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.

Ikoria Mutate Cards

I am really excited about Mutate. I don't care if it turns out to be a casual thing. I will be fine with Mutate even if none of the cards turn out to be super competitive.

We have one common, two uncommons, and one rare for each of the five colors in Ikoria with the exception of Red, which has only one uncommon. They all have medium to heavy casting costs, and this means they will be coming in later in the game, which makes sense: you want to Mutate a small creature into something bigger. As expected, the rares have more bang for the CMC. There is also a strategic choice to make in decks with a lot of creature combat, such as White-Red and White-Green. You may want to have more creatures on the board instead of a few big creatures. I love the discovery for these cards. They are simply a stroke of genius.

The multicolored ones do not cover all ten two-color pairs, and Simic got two Mutate creatures.

Of course, the reason why specific color pairs got Mutate creatures is because we can use them to build Commander decks in Mardu (Snapdax) and Jekai (Vadrok).

There are also two interesting "two for one" Mutate creatures. I want to try these. You Mutate them, trigger the Mutate condition on that other creature, and then this creature also has a Mutate trigger. This is sooo cool.

There are also two enabler creatures for Mutate in Ikoria.

Mutate reminds me a lot of Soulbond, one of my favorite abilities ever.

I will only get a better feel for Mutate once I play it. Here are a few examples. The key thing to remember is that Mutate does not work on Humans.

It's one creature, even though it's two cards, and that means you tap the whole thing.

Ikoria Companion Cards

I have looked at these from the perspective of building fun Commander decks, mostly with cards from recent sets, most still in Standard.

Yorion has gotten the most hype, but, for what I want to do, it's pretty useless. I could put it in a Commander deck minus the Companion clause, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I love constructed too, and in Constructed, Yorion is a hit. Flickering enables some crazy combos. I may try some Constructed just to see for myself. I have been in a Commander learning experience, dash frenzy during the last few months.

Here are some cards I would build Yorion with in Constructed. There are so many possibilities!

Lurrus is OK, but in the current Standard, there just aren't enough ways to abuse casting small critters.

Of course, you can always try the worst rare in Modern (One with Nothing) and the worst planeswalker in all of Magic, just for fun. Why not?!

And if we read the rules carefully, we can use X casting creatures, declared for X = 2, and then come up with ways to add more counters to those creatures.

Zirda is one of my favorites from these ten cards. There are many cards in all formats that can be abused with this companion. Gatherer says as many as 475. That's great!

Here are some examples still in Standard.

Kaheera is great, and these creature types are well represented in the current Standard. It's a solid anthem boost, but I don't think it's amazing.

These tribes are fun to build to.

Gyruda's ability can only be activated once unless you flicker it. It's a pass for me.

Still, there are just as many great even CMC cards as there are odd ones.

Lutri is another one-shot Companion; a pass for me. There are many instants and sorceries worth copying. It's just not something that excites me.

Keruga is another one-shot Companion. It can draw a ton of cards though. This is probably the one I am most wrong about. It could be amazing and I am just not seeing it. You have to have a great board.

Obosh I want to play. It's ability can be used for many turns. I have included a few sample cards in Standard here.

Jegantha is another one I want to play. Tapping for five mana every turn is crazy good. I think this card is amazing.

Umori reads like a lot of fun. I would do a deck with 60 creatures and 40 lands.

Sometimes a Bubble is not a Bubble

I have been watching the old Magic cards to collect a few more, and it does look like there was a bubble in their valuation at some point, but it also looks like their time has come to be collected and cherished. I think these prices are here to stay for the cards that are not in the reserved list. I am not sure it will matter if one of these cards in the reserve list. There is long-lasting value here because Magic players are not going away anytime soon.

Core Sets

One of my long term projects has been a core set cube. I currently have a reasonable selection of all of these sets, with the exception of M10 and M11. Here are the top staples.

Arena Merfolk Deck

Here is the decklist:

1 Incubation Druid (RNA) 131
7 Island (M20) 268
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc (XLN) 191
1 Riddlemaster Sphinx (M19) 287
1 Benthic Biomancer (RNA) 32
7 Forest (M20) 280
1 Brineborn Cutthroat (M20) 50
1 Seafloor Oracle (RIX) 51
3 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168
1 Song of Freyalise (DAR) 179
1 Guardian Project (RNA) 130
1 Forerunner of the Heralds (RIX) 129
1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World (WAR) 169
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger (RIX) 130
1 Voracious Hydra (M20) 200
2 Combine Guildmage (RNA) 163
2 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246
4 Simic Guildgate (RNA) 257
4 Woodland Stream (M19) 260
1 Opt (XLN) 65
1 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca (RIX) 162
1 Merfolk Skydiver (WAR) 205
1 Merfolk Mistbinder (RIX) 164
2 Growth Spiral (RNA) 178
2 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (WAR) 232
1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker (RNA) 214
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid (DAR) 206
1 Frilled Mystic (RNA) 174
1 Carnage Tyrant (XLN) 179
1 Pelt Collector (GRN) 141
1 Flux Channeler (WAR) 52
1 Jade Bearer (RIX) 134
1 Deeproot Elite (RIX) 127
1 Llanowar Scout (DAR) 170
1 River Heralds' Boon (XLN) 204
1 Season of Growth (M20) 191