Ikoria Teaser
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on March 19, 2020, 9:38 p.m. by dbpunk
So recently MaRo put a teaser post on Blogatog about Ikoria since spoilers arent due for a month with some of the more bizarre aspects of it (for example, were getting at least one dinosaur and a SQUIRREL) but one of the things he said really got me wondering what it was (and Im paraphrasing here) "printing a cycle that players have asked about for years" and I cant think of what it is.
It cant be the rest of the swords because theyd be too strong for standard, I cant think of any land cycles theyd do and I for sure cant think of what else theyd do. Any ideas?
Coward_Token says... #2
Concerted Effort would have been a nice reprint for the Kathril deck but I guess it's overshadowed by odric on account of the color weight.
Another thing I don't like about the temur partners is that Pako is the one that sets things up, yet Haldan is the cheaper of the two. At least the art is cute.
Trynn & Silvar and Brallin & Shabraz sure are similar to Regna & Krav and Sylvia & Khorvath respectively.
April 6, 2020 6:51 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #3
So now with all the commander cards revealed, I am rather pleased with the reprints. Not a ton of reprint value, but a lot of the reprints are widely used commander cards that will help fill out a lot of collections.
Anyone disappointed that they spoiled Rielle shortly after Shabaz+Brallin? It's like, come on, let me be at least a little excited about a wheels commander before you drop one of the most busted Izzet/wheel commanders to date. Heck, Rielle is probably a better cycling commander than Gavi....
I really like Lurrus. I just wish you could cast more than one creature with its ability.
Lastly, I foresee some great persist shenanigans to be had with The Ozolith.
April 7, 2020 12:29 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
I do not have time to comment on every card in Comamnder 2020, but I am very displeased that they again reprinted both Beast Within and Harmonize, when WotC has openly admitted that those two cards break the color pie, due to them allowing green to perform effects that it normally cannot do without the assistance of creatures; could they not have at least reprinted Generous Gift, instead?
Also, while I am glad that Odessey filter lands have been reprinted, again, to keep their prices low, why could WotC have not reprinted the allied-colored Shadowmoor filter lands, which are better in every possible way and really need to be reprinted? Are those cards too powerful for a preconstructed set?
Also, another reprint of Exotic Orchard severely annoys me, when Reflecting Pool needs a reprint much more desperately, but at least another reprint of Reliquary Tower is nice, to keep its price low.
However, I am very pleased that both Canopy Vista and Smoldering Marsh are being reprinted, since they were the only two lands from that cycle that have not yet been reprinted in a Commander set, which should definitely help to lower their prices.
Gavony Township has never been reprinted, before, so this reprint is very nice, and a further reprint of Grim Backwoods is appreciated, as well.
A reprint of The Locust God is very nice, as that shall help to lower its price.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath is my favorite card in the entire game, so I shall not object to her being reprinted, again, but I do wish that WotC had kept the Terese Nielsen artwork only for her From the Vault printing, to keep it unique and special.
The only card that I actually am interested in obtaining is Tidal Barracuda, as it shall be a nice replacement for Vedalken Orrery in some of my decks.
This year's Commander set was nice, but nothing spectacular, at least not for me, but I am remaining hopeful for Commander Legends, later this year.
April 7, 2020 1:21 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
I am not surprised that WotC again reprinted Mulldrifter and Vampire Nighthawk, despite the fact that neither of them truly needed another reprint, but I wish that they had given those cards new artwork, because they have reused the same artwork on every printing of those cards, except for promo versions of each. Why is WotC doing that?
April 7, 2020 1:27 p.m.
Coward_Token says... #6
I got confused by the Forbidden Friendship art series because I thought it was a young Luka. But no! It's just some other coppercoat soldier who decided to not kill an animal, ending in him leaving his home to become a bonder! Guess there's a lot of those running around, huh?
Deflecting Swat being able to redirect abilities makes it narrowly avoid being inferior to Fierce Guardianship in + decks
Mono- Nightmares feels weird. Looking at you, Helica Glider.
- Says "leaves", not just "dies"
- As previously implied, you can target any creature so -1/-1 counters are fair game.
- It collects all counters, so beware of that juicy pile of +1/+1s being tainted by a Athreos, Shroud-Veiled or something.
- Marchesa, the Black Rose can benefit nicely from continually sacing & recuring creatures
- Unsure if it'll rob Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
- The flicker trick with Toothy, Imaginary Friend just got even wilder
- Vorel of the Hull Clade lol
- Yisan, the Wanderer Bard can pick up from where he left off right away. Kangee, Aerie Keeper gets to keep its kicker investment. Triad of Fates can skip setting up too I guess. Any other uncommon counters that synergizes with this thing?
April 7, 2020 4:10 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #7
I am going to try to buy a booster box of Ikoria for sure as soon as the Covid goes away. Nightmare squirrels and mutates and the whole set is just amazing.
April 7, 2020 4:16 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #8
I am already saving all my coins and wildcards for Ikoria on Arena. This is by far the best set Wotc has ever made so far. I am just waiting for when they make a set that in the storyline Jace gets into a Simic lab accident that turns him into a squirrel, and still has all of his planeswalker abilities and can still talk.
April 7, 2020 4:21 p.m.
So honestly I want to make Yidaro, Wandering Monster work in some weird discard commander shell.
April 7, 2020 4:47 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #10
That moment when you realize that Fluctuator is actually a $20 reprint O_O
April 7, 2020 5:39 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor, in that case, this reprint should help to lower the price of that card.
April 8, 2020 8:27 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
Today's previews are quite excellent!
Finally, there is a red/white/blue planeswalker, and it is a new Narset! She is very awesome, and I wish that I could put her in my red/white/blue EDH deck, but that deck has too many creatures for her to be truly useful. However, I have been contemplating building an EDH deck with Elsha of the Infinite
as the general, and this new Narset really makes that idea very appealing. However, why does Narset look so different in that card art than she has in her previous incarnations? I know that different artists often draw the same characters in different ways, but she looks like a completely different character than she does in her previous cards.
It seems that there be a cycle of wedge-colored ultimatums, and I am very excited about that; only two have been revealed, thus far, but I like both of them, very much. I do not believe that emergent ultimatum would be useful for my black/blue/green EDH deck, because I do not have a sufficient number of monocolored cards in that deck for it to truly work to its fullest potential, but eerie ultimatum would be awesome in my black/white/green EDH deck, but the only problem is if I can afford to remove a card to make room for it.
Song of creation is very awesome, but I cannot make room for it in my red/blue/green EDH deck, unfortunately.
April 8, 2020 11:38 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #13
Ruinous ultimatum is better than Violent Ultimatum in the majority of situations, except when a player wishes to destroy a particularly troublesome land. I shall use it to replace Violent Ultimatum in my five-colored deck and In Garruk's Wake in my red/white/black deck.
April 8, 2020 1:53 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #14
Woah, Zirda is strong. Might be the strongest Boros commander to date.
Also, I am a fan of the new ultimatums so far. They all seem pretty powerful. That Abzan one is nutty. I can get behind a Replenish+Scrap Mastery+Rise of the Dark Realms+Splendid Reclamation targeting only my graveyard.
April 8, 2020 3:13 p.m.
Hobestly Zirda, The Dawnwaker]is going to be ridiculous hard to play against and amazingly good and versatile for a Boros commander.
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All those activated abilities in Boros creatures that are higher costed than they should be? Theyre now at a range where youd wanna play them. This supports a creature based deck.
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Abilities like Forecast, Monstrosity, Kicker, etc? All of those get lowered. Suddenly you're able to activate abilities like that on the cheap. Suddenly you can build around a keyword.
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Artifact abilities? Enchantment abilities? All covered under this. Boros enchantress is possible with this.
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Equip is an activated ability.
April 8, 2020 5:25 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
Why was it necessary to keep brushwagg as a creature type? There is no reason for which it could not have been a beast, instead.
April 8, 2020 5:59 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #18
DemonDragonJ, it's because the whole point of the set is to have unusual creature types. There's squirrels, hippos, brushwaggs, sharks (why don't they just use fish like they did for Half-Shark, Half-?) and otters, the list just goes on and on. That and we needed a 3rd Brushwagg along with Brushwagg and Interplanar Brushwagg.
April 8, 2020 6:04 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #19
Oh, and screw all the people who thought we were getting a Kiora planeswalker for sure. I don't know why so many people thought 'Ikoria' meant we are getting a Kiora planeswalker, I mean, storywise, why would a plane be named after a planeswalker?
April 8, 2020 6:22 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #20
dbpunk - Totally agree. First thing that comes to mind for me is that Basalt Monolith/Grim Monolith and this card alone produce infinite mana. Zirda helps make Boros do Boros things much more efficiently, and I for one am very interested in brewing it. Plus that artwork is beautiful.
SquirrelPenguin - Actually, if it weren't for some bad story writing and the introduction of Vivien recently, Kiora would've been the most logical choice to be on Ikoria. Kiora's whole drive is to collect the biggest, baddest sea monsters she can find to fight off the Eldrazi on Zendikar. I think I could forgive someone for thinking that Kiora might show up on the plane. Especially because a) we don't know when in the overall timeline we are visiting this plane (or at least I haven't seen info on that yet), and b) the tagline is literally "Lair of the Behemoths"
April 8, 2020 7:17 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #21
The red/white/blue ultimatum, splendid ultimatum, is very nice, but, again, I cannot make any room for it in my red/white/blue deck, which is very unfortunate, and, while I could put it in my five-colored deck, I feel that Cruel Ultimatum is superior in the majority of situations, so I shall keep that card in that deck.
April 9, 2020 11:58 a.m.
Coward_Token says... #22
Shark Typhoon: Let's just acknowledge that not only is this a funny reference, it's also pretty mechanically interesting. (Name's a bit lazy though, couldn't they at least called it something like "Selachian Tempest"?)
Fire Prophecy: +1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden support
Jubilant Skybonder: Bran Stark reference?
Winota, Joiner of Forces: Try not to get too cross-eyed, Suns_Champion.
April 9, 2020 12:09 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #23
Everyone put in your order purchases for Basalt Monolith now. We have another commander that immediately goes infinite with it. Oh and this one costs two mana...and it's Simic...and it has a potentially game winning mana sink printed onto the card...what the hell WotC?
April 9, 2020 12:26 p.m.
WOTC: prints Thrasios, Triton Hero, a 2 mana legendary creature with an ability that gets you close to winning the game with an infinite mana source in Simic
CEDH players: "Help, popular combo flash hulk is going out of control in GUx decks, of which a good number is helmed by Thrasios."
WoTC: prints Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
WoTC: "Don't worry, weve learned nothing."
April 9, 2020 12:43 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #25
So I really wanted to go for the Mardu deck. After seeing the cat dragon tokens Gavi produces, I might indeed go for Jeskai. I'm a little torn. Which deck(s) are you guys going to buy?
April 9, 2020 1:06 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi: I bought all of them and plan to use all of them. No, no modifications because money (and other reasons). I do admit the Catasaurus tokens look adorable though.
April 9, 2020 1:10 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #27
Lots of combos are possible with Zirda, the Dawnwaker.
Steel Hellkite or Dragon Engine or Golem Artisan for infinite power.
Voltaic Construct for infinite artifact creature untapping.
Gemstone Array for infinite mana.
Caravan Escort to instantly level up.
Juju Bubble for infinite life.
Samite Sanctuary for indestructible creatures (Does not prevent Murders)
Shield of the Ages to become invincible (Assuming your opponent doesn't win some other way)
And I am sure someone can find a combo with Farmstead Gleaner.
April 9, 2020 2:45 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #28
EDIT: these probably don't work because I misread Zirda, the Dawnwaker. It can't reduce the amount of mana to less than 1. Somebody please find a infinite combo with Zirda, the Dawnwaker!
April 9, 2020 2:47 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #29
Or just find a card that can reduce the abitities cost by an additional , to bring it down to . Then these abilities will work.
April 9, 2020 2:51 p.m.
Coward_Token says... #30
I don't think any of the activated ability cost reducers do that. There's plenty of infinitive combos to be had anyway, check out Fantastic Mr. Fox | Zirda, the Dawnwaker EDH
Also going to hop on the bandwagon and say that Jeskai Ultimatum should have made five 1/1s instead of the life gain.
April 9, 2020 2:58 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #31
seshiro_of_the_orochi - I was originally planning on picking up the Jeskai one to build either a cycling or wheels tribal list with Bralinn and Shabraz, but after seeing Zirda, the Dawnwaker, I am going Boros cycling/combo.
With that being said, SquirrelPenguin - here are a couple infinite combos when run alongside Zirda, the Dawnwaker:
1) Basalt Monolith or Grim Monolith + Walking Ballista or Staff of Domination
2) Gemstone Array + Ashnod's Altar + a token generator = Infinite mana and/or infinite tokens...I can finally break Retrofitter Foundry!
2b) Throw in a card like Purphoros, God of the Forge for damage
3) I am pretty sure Phyrexian Altar goes infinite in some capacity as well, just haven't found the right card for it yet.
I am sure there are more, but those are what I am focusing on right now.
April 9, 2020 3:02 p.m.
Were getting a tricolored rare lands cycle with cycling and basic land types on each.
So they can draw you a card if you dont need them and theyre fetchable. But were not probably getting fetch lands any time soon.
April 9, 2020 6:23 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #33
dbpunk, I am not pleased about that, because I feel that such lands are too powerful, as they render the existing tri-lands obsolete, and also are superior to the cycling lands from Amonkhet in the majority of situations. Also, even worse, they have names that reference specific factions on Ikoria, which means that they cannot be reprinted on any other plane, which is very bad for their potential chances of being reprinted.
However, if these lands are not too expensive, I may use them to replace the existing triple lands in my decks, and I do hope that WotC eventually prints allied-colored versions of these lands, in the future.
Also, the existence of lands that each have three basic land types makes it very unlikely that WotC shall reprint the fetch lands in Zendikar Rising, the next set, so I do hope that WotC reprints those cards in Commander Legends, or else it could be a very long time before they are reprinted, again.
April 9, 2020 6:40 p.m.
MaRo already said that they wouldnt be reprinting fetchlands into standard again though. Also its not like we dont have plane specific lands currently. Also, theyre not necessarily superior to the Amonkhet cyclelands because these have a higher cycling costs, so theyll be better for some decks but not all. Also, the old trilands will probably become budget options for decks.
I, for one, welcome our new tricycle land overlords.
April 9, 2020 6:49 p.m.
They say all sorts of things then do them anyway :).... Seriously though, why call something an ultimatum if there is no ultimatum inherent to the card? Mardu ultimatum may just be tongue-&-cheek, then they should just label it as "ultimatum" with quotes.
April 9, 2020 7:44 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #36
dbpunk, why will they not do that? Are the fetchlands too powerful for standard (as is the case with Doubling Season)?
Actually, apart from their cycling abilities, I have no major need for these new triple lands, since none of my decks contain fetchlands or cards that care about basic land types, so I do not see why I need to be worried about them.
April 9, 2020 8:09 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #37
DemonDragonJ, I agree, I have almost no need for them either since I almost never make decks with more than two colors. I think the most likely possibility is it will get overused by those people on Arena who make in app purchases and then have so many cards that they just have to slow down my computer by using 80+ cards in a deck (I see way too many of these every day), and not used at all by everyone else.
April 9, 2020 9:01 p.m.
SquirrelPenguin says... #38
And its just another rare land cycle along with the temple cycle.
April 9, 2020 9:07 p.m.
The fetchlands are absolutely too powerful to reprint in standard. Same with Doubling Season. Unless power creep really dies down over the next few years.
April 9, 2020 9:34 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #40
Y'all remember when Maro stated that Madness was a 9 on the 'Storm Scale' and then literally the following week Shadows Over Innistrad was spoiled? Can't trust that guy...
But in all seriousness, fetchlands likely aren't coming back to Standard anytime soon. WotC has been pretty consistent on this. They don't like how their presence homogenizes the meta. WotC also claims that fetchlands are bad for broadcasting paper magic. However, during the TCC secret layer discussion last week, the WotC representative appeared to hint at the possibility that fetchlands may show up in an upcoming supplemental set. My bet (hope) is in Commander Masters.
April 9, 2020 9:46 p.m.
Honestly I could sees fetches being in commander masters. Also the new land they just released is even better than all the other lands they showed.
Just saying, its gonna be an autoinclude into most Gx decks.
April 10, 2020 12:02 a.m.
Coward_Token says... #42
Kinda disappointed over the degree of mutate support in EDH so far; I feel the legends that actually have mutate are inferior to just letting Muldrotha/Karador/Animar helm things and including mutate triggers as a subtheme. (Unsure about Vadrok, Apex of Thunder, but using a handful of available creature spells to set up reanimating noncreatures feels like it would be awkward to build around.)
(Also, there's Surgeon General Commander if your group so deigns; it's not very silver-bordery anyway.)
April 10, 2020 10:30 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #43
The entire set has now been revealed: the red/blue/green ultimatum is very nice, but, yet again, I cannot make any room for it in my deck of those colors.
While I am displeased that WotC reprinted the cycle of lifelands (as I like to call them), at least they have new artwork, this time.
Overall, there are some cards in this set that interest me, but nothing that makes me extremely eager to participate in the prerelease, whenever that shall be.
April 10, 2020 11:43 a.m.
Coward_Token says... #44
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled can steal an entire mutate stack
Turns out the Ozolith doesn't rob Skullbriar, it'll just generate the same amount of counters. Neat!
imo Tymna the Weaver + Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder or even Vial Smasher the Fierce makes for superior mardu human tribal over Jirina Kudro (who, incidentally, synergizes with partner deck).
I wonder if the colorless nonartifact creatures foreshadow a theme for Core Set 2021? I don't see much Standard-legal synergy for their colorlessness currently.
April 10, 2020 5:06 p.m.
Well we are returning to Zendikar, which generally has a colorless theme going.
Also, I really like the new cycle of ultimatums and pretty much every legendary in the set so far. A bunch of the legends look fun to build around in edh (so far Ive designed a Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Yidaro, Wandering Monster deck, the latter of which is MAXIMUM JANK) and Ill probably design decks for some of the others too.
April 10, 2020 6:33 p.m.
Coward_Token says... #46
afaik colorless only mattered for the eldrazi though? although Infernal Reckoning and Ulamog's Crusher seem to imply that some remain, so maybe they'll be a subtheme at least
April 10, 2020 7:45 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #47
Man, after looking it over more, the Mardu precon is looking better and better. There are a ton of reprints that I don't have and some of the new cards like Titan Hunter would be great for my Erebos, Bleak-Hearted deck. Plus I just find Kelsien, the Plague very interesting.
April 11, 2020 10:35 a.m.
Probably put Titan Hunter in with Grismold, the Dreadsower.
April 11, 2020 11 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #49
Why is Avian Oddity just a bird, rather than a bird horror, bird mutant, or bird nightmare? No normal bird looks like that, so I find it to be very odd that it does not have an additional creature type.
April 13, 2020 11:26 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #50
So I just can't seem to get away from graveyard strategies apparently...after all my talk about how cool a lot of the other legends from both Ikoria and C20 are, I've settled on Tayam, Luminous Enigma (whom I accidentally ignored until after spoilers were done). That commander is soooo very fun and can be quite strong.
dbpunk says... #1
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor what I mean is that you cant play either of the partners just on their own. For example, you can play other partner commanders on their own as a functional commander, but the blue part of the Temur commanders is essentially a vanilla creature without its partner.
April 6, 2020 12:56 a.m.