[Podcast] Everyday Eternal 36: Dragons of Tarkir Set Review

[thecrav]

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In Episode 36 of Everyday Eternal, Matt and Sam review the latest batch of cards from R&D, Dragons of Tarkir.

Time stamps:

1:27 – Mechanics: Bolster, Rebound, Exploit, Dash, Formidable, and Megamorph
7:48 – Sarkhan Unbroken
12:38 – Narset Transcendent
23:30 – Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
28:09 – Assault Formation
32:49 – Display of Dominance
40:04 – Graceblade Artisan
41:23 – Hedonist’s Trove
53:25 – Myth Realized
59:36 – Virulent Plague
1:02:43 – Zurgo Bellstriker
1:05:55 – Dragonlords
1:15:56 – Cards that want you to control or reveal a dragon – Silumgar’s Scorn
1:17:51 – Commands
1:28:13 – Rending Volley
1:29:55 – Shenanigans: Complaining about art and Word of Command
1:34:40 – Shenanigans: Plays of the week
1:40:38 – Thanks to Eternal Central
1:42:24 – Goodbyes and Outro

[lyracian]

Not that I think it is Legacy playable but since you talked about it I think you should have compere Graceblade Artisan to either -
Aura Gnarlid; bigger bonus but loss of evasion and the need to have the aura's attached to itself make it a worse card in my opinion.
Kor Spiritdancer (which is played in the Modern Boggles deck) and has the added bonus of actually drawing cards.

[Vicar in a tutu]

Like mentioned, Kolaghan's Command is good in Jund. I played two maindeck in a local tournament and it was very sweet. Comparing it to Blightning is insane, because blightning is only a discard spell that can damage a player and costs 3. Kolaghan's Command can affect the board. I played a game against Shardless BUG and it was good (2 damage against Deathrite Shaman, destroy Shardless Agent). I played a game against MUD and it was insane (as a response to the equip: Deal 2 damage to Metalworker and destroy Lightning Greaves). I played a game against Miracles and it was good: On my turn the opponent, who was hellbent with a Top in play, activated the top and revealed a Entreat the Angels. I responded to the miracles trigger with a instant speed discard. And then I got back a Confidant that was countered earlier. That won me the game. After the tournament I jammed a few games against different people. Death and Taxes? Destroy Vial / Equipment, kill small dude. Random Delver decks? The card is good there as well. Kolaghan's Command is an excellent utility spell in Jund. The flexibility of the different modes is legit. Although I have to say, aside from Jund (a tier 2 deck), I have no idea where to play Kolaghan's Command in legacy.

[Barook]

About Anafenza: D&T already runs Flickerwisp, Mirran Crusader/Brimaz, King of Oreskos and/or Serra Avenger. isn't the main concern, slots are. We'll see how it turns out, some people run a single copy in their 75 in the last Open.

[Lemnear]

I feel that the talk about Myth Realized in Control is as off as your guys talk about Treasure Cruise was. Both times you underestimated how good the cards can get if you play them in an aggressive shell rather than in a pure reactive one.

There is nothing to sneeze at if you start your game with Myth + Probe + Daze into turn 2 Ponder/Brainstorm etc. and start to attack turn 3 with a 5/5 or bigger out of a tempo shell for the cost of a single white mana to evade Bolts and Plows if you are lacking defense against those. Myth Realized is able to just run over most creatures in the format including Batterskull with ease and that doesn't cost you 1W+1W and praying that your opponent doesn't Disfigures, Bolts, Plows, Punishing Fires, etc. your Squire.

All you do is playing a normal game of Legacy with cantripping and countering which made Treasure Cruise the powerhouse it was and I'm disappointed you're back to putting Myth in the same drawer by talking about Miracles, Landstill and the "2W: add a counter", rather than asking "how fast can this grow in an aggro/tempo-shell?" and working out what the niche is for a "creature" which can't be handled by Planeswalkers (Jace/Liliana), Sorcery speed creature removal and evading the formats usual answers for X/1, X/2, X/3 creatures (Bolt, Forked Bolt, Punishing Fire, Pyroclasm, Golgari Charm, Zealous Persecution) which keep other Gro-tactics like Pyromancer, Mentor (or to an extend: Empty the Warrens) in check.

This is a freaking, shrouding Quirion Dryad with permanent counters in the right deck and I cannot let the formats sole universal permanent-answer Abrupt Decay count as a legit reason to not toy with Myth Realized paired with Delver of Secrets

[btm10]

I feel that the talk about Myth Realized in Control is as off as your guys talk about Treasure Cruise was. Both times you underestimated how good the cards can get if you play them in an aggressive shell rather than in a pure reactive one.

There is nothing to sneeze at if you start your game with Myth + Probe + Daze into turn 2 Ponder/Brainstorm etc. and start to attack turn 3 with a 5/5 or bigger out of a tempo shell for the cost of a single white mana to evade Bolts and Plows if you are lacking defense against those. Myth Realized is able to just run over most creatures in the format including Batterskull with ease and that doesn't cost you 1W+1W and praying that your opponent doesn't Disfigures, Bolts, Plows, Punishing Fires, etc. your Squire.

All you do is playing a normal game of Legacy with cantripping and countering which made Treasure Cruise the powerhouse it was and I'm disappointed you're back to putting Myth in the same drawer by talking about Miracles, Landstill and the "2W: add a counter", rather than asking "how fast can this grow in an aggro/tempo-shell?" and working out what the niche is for a "creature" which can't be handled by Planeswalkers (Jace/Liliana), Sorcery speed creature removal and evading the formats usual answers for X/1, X/2, X/3 creatures (Bolt, Forked Bolt, Punishing Fire, Pyroclasm, Golgari Charm, Zealous Persecution) which keep other Gro-tactics like Pyromancer, Mentor (or to an extend: Empty the Warrens) in check.

I agree that you want to be testing it in an aggro-control shell rather than a pure control shell for basically all the same reasons Cruise was good - it just gets better the more you play the game you want to play. The downside is pretty big though, since the shell he'd be the strongest threat in is also the shell where the fact that he requires W to become a creature matters most, and his growth condition is a touch worse than Dryad's.

[TsumiBand]

@Myth Realized -

I haven't listened to the podcast, but man oh man this card is fucking brutal. Think of it as basically a Storm count that sustains across turns or a Monastery Swiftspear that never shrinks. It is a big damn beater.

In Modern aggro burn decks ran Shrine of Burning Rage to basically challenge the opponent to get up to speed or just lose to a ton of damage applied directly to the forehead. This card grows at a similar or better rate - you exchange the upkeep uptick for the ability to manually grow it and it grows off of any spell that isn't a creature (as opposed to just Red spells like Shrine). I was fortunate enough to pull 2 during a KTK event and while Limited is not a great place to make equivalences against other formats, I can attest to its ability to get really big really fucking fast even in a less-than-stellar deck. Comparing it to Quirion Dryad is almost indecent; it comes down turn 1 without acceleration and lets you start getting stupid with any series of efficient spells (cantrips, burn, etc) very quickly.

Like I guess I'll have to listen to the podcast but honestly I think there's a real monster lurking under that card there, and its weakness to AD has nothing to do with anything. It's a beeeeest

EDIT: Okay so I'm listening and I find it interesting that Myth Realized gets this "ehhhh meeeeh" review but like, you guys sound excited about Assault Formation? Like maybe it's just because it's funny to make Wall of Junk attack for 7, I guess? I'm not sure if you were just talking about it because it's funny, or because someone was serious about making a Defender-based aggro deck. But like... Myth Realized has the Storm/Delve damage going for it inasmuch as its ability triggers off of things you were going to do anyway, whereas Assault Formation makes you guys talk about Walls.dec like it's Tier 2 to play Wall of Roots and beat for 5 with two cards that don't do a lot by themselves. Interesting.

[sdematt]

You realize we did say that Assault formation was not playable, right? Im all in on being excited mostly because it improves pet cards and is amusing, not because that card will see one slot of playability in a tournament ready Legacy deck in the history of forever.

As for Myth Realized, Im excited Im wrong. Maybe all the downplay is to generate innovation, or its because there are lists in the works that we dont want to come out with just yet. I agree Lemnear that cantripping to high heaven will put major gas into this card, but I did testing against it and I didnt find it as powerful as I thought. My results are *likely* skewed due to the decks I played against it, which were all heavier midrange or control decks that might have already had a good matchup anyway, Myth Realized or not.

Im proud to say I was wrong about Cruise, Peter. Maybe it is because I was hoping it wasn't the monster that maybe we all deep down knew it was. However, this isn't Cruise, but does it perhaps have some play? Sure.

Im driving so ill respond more later :p

[TsumiBand]

You realize we did say that Assault formation was not playable, right?

I guess how did we go from literally saying "Tier 2 Defender deck" to suggesting "not playable" though :)

Like, I get you called it Card 61, but that's what was said about Anafenza 2.0 as well and there was plenty of discussion afterwards as to how it was already being used and tested, so maybe I just don't understand the tone of the show yet -- I didn't get that it was being called flatly not playable.

[ComefromtheZoo]

I love this podcast, by far the best mtg cast out there

[Megadeus]

I'm digging Myth Realized in Modern Pox.

[Captain Hammer]

I'm digging Myth Realized in Modern Pox.

No kidding. It's an amazing addition to Vaka Pox as well.

[thecrav]

I definitely think Myth Realized is super nutty*; I just think it comes with a lot of buts attached and a lot of different buts at that. (LOL BUTTS) As a result, there's a lot of time spent enumerating those negatives.

My concern with playing Myth Realized in a tempo build isn't the 2W but the W that you need to spend every turn attacking and the W you may want to hold up to use it as a blocker while playing a deck that generally runs relatively light on mana.

As I think about it a bit more, that W you hold up for possible blocking actually adds a lot of extra lines. If I've got an untapped Tundra and MR, that could be anything! I could be looking to block, counter something, swords your dude, cantrip, or ultra value: Daze and activate, all of which my opponent is going to need to think about.

In the end, I think that I've fallen into the default negative mind set that a lot of Magic players fall into: "Speculate baselessly. Complain about everything." And it's definitely something that I've been working on. You may have noticed that in the last couple of set reviews, we've been a lot more hesitant to lean negative when we think that a card is on the borderline. Perhaps our mistake was even in putting it on that borderline?

*In fact, I'm brewing up a Myth deck for a vintage event soon. If you want to work on it with me, hit me up!

Oh, also, because I'd imagine people don't go re-read the first post very often, if you're on an iOS device, we've been approved by iTunes and the link is now in the original post.

[Scott]

I saw that the 26th place DeathBlade deck from SCG Richmond had one in the main deck.

[thecrav]

I saw that the 26th place DeathBlade deck from SCG Richmond had one in the main deck.

Nice spot! Deck link

I'm curious why he only played one. If anyone happens to know or to know him, see what you can find out!

[sdematt]

Also, we prefer to call things as a negative, and then have people bitch and prove us wrong. Honestly. Saying something's good and playable and maybe posting a list might lead to a copy-paste situation and nothing gets accomplished. By stimulating discontent, we're also hoping to stimulate some creativity here. I also never want to hype until I've bought multiple playsets in Russian. I mean....uh....nothing to see here....

I'm also an extremely cynical bastard.

-Matt

[maharis]

Good cast. A couple comments:

Myth Realized -- If you couple this with a "wide" gro-creature or effect you force your opponent to interact on two separate lines -- which I think is really important for helping it "fight" removal. Also, if you think they might bring in enchantment removal, and you board this out, you can blank them. I think the card is really good and I can't wait to play it with Standstill and Innocent Blood and Lingering Souls and so much more.

I wouldn't dismiss the "Doran-style" deck with Assault Formation so quickly. It sounds janky, but the problem with exploiting the Doran ability is getting Doran down... and this card is harder to remove than him. Also, there's a lot of synergy with Assault Formation and cards that work well with it, like Nyx-Fleece Ram and Courser of Kruphix, and Enlightened Tutor (not to mention Sylvan Library). You could have multiple toolboxes with GSZ and E-tutor in your walls-can-attack deck. It might not be better than most existing GWx builds, but it's not nothing.

Loved Vicar's post about Kologhan's Command. It's always a two-for-one if played correctly and if you think about a BR attritionny deck playing hymns, removal, lilis etc. you can do a lot of damage with this as a coup de grace.

When both you guys and SMIP talked about Living Lore, I think one key thing was missed. There is very often a 5-cmc spell in the GY in both vintage and legacy that this can pick up: Force of Will. And while you may not ever sac lore to cast it, it is still a 4-mana 5/5 that clocks them while you hold up other countermagic or effects. Is Lore better than other control finishers... not sure. Maube you want a lot of islands for whatever reason. In fact Lore in a Cryptic Command deck doesn't sound like the worst thing ever. Obviously there isn't such a deck yet, but the card is interesting.

Surprised that you didn't talk about Collected Company, or the Exploit demonic tutor or Exploit marsh casualties. I know there are at best a lot of fringe cards in this set, but at least it's not just all total dreck like Theros block generally was. I agree that Megamorph is a waste of everyone's time -- morph in general is. Other than some of the Kamigawa keywords, I can't think of a more worthless and overused keyword than Morph that has no play outside of standard and even limited play there. Even Manifest is more interesting with the cheat-in-dreadnought aspect of it.

[(nameless one)]

If only Parfait was playable. Maybe Myth is the threat that deck is needing. It can still be operable at minimum mana (needed for Land Tax) and it's (possibly) huge under Humility. It also survives sorcery speed removal.

[MaximumC]

I wouldn't dismiss the "Doran-style" deck with Assault Formation so quickly. It sounds janky, but the problem with exploiting the Doran ability is getting Doran down... and this card is harder to remove than him. Also, there's a lot of synergy with Assault Formation and cards that work well with it, like Nyx-Fleece Ram and Courser of Kruphix, and Enlightened Tutor (not to mention Sylvan Library). You could have multiple toolboxes with GSZ and E-tutor in your walls-can-attack deck. It might not be better than most existing GWx builds, but it's not nothing.

Doran's effect is very powerful, but only having four copies of the effect in your deck made it unreliable. Now that you can have eight copies -- and the second copy actually does MORE that just break symmetry with your opponents -- makes me think this kind of deck might actually have legs.

So, what else is good with this? It's gotta be good BEFORE you assemble the combo if it is gonna make the cut!

Disowned Ancestor - A 0/4 for B that blocks aggro for days and then becomes 4/4 in a hurry AND has a way to grow itself. Seems like a legitimate contender, at least for sideboard slots against decks that go aggressive on the ground. Strangely, its probably better in Legacy where it would block early game threats like Goblin Lackey and Merfolk dorks. Seems worse in Modern where you're just stopping the incidental damage from bears like Dark Confidant.

Nyx-Fleece Lamb - Again, this card is the bee's knees if you're sideboard against an aggressive deck, but a control or combo deck doesn't care about Lamb until it becomes a 5/5. Smells like it belongs in cards 61 - 75 to me.

Auger il-Vec - Same deal. Great beater with Doran-effect out, meh card until that time, but a sideboard option against aggressive decks.

Skinshifter - I love this card but I don't know if it's enough. Without Doran, it does a pretty reliable Tarmagoyf impression but it requires a constant investment of mana to do it. It can't swing as an 8/8 on turn 3 when Doran drops, either, unless you ramped. However, it CAN swing this way with Assault Formation. Turn 2 Shifter, turn 3 Formation, swing for 8 seems legitimately powerful UNLESS it's immediately answered by an Aburpt Decay / Lightning Bolt / Path to Exile / etc. (In other words, never.)

Courser of Kruphix - He's fine, but 3 mana 4/4 is hardly impressive for Modern or Legacy.

Orzhov Keyrun - This is interesting. The ramp is a little slow, but the lifelink is quite good on a 4/4. Also, it dodges the removal that will chew up your other little dorks.

Forbidding Watchtower - Thank you, Tenth Edition! This is a land I can really get behind. Not totally useless without Doran-effect, because it does tap for W, after all, and can swing as a 5/5 for 1W thereafter. Not too shabby!

Ohran Viper / Vampire Nighthawk / Goyf - These creatures get a marginal boost from Doran, but they're very good on their own. Not sure if you want them up on the 3 point of your curve, though. Goyf is probably fine to run, as always.

[Lemnear]

How was there ever a lack of Doran Effects with GSZ existing?