Commander 2016 Spoiler Thread

[H]

No, it's better than that.

During your upkeep, each player chooses whether they want to put counters on their dorks. You and everyone else. If your opponent wants the counters, they can't attack you this turn cycle. But you? You're free to put the counters on regardless. I mean, technically you are also agreeing you cannot attack yourself this turn cycle, but that's impossible anyway.

So it's like this. Each turn, your creatures grow. Your opponents can choose to either grow their creatures or attack, but not both.

Not quite, it only triggers during your own upkeep.

[Meekrab]

I was super excited for Thrasios, Triton Hero until I re-read the card and saw the activation cost was and not

:/

[MaximumC]

Not quite, it only triggers during your own upkeep.

Right, right, once per turn cycle, but the point is that your creatures always grow. Your opponent faces a choice. Giving your opponent a choice is never great, but here the kind of deck that might play this card might be equally happy with either option.

[H]

I was super excited for Thrasios, Triton Hero until I re-read the card and saw the activation cost was and not

:/

That would be insane at , like possibly Zur-level insane and you still get to Partner too.

Right, right, once per turn cycle, but the point is that your creatures always grow. Your opponent faces a choice. Giving your opponent a choice is never great, but here the kind of deck that might play this card might be equally happy with either option.

Maybe Vial Maverick? Can't see it in D&T.

[rufus]

I was super excited for Thrasios, Triton Hero until I re-read the card and saw the activation cost was and not
../

It would probably also be a lot better if the lands didn't enter tapped.

[MaximumC]

I was super excited for Thrasios, Triton Hero until I re-read the card and saw the activation cost was and not

:/

Eh... I don't think Triton is a good card by itself, but it does give you another way to win with infinite mana. Unlike the old go-to Merfolk who wins with infinite mana (Ambassador Laquatus), this creature is a better early game play. He's cheaper, and you can get EOT value out of him if you're in a control role. Seems fine to me.

[Meekrab]

That would be insane at , like possibly Zur-level insane and you still get to Partner too.

What am I partnering with in Legacy? ;)

But yes that ability would be nuts for one mana. Thus my short-lived excitement to find a home for it.

[MaximumC]

What am I partnering with in Legacy? ;)

But yes that ability would be nuts for one mana. Thus my short-lived excitement to find a home for it.

They should have named the ability Life Partner.

[Ebonclaw]

Half of the reason to play a combo deck like storm is to blank certain angles of interaction like creature removal. This thing makes you more vulnerable to anything from Needle to Bolt to Plows to yardhate, with the later already being an issue ANT players need to get around

I like the idea of forcing players to leave in spot removal, occupying slots that might otherwise get countermagic. Answer this or I blank your permission, and I might just kill you anyway even if you do answer it. Take your spot removal out and let me untap with it. I dare you to see how much I care about the flusterstorms you brought in when I can recast every duress and Dark Ritual and LED I have.

While blanking spot removal is a big draw for Storm, making them leave it in is also problematic when you could just ignore the Magus angle entirely and just kill them instead since their hand has STP or Bolt and not Flusterstorm/Spell Pierces you'd normally have to play around.

[Sidneyious]

I like it, no idea why.

[tescrin]

Silas Renn seems readily abusable with gigantic artifacts. Entomb before combat damage but after an opponent fails to block and you can Blightsteel your opponent (or whatever floats your boat.)

Even if he's just in Esper, it's another way to get a free batterskull or if you're very insane, a Sundering Titan. Not quite sure about the best way to do it yet; but just going Esper means he supports SFM like a beast; since you can get the artifacts back.

Of course, the recurring Baleful Strix is nifty, and recurring Shardless Agents could be fine.

[H]

Silas Renn seems readily abusable with gigantic artifacts. Entomb before combat damage but after an opponent fails to block and you can Blightsteel your opponent (or whatever floats your boat.)

Even if he's just in Esper, it's another way to get a free batterskull or if you're very insane, a Sundering Titan. Not quite sure about the best way to do it yet; but just going Esper means he supports SFM like a beast; since you can get the artifacts back.

Of course, the recurring Baleful Strix is nifty, and recurring Shardless Agents could be fine.

That's not how he works though, you can cast the artifact, but you still have to pay it's mana cost.

EDIT: Image for reference:

[tescrin]

lol whoops.

I just figured that with creature creep that that's what he's do. Funny enough, he'd still only be marginally better than Goblin Welder lol.

[MaximumC]

I like it, no idea why.

50% of the time, it's 1 mana cheaper and one turn faster than Nev's disk. And it hits Walkers.
75% of the time, it's at least fast as Disk, but also hits walkers.
25% of the time it's so slow as to be useless.

Hey, sometimes you play high-variance decks when you know you can't out play your opponent otherwise.

[The Nobodys]

Magus of the Will seems absurd. Turn 1 dark ritual into him seems real. From there you can combo out with just a LED and Infernal Tutor turn 2. And if you attack with him unblocked, that's fewer total storm you need for tendrils and more lines of play for a quick combo kill.

[Lemnear]

Magus of the Will seems absurd. Turn 1 dark ritual into him seems real. From there you can combo out with just a LED and Infernal Tutor turn 2. And if you attack with him unblocked, that's fewer total storm you need for tendrils and more lines of play for a quick combo kill.

Please enlighten me of how to kill with that little mana, stormcount and no 2B to activate him

[MaximumC]

Please enlighten me of how to kill with that little mana, stormcount and no 2B to activate him

Easy. Here's one way.

(On draw, 7 cards in hand.)
Turn 1, land+Dark Ritual, Phyrexia Fanboy.

(6 cards in hand after draw)
Turn 2, lotus petal, Cabal Ritual.
Drop LED, activate for UUU.
Dump Infernal Tutor, Ponder, Brainstorm into yard.
Crack Fanboy (BUU in pool)
Replay LED, crack for BBB (BBBBUU in pool)
Replay Cabal Ritual for BBBBB (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Dark Ritual for BBB (BBBBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Internal Tutor, get Tendrils. (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Brainstorm from yard (BBBBBBBU in pool)
Replay Ponder from yard. (BBBBBBB in pool)

That's nine storm and your Tendrils is lethal, without even worrying about what you drew off of Ponder or Storm. You could even replay the Petal or Magus if you needed more. And, I need to stress, it is NOT HARD to come up with initial hands of 7 that win pretty much along these lines in a typical TPS list. Try it out, you'll see that you goldfish quite fast.

The fact is, Yawgmoth's Will as an ability is ABSOLUTELY NUTTY and it's very easy to win once you're replaying tutors and mana generating cards from your yard.

EDIT: Perhaps the biggest thing to realize (if you didnt play with Will before) is that LED / Lotus plus Will makes it essentially free. Now, here we have to assume you already cast the Magus of the Will previously, but once that's accomplished, your 3 mana artifact or Ritual that you use to get the Will mana gets replayed right away out of the yard, making the ability free access to 2 storm and your entire graveyard.

[Morden]

Easy. Here's one way.

(On draw, 7 cards in hand.)
Turn 1, land+Dark Ritual, Phyrexia Fanboy.

(6 cards in hand after draw)
Turn 2, lotus petal, Cabal Ritual.
Drop LED, activate for UUU.
Dump Infernal Tutor, Ponder, Brainstorm into yard.
Crack Fanboy (BUU in pool)
Replay LED, crack for BBB (BBBBUU in pool)
Replay Cabal Ritual for BBBBB (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Dark Ritual for BBB (BBBBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Internal Tutor, get Tendrils. (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Brainstorm from yard (BBBBBBBU in pool)
Replay Ponder from yard. (BBBBBBB in pool)

That's nine storm and your Tendrils is lethal, without even worrying about what you drew off of Ponder or Storm. You could even replay the Petal or Magus if you needed more. And, I need to stress, it is NOT HARD to come up with initial hands of 7 that win pretty much along these lines in a typical TPS list. Try it out, you'll see that you goldfish quite fast.

The fact is, Yawgmoth's Will as an ability is ABSOLUTELY NUTTY and it's very easy to win once you're replaying tutors and mana generating cards from your yard.

EDIT: Perhaps the biggest thing to realize (if you didnt play with Will before) is that LED / Lotus plus Will makes it essentially free. Now, here we have to assume you already cast the Magus of the Will previously, but once that's accomplished, your 3 mana artifact or Ritual that you use to get the Will mana gets replayed right away out of the yard, making the ability free access to 2 storm and your entire graveyard.

are you serious???? XD

[Megadeus]

He's obviously pretty good if he and a Dark Ritual are in your opener. I mean what you just described was pretty much a prefect hand. Curious as what a theoretical deck list with him would look like. Would you cut out Ad Nauseam? PiF? The issue with this guy is how slow he is and vulnerable to removal. Which, as was stated by Lemnear, one of the nice things about Storm is not giving a shit about removal in game 1's. In your theoretical perfect hand he's pretty good, but if he isn't in your opener he seems pretty meh to bad. Mostly to me it's like, if you want to have this guy in your opener, you need to run 4 of him. If you run 4 of him what are you cutting? Storm isn't exactly a deck with a lot of room to innovate.

[Lemnear]

Easy. Here's one way.

(On draw, 7 cards in hand.)
Turn 1, land+Dark Ritual, Phyrexia Fanboy.

(6 cards in hand after draw)
Turn 2, lotus petal, Cabal Ritual.
Drop LED, activate for UUU.
Dump Infernal Tutor, Ponder, Brainstorm into yard.
Crack Fanboy (BUU in pool)
Replay LED, crack for BBB (BBBBUU in pool)
Replay Cabal Ritual for BBBBB (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Dark Ritual for BBB (BBBBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Internal Tutor, get Tendrils. (BBBBBBBUU in pool)
Replay Brainstorm from yard (BBBBBBBU in pool)
Replay Ponder from yard. (BBBBBBB in pool)

That's nine storm and your Tendrils is lethal, without even worrying about what you drew off of Ponder or Storm. You could even replay the Petal or Magus if you needed more. And, I need to stress, it is NOT HARD to come up with initial hands of 7 that win pretty much along these lines in a typical TPS list. Try it out, you'll see that you goldfish quite fast.

And now please realize that this hand would have won T1 if you go for Ad Nauseam or PIF instead. Excellent example ... not. I also did ask for a different secenario, just saying

The fact is, Yawgmoth's Will as an ability is ABSOLUTELY NUTTY and it's very easy to win once you're replaying tutors and mana generating cards from your yard.

EDIT: Perhaps the biggest thing to realize (if you didnt play with Will before) is that LED / Lotus plus Will makes it essentially free. Now, here we have to assume you already cast the Magus of the Will previously, but once that's accomplished, your 3 mana artifact or Ritual that you use to get the Will mana gets replayed right away out of the yard, making the ability free access to 2 storm and your entire graveyard.

I am not your audience having played the original burning desire deck before it got killed by restrictions and any Vintage storm deck until 2012. The backbreaker is the cost, delay and information you give away in addition to the fact that Rituals to cast the Magus do not count towards your spellcount due to the delay, unlike with PIF or Will.