Card Talk 17

Cactuar card art

Today is the seventeenth post in my Card Talk series.

Reminder how Card Talk works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game.

Today's card is . . .
Darien, King of Kjeldor—a rare legendary creature from Murders at Karlov Manor Commander.

Darien originally appeared in Coldsnap, the 2006 release that was supposedly a 'lost set' of the Ice Age block—the first two being Ice Age (1995) and Alliances (1996)—found in Wizards archives or something. This was the original print:

Note the differences:

- the card frame (both the legendary 'flare' at the top and the machine-readable text at the bottom)

- the creature type (Human Lord became Human Soldier)

- the card text ('put __ tokens into play' became 'create __ tokens')

- the accent line between game text and flavor text

As I've stated previously, the official card database has the latest official text; you may play an earlier version understanding that you must defer to the current in terms of rules.

I was excited for, and then disappointed by, Coldsnap. I enjoyed the theme of the original Ice Age set—which was released around the time I got into Magic—and that sentiment endears it to me, even if it wasn't an overly great release. Coldsnap is the same (only 13 cards are worth $5.00 or more today). Nevertheless, it is still nice to see fun cards, like Darien, come out of it.

Is Darien a viable Commander? EDHRec shows cards that synergize well. Combining him with Ajani's Welcome and Mentor of the Meek is a particularly exciting situation; you could gain all the life back with Ajani and (if you had mana) draw a ton of cards with Mentor.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.

Budget Commander Staples: Blue

Concluding this month's theme (see this post for an introduction), today I look at budget Commander staples in blue, focusing on four categories: ramp, card draw, targeted removal, and board wipe.

Ramp (blue)

Ramp is about accelerating land deployment and/or mana access. Blue isn't great at this, though there are a few options. Apprentice Wizard grants 3 colorless mana for the cost of 1 blue. Lapis Orb and Midnight Clock are mana rocks with a bonus ability. Guidelight Optimizer, Volshe Tideturner, and Vodalian Arcanist are 'conditional' mana rocks, granting access to mana but only for certain spell types.

Card draw (blue)

Blue excels at card draw. There are many options here . . . below is just a smattering. Many options (Mind Spring, Concentrate, Divination) are simple card draw spells; others (like Merfolk Looter) grant a card at a cost of a discard. Still others (Deduce, Consider, Opt) offer card draw with a bonus ability of investigate, surveil, or scry. Spectral Sailor is a great option, paying dividends especially in later stages of a game (when you could potentially activate his card draw ability several times). 

Targeted removal (blue)

There are two ways blue does removal: counterspells and returning a permanent to its owners hand. For counterspells: the original (and still best) is Counterspell. That was deemed too powerful at only two mana, so subsequent iterations either kept the cost and added conditions (Mana Leak, Essence Scatter, Negate, Disdainful Stroke), added a colorless mana to the cost (Refute—note the card draw bonus, Cancel), or added two colorless mana (Rewind) but you get the lands back to use again that turn.

For returning permanents, Boomerang and Disperse are classic options. Fading Hope is a nice conditional variant, Blink of an Eye has a nice kicker bonus, Run Away Together can synergize well in "ETB" decks, and Aethersnipe can grant you a creature, too. 

Board wipe (blue)

Similar to targeted removal, blue does board wipes by returning permanents to their respective owners' hands. Wash Out is great against mono-colored decks, Aetherize goes well against aggro offerings, Whelming Wave if you're playing sea creatures, and Upheaval if you just want to reset the board.

Conclusion

Of the 32 cards presented above, ~24 of them go well in almost any mono-blue Commander deck.

Budget Commander Staples: Red

Continuing this month's theme (see this post for an introduction), today I look at budget Commander staples in red, focusing on four categories: ramp, card draw, targeted removal, and board wipe.

Ramp (red)

Ramp is about accelerating land deployment and/or mana access. In red, that happens in three ways: sacrificing creatures to add mana (Reckless Barbarian, Skirk Prospector), discarding cards to draw cards and get treasure tokens (Pirate's Pillage, Big Score), or exiling cards from your deck to play that turn (Light Up the Stage, Act on Impulse, Atsushi). There are a few mana-producing creatures, too (Alena, Sunset Strikemaster).

Card draw (red)

Card draw in red almost always comes at a cost of discarding, though Browbeat is a fun way to force an opponent to pick their poison.

Targeted removal (red)

Red excels at destroying artifacts, lands, and creatures (by doing damage).

Board wipe (red)

Board wipes in red are about destroying all artifacts (Shatterstorm) or doing damage to every creature (Star of Extinction, Burn Down the House, Blasphemous Act). Note: Blasphemous Act is ~$3, above by $1 limit, but close enough to count.

Conclusion

Of the 32 cards above, you could choose ~20 for almost any mono-red Commander deck based on your  strategy.