Commander Review: Battle For Zendikar (Red, Green, Multicolored, Artifact, Colorless)
Welcome back to Part Two of our Battle for Zendikar Commander Review. If you missed the first part, be sure to check it out before continuing.
Red
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Probably the legendary I'm most excited for, Zada, Hedron Grinder is a puzzle with multiple solutions. This goblin is part Ink-Treader Nephilim and part Precursor Golem yet plays differently than both of his predecessors. I don't see Zada as the leader of a deck; I think she's better off in the Ally deck or decks that focus on pump spells like Anax and Cymede.
Zada is begging to enable zany combos. Have a handful of creatures out and target Zada with Defiant Strike — BAM! You just drew a bunch of cards for 1-mana! That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure we can do better — much better! I'm very excited to start brewing with her.
Green
Beastcaller Savant
While significantly worse in most decks than Birds of Paradise, Sylvan Caryatid, Lotus Cobra and others, in the few decks that are almost all creatures (Animar, Soul of Elements) or the Allies deck, Beastcaller Savant can be a strong addition.
From Beyond
Awakening Zone just got more interesting! While improving the tokens from 0/1 to 1/1 is not worth the extra mana cost, the fact that you can cash in From Beyond for a bomb makes this enchantment a worthy inclusion in multiple decks. Mono Green decks like Azusa, Lost but Seeking will love another way to fetch up Kozilek, Butcher of Truth after they've depleted their hand ramping out hard and are looking to drop a finisher + refuel. Sacrifice decks that run Awakening Zone may run this as well.
Greenwarden of Murasa
Greenwarden of Murasa is beefy version of Eternal Witness. While getting back two cards is the most value, it's a may effect. So if you'd rather let Greenwarden of Murasa go to the graveyard to fetch out later, you can. While most will prefer Witness for a variety of reasons — cheaper cmc and synergy with Skullclamp being the two biggest — this new elemental can find a home in "fatties matter" lists such as Mayael of the Anima and Xenagos, God of Revels, Elemental decks such as the new Omnath, Locus of Rage or as extra card advantage in colors that need it like Mono Green or Selesnya.
Multicolored
Bring to Light
This is sort of like Wargate, another super versatile tutor that is a staple in any deck that can run it. While Bring to Light cannot fetch lands, artifacts, or enchantments, it can fetch instants and sorceries. Depending on your deck, the latter may be more more desirable. The tutoring is capped at 5cmc and that's only in 5-color decks, but I think Bring to Light is a solid addition in even 3-color decks.
With such versatile and super mana-efficient tutoring, I am positive this is a new staple for 5-color decks and a good addition for many 3-color decks.
Kiora, Master of the Depths
The planeswalker I'm most excited for, Kiora, Master of Depths is potentially amazing for the same reasons as in other constructed formats: her +1 untaps mana dorks and activated abilities, her -2 is sweet sweet card draw in creature-heavy decks and unpicked cards go into the graveyard to fuel graveyard strategies like Reanimation and Delve, and her ultimate wins games in the most stylish way possible (Octofight!!!).
Like Ob Nixilis Reignited, planeswalker hate in Commander does detract from her power potential. However, since you want to jam her into decks that are creature-heavy anyway, the decks that would want her at least have a higher likelihood of having meat shields to protect her. And as odd as it is to say this, she's not an auto-include in Superfriends because she wants to be in a creature-heavy deck to make use of her -2.
March from the Tomb
Super efficient reanimation in the Allies deck. Not much else to say. If you're playing Allies, this is another auto-include.
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
This is pretty much a weak version of Talrand, Sky Summoner. Harsh and dismissive, I know, but it's true. 2/2 flyers are better than animating your lands into 3/3's (or potentially buffing them further). The lands lack evasion and animating them makes them vulnerable to creature removal.
On a positive note, having Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper does open you up to White. You can diversify your instants and sorceries into removal, not just Blue's counter + bounce things (a tactic that some tables can get frustrated with). Noyan is also a neat addition to tribal merfolk under Sygg, River Guide, so that's cool too.
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Ahhh, here he is. The first spoiled Battle for Zendikar card that got all of us Commander players super stoked for the set. Without a doubt, Omnath, Locus of Rage is the splashiest, most obviously powerful Commander card in the card pool. New Omnath is a fine inclusion in RG fattie decks like Xenagos, God of Revels, tribal Elemental decks like Horde of Notions, or (most likely), leading the charge of his own deck like Titania, Protector of Argoth on steroids. In fact, new Omnath may be the best RG commander ever, a title that (in my opinion) Xenagos held for quite a while.
New Omnath does it all: he can quickly fill the board with tons of fatties as Green is the color of land ramp; if you eat a board wipe, you can blow up opposing creatures or just go for the dome. Omnath even enables some serious game-winning combos such as Perilous Forays + Earthcraft; create an elemental, tap it with Earthcraft to untap a land, tap the land and sacrifice the elemental to fetch a land and do 3 damage creating a new elemental, rinse and repeat.
The only downside to New Omnath is his whopping 7-mana cost. That's steep, even for Commander. It will be hard to recast Omnath multiple times — though if any deck can do it, Green can. While I'm not convinced that I want to swap Xenagos to Omnath, I'm certain that he's very powerful and will certainly be the subject of a future Budget Commander article.
Sire of Stagnation
I'm happy this card makes no attempt to rival Consecrated Sphinx in power as the Sphinx is usually the subject of heated debate when people discuss potential bans in Commander. Despite not being as good, Sire of Stagnation is still a wonderful source of card draw stapled onto an impressive body. Exiling two cards at a time is also a welcome boon to mill decks like Phenax, God of Deception and Eldrazi tribal decks that need exiled cards for their processors.
Artifact
Aligned Hedron Network
I have long been a fan of Retribution of the Meek in White decks that do not run a lot of fatties: both my Darien and Zedruu decks use the board wipe to great effect. While I still prefer Retribution in most cases, non-White decks now have access to this unique and cool form of board wipe.
Ironically, this card is very good with the Eldrazi Processor cards as you can put the exiled cards into graveyards to trigger their abilities. Then if the Network is destroyed, your opponents don't get anything back.
Hedron Archive
Hedron Archive produces one less mana than Thran Dynamo for the same cost, but you can cash it in to draw 2 cards later on. I prefer Dynamo, but if you're running a deck that can't get enough mana rocks, Hedron Archive is a fine inclusion. I would first test it out in Mono Red Artifacts as that deck wants to ramp super hard with as many mana rocks as possible but has some difficulties refueling.
Colorless
Bane of Bala Ged, Breaker of Armies, Desolation Twin
When I look at these giant colorless beaters, I think of one deck in particular: Rakdos, Lord of Riots. Having built Rakdos before, I know that colorless fatties can and will be cast for free so these cards are great in there, especially if you're budget-minded.
Conduit of Ruin
A tutor and ramp on a solid body. Conduit of Ruin is an all-around good card that isn't too hard to accomodate in any deck. The ramp works with any creature — not just colorless ones — and all you need is one or two good Eldrazi / artifact creatures in your deck as tutor targets. Eldrazi decks, Rakdos, Lord of Riots, and pretty much any big creature ramp deck will love this.
Oblivion Sower
How many lands does Oblivion Sower have to nab before it becomes worth running? I would say two, especially if there's a chance the lands aren't in your deck's colors. Six mana for a Skyshroud's Claim stapled on to a 5/8 creature sounds awesome to me.
By itself, Sower's own exile trigger is going to nab you an average of 1.5 lands from a typical 38-land Commander deck. But things get really crazy once you factor a few things about this format:
- Graveyard abuse is rampant with decks dedicated to graveyard recursion (Karador, Ghost Chieftain) to random goodstuff cards (Sun Titan). Because of this, most decks will want some way to exile graveyards with cards like Leyline of the Void and Relic of Progenitus.
- Fetchlands are super popular in Commander. They are sacrificed and placed in graveyards, then are exiled as part of the above graveyard hate.
Imagine this common scenario: You're playing a 4-player game. One opponent has been cracking fetchlands, maybe got his Cabal Coffers Strip Mine'd, and has 4 lands in his graveyard. Because he's a Reanimator deck, someone (possibly you) hit his graveyard with a Nihil Spellbomb, exiling the 4 lands. Then you play Oblivion Sower, exiling the top 4 cards of his library, hitting another land and putting 5 lands into play. HOLY CRAP! 5 lands and a 5/8 for just 6-mana!!!
This card is solid by itself, but bonkers in the right deck. Mill decks that keep opposing graveyards exiled like Phenax, God of Deception will LOVE this card for the absurd amounts of land this baby ramps out. This will be an all-star in the Eldrazi deck as well, of course, becoming one of the biggest reasons to play the deck in the first place.
Scour from Existence
Not terribly exciting, but some decks like Mono Black have difficulties dealing with certain permanents like enchantments/artifacts and there's limited targeted removal for them to choose from — Spine of Ish Sah and maybe one or two others. Scour is a new option. Like I said, not exciting, but at least it's there.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger takes his place in Commander as one of the best Eldrazi, and one of the best finishers printed so far. I believe he's overall stronger than his older version, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: cheaper cost and exiles TWO permanents is a more than fair trade for the lost Annihilator 4. He can and will see play in any deck that was interested in running the older version.
Let's talk about is his attack trigger. While it's probably rare that he'll deck a 99-card Commander deck by himself before being dealt with, exiling 20 cards is still a big deal. First off, that's a fair chance to exile important combo pieces your opponents need; your buddy's Exquisite Blood isn't so scary when you know you've exiled his Sanguine Bond already. Second, 20 cards is still a hefty chunk of the library, which means Mill decks will love his hard work ethic; I'll be happy to jam him into (you guessed it) Phenax, God of Deception. Finally, Eldrazi decks: if you're serious about tribal Eldrazi, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is by far the best engine to get your Eldrazi Processors rolling.
Take a moment to contemplate this scenario: you attack with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exiling 20 of your opponents cards. Then you play Oblivion Sower, exiling 4 more cards, then put 7 exiled lands into play on your side. Sweet, sweet value. Mmmm...
... oh, where was I? Yes, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is worth the hype. He's awesome. Buy it, play it, love it.
Void Winnower
This card is crazy. It's like a less mean Iona, Shield of Emeria but it always affects all of your opponents! Jeez. It's super powerful, super epic, and just such a cool and unique ability that we've never seen before. Big Ramp decks, Reanimation, Eldrazi tribal, Rakdos, Lord of Riots, and other decks should seriously consider running this fattie.
The Top 5
It's super hard to cut down to just five cards, but these are the ones that I am most excited about testing:
5. Emeria Shepherd is a sweet "Sun Titan" value engine that does gross things in GW (Sakura-Tribe Elder, etc.).
4. Smothering Abomination is one of the best new engines for Sacrifice decks since it triggers off tokens.
3. Oblivion Sower is super efficient ramp without any effort, but in the right deck (Mill, tribal Eldrazi) it will snag a gross amount of lands and make you laugh like a madman.
2. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is amazing value for any deck that can pay the 10-mana and its attack trigger will be a huge boon for both tribal Eldrazi and Mill decks.
1. Omnath, Locus of Rage is one of the best RG legendaries ever printed and works well both as your commander or part of the 99.
Special Mention: Bring to Light, Void Winnower, From Beyond, Conduit of Ruin, Zada, Hedron Grinder
While not as exciting as the above list, I do expect the new Battle for Zendikar dual lands to see the most play out of the lot; they are pretty much an auto-include in any 2-color deck and solid in more colors too.
That's All, Folks!
There's a ton of sweet cards to get excited about. I'd love to hear what you guys think: any card evaluations you disagree with? Any cards I left out that you think deserve a mention? Let me know!
Follow me on Twitter @BudgetCommander for notifications on when the next article is up, updates on future decks, and input for what to work on next. Thanks for reading!
