Category: Legends


Generally Speaking – Bartel Runeaxe

Filed under: Articles, EDH - Commander, Legends by solemnparty — 2 Comments
February 18, 2013

bartel runeaxe

Yay, more Legends generals… I know they were trying to have lots of legendary creatures in the set, but I wish they were better.

Bartel Runeaxe is a 6/5 for 3GRB with vigilance and protection from auras. Honestly, the greatest part about this guy is the flavor text.

Thundering down from Hammerheim, no foe could slow Bartel’s charge.

This would have made a lot more sense if he had trample instead of vigilance… The only other thing of note about Bartel is that he cannot be the target of enchant creature spells, so he can’t be the target of Aura-based removal such as Prison Term, etc. Otherwise, he’s pretty plain, and nothing to build around.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking – Barktooth Warbeard

Filed under: Legends by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 16, 2012

 

For completion purposes, I’m going to include this on Generally Speaking; Barktooth Warbeard. Possibly the greatest name ever. As a vanilla 6/5 for 4BRR, he’s unimpressive in all senses. Due to this, he goes for roughly 50 cents, being a uncommon from Legends. There are obviously better choices for Red/Black generals, but I suppose being a Human Warrior is an upside?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking – Ayesha Tanaka

Filed under: Card Reviews, Chronicles, EDH - Commander, Legends by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 13, 2012

Ayesha Tanaka from Legends is the only legendary creature with Banding in the history of Magic. As I’ve stated in my article on banding, this was not a popular mechanic. There is another Legendary that refers to banding, but he just gives banding to birds.

As for a reminder, I’m going to re-post the reminder text for banding:

Any creatures with banding, and up to one without, can attack in a band. Bands are blocked as a group. If any creatures with banding you control are blocking or being blocked by a creature, you divide that creature’s combat damage, not its controller, among any of the creatures it’s being blocked by or is blocking.

Ayesha also has a tap ability, negating an activated ability of an Artifact unless they pay 1 white mana; making sense due to her Human Artificer type. The fact white mana has to be paid is an upside, but it’s only the activated abilities of artifacts, so unless you’re worried about them, I’d pass on Ayesha aside from her Banding mechanic.

If you’re going to play banding, you may as well play Ayesha as your General, as there’s 42 cards with banding that you can choose from, and 29 in White and Blue that you can find here.

Cards to play with Ayesha Tanaka:

  • Formation
  • Liquimetal Coating
  • Creatures with Indestructible

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking – Axelrod Gunnarson

Filed under: Card Reviews, Chronicles, EDH - Commander, Legends by solemnparty — Leave a comment
August 12, 2012

Axelrod Gunnarson is a Legendary Giant from Legends and Chronicles. Being in Red and Black makes Axelrod Gunnarson not all that impressive compared to other Black/Red commanders like Kaervek the Merciless and Olivia Voldaren. For 4BBRR you get a 5/5 trample.

Not really impressive; I personally don’t think he’s worth the 8 mana, but I guess he isn’t terrible if you’re playing an Unearth deck in Grixis with Sedris, Traitor King, but there’s better re-animator targets, as he only pings for one damage if he kills a creature.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking – Arcades Sabboth

Filed under: Card Reviews, Chronicles, Legends by solemnparty — Leave a comment
July 28, 2012

Arcades Sabboth is one of the five Legendary Elder Dragons, printed in Chronicles and Legends. As with the other Legendary Elder Dragons, Arcades is an 8 drop 7/7 flier, and he has an upkeep cost of WGU (one of each of his colors, like the other elder dragons). While Nicol Bolas is the best known of the Elder Dragons, there is a dragon that corresponds to each of the Alara Shards (Bant in Arcades Sabboth’s case, as he’s WGU).

For the sake of his colors, he does reflect the more defensive, controlling nature of Bant, as he simply makes your other creatures beefier in toughness by increasing them by +0/+2. He can also increase himself by +0/+1 for a white. As long as you have white mana to sink into his ability, he can let you block large creatures, as he’s a 7/9 due to his ability, plus whatever you sink into his boost.

While I don’t recommend him due to his insanely high 2WWGGUU cost, he isn’t a terrible choice for a commander, but I’d play Angus Mackenzie over him. Though, due to the fact he beefs everything while it’s untapped, both Vigilance and Exalted are good mechanics to play alongside him if you plan on using him. Personally, I’d rather play Arcades in a Rafiq of the Many deck, but either works.

Cards to play with Arcades Sabboth as your Commander:

  • Angus Mackenzie
  • Rafiq of the Many
  • Rubinia Soulsinger
  • Ragnar
  • Sublime Archangel
  • Noble Hierarch

(Elspeth for the Win says: Rubinia Soulsinger, a rare from Chronicles, is a Legendary Faerie Creature that allows you to Mind Control a target creature and keep it for as long as she is on the battlefield untapped. It’s particularly interesting that you can actually choose not to untap her during your untap steps. She is an intriguing Commander possibility in a deck based around stealing opponent’s permanents, something quite doable in these colors.

Ragnar is another interesting one in that he is a legendary creature with a WUG mana cost that has a tap ability for WUG to regenerate a target creature. He’s a $3-5 USD card, so if you’re looking to supplement your Bant EDH deck with something old and interesting, Ragnar’s worth a look.)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking – Angus Mackenzie

Filed under: Card Reviews, EDH - Commander, Legends by solemnparty — 1 Comment
July 26, 2012

 

Angus Mackenzie is an interesting card. Belonging in Bant colors, Mackenzie here is a 2/2 for WUG, making him an easy turn 3 drop. However, his ability is fairly effective; for his colors and a tap, he prevents all combat damage in a turn. While he may not win a game by himself, his colors support that ability quite well. Between Mackenzie, Phelddagrif, and Rafiq, Mackenzie is a pretty solid option. You can find other generals in his colors here. He’s obviously seeing play, because on tcgplayer he’s going for between 25 and 30 bucks, and he’s going for around 20 on ebay.

Due to the fact he can stall quite a bit, it gives you the chance to set up while other players are going after each other in multiplayer, which allows you to play less aggressively and set up more.

Cards to play with Mackenize:

  • Bant Charm
  • Giltspire Avenger
  • Jenara, Asura of War
  • Stoic Angel
  • Treva’s Charm
  • Frost Titan
  • Primeval Titan
  • Rafiq of the Many

On a side note, his utility makes him playable in any deck in those colors, making him a good utility creature in Rafiq, or good in general in a 5 color deck like Cromat or Child of Alara.

Also, due to the fact the original picture is kinda difficult to read, I’m posting his full oracle text here.

GreenWhiteBlue, Tap: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn. Activate this ability only before the combat damage step.
Flavor Text:
“Battles no longer served a purpose in Karakas.” —Angus Mackenzie, Diary
On a side note, he’s also a Human Cleric, which opens up some new options due to all of the human-tribal stuff in the Innistrad block.
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Generally Speaking: Adun Oakenshield

Filed under: Card Reviews, Legends by solemnparty — 1 Comment
September 4, 2011

Adun Oakenshield

I first mentioned Adun Oakenshield in my review of From the Vault: Legends, where they had Kresh the Bloodbraided instead of Adun, despite Adun being a much better card. Being one of the few Jund colored generals (one of five, the others being found here) if you were to run Jund, you would run either Adun Oakenshield or Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, if you prefer dragons. Adun isn’t great, as he’s a 1/2 for RGB, but for RGB and tap, you can add a creature from your graveyard to your hand. He’s not a game breaking general, or something you’re particularly attempting to consistently play like Kaalia of the Vast or Karador, Ghost Chieftain, but he offers a bit of utility for his colors.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

%d bloggers like this: