Quandrix C21 Defect

[Izzet808]

Sooo.... the new Quandrix Commander doubles tokens but the deck likes creating 0/0 fractals... wouldn’t the commander be useless then? Unless there’s some way to give them a buff. It just feels bad... or am I wrong?

[ApothecaryGeist]

The deck does make many other types of tokens.  But yeah, with the set being tied to the Strixhaven set; and having so many cards that make fractals; this commander does feel like kind of a dud.  Even if it gave that token an extra +1/+1, your original Fractal is 6/6 or so.  The copy still would be only 1/1.  Very bad.

[WizardSpartan]

I kind of wondered the same thing. One of the fractal producing cards, Biomathematician, might work with doubling the fractals, but 6 of the 16 new cards are kind of a nonbo with Adrix and Nev, Twincasters.

Weird.

[CleanBelwas]

Without the release of the rulings, it's difficult to say for certain, but I think it works out fine.

The commander is basically the same as Parallel Lives, and one of the rulings for Parallel Lives states:

"If the effect creating the tokens instructs you to do something with those tokens at a later time, like exiling them at the end of combat, you’ll do that for all the tokens."

Seems quite reasonable to assume that this commander will work in the same way.

The design space for Fractals appears to be that you create a 0/0 and put +1/+1 counters on it based on some criteria. The same would be true here. You'd create twice as many Fractals, then put the appropriate amount of +1/+1 counters on all of them, so they wouldn't just die.

The key distinction here is that the commander is doubling the amount that you create, not creating copies of ones that already exist. If you were to create a copy, it would die as a 0/0, but that's not what is happening here. It's a subtle distinction, but it is there.

[WizardSpartan]

Why does Parallel Lives have that ruling, whereas Doubling Season doesn't.

That's a pretty straightforward answer, though. It's nice that it works that way.

[SsserenityUltra]

In my opinion, even though fractals don't really synergize with the main commander that well, you can still do fun things with them, like assigning their combat damage as if they weren't blocked (with the new legend bear). You should just replace the weaker fractal cards with better token generating effects, like Arachnogenesis.

[ApothecaryGeist]

I've check in with some colleagues who are bigger rules nerds than me.


The token doubling is NOT a trigger.  It is not 'get a token', then 'get another'. 


It is a replacement effect.  The rule is as CleanBelwas quoted.  The token doubling effectively replaces the text within the card.  Instead of "Create a token", it is now "create two tokens".  And then "put some +1/+1 counters on THOSE tokens".


So Adrix and Nev are not incompatible with Fractals.