I asked for suggestions, and Bradley Rose pitched the following:
Design a Brawl face Commander as if the Brawl decks were released for a past set.Sounds like a plan to me! Pick a set from any point in Magic History, and make a brawl-commander for it. For bonus points, you can take the other suggestion (good in brawl but not broken in standard) and apply it to your card as well.
Relevant reading: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/inside-throne-eldraine-brawl-decks-2019-09-04
Good luck, have fun, and I'll see you all Monday.
So in the terms of Amonkhet standard, embalm didn't end up being cohesive enough to make its own UW deck (though it was fine in limited) and the Scarab God/Eternalize in UB when Hour of Devastation came out and Approach of the Second Sun in UW just kind of overruled it. While some embalm cards got played, there wasn't really an "embalm deck," which makes it a nice option for a Brawl theme that wouldn't have collided with standard.
ReplyDeleteBut I decided to actually go with a Brawl deck that would go with the whole block rather than just the first set. I had this idea in my head that the embalm lord, Temmet, was himself embalmed before Hour of Devastation happened and therefore was not eternalized. And the set (and if I recall, the story) gave the impression that the uneternalized zombies who hadn't been taken by Bolas were still loyal to the citizens.
So I imagined embalmed pharoah Temmet becoming the leader of the new zombie culture, becoming Esper colors. And so he reward recursion and recycling now, not just embalming or token creatures, but he does that too. Whew. Anyway.
Temmet, Unyielding Vizier 2UWB
Legendary Creature - Human Zombie Cleric
Vigilance, Lifelink
Whenever a card leaves your graveyard, draw a card.
Spells cast from your graveyard and abilities activated from your graveyard cost 2 less.
4/4
I feel like he should also make zombies ... but the whole set makes so many zombies I felt that would be overboard. Note that his second ability is deliberately designed so that it works with eternalize but NOT the Scarab God's ability.
His first ability is probably broken in older formats, but I don't think that's a problem in Brawl.
Eh, some rethinking to make it more about tokens while still caring about the graveyard.
DeleteTemmet, Unyielding Vizier 2UWB
Legendary Creature - Human Zombie Cleric
Vigilance, Lifelink
Whenever you create a creature token, draw a card.
Your spells that target cards in your graveyard, spells you cast from your graveyard, and abilities activated from your graveyard cost 2 less.
4/4
The second ability still doesn't break Scarab God even further, but makes other graveyard interactions better, particularly aftermath cards.
The text on this card is absolutely insane. That it costs 5 in esper is a significant drawback, but this would be the number 1 built Esper commander of all time.
DeleteI like what's going on here. I am building Varina for edh right now. I think its excessively good though and could be doing what you're trying to do without that extra power.
First, I would change the first ability to "Whenever you create one or more creature tokens, draw a card." This cuts down on people pairing this with the biggest token makers they can find to get tons of cards in hand while getting their board presence. It focuses on using Embalm/Eternalize abilities.
Second, I would probably go back to the initial wording of the second ability. I don't see why we would need to make Zombify better on this card. The card is already dangerous. Combining drawing cards and cost reduction is already dangerous. I would set this back both to focus the deck more on embalm/flashback/unearth/etc and to keep the ability from letting player do too much in a single turn.
Quinn, Thoughtweft Augur [3][G][W][U]
ReplyDeleteLegendary Planeswalker - Quinn
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, create a 1/1 white Kithkin Soldier creature token.
0: Proliferate
-3: Draw a card for each planeswalker you control.
5
War of the Spark seemed like a good candidate for the brawl deck treatment, and I figure it could use a reason to make a superfriends deck for brawl. I didn't like making a third bant planeswalker when other combos have none, but it's just what made the most sense.
Krk, Phenomenon Tracker
ReplyDelete3GG
Legendary Creature - Insect Rogue
2/2
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token.
Whenever you create a creature token of a creature type among other creatures you control or creatures that died under your control this turn, draw a card.
Since Brawl goes off of Standard at the time, I kept in mind the Invasion block before Odyssey when finding common ground among creature tokens in green between Odyssey and Invasion. This templating aims to be synergistic primarily with:
- Odyssey's flashback token makers
- Odyssey's enchantment token makers
- Invasion block's Saprolings
- Invasion block's Penumbra cards
Looking ahead to Onslaught, Insect creature tokens are quite popular. And that Centaur enchantment is strong for this commander.
My favorite set is Eldritch Moon. I noticed while looking at the legendary creatures in the set, that there isn't a legend that cover Emerge. Emerge also work really well since it reduces the commander tax. Emerge is in Sultai so I brewed up the following.
ReplyDeleteMortusek, The Bearer of the Dead 9
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
Emerge 5BUG
When you cast Mortusek, put the top 10 cards of your library into your graveyard.
Sacrifice another creature: Return Mortusek to your hand, return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield or to your hand.
9/8
Recurring Nightmare is a fun card that is banned in EDH for good reason. I think having a commander that's doing a similar thing but that takes way more infrastructure and gives the opponent a window to respond is a good way to re-introduce the effect. His active ability goes to play or hand so you can pick up other Emerge cards, but given the cost to get to the ability I like it having the option of just being reanimate.
Mortusek, The Bearer of the Dead 9
DeleteLegendary Creature - Eldrazi
Emerge 5BUG
When you cast Mortusek, put the top 10 cards of your library into your graveyard.
Sacrifice another creature: If Mortusk is on the battlefield, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield or to your hand. Return Mortusk from the battlefield to your hand.
9/8
I always felt like Prowess never got there as mechanic in Khans/Fate block. I think they needed a U 1/1 prowess creature for it to land. But I think a neat Brawl deck could have come from it.
ReplyDeleteShan'Do, Jeskai Master [1][R][W][B]
Legendary Creature - Aven Monk
First Strike, Prowess
Instant and Sorcery spells you cast have Rebound.
Whenever you cast a non-creature spell, monks you control gain flying.
3/1