So I'll start by saying that Subjective reality is probably the worst commander precon since the original commander. It's so painfully bad and missing a dozen no-brainer cards. In general though, I found myself wincing at the trash inclusions the normal amount. So overall pretty typical. The commander exclusive cards are above average in terms of desirability. Some real gems in there. I'm really getting tired of Wizards' ethic of putting the same mythics/rares in commander precons. Yeah, Rampaging baloths is a cool card for a new player to get, but most of us have two playsets by now because they are in these EVERY DAMN YEAR. Also if I see seer's sundial one more time in a precon I'm going to loose it. Does wizards think this is a staple or something? About a third of the rares in these precons follow this "samey" convention and it's so dang stale. To give credit where credit is due, there are some actually sensible inclusions here and there and I was surprised to see some cards that ACTUALLY needed to be reprinted or I didn't have:
It seems like a lot of people like this card, but it will get sacrificed or die in combat almost immediately right? It might get one or two swings in before it bites it, I guess.
It's pretty interesting to see when "sacrifice" has a different flavorful aspect than just brutally killing for profit. See here on this card, he isn't killing his little plant buddies. Naw, he's Johnny Appleseed and the "sacrifice" is when he decides to plant his seeds(plant tokens) to grow. Mechanically, it would have been stronger to return the land to the battlefield, but he isn't magically throwing down a whole tree or whatever. Seeds take time to grow, hence, the land returns to your hand to grow over time (a future land drop). This is a masterclass card showing how game mechanics can be used to show a narrative of events or complex series of worldly actions. It also has the bonus of fitting in with the lore- what place would have better need of such a character other than the ravaged landscape of Zendikar?
This card is pretty dang awesome. This kinda wants to be a transforming card, but I understand that double sided cards have special printing complications.
Needs: "Creatures your opponents control attack each turn if able," and whenever a creature your opponents control attack..." Very tame as it is now. Definitely headed for the not quite good enough commander exclusive pile. Every aspect of the card is undertuned, which is not what you want to see in a commander.
Just did a search for defenders and saw a card that always intrigued me: Sprouting phytohydra. Arcades here makes them 2/2s that draw cards whenever a new one pops out. The only drawback your opponent will never block it :/ hmm.
But isn't it a good thing that Standard is not always going to consist of the same cards?
Then why are you happy about this card? In a dinosaur deck it's just a carbon copy of rampant growth. You are contradicting yourself.
I don't know what you are missing about people not being happy about an uninteresting, downgraded version of a boring, weak card. Looks like all pieces are here in front of you.
What's funny is, this card is still STRICTLY worse than rampant growth even in a dino deck(talking about casual here). It's just frowns all around for this card. It needed to ping a creature you control or gain 2 life, or have farseek text or *something* to not make it so groan-inducing. I want to be rewarded for playing dinosaurs like pirates, vamps and merfolk were (that vamp card is spicy too).
Duplicant, Mimic vat, Silent-blade oni, Soul of Innistrad, Budoka gardener, Hydra omnivore, Elderwood scion, Bear umbra, Enchantress's presence, and a handful of others.
It will be a nice wifey for Prossh.
Ooh that's spicy. Now that our initial search for "defender" is out of the way, we need to know more about the supporting characters like Sidar.
What's funny is, this card is still STRICTLY worse than rampant growth even in a dino deck(talking about casual here). It's just frowns all around for this card. It needed to ping a creature you control or gain 2 life, or have farseek text or *something* to not make it so groan-inducing. I want to be rewarded for playing dinosaurs like pirates, vamps and merfolk were (that vamp card is spicy too).