Ojutai's Command
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on March 4, 2015, 9:59 a.m. by danthek84
WHAT?!?! This card looks SICK! I'm thinking about making a bant control deck with Snapcaster Mage, Voice of Resurgence and Tarmogoyf as the beatdown creatures. Thoughts?
lemmingllama says... #3
@6tennis It isn't a Cryptic Command, but it has similar modes and also has less restrictive colors. Also it has reanimation on it, counter and grab a Tarmogoyf seems pretty good.
I don't know if Bant Control will be a good archetype, but it has a lot of options. It could probably be tier 2 depending on how the deck is built, but I doubt that it can top Sultai control for number of answers.
March 4, 2015 10:07 a.m.
Nope. It's pretty much a worse Cryptic Command.
Can't be cast in Grixis due to the reuiqrement for white.
Only counters creatures which are the least of your problems in modern.
Gaining life is really meh on turn 4. You want life gain to ideally come down T2 / T3.
Reanimating snapcaster is all well and good but that relies on you having a snap caster to reanimate AND having excess mana left over for flashback stuff.
It's just really meh.
March 4, 2015 10:09 a.m.
6tennis a bant control list using Ojutai's Command would definitely still contain Cryptic Command. And lemmingllama that's somewhat true but the white gives you Wrath of God rather than Damnation and it has Path to Exile. There's probably more too that I just can't think of rn.
March 4, 2015 10:10 a.m.
lemmingllama - it actually has more restrictive colouring in some ways.
March 4, 2015 10:10 a.m.
Bant control is a horrible idea though. Bant tempo / midrange I can understand but Bant control - lol no.
March 4, 2015 10:11 a.m.
lemmingllama While that's true, Cryptic Command has more practical uses in a Control archetype. It's also just a teensy-weensy bit less restrictive on the counterspell, but Ojutai's Command does have less restrictive colors. So, each has its ups and downs. You could run one of each? Or one in mainboard and one in sideboard?
March 4, 2015 10:11 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #9
ChiefBell You know, I remember when everyone was saying "Meh" about Tasigur too. Not saying that this will over perform but.....
March 4, 2015 10:14 a.m.
Crpytic commands ability to counter any type of spell makes it like a million times more worthwhile for a control deck.
March 4, 2015 10:15 a.m.
I understand the comparison to Cryptic... but the is much less restrictive than .
Any deck with White can easily splash Blue if they wanted these effects on one card... Cryptic?... not so much.
I don't see it being a commonly used card, but I'm sure it will see some fringe play... at least on some level.
March 4, 2015 10:16 a.m.
Let's call it bant midrange/tempo then. Using Voice, Tarm, and Snap as beat down creatures. Probs a couple Geists too. Using a few Cryptics and a couple Ojutai's to control the pace. Some Remands, Paths, all that good stuff.
March 4, 2015 10:17 a.m.
Well, it depends on how control you want your control deck to be. If you want it to be more creature-heavy, Ojutai's Command will work. If you just have one wincon and a ton of other spells, then Cryptic Command might work better. But idk because I don't play Modern.
March 4, 2015 10:18 a.m.
I'm not trying to make you guys PICK between the two cus Cryptic is obviously WAY better. I'm saying you could use both! They're both great cards with different uses that can work well together.
March 4, 2015 10:19 a.m.
Rayenous - the thing is that extra colour saturation isn't such a big deal, but splashing more colours is. So for example grixis decks can't play Ojutai. But any three colour control deck with blue can manage cryptic. In fact with most running more than 8 fetches and 5 shocks it's really not that hard to manage UUU.
March 4, 2015 10:36 a.m.
The real problem with the card, as I see it
Any deck that really wants the Life Gain does not care to be countering many Creature spells...
Think about it for a second:
- Card draw... good option on any spell.
- Reanimate 2 CMC or less creature... limited use, but good in a lot of decks.
- Gian life... okay against aggro, but really only wanted in a deck like Soul Sisters. (and even then, they want repeatable/consistent life gain)
- Counter a Creature spell... also limited in use, and goes horribly in the one deck that would want the life gain, as it really has little worry about creatures to start with.
So really... in any deck it goes in there are, at most, 3 viable option. - This makes the possible combinations drop from 6 to 3. - Making a 4CMC spell do just a little more work than a 2CMC Charm, while also being much more likely to be a 'dead card'.
March 4, 2015 10:38 a.m.
jandrobard says... #17
I think this Bant list could be solidly tier 2, maybe reaching into tier 1.5. Maybe.
March 4, 2015 10:39 a.m.
Also any deck that wants reanimation of creatures doesn't care much about countering creature spells but really wants to counter non creatures like Anger of the Gods / Damnation.
It's really not a fantastic card.
March 4, 2015 10:43 a.m.
My first thought... Take out 3x Ojutai's Command... add 2x Cryptic Command, and 1x Remand
March 4, 2015 10:43 a.m.
Infinite mana + this + Snapcaster Mage + sac outlet = infinite card draw + infinite lifegain + infinite counters.
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WHAT IS HAPPENING OMG
March 4, 2015 10:43 a.m.
Also you're packing tons of 4 drops into what could be an effective tempo deck. It's a bit gross. Low mana curves help creature decks a lot. Look at modern Junk. It runs 4 4-drops and that's it. End of. Everything else is around the 1-2 cmc slot.
March 4, 2015 10:46 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #24
@ChiefBell/6tennis I'm not saying that it is better than Cryptic Command, I'm just saying that it could be run as a budget Cryptic or run alongside as a 1-2 of. It may just ending up being a Bone to Ash that hits a Siege Rhino and that's it, but it could also reanimate things, and the lifegain might not be terrible against burn before you side this out. The card isn't particularly good at anything, but it's the choice of what you want to do that makes it more worthwhile.
March 4, 2015 10:47 a.m.
This card initially looks closet to being okay... but it's just not quiet there. - I'm hoping that some of the remaining Commands are just a bit better and more useable.
Hopefully they all have a card draw option... it automatically makes all other options able to pair with something that's always a viable and useable option.
March 4, 2015 10:50 a.m.
lemmingllama - you don't want too many 4 drops in most modern decks and given that cryptic is pretty much just better theres no point running more than maybe 1 of these.
March 4, 2015 10:53 a.m.
If you need/want a / card that is a budget alternative for Cryptic Command, I would look at Azorius Charm first.
Cheaper (both CMC, and likely $), has options, helps deal with a creature threat (bounce + negate card draw instead of counter), can gain life, and can always be 'cycled' at worst.
March 4, 2015 10:55 a.m.
ZooGambler says... #28
Ojutai's Command is going to be really good with Monastery Mentor. I take back all my previous allegations that the card sucked.
March 4, 2015 11:19 a.m.
http404error says... #31
It's no Cryptic Command. It probably won't see play outside Standard.
That's not an obstacle to me liking it, though.
March 4, 2015 12:38 p.m.
I like the card for standard, especially with the new Narset, but I don't see it being played outside of standard. That being said, I pretty much only play standard so I don't mind it. I'm hoping the UB one is better though
March 4, 2015 1:15 p.m.
mpeach1 I'm interested to see what the other ones will be. Dromoka's Command? Silumgar's Command? ATARKA'S COMMAND?! (I'm excited for that one, actually.)
March 4, 2015 1:17 p.m.
I get that people want to compare this to Cryptic Command, but I think that's a little unfair. Cryptic is a $40 card, even after a couple different prints. Ojutai's Command doesn't need to be as good as Cryptic to still be playable, and still be a great card. Sure the comparisons are natural because of their similar styles, I just think if people looked at this card on it's own merit, it looks pretty damn good.
March 4, 2015 2:19 p.m.
kmcree It's also REALLY Vorthos-oriented. I mean, look at that art! Those monks are posing WITH OJUTAI IN THE BACKGROUND. And if you analyze the effects, they all sound very Ojutai-y, because Ojutai is the UW dragon. I can see this as a star player in UW control (along with Ojutai).
March 4, 2015 2:21 p.m.
I see it as copies 5 through 8 of Cryptic Command. It feels much more solid against aggro (since I can counter Arcbound Ravager and gain life to offset the inevitable Cranial Plating attack).
That being said, I'm not sure I'd actually want 5+ copies of Cryptic Command. I'm struggling to justify playing more than 3 as is. That first mode only hits Snapcaster Mage in U/W/R...and it doesn't hit Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch in Twin, which is the other deck that would consider this type of card. The only place I could see it is U/W/R Delver, but I think they would rather keep their low land count and Blood Moons. Scapeshift isn't going to add another color to an already tight mana base, either.
March 4, 2015 4:13 p.m.
danthek84 I've been running a Bant midrange // control deck for a while, and you need more than just those. Despite what you think, Tarmogoyf is just too weak. Once you stop controlling and go on the beat-down plan, you need something to win you the game. I recommend Baneslayer Angel as a win condition at least, or maybe the new Ojutai when the spoil it.
In terms of Ojutai's Command, it is great, but might not see too much modern play. It just doesn't have a large enough impact.
March 4, 2015 4:36 p.m.
Run Thrun, the Last Troll, not Baneslayer. Thru basically doesn't die. Or even better - Batterskull. If you want a proper win condition you want one that won't be countered or kill spelled.
6tennis says... #2
It's not Cryptic Command so...
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Nope.
March 4, 2015 10:03 a.m.