[CARD] Empress Galina

[Finn]

Empress Galina

I am not sure how I feel about her as a commander. I just do not know the format all that well. But with the change of planeswalkers to legendary, I have decided to throw her the smoldering heap of my Leovold deck just as a card.

Have any of you faced or used this card? Is it too narrow? Do you prefer it as a commander?

[Ace/Homebrew]

Empress Galina

I am not sure how I feel about her as a commander. I just do not know the format all that well. But with the change of planeswalkers to legendary, I have decided to throw her the smoldering heap of my Leovold deck just as a card.

Have any of you faced or used this card? Is it too narrow? Do you prefer it as a commander?
I actually kinda like her because of how broad your options are for deck building. You could go Merfolk tribal. You could do MUC. She really doesn't limit your options while still having an ability that will be relevant in 99% of games.

Lightning Greaves and Thousand-Year Elixir seem like auto-includes.

[Davran]

As a card, Galina is fine, especially in a format where every deck has at least one legendary permanent in it.

I'd give Proteus Staff a go with her for sure. Or maybe even Jalira, Master Polymorphist for maximum jank.

I think if you put her in the command zone you'd be wise to prepare for some hate. She's not broken or anything, but some people really hate having their stuff "borrowed". You'd probably also want to run a couple outs to Homeward Path since it more or less turns your commander into a 5 mana 1/3 with some words on it.

[Gwathnar]

I don't think she's the best Commander but good in the 99.
I have her in my Merfolk Tribal deck and it's nice to steal an opponents annoying Commander (Brago for instance).

[Finn]

Thanks for the replies. I tried her out over the weekend for the first time. She was basically a bomb in our environment. 6 player ffa.

I countered a counter to resolve her. When I untapped I stole Mogis and that was all I got. She was killed, reanimated by someone else, killed again. Basically she played a significant role in the game I got to her, and other players were keen to see her not activated. Fun times.

Another generic question comes to mind though. How many of you specifically try to include cards that other players will leave alone either through its borderline blandness or through hexproofing or something?

[Davran]

Another generic question comes to mind though. How many of you specifically try to include cards that other players will leave alone either through its borderline blandness or through hexproofing or something?

I always try to consider what beats whatever I'm trying to do. In the case of Galina, you have to figure it's going to be a removal magnet...so enter Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots.

As far as "boring" cards, that's not really a thing I consider. My favorite cards in this format are the ones that look bland but really aren't. The sort of thing where someone will read it and go "huh, neat" and not give it a second thought until they're reading it again because it's killing them.

[Ace/Homebrew]

She was killed, reanimated by someone else, killed again.
You chose to bin her? What was the strategy there?
In case you didn't realize, you ALWAYS have the option to move your Commander to the Command Zone whenever it changes zones (including to your hand and library).


Another generic question comes to mind though. How many of you specifically try to include cards that other players will leave alone either through its borderline blandness or through hexproofing or something?
The strategy with my Mimeoplasm deck is to always make my commander a copy of a hexproof creature with a large number of +1/+1 counters on it. Instead of going for borderline blandness, you could include pieces which have an EtB ability and are then boring (Mulldrifter) or ones that have a static ability regardless of who controls it (Trinisphere is all that comes to mind...).

Cards that came to mind for protecting Galina:

Misdirection
Spellskite

And for giggles:

Leyline of Singularity

[Finn]

Ace, those are some sweet ideas for protection. I really like spellskite. Fun card. If ihis were my commander I would have to use a lot of those. Btw, that is why I did not command zone the empress.

I don’t especially fancy the idea of mono blue though.

[Ace/Homebrew]

I have decided to throw her the smoldering heap of my Leovold deck just as a card.
Ahhh! That's what this line meant! I got confused by the missing 'in', but mostly cause I'm pretty positive Leovold is banned... Sorry about the confusion on my part! :smile:

[Davran]

Ahhh! That's what this line meant! I got confused by the missing 'in', but mostly cause I'm pretty positive Leovold is banned... Sorry about the confusion on my part! :smile:

Yeah, Leovold is banned if you're an "official banlist" sort of group. Lots of people aren't, though (we've got a guy who runs Chaos Orb on the regular).

[Finn]

Yeah. Freaking Leo. I built the deck while he was legal apparently with the same gameplan plenty of others did. I just happened to not play commander for two or three months. When I sat down with the deck I learned of the ban, never once getting to try it. I swapped in Mimeoplasm, and I’m just now updating the deck. Meh. At least we have this new guy in these colors.