MTG Salvation

I just brought Primal Command into my cube as part of an effort to include more graveyard hate on maindeckable cards. I don't want people to have to draft specific graveyard hate cards, but I do want to make powerful graveyard interactions, and people get grumpy sometimes when they have no way to interact with reanimator, crucible/strip mine, gravecrawler/bloodghast, etc. I think they deserve a way to interact with those cards, and Primal Command is an excellent way to give them that in a card that is also good against aggro and generically good at doing things.

It has been used a couple times in this mode already. Usually paired with a noncreature removal ability, but occasionally not.

Yikes, that was a ton of great responses. It seems that there is some love for this card and in my environment it might make sense to make room for it. Thanks!

Ya, the discussion's been going on for a month. This card does a lot of stuff.

Would you run it in a 500 card powered cube? I could try to squeeze this in.

Cheers,
rant

If you haven't cubed it before, it's worth a spin.

I agree with not efficient. it's sometimes hard to find that moment when it's safe to cast a 5cmc card. Sometimes, it's your last play and it's ok, but I think it tends to be the last card to cast from my hand unless something needs an immediate answer.

Its versatility is its strength, thats true, but with an unknown board there is no other 5 costing green card i would like to see in my hand more. This care does everything green wants to do at 5 mana. It removes problem permanents, graveyards, gains life, finds an answer or threat, or prevents milling. This versatilty combined with a reasonable cost makes it such a high value card for me. This card doesnt make every green deck i choose to make, nor is it high pick priority for me, but it is a workhorse that is never irrelevant. I'd rather have this then plow under, and thats considered a bomb, for good reason.

What's the verdict on this guy? Been a while and I see it removed from many cube lists!

Card's okay, but 5 mana is a lot. This is a card I neither love nor hate. I don't cubbe it anymore, but it's a fine card if your group's attached to it.

Quote from steve_man »

I was never a big fan of Primal Command. The card is okay enough to be cubeable, but if it ends up in my deck when I'm playing the MTGO cube or something, it's because I really didn't have any other options.

I was just thinking of this card, especially after the SCD with Cryptic Command. The 4 options are all reasonable, with the removal + creature tutor essentially being the green equivalence for cryptic command counter + draw.

I would prefer my green decks (ramp/ creature combo) to have at least 2 semi unconditional removal, especially against planeswalkers in the final 40.

While 5 mana is a lot these days, I still enjoy using the card to remove and shuffle an opponents deck