Commander Masters Previews Start 7/11

[WWolfe]

They've definitely hit the mark for most of the mana rocks you would think of (Medallions, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet), wondering if they'll do Mana Crypt.

ETA- The Great Henge gets a reprint.

[WWolfe]

There’s Craterhoof Behemoth and Deflecting Swat.

[EMaxxi]

There’s Craterhoof Behemoth and Deflecting Swat.

Man, showcase Swat is amazing.
https://mythicspoiler.com/cmm/cards/deflectingswatp2.jpg
btw, is the dragon in the art Korvold, Fae-cursed king?


Also, plot twist: Zacama, primal Calamity downshifted from Mythic to Rare.

[WWolfe]

I’ve been debating getting a Deflecting Swat for my OG Purphoros deck and that may have made the decision for me.

[WWolfe]

And there’s the Fierce Guardianship spoiler

[EMaxxi]

And there’s the Fierce Guardianship spoiler

Card is already going down 25% in Europe 

[WWolfe]

Deflecting Swat dropped $10 on Starcitygames within a few hours of the reprint being announced.

[WWolfe]

Sliver deck has been spoiled. Can’t decide if I like any of the new cards or not. Any thoughts?

[ApothecaryGeist]

Sliver deck has been spoiled. Can’t decide if I like any of the new cards or not. Any thoughts?

Salty.

[Landale]

Sliver deck has been spoiled. Can’t decide if I like any of the new cards or not. Any thoughts?

Rukarumel, Biologist seems fun. Can either have her make various utility creatures like Beast Whisperer or Birds of Paradise into Slivers for more shenanigans or have her at the head of some neglected tribe to force any creature you want into said tribe.

[WWolfe]

Having had time to think about this a tad more, here's my thoughts on the new cards from the Sliver deck:

Rukarumel, Biologist- Interesting card. Has some decent synergy with tribal decks. May end up a budget alternative to Morophon for tribes without a true commander.

Titan of Littjara- Another interesting card. I like it but for a Sliver deck it's more expensive to cast than Synapse Sliver which is easier to cast (U vs UU in the cost). Granted this is on attack whereas Synapse is on combat damage. The tradeoff decision may come down to how "pure" you want to keep your Sliver deck. May fit better in other tribal decks than it does a Sliver deck.

For the Ancestors- Good card. I like it, has potential to hit six cards in some tribal decks.

Descendant's Fury- Intriguing but it depends on getting through with the damage and if you don't have a creature you want to sacrifice it doesn't do anything. Probably best in a tribal deck that wants to create tokens that you could then sac to get an "actual" member of the tribe.

As for the Slivers:

Taunting Sliver- I want to like and I feel like it can be useful especially to protect yourself after a big turn. The problem is at 4 CMC it's competing in a slot that's awful tight in most Sliver decks (generally there's only 3-4 4 CMC slivers in a deck, usually Bonescythe Sliver, Shifting Sliver, and Root Sliver) and I'm not sure this makes the cut over them.

Regal Sliver- I've been looking for a way to put the Monarch ability in my Sliver deck and this works but again, it's at that tight 4 CMC spot.

Hatchery Sliver- I like the Replicate ability and think it could be useful but there's not that many Slivers that you'll care about doubling up on the ability the duplicated Sliver gives. The biggest one that comes to mind that you would want to is Sliver Overlord and without a way to disregard the legend rule (which Sliver Gravemother gives), that doesn't work. There are others like Muscle Sliverthat would be worth copying or if you're just wanting to flood the board it would be useful.

Lazetop Sliver- I love me some Zombies and I love me some Slivers but I don't know how useful this one is. Afflict 2 is going to still get damage through when they block your Sliver Overlord pumped creatures and the Amass Sliver 2 ability is interesting. This one will have to be played to gauge I think.

Capricious Sliver- Nice ability but you have to make sure you have the mana to cast all the cards you're going to exile if you swing out and don't win the game on the spot. Could actually hurt you if not used smartly.

Overall I like Sliver Gravemother but the new Slivers in the deck I'm not sold on. Maybe test playing them will change my mind. I don't know, maybe I just had too big of an expectation for what the new slivers would be (I was thinking we would get like a sliver with Toxic).

[EMaxxi]

So, with 3/4 of the decks spoiled, it's time to address the elephant in the room, i.e. where is the Premium of buying these Premium-(over)priced decks?

The one Mystic Gate in the PW deck is worth as much as the entire manabases of the other two decks combined   

[WWolfe]

Yea, these manabases are horrible. Of the Sliver deck, 57% of the lands enter tapped, and of the ones that don't 11 are basics. Makes it even harder on a five color deck to be competitive off the bat.

ETA- Now that I'm not at work on my phone, I can add to what I posted earlier...

With the price of these decks, they could justify giving us better manabases than they gave us. I'm not saying full shocks and fetches, but my God, since they're already printing some of the Battle Bond lands in the set why couldn't they stick them in the decks where appropriate? (I know, I know- people less likely to buy packs to get them if they're in the precon blah blah blah) Past the manabases, the most expensive reprint I've seen (though I may have missed something) in any of these decks is Synapse Sliver which is around $20 which isn't bad but.... Yet these decks are preordering for twice what the normal commander decks normally cost?

[EMaxxi]

these decks are preordering for twice what the normal commander decks normally cost?

When ALL the precon exclusive cards sell for $30 by default, the price adds up quickly /s

[WWolfe]

Just did the math, if they were in stock you could preorder all 10 of the new Sliver deck cards for $46 from SCG. This is preorder, which is usually more expensive than a week after the cards come out as well as on a site that is typically more expensive than say TCGPlayer and some other sites. The deck itself is preordering for $135 on ChannelFireball (only "normal" card retailer I could find it where you could buy only it).

So for someone like me that only cares about the new cards, I'm better off waiting until a week or so after they release when the price plateaus and just ordering singles (which is what I normally do anyway). The only reason I'll have it before then is my daughter preordered it for me a few weeks ago as a birthday present off Amazon where it's $82.

ETA- Outside of a few cards like Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat, Demonic Tutor and maybe a handful of others that I only care about because it will drop prices I have to say this set feels like a disappointment.