Rivals of Ixalan Commanders

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

Today we will address the Dinosaur in the Room and see what the newest Magic: the Gathering set, 'Rivals of Ixalan' delivers for potential Commanders.  This is quite obviously a rather important decision to make.  Although your Commander may very well be the most important card in your deck, we would suggest that if you are building your very first list (we built our first when the format was still called Elder Dragon Highlander), that you may be well served in deciding on your individual playstyle and choose your colour(s) first.  After this, you can then decide upon your Commander to support your strategies.  This is a suggestion however, and there is no reason for you to choose your Commander first, especially one that strongly suggests to build around it.  Perhaps you already have a solid deck-list and are entertaining the idea to replace and existing Commander which has not been performing to expection. 

Before we get into our opinions on the potential of our pool of Rivals of Ixalan Commander choices, it may be of use to see how well the previous Ixalan set had done.  In our own (perhaps limited) opinion, there were only two clear winners from Ixalan which went on to become popular Commanders.  Here is the list -

# 1 : Gishath, Sun's Avatar - NAYA.  Designed for Dinosaur tribal and good at dropping dinos onto the battlefield.

# 2 : Admiral Beckett Brass - GRIXIS.  Designed for Pirate tribal. Pirate lord which steals your heart.

# 3 : Tishana, Voice of Thunder - SIMIC.  Seeing some tribal Merfolk builds, but quite a few simply being inserted as support into existing Simic lists like Ezuri and Kruphix.

Did not really become favourites with the Commander community, but certainly acceptable in a supporting role :
• Vona, Butcher of Magan, Orzhov
• Kopala, Warden of Waves, Blue
• Captain Lannery Storm, red
• Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle, white

Given the popularity contest winners from Ixalan, it stands to reason that dino and pirate tribal will continue to reap the benefits of further members joining its ranks in Rivals of Ixalan.  The big question however, will these two cards be eclipsed by the new hotness ?

There are a cycle of five Elder Dinosaurs presented with Rivals of Ixalan, one within the colour wheel.  These dinos are big, like really big.  Unfortunately these will unlikely be picked up by players to be a Commander.  With the exception of Zetalpa and Tetzimoc, which may have a sliver of a chance of being promoted to General, these will be best used in a supporting role.

• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn 
• Nezahal, the Primal Tide 
• Tetzimoc, Primal Death
• Etali, Primal Hunger 
• Ghalta, Primal Hunger 

Zacama, Primal Calamity - NAYA
This Elder Dinosaur does have a shot of being a Commander, but looks look further.  NAYA colours of red, green and white with a CMC of 9.  Solid 9/9 body with vigilance, reach and trample.  When this enters the battlefield, all your lands untap which is a big deal.  There are three decent activated abilities to pinging a creature, gaining life and nerfing an artifact / enchantment - again, not too shabby.  There may be some players interested in a mana ramp deck with Zacama at its head (or is it heads?), but we think it safe to have this included, along with Zetalpa, Etali, and Ghalta in a Gishath tribal build.

Azor, the Lawbringer - AZORIOUS
The competition is fierce in white / blue.  The popular Commanders are Brago, Grand Arbiter and Bruna.  So what does Azor bring to the table?  A 6/6 flying Sphinx for six mana and two abilities.  What appeals to us is the ability to shut down your opponent's instants / sorceries until your next turn.  If Azor sticks the landing, this will present a big evasive threat.  The second activated ability to gain life and draw cards will also endear Azor to Commander players.

Elenda, the Dusk Rose - Orzhov
We have been fans of black / white tokens for years now and are enthusiastic to give Elenda serious consideration.  Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Teysa, Orzhov Scion are the popular Commanders for B/W tokens.  Elenda could also be a consideration for more traditional gain and drain lists perhaps as well.  For now, our only hesitation is that a rather frail 1/1 body will make her an easy target for a turn or two.

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca - SIMIC

We have two Simic Commander decks at the moment - Experiment Kraj and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.  We really desperately want to build a Merfolk tribal list, and Kumena is the closest card we have seen to do that.  Our wishlist also includes a Bant (white, blue, green) Commander so that we could also roll in Sygg, River Guide and some of our fav supporting spells in white.  An anthem effect with Radiant Destiny and high token production with Parallel Lives would be ideal in a Bant Merfolk list.  Anywhoos, We have good feelings that there is now enough card support and interested players to propel Kumena past in popularity fo at least Edric, Spymaster of Trest to eventually rival that of Ezuri, Claw of Progress. 

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Ixalan Commander Overview

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

When we are not getting crushed by standard constructed, we enjoy Commander at the Kitchen Table.  As always, there are three or four of the MTG Realm playgroup slinging that carboard from the tall stacks so we have decided to deliver our thoughts on some of the new potential Commanders from Ixalan which the group is excited about.  

Here is a quick re-cap of the available legendary creatures which are available as your Commander - in order of our personal favourite to least -

Gishath, Sun's Avatar 
Naya Tribal Dinosaur for the win!  Not a very complex build as one is using pretty much all the dinosaurs offered in Ixalan, and there are just enough to fill the ranks.  Beyond that set, use available in-colour Shapeshifters such as Chameleon Colossus, Mirror Entity, Adaptive Automoton and Metallic Mimic.

Admiral Beckett Brass
Grixis Tribal Pirate build.  Similar to Gishath, the lion's share of the creatures are coming from Ixalan, so not that much critical thought is required to get a working prototype off the ground.  Don't overlook to add some flavour with Pirate Ship (Time Spiral).

Tishana, Voice of Thunder
Simic Tribal Merfolk may be a bit of a stretch here but players who are using Thrasios, Triton Hero (from Commander 2016) may disagree.  The more popular choice here may be a simple blue / green shell for ramping into monsters while introducing an element of classic control

Kopala, Warden of Waves
There are around a dozen rather good legendary merfolk creatures already of which are really only two which are suitable should you want to task your list to merfolk tribal. There is already Sygg, River Guide in blue / white so we feel that Kopala is best placed in riding shotgun with Sygg.

Vona, Butcher of Magan
Pretty neato as Commander in the right lifegain theme build as one would expect to have an ample volume of life to spend on Vona's ability to nerf non-land permanents.  Certainly not suited for a vampire tribal Commander in our opinion so we suggest sliding this in to an existing vampire-centric list such as Edgar Markov (Commander 2017).

Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
Not suitable as a Commander.  There are simply not enough white suck-heads printed to support this.  Again, look for a spot to support vampire-centric list.

Captain Lannery Storm - See Admiral Beckett Brass, as we do not think that is likely a good Commander.

Supporting cards for Ixalan Tribal
Vanquisher's Banner, Unclaimed Territory, and Pillar of Origins are all solid choices to either assist in fixing your colours or providing an anthem effect to pump your team.  Do try out similar card to support your tribe such as Door of Destinies.

Another note -

Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun is the cat's meow.  Any creature-heavy list looking for ramp will love to have this gem.

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Commander 2017 Spoilers

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

A lot of our local friends here in Barrie, Ontario will be heading down to Toronto (about an hour's drive south) for the Toronto Grand Prix event.  There may be a fewer attending our local gaming store, OMG! Games, but we suspect the competetion will still be fierce to battle our way into Top 8.  

Anywhoos, we want to yatter a bit about the upcoming Commander 2017.  During any given Friday at the local store, the number of Magic: the Gathering players are roughly split down the middle, with half the gamers playing Commander and the other half playing Standard.  There has been quite a lot of speculation after Wizards of the Coast announced that this year's Commander product is to be Tribal themed.  The discussion hit high frenzy yesterday after WotC had updated their Commander 2017 product page with the following images - 

Speculation - 5-Colour Dragons

Speculation - Mardu (Black / Red) Vampires

Possibly Edgar Markov or Runo Stromkirk?

Speculation - Selesnya (Green / White) Cats

Speculation - Orzhov (Black / White) Clerics or Humans?

Righto - Here is handy information you may need to know.

Commander returns with four new tribal-themed, 100-card decks, featuring 56 all-new Magic cards legal in Eternal formats (Vintage and Legacy). Cards from Commander (2017 Edition) will be featured and distributed in connection with a future offering on Magic Online.

Set Name: Commander (2017 Edition)
Number of Cards: Four 100-card decks, a total of 56 new cards across all decks

Contents: Each deck contains a ready-to-play 100-card Commander deck including never-before-printed Magic cards.

Release Date: August 25, 2017
Official Three-Letter Code: C17
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGC17
Languages Available: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
MSRP: $34.99 (per deck) *Applies to U.S. Only
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Krond vs Ob Nixilis

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Today's article is for all those Magic: the Gathering players who fancy playing the tall stacks - Commander, or Elder Dragon Highlander if you are an old-school purist.  Today's babble is a run-down of quite possibly the most epic Commander game we've had in a while and featured 

RStomp playing a Mono-Black Demon build with Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath as the Commander,

and

CopySix (yours truly) playing a Green-White Enchantress list with Krond the Dawn-Clad as the Commander.

First things first, let's quickly run through the two Commanders here -

• RStomp's General, the new Planeswalker Commander from Commander 2014 

Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, 3BB+2: Each opponent loses 1 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.−2: Put a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying onto the battlefield. You lose 2 life.−8: You get an emblem with "1Black, Sacrifice a creature: You gain X life and draw X cards, where X is the sacrificed creature's power."Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath can be your commander.[3]

• CopySix's General - Krond, from the Planechase 2012 Edition.

Krond the Dawn-Clad, GGGWWWLegendary Creature — ArchonFlying, vigilanceWhenever Krond the Dawn-Clad attacks, if it's enchanted, exile target permanent.6/6

GAME ONE
Mid-Game Board states

CopySix
• able to block most threats with Bassara Tower Archer (hexproof, reach) which is enchanted by Pentarch Ward granting protection against Black (rather obviously.
• Sacred Wolf (hexproof) as well as Aura Gnarlid (+1/+1 for each Aura on the battlefield, creatures with power less than Aura Gnarlid's power can't block it).
• Boonweaver Gian tutor for Ancestral Mask, cast and immediately nerf'd with a Go for the Throat.

RStomp
• Squelching Leeches (power / toughness = # swamps you control which was 6 at the moment) just got nerf'd by Cage of Hands (aura can't attack / block)
• Also in play Vampire Nocturnus (if top card library is black, vamps you control get +2/+1 and flying).  Filling out the ranks is Vampire Nighthawk (2/1 flying / lifelink / deathtouch), and Deathgreeter (gaining 1 life whenever a creature dies).
• Commander Ob Nixilis just got cast

End Game
CopySix casts Auramancer returning Ancestral Mask, attaches to Aura Gnarlid, which also has Armadillo Cloak on it as well.  Eldrazi Conscription TOP DECK (aura +10/+10, 'annihilator 2'), and cast on Bassara Tower Archer.
Aura Gnarlid is a 19/19 ('un-blockable') with Trample and Bassara Tower Archer is a 12/11 'pro-black', attacking for leathal.

GAME TWO
Mid-Game Board states

CopySix
• Ghostly Prison (opponent must pay 2 for each attacking creature they control) down early preventing early life loss. 
• Bramble Elemental (generating a 1/1 Saproling token any time an aura is attached to it) generates a number of tokens which get eaten every upkeep by RStomp's Sheoldred, Whispering One.
• Nomad Mythmaker (W, Tap retuning aura in graveyard to play), and a Monstrous Fleecemane Lion also on board.  
• Bassara Tower Archer is wearing the Angelic Destiny aura (+4/+4 flying, first strike, Angel creature type) and Krond just gets cast - things are looking up.

Rstomp
• A number of early chump blockers eat the 'yard', with Gravecrawler coming back occasionally.
• Vampire Nocturnus and Crowd of Cinders (P/T = # black permanents you control) fill out the field.
• Halo Hunter gets cast (destroy Angel eotb effect) nerfing Bassara / Angel
• Wurmcoil Engine (6/6 artifact creature which produces two 3/3 wurms - one life link, one deathtouch) is on the field along with Sheoldred.

End Game
RStomp casts In Garruk's Wake (one-side board wiper) and is able to get the Sanguine Bond / Exquisite Blood combo out.  Gray Merchant of Asphodel gets cast for lethal damage which doesn't even matter due to the wining combo - over the top OP.

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Commander 2014 Spoilers 10-24

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Some rather interesting news out just a few hours ago.  Although we were expecting to see our very first official Commander 2014 previews on the mothersite on Monday, it appears that redditor 'Comradepatrick' was able to snap up two of the previews today.

Commander 2014 Edition is a product in the very next offering in the popular Commander series that will be released by Wizards of the Coast on November 7, 2014. This set was announced at the Magic panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 26, 2014.  To date, only three cards were officially previewed - Teferi, Temporal ARchmage, Ghoulcaller Glisa and Stitcher Geralf.

Let's have a look at the new cards now - please do keep in mind that these cards are as of the time of this post still unofficial.  Please only refer to the official site for previews.

EDIT ! - We did not see this article earlier today on the mothersite update approximately 11 AM local time so we suspect that Wizards may have posted the article latter in the afternoon after reddit first posted.  Read the Feature article 'A Love Letter to Vorthos' from Ethan Fleischer and Ian Duke over here.

Feldon of the Third Path, 1RR
Legendary Creature - Human Artificer, Mythic Rare
2R, T: put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of target creature card in your graveyard except that it's an artifact in addition to its other types. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
"She will come back to me."
2/3
illustrated by Chase Stone

This has so much flavour, it's almost flavour overload.  This is a nice inexpensive Commander with a rather decent rr-useable activated ability.
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Angelic Field Marshal, 2WW
Creature - Angel, Rare
Flying 
Lieutenant - As long as you control your commander, Angelic Field Marshal gets +2/+2 and creatures you control have vigilance.
"Her presence on the battlefield can transform an unruly mob into a disciplined army."
3/3
illustrated by Scott Murphy

The art is is fantastic.  The new 'Lieutenant' tech seems very solid, nothing over the top but certainly welcome.  This card wants us to imagine a certain legendary angel creature being printed in this set.  (very excited now!)

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Commander 2013 Nature of the Beast

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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Here is the new Commander 2013 Nature of the Beast (Naya - Red / Green / White) with the available Generals of Marath, Will of the Wild, Gahiji, Honored One, and Mayael the Anima).  Let's have a looky-loo . . .
Marath, Will of the Wild
Costing only a 'Naya' (red / green / white), you get a legendary beast whose power / toughness are equal to its casting cost - and with the commander tax of an additional two each time you re-cast this, it can get big.  The second ability allows you to pay 'X' to remove that many +1/+1 counters from Marath to have one of three effects.  Either transfer those counters onto a target critter, ping for that much damage to target creature / player, or generate an equally sized creature token - very lovely.

Gahiji, Honored One
Here's you next new Commander - a 4/4 Beast costing five (two colorless and one 'naya').  This is a nice enticement for your opponents to attack each other as well as a boost to your creatures when they attack. This looks fine in an aggro list and would likely benefit with similar strategy cards like Gisela.

Mayael the Anima
This reprint from Shards of Alara is a shoe-in for this sort of deck.  Costing one 'Naya', your 2/3 Elf Shaman has the ability to dig the top five cards in your library for a fatty with power five or greater and drop that right onto the battlefield.  The cost to cheat a potentially expensive creature right into play costs just six mana (three and a  'naya').  Since we cannot realistically have an entire tall stack choked full 'o' fatties, we suggest you float them to the top to take full advantage of Mayael with the likes of Congregation at Dawn.

This deck is good, but in our opinion not great.  Both Marath and Gahiji are decent but we found ourselves simply wanting to deck them in to choose Mayael for the command zone.  If you are thinking of getting into Commander and love the Naya colours, then pick this one up but for us, we would rather scrap a good portion of the list and have a much more dedicated list to work with Mayael.
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Commander 2013 Power Hungry

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

 
See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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Here is the Commander 2013 'Jund' (black / red / green) deck and although it may not be as sought-after as the Mind Seize deck, we just love the decklist here.  Let's get into the three Commanders or Generals available to you -

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
Costing  three colorless mana and a 'Jund' (black/red/green), Prossh is a solid 5/5 flyer with two other very cool abilities.  When you cast this legendary dragon you get a number of 0/1 Kobold creature tokens equal to what it cost you to cast Prosh - this of course gets bigger with the commander tax as you recast it from the command zone.  Perfect for a build with a theme of creature sacrifice for an effect.  Prossh also provides a sac outlet which will pump him +0/1.

Shattergang Brothers
A goblin artificer here costing one colorless and a 'Jund' to give you a 3/3 body with three very relevant abilities in this build.  Each ability costs three mana and requires a sacrifice.  For two and a black you sac a creature to force each other opponent to sac a creature.  Likewise, two and a red with an artifact sac or two and a green with an enchantment sac will cause your opponents to sac in a similar fashion.  Very solid.

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
This is a Coldsnap reprint.  For two and a 'Jund', you net a 4/3 legendary Orc Shaman.  The ability here is rather potent - Whenever you have one of your non-token creatures dies, you gain a 3/1 black & red Graveborn creature token.  If you were about to ask whether a sacrificed (or even 'devour') creature does count as dying, then yes, so sac away and reap the benefits of yet another token which can feed into your strategy here.
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Like we mentioned, this may very well be one favorite of the five Commander 2013 decks.  There are a good number of cards such as Stronghold Assassin which provides an opportunity to sac for a powerful effect or cards such as Stalking Vengeance to transpose a sacrifice into direct damage to your opponent.  All-in-all - two thumbs up on this very solid decklist.
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Commander 2013 Mind Seize

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Happy Friday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

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See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast
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This Grixis (blue / black / red) has the folowing legendary creatures in the deck to choose as your Commander / General -

Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
This 1/3 Vampire Wizard has a cmc of four (one colorless and an 'grixis').  Not only does this fly but also mills (actually exiles) based upon how much you just cast her for - the spell cost and subsequent 'commander tax'.  From the pile of exiled cards, you can free-cast any of the spells whenever she attacks - very powerful.

Nekusar, the Mindrazer
For five mana (two colorless and a 'grixis), you can have 2/4 Zombie Wizard.  This guy forces everyone to draw an extra card each turn but goes further by dinging each opponent one damage for each card drawn.  We suggest you employ shenanigans like Forced Fruition for the lulz. 

Thraximundar
Here's a reprint from Shards of Alara. This is a great beater.  For seven (four colorless and a 'grixis') you get a hasty 6/6 which forces the defending player to sac a critter whenever Thrax attacks.  The bonus is that you also get a hard +1/+1 counter on Thrax every time a player sacs a creature as well.

This is the most difficult of the five Commander 2013 decks to get your paws on.  Even when stores had protected themselves on a product rush by jacking the price two or three times the suggested retail price, players still had no problem willing to pay.  Why?  A few reasons but foremost is True-Name Nemesis, a very powerful merfolk creature spell which a lot of Legacy players want - this will go as a single for about 40 or 45 bucks some places.  Balefule Strix, a reprint from Planechase also commands a price of 15 to 20 clams.  Another card of interest is Strategic Planning from Portal Three Kindoms, which original cards are going for $30 although the price is dropping as a result of the commander and recent Modern Masters reprinting.
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Angel Evolution

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Our local card shop, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario runs a Commander night on Thursday evenings and although we've not been out to one of these for a while, we're told that it is becoming more popular than ever and you can see all the recently released Commander 2013 decks at the tables.  We'll likely pick up a few extra singles from MTG Mint Card and upgrade one of our existing builds before committing to going though.

Anywhoos - there was one Commander 2013 card which caught our attention (yes, we admit that many more did) but this had more to do with the art than the actual game card abilities.  Specifically, we're talking about Angel of Finality with the lovely art from Howard Lyon.  We've seen this angel very recently in the Innistrad set - Angel of Flight Alabaster.

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The new Commander 2013 version is most assuredly a reference to the previous Innistrad one but beyond the art and creature type, everything is quite different.

 











Where the Innistrad Angel of Flight Alabaster allowed graveyard recursion of a spirit creature card from your graveyard to your hand, Commander's Angel of Finality nuked cards in a target player's graveyard.  Both these cards can still be good friends in the same deck however and we know there is a number of MTG Realm readers out there who have told us they have a thingy for angel themed decks, so we say 'go for it' - there are more than a dozen legendary angel creatures in a variety of colors you can call upon to be your commander / general.
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Now - for some flavor -
Innistrad Angels were organized into Flights of Angels - Flight Goldnight, Flight of Herons, and Flight Alabaster.  As our angel in today's article is from Alabaster, here's some background from the MTG creative team -  

The Flight of Alabaster
These angels personify the Blessed Sleep and are associated with the Hunter's Moon season. They provide magic that wards against the desecration of dead humans. In the absence of Avacyn they remained the most active and continued on to reinforce wards that protected the human populations.

This flight of angels is centered in Thraben, and is instrumental in maintaining Avacynian wards. These angels reside mainly in the Lofts and are a familiar sight to the inhabitants of the city. They generally travel in small groups as they visit the centers of healing in the city. Alabaster angels also aid priests and cathars in maintaining the protective wards on the city walls and holy sites throughout Innistrad. According to the other flights, Alabaster angels tend to be overly sentimental, but they think of themselves as practical yet sympathetic. They often do not travel with weapons, preferring to use their magic, and engage in battle only when the conflict can't be resolved another way. During the archangel's absence, the Alabaster angels were first to recognize the Avacynian wards were failing. Many remained active—more than those of other flights—doubling their efforts to reinforce the wards. These efforts likely saved Thraben from the fate that befell many other towns and settlements. 
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Evasive Maneuvers

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part one of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

 

See the rest of the videos in this series:
• Evasive Maneuvers
• Eternal Bargain
• Mind Seize
• Power Hungry
• Nature of the Beast

 This Bant deck (green / white / blue) has the following Commanders to choose from:

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
A 2/3 flying bird wizard for three (bang) mana allows you to tap or untap a target permanent when either Derevi enters the battlefield or when a creature you control lands damage.  The most exciting ability on this card may be able to cast Derevi from the command zone onto the battlefield for only four mana (one and a 'bant') getting around the 'commander tax' requiring your pay an additional two accumulative mana for every time you cast the general.

Roon of the Hidden Realm
Here's a solid 4/4 Rhino Soldier costing five (two colourless and a 'bant').  Also equipped with vigilance and trample, this already seems like a decent inclusion but let's have a look at the final ability.  Feed this two colourless and tap it you can blink a target creature.  Exiling and returning one of your own critters with a sweet 'enters the battlefield' effect or perhaps removing an opponent's attacker or blocker is downright great.

Rubinia Soulsinger
This flightless 2/3 Faerie costs five (two and a 'bant').  This first ability allowing you to choose not to untap Rubinia won't make much sense until you read the second one.  Just tap her and you can now take control of a target creature for as long as she's tapped - not bad at all to remove a potential threat.

There are a lot of neat cards in this deck such as Azami, Lady of Scrolls for draw, Deceiver Exarch to play into the tap / untap theme, or the witty Borrowing 100,000 Arrows.  The list looks rather robust to address a variety of situations on the ever developing battlefield but we would rather take the chassis out and build upon it a singular theme.
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