Commander Ban List Update: Effective June 17th, 2011

So yeah earlier today on the Commander forums it was announced a specific dragon was getting unbanned, let's take a look at the announcement made by the admins there at the forum.

EFFECTIVE 17 Jun 2011 (Early, to coincide with Launch Parties)
BANNED
No Changes
UNBANNED
Worldgorger Dragon
We don't unban cards lightly, but it's time for Worldgorger Dragon to get out of the penalty box. It is no longer a particularly strong example of unwelcome, format-warping, combo-play style, but simply another infinite-combo piece. Those applications are narrow enough that it should not cause problems for social players, and the type of player who wants to play this kind of infinite combo isn't going to play a more fun deck because Worldgorger Dragon is available. Thus, since it's a goal to keep the list as short as possible and focused on more fun-oriented games, we believe it can come off the list.
We'd also like to take the chance to thank the folks on the various forums for their continued input and commentary to and support for the Rules Committee. The broader community has many voices, and we do our best to hear them all.

Seriously are they kidding in this one, Worldgorger Dragon is unbanned in Commander what the hell man seriously, this is getting insane, wait this change occurs as the commander decks come out, for those who don't know what Worldgorger does check this out.

Yeah so it's a 7/7 beast of a dragon that combos well with Animate Dead to produce a seriously nasty combo which can produce a near infinte amount of mana a turn to cast a Comet Storm for 40 per player, kicked 5 times as long as you got stuff like Mox Diamond, Mox Emerald and hell even Mox Ruby which happen to be pieces of power 9 what is power 9 i'll explain later, check out this article to see how the combo works and interactions required for said combination of cards Worldgorger Combo well that pretty much sums up this update, dear god help us all when this combos off now, thanks boys at EDH forums, you just screwed us all again, this is vergil signing off.

Commander Update Part 3: Why must Mechanics be so stupid

Yes recently aka yesterday we got ourselves a huge thing going on with the new mechanic of Commander which is Join Forces we got ourselves a card featuring said mechanic via MTGcommander.net and a new creature via DailyMTG.com let's take a look at the mechanic card called Alliance of Arms

Right away you notice the obvious stuff of the mechanic being featured here or attempted to at least, Join forces is supposed to be a mechanic which resets the game after a nasty effect like Wrath of God or a Damnation in that matter, for 1 White mana you net yourself a sorcery which does the following "Each player may pay any amount of mana, starting with you. Each player puts X 1/1 White Soldier tokens onto the battlefield where X is the amount paid this way" personally this is a decent way to get all your dudes back after a nasty wrath effect as i previously mentioned and is a decent card but they could have done a little better with this, though i cannot complain, let's take a look at the DailyMTG preview of Sewer Nemesis.

So as a 4 CMC creature and a rare when it enters the battlefield you get to choose a player, it's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in the chosen player's graveyard, whenever the chosen player casts a spell, that player puts the top card of his or her library in the graveyard, not bad and it starts out with whatever amount of cards are in the person's graveyard, EDH wise this is decent but again lackluster sure you want to have a new deck type in EDH in the form of mill, but it's not viable no matter how much you try, sure you got stuff like Keening Stone, Archive trap and hell even Nemesis of Reason to help the job but in a singleton format this sucks. I would so pass on this card if i were you, it's not really that good when you think about and whenever the chosen player dies this becomes useless, so considering that you'd rather run in a Black/Blue mill/graveyard build nothing more, well that's about it for this one so till next time this is vergil signing off.

Commander Update Part 1: New Promos

So the time has pretty much arrived when the new commander cards will slowly be spoiled and well promos are nice and but we have actual photos of the cards and what they do observe the viewing globe and take a look at Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Nasty eh let's examine him he costs 1 black and 1 green mana to summon, has haste, gets +1/+1 counters when he deals combat damage to players, counters remain on him as it moves to any other zone but the library or hand and starts as a 1/1, nasty seriously nasty as a general, he's a zombie elemental so he fits right into either and or deck type, he's a bad ass when it comes down to it personally, as well as the fact i love black/green generals which cause massive damage and that most of the time, onto the next one in the form of Edric, Spymaster of Trest.

You have to be kidding me a elf rogue with 2/2 power and toughness, costs 1, a blue and a green to summon, whenever a creature deals combat damage to a opponent, that creature's controller gets to draw a card, as well as being a legendary creature, is this seriously better then Momir Vig, Simic Visionary. Hell yes it is, not only does it reward for combat tricks but itself is a creature that allows for massive card draw, no standard evergreen keywords on this dude but he don't need none to be effective during combat, onto the final general in the form of a nasty White/Black vampire known as Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter. 

Oh my dear god, this thing is utterly so much fun, flying and lifelink, very cute wizards very cute, you sacrifice a creature and put X +1/+1 counters on this dude where X is the sacrificed creature's power, so this essentially means you can make this dude a 20/20 in the late game with recursion. Removing all those counters though gives another creature -1/-1 per counter removed this way, so this is the field clearing ability for that matter at a 5/5 balance of power and toughness seriously this is a 5/5 you're just asking for a bad boy vampire for sure, note it's only a rare and seems to me like this would end up being useful for a Black/White build around this dude since there are a lot of cards which do so.

That's about all she wrote for this one, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Commander Launch Party Information and Update

So with just under a month to go as of this point, the new commander decks are sure to please the eyes however we received information on the launch parties themselves which take place on June 17th-20th in local game stores all over the place, let's get some of the information outta the way.

Commander Facts and Information this is where you will find all the relevant information about this format, there are 5 promotion cards being given out for this event they are as follows

- Basandra, Battle Seraph [Card was already previewed last article, found here -> Basandra Preview]
- Edric, Spymaster of Trest 
- Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
- Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
- Nin, the Pain Artist [Card was previewed by wizards of the coast]

These five also go with their enemy deck colors so you will see one of these five depending on which one of the 5 starter decks you are given which are found here in this article Commander Decks and Information which i wrote about a month ago, i do not know which of these promos are for which yet, but when i do i will be sure to note it in this blog, let's move onto some of the more impressive details

During the event, you will be given a achievement card the achievement card will look a little something like this

It also has ten different achievements on it, for various different things like What does this one do? which is basically rewarded for particpating in the event, or Command Tower which is a new type of card to cast your general with specifically, i will list the achievements down below

-  What does this one do?
-  Command Tower
-  Second in Command
-  Get into it
-  Join Forces
-  Kaalia's Trifecta
-  Riku's Mirror Gallery
-  Ghave's Spore Cloud
-  The Gifts of Zedron
-  Hunger of the Mimeoplasm


Note the new keyword "Join Forces" this is a emphasis on teamwork against other players, if you play a spell with this, you can pay whatever the Join Forces cost is and get the secondary effect of the spell, one of the new ways to emphasize the new commander subtype format, which starts basically June 17th and runs all weekend long, check your LGS for more information, though if your in the toronto area, be sure to go to 401 Games at 401 yonge street on college that's where i'll be on the 19th of June playing in this event, if you want to meet me just ask for my real name in the comments below.

That about covers it for this article, stay tuned i'll keep you folks posted on the new commander information which will probably start in June, till next time though this is vergil signing off.

EDH - Basandra, Battle Seraph

So perhaps the biggest hit yesterday was the fact a new EDH general was announced for the upcoming commander decks which start selling on June 17th, 2011, want to see the general itself let's get to the big reveal

Here she is Basandra, Battle Seraph she costs 5 mana 3, a white and a red, is a legendary angel, with flying of course, during the combat step she prevents combat tricks like Giant Growth, etc from being cast and her final ability is Pay 1 red mana, target creature attacks this turn if able, though the power and toughness is unknown let's examine the card as a whole

First is the mana cost, for a EDH general 5 mana is roughly well balanced she fits into any Boros style deck with a bunch of small dudes that make a lot of impact, she has some decent potential in other deck types, prefereably a Razia, Boros Archangel EDH deck as a secondary general, or even a deck that has no real big bomb threat, this i feel is perfect mana cost wise and is a well suited legacy/vintage legal card when it comes into retail as of this June. Secondly, the abilites, flying is a given with all angels, there are no angels i can think of without flying and this is a given so evasion is a must for most of these standard angel cards, Players not being able to cast spells during the combat step is a nice way to control the game as a whole, you've got potential for some serious threat level there and combat steps this thing is nasty i must admit, but i never expected it to have the prevention effect much like Ethersworn Canonist which is from the Shards Block. The final ability of Basandra is a rather simple one, make things attack you, this way you can pull a end of turn removal spell and banish the attacking creature, in a format like EDH this is a rare sight since you are only allowed one of each spell or creature, but in a regular casual format this is a beast of a card that makes anything look sick, i'm hoping that in the future the power and toughness ratio of this angel is revealed from the promos, however that being said that's all for now, i'll have more information on all of this as time goes on, so till next time magic fans, this is vergil signing off.

Commander Decks and New Information

So today's arcana wielded a very unique surprise the new commander decks which go on sale June 17th for 29,99 US have been officially unveiled and wow, they are five different tri color pie slots, let's see them for instance in this article

Do my eyes deceive me this first one has a Planar Chaos Dragon on the front of it, Oros, the Avenger he does fit this particular color pie of Red/Black/White which is the deck Heavenly Inferno, we also see 2 more creatures on the front which have parts of their names covered but i did recognize Oros though which stands for something at least, the next deck has a flavour i like personally

This deck is known as Mirror Mastery and has Intet, the Dreamer as it's dragon for the color pie, we also see a legendary Human wizard and some form of plant or ooze i cannot tell, though a good thing is each deck comes with 15 new commander cards made just for this format, which is nice you get a full 100 card deck for just about 35 bucks, not bad next on the list is the 3rd commander deck which is known as Counterpunch

Here we see the Black/white/green color pie filled with Teneb, the Harvester, Karador, Ghost Chieftain and Ghave, Guru of Spores which are the 3 legendary creatures on the front of these, this is the counterpunch deck and will feature cards that fill this particular color piece which i have no idea what wizards might have put in these, onto something more appealing deck number 4 known as Political Puppets

Political Puppets is the Red/White/Blue piece of the color pie and features Numot, the Devastator as it's legendary dragon, we also see a Minotaur Monk which it's name is covered and a mysterious third legendary which i am unable to identify but i am sure it's good personally, onto the final deck now which is known as Devour for Power

Devour for Power fills the Blue/Green/Black piece of the color pie and features Vorosh, the Hunter as it's legendary dragon from time spiral which is nice since wizards seems to love using them over and over and over again but that's ok i love seeing them reprinted personally since i am a big fan of dragon creatures in this game, we see a Ooze that is called The Mimeoplasm and another legendary creature we cannot make out weird but ok i'll go with it for this article and not be aware i probably missed it but it's got Deathtouch so it must be good.

Anyhoo that's this article since i don't have anything more to write about and all that, plus this was the biggest piece of magic news for a while, till spoiler season kicks in so till next time, remember EDH games can take a few hours make sure to have the time to play em, see ya later folks.