General Election 3

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

We continue today with our 'General Election' series of posts. Previous posts are HERE (/) and HERE (/) where we ask you, the MTG Realm reader to assist us in choosing our next EDH / Commander General. In this, our third of four posts, we delve into Simic (/) to find a General for our new EDH / Commander deck.

The blue and green coupling in Magic the Gathering is thematically about going big and being sneaky - kind of like that 2-pound Fruitcake which somehow makes it's way back into our kitchen no matter how many times we've chucked it over the neighbours fence. In Ravinca's Dissension set, the Simic Combine was all about biomancy while in latter sets, this colour combination provided loads of triggers and card draws.

Our two candidates for Simic (/) are Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Edric, Spymaster of Trest. Let's sit down and chat with the hopefuls -

First up - Edric, Spymaster of Trest.

Hailing from the port city of Trest, this rogue Elf is at the center of all intrigue, sophistry and strategy. For a mana cost of one colourless, one blue and one green, you get a 2/2 creature with a solid card-draw ability when a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponents. Excellent in a 1v1 game, multiplayer / Commander. This card's flavour may translate well in mulitplayer as it provides an environment for political alliances.
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Next up is Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.

This Elf Wizard comes with a 2/2 body for five mana but don't let that cost put you off - check out his abilities. While on the game table, you can float a creature to the top of your library when you resolve a green spell and you are able to put that creature from the libary top into your hand when you cast a blue spell. This legendary creature has tool-box written all over it - and when you are playing Commander, being able to respond to an opponent's threats or weaknesses gives you an amazing advantage.

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Here's the list of the EDH / Commander General finalists -

Selesnya ( / ) : Captain Sisay, Rhys the Redeemed
Azorius ( / ) : Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Simic ( / ) : Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Bant ( / / ) : Jenara, Asura of War, Rafiq of the Many

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We invite you to Vote Now :



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Lastly,
The folks over at MTG Mint Card has one heck of a Christmas Holiday deal - you can knock off 50% (!) off express shipping for any purchase. This deal is good until 21st December which should allow you loads of time to Christmas shop for that special MTG fan.

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General Election 2

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We continue today with our 'General Election' series. In this, our second post, we delve into Selesnya (Green / White) to find a General for our new EDH / Commander deck. Here's the backdrop to this Ravinca Guild and the opportunities in these colours for a Commander build. First off - The guild of Selesnya is one of peace, life, community, and . . . cupcakes. We can easily imagine Elves and Saprolings moshing in a glade to a Centaur's fiddle music. Basically Green packs the build with fatties, White provides order and both provide an opporunity to puke out a variety of token creatures to pump up for an alpha strike.

Anywhoos - let's sit down with the candidates and review their qualities. Hit up the bottom of the post to put in your VOTE.

First up in our short list is Captain Sisay, a 2/2 for two colourless, a green and a white mana. These stats are simply lacklustre but her ability is stellar. By tapping her, you can search your commander build for a legendary card and put it in your hand. This tutor engine clearly spells out card advantage as you dig through your assembled tool box for the best utility creature. As the Captain will have a huge target on it for removal, she better be wearing a Mask of Avacyn or Creeping Canopy. One artifact which certainly needs consideration here is a Thousand-Year Elixir to give the Captain haste to tap and untap to start churning those legendary targets out.

Next up - Rhys the Redeemed from Shadowmoor. This elf is a one green-white hybrid mana for a 1/1 body. The three mana tap to gen out a 1/1 token is silly expensive. The six total mana and tap to double-up on each creature token you already have in play bears further investigation. Tokens could really give your opponent cause for concern with cards such as Doubling Season, Eldrazi Monument or Intangible Virture. Some friends to tag along may be Sigil Captain which provides two +1/+1 counters for each 1/1 coming out or else feed those elves into a devour monster like Mycoloth to spew saprolings all over the game board.

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Here's the list of the EDH / Commander General finalists -

Selesnya ( / ) : Captain Sisay, Rhys the Redeemed
Azorius ( / ) : Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Simic ( / ) : Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Bant ( / / ) : Jenara, Asura of War, Rafiq of the Many

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We invite you to Vote Now :



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General Election 1

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

MTG Realm is building a new EDH / Commander deck and we would like your input. Some background first though. The MTG Realm crew consists of a small group of players with a shared collection. When we scrap toghether a new build it typically by consensus after some serious deliberation.

We have distilled a list of EDH / Commander Generals to 8 finalists for your consideration and comment. We will have a total of 4 posts to provide a bit of a background on each General. Here's the list of finalists -

Selesnya ( / ) : Captain Sisay, Rhys the Redeemed
Azorius ( / ) : Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Simic ( / ) : Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Bant ( / / ) : Jenara, Asura of War, Rafiq of the Many


~ As with every job interview, we have to sit down with the candidates and check out their game cred. Today's post we yatter with Augustin and Traft.

Geist of Staint Traft is a hexproof 2/2 for three mana which means it's a bit more difficult to bust this ghost with your off-the-shelf proton-pack.

When he swings, he brings along a 4/4 flying angel token which disapparates after combat. He was pawn'd by the demon Withengar but is back with a vengeance.

Next up -
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is a 2/3 for four mana who dispenses justice without ego or remorse. Agustin will get you a sweet Sprawl-Mart discount on blue and white spells while charging extra for your opponent's spells.

Agustin is very typical of other members of the Azorius Senate in their choice of undergarments and game play : restrictive, controlling, and absolute.

Stay tuned for futher General Election interviews here on MTG Realm.

We invite you to Vote Now :



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Lastly,
The folks over at MTG Mint Card has one heck of a Christmas Holiday deal - you can knock off 50% (!) off express shipping for any purchase. This deal is good until 21st December which should allow you loads of time to Christmas shop for that special MTG fan.

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Zenith Cycle

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Today, we are looking at the Zenith Cycle of cards from Magic the Gathering's last set, Mirrodin Besieged to determine which rocks your game and which gives you sad panda were you to rip a booster pack to find it in the last slot. We have had almost two months of playing with these so we know you have by now formed an opinion.

Anywhoos, for those of you not that familiar with the Zenith Cycle, there are a cycle of rare spells with X in their costs and named after the five the coloured suns of Mirrodin. The card, after played (and resolves successfully), shuffle themselves back into your library to be used yet again. The Zenith Cycle is rather similar to the cycle of Beacons from Fifth Dawn (Beacon of Immortality, Beacon of Destruction, Beacon of Creation, Beacon of Tomorrows, and Beacon of Unrest) in that they shuffle back in your library again.

Let's take a moment to review the cards before we get to voting :

White Sun’s Zenith, X
Instant, Rare
Put X 2/2 white Cat creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Shuffle White Sun’s Zenith into its
owner’s library.

The white zenith art is set in Taj-Nar, the capital of leonin culture and home to LOLCats. We love the ability to be able to drop a truck load 'o' kitteh at instant speed. If you just spent one mana as 'X', then times must be tough and we're guessing your game is going straight into the crapper, however, if you perhaps had some green mana ramp or just dropped this late game, then we expect you've just unleashed furry heck upon your opponent and we salute you.

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Blue Sun’s Zenith, X
Instant, Rare
Target player draws X cards. Shuffle Blue Sun’s
Zenith into its owner’s library.

The blue zenith art is set in Lumengrid, the city in the Quicksilver Sea occupied by vedalken and Neurok humans. This is rather similar to Stroke of Genius which to our knowledge only received a mildly welcome response from players. We realise that being able to draw cards is good and often critical for control decks and that with enough mana, one may be able to use this as a quasi-mill effect to have the opponent draw a large number of cards only to discard most of them BUT dang! - this one really does not look at all promising.

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Black Sun’s Zenith, X
Sorcery, Rare
Put X -1/-1 counters on each creature.
Shuffle Black Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.

The black zenith art is set in Ish-Sah, hub of the Mephidross and stronghold of Geth, originally depicted on Vault of Whispers. With a good number of cards in standard today having regeneration or indestructibilty, this card is most welcome. With the exception of Melira's Keeper, this card provides a great answer to a variety of critters, whether it be tokens or fatties - just ensure you strategically scale your mana and drop on target.

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Red Sun’s Zenith, X
Sorcery, Rare
Red Sun’s Zenith deals X damage to target creature or player. If a creature dealt damage this way would be put into a graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
Shuffle Red Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.

The red zenith art is set in Kuldotha, a forgelike city sacred to Mirran goblins. The red zenith is essentially a Disintegrate (Time Spiral and other sets). The complaint we have heard from some players is that although they love the unlimited mana they could sink into this, they would have have had this card go further so it cannot be countered or have the damage prevented along the lines of Banefire or Demonfire.

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Green Sun’s Zenith, X
Sorcery, Rare
Search your library for a green creature card with converted mana cost X or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
Shuffle Green Sun’s Zenith into its owner’s library.

The green zentih art is set in Tel-Jilad, that legendary massive copper "tree" in the Tangle that is inscribed with Mirrodin's history. Most players agree that this card is simply bombtastic. There is not much of a downside with being able to dig into your deck for a Thrun, the Last Troll, or perhaps a Progentius. A card like this allows for a green creature tool not too unlike Fauna Shaman and frees up space in your 60 by providing the possibility of singletons.
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Time to VOTE !

Check back to see results.
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