Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Top 10 Gatecrash Cards for Commander - Part 2

 5. Gruul Ragebeast

Gruul Ragebeast

While this card might not be quite as powerful as Warstorm Surge since it can’t deal damage to players and is more vulnerable to destruction, it should be an all-star at picking off all those annoying creatures your opponents have one by one. It starts killing creatures right away when it comes into play and only gets better from there, like an Aura Shards for your creatures. It seems that if this guy remains unanswered for long enough, you should be able to maintain a strong board advantage.

4. Sepulchral Primordial

Sepulchral Primordial

Want an instant army and Grave titan simply doesn’t give you big enough creatures? Sepulchral Primordial is your man/woman/mossy robot thing. Early game this card is a little weak in that you want to make sure there are some solid threats in the graveyard before casting it, so this card will probably be best with grindy generals that use lots of graveyard recursion like Karador. However, in almost any game that goes on long enough without a ton of repeated graveyard disruption, you’ll be happy to cast this guy. Even getting a few value creatures like Solemn Simulacrum or Trinket Mage from each person graveyard will be more than worth it and it only gets more insane from there.

3. Prime Speaker Zegana

Prime Speaker Zegana

Another home run general that rewards you with massive card advantage for playing a bunch of creatures and specifically big ones. With the right deck, she is capable of being both huge card advantage and a legitimate voltron threat. She is a game-ender in her own right, but unlike many generals, if they kill her it really isn’t that bad because you have just reloaded by drawing a bunch of cards. She works best with a creature with 4+ power and gets really crazy with something as big as Terrastodon on the board. Often holding her back to play her later in the game could be an asset since you will avoid the first round of wrath effects that typically take out people’s first time playing their generals. With the huge amount of card advantage she can provide, many decks in these colors trying to win with creatures will be playing Zegana. 

2. Sylvan Primordial

Sylvan Primordial

So let me get this straight: Whereas Terastodon destroys 3 noncreature permanents and gives my opponents 3 elephants, Sylvan Primordial destroys multiple noncreature permanents and lets me search up forests?!? Granted it is a smaller body and 6 power for 7 mana is pretty underwhelming, but the reach is not something to be overlooked, since many generals and many of the best creatures in the format have flying. Green just lost some power with the banning of Primeval Titan, and while this is no Prime Time, it is close. Expect to be seeing this card a lot.

1. Aurelia, the Warleader

Aurelia, the Warleader

Aurelia is a tremendous commander that pushes aggro in commander in all the right ways, encouraging you to play tons of creatures and equipment and attack for tons of damage every turn. Combining her with double strike creatures, creatures with triggers when the attack or deal damage to an opponent, lifelink creatures, or even just big creatures should win you the game quickly. The fact that she has haste and a fairly low mana cost really makes her shine as a general by continually staying aggressive. Outside of that, she fits right in with any aggressive creature strategy and it is great to see red/white, what has often been considered to be the worst color combination in commander, getting some love.

4 comments:

  1. I like this portion of the list though I would probably have Sylvan Primordial at number 1. I'd have to say this is pretty much an auto-include in any deck with Green. Aurelia is the shit but she is just a 3/4 so I'd probably switch those two. It is sweet that WR has a pretty good commander now.

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  2. I like Ragebeast but the trigger is not optional, meaning if you've got a small(ish) creature you want to play and no one has a smaller creature, it will die. Unlike Warstorm Surge the creatures fight, so it makes it easier to lose one of your own creatures. Certainly you can build your deck with that in mind, although he's not a general so I'm not sure how much you want to warp a deck around one card.

    I agree with Joey putting Sylvan Primordial at #1. Is W/R really considered that bad? I feel like Gisela is as good, if not better. But that's like, just my opinion man.

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  3. I didn't notice that the Ragebeast trigger is mandatory. That makes it considerably worse, enough to knock it off the list. Why did they make it that way? It would have been so much fun if it wasn't. Granted, this card still does have potential but takes much more building around now, something that isn't that worth it for the upside (I mean just play Warstorm Surge).

    I think I have come around and agree on Sylvan Primordial being number 1. That card is just incredible. I still think Aurelia is really good though to warrant being number 2, but some of it probably depends upon playstyle. Gisela is an awesome creatures, but Aurelia is a considerably better general. She costs much less and has close to the same potential to doubling your damage and killing your opponents quickly. Granted, Aurelia does not prevent damage to you, but I personally would rather trade speed and sweet attack steps for the damage prevention which makes the games goes slower and I appreciate that Aurelia allows for a more aggressive attacking strategy something that most other generals don't lead themselves to as well. Brion and Jor Kadeen are both decent generals, but Aurelia now gives Boros a top teir general above and beyond the rest (If you can't tell, she is going to be the new general in my Brion deck).

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  4. Umm, so apparently I need to read what cards do before I write a set review . . . I was assuming Aurelia costed 4 this whole time and I just noticed her mana cost.

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