MTG Salvation

I feel like Morophon, the Boundless was the bone to all the tribal commander fans for the year, and that we'll see them explore more mechanical themes rather than tribal themes this year.

-1/-1 counters could use some love in my opinion.

I'm glad protection is back, it simply does things that Hexproof from _ did not do, and has the built-in downside of blocking your own interactions as well as you opponent's. I think it can coexist with Hexproof from _, as they occupy different niches, but I doubt R&D will see it that way.

Those PW deck cards are all over the place in terms of quality this time. Gnarlback Rhino and Thirsting Bloodlord both look really good, good enough to pick up as singles at least.

Sad to see that we've fully gone back to the planeswalker-name-specific tutors, the more generalized versions from M19 (Skalla Wolf et. al.) had me hoping there would be more flexible variants in the works.

Cloudkin Seer looks and sounds like a Lorwyn elemental to me. The name is reminiscent, the design is very similar, just with elemental air in place of elemental fire. Could this be a post-Eventide lorwyn character?

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! So turn up the music and we'll never leave!
Better believe!
We'll never run from the fun, because we're...
Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears! Bears!
Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

It's good flavor, but I don't think any deck that wants this would want it more than either Seismic Assault or Zombie Infestation, aside from interactions with Ayula herself.

I only see four of them, maybe we won't be getting a full cycle this time?

Nirkana Revenant and Necropolis Regent come to mind.

Hermetic Study/Psionic Gift
Sorcerer's Wand/Viridian Longbow/Wolfhunter's Quiver
Mortarpod

Or good old fashioned unblockable

Maro discussed Switch in the Unstable mechanics article, and said that he saw future applications for it in black border. Now, switching between zones is a bit much, and even moreso when one of those zones is hidden, that's where I feel Mary O'Kill strays into solid silver territory. Keeping both objects within the same zone I feel smooths it out.

Sengir Witch 2BB
Creature - Human Shaman
At the beginning of your end step, if you control no Cats, create a 1/1 black Cat creature token.
B: Switch ~ with a Cat you control.
T, sacrifice a creature: Target player loses 2 life.
3/3

I did this once before, this is my favorite from back then:

Wandering Vacuum 2WW
Creature - Elemental
Flash
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile another target nonland permanent until ~ leaves the battlefield.
Evoke 1W
Unearth 2W
3/2

Quote from Michealin »

Generally speaking, protection is dead. Unless these are meant for a set like Modern Horizons, use hexproof from A and from B.

These are very obviously intended to continue/complete the cycle of Swords, which all use protection, including the newest ones.

Quote from 5ColorsEDH »

Rift Mox 0
Legendary Artifact
T: Add one mana of any color. Exile Rift Mox with three time counters on it. If it doesn’t have suspend, it gains suspend (At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from that card. When the last is removed, cast it without paying its mana cost.). Activate Rift Mox ability only once each turn.

Well, it will never have suspend when that ability checks for it, so just trim that if clause out to save room. I'm not sure the once-per-turn clause is necessary or functional.

Mox Soapstone 0
Artifact
T, Sacrifice an artifact: Add one mana of any color.

Sword of Mist and Miasma feels the most like the real swords. It's certainly very powerful, generating card advantage on hits, and it has the fun (for you, not your opponent) payoff of being very strong removal if you can whittle your opponent's hand away.

Sword of Heaven and Earth is on the strong-side. Making a large, evasive body that can hold the sword is a big upside. Having a relatively weak other half is appropriate to balance that, but I agree with EasyLover than the Angel is probably too big of a payoff, Moonsilver Spear is the appropriate comparison here.

Sword of Life an Liberty is too extreme, it's generating at minimum two bodies and two cards per hit, scaling up fantastically on anything larger than 0 power.

I especially like when the two effects can combine into a better effect. Your Sword of Mist and Miasma is great that way, and I like the new Sword of Truth and Justice for the same reason. Here's my take on the red/green sword:

Sword of Assault and Battery 3
Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has protection from red and from green.
When equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you may put three +1/+1 counters on target noncreature land you control, if you do that land becomes a 0/0 creature that's still a land. Then, you may have a creature you control fight another target creature.
Equip 2

The Conduit 3WUBR
Legendary Creature - Incarnation
Flash
Cascade
Each instant or sorcery spell you cast has Cascade and Storm as long as you spent no mana to cast it.
Whenever you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, exile that spell as it resolves.
4/4

Next:
Mishra, if he had been featured in Modern Horizons like his brother.
-or-
A commander that supports type diversity rather than tribalism.