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Aaand "What If" the escalator scene still happened with Peggy 👀

bonus:

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Zendikar 3 is gonna be about how WotC is gonna retcon Chandra being not bi. She and Nissa WILL smooch and it WILL be a mythic rare card that's like cathartic reunion but with a splash of G

God, Anon, I wish I had your optimism

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Who am I and What is This?

Intro

Hello there! My name is Zach and welcome to my blog which I have branded MTGZ (the MTG being for Magic the Gathering and the Z being for my name). My goal here is to write about varying topics in Magic that I find interesting whether it’s deck techs, pet cards, or the metagame in different formats. Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself.

Humble Beginnings

I started my MTG journey in 2014 when a longtime friend of mine introduced me to the game. He had been playing for a couple years and I had always joked about it being super nerdy, but after a while he finally convinced me to give it a try. Low and behold I loved the game, and after playing with his decks for a little bit, my friend gifted me my own mono-black deck using the Exquisite Blood - Sanguine Bond combo as the main wincon. After playing with these decks for a while, I wanted to try my hand at building a deck of my own.

My first foray into deck building was during Khans of Tarkir standard, where I made an Abzan +1/+1 counters deck that used the infamous Siege Rhino. It wasn’t something that would do well at an FNM, but it was a good matchup against my friend’s Mardu deck. After playing with this deck for a while I tried the Commander format, started to build some decks, and found a love for the format due to the diversity of decks that could be built. 

Since that time, I have done some prereleases, built some competitive standard decks, played at an FNM and started playing on both MTGO and Arena. My favorite format is still Commander and I love brewing new decks and playing Commander as much as I can. I am also interested in Standard, Historic, and Pioneer and am interested in trying Brawl. My three favorite blocks I’ve played are Khans of Tarkir, Shadows Over Innistrad, and Amonkhet.

Why I am Here

Magic has been amazing to me because it has given me an outlet to be creative and express myself while being able to share and interact with the vast community of magic players. I love this game and want to see it continue to grow and be accessible for everyone.

My goal here is to share some of the things that make me love magic. Whether that is talking about a specific deck that I am enjoying playing or a card that I really enjoy or some lore that I thought was really neat, I want to give back to the community. I am aiming to post at a minimum of every two weeks, but if I finish an article sooner, I will post it.

Something I want to state off the bat is that I am very open to feedback. I will fully acknowledge that I am not the best writer or the best magic player, and there are likely things I will miss. Please feel free to give me constructive feedback about my writing, what you think of articles, or any suggestions you may have for the blog. I would love to have conversations about any of the content I create, so please feel free to message me here, on Twitter or email me at MTGZContent@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you next time!

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Nothing makes a mogg madder than having to wake up. 

-Mogg Sentry

Same though.

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How to explore castles

-when walking down hallways, voices will come from different directions. Do not respond.

-some of the doors to the rooms are shut. They are shut for a reason. Do not attempt to enter.

-Consequently, some doors may open as you walk past. They want you to go in there. Don’t.

-If you see the edge of a cloak or a dress, it’s the old spirits from when the castle was young. They are there to help you escape.

-Don’t go near dark shadows. They aren’t shadows at all.

-If the ground shakes, the castle is waking up again. Get out.

-Sometimes, all of the dust and cobwebs will disappear, and the castle will look welcoming and lively again. This isn’t real.

-If you hear footsteps, run.

-Ignore the baby you hear crying.

- Stay away from the vines that grow in the castle. It’s a trap.

- the piano moves around to different rooms. That’s okay, just be careful if it starts to play.

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Anyone who has lived by a forest in the US knows that the American woods are not where nature still keeps it’s foothold. The forest is where Americans have hidden the pieces of modern life that they couldn’t hide in plain suburban light:

The overhead powerline towers standing in line like old world giants waiting to be recognized again

The concrete outlets of storm drains big enough to walk inside. They beg and beg you to wander into the darkness and rediscover mystery

The leftover hearths of houses too isolated to be returned to. Did they burn down? Did some big, bad, wolf simply blow them away? Yet that fireplace, the heart of the home somehow remains, beating and buried among the trees.

The piles of tires, rotting couches and mattresses encircled by emptied bottles and cans of Budweiser: the sites of communal rituals that could have as likely been performed five years ago as last night. These dark-magic filled places seem to be constantly alive, and the trash seems to neither accumulate nor decompose. Bonus points for the black earth of a bonfire pit at the center.

The quarries, the make-shift construction vehicle parking lots, and the fences whose signs say only “no trespassing” and never what lies beyond (no one seems to know). Dangers like these must be contained out of sight from polite society, so that they can be sublimely happened upon, and stories of surprised and secreted death can be passed along to remind everyone to care for the people they love

The animals that are more often felt than seen, and the hunters in their sacred vestments of camouflage and bright orange. Both the animals and the hunters guard life and death here. They know it well enough, but like how it makes them cry being close to it.

The roads you end up alongside if you keep walking. The cars and drivers that could stop and take you away.

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Week four of the Quarantine. 

Working remotely.

American Gothic vibe whenever I leave the house.

@ me with your coolest Gothic and cryptic core posts

Halloween Playlists - American Gothic

The Devil’s Backbone // The Civil Wars

Rosie // Bruce Peninsula

The Angry River // The Hat, Father John Mistym S.I. Istwa

God’s Gonna Cut you Down // Johnny Cash

Beat the Devil’s Tattoo // Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Legend // The Score

The Slumbering Ones // Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound

Bedroom Hymns // Florence + the Machine

Do I Wanna Know? // Arctic Monkeys

Me and the Devil // Soap&Skin

House of the Rising Sun // Lauren O’Connell

Snake Song // Isobel Cambell

The Witch Queen of New Orleans // Redbone

Gallows // Dustin Kensrue

Thin Line // honeyhoney

The Railroad // Goodnight, Texas

Erie Lackawanna // Smoke Fairies

The Highwayman // Arbouretum

Possession // Jace Everett

Some Kind of Ghost // Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Take me to Church // Hozier

Graves // Whiskey Shivers

Personal Jesus // Johnny Cash

The Devil Went Down to Georgia // The Charlie Daniels Band

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driving through America is all straight roads and places with no name, it’s dry fields and rows of corn that stare back at you

It’s every billboard that says ‘Jesus Saves’ and ‘adult store next exit.’ It goes on until only the sun feels like it’s moving and you are at a standstill- the earth turns and the world stops in Missouri

There are stray dogs that belong to old chevy cars and the front porches of aching towns, it’s ghosts and ghosts and ghosts. Once you reach West Virginia that’s all there is. Not European ghosts, not where every breath you take is dust and dry ocean from people long past.

It’s sallow faces and a memory that does not speak.

America is wary coyotes and old missile silos in the middle of Colorado. It’s mountains that politely ask you to fall and cliffs that angrily ask you to rise. It’s the end days, a promise, seen etched into every church across New Mexico to Arizona.

It’s burning light and GPS’s that tell you to go straight until you reach the ocean and keep going. It’s wet forests and land that is more sky than ground, it’s so large you think you might drown in it

I read that the road trip across middle America is hell

But hell wants you spent and empty, the American landscape wants you filled until you burst

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Krenko’s Guide to Creature Types: Elemental

Art by  Lius Lasahido

What is an Elemental (flavorfully)?

While most creatures are made of things like “meat” and “bones,” Elementals are creatures made of things like ��fire’ and ‘water.’ If it’s moving around and it’s not an animal, a plant, or a construct of some sort, it’s probably an elemental. Now, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, and sometimes Elementals are plants or animals, and sometimes they’re made of things like “fear” or “time,” but as a general rule, if rocks, fire, water, air, lightning, smoke, tar, light, or darkness is trying to kill you on its own, it’s probably an elemental.

What is an Elemental (mechanically)?

One of the most diverse creature types in all of Magic, there really isn’t a mechanical identity for Elementals. The type is given to a diverse group of cards, each of which have abilities more based on what they’re an Elemental of rather than the fact that they are Elementals, and show up in all colors with all sorts of abilities. Outside of a few sets with Elemental tribal rewards, there’s really no rhyme or reason to what is an elemental other than flavor.

Though there are no general Elemental abilities, there is one ability unique to Elementals, albeit on a small number. Some Elementals from Lorwyn have Evoke, and ability to cast and immediately sacrifice them, allowing their “enter the battlefield” or “leaves the battlefield” abilities to be used alone.

Can I make an Elemental deck?

First off, the sheer number of solid Elementals means that even without tribal rewards, a stack of the best Elementals will do fine in a casual game. 

Elementals do have a fair number of tribal rewards, though, primarily in Lorwyn, Morningtide, and Core Set 2020. While Elementals show up in all five colors, the majority of actual rewards are in Red, with some in Green and Blue. In Core Set 2020’s standard, Risen Reef-based elemental tribal has proven perfectly viable, and a Modern deck combining Risen Reef with Lorwyn’s elemental rewards has done decently, albeit not top-tier.

For Commander, there are eighteen Legendary Elementals, many of which are reasonable commanders in their own right, one of which is just one of the worst Legendary Creatures in the entire game, and three of which include Elemental Tribal rewards. Here’s a few highlights that might make good commanders for Elemental Tribal.

Animar, Soul of Elements, hits the three colors with Elemental rewards and makes creatures cheaper if you cast a lot of them. A solid aggressive creature in his own right, you really can’t go wrong playing Animar in general.

Horde of Notions is the obvious Elemental Commander, enabling all five colors, being a beatstick on its own, and easily recurring Elementals. Many Horde of Notions elemental tribal decks have been made over the years, and they work quite well. Being a five color deck can be a double edged sword due to mana base issues, but if you’re willing to invest in five-color Elementals, Horde of Notions works great. There’s really no reason to consider Morophon here when this card exists.

Omnath, Locus of Rage, both creates elemental tokens and deals damage to any target when your Elementals die. While this enables some crazy fun options on its own, filling the deck with other cards that make elemental tokens enables you to promise certain doom to your opponents if they wipe the board without taking out Omnath first. With over thirty cards in Omnath’s color identity that make Elemental Tokens, many of which are quite good, and some of which sacrifice the tokens on their own, an Omnath Elemental deck doesn’t even need to be running many other elemental creatures… Though it would, because there’s plenty of good ones.

Omnath, Locus of the Roil, is also a clear Elemental lord, designed for a go-wide Elemental strategy. Adding blue to the mix gives it a significantly wider card pool than Locus of Rage and late-game card draw really helps in longer, more casual commander games. Or, dare I say, Brawl games. For as long as he’s Brawl legal, of course. Like with Locus of Rage, Locus of the Roil wants to pump out Elemental tokens to power up his damage-dealing ability, but he’s not as much of an aggressive, immediate threat. Locus of the Roil enables a slower, grindier Elemental deck, as is appropriate for adding Blue mana.

Ur-Drago is a steaming pile of garbage and I’m mad that I had to look at it. I checked EDHRec for what to even do with it, and the only deck that actually casts it just uses cards like Switcheroo to trade it for your opponent’s much better creatures. The others are just using it to flex by basically not having a commander. At least Ramirez DePietro has swagger.

Yarok, the Desecrated, does not specifically reward Elementals, but is a good enough commander with an ability that effects enough Elementals to consider running as your Elemental leader. Between doubling the effects of the Evoke Elementals and doubling all Landfall abilities, Yarok can do quite well in a deck that focuses on one tribe. Further, adding Black enable Living Death and Patriarch’s Bidding, powerful cards in any tribal deck.

Is Elemental a good creature type?

I have very mixed feelings about Elemental as a creature type. There’s certainly a large number of creatures that need to be Elementals, and it’s true that Elementals should be diverse, but it really doesn’t feel like it means anything mechanically except when they force the issue. Even in Core Set 2020, other than Chandra clearly being an elemental summoner, why do Creeping Trailblazer or Lavakin Brawler or Overgrowth Elemental or Risen Reef care about and help each other? Most tribal lords are some sort of leader or teacher or friend. These are just random creatures of random elements that happen to be stronger together.

There’s also the question of what things should be Elementals and what things shouldn’t be. A being made of red mana and fire is usually a fire elemental, but a being of black mana and darkness is frequently a demon or a horror, except when it’s an elemental. Magic lore really doesn’t differentiate Angels and Demons from Elementals, and though they’ve clearly earned their niches as their own things, we’ve also got Avatars, Aetherborn, Incarnations, and Weirds. Many of our Elementals are clearly Plants, but some are Elementals, and some are Plant Elementals, and some things are just Plants when it’s not clear why they’re not Elementals.

Elemental isn’t as bad as Beast by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still a bit too generic. I think if I were to make a Magic: the Gathering 2.0, I’d have made elemental sub-types, so a Fire Elemental would be creature - fire rather than creature - elemental, but it’s way too late for that now.

Mechanically, Elemental is doing fine. It’s common enough that I’d like to see more sets and cards that care about Elementals in the future, but Lorwyn and 2020 have both given us enough to work with that Elementals don’t feel like they’re lacking.

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Theros Beyond Death - Top 5 Black Cards

In almost every set, I am disappointed by White and Red, the colors least conducive to doing well in EDH. Luckily, there’s always black.

Combo pieces, removal, and reanimation. Always fun toys here.

 5) Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Grade: C+

Home: Combo Reanimation, Devotion

Range: Narrow

You know him, you love him, it’s Gary!

Bad case scenario is that you’re playing against 4 other players, you shock everyone with only Gary’s Devotion, and gain 8 life. From there, more devotion, and some monoblack reanimation combo aside some infinite mana combo, Nim Deathmantle, Ashnod’s Altar and the like.

4) Nightmare Shepard

Grade: C

Home: ETB Decks, Death Trigger Decks, Sac decks

Range: Narrow

A decent flying body, with a novel ability of token reanimation of a sort. Nightmare has some nominal tribal support (sorta but not really). Not sure how to break this, but extra bodies and abilities never hurt.

3) Gravebreaker Lamia

Grade: C

Home: Reanimator Deck

Range: Narrow

I love playing out of the yard, especially if I can get things cheaper. Flashback spells being cheaper is a start, and if we can play this cheap to, like Entomb to Reanimate, then being able to Entomb another thing. Lifelink on a medium sized body is also nice.

2) Drag to the Underworld

Grade: B+

Home: Black Decks with few colors

Range: Very Wide

Ideally, this is a cheap Murder. Black is always coming with a new 2 CMC removal with restrictions, and this is more of the same. Instead of being limited to creature types to target, limited cost type is interesting. Given how easy it is to activate even in multicolored decks, it’s a great option for any deck looking for another removal.

1) Erebos’s Intervention

Grade: B+

Home: Any Black Deck

Range: Wide

Spot removal that can blow past indestructible with nice lifegain, and some amazing GY hate - being able to single out specific cards across multiple graveyards, with an “up to” clause? Fantastic! And all at instant speed. 

Honorable mentions

Underworld Dreams - I was contemplating this and Gary as the number five as a reprint and combo piece, but since I like Gary more, I went with that. Assuming you can get an infinite draw, this can be a good instant kill option.

Woe Strider - I look at this as a bigger and nastier Blood Artist. Coming in bigger, able to come back, and bringing sac fodder. Definitely not a replacement, but a worthy comparison

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My impression of White this set.

Why does Shatter the Sky care about "big" creatures in a positive way? Shouldn't white care more about having small creatures?

Part of making white better is pushing the boundaries a little about what shite can care about.

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Theros Beyond Death - Top 5 Blue Cards

Hi Folks, back at it again with my favorite five blue Theros Beyond Death cards. This list is highly subjective, and I’d love to hear your picks for your favorite blue cards of this set. Have any fun plays in Arena? Let me know, I’d love to hear about it!

5) Stern Dismissal

Grade: C-

Home: Spellslinger Decks

Range: Narrow

Finally, after all these years - a strictly better Unsummon! Since Unsummon is always at the verge of being played, and I think this pushes that type of card to playable. Blue has occasional problems with Enchantments, and the ability to deal with them, albeit temporarily, feels like a nice extra bit of functionality.

4) Thassa’s Intervention

Grade: C

Home: Blue Utility Cards

Range: Very Wide

Options are great, especially on Counterspells with “Cost Extra” which can end up dead in later turns. This insulates from that since the cost is pretty hefty, making it a spell I don’t mind playing at 4 or 5, which I hate doing for Counterspells. Digging for cards at instant speed and usually drawing the best two is a great fallback, especially at instant.

3) Thassa’s Oracle

Grade: B-

Home: Lab Man Deck

Range: Very Narrow

Alt Win-Cons can always be abused, and this can be redundancy for Lab Man decks. That alone gets a mention on the list.

Aside from that, the digging is rather tame.

2) Nadir Kraken

Grade: C+

Home: Kraken Tribal, Literally any Blue Deck, Draw-Go, Sac Fodder

Range: Narrow

Hello, annoying creature. Assuming you just keep paying, netting a decent sized kraken and an army of chump blockers is chief and efficient. Being able to do this at least once a round is nice. It’s also odd for other players to try to justify to themselves using single target removal on such a creature - it’s slow to become a threat, doesn’t have evasion, leave it for others to deal with.

1) Kiora Bests the Sea God

Grade: C+

Home: Steal Decks, Sacrifice Decks

Range: Narrow

Casting anything over 4 mana, especially when you get to 6+ CMC, always feels riskier thanks to the prevelence of counterspells in a multiplayer game. But sometimes, a card is so splashy you make an exception for it.

A hexproof 8/8 Kraken to start is great. That brings up all kinds of shenanigans for recursion and Flickering, like Sentinel of the Pearl Trident or Venser the Sojourner. 

The hard tapdown effect and stealing effects as well? Just gravy. Sure, it targets a player (not scaling well to Multiplayer), but opening up one player to get ganked by the table is a great idea. A finale of stealing the best permanent on the board makes this a godly card in a battlecruiser game.

More so than White, Blue has some great cards at all rarities - here are a solid bunch I felt worth mentioning.

Honorable mentions - 

Wavebreak Hippocamp, Stinging Lionfish, Naiad of Hidden Coves - A lot of decks like playing on other turns anyway, and Draw-Go can get some utility out of these. The fact that they’re all enchantment has some potential synergy with White tutoring or Constellation, but that’s just ambient synergy - I don’t see a build-around.

Sphinx Mindbreaker - Scales fairly into EDH, and flickering it like crazy is a good way to end a Mill game. 

Serpent of Yawning Depths - For all your Kraken needs! Kraken and Co support is rather rare, and for a casual Whelming Wave style decks, this can do some work

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Theros Beyond Death - Top 5 Blue Cards

Hi Folks, back at it again with my favorite five blue Theros Beyond Death cards. This list is highly subjective, and I’d love to hear your picks for your favorite blue cards of this set. Have any fun plays in Arena? Let me know, I’d love to hear about it!

5) Stern Dismissal

Grade: C-

Home: Spellslinger Decks

Range: Narrow

Finally, after all these years - a strictly better Unsummon! Since Unsummon is always at the verge of being played, and I think this pushes that type of card to playable. Blue has occasional problems with Enchantments, and the ability to deal with them, albeit temporarily, feels like a nice extra bit of functionality.

4) Thassa’s Intervention

Grade: C

Home: Blue Utility Cards

Range: Very Wide

Options are great, especially on Counterspells with “Cost Extra” which can end up dead in later turns. This insulates from that since the cost is pretty hefty, making it a spell I don’t mind playing at 4 or 5, which I hate doing for Counterspells. Digging for cards at instant speed and usually drawing the best two is a great fallback, especially at instant.

3) Thassa’s Oracle

Grade: B-

Home: Lab Man Deck

Range: Very Narrow

Alt Win-Cons can always be abused, and this can be redundancy for Lab Man decks. That alone gets a mention on the list.

Aside from that, the digging is rather tame.

2) Nadir Kraken

Grade: C+

Home: Kraken Tribal, Literally any Blue Deck, Draw-Go, Sac Fodder

Range: Narrow

Hello, annoying creature. Assuming you just keep paying, netting a decent sized kraken and an army of chump blockers is chief and efficient. Being able to do this at least once a round is nice. It’s also odd for other players to try to justify to themselves using single target removal on such a creature - it’s slow to become a threat, doesn’t have evasion, leave it for others to deal with.

1) Kiora Bests the Sea God

Grade: C+

Home: Steal Decks, Sacrifice Decks

Range: Narrow

Casting anything over 4 mana, especially when you get to 6+ CMC, always feels riskier thanks to the prevelence of counterspells in a multiplayer game. But sometimes, a card is so splashy you make an exception for it.

A hexproof 8/8 Kraken to start is great. That brings up all kinds of shenanigans for recursion and Flickering, like Sentinel of the Pearl Trident or Venser the Sojourner. 

The hard tapdown effect and stealing effects as well? Just gravy. Sure, it targets a player (not scaling well to Multiplayer), but opening up one player to get ganked by the table is a great idea. A finale of stealing the best permanent on the board makes this a godly card in a battlecruiser game.

More so than White, Blue has some great cards at all rarities - here are a solid bunch I felt worth mentioning.

Honorable mentions - 

Wavebreak Hippocamp, Stinging Lionfish, Naiad of Hidden Coves - A lot of decks like playing on other turns anyway, and Draw-Go can get some utility out of these. The fact that they’re all enchantment has some potential synergy with White tutoring or Constellation, but that’s just ambient synergy - I don’t see a build-around.

Sphinx Mindbreaker - Scales fairly into EDH, and flickering it like crazy is a good way to end a Mill game. 

Serpent of Yawning Depths - For all your Kraken needs! Kraken and Co support is rather rare, and for a casual Whelming Wave style decks, this can do some work

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Theros Beyond Death - Top 5 White Cards

Welcome back folks to EDH, A to Z. We’re looking at the...I gotta say disappointing...white cards of Theros Beyond Death. 

Most of these are decent, but aside from the top choice, there’s nothing here I view as must have.

5) Archon of Sun’s Grace

Grade: C

Home: Enchanment Deck, Permanent Blink Deck

Range: Narrow

Pegasus tokens have an odd relation with lifelink, like with Storm Herd, a nice clunky card for Big Life decks. A 3/4 LL Flyer is solid, and the Lifelink anthem affect is self supporting. The potential to make a small army of Pegasi through conventional play, or a massive army with a dedicated blinky deck, is also a fun potential.

4) Transcendent Envoy

Grade: C-

Home: Voltron, Enchantment Decks

Range: Average

Discount cards, especially ones at such a low CMC, really help things snowball. Even better, it can be the target for what it enables, so a Voltron deck can really work with this

3) Banishing Light 

Grade: C+

Home: Any White Deck

Range: Very Wide

I love a O-Ring effect, and Banishing Light has been one of my EDH go-tos ever since Nyx. A catchall removal, even at sorcery speed, is worth 3 mana for - Unconditional removal that can deal with indestructible or otherwise hard to kill creatures is excellent.

2) Shatter the Sky

Grade: C+

Home: Control Decks, Board Wipe Decks

Range: Narrow

4 CMC wraths rarely get added to EDH these days, so every Shatter the Sky we get makes Fumigate and the typical standard legal 5 CMC wiper look like trash. The last board wipe I really liked was Wings of Abandon, and that was in Modern Horizons at 6 CMC.

1) Idyllic Tutor

Grade: A-

Home: Any Deck with Enchantments

Range: Wide

Since most every EDH deck packs enchantments for removal, utility, value, or win-con, Idyllic Tutor is an old friend we haven’t seen since Morningtide. A great reprint of an EDH beloved card that sees moderate usage but a two digit price is very welcome.

Highly recommend of buying a single when you can.

Honorable Mentions:

My fave cards that don’t quite cut it.

Eidolon of Obstruction -  A super niche card, but it can really annoy a superfriend player’s day. With good stats and a creature type for a 2 drop, it’s fairly solid - but in a format like EDH where mana

Elspeth Conquer’s Death - Dear heavens, this card is clunky and slow, but I love every step of it. Hard exile removal which can hit a lot of problem creatures is great. Messing with your opponents ability to spellcast is also nice, but niche. Resurrection with a buff is also nice, but your opponent had several turns to deal with the Saga or use GY hate. It’s like White getting The Eldest Reborn, but not nearly as good.

The Birth of Meletis -  A great card for a Control deck to have. It gets you land (fixing mana with Dual lands in Multicolor Decks), it has some early defense, and a touch of lifegain. It’s like a more specific Angelic Wall.

Sentinel’s Eyes - A very cheap, recursive-capable Aura has some potential

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Man, I sure do love eating coins, slurp slurp!

[Sound of vaccum powering on]

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MTG Game Night 2019

 Still working on reviewing Eldraine. Probably will be done by the time we get to the next set. 

Keep in mind last year’s Game Night, of which none made appearances in my EDH meta, nor saw a lot of mention or usage at large. Of the five mythics, only Rot Hulk was particularly notable.

Highcliff Felidar

Grade: B

Home: Any White Deck

Range: Average

One of the better ETBs of the Game Night 2019 creatures. Removal that hits the biggest creature they run and scales with Multiplayer helps, and unlike most white removal, it doesn’t have a downside like them getting land or gaining life.

More importantly, you get to choose. No targeting. Sure, it won’t get shrouded indestructible creatures, but it’ll get the shrouded ones! Since it doesn’t target players either, good luck protecting against this!

Biggest downside is it’s prohibitive cost. It’s a phenomenal Resurrection target, and a 5/5 Vigilance is very attractive.

Sphinx of Enlightenment

Grade: C

Home: Any Blue Deck

Range: Wide

Drawing three is typically worth four mana, like Concentrate at Sorc speed. Adding on a 2 Mana 5/5 Sphinx flyer with some 1 card for an opponent is pretty solid. Straightforward and boring.

Like the Felidar above, it’s a good rez target, like most fatties with useful ETBs.

Calculating Lich

Grade: D+

Home: Token Aggro Deck

Range: Narrow

While this can synergize to multiplayer, given that A LOT of turns in EDH have either no creatures attacking, or few (Voltron) creatures attacking, or a game ending army hitting hard, there’s actually a smaller role for this than I initially thought.

Unlike Fiendish Duo below, this relies on mass attacks of creatures, hopefully attacking on multiple turns - it feels more attuned to Conspiracy multiplayer than EDH. 

I believe that when planning for EDH decks that will have effects that relate to opponents, like cloning effects, that can do well, can also have scenarios where they whiff. In my opinion, it’s best to build your deck to exploit those effect, and then 

Fiendish Duo

Grade: B-

Home: Damage Decks, Multiplayer decks

Range: Average

Carrying a Furnace of Rath that doesn’t hit you is pretty nice. Most Red damage doublers have to either be under your control, or just deal double damage to everyone. These double damage decks want to land more than one, so that the humble Lighting Bolt goes from 3, to 6, to 12 or more damage. Hitting anyone that’s not you for double makes it attractive for other players to exploit as well.

The baseline body is also nice, a 5/5 First Striker at 6 mana is excellent on defense as well as on offense. Notable it doesn’t double damage to permanents, so that’s reasonable if underwhelming.

Earthshaker Giant

Grade: C

Home: Ramp, 1v1 Decks

Range: Narrow

Unlike the others, this scales the worst in multiplayer - it’s a helluva buff, but it’s only hitting your creatures, and unlike similarly styled creatures like End-Raze Forerunner, which has Haste itself for swinging.

It feels the most boring of the batch, and becomes a Colossal Dreadmaw after it’s ETB.

That said, it’s a solid option. It grants buffs and evasions and requires hard removal to scour from the battlefield.

That’s my quick take on these fun creatures. IMO, there’s better fatties in each color available now, and easily so - 

For White I’d recommend Angel of Serenity or Sun Titan. 

For Blue I’d recommend Inspired Sphinx or Torrential Gearhulk.

For Black I’d recommend Noxious Gearhulk or Soul of Innistrad.

For Red I’d recommend Moonveil Dragon (for go-wide decks) or Utvara Hellkite (for dragon heavy decks)

For Green I’d recommend Avenger of Zendikar or Giant Adephage.

And for any color, I always recommend Wurmcoil Engine Soul of New Phyrexia for commanders on a budget.

[edh-a-to-z]

MTG Game Night 2019

 Still working on reviewing Eldraine. Probably will be done by the time we get to the next set. 

Keep in mind last year’s Game Night, of which none made appearances in my EDH meta, nor saw a lot of mention or usage at large. Of the five mythics, only Rot Hulk was particularly notable.

Highcliff Felidar

Grade: B

Home: Any White Deck

Range: Average

One of the better ETBs of the Game Night 2019 creatures. Removal that hits the biggest creature they run and scales with Multiplayer helps, and unlike most white removal, it doesn’t have a downside like them getting land or gaining life.

More importantly, you get to choose. No targeting. Sure, it won’t get shrouded indestructible creatures, but it’ll get the shrouded ones! Since it doesn’t target players either, good luck protecting against this!

Biggest downside is it’s prohibitive cost. It’s a phenomenal Resurrection target, and a 5/5 Vigilance is very attractive.

Sphinx of Enlightenment

Grade: C

Home: Any Blue Deck

Range: Wide

Drawing three is typically worth four mana, like Concentrate at Sorc speed. Adding on a 2 Mana 5/5 Sphinx flyer with some 1 card for an opponent is pretty solid. Straightforward and boring.

Like the Felidar above, it’s a good rez target, like most fatties with useful ETBs.

Calculating Lich

Grade: D+

Home: Token Aggro Deck

Range: Narrow

While this can synergize to multiplayer, given that A LOT of turns in EDH have either no creatures attacking, or few (Voltron) creatures attacking, or a game ending army hitting hard, there’s actually a smaller role for this than I initially thought.

Unlike Fiendish Duo below, this relies on mass attacks of creatures, hopefully attacking on multiple turns - it feels more attuned to Conspiracy multiplayer than EDH. 

I believe that when planning for EDH decks that will have effects that relate to opponents, like cloning effects, that can do well, can also have scenarios where they whiff. In my opinion, it’s best to build your deck to exploit those effect, and then 

Fiendish Duo

Grade: B-

Home: Damage Decks, Multiplayer decks

Range: Average

Carrying a Furnace of Rath that doesn’t hit you is pretty nice. Most Red damage doublers have to either be under your control, or just deal double damage to everyone. These double damage decks want to land more than one, so that the humble Lighting Bolt goes from 3, to 6, to 12 or more damage. Hitting anyone that’s not you for double makes it attractive for other players to exploit as well.

The baseline body is also nice, a 5/5 First Striker at 6 mana is excellent on defense as well as on offense. Notable it doesn’t double damage to permanents, so that’s reasonable if underwhelming.

Earthshaker Giant

Grade: C

Home: Ramp, 1v1 Decks

Range: Narrow

Unlike the others, this scales the worst in multiplayer - it’s a helluva buff, but it’s only hitting your creatures, and unlike similarly styled creatures like End-Raze Forerunner, which has Haste itself for swinging.

It feels the most boring of the batch, and becomes a Colossal Dreadmaw after it’s ETB.

That said, it’s a solid option. It grants buffs and evasions and requires hard removal to scour from the battlefield.

That’s my quick take on these fun creatures. IMO, there’s better fatties in each color available now, and easily so - 

For White I’d recommend Angel of Serenity or Sun Titan. 

For Blue I’d recommend Inspired Sphinx or Torrential Gearhulk.

For Black I’d recommend Noxious Gearhulk or Soul of Innistrad.

For Red I’d recommend Moonveil Dragon (for go-wide decks) or Utvara Hellkite (for dragon heavy decks)

For Green I’d recommend Avenger of Zendikar or Giant Adephage.

And for any color, I always recommend Wurmcoil Engine Soul of New Phyrexia for commanders on a budget.