And now I regret trading my Sliver Queen six months ago. Not because I wish I was still running her, and certainly not to play Slivers - merely because the price has gone insane and I could have gotten an additional $100 if I had it now.
Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
We can Tutor planeswalkers to the field now
...
So, I don't know if a legendary tutor in the command zone trumps every other contender, but this does feel like a first. I don't just want to cast as a back-up plan or just when things go wrong. I think this means we struck gold.
Yeah, new Sisay is a possible contender for Superfriends commander. She's a huge mana sink and card advantage engine rolled into one. It's mostly a question of whether she is win-more. Is it worth paying 2WWUBRG on an empty board to tutor up Oath of Nissa?
She's kind of hard to judge at the moment though for superfriends because yeah, her restrictions are weird. Her comeback potential though is huge, especially with the static abilities on the WAR planeswalkers. Hypothetically, depending on how we can or can't work around her tutor restrictions will determine whether she's win more or an actual Toolbox commander. A number of our planeswalkers are silver bullets. getting them at will is worth it.
We also have Sneak Attack for planeswalkers, but I'm not sure I really want that. I mean, sure, if I have Doubling Season in play and five planeswalkers in hand, and a Venser, it seems great. Or Teferi's Emblem and some spicy walker in hand during an opponent's turn. But deliberately one-shotting my walkers feels bad.
Yeah, I'm not impressed by that for tempo superfriends, which is what the majority of this thread is dedicated to tuning. Something like the combo Superfriends I'm working on with Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God or the Kenrith Siblings superfriends deck combo deck that I've seen on this board may take an interest in this. Otherwise, it runs into the same problem as Jace, Cunning Castaway outside the deck I'm working on him: it's a situational card in a tempo deck. Tempo decks want broader situations cards.
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~~~~~
Sure she has some weird restrictions, but we can tutor planeswalkers with up to CMC 6 or less to the field now. And that's before adding in other stat modifiers we can play (All the Ajanis just got better).
Oh, we can also tutor anything else with Legendary in the type line, so that also means lands, Oaths (like Oath of Nissa to fix the fact most legendary lands make colorless mana), Pir, The Chain Veil, or even Captain Sisay.
So, I don't know if a legendary tutor in the command zone trumps every other contender, but this does feel like a first. I don't just want to cast as a back-up plan or just when things go wrong. I think this means we struck gold.
part of this will involve that Jace, Cunning Castaway isn't that good on his own.
I already have to cut cards I love to fit in new stuff - there's no way I'd cut a good card for a bad one with a slim chance of pulling a combo. I'm hoping that if I have Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God out, I'm already winning.
In my testing, I think the combo is viable... but there's a huge caveat, and that caveat is that you're playing an entirely different deck, which is a Control Combo deck with Superfriends elements. I figured that out when I realized that the combo allows me to cut the number of Planeswalkers down by more than half for other controlly cards and tutors. So, my current response is that if you want to test Nicol Bolas with Jace, Cunning Castaway's abilities, build the deck for it, don't just jam it into superfriends. More testing may change my opinion still.
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~~~~~
Some quick explanations for the less obvious cards:
Ignite the Beacon is an instant. That's why I'm testing it.
Ashiok is a hate walker. I've learned over the years that grave hate is one of the best hates, so I'm willing to give them a shot because they also works on Tutors.
Narset is similar to Ashiok, except she also works for digging for our stuff. While keeping blue in check is a good reason to run her, her Azcanta ability will determine whether or not she stays.
Ugin, the Ineffable produces tokens that we don't care if they die. I'm curious if that's worth the space. The spot removal isn't half bad either (but it also isn't great).
Jace, Cunning Castaway is not in this set, but he gives superfriends a degenerate combo of their own with Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God. If you have both walkers out with any of the following cards already on the field when Nicol Bolas enters the battlefield, you win on the spot if your opponents don't disrupt:
What happens is that these cards give Nicol Bolas at least five loyalty counters to activate Jace, Cunning Castaway's -5 ability and the copies enter able to activate that ability as well. Those copies will be Nicol Bolas, Dragon Gods, which means when go to -5 them, you don't have to stop doing that until you have large enough arbitrary number of Nicol Bolases. You can then proceed to use their own +1. All of them. If you have Doubling Season, one of them can even ult after the mass exodus of their hands and boards. Otherwise anyone who doesn't scoop to being locked out of cards is deluding themselves.
All that being said, this isn't final, part of this will involve that Jace, Cunning Castaway isn't that good on his own.
Here's a list of other cards I'm considering down the line:
But yeah, the biggest thing to come out of this set is that we now got at least one degenerate combo we don't have to splash for, and even without that, we've gotten way too many new and exciting things.
Edit: I also really want to like Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, but I feel she's best in Muldrotha where her awful +1 becomes arguably a much better toolbox enabler or one of those cards that says you can have any number of them in a deck.
This is how you abuse Deepglow Skate with Brago and Strionic Resonator:
Brago blinks everything once. Strionic Resonator copies Brago's trigger. So you choose what gets blinked the second time (which would be any mana rocks you tapped in response to the first blink, Deepglow Skate and Strionic Resonator, but not the planeswalkers). When Deepglow Skate and Strionic Resonator enter the battlefield the second time, copy its ability with Strionic Resonator. If you're keeping score, that means that Deepglow Skate's ability gets triggered 3 times (assuming it hadn't entered the battlefield that turn). If it did, then you had it activated 4 times that turn.
Still not seeing it. Here's what I see:
-Brago's ability goes on the stack. You choose targets (for simplicity, let's just say Deepglow and Strionic)
-You copy his blink ability using Strionic. You choose new targets (again, Deepglow and Strionic)
-The Brago copy resolves, blinking Deepglow and Strionic.
-Deepglow's ability goes on the stack. You choose targets.
-You copy Deepglow's ability and choose targets.
-The Deepglow copy resolves (Deepglow x1)
-The original Deepglow resolves (Deepglow x2)
-Brago's original ability looks for its targets, but they no longer exist. The Deepglow and Strionic currently on the board entered since the targeting and are new objects. Brago's original ability fails to do anything.
This still gives you two uses of Deepglow, but copying Brago's ability does nothing. You could have just used the original to target Deepglow and then used Strionic to copy Deepglow's ability when it entered. It's still really good and lands you a double Deepglow, but not quite to the level you described.
You can copy Brago's ability infinitely with Strionic Resonator.
Brago triggers, you choose: Deepglow Skate (or any etb effect), Strionic Resonator, and Mana rock(s) that makes two mana.
Activate Strionic Resonator: targeting Brago's Trigger.
The copied ability resolves, which blinks everything.
When the Deepglow Skate enters, its trigger goes on the stack.
In response, activate Strionic Resonator again, targeting the original Brago trigger again.
Repeat until satisfied, at which point the original trigger with fizzle.
It's one of the win cons in a Brago combo/STAX deck. In Superfriends, you'd likely use it to blink a Planeswalker(s) with the first copied trigger to reset their once per turn abilities, skip them for the rest so they gain off Deepglow, then ultimate a handful of Planeswalkers with enough Loyalty left over to survive anything less than arbitrary infinite damage.
The problem with the combo is that Strionic Resonator is a generally a dead card because we specialize more in activated abilities than mana triggered abilities. Granted, the creature line up, what we do run, often runs on triggers.
With Dark Intimations, I wonder how far companion cards will go with Planeswalkers in the future (I just wish the Ajani, Valiant Protector was good because it could make Ajani's Aid so much more worth the time).
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
A friend gave me the Atraxa deck as a super-awesome Christmas present, so now Doubling Fish is entering the deck. Right now, I'm leaning towards swapping Contagion Engine for it.
Also, I finally am about to brew up the alternate creature-friendly version of the deck that is based on cheating walkers into play. I need to reevaluate all the walkers for that play style and look for any other additions. Here are the cards I am currently considering:
Sublime Exhalation is a nice option for those focusing on multiplayer games.
Overall, it depends on how often you get in 5+ player games. Personally, I like Terminus or Catastrophe are better removal for the price range, and Supreme Verdict, Damnation, or Hallowed Burial because of the tack ons besides get rid of all creatures.
I will say that for the standard four player game, I did notice it costs 3W until people start dropping, which is a less restrictive Day of Judgment.
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~~~~~
Daretti and Kaya are certainly interesting, but I can't decide if either one makes the cut.
I really like Daretti's cost - three mana is far below average. He makes tokens for chum blocking, and if those tokens survive, he can use them as removal (sad that he has to sac artifacts and not just any token). His ult is a bit weak for us and very dependent on the game-state. Are we copying mana rocks? Chain Veils? Contagion stuff? I'm fairly certain any Superfriends build that runs him would also want Tezzeret the Seeker and the artifact lands. Honestly, he seems most fun with Mycosynth Lattice, but I don't see why we would run that in Superfriends.
The ultimate can copy opponents artifacts as well. While that's also hit or miss, it does mean the ultimate does not have to be so built around for us to get absurd value out of it.
Kaya is interesting and offers immediate card advantage (replaces herself and makes each opponent discard), but I'm not sure that is good enough. She doesn't affect the board much (short of blinking one creature). Overall, I think she's great in Orzhov blink, but I'm not sure she'll make it in my Superfriends. Sorin does card draw and life drain/gain better.
For me, she falls short of the first rule of making the cut: self defense. She'd be interesting for the discard/draw effect, but that's about it, and that wont last long unless circumstances are ideal... which is not good.
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~~~~~
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast 1RB
+1: Put a 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token with defender onto the battlefield.
-1: You may sacrifice an artifact. If you do, destroy target artifact or creature.
-6: Choose target artifact card in a graveyard or artifact on the battlefield. Put three tokens that are copies of it onto the battlefield.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Seems pretty good. It is relatively cheap and protects itself and provides removal. While not the perfect fit, it's justifiable, leaving the the real question to be what artifacts do we run that would justify the ultimate.
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~~~~~
And then suddenly, I realized that Venser, the Sojourner could find a place in the deck again when I saw the final Oath. It's good. Maybe not Oath of Gideon good, but it's still good. Probably the second best Oath we have right now.
Liliana, the Last Hope... I like her? Her +1 makes helps her survival rate, but like Kiora, the Crashing Wave the mileage will vary. Her -2 is at best a rare use. Sun Titan? This could create a loop. Consecrated Sphinx? Probably the best option considering how few creatures we play. The ultimate gets out of hand quick. If you start with 0, and nothing bad happens, the Emblem there will be 2, then 6, then 14, then 30, then 62... etc. zombies on the battle field. And even if it gets disrupted, they build right back up.
Honestly, this feels like mono-black Kiora, the Crashing Wave, which you can take or leave as good or bad.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - As someone who is absolutely sick of Jace and keeps hoping they will kill him off in each set, I have to say that this one intrigues me (though I really wish it had been Tamiyo instead). His plus is great, a scry and a card draw is really nice. His minus is ok, but I prefer more permanent removal. But his Ult - holy cow! I used to run a 60 card deck that could flip Erayo on turn two and then drop Arcane Laboratory on turn three, so I appreciate how epic that emblem is. I think this Jace may be welcomed into my deck. I just wish he cost 2UU instead of 3UU.
I am also utterly sick of seeing Jace. We just saw him in Battle for Zendikar and now he's researching Tamiyo's notes instead of actually having Tamiyo do all of this. This would've been a great opportunity to have a new Tamiyo card who could pretty much do the exact same thing that Jace is doing in his new card. If Eldritch Moon were to have 2 more planeswalkers, my money's on Liliana and Tibalt. Unless they do with Tibalt what they did with Tamiyo and have a new Chandra instead of a new Tibalt, who desperately needs some redemption.
I'll take that bet. There was a leaked extended artwork of Anguished Unmaking (SideNote: that card is great for us) that showed Jace and Tamiyo to Sorin's left. Jace will find Tamiyo alive before Eldritch Moon is finished. And to the comment of Jace investigating Innistrad, I think it's the first time that I've welcomed Jace into the story in a long time. His place feels justified, and Tamiyo's disappearance added to the suspense of what was going on... until someone spoiled it with that leak (for me at least).
Also, I'm not sure how far down this road we want to go with Detective Jace's emblem. What you guys are proposing Superfriends STAX, which while a great fit because Planeswalkers get around most STAX abilities once on the field, I dunno how fun it'd be to lock the board down or how much deck space we have to lock the board down outside of our standard Obliterate effects.
Arlin saddens me - she's really not good in superfriends. She belongs in a creature deck.
I played Xenagos, the Reveler for awhile in superfriends, and he was effective because we run plenty of creatures... they're tokens. (I eventually cut him for Freyalise because of the ultimate). I learned from that experience planeswalkers meant for creature decks don't necessarily make bad fits for superfriends.
Arlinn Kord
Starting Loyalty: 3
Planeswalker - Arlinn
+1: Until end of turn, up to one target creature gets +2/+2 and gains vigilance and haste.
0: Put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield. Transform Arlinn Kord.
Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon
Planeswalker - Arlinn
+1: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn.
-1: Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Transform Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon.
-6: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
Her front-plus (oh boy, this is going to be complicated) works at letting our creatures play offense and defense at the same time especially, if Sliver Queen has to start swinging in for the win. Haste is always important, but I mention that because I run Sun Titan and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in my deck (also Gilder Bairn and Thrummingbird could squeeze utility in case they die before summoning sickness wears off). Rare, but noticeably useful. Vigilance is the most important because it means that if we're going offensive that same creature can play defense as well.
The 0 is a bit of a wild one because it technically can't build a sufficient army unless Arlinn starts using her abilities all over the place because the transform mechanic.
The Reverse plus is easily the narrowest ability for us, and therefore the weakest. It's a great finisher if we're going in with a swarm of (most likely Sliver) tokens, but it's clearly designed for creature first decks, not us, which while I said we can can probably cross fit her, I won't go as far to say that it be a perfect fit.
The -1 is where Arlinn goes all over the place because it flips her back. Everybody likes Lightning Bolt. One possibility is that combined with her zero ability, while going back and forth between her transform abilities would ultimately drain her of all her counters, 3 Wolves and 3 Lightning Bolts over 6 turns isn't bad, it just seems like there's probably a longer game that could be pulled from her.
The ultimate -6: creatures become a one sided fight spell (that also hits players). It's basically a one sided removal option combo finisher, but it's another varying mileage thing because swarming isn't that common for us, so it's something I would take if the set up provided, but at that point, I'd probably just go for her +1 reverse side instead.
Overall, I'll probably try her mostly to see how it works and for the kicks of a transform planeswalker with five abilities, but not because it's the next must have for this deck. That's probably Jace and/or Sorin. Nahiri could be fun, but looting is important for other decks that are not us, the exile ability is covered much better in Karn Liberated, and while throwing a surprise Kozilek in someone's face that I can cast later after it bounces is a neat prospect, I'd need Nahiri's other abilities to line up better for me to bend her into the deck.
So… Oath of Gideon is now a thing as well. It seems like the best of the cycle so far because it creates chumps and accelerates planeswalkers a counter (which is a big deal for almost all planeswalkers we aim to play).
Any other thoughts?
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~~~~~
I'd pay 2WWUBRG for an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth from my deck to the field at instant speed.
She's kind of hard to judge at the moment though for superfriends because yeah, her restrictions are weird. Her comeback potential though is huge, especially with the static abilities on the WAR planeswalkers. Hypothetically, depending on how we can or can't work around her tutor restrictions will determine whether she's win more or an actual Toolbox commander. A number of our planeswalkers are silver bullets. getting them at will is worth it.
Yeah, I'm not impressed by that for tempo superfriends, which is what the majority of this thread is dedicated to tuning. Something like the combo Superfriends I'm working on with Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God or the Kenrith Siblings superfriends deck combo deck that I've seen on this board may take an interest in this. Otherwise, it runs into the same problem as Jace, Cunning Castaway outside the deck I'm working on him: it's a situational card in a tempo deck. Tempo decks want broader situations cards.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
We can Tutor planeswalkers to the field now
Sure she has some weird restrictions, but we can tutor planeswalkers with up to CMC 6 or less to the field now.
Oh, we can also tutor anything else with Legendary in the type line, so that also means lands, Oaths (like Oath of Nissa to fix the fact most legendary lands make colorless mana), Pir, The Chain Veil, or even Captain Sisay.
So, I don't know if a legendary tutor in the command zone trumps every other contender, but this does feel like a first. I don't just want to cast as a back-up plan or just when things go wrong. I think this means we struck gold.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
In my testing, I think the combo is viable... but there's a huge caveat, and that caveat is that you're playing an entirely different deck, which is a Control Combo deck with Superfriends elements. I figured that out when I realized that the combo allows me to cut the number of Planeswalkers down by more than half for other controlly cards and tutors. So, my current response is that if you want to test Nicol Bolas with Jace, Cunning Castaway's abilities, build the deck for it, don't just jam it into superfriends. More testing may change my opinion still.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
Some quick explanations for the less obvious cards:
Ignite the Beacon is an instant. That's why I'm testing it.
Ashiok is a hate walker. I've learned over the years that grave hate is one of the best hates, so I'm willing to give them a shot because they also works on Tutors.
Narset is similar to Ashiok, except she also works for digging for our stuff. While keeping blue in check is a good reason to run her, her Azcanta ability will determine whether or not she stays.
Ugin, the Ineffable produces tokens that we don't care if they die. I'm curious if that's worth the space. The spot removal isn't half bad either (but it also isn't great).
Jace, Cunning Castaway is not in this set, but he gives superfriends a degenerate combo of their own with Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God. If you have both walkers out with any of the following cards already on the field when Nicol Bolas enters the battlefield, you win on the spot if your opponents don't disrupt:
What happens is that these cards give Nicol Bolas at least five loyalty counters to activate Jace, Cunning Castaway's -5 ability and the copies enter able to activate that ability as well. Those copies will be Nicol Bolas, Dragon Gods, which means when go to -5 them, you don't have to stop doing that until you have large enough arbitrary number of Nicol Bolases. You can then proceed to use their own +1. All of them. If you have Doubling Season, one of them can even ult after the mass exodus of their hands and boards. Otherwise anyone who doesn't scoop to being locked out of cards is deluding themselves.
All that being said, this isn't final, part of this will involve that Jace, Cunning Castaway isn't that good on his own.
Here's a list of other cards I'm considering down the line:
But yeah, the biggest thing to come out of this set is that we now got at least one degenerate combo we don't have to splash for, and even without that, we've gotten way too many new and exciting things.
Edit: I also really want to like Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, but I feel she's best in Muldrotha where her awful +1 becomes arguably a much better toolbox enabler or one of those cards that says you can have any number of them in a deck.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
You can copy Brago's ability infinitely with Strionic Resonator.
Brago triggers, you choose: Deepglow Skate (or any etb effect), Strionic Resonator, and Mana rock(s) that makes two mana.
Activate Strionic Resonator: targeting Brago's Trigger.
The copied ability resolves, which blinks everything.
When the Deepglow Skate enters, its trigger goes on the stack.
In response, activate Strionic Resonator again, targeting the original Brago trigger again.
Repeat until satisfied, at which point the original trigger with fizzle.
It's one of the win cons in a Brago combo/STAX deck. In Superfriends, you'd likely use it to blink a Planeswalker(s) with the first copied trigger to reset their once per turn abilities, skip them for the rest so they gain off Deepglow, then ultimate a handful of Planeswalkers with enough Loyalty left over to survive anything less than arbitrary infinite damage.
The problem with the combo is that Strionic Resonator is a generally a dead card because we specialize more in activated abilities than
manatriggered abilities. Granted, the creature line up, what we do run, often runs on triggers.candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
With Dark Intimations, I wonder how far companion cards will go with Planeswalkers in the future (I just wish the Ajani, Valiant Protector was good because it could make Ajani's Aid so much more worth the time).
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
So far there's:
Ajani Unyielding*
Ajani, Valiant Protector
Dark Imitations*
Oath of Ajani
Planar Bridge*
Tezzeret, Master of Metal*
Tezzeret the Schemer
* indicates I am likely to test it.
I've been discussing possibilities with the
That looks about right, but I am curious what the Brago is for.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
Overall, it depends on how often you get in 5+ player games. Personally, I like Terminus or Catastrophe are better removal for the price range, and Supreme Verdict, Damnation, or Hallowed Burial because of the tack ons besides get rid of all creatures.
I will say that for the standard four player game, I did notice it costs 3W until people start dropping, which is a less restrictive Day of Judgment.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
This brings Venser, the Sojourner back into the fold, right? I guess reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
For me, she falls short of the first rule of making the cut: self defense. She'd be interesting for the discard/draw effect, but that's about it, and that wont last long unless circumstances are ideal... which is not good.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
1RB
+1: Put a 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token with defender onto the battlefield.
-1: You may sacrifice an artifact. If you do, destroy target artifact or creature.
-6: Choose target artifact card in a graveyard or artifact on the battlefield. Put three tokens that are copies of it onto the battlefield.
Starting Loyalty: 3
Seems pretty good. It is relatively cheap and protects itself and provides removal. While not the perfect fit, it's justifiable, leaving the the real question to be what artifacts do we run that would justify the ultimate.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
Oath of Liliana
And then suddenly, I realized that Venser, the Sojourner could find a place in the deck again when I saw the final Oath. It's good. Maybe not Oath of Gideon good, but it's still good. Probably the second best Oath we have right now.
Liliana, the Last Hope... I like her? Her +1 makes helps her survival rate, but like Kiora, the Crashing Wave the mileage will vary. Her -2 is at best a rare use. Sun Titan? This could create a loop. Consecrated Sphinx? Probably the best option considering how few creatures we play. The ultimate gets out of hand quick. If you start with 0, and nothing bad happens, the Emblem there will be 2, then 6, then 14, then 30, then 62... etc. zombies on the battle field. And even if it gets disrupted, they build right back up.
Honestly, this feels like mono-black Kiora, the Crashing Wave, which you can take or leave as good or bad.
Edit: Deploy the Gatewatch...Just do it.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
Also, I'm not sure how far down this road we want to go with Detective Jace's emblem. What you guys are proposing Superfriends STAX, which while a great fit because Planeswalkers get around most STAX abilities once on the field, I dunno how fun it'd be to lock the board down or how much deck space we have to lock the board down outside of our standard Obliterate effects.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
I played Xenagos, the Reveler for awhile in superfriends, and he was effective because we run plenty of creatures... they're tokens. (I eventually cut him for Freyalise because of the ultimate). I learned from that experience planeswalkers meant for creature decks don't necessarily make bad fits for superfriends.
Arlinn Kord
Starting Loyalty: 3
Planeswalker - Arlinn
+1: Until end of turn, up to one target creature gets +2/+2 and gains vigilance and haste.
0: Put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield. Transform Arlinn Kord.
Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon
Planeswalker - Arlinn
+1: Creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain trample until end of turn.
-1: Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon deals 3 damage to target creature or player. Transform Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon.
-6: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste and 't: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.'"
Her front-plus (oh boy, this is going to be complicated) works at letting our creatures play offense and defense at the same time especially, if Sliver Queen has to start swinging in for the win. Haste is always important, but I mention that because I run Sun Titan and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in my deck (also Gilder Bairn and Thrummingbird could squeeze utility in case they die before summoning sickness wears off). Rare, but noticeably useful. Vigilance is the most important because it means that if we're going offensive that same creature can play defense as well.
The 0 is a bit of a wild one because it technically can't build a sufficient army unless Arlinn starts using her abilities all over the place because the transform mechanic.
The Reverse plus is easily the narrowest ability for us, and therefore the weakest. It's a great finisher if we're going in with a swarm of (most likely Sliver) tokens, but it's clearly designed for creature first decks, not us, which while I said we can can probably cross fit her, I won't go as far to say that it be a perfect fit.
The -1 is where Arlinn goes all over the place because it flips her back. Everybody likes Lightning Bolt. One possibility is that combined with her zero ability, while going back and forth between her transform abilities would ultimately drain her of all her counters, 3 Wolves and 3 Lightning Bolts over 6 turns isn't bad, it just seems like there's probably a longer game that could be pulled from her.
The ultimate -6: creatures become a one sided fight spell (that also hits players). It's basically a one sided removal option combo finisher, but it's another varying mileage thing because swarming isn't that common for us, so it's something I would take if the set up provided, but at that point, I'd probably just go for her +1 reverse side instead.
Overall, I'll probably try her mostly to see how it works and for the kicks of a transform planeswalker with five abilities, but not because it's the next must have for this deck. That's probably Jace and/or Sorin. Nahiri could be fun, but looting is important for other decks that are not us, the exile ability is covered much better in Karn Liberated, and while throwing a surprise Kozilek in someone's face that I can cast later after it bounces is a neat prospect, I'd need Nahiri's other abilities to line up better for me to bend her into the deck.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
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Any other thoughts?
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
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