Commander

Derfington’s Corner: My Other Car is Skullbriar

Greetings Canadians and non-Canadians alike! My Commander-writing pen has been silent lately, though not for laziness. KYT has me chained to my desk in a dark basement working on these blasted comics, but I am fortunately being paid in a unique form of currency: KYT dollars! I am told these monetary units can be exchanged for fleeting glimpses of sunlight and freedom. Only 500 more KYT dollars until I can purchase my next breath of fresh air!

All joking aside, I have been playing Commander in steady doses for the past couple of months. Several weeks ago we started our first Commander league at the local store, using the Armada Games points system, and so far it has been a success. The events have brought out some new faces and more opportunities to play the format, both of which are always welcome. Some of us feel, however, that the point system could use a few tweaks: infinite-combo players can still amass an unreasonable amount of points without having to take too many extra turns, and a few players have tweaked their decklists in order to exploit the achievements in the system. While there is nothing wrong with playing to win the league, some of us believe these occurrences make for stale games, and are somewhat against the spirit of the game. Hopefully we will advance to the point where we have our own unique point system. As it stands, we have renamed some of the achievements as homages to some of the (admittedly inane) inside jokes at the store (if you ever come out to a Two-Headed Dragon event, expect to hear the word “Regretti” yelled no less than a couple dozen times). In any case, if you’re experienced with Commander leagues, let me know how you’ve arranged your point/win system!

But I did not emerge from my writing slumber just to prattle on about leagues and points and regrettis. The past couple weeks have stirred up the Commander community with a plethora of exciting spoilers. First, a few new Legends from the upcoming Commander release were recently revealed on the Mothership, and I wanted to pursue the literary equivalent act of squealing like a schoolgirl whilst in a public forum (no offense to schoolgirls intended). Let us take a look at the newest potential challengers:

Edric, Spymaster of Trest

What a powerful political enabler! For starters, let’s just take a look at Edric himself. For 3 CMC, you get a bear that can draw you a card when he hits. This is almost as good as a [card]Shadowmage Infiltrator[/card] in the early turns, as not many players will have a blocker out that early, and if they do, it is often a mana dork that they are reluctant to give up. Edric should have no problem replacing himself, card advantage-wise.

But the peeping elf gets better. He can grant all of your creatures the same bonus! Green and blue are great colours for evasion (trample and flying/unblockable respectively), and even your own unimpressive critters like mana dorks or [card]Sakura-Tribe Elder[/card] can help fill your hand via an unexpected Edric hitting the board.

But it gets better still! Edric lets your opponents draw cards by hitting any other player than you. Why would a player attack you when he/she can draw cards for dealing combat damage to any other player? It’s almost a win-win for Edric controllers. The only downside is that other players will get to draw off your ability. It’s a good thing Edric players have access to cards like [card]Mind’s Eye[/card] and [card]Consecrated Sphinx[/card] to benefit from their opponents’ draws!

Edric’s colours make it awkward for him to be included in most mainstream tribal decks like Elves, but he would be a perfect leader for a Rogue-themed deck. True to his namesake and flavour, he offers great card advantage and political leverage. Can I get an amen, Vorthoses?

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

My very first Commander deck was a B/W [card]Teysa, Orzhov Scion[/card] tokens deck I assembled well over a year ago, and Vish Kal makes me want to rebuild the list to relive those fond token-y experiences. Seven mana for a 5/5 flying lifelinker is an okay-to-risky investment, but it is Vish Kal’s two other abilities that turn him into a powerhouse.

First, Vish Kal is a sacrifice outlet. This ability gives you value before he even attacks, which is excellent. The fact that his ability is free of mana costs offers a flexibility that one can appreciate only through experience. You can sacrifice fatties to avoid having them stolen or create a token army just to feed Vish Kal. The ability to gain so much life through combat damage is yet another means through which you can gain value from your creature fodder.

But creating a giant flying, lifelinking sac outlet isn’t all you can do with Vish Kal! He can spit out his dinner to shoot down another creature! In a pinch, he can serve as a de-facto [card]Triskelion[/card], letting you indirectly throw your creatures at other creatures to kill them, or chuck massive chunks at opposing fatties to drown them in regurgitated blood (yum!). The -1/-1 ability also gets around regeneration and indestructibility, which is a nice bonus.

The best thing, however, is that everything happens at instant speed. You can mete out a frenzy of combat tricks to kill opposing creatures and pump up Vish Kal, over and over again, not to mention any sacrifice-triggered abilities you can abuse as well (ie. [card]Grave Pact[/card]).

In summary: 7 mana for a 5/5 flying lifelinker: okay. 7 mana for a 5/5 flying lifelinking creature-killing self-pumping sac outlet? That’s Craaaaaaazy Talk!

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Can I say again how much I love the art for the Commander cards so far? Skullbriar has such epic artwork that you can envision players trying to live up to it, trying to make as big of a Skullbriar as humanly (zombie-ly?) possible.

Skullbriar is a very efficient Commander, and I find it hard to see him being included in any other role than as a Commander. He will almost always come out on turn 2 to swing, becoming a 2/2 right off the bat. Haste is such an amazing ability for a Commander. I can easily see him as a 5/5 or greater before he is removed the first time…which brings me to his last ability. His amassed counters carry over after he is sent to the graveyard or Command Zone, which means he comes right back out as a monster with haste for a very low mana cost. That being said, tucking Skullbriar into his owner’s library is probably the worst thing you could do to him, and bouncing him, while not the worst thing, forces the owner to slowly build him back up (although Skullbriar’s haste definitely helps the recovery process).

Skullbriar’s creature types are hardly dismissible, and will likely influence which decks warrant his inclusion. The ability to “bank” +1/+1 counters is unique and valuable, especially if you can generate more of them from other sources, such as [card]Doubling Season[/card] or [card]Forgotten Ancient[/card]. If you can make Skullbriar Hexproof (see what I did there?), he can become quite the powerful little engine.

Basandra, Battle Seraph

Yowza! Wizards is really knocking it out of the park with this new artwork. Only Terese Nielsen could make a red-headed angel with a whip look classy. It’s nice to see more abstract-styled artwork (see [card]Silverskin Armor[/card]) return to Magic.

I wish I were as excited about the card itself. I don’t mean to say Basandra is horrible, but she is less flashy than some of her Legendary counterparts; perhaps a little more streamlined and functional. 5 CMC for a 4/4 flier is par for the course, and the ability to force players to attack with their own creatures is one that bears some political potential and can additionally open the way for your own alpha strike. The most interesting ability, though, is her Linvala-like lockdown “aura”. Having Basandra in play means you’re not subject to blow-outs in combat, a nice boon when a lot of WRx decks revolve around red zone themes.

If you have been following the Mothership, you may also have seen this:

Sol Ring is back! Sol Ring is back! Sol Ring is back!

There has been a fair amount of discussion on this hot addition to the Commander decks (it will be included in all five), but I think this is nothing but good for the format. Revised copies and foil promos won’t be enough to sustain the demand for this card and will keep its price in check. And for those worried that [card]Sol Ring[/card]s will be devalued because of the new card border and uncommon symbol, I guarantee you that new Commander players will learn how powerful and epic this card is, even at uncommon.

What makes the [card]Sol Ring[/card] announcement even more exciting is guessing as to which other cards will be included. If [card]Sol Ring[/card] is fair game, we may see these decks boast a power level unlike any other preconstructed deck previously released. How much can Wizards spoil us Commander players?

Official previews on the Mothership begin June 6, so we may not be guessing much longer. You may hear from me again sooner than you think!

Until next time, stay out of the Command Zone.

Dave Lee
@derfington on Twitter

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