Sunday, April 19, 2020

Ikoria Jeskai Vadrok for Commander

This is yet another Mutate commander in Ikoria. It's Ultimatum is really good but does not read game-ending. It's enchantment is a great card-drawing engine. The clause on Vadrok is about non-creature spells, and that is MUCH better than just instants and sorceries with Theros II having enchantments (even though, poor Theros II lacks the awesome enchantments found in Ikoria). 


I am not sure if I want to be on Humans in this deck given all the fun Mutate creatures that go well with Vadrok. Maybe there are two completely different builds that work well; one on Humans, the other not.


There are some great Death and Taxes cards in Ikoria and perhaps Theros II, and I want them all in this deck. Drannith Magistrate looks like could be a great card, period.


After the Death and Taxes crew is in, I want this deck to be mostly on Flyers for creatures.





The Mythos for this wedge is versatile, but it does not hit players.


Here is a run of non-creature spells currently in Standard I want to play in this deck.






Ikoria Mardu Snapdax for Commander

This is yet another Mutate commander in Ikoria. It's Ultimatum is amazing. It's enchantment is all right.


Ikoria has some solid Menace support for this deck. Mardu is all about combat.



Ikoria has a strong Humans component, and also a Human friends component, with the minor caveat that Mutate creatures cannot interact with Humans.






Cycling works well with the Human theme in Ikoria.


And since Cycling drops cards in your graveyard, it will not hurt to have cards that profit from what you drop in your grveyard.


There are also some cool Red exile cards in Ikoria. This theme is all about temporary exile and casting from exile.


The Mythos for this wedge is a Balance-type of card.


Kumoros, like most of Theros II, is the card that could have been great. It fits a very narrow deck in these colors. "Players can't case spells from graveyards" is a great clause in every other possible card but this one. Theros II, what were you thinking????! The devotion set without devotion, and the graveyard set with neutered graveyard interactions. It's great for a set to be so well-balanced that it has no broken cards. It is also true that a well-balanced set can balance itself out of fun, and Theros II succeeds brilliantly in this department.


Ikoria Abzan Nethroi for Commander

This is one of the Mutate commanders in Ikoria. It's a fantastic reanimation engine. It's Ultimatum should be a game-ender. It's enchantment has multiple ways to help you, including life gain in case your black cards cost you too much life.


This deck needs to drop lots of card into the graveyard and has a solid Companion in Kaheera. I would add several reanimation spells in the vein of Cauldron's Gift.


The flyers are mostly going to be White and Black.


Green helps to feed the graveyard.


Ikoria also has some new graveyard feeder spells.


Here are some great cards for this deck in the current Standard.



You will need to protect your graveyard.


The Mythos card for this wedge is reasonably powerful since it can destroy a nonland permanent (and not just a creature as Murder would).


There are other cards in Aban or that can be added to Abzan, but I don't think these fit what this deck is doing.


Guild Devotion

I have made selections here up to Theros, but I could (well, and should!) have done this work when Theros II came out. I just wasn't crazy about the set, and still am not. But I love all Magic cards, and all Magic sets. I played so much devotion when it came out!










M20 has a cycle of legendary creatures at Rare.



M20 has a cycle of legendary creatures at Mythic Rares (the Cavaliers).



The M20 Leylines have reasonable devotion and are great Rares.



Ravnica III has a complete cycle of uncommons with reasonable devotion.




Throne of Eldraine has triple mana 3 CMC legendaries at Rare. Blue and Red require more mana.



Throne of Eldraine also has a complete cycle minus one that is not a permanent at 4 CMC. This is the best selection for Guild Devotion.




There are also Mythic Rare legendary artifacts with good devotion



Throne of Eldraine also has an incomplete cycle of uncommon legendaries at 2 CMC.


The Theros II Gods are triggered into creatures by devotion, but don't provide devotion by themselves, which is fine and consistent with Theros I.



The Theros II Demigods get Power or Toughness from Devotion and have reasonable devotion.



There is also an incomplete cycle of Rare legendaries in Theros II with reasonable devotion.


Green got the lion's share of devotion so far.


There are a few other cards that are not in a cycle.


And most of the planeswalkers have reasonable devotion. I only show a few here.



Here are the current mana rocks. Ikoria does not have any.