It's too early to call these a bust. There are interesting commanders and some sweet new cards. The reprints are fine to mediocre. Seedborn Muse is welcome, but they could have printed Solemn Simulacrum or Altar of Dementia or even some jank like cyc;e duals, the Jace that mills people, or even the new Lazav since it cares about the grave.
I'm obviously interested in the Rakdos deck, since it hits right notes in my Xantcha, but probably singles again this year.
I really feel that they should axe the Commander pre-cons for a period and just do a booster box of Commander staples. Tack on an unwieldy draft format if you must, but just drop a reprint box with staples (Solemn, Failing that, some other limited product that can insert them back, such as Battlebond or Conspiracy.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
I don't think they would have reprinted Ixidor, Reality Sculptor because it's symmetrical. I'm not sure that card is getting a new edition any time soon. Same thing with Dream Chisel. They just don't favor those kinds of cards anymore.
Wizards is greedy, they will nickle and dime us for every little thing, and for there to be good reprints, they would raise the price. they claim to not care about or recognize the secondary market, which is the funniest joke they have ever told. they will very carefully include just enough value for you to buy it, and not a penny more. if you want good reprints, buy a $10 Masters set pack, non-lottery products are not the place for that because it generates more money to make people have to crack packs for the chase cards.
Private Mod Note
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Project Booster Fun makes it less fun to open a booster.
Wizards is greedy, they will nickle and dime us for every little thing, and for there to be good reprints, they would raise the price. they claim to not care about or recognize the secondary market, which is the funniest joke they have ever told. they will very carefully include just enough value for you to buy it, and not a penny more. if you want good reprints, buy a $10 Masters set pack, non-lottery products are not the place for that because it generates more money to make people have to crack packs for the chase cards.
This is a very cynical outlook, but it's certainly not untrue. Wizards being greedy is how they keep the lights on. They couldn't exist if they weren't taking advantage of people who buy lots of product (often just to do it). Capitalism isn't for nice people.
That said, they are also trying to give you your money's worth in a precon. Not in boosters, but in precons, everything is out in the open. They at least want it to feel like you are getting something. Maybe they didn't achieve that in this deck. They aren't ever going to give you what you really want though. Only a fool would hope to see a $38 Oracle of Mul Daya in a $40 box.
And, yeah, obviously they pay attention to the secondary market. Duh. They couldn't ignore it if they wanted to. People complain too loudly. And they don't want to ignore it. That would be ignoring the entire concept of high-value reprints to sell product. That's like telling a hungry tiger it can eat your legs, but it has to ignore the rest of you.
By the way, if they were ignoring the secondary market, the internet would have no room whatsoever to complain about the lack of valuable reprints. If they're really ignoring that, they wouldn't have even noticed, nor would they have any reason to feel bad.
WotC are mercurial with reprints (and everything else, do we not remember no Core Sets ever again and Standard rotating twice a year except not really), one day they put Verdant Catacombs and Windswept Heath in $20 precons, the next they can't afford to put a single $10+ reprint in their $40 decks.
[quote from="Melkor »" url="/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/813030-c19-another-bust?comment=29"]Only a fool would hope to see a $38 Oracle of Mul Daya in a $40 box.
Funny thing is in C14 Wurmcoil Engine was reprinted in Daretti's deck and Engine was just over $20 at the time and the decks were $30 (if I'm correct on the price.) They can easily do it, but they just choose not to.
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
No where in my OP was there a complaint. I stated facts, asked questions, and asked opinions. Critical analysis and thought provoking discussion is essential to a quality product and also applies to many positive factors outside of MTG in life.
Yes, it is likely I'll be personally skipping this year of the Commander decks. But there is still always room to discuss how things can be better. There's nothing "entitled" about asking questions and bringing a productive conversation to light. You're literally the one complaining right now.
I don't know if your post is targeted at OP. If it isn't, it would probably be a good idea to use the "Quote" feature to avoid any confusion.
well the second deck in the batch does already have a planty of more interesting and kinda more powerful cards than the one from yesterday, maybe we just saw the weak one of the batch.
2014, 2016 and the new cards in 2018 were the only products I really liked. O-Kagachi in 2017 was nice, but that series was plagued by Eminence.
As a die-hard Kamigawa fan who had waited for O-Kagachi to be printed for over ten years... what we got wasn't O-Kagachi. I'm worried now we won't ever get a real O-Kagachi.
The art was awesome, though.
Agreed on both counts. 2017 was hardly my favorite year, but it was still miles ahead of this one. The odd number years are always a miss for some reason.
There are a couple of new cards so far that I dig (notably the goblin pirate and the GB troll) but the majority of it has felt underwhelming. The "Keyword Commanders" that were spoiled last week have some interesting uses, but they feel one dimensional to me. What are you going to do with the Morph and Flashback commanders outside of stuff them with the very best spells with those keywords attached, or the best cards that interact with those keywords? That's it. There's not much more room for deck innovation beyond that.
Just for example, I've built Kynaios & Tiro of Meletis as both an Enchantress deck and a Landfall deck, two archetypes that had nothing to do with the precon that they came from. I want to see the kind of commanders that we can approach in multiple ways instead of just acquiring all of the best cards for an archetype and calling it a day.
It does seem that the effort and quality of the commander products have gone down steadily as we've seen an increase in "commander plants" among the other regular set releases, but that might be just some tin foil hat theory.
Agreed on both counts. 2017 was hardly my favorite year, but it was still miles ahead of this one. The odd number years are always a miss for some reason.
2014 has the least popular commanders of any precon series, by far.
2016 was the most popular, so you've got 1/3 right.
2018 was the second least popular, and the lowest reprint value.
You're complaining about the odd years?
This set looks awesome to me so far, btw. Lots of cards that I've never considered for commander will be purchased. That's a good sign imo.
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
No where in my OP was there a complaint. I stated facts, asked questions, and asked opinions. Critical analysis and thought provoking discussion is essential to a quality product and also applies to many positive factors outside of MTG in life.
Yes, it is likely I'll be personally skipping this year of the Commander decks. But there is still always room to discuss how things can be better. There's nothing "entitled" about asking questions and bringing a productive conversation to light. You're literally the one complaining right now.
I don't know if your post is targeted at OP. If it isn't, it would probably be a good idea to use the "Quote" feature to avoid any confusion.
If you weren't complaining, then why were you heated enough to respond? If it's not about you, ignore it and move on. That said, I've been here for years buddy, don't let the new account fool you. I've seen this song and dance a million times over. What I will say is that when you start by asking a loaded question like your OP without anything close to the full information to actually judge it, that looks like complaining to me that you want plausible deniability for.
well the second deck in the batch does already have a planty of more interesting and kinda more powerful cards than the one from yesterday, maybe we just saw the weak one of the batch.
Lo and behold the wonders of having a fuller picture before jumping to conclusions.
There are a couple of new cards so far that I dig (notably the goblin pirate and the GB troll) but the majority of it has felt underwhelming. The "Keyword Commanders" that were spoiled last week have some interesting uses, but they feel one dimensional to me. What are you going to do with the Morph and Flashback commanders outside of stuff them with the very best spells with those keywords attached, or the best cards that interact with those keywords? That's it. There's not much more room for deck innovation beyond that.
Just for example, I've built Kynaios & Tiro of Meletis as both an Enchantress deck and a Landfall deck, two archetypes that had nothing to do with the precon that they came from. I want to see the kind of commanders that we can approach in multiple ways instead of just acquiring all of the best cards for an archetype and calling it a day.
I don't think having strongly-indicated synergies is necessarily a bad thing. Madness, morph, and flashback all saw at best minor usage in commander. Now suddenly those cards, and strategies around those cards, will become possible. That's a lot more interesting imo than commanders that slot into existing archetypes with minor tweaks. I think it's pretty hard to do that without making the card pretty tailor-made for a certain strategy. Feather comes to mind as a fairly pigeon-holed commander that doesn't actually spell out a specific keyword - but most feather decks will share many of the same cards anyway.
And while sure, every Kadena deck will probably be playing a lot of the same morphs as every other Kadena deck - but it's not as though you're just going to put the top 60 morphs into a deck and call it a day (I guess you could if you wanted to?). You'll probably use 30 slots for morphs, but that still leaves half your deck open - you could play it as control with lots of counters and removal, taking advantage of her ability to create board presence without paying for it. You could play it as combo with lots of ways to give flash and bounce your creatures. You could build it as aggro with anthems to buff your face-down creatures and try to overwhelm. The point is, you've got options. I really enjoyed my Feather deck - it shared a lot of the same cards as other feather decks, but it subtly emphasized different things, and I think it was better for it. There's still innovation to be had, even if the starting place is pretty obvious.
And if you really want something a little less directed, it looks like the secondary commanders are a fair bit more open-ended.
There are a couple of new cards so far that I dig (notably the goblin pirate and the GB troll) but the majority of it has felt underwhelming. The "Keyword Commanders" that were spoiled last week have some interesting uses, but they feel one dimensional to me. What are you going to do with the Morph and Flashback commanders outside of stuff them with the very best spells with those keywords attached, or the best cards that interact with those keywords? That's it. There's not much more room for deck innovation beyond that.
Just for example, I've built Kynaios & Tiro of Meletis as both an Enchantress deck and a Landfall deck, two archetypes that had nothing to do with the precon that they came from. I want to see the kind of commanders that we can approach in multiple ways instead of just acquiring all of the best cards for an archetype and calling it a day.
It does seem that the effort and quality of the commander products have gone down steadily as we've seen an increase in "commander plants" among the other regular set releases, but that might be just some tin foil hat theory.
Morph Deck Synergizes with manisfest...at least
Flashback Deck has space open for Jump Start, Retrace, and other casting from the GY strategies...they are no THAT narrow
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
Seriously, I don't know what would happen if there weren't people looking to whine about other people whining.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
Seriously, I don't know what would happen if there weren't people looking to whine about other people whining.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
There are a couple of new cards so far that I dig (notably the goblin pirate and the GB troll) but the majority of it has felt underwhelming. The "Keyword Commanders" that were spoiled last week have some interesting uses, but they feel one dimensional to me. What are you going to do with the Morph and Flashback commanders outside of stuff them with the very best spells with those keywords attached, or the best cards that interact with those keywords? That's it. There's not much more room for deck innovation beyond that.
Just for example, I've built Kynaios & Tiro of Meletis as both an Enchantress deck and a Landfall deck, two archetypes that had nothing to do with the precon that they came from. I want to see the kind of commanders that we can approach in multiple ways instead of just acquiring all of the best cards for an archetype and calling it a day.
I don't think having strongly-indicated synergies is necessarily a bad thing. Madness, morph, and flashback all saw at best minor usage in commander. Now suddenly those cards, and strategies around those cards, will become possible. That's a lot more interesting imo than commanders that slot into existing archetypes with minor tweaks. I think it's pretty hard to do that without making the card pretty tailor-made for a certain strategy. Feather comes to mind as a fairly pigeon-holed commander that doesn't actually spell out a specific keyword - but most feather decks will share many of the same cards anyway.
And while sure, every Kadena deck will probably be playing a lot of the same morphs as every other Kadena deck - but it's not as though you're just going to put the top 60 morphs into a deck and call it a day (I guess you could if you wanted to?). You'll probably use 30 slots for morphs, but that still leaves half your deck open - you could play it as control with lots of counters and removal, taking advantage of her ability to create board presence without paying for it. You could play it as combo with lots of ways to give flash and bounce your creatures. You could build it as aggro with anthems to buff your face-down creatures and try to overwhelm. The point is, you've got options. I really enjoyed my Feather deck - it shared a lot of the same cards as other feather decks, but it subtly emphasized different things, and I think it was better for it. There's still innovation to be had, even if the starting place is pretty obvious.
And if you really want something a little less directed, it looks like the secondary commanders are a fair bit more open-ended.
You make a fair point that there's not a dedicated commander that aligns with those particular strategies. I still would have liked to see a little more innovation on Kadena other than cost reduction and card draw. Sure, it's powerful, but there's Animar who does the cost reduction angle a little better and there are plenty of card draw engines these days that synergize with playing creatures.
Maybe something like "whenever you turn a creature face up, you may turn another creature face down" or "pay xyz: exchange control of target face down permanent you control and a permanent that an opponent controls". Something a little off the wall that would also make good use of manifest mechanics.
You make a fair point that there's not a dedicated commander that aligns with those particular strategies. I still would have liked to see a little more innovation on Kadena other than cost reduction and card draw. Sure, it's powerful, but there's Animar who does the cost reduction angle a little better and there are plenty of card draw engines these days that synergize with playing creatures.
Maybe something like "whenever you turn a creature face up, you may turn another creature face down" or "pay xyz: exchange control of target face down permanent you control and a permanent that an opponent controls". Something a little off the wall that would also make good use of manifest mechanics.
I think Kadena is probably my least favorite of the 4 design-wise. "When you do X draw a card" always felt like the least interesting way to motivate an archetype.
Anje and Savinne I think are pretty cool, though. They aren't super innovative in their design, but I think they'll play out in really fun ways.
Well, for me personally this year is a bust. I have no problem admitting this set may be for others, and that's fine. I was never fond of mechanics-driven design. Commander is a place to get Vorthos cards, an opportunity to see various planes such as Kamigawa and Lorwyn, past characters, and fill in deficiencies with certain archetypes while delivering needed staple reprints. I am not seeing much of that this year, forcing the designs around (what in my opinion are) lackluster mechanics resulting in random unknown legends, no tribal or archetype support outside of the narrow focus on a specific mechanic, and not much in the way of flavor (I'll grant you Anje). I mean these decks are 3-color decks. Throw a Solemn Simulacrum into all of them. Throw a Cylonic Rift into anything with Blue. IDK. I'm just not feeling it.
Not that I cared for these legends, but I did expect to see Hal and Alena, the UB Angel Sister, and others this year.
I mean, we got gerrard and volrath, and we're getting 2 more famous legends of yore iirc.
Maybe in years past people who know the lore have been "omg it's (the mimeoplasm|the shattergang brothers|kalemne|Breya|Inalla|Gyrus|etc|etc|etc)" but I've always been going "who the hell are all these people?" Except 2014...which was also the least popular year for commander, lol.
In my opinion, it is pathetic, if Wizard fail to manage a product without outstanding reprints, especially for the most popular MTG format. Based on my previous experience, all the chased decks were the ones with brilliant new cards, like True-Name Nemesis, Teferi's Protection and so on.
For Wizards, one piece of great reprint, let's say Wurmcoil Engine, may not be attractive enough for Experienced players to spend $40. Most of them may still prefer to buy singles, that may not be a bad thing, since for each Teferi's Protection floating around, one pre-con was sold.
On the other hand, will a new players with modest collection, prefer a $20 card to a dozen of $2 ~ $5 ones ?
I did not say on the current stage I am satisfied with C19. I am sort of disappointed with those underwhelming new commanders but not lack of quality reprints.
Seriously, there are times I don't know what would happen if Magic players were given nothing to whine about. Magic is releasing ludicrous amount of products in a year. Don't like these? Wait a few months and see what the Brawl decks look like and if there's anything you want out of those. At this point, when there's a product I don't really want I'm almost grateful because it means it's one less thing I have to worry about where my Magic budget is concerned.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
Gavin Verhey HIMSELF admitted last years decks were underwhelming in terms of reprints, so if a Wizards employee ADMITS a mediocre product, why can’t you? You confuse “entitlement” with REASONABLE expectations to not receive yet another mediocre product. Gavin Verhey himself also acknowledged the players complaints were heard and indicated that would be remedied this year, and so far, we’ve not seen ANY evidence of this through the first two decks, although there’s still quite a bit to reveal. I for one don’t like it when someone tells me one thing and does another, especially when it comes to addressing concerns.
There are plenty of midprice staples that could use more printings. NO ONE IS ASKING FOR, OR EXPECTING $25 or $30 singles. There are however tons of staples in the $7-$12 range that people would love to see.
Now, not all these cards may fit within the themes we’re getting, but a great many of them are very neutral in their applications. And, maybe we’ll still see some of these, particularly Anointed Procession and Parallel Lives when we get to that deck.
You say people are entitled. I say, have higher standards and stop settling.
You say people are entitled. I say, have higher standards and stop settling.
I mean, some of us don't care about reprints. I don't, at all. As long as I like the new cards, I don't care if the rest of the deck is draft chaff.
Not saying you aren't entitled to care about reprint value, but people don't HAVE to care about it in order to "have standards".
So far I like the design of most of the new commanders, Anje and Savinne in particular although the alt commanders also seem pretty cool. For me 2017 was the biggest bust year - tribal decks rarely interest me. But there's something for everyone.
I'm obviously interested in the Rakdos deck, since it hits right notes in my Xantcha, but probably singles again this year.
I really feel that they should axe the Commander pre-cons for a period and just do a booster box of Commander staples. Tack on an unwieldy draft format if you must, but just drop a reprint box with staples (Solemn, Failing that, some other limited product that can insert them back, such as Battlebond or Conspiracy.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Sterling Grove?Collective Restraint?Solitary Confinement?Price of Glory?Oversold Cemetery?Urza's Filter?Mana Maze?Hunting Grounds?Chainer, Dementia Master?Cryptic Gateway? Nobody wants to play weird stuff like that, everyone wants their Devoid, Outlast, and Inspired reprints!
That said, they are also trying to give you your money's worth in a precon. Not in boosters, but in precons, everything is out in the open. They at least want it to feel like you are getting something. Maybe they didn't achieve that in this deck. They aren't ever going to give you what you really want though. Only a fool would hope to see a $38 Oracle of Mul Daya in a $40 box.
And, yeah, obviously they pay attention to the secondary market. Duh. They couldn't ignore it if they wanted to. People complain too loudly. And they don't want to ignore it. That would be ignoring the entire concept of high-value reprints to sell product. That's like telling a hungry tiger it can eat your legs, but it has to ignore the rest of you.
By the way, if they were ignoring the secondary market, the internet would have no room whatsoever to complain about the lack of valuable reprints. If they're really ignoring that, they wouldn't have even noticed, nor would they have any reason to feel bad.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Funny thing is in C14 Wurmcoil Engine was reprinted in Daretti's deck and Engine was just over $20 at the time and the decks were $30 (if I'm correct on the price.) They can easily do it, but they just choose not to.
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
No where in my OP was there a complaint. I stated facts, asked questions, and asked opinions. Critical analysis and thought provoking discussion is essential to a quality product and also applies to many positive factors outside of MTG in life.
Yes, it is likely I'll be personally skipping this year of the Commander decks. But there is still always room to discuss how things can be better. There's nothing "entitled" about asking questions and bringing a productive conversation to light. You're literally the one complaining right now.
I don't know if your post is targeted at OP. If it isn't, it would probably be a good idea to use the "Quote" feature to avoid any confusion.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Just for example, I've built Kynaios & Tiro of Meletis as both an Enchantress deck and a Landfall deck, two archetypes that had nothing to do with the precon that they came from. I want to see the kind of commanders that we can approach in multiple ways instead of just acquiring all of the best cards for an archetype and calling it a day.
It does seem that the effort and quality of the commander products have gone down steadily as we've seen an increase in "commander plants" among the other regular set releases, but that might be just some tin foil hat theory.
2016 was the most popular, so you've got 1/3 right.
2018 was the second least popular, and the lowest reprint value.
You're complaining about the odd years?
This set looks awesome to me so far, btw. Lots of cards that I've never considered for commander will be purchased. That's a good sign imo.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
If you weren't complaining, then why were you heated enough to respond? If it's not about you, ignore it and move on. That said, I've been here for years buddy, don't let the new account fool you. I've seen this song and dance a million times over. What I will say is that when you start by asking a loaded question like your OP without anything close to the full information to actually judge it, that looks like complaining to me that you want plausible deniability for.
Lo and behold the wonders of having a fuller picture before jumping to conclusions.
And while sure, every Kadena deck will probably be playing a lot of the same morphs as every other Kadena deck - but it's not as though you're just going to put the top 60 morphs into a deck and call it a day (I guess you could if you wanted to?). You'll probably use 30 slots for morphs, but that still leaves half your deck open - you could play it as control with lots of counters and removal, taking advantage of her ability to create board presence without paying for it. You could play it as combo with lots of ways to give flash and bounce your creatures. You could build it as aggro with anthems to buff your face-down creatures and try to overwhelm. The point is, you've got options. I really enjoyed my Feather deck - it shared a lot of the same cards as other feather decks, but it subtly emphasized different things, and I think it was better for it. There's still innovation to be had, even if the starting place is pretty obvious.
And if you really want something a little less directed, it looks like the secondary commanders are a fair bit more open-ended.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Morph Deck Synergizes with manisfest...at least
Flashback Deck has space open for Jump Start, Retrace, and other casting from the GY strategies...they are no THAT narrow
The level of entitlement from some folks is outrageous.
It's cute you think you've made a point.
You make a fair point that there's not a dedicated commander that aligns with those particular strategies. I still would have liked to see a little more innovation on Kadena other than cost reduction and card draw. Sure, it's powerful, but there's Animar who does the cost reduction angle a little better and there are plenty of card draw engines these days that synergize with playing creatures.
Maybe something like "whenever you turn a creature face up, you may turn another creature face down" or "pay xyz: exchange control of target face down permanent you control and a permanent that an opponent controls". Something a little off the wall that would also make good use of manifest mechanics.
Anje and Savinne I think are pretty cool, though. They aren't super innovative in their design, but I think they'll play out in really fun ways.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Not that I cared for these legends, but I did expect to see Hal and Alena, the UB Angel Sister, and others this year.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Maybe in years past people who know the lore have been "omg it's (the mimeoplasm|the shattergang brothers|kalemne|Breya|Inalla|Gyrus|etc|etc|etc)" but I've always been going "who the hell are all these people?" Except 2014...which was also the least popular year for commander, lol.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
For Wizards, one piece of great reprint, let's say Wurmcoil Engine, may not be attractive enough for Experienced players to spend $40. Most of them may still prefer to buy singles, that may not be a bad thing, since for each Teferi's Protection floating around, one pre-con was sold.
On the other hand, will a new players with modest collection, prefer a $20 card to a dozen of $2 ~ $5 ones ?
I did not say on the current stage I am satisfied with C19. I am sort of disappointed with those underwhelming new commanders but not lack of quality reprints.
Gavin Verhey HIMSELF admitted last years decks were underwhelming in terms of reprints, so if a Wizards employee ADMITS a mediocre product, why can’t you? You confuse “entitlement” with REASONABLE expectations to not receive yet another mediocre product. Gavin Verhey himself also acknowledged the players complaints were heard and indicated that would be remedied this year, and so far, we’ve not seen ANY evidence of this through the first two decks, although there’s still quite a bit to reveal. I for one don’t like it when someone tells me one thing and does another, especially when it comes to addressing concerns.
There are plenty of midprice staples that could use more printings. NO ONE IS ASKING FOR, OR EXPECTING $25 or $30 singles. There are however tons of staples in the $7-$12 range that people would love to see.
Path to Exile
Lightning Greaves
Mystical Tutor
Skullclamp
Solemn Simulacrum
Phyrexian Arena
Chromatic Lantern
Shattering Spree
Propaganda
Aura Shards
Though Vessel
Expedition Map
Sword of the Animist
Burgeoning
Black Market
parallel Lives
Song of the Dryads
Darksteel Plate
Petrified Field in a modern template for the first time.
All the Battlebond dual lands.
The Medallion cycle.
And in the $20ish range:
Cyclonic Rift
Mirari’s Wake
Strip Mine in a modern template for the first time (excluding FTV).
Deserted Temple in a modern template for the first time.
Rhystic Study
Anointed Procession
Bribery in a black border new template for the first time, excluding a foil.
Worldly Tutor in a modern template for the first time.
Now, not all these cards may fit within the themes we’re getting, but a great many of them are very neutral in their applications. And, maybe we’ll still see some of these, particularly Anointed Procession and Parallel Lives when we get to that deck.
You say people are entitled. I say, have higher standards and stop settling.
Not saying you aren't entitled to care about reprint value, but people don't HAVE to care about it in order to "have standards".
So far I like the design of most of the new commanders, Anje and Savinne in particular although the alt commanders also seem pretty cool. For me 2017 was the biggest bust year - tribal decks rarely interest me. But there's something for everyone.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6