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commandertheory · 5 years

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Throne of Eldraine Commander Set Review

For each new set, I write an article discussing the new legendary creatures and the nonlegendary cards that I think will be relevant in Commander.

The Commanders of Throne of Eldraine

He’s a more interesting political commander than most existing options because he has so many tools to work with. Notably, the last ability goes infinite with a Composite Golem and any one of the following effects:

Something that triggers when an artifact or creature enters the battlefield

Something that triggers when an artifact or creature is put into the graveyard

Something that reduces the cost of activated abilities

Sample decklist: Kenrith, the Returned King

In terms of tech, there’s Well of Lost Dreams, Dawn of Hope, Angelic Accord, and Resplendent Angel. But that’s about it, and if you don’t draw those four cards, you’re left with a commander that gives you a small boost in the least important resource in a color that can’t use that resource for anything.

While it’s not great as a commander, it’s probably good in the maindeck of Karlov decks.

This seems quite bad. In contrast, Pianna, Nomad Captain does basically the same thing for two mana cheaper.

This is a very neat self-mill combo commander. The absolute best pieces of tech for the deck are Mirran Spy and Chakram Retriever, which allow you to cast as many artifacts as you have the mana for. If your deck is full of 0-mana artifacts and cards like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt that net mana when you cast them, you can really combo off with Emry.

Some of the more notable combos:

0-mana artifact creature + Thornbite Staff/Intruder Alarm/Mirran Spy + Grinding Station/Ashnod’s Altar/Phyrexian Altar/Krark-Clan Ironworks/Blasting Station

Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb

Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth

Mirran Spy/Chakram Retriever + Lotus Petal/Lion’s Eye Diamond

Emry + Mindslaver

Walking Ballista is your outlet for infinite mana, generally.

The rest of the deck is mostly tutors and self-mill cards to help you assemble your combos and counterspells to help you protect it.

Sample decklist: Emry, Lurker of the Loch

He’s a better outlet for infinite mana than Ambassador Laquatus and he synergizes extremely well with Verity Circle. Unfortunately, I’m not seeing great uses for those guy aside from those two possibilities. Not being able to tap your own stuff means you can’t abuse Winter Orb/Static Orb (or even fun/fair stuff like the untap symbol or inspired) and having such a restrictive color identity prevents you from doing cool stuff like running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Spreading Algae.

High Tide and blue’s untap spells (e.g., Frantic Search, Time Spiral) are also good non-infinite ways to generate tons of mana for your commander.

I am not super stoked about this card. While it could potentially have 7 or more power, that’s not an insane rate for 5 mana and it’s lacking the evasion, haste, and effective protection against removal needed to make it a good Voltron commander.

Thornbite Staff turns this into an unrestricted card draw engine, and she combos with Phyrexian Altar + Gravecrawler + any zombie to cause infinite life loss for your opponents.

Not only does it provide a discard outlet for the 8ish decent madness cards in monoblack, but you can usually get a free discard by dumping Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, Gutterbones, Bloodsoaked Champion, etc. before you start recurring them to pay for the sacrifice ability.

It’s also worth noting that there are some fantastic death triggers in monoblack; Mindslicer and Corpse Augur are some standouts.

Shared Trauma, Dread Summons, and Mesmeric Orb are good ways to mill your opponents in monoblack, and Heartstone will greatly increase the efficiency of his activated ability. You can also try farming the ability with powerful discard effects like Mindslicer, Capital Punishment, Cabal Conditioning, and Myojin of Night’s Reach, and Black’s efficient removal will also help you get triggers.

I’ve also seen takes on this deck that combine the activated ability with Lantern of Insight to set up a soft lock where you prevent your opponents from drawing anything relevant.

With Syr Carah, the name of the game is cheap spells that hit multiple opponents. Fortunately, Red has a ton of these that are relatively cheap and so Carah makes it so you can draw a ton of cards for relatively little mana (spending 2 to draw 4 is a pretty common occurrence). If some of those cards net mana (e.g., rituals, moxes), then you can keep the combo going.

Sample decklist: Syr Carah, the Bold

Aside from boosting your creatures’ damage output, he also combines extremely well with Group Slug effects like Manabarbs and Spellshock; in fact, he’s probably the best Group Slug commander of all time.

Sample decklist: Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

Bubble Matrix and Fog effects make it so that your creatures can’t take damage in combat but they can still dish it out.

You can also run Viridian Longbow and Thornbite Staff to make use of this guy’s deathtouch. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot of direction to build around this guy; bog standard Voltron package, I guess.

I wish this card had more power. +2/+2 is nothing and while I can think of creatures that could use a buff effectively (Infect creatures), I feel like I need to buff Syr Faren in order to buff them more. If that’s the case, why am I even using Syr Faren? Why not just buff the creatures directly and cut out the middleman?

You can get a bunch of counters with cards like Deranged Hermit, Deep Forest Hermit, etc, but 5 mana for 5 power isn’t even that great compared to some of the better auras and equipment.

Also, give that Yorvo’s reward is making himself bigger, the only way to build around him is Voltron; which he’s not well suited for. His base stats are a 4/4 for 3, which isn’t insane, and he doesn’t have haste, evasion, or resistance to removal.

Although I don’t like him as a commander, he could be good in the maindeck of Ghave decks.

This guy combos really well with sac outlets and creatures with persist, offering you infinite of whatever your sac outlet generates. Unfortunately, there’s only about 6 unrestricted sac outlets and 6 persist creatures in these colors, which is far from enough stuff to fill out a deck, so there’s a lot of room for token generators, proliferate effects, interaction, and a generally more straightforward aggressive game plan.

Sample decklist: Grumgully, the Generous

I tried building Alela a few ways before I settled on a build I liked. Initially, I tried running a bunch of cheap (3 CMC or less) anthem effects, because they were essentially “lords” when they came with a 2/1 Faerie attached. The issue with this build was that there wasn’t much card flow, and although I often ended up with a huge scary board, I didn’t have many cards in hand and I was very vulnerable to board wipes.

The second build I tried used a ton of 2-cost artifacts and enchantments that drew a card when they entered the battlefield; essentially, my deck was full of flying Silvergill Adepts. This has been working pretty well, as I can commit a bunch of dudes to the board while maintaining a respectable hand so I can rebuild if something goes wrong.

In addition to my card-drawing eggs and Auras, I’m also running the most efficient anthem effects in these colors, such as Favorable Winds, Shared Triumph, Intangible Virtue, and Konda’s Banner.

Combat damage triggers are pretty good when you have a bunch of flyers, so I’m running Coastal Piracy, Bident of Thassa, Larceny, and Kindred Discovery.

There are a few sac outlets that are powerful enough to justify diverting a few Faeries away from the beatdown, such as Attrition, Mind Slash, and Skullclamp.

Sample decklist: Alela, Artful Provocateur

This guy is a powerful combo commander centered around chaining cheap creatures together. He has very strong synergy with effects that subsidize or eliminate the cost of cheap creatures, such as Earthcraft, Aluren, and Tangleroot and he loves self-bouncing creatures like Shrieking Drake.

Sample decklist: Chulane, Teller of Tales

Works well with fetchlands, so a good Korvold build will likely have a solid land package. That being said, the heart of this deck is creature sacrifice, and this color identity has some great sac fodder in the form of token generation and self-recurring creatures, as well as some of the best sac outlets in the format. He also works well with creatures that really, really want to die, like Protean Hulk, Mindslicer, Seedguide Ash, and World Shaper.

Sample decklist: Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

I think Syr Gwyn is worth comparing to Kestia, the Cultivator. Both of them reward you when you attack with a narrow subset of cards. The main differences are that Kestia is significantly cheaper, is in a better color identity, and the things that trigger Kestia only require the commitment of a single card, whereas Syr Gwyn (generally) needs you to commit both a creature card and an equipment card to assemble a card-generating unit.

There are some exceptions to this rule: Living Weapon equipment come with a creature attached, as do the two equipment from M20 with a similar ability. Bloodforged Battle-Axe copies itself so you don’t have to commit as many real equipment to the board.

While there are a few low-casting cost high-equip cost cards like Colossus Hammer and Blackblade Reforged that really reward you for committing to Knights, most of the best equipment costs 1-2 mana to equip. I’m not sure saving 1-2 mana is worth committing to the Knight creature type.

Instead, I’d probably run the cheap doublestrikers in these colors (many of which are, admittedly, Knights) and a bunch of cards that synergize with equipment (not just Stoneforge and Puresteel; I think I’d also run Kor Duelist). In general, I want the deck to function without Syn Gwyn on the battlefield, since she costs a bunch of mana and isn’t very resilient to spot removal. Slapping a Mask of Memory on a Fencing Ace seems like a solid plan A in case Gwyn can’t get it together.

Sample decklist: Syr Gwyn

The Maindeck Cards of Throne of Eldraine

In this set review, I’ll be using two five-point rating scales to evaluate the nonlegendary cards, one that measures how many decks a card is playable in (we’ll call that “spread”), and one that measures how powerful it is in those decks (”power”). Here’s a brief rundown of what each rank on the two scales means:

Spread

1: This card is effective in one or two decks, but no more (ex: The Gitrog Monster).

2: This card is effective in one deck archetype (ex: self-mill decks).

3: A lot of decks will be able to use this card effectively (ex: decks with graveyard interactions).

4: This card is effective in most decks in this color.

5: Every deck in this color is able to use this card effectively.

Power

1: This card is always going to be on the chopping block.

2: This card is unlikely to consistently perform well.

3: This card provides good utility but is not a powerhouse.

4: This card is good enough to push you ahead of your opponents.

5: This card has a huge impact on the game.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

The -3 will never be bad, but spending six mana for this effect is not great. His 0 ability does synergize with sacrifice decks like Mazirek and Savra, but I’m still not sure he’s worth the price of entry in those lists.

Spread: 5 Power: 3

Shutting down someone’s commander is a big game, and the potential to activate him multiple turns in a row makes this a very big threat for just three mana.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

1st ability is weak, 2nd is a blank, ult will never happen and won’t even win you the game if it does. Don’t play this card.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Given that it only works in a deck with a critical mass of Knights, I think this guy is relegated to Aryel and Syr Gwyn. It’s def good in those lists, though.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

This costs one more mana to activate than I was hoping it would, but the opportunity cost to run it is basically nil, so I guess I can’t complain much. I think this is the narrowest of the five, though.

Notably, out of 23 cards in Magic that produce Human tokens, 9 are legal in Throne of Eldraine standard. This seems like too many to be a coincidence so this could mean that Human is now going to be the default white token type or we’ve got Human tribal coming up in the near future.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

I’m not a huge fan of cards that require you to jump through multiple hoops, as they pull a deck in two different directions. In this case, there’s not a big overlap between the decks running lots of legendaries and the decks running lots of Knights. There are about 10 playable Knight legends that you can stuff into a Syr Gwyn deck, but that’s barely a critical mass so I don’t see you consistently getting many Knight tokens off of this. Decks like Kethis and Sisay can trigger this way more frequently, but they probably don’t care about the reward; it’s not like they were running Primeval Bounty.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

Incredibly meta-dependent.

This is a super-powerful hoser for storm-y decks. The main problem with a silver bullet like this is that White doesn’t have many great ways to dig it out of your 100-card deck; you’ll need additional colors to help you find it. Like, side from Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic Tutor, how are you finding this early enough for it to save you?

Spread: 1 Power: 2

The removal spell will find targets in an average game of Commander, but they’re not always going to be the most important creatures. If we ever got human tribal, I’d consider running this as a value dude similar to Big Game Hunter. Or Peasant Tribal, I guess.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This is never going to trigger and the ETB gives away 3 cards and 15 life. Don’t run it!

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Kicks ass in Oros, the Avenger.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

It’s better than Tocatli Honor Guard in White hatebear lists, but it’s very meta-dependent. I think Green decks are going to be hit harder by the Torpor Orb effect and Black decks will be hit harder by the death trigger prevention.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

If you’re running a deck with Black in its color identity and you could easily recur the creature half of this card, I’d seriously consider running this card, even if it’s one more mana relative to Wrath of God and Damnation; the potential for recursion is seriously that powerful.

And of course it’s really really good if your commander is a White Giant.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

It’s unfortunate that there are no white commanders that grant haste (well, I guess there’s Odric), as Commander does not take too kindly to 6 mana cards that have to wait a round of turns to start generating value. However, as we noted when Aryel was released, there was an embarrassing shortage of playable Knight token generators, so this may see play in Knight tribal decks.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This type of card (land with expensive activated ability) is arguably better in Blue decks since you can hold counters up and activate it if your opponents don’t cast anything worth answering. As with all the other Castles, the opportunity cost to run this is extremely low in 1- and 2-color decks.

Spread: 0 Power:0

Wish effects currently don’t work under the official Commander rules; hence the ratings for this card.

However, it’s worth noting that Wizards has printed a wish effect in each of the last three Standard sets. These types of designs are clearly going to be a part of Magic going forward, and it doesn’t make sense that Commander’s rules don’t align with modern Magic design. You’ve probably heard me advocating for a rules change before, but I want to do more than theorycraft; I want some experience.

So, I’m planning on testing wishboards over the next few months to see what the pros/cons are and whether a rules change would be feasible or whether it would break the game. Now, I want to make a distinction: The wishboard will be used solely as a place for cards that I’ll search out with cards like Fae of Wishes; I’m not going to be testing a sideboard and I will not be switching cards between my sideboard and maindeck between games. I didn’t really want to test that because I think it will slow down games and sideboarding doesn’t matter that much unless your deck is really good at tutoring; a silver bullet sideboard card with no redundant effects is only 1% of your deck.

Expect a report back sometime at the beginning of 2020.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

I don’t think it’s particularly difficult to hit the cost reduction over the course of a multiplayer game, but it’ll be tricky to pull off early and there are lots of alternatives that have no such timing restrictions.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

I’m really underwhelmed by this card. This is uncastable unless you’re running a spellslinger deck, and if that’s the case you can probably win by spell combo looong before this accrues enough knowledge counters to be good. Also, spellslinger decks can refill their hands instantly with a single card that actually synergizes with their deck’s strategy of casting instants/sorceries, such as Windfall, Time Reversal, Reforge the Soul, etc, etc. How much effort and how many turns will it take for Magic Mirror to draw you as many cards as a Windfall? How many opponents have to choose not to Vandalblast or Krosan Grip or Return to Dust the Mirror over that time period?

Spread: 3 Power: 2

Great card! It’s not hard to build a deck with plenty of mana rocks and utility enchantments that are good in multiples, and your opponents are likely to have some good targets, as well.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

If you’re in monoblue, and your commander can bounce lands, and you’ve got a critical mass of extra turn effects, this thing generates infinite turns.

That may sound unlikely, but there are a surprising number of monoblue commanders that can bounce lands; Uyo, Silent Prophet, Meloku, and Kefnet the Mindful all combo off with this thing, and there are 5 extra turn effects that don’t exile or shuffle that you can slot into this combo (6 if you’ve got Rogues).

Spread: 2 Power: 3

Very good with commanders with “cast X, get token” abilities, like Sai, Master Thopterist, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Kykar, and Talrand. Many of those commanders build around cards of the chosen type that cantrip, so you can use this ability to loot away lands and chain relevant cards into each other and continually trigger your commander.

Also, it goes infinite with the Locust God.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This seems good in less-competitive Urza and Jhoira 2.0 decks as a means to get more gas off your Darksteel Relics and such. The good builds don’t have time for a 6-mana dragon, though.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

With the introduction of Syr Gwyn, there are now two Knight tribal decks in Commander. Run it in those decks and nowhere else.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Life is, of course, worthless, but I’d still be wary of activating this when I had more than two cards in hand.

Spread: 1 Power: 4

Incredible combo piece in Grenzo, Dungeon Warden decks. All you need is a sac outlet and you can start juggling creatures between the library, graveyard, and battlefield, farming ETB and death triggers.

It also seems good in self-mill decks that can easily drop its cost down to two, but the bottom-of-library drawback is much more significant in those lists.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

This will often create 4 bodies for four mana, which is a great ratio. Black has a ton of sac outlet commanders that will be happy to run this card, including Torgaar, Whisper, Bontu, and Yawgmoth. Marrow-Gnawer lists may also be interested, as it’s one of the few Rat token generators that can make many at once.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

Hero’s Downfall sees play in almost 15,000 decks on EDHREC. While this card has some weird drawbacks (exiles itself, then buries itself on the bottom of your library), there are a lot of powerful things you can do with it because it’s stapled to a creature, like recurring it with a Phyrexian Reclamation or Volrath’s Stronghold in response to the death trigger. It works even better if you have access to Blue’s bounce engines.

I know it seems a little goofy compared to a Ravenous Chupacabra, but the instant speed on Swift End should not be underestimated, as there are a ton of situations where you need to interrupt something to keep from dying.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Upping your Rat count and snatching commanders seems solid in Marrow-Gnawer lists.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

If you’re running a combo deck, the drawback is basically negligible, since your deck can probably kill your opponent before they can use it.

Thanks to @ceta-maelstrom for pointing out that this works pretty well in Aminatou, since she can blink it back under your control.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

Probably the best in the cycle. It’s useful in the many, many red token decks and the rate on the activation is not bad.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

There aren’t a whole lot of Red decks capable of going wide that are interested in double strike for their commanders; most decks don’t go both wide and tall. Maybe Wasitora or Gishath can use this effectively?

Spread: 1 Power: 2

The Crush effect will never be irrelevant in Commander, so this is a solid card for Syr Gwyn decks that lean into Knight tribal. I probably wouldn’t run it in other decks, however, as Red has better artifact destruction than this.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

This guy is too inefficient for me to be excited to run him in most go-wide decks, but tribal lists always have a lower barrier to entry because their creature type is so valuable. In Syr Gwyn tribal Knights, I’d give this anthem effect a shot.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

This effect just seems too hard to break to be worth running. Let me know if you figure out a deck in which it’ll be good.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This is a generally useful reward for something few decks can pull off. It’s tricky to find commanders that can reliably trigger this a bunch without straight winning the game in the process (i.e., Jhoira Weatherlight Captain, Anje Falkenrath). I think Arjun, Jori En, and Korvold could be good fits for this card.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

In order for this to be good, your commander has to be able to trigger this and make use of the reward. Lyzolda can do this by sacrificing the Rats to draw cards, potentially triggering Mad Ratter again if you activate her on your opponents’ turns.

Korvold behaves similarly, as you can feed him two Rats to draw two cards and trigger the Ratter again.

Finally, the Scorpion God can eat the Rats for cards, thereby creating more Rats.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

Sure, it’s got a drawback, but it offers a relatively unconditional instant-speed kill spell in a color that has far from a critical mass of them. This is one of the best Red spot removal spells, beaten out only by Chaos Warp, Lightning Bolt, and Abrade. This kills 14/21 of the most popular commanders on EDHREC and the vast majority of the most popular creatures.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

Casting exiled cards on later turns is a big benefit, but Robin Hood still has a ton of drawbacks relative to Grenzo, Havoc Raiser.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

I run Tormenting Voice in a LOT of monored decks, and this is strictly better. Excited to see Red getting more and better variants of this effect.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

Heavy Green decks tend to be creature-focused, so the restriction isn’t that significant. It feels a lot better if you think of this card as a Temple of the False God that can still tap for mana when you have fewer than five lands.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

I can’t see where this fits into the format; even Derevi birds would want this to have at least one power. Let me know if you think of a deck that can use this card!

Spread: 3 Power: 3

This is pretty comparable to Guardian Project or Beast Whisperer if you can reliably get a 3+ power creature on the field (perhaps from your command zone?), as the ability to tap for two means this effectively costs 2 less than whatever the reduced price ends up being.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

It took me a minute to notice the “one or more” clause, after which my interest in this card plummeted. However, it is a Cat that draws you a card every turn, so Arahbo with gladly welcome him into the pride.

Spread: 4 Power: 3

It doesn’t hose commanders as hard as Darksteel Mutation, Song of the Dryads, or Imprisoned in the Moon, but the cantrip more than makes up for it.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

Big fan of these effects, and I don’t think the non-Human restriction is very relevant.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

The existence of Bane of Progress (and the dozen tutors to find it) in Green makes this card a lot less appealing. However, the Hydra type makes it a great utility creature for Gargos decks.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

Anyone who’s played Gruul Ragebeast can tell you that this is pretty powerful creature control; if this goes unanswered, you’re going to eat all of your opponents’ threats. I would happily run this in monogreen decks looking for ways to remove multiple creatures, especially if my meta was light on spot removal.

Spread: 1 Power: 1

Never before have I seen an Impulse that was this hard to cast. Bird decks don’t run enough artifacts/enchantments to make this reliably hit, but if there was ever a commander in these colors that rewarded you for playing artifact creatures, I’d consider running this guy.

Spread: 2 Power: 3

This looks like a one-sided Open the Vaults to me, and there are lots of commanders that will be happy to run this, including Hanna, Breya, Tuvasa, and Kestia. I think this card was intentionally designed so that you can easily avoid animating your stuff if you don’t want to, as making your hard-to-remove artifacts and enchantments vulnerable to creature removal is not ideal (as anyone who’s played with Opalescence or Starfield of Nyx can attest).

Spread: 2 Power: 3

This is pretty close to drawing five cards for five mana, provided your curve isn’t too high. I think I’d run this in Gruul or Naya decks with a low curve.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

Fyndhorn Elder and Greenweaver Druid are not good cards, but Llanowar Tribe and Somberwald Sage are. If you’re running 3+ colors, I would happily run this card, as 7 mana on turn 4 is no joke and can really launch you past your opponents.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

Its color identity precludes it from being used in Aryel, so Syr Gwyn is the only home for this card.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

I like this effect way more than a typical anthem, since it scales to multiple opponents. I’d run this in tribal Knights, but don’t get your hopes up about firing off that activated ability when none of the Knight decks are in ramp colors.

Spread: 3 Power: 2

This is one of the best 2-drop mana rocks, but not every deck needs those. Best when used with non-Green 4-CMC commanders.

Spread: 1 Power: 3

This is quite good in Arcades, the Strategist. The rate isn’t terrible and granting all of your creatures haste is very powerful in a deck that can vomit out five 4-toughness defenders in a turn.

Spread: 2 Power: 1

There are a couple lists that are very excited for new Eggs (cheap artifacts that draw cards and sacrifice themselves), such as Gerrard 2.0, Teshar, and some Breya builds.

Spread: 3 Power: 3

I generally do not like anthem effects that only buff for a single point of power, especially when they cost three mana. I also generally do not like mana rocks that cost three and only produce a single mana. However, the combination of these two effects is kind of attractive. Tapping for mana means your anthem essentially only costs two mana, and producing a mana every turn thereafter is a significant bonus. I really like this in Alela since it also triggers her token production ability, but I’d consider testing it in other go-wide token decks as well.

Spread: 1 Power: 2

It’s a 2 CMC scarecrow, which means Reaper King is interested.

Spread: 2 Power: 2

This seems like a solid draw engine for monowhite decks, and maybe monored and red/white decks. As long as you have a commander that doesn’t mind attacking, this’ll probably act as an Underworld Connections.

Spread: 4 Power: 2

Even monocolor decks now have a ton of options for fetches; we’re at the threshold of a critical mass of fetches so you can more consistently assemble an engine with Crucible of Worlds. I’d run this in 3-color decks, 2-color decks, and monocolor decks with Crucible and Scroll Rack.

Wrapping Up

Please let me know if you think I missed any relevant cards or if you disagree with any of my ratings. Thanks for reading!

#set review #edh #commander #eld #mtg #magic the gathering

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pipedreamprayer · 7 years

Text

Street Kid Vigilante AU

This originated from looking at all the family AU’s where only the youngest 4 were de-aged, and wondering what it would be like if Shiro was a teenager to their pre-teen status rather than still an adult. What's the first situation where the closest thing to an adult leading them was a teenager I could think of? Street kid AU. Then I had a way to incorporate Allura and Coran in a way vaguely paralleling their canonical story, and from there it only made sense that this group would try to fight back against the bad guys, both because if they don’t then no one else will stop these people and in order to defend their new friends and because it was the right thing to do. Then it was similarly obvious how to include Voltron and it actually didn't work as well without it, and suddenly I realised that this idea of a handful of helpless kids with too big a job and some equipment that should not be in their young hands against an economic, political and societal superpower is almost literally what they are up against canonically! There's so much emphasis in the show of how big a job it is, how impossible it is that a grand total of 7 people, most still experiencing puberty, are against such an enormous, indomitable force, that I absolutely HAD to develop this!

In other words this AU went from an even cuter de-aged family fic to a sincerely profound metaphor for the main continuity that promises to have a ton of angst and tension juxtaposing the fluff (because goddamnit, this started off as a fluff-appeal and no matter how off-track it's gotten it will incorporate at least some if it kills me!)

But oh good god, I started out planning a small one-shot series with a cute set-up, and wound up with a full length story idea that just keep pushing more and more ways to parallel the main series in my face and looks like it's going to have a whole plot from start to finish. Help.

BTW Does anyone know of any automobiles with ‘castle’ in the name? If not I'll probably end up making one up to use at some point, the plot bunnies won't let me leave it out!

Edit a little for summary: Shiro is a teenager (maybe about 15, so if the others are 9 the canonical equivalents could be seen as 16 versus 22, which is pretty viable) who's somehow become the unofficial guardian of 4 younger children - while they're all homeless. Enter Allura, the daughter of a rich businessman who was recently murdered by a competitor, and her current guardian, his right hand man Coran, both on the run from the same murderer. It's chaotic, dangerous and not something these poor kids ought to be having to deal with, but it's life.

Ideas, also known as more parallels to the original series:

The rival companies are Altea Tech and Galra Corp, maybe the Garrison is the social services, or at least the orphanage that they keep trying to drag the kids to. In other words Iverson is seriously on their case, more or less the person they’re on the run from. MAYBE they’re the police force I. E. Iverson is a cop after them.

Galra Corp is after Allura because she holds the prototypes for a series of breakthrough technology that would revolutionise the way we live. The issue was that the ‘Voltron series’ could easily be weaponised, as Zarkon intends. The kids initially assume he intends to sell it to military and militia groups for high prices, but it eventually turns out that, having essentially monopolised the world with the fall of Altea Tech, Zarkon intends to become a world dictator himself!

The Voltron series is split into two: the Bayards and the Lions. What makes them both Voltron is that they utilise never-before-seen technology that connects with your mental assets to work, making the 10 pieces one of a kind and utterly priceless, especially seeing as how Allura and Coran burned the blueprints, prototypes and patents to keep Zarkon’s hands off them. However, aware that they may be the only things able to stand against him as well as all that remains of Alfor’s legacy and life's work, they keep the recently completed final prototypes. When Zarkon sent his people after them to obtain them they had already gone on the run with them.

The Lions are small patches (in the shape of the Voltron crest from canon - or maybe bracelets? Like the wrist-guard part of the paladin armour?) that can boost certain capabilities and unlocks a person’s full potential in various ways. The Forest Green Lion Patch allows Pidge to hack with her mind alone (like in Greening the Cube, even though I hadn’t seen the second season when I came up with these ideas!!), the Earth Yellow one gives Hunk at least 3 times his usual strength (like the grip claws!), the Aqua Blue Patch enhances Lance’s senses to the point he can tell when people are coming from vibrations in the ground and hearing footsteps no other human could detect (like the sonic scans! S2 was a bit of a mind-blow for me when I realised all the parallels), while the Flame Red Lion made Keith as agile and quick as a cat (the kids choice of comparison) and the Cosmos Black one allowed Shiro to make one hand (the prosthetic) into some sort of energy blade-like weapon. The idea is that someone with all the patches will be rather unstoppable, and are called ‘Voltron’ as a result. In other words the Lions combine to form a Voltron of unmatched strength, though they start to suspect there is even more adaptability to this, even more abilities hidden in the tech. For example, the kids prove to be building up resistance to certain effects: Keith can handle high temperatures unflinchingly, Lance doesn’t seem to get cold, Pidge has lost her hayfever and, apparently, other allergies to plants (maybe even building up an immunity to things like poison ivy and nettles as well), while Hunk’s skin seems to be toughening to the point that what would normally graze someone doesn’t break his skin at all (e.g. he can crawl through thistles without it making a difference to him so long as he protects his eyes). Notably, Allura and Coran didn't know what the Lions and Bayards actually did, so finding these effects was as much a surprise for them as the kids. Maybe there's even some sort of semi-permanent link effect between the tech and the user, so once the kids use it they’re sort of stuck with them.

The Bayards are physical, able to morph from small devices to different objects depending on the users will. There is of course a limit in terms of mass, and imagination is vital. Luckily they're now in the hands of small children, who make them anything from toys to tools to weapons of self-defence, with the powerful imaginations of childhood, no matter how much they've been through. That said, they sometimes come up with ideas that aren't possible, or don't think things through properly. Shiro was completely against giving the children potential weapons until it was pointed out that they're used to having to defend themselves already (hence Keith’s knife, that he refuses to let Shiro take off him) and as they refuse to be left behind (they'd just follow him if he tried to separate from them, and would therefore be in even more danger being unprepared) they'll need something to defend themselves and get out of tight spots the most. They prove to be the best candidates out of the group anyway - their imaginative minds conjure things no one else would of through of e.g. robotic mice to serve as a distraction. Then, after that, one of their favourite things to do with their Bayards was to make pets out of them until needed as something else - particularly robotic mini-lions, already thinking about the animals a lot because of the names of the other line of Voltron products.

Zarkon already has the Black Bayard, having stolen it at the same time as Alfor, Allura’s father, was killed, and he always has it on him to remind himself of the taste he's had of the power available, of why he wants more. The Black Bayard and Lion are connected (as are all corresponding colours) so he can sometimes sense when Shiro is near, or when he activates the patch - either way he can’t exactly track them in the traditional way, but does know when to look for them. The group don’t realise for a good while that this is happening and just think he has people out looking for them everywhere for them at all times and they just pick up on the signs they give away when they get into a situation that requires Shiro’s weaponised hand.

Maybe Allura had pet mice in real life, and it was the stories she had about them that inspired the kids move with the Bayards. Allura is maybe 17, so older than Shiro by about 2 years but still a teenager and also on the cusp of legal adulthood - at which point she’ll inherit her father’s company. At the moment though, she tentatively bonds with the kids surprisingly well, Shiro coaxing her into opening up and being a kid with them rather than a future CEO. She sometimes jerks out of phases of loosening up somewhat by snapping that they can’t afford to be kids when they have her father’s murderer on her, and now their, trail.

If Zarkon owns and heads Galra Inc, maybe Haggar is head scientist? Sendak may be the head of security or Thace is the head of security, Sendak is the hired muscle/assassin, the same probably going for the other big-shot Galra we’ve seen. Again, started this long before season 2, so not sure how to incorporate Lotor - maybe he’s in charge of these hired guys? Or maybe he’s heading his own mini army of assassins directly under Zarkon, i.e. rather than the difference between him and his team being that he’s Zarkon’s son maybe it’s that he’s actively loyal to Zarkon rather than just hired. I mean if he were to be the future heir to the company then he would be trained in business, not fighting, so he wouldn’t really be a threat like the other Galra.

MAYBE Altea Tech has fallen behind a bit over the past 10 years as Alfor devoted so much time to the Voltron Project - so it dying out and being absorbed by Galra Inc wouldn’t raise so many eyebrows - nobody would know that Alfor was planning something big this whole time because it wasn’t actually ready yet. Maybe there’s even something about how potential investors thought it was a fools endeavour because there was only theory to begin with, and now that he has proof that it works he’s been silenced and Zarkon is out to take it all, without anyone being any the wiser. At least, not until it’s too late.

MAYBE Shiro is more on the run than homeless: he was kidnapped alongside several other teens (including Matt Holt) for experimentation but managed to escape before they could amputate his arm, it having gotten a badly infected wound. However it is still pretty weak, and he suspects that the Black Lion therefore intentionally sought to make the weakest part of him, the most likely to let him down or be targeted, the strongest part by far.

Katie went on the run from the authorities with her older brother after the care system threatened to separate them not long after their parents death, but when he was kidnapped by strange men she built up a less feminine persona known as Pidge both to cope with all the loss and convince herself and others that this scrap of a child could make it on the streets alone - she wanted to channel her brother as much as she could, and even wore his old glasses. Then she met Shiro and the boys and didn't need to do it alone any longer.

I'm struggling a bit with the boys back stories, so I'll juggle some ideas:

Hunk’s parents died and he joined his best friend’s family, only for the two to eventually run away after being neglected due to the overwhelming size of the family.

Their families all died in the same accident, or maybe a burglary, or even being targeted for some reason by Galra Inc. MAYBE the boys saw something they oughtn't have, but by the time they managed to get an adult to listen to them (their family continually being distracted by other members) the Galra had been sent after them, and everyone was slaughtered. The boys somehow managed to escape, leaving the deaths rather pointless and in vain - not to mention the boys entirely blame themselves. Perhaps because they think their families were targeted because they tried to tell them, they want it keep it a secret from their new family for their own safety. Thus they clam up when it comes to talk about how they ended up in this situation, and unless thoroughly distracted will at least tense and question everything they say when discussing family in general. This contrasts Pidge’s way of voicing memories whenever she gets the chance, a little afraid of forgetting, and Keith’s absolute reluctance to say anything at all about his past.

Maybe, just MAYBE I could incorporate the Alien!Keith headcanon (not exactly pure speculation anymore, hallelujah!) in that his parents were a part of the Galra ‘empire’. However maybe I can include something that the Aliens can't: They were undercover spies. Like, full-on-MI6-James-Bond style (again, shockingly similar to the undercover BoM agents!). However, when they discovered something important (either Zarkon’s eventual plans or some weakness. BIG MAYBE that the top-tier Galra are actual Aliens!!) they were killed, but not before getting their small son to safety (the Galra never knew about him but would have found him at the house). While they were able to, they gave him the vital evidence they were killed for i.e. not knowing about him and not having reason to suspect his existence means the enemy will never find him or it until he’s worked out what it is and turned it in to the proper authorities. MAYBE it’s his knife: he always thought it was a memento of his parents but really it was evidence that Zarkon was an alien OR has some sort of other significance e.g. hidden memory stick or the symbol has meaning with the organisation they worked for.

Katie renamed herself Pidge after a random pigeon she saw on the street - unlike her it could come and go as it pleased and she wanted to be more like it. She was maybe 6 at the time, met Shiro about a year later and is currently just about 9, 3/4 of a year younger than the second youngest (Keith, who’s a few months younger than Lance who is younger than Hunk by even less) but is exceptionally small for her age. Maybe her birthday even comes up during the story. Maybe Shiro and Matt met in the facility that took the formers arm, so he knows he'll likely be kept alive and also that he has a little sister who was left behind. When he got out he tried searching for Katie for Matt's sake, even to find out if she'd died while alone or been taken into care or something, but EITHER found Hunk and Lance together first, then Pidge then they all found Keith, whom Shiro had known before he was kidnapped and Keith's parents died OR Pidge had already met Hunk and Lance, and Shiro found them after finding Keith.

Maybe Keith heard his parents mention a bomb so when the gang realise the connection between them and Galra Corp they start looking into bombs that occurred around the time. However Pidge eventually realises that they may have instead said "B.O.M" as in Blade of Marmora. This unfortunately renders their research so far potentially, but not certainly, useless, so no matter which option they choose to investigate they could be wasting more time even as they are hunted day and night. Furthermore, they are still no closer to finding out if his parents were even good guys or not - just like they could have been referring to a bomb they were involved in setting off or preventing they could be a part of the Blade of Marmora or seeking to eliminate their agents. It’s tense situation (that was unintentional but still, ba-dum-tsh).

Not going to include most of season 2 because I can’t follow the plot identically, though some of the characters can be useful i.e. the mall Galra can come up when they genuinely steal from a mall owned by Galra Corp.

I think starting with a prologue to show how Shiro became responsible for the kids would be a good idea. MAYBE paralleled by snippet of Allura’s life at the time I. E. Before her father’s death, possibly by her seeing them in the middle of all this and not thinking much of it. Like, she just sees some random kids causing a scene one way or another and shrugs it off.

First chapter begins with Allura and Coran, maybe finding Alfor’s corpse, on the run already or burning things that don’t make sense to the reader at the time.

Then it moves on to the kids, spending some time showing how they function normally, a mundane day (pick-pocketing and a couple of thefts because CPS will be called if they're seen begging), before Allura and Coran burst into it, being chased. MAYBE Shiro recognises Sendak from his time as a prisoner and therefore knows who the bad guys are in this situation instantly. He rushes in to help on instinct, not realising until it’s too late that his kids have followed him. MAYBE they find Allura’s bag of equipment (including a teleporter that only activates for her DNA signature? It would only go small distances, but could be extremely useful) and use the Bayards to fend off the enemy from the get-go. If so, they do it in order: i.e. Lance finds it first and the others follow suit like in the first episode. MAYBE one is already in the hands of the enemy, but Keith actually gets it back (little shout-out to badass!Keith getting the Red Lion in the first episode).

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