Thursday, September 5, 2013

"Xenagos , The Reveler EDH: Red Green Happiness"


"Xenagos , The Reveler EDH: Red Green Happiness"
by:
Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

After looking at Xenagos I was reminded of the original Garruk. Garruk could untap two lands for more mana , Xenagos could potentially do more. It has to depend on how many creatures you have on the battlefield though. At 4 mana , 2 colorless  , One Red and One Green this planeswalker is a perfect fit for a lot of the current Red Green EDH decks that also feature Garruk and Domri Rade. It is like a bunch of super friends of the Red/Green Variety. 

As I was saying about this new red/green planeswalkers ability you could have a lot of red or green mana depending on the number of creatures you have on the battlefield. It does not have to be a lot of creatures as even 2 or 3 more mana could accelerate you to the kind of mana production that you actually need to cast bigger and better spells. So it could be used in any Red/Green deck that has lots of creatures and needs mana acceleration.(which is a lot of decks)

I also see this as a great addition to Red/Green Land destruction EDH decks. Decks that are led by Radha ,Heir to Keld would get a great kick out of Xenagos. Crippling mana disruption is the key with these builds and with at least 1 land and 2 creatures you have enough mana to Land Ramp while your opponents struggle to more get more lands on their side of the board.

"Fine...Give me your mana..."
I am just talking about this guys first ability. The +1.His opening loyalty counter of 3 and then 4 if you use this ability gives him a 4 toughness that can't be killed right off the bat by little creatures.As for defending himself he is not a push off as well.

His 2nd ability , which is a 0 (neither adds or subtracts loyalty counters) allows you to have a 2/2 R/G Satyr Creature with Haste. If you have enough defenders when Xenagos comes into play you could use this Satyr to attack right away. This second ability also plays well with the first one since it will add to your creatures , it could also add to the potential mana that you could use later on. In EDH games where a lot of players just like to amass massive armies in the beginning Xenagos seems pretty good at recruitment when it comes to creatures (2nd skill) and mana to cast other creatures (1st skill). Mayael EDH decks would love this because you could use his first skill to use Mayael's skill without tapping for any mana(except for a single white mana). Mana that could be handy for using green instants like Beast Within for example.

"More mana for me? Yes..."
The last skill which costs a -6 of Loyalty counters would merely be icing on the cake at times. Exiling the top 7 cards and being able to play any number of land or creatures from them is really awesome. If you have Cream of the Crop in play and you have been scrying your deck for the power of any creature that comes in under your control then you would have a pretty good idea what the next two cards will be at least. Before triggering the ability it is always better to know or if you are like me , I like to play a little gamble. The wild factor. Not know what you will get is also fun and exicting. Land destroying creatures like Terastodon or Sylvan Primordial or Emrakul. Whatever creature lands on the battlefield , it is sure to help you. After all you were the person who put it in the deck. 



All in all Xenagos will make a fine addition to any Red/Green EDH or certainly will add more options in the creature casting department. I do not play a lot of Red/Green nowadays but I am thinking about it now. Xenagos thanks for changing my mind.  I could almost hear him say Your welcome.

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Mayael the Anima by Kris Altered Art...makes me want to play...Simply Stunning.

   


3 comments:

  1. How do I get in touch with the Mayael artist!?!?

    ReplyDelete
  2. you could check out his group page here...https://www.facebook.com/groups/166657750134292/

    ReplyDelete
  3. How much was the altered Mayael?

    ReplyDelete