Commander 2015 Review 2

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

As promised, we hope to get to a brief Magic: the Gathering review of each one of the five new Command 2015 pre-constructed products.  We don't play as much Commander as we would like to but still hope that you may find something of interest here in our observations.  Today's post covers the Red & White decklist.

Wade Into Battle - Red / White
Expect to pay around $40 here in Canada and around $30 in the States.

Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas is a giant who’s right at home on the front ranks of a fight. Her power increases as more large creatures answer her call, so her lightning-fast sword swings grow deadlier as the battle wages on.
 

Like each of the previous Commander pre-constructed products, each one contains several Commander options that you can use.  Specifically, there are two new and one reprinted Boros coloured (red / white) legendary creatures which you may choose to lead your team to victory -

Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas - Agressively costed 4-cmc with a 3/3 body, but with double strike and vigilance, this can swing to land six damage and be ready for attackers.  This giantess gains you experience counters when you cast those huge spells of 5 cmc or greater - which should not be a problem given all the hefty Angels, Giants, and Dragons in this list.  Kalemne is pumped +1/+1 for each experience counter you have.

Anya, Merciless Angel - Flying 4/4 Boros Angel for 5 mana.  Given the aggressive profile of this list, it should not be difficult in reducing an opponent's life to half than the starting value which allows Anya to get a pump for +3/+3 as well as indestructible.  Suggested pairing with Heartless Hidetsugu  which allows Anya to go nuclear quicker.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Solid 5/5 flying, first strike Boros Angel for 7 cmc.  Gisela has two very sweet abilities which can pose a serious threat / problem to your opponents.  The first ability doubles damage delivered to an opponent while the second ability prevents half the damage hitting you.

About half of the 30 creatures in this list have the 'Giant' creature type (including the changeling) but there does not appear to be much in the way of support for giant tribal which is odd given the number of giants here.  The list does indeed have the following 'tribal' support for the big fellas -
• Ancient Amphitheater
• Borderland Behemoth
• Stinkdrinker Daredevil
• Sunrise Sovereign
• Thundercloud Shaman
We submit that five cards supporting this theme should be expanding upon.  We suggest that should you go down this road, consideration be given to the likes of Door of Destinies,Giant Harbinger (float a giant to top of library), any of the appropriate Giant Tribal spells (Crush Underneath, Feudkiller's Verdict, etc.), as well as any of those 'power 5 or greater spells' such as  Gustrider Exuberant (sac to make 'em fly eot), or Bloodthorn Taunter (tap to give 'em haste), would benefit this list quite greatly.   Should you exchange some angels in the list for additional Giants, give some thought to Cunning Giant, Quarry Colossus, and Sentinel of the Eternal Watch.  As there is rather little in the way to assist you to mana ramp (Knight of the White Orchid), consider beefing up with some mana-rocks like Thran Dynamo, Commander's Sphere and Chromatic Lantern.
At the very least, should you drop the focus on giants, consider using Balefire Liege to not only pump the red 'n' whites +1/+1 but also provides a very handy burn and / or gain ability.  In addition, Sunforger is a fav boros-coloured equipment which can be quite useful to pull out an instant (like Pact of the Titan).

All in all, we love the list but want to modify it as soon as we get it - which is, of course what Wizards would likely hope you would do anyways.  Happy Brewing!
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