth including in a number of decks. Rafiq of the Many could make good use of this, for example.

Captain's Claws

To be fair, I'd be more wary of some claw-wielding lunatic than another guy with a sword.

Cheap, offers an extra attacker that sticks around (if he makes it back alive), and doesn't require mana every time it triggers, like Militia's Pride does. I wish the token were also soldiers, but an extra Ally ETB trigger could be worth the inclusion, especially during combat.

Stoneforge Masterwork

Armour: Now a necessity!

Elves, saprolings, soldiers, allies... lots of places for this thing to go. Added bonus if your Commander shares a type with the tokens you're making (Rhys, Nath, Darien, etc.). On top of the added benefit, the Masterwork's cheap. Worth consideration, if a token deck of some kind is your thing.

Lands

Mirrorpool

Riku, the land. Entering tapped is a downer, and the restriction of only being able to target spells or creatures you control limits the usefulness of Mirrorpool, but the mana costs aren't oppressive, and it's a colourless source if you're looking to cast one of the new Eldrazi.

Sea Gate Wreckage

What am I even looking at?

Enters untapped, and offers asymmetrical card draw? I totally expect this to see play. I know there are comparisons to Library of Alexandria, but I was reminded more of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, which I really like in Commander. It might be too narrow, but if you need a colourless source, you could do much worse.

Fin

Those are my picks from Oath of the Gatewatch! Did I miss anything awesome? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

January 18th Banlist Update

Hey, everyone! Welcome back!

This morning, the quarterly banlist update came out, and it's heralded a few positive changes.

 

"Summary:

- Commander-specific mulligan rules are removed

- Rule 4 (mana generation restriction) is removed

- Prophet of Kruphix is banned

Mulligans:

We promised in the last update that, with the advent of the Vancouver Mulligan, we'd be evaluating the mulligan process in Commander. This announcement is the culmination of that research. After examining several popular options, and coming up with a few of our own, we've concluded that the Vancouver Mulligan (with the standard first-one-free in multiplayer and a scry once you go to 6 or fewer) is the best option. The RC continues to use and recommend the Gis ("Mulligan 7s to a playable hand. Don't abuse this") for trusted playgroups, but that's not something that can go in the rules.

Ultimately, the goal of mulligans in Commander is to ensure that you start the game with enough lands to be a participant. With Commander games running an hour plus, it's unfortunate if you can't play anything because you miss land drops and get run over quickly.

We didn't want to solve the problems of Magic itself - mana screw and mana flood are part of the game - and players need to make a reasonable effort with their land counts, but we wanted a mulligan rule that tried to minimize unplayable opening hands. So, we brainstormed, and ran computer simulations. And what ultimately came out was... it didn't much matter. Nothing provided a clear enough upgrade to justify having additional rules for mulligans. For example, with 37 lands, Partial Paris was "successful" (which we defined as playing a 4th land on turn 4) 89% of the time versus Multiplayer Vancouver at 86%, but it came at a cost of about a fifth of a card on average. On the whole, 86% success is a rate that seems reasonable.

If you find yourself playing 1v1 (perhaps while waiting for a friend to show up), you should still use the free multiplayer mulligan. With a deck this size, variance is high enough to make not having the free mulligan potentially punishing - without the free mulligan you drop down to about 80% success rate, which, combined with being the only opponent to focus on, leads to too many unfortunate games.

Finally, it’s not an official rule, but we recommend setting aside the hands you're mulliganning away until you get a keeper. That saves shuffling time, and we're all for minimizing shuffling 100-card decks.

Rule 4:

We still love Rule 4. It's a nice piece of flavor and reinforces the idea that this format goes beyond simple mechanical restrictions into a deeper philosophical approach around color and mana symbols. Its effect on the game was pretty small, but that flavor message made it worthwhile to preserve.

However, the mana system of Magic is very complicated, and trying to insert an extra rule there has consequences in the corners. Harvest Mage. Celestial Dawn. Gauntlet of Power. And now, colorless-only mana costs.

Being able to generate colorless mana more easily in Commander wasn't going to break anything. But, it represented another "gotcha" moment for players, who were now likely to learn about Rule 4 when someone exploited the colorless loophole. We could paper over it (both "mana generated from off-color sources can only pay generic costs" and "you can't pay a cost outside your color identity" were considered), but a lot of the flavor would be lost in the transition, defeating the purpose. Without the resonant flavor, Rule 4 was increasingly looking like mana burn - a rule that didn't come up enough to justify it's existence.

We don't expect removing the rule to have a big impact. Some Sunburst and Converge cards might get a bit more of a look. Sen Triplets works more like you'd expect, as does Praetor's Grasp. The clone-and-steal deck, already one of the most popular archetypes, gets better, but less than you might think. It turns out there really aren't that many impactful non-blue activated abilities on cards that commonly get stolen in Commander. It's OK if you can regenerate that creature you just stole, and you'll need to work for it a bit anyway.

One side benefit to the removal of both the color production and mulligan rules is that, in terms of game play, Commander becomes a normal game of multiplayer Magic with a higher life total and a set of additive rules to bring a new piece (your Commander) into the game. That's good streamlining in terms of teaching people the format and reducing gotcha moments while still preserving the essential flavor of Commander.

 

Prophet of Kruphix:

This was challenging. Prophet is not a traditionally obvious problem card for Commander, so we chose to take a conservative approach and see if casual groups could adapt. In the past, we've seen unpopular cards generate a lot of outcry, but be handled reasonably well. Powerful cards existing is OK and exploring them responsibly is an essential part of Commander.

This didn't happen with Prophet. Casual groups haven't been able to work around it and problematic play has not dropped off in hoped-for ways. Instead, the primary approach has been to steal it, clone it, run it yourself, or get run over. Ultimately, it seems the card is too perfect - it does everything U/G Commander players want to be doing and it does it in a way that makes counterplay difficult. With traditional boogeymen such as Consecrated Sphinx, you're forced to expend a lot of your mana to cast it and will have a challenge protecting it as the turn goes around the table. With Prophet, it has virtual protection built in, negating that disadvantage almost immediately.

Prophet becomes only the second multicolored card on the banlist (after the structurally-problematic Coalition Victory). It's telling just how pervasive Prophet is despite such a restriction. Yes, U/G is the most popular color combination in Commander, but we've reached the point where Prophet is driving U/G deck choice, rather than vice-versa. That's centralizing in ways we can't ignore, so it's time for Prophet to take a break.

Whenever we decide to ban a card, we take a long look at the current list to see if any cards can come off, as we believe a casual format is better served by a minimalist banlist. After extensive discussion, however, we concluded that everything on the list served a purpose, so we won't be unbanning anything. It's been two years since the last (non-consolidation) card got banned, which is an acceptable growth rate!"

 

There it is, copied and pasted for your convenience. Let's have a look!

 

Analysis:

 

I'm of the opinion that the Partial Paris, while easily abused, wasn't broken. I've even tried a blend of the two rules- Partial Paris, with the first one being free, and then scry 1 if you mulligan down to fewer than seven cards. This is probably too much. The Vancouver Mulligan will take some getting used to, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Only having one rule to remember should help make the format more accessible to all of the Modern guys that got burned by their banlist announcment (I jest, but consider the guys that went from Pod to Twin. Thise guys have to be hurting). Playgroups that have been together for years and know/trust one another will likely just continue to Partial Paris, so anyone looking to join such a group should consider clarifying which rules the playgroup follows, as ever.

 

The change to the mana production rules is interesting. Like the RC said, it makes Sen Triplets decks a little more viable, and steamlines things nicely. It also puts to rest a rumour that the RC was examining the elimination of "off-colour" fetchlands for flavour reasons, so that's a nice added benefit. More people will likely run lands that tap for any colour (Mana Confluence, etc.) to take advantage of any incidental shenanigans (regenerating things you gain control of, playing around Naked Singularity in a 2+ coloured deck). It would appear that lands like this are no longer free sources of colourless that also tap for your colours at no opportunity cost, but that's a fair price to pay for removing a layer of complexity.

 

The Prophet ban is something I'd have expected to be more controversial, but the reaction, while mixed, has been either, "Any card can be played around, c'mon," or "Haha, yeah... fair enough." It's altogether pretty subdued. Another green creature bites the dust. My Momir Vig deck will miss it, but its loss can be overcome by Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir and Seedborn Muse. Let's be real- due to the simple fact that one creature could do the work of two for the same CMC as either creature is a bit of a problem. I'm interested in seeing how this shakes things up.

 

That's all for today! Join me next time, as we dig into Oath of the Gatewatch. As always, thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proxy Roller

Alright, things are getting ridiculous.

For those not in the know, Wizards appears to be cracking down on the use of "counterfeit" cards; that is, cards colloquially referred to as "proxies." This has created an uproar on r/magictcg, where it's viewed as another controversy. Wizards of the Coast is, apparently, killing Legacy and Vintage.

Much drama.

I haven't seen anyone ask the most obvious question yet:

Why is this an issue, exactly?

If I wanted to race cars, and couldn't afford a Ferrari, I wouldn't obtain a fake Ferrari, show up, and expect to compete. No, if I didn't have the money, I'd race my little Nissan, or I'd spectate.

It really is that simple.

Now, I get that my perspective might be different from that of most people. But I just can't imagine being so entitled that I would expect to show up with a stack of proxies or fakes and expect to play.

A Reddit user called me entitled once, as a result of me going on record as being anti-proxy. I was called elitist and entitled for expecting my opponents to play real cards, and therefore, to play within their means. But his vitriolic attack couldn't be further from the truth.

Having been in a position during my undergrad where I couldn't afford to keep up with the (then less-frequent) Standard rotations, I get that money is a barrier to entry to play the game. In order to play, then, I had to make do. Some of my choices had to be suboptimal. As my fortunes improved, and I switched to Commander, I was able to very gradually "buy in." I picked up a Savannah for $35 in 2009, and I didn't get my last dual land until 2011, a Taiga. For eternal staples, I settled on MP, HP, and borderline destroyed (my Underground Sea had a dog-eared corner that was hanging by a thread, and looked like it did two tours in Afghanistan).

I've sat down to play a game of Commander with a guy that reeked of drugs. Reeked. Unfortunately, the city I live in doesn't really treat marijuana use as a crime, so this guy's "smoke breaks" took a while. So he comes in, and tells the table, "So, yeah, I'm running a few proxies." Not, "hey, do you guys mind that...." He assumed he'd be good to go. The reason? He'd spent too much on drugs, and couldn't afford the last few cards for his deck.

There are people out there that would be fine with this, and this pisses me off. Why on Earth would you expect someone that's bought the cards and wants to play the game to allow this? You chose to spend your money on something else; that is very firmly in the realm of "Your Fucking Problem." Period. Zero sympathy.

However, as I said above, I've been a broke student. If someone is proxying bulk rares and uncommons because they have no money, I tend to be more reasonable. Hell, I've bought cards for kids so they're playing with real cards. Money shouldn't be a barrier to playing the game, but it is a barrier to competing. That's just the way it is.

The game is playable on a modest budget; it simply takes time. If you want to play Vintage, trade into it gradually. You don't get to just decide that you want to play, and so deserve to. It's not the Reserve List's fault. It's not WotC's fault. Honestly, it's probably your parents' fault. If you want out, go. It's offensive and wrong to compare a company's defense of their IP to an "abusive relationship."

Added benefit? Everyone cashing out of the game will be selling off their cards. Might be a chance for those of us that play the game as intended to pick up a few staples.