It's not even necessarily about being dark but stories where there aren't stakes are boring. The Gatewatch in Amonkhet really stuck out as an example of this trope. You have the big bad guy face off against the whole team and what happens? Nothing. What will happen in War of the Spark? If it ends with no big character deaths than what was the danger to begin with? If there's no risk to the main characters it cheapens the story and that's my problem with modern mtg.
It's like any tv show that has a premise of putting the main character in danger. The suspension of disbelief can only last so long before it's hard to take it seriously as you know they aren't "really" in trouble. One of the reasons people like Game of Thrones is not that it's "dark" but that no one is safe. That's what I feel mtg is missing.
The one thing that seems somewhat consistent in the last two years of commander is two new characters and two existing ones at the helm. One great flavor win would be a new Mishra + Ashnod, or maybe Yawgmoth + Gix although that seems less likely. I don't feel like we'll see an old walker again though unfortunately, which rules out a bunch of folks (unless they make it into the 99). I think one of the decks will then have a sacrifice/graveyard theme, as that is the focus of a lot of these characters. I also think that Gerard is a likely candidate as we've seen a lot of the Weatherlight crew be reprinted and Maro has mentioned him a lot in my recent memory. Maybe as a Boros commander or mono-white in another deck. From newer sets there's some Ravnica and Innistrad characters that could show up (Feather and Gerard maybe?).
I know it will never happen but fetchlands would nice.
Realistically I'd just like some of the staples that should be cents that are now a few bucks:
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Ash Barrens
- Lightning Greaves
- Skullclamp
- etc.
[[Kess, Dissident Mage]] seems like it would hit a lot of your marks. You can really build it to the power level you want (anything from casual jank to tier 1 competitive), it almost always wins outside of combat (through various means from big x-spells to [[Aetherflux Reservoir]]), it has a heavy self mill / graveyard theme, and while kess is nice the deck can work without her. Focusing on graveyard + instants and sorceries gives the deck a lot of synergy which is nice (funner than grixis good stuff imho). Worth a look maybe?
Yeah, as long as you aren't facing a ton of graveyard hate you just keep going.
I actually built my brother a more casual/cheaper version of your Xenagod deck and it's super fun to play/play with. I guess it gets less so when you soup it up.
I run a similar list, minus the discard theme, and love the deck as it just has so much synergy but against non-cedh decks it seems unbalanced. I was thinking of removing [[Squandered Resources]] and some tutors but what you're saying makes sense. It's just the recursion is funnest part!
It's like any tv show that has a premise of putting the main character in danger. The suspension of disbelief can only last so long before it's hard to take it seriously as you know they aren't "really" in trouble. One of the reasons people like Game of Thrones is not that it's "dark" but that no one is safe. That's what I feel mtg is missing.
Realistically I'd just like some of the staples that should be cents that are now a few bucks:
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Ash Barrens
- Lightning Greaves
- Skullclamp
- etc.
I actually built my brother a more casual/cheaper version of your Xenagod deck and it's super fun to play/play with. I guess it gets less so when you soup it up.