Between this and Desecrated Tomb, we could see a fun Golgari token deck depending on their mechanics in the upcoming Ravnica block. Even with just things like scavenge (not even counting dredge, which is no longer a mechanic they wish to support).
Always a fan of playable green card draw effects. This guy will likely see use in commander and definitely brawl, maybe even standard constructed. Doran, the Siege Tower definitely likes this guy.
I'm surprised you aren't running Heliod, God of the Sun as he synergizes with Skybind and other constellation cards when Daxos is getting hated on. I'm also surprised you aren't running Mystic Barrier and No Mercy as pillow-forty attack deterrents. I also have decided that I am a fan of Axis of Mortality (especially with Necropotence and a way to blow it up to avoid the exile discard). I still find I like Extinguish all Hope as it doesn't touch the tokens or my constellation creatures.
Please tell me I'm not the only person that noticed how ridiculously similar it is to a very recent planeswalker deck printing; Huatli, Dinosaur Knight
I know in my case that my trade time and game time are one and the same. I don't want to spend 20-30 minutes doing a trade for $5 worth of commander cards when I could be playing a game instead. I also have to keep a close eye on my binders as I have been the victim of more than one theft during a trade. As a result, I don't bring trades unless I am looking for something specific, and even then I ask around for the specific card before I bother pulling a binder out. the advent of places like tcgplayer where you can buy bulk at bulk prices and have them mailed to your house in a week has really killed the need for small random trades.
Also I can't see anyone ever taking Game of Chaos beyond the first round if I have my commander in play.
Pretty sure the winner gets to decide. I've seen people playing it for fun in chaos decks and have definitely seen people die to it without a Krark's Thumb being used.
Karplusan Minotaur Seems too risky, as it can give your opponents a chance to kill your commanders and such on a bad series of flips. I like Goblin Kaboomist, as he can create a nice little attack deterrent. If he dies on the first flip, it's a bit of a bummer, but it's all value from there. I also might suggest Long-Term Plans as you can draw a fair amount and it can tutor for Chance Encounter, Frenetic Efreet, etc, things that you normally can't just go and fetch in U/R.
I think my biggest issue with the set is that they threw all these reprints in there without re-flavoring any of them. It seems weird to have Amonkhet and Ravnica themed/flavor cards without changing them here. Why change doubling season and leave things like greater good and land tax untouched?
What I think you are missing is many players don't care if there decks are super optimized and don't like super optimized efficient play because it's too fast and consistent. Hell, most players don't goldfish their decks on TappedOut or MTG Salvation. There are tons of Magic players that like the game but aren't on MTGS or reddit and in the know of the community. There are tons of players that don't play at LGS's and only play with their friends. You can call it ignorance, although I think that's a bit pretentious, but regardless of the reason, players like you that are eager to play with reprinted cards on the reserved list are in a small minority of players.
If they made the battlebond basically lands typed, they would literally function as original duals in Commander which is too powerful for cards Wizards wants to print today. It isn't even necessary because there are plenty of dual lands in the format so you don't need another dual land that has to be perfect.
My point is that those players will play with what they have. They typically have commander precons and such that leave them with guild gates, evolving wilds/terramorphic expanses, etc. These types of players that do finally visit an LGS or hit up the internet for some suggestions find the most common suggestion is to fix their mana base and they often start looking into it (this has been a personal experience when dealing with new players that get into magic with commander). If the cards are available, people will build with them.
There actually are only 2 dual lands in commander other than ABU's and that is Shock-lands and Tango-lands (you may or may not count Murmuring Bosk). I'd hardly call that dozens. There are a lot of untyped non-basics and that is fine and all, but typed land types are what we could certainly use more of (especially if they are essentially worthless to legacy and vintage players, which seems to be a driving force, to avoid crazy price inflation).
The people that view Sea of Clouds and Tundra as identical have probably never even had the chance to play a game with that kind of efficient mana (ie fetch into ABU dual). Whenever I am helping a newer player improve their deck, they are always skeptical of shocks and fetches until they play them for a few games. The battlebond cycle would have been fantastic in commander if they had land types. As is, they're decent, but limited in what can pull them out of library.
The argument of "you don't need dual lands" basically seems to boil down to people just not having the chance to play said cards to understand why legacy decks run them. Ignorance due to lack of availability is hardly a reason to point towards when looking to deny any further availability.
They literally could have solved the dual land problem in commander by making the battlebond land cycle typed, but they still avoid typing non basics as often as possible for fear they create a land to replace ABU's. We'll definitely never see anything in standard better than or equivocal to shocks because of the fragile balance that is modern.
Yes, go into in any group of commander players and start talking about banning relatively tame cards like aetherflux reservoir and you'll see an instant dumpster fire of competitive commander players calling out "casuals". I can go by personal experience based on the large commander groups of 50+ players I play with frequently
This card seems like it could be decent in commander, the sad part is a lot of the equipment in commander is boots, so a lot of the time it won't have a secondary effect. That being said, those times you steal a Sword of Feast and Famine or a Helm of the Host is going to be pretty great.
Vivien Reid looks decent as a 59 somewhere and Gravewaker might be interesting as a late game card as well.
I'm surprised you aren't running Heliod, God of the Sun as he synergizes with Skybind and other constellation cards when Daxos is getting hated on. I'm also surprised you aren't running Mystic Barrier and No Mercy as pillow-forty attack deterrents. I also have decided that I am a fan of Axis of Mortality (especially with Necropotence and a way to blow it up to avoid the exile discard). I still find I like Extinguish all Hope as it doesn't touch the tokens or my constellation creatures.
Pretty sure the winner gets to decide. I've seen people playing it for fun in chaos decks and have definitely seen people die to it without a Krark's Thumb being used.
Karplusan Minotaur Seems too risky, as it can give your opponents a chance to kill your commanders and such on a bad series of flips. I like Goblin Kaboomist, as he can create a nice little attack deterrent. If he dies on the first flip, it's a bit of a bummer, but it's all value from there. I also might suggest Long-Term Plans as you can draw a fair amount and it can tutor for Chance Encounter, Frenetic Efreet, etc, things that you normally can't just go and fetch in U/R.
My point is that those players will play with what they have. They typically have commander precons and such that leave them with guild gates, evolving wilds/terramorphic expanses, etc. These types of players that do finally visit an LGS or hit up the internet for some suggestions find the most common suggestion is to fix their mana base and they often start looking into it (this has been a personal experience when dealing with new players that get into magic with commander). If the cards are available, people will build with them.
There actually are only 2 dual lands in commander other than ABU's and that is Shock-lands and Tango-lands (you may or may not count Murmuring Bosk). I'd hardly call that dozens. There are a lot of untyped non-basics and that is fine and all, but typed land types are what we could certainly use more of (especially if they are essentially worthless to legacy and vintage players, which seems to be a driving force, to avoid crazy price inflation).
The argument of "you don't need dual lands" basically seems to boil down to people just not having the chance to play said cards to understand why legacy decks run them. Ignorance due to lack of availability is hardly a reason to point towards when looking to deny any further availability.
They literally could have solved the dual land problem in commander by making the battlebond land cycle typed, but they still avoid typing non basics as often as possible for fear they create a land to replace ABU's. We'll definitely never see anything in standard better than or equivocal to shocks because of the fragile balance that is modern.
Pretty sure Fire and Ice gives pro blue