"The Language of Forever"

"The Language of Forever"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Jeong Mina knew exactly what V's handwriting looked like.

She had seen it on contracts, revisions, notes to editors, and the increasingly ridiculous manuscripts he insisted on submitting at the last possible moment.

So when a thick manuscript appeared on her desk, she immediately assumed it was Volume Three of History Was Never This Serious.

She smiled.

"Finally."

She opened the first page.

Then stopped.

There was no history.

No jokes.

No footnotes.

No sarcastic observations about kings.

Instead, there was a poem.

Mina turned the page.

Another.

Then another.

She slowly sat down.

"What have you done, V?"

The manuscript was enormous.

It was a collection of poetry unlike anything she had encountered in her decades in publishing.

The poems began in ancient forms.

Some used archaic language and structures that would have been familiar to scholars but nearly incomprehensible to younger readers.

Then, gradually, the language changed.

The imagery remained.

The story remained.

But the poetry became simpler.

More conversational.

More modern.

Until, toward the end, the poems read almost like the thoughts of someone sitting alone at three in the morning, trying to understand why loving someone could hurt so much.

Mina kept reading.

There was an immortal dragon.

There was a woman.

And there were countless lives.

The woman returned again and again.

Each time younger.

Each time with less time to live.

And each time, the dragon found her.

Loved her.

Lost her.

Waited.

Then found her again.

Until finally, the dragon made the decision that broke Mina's heart.

He would stop searching.

He would let her live.

Not because he loved her less.

Because he loved her enough to let her choose a life without him.

Mina put the manuscript down.

She wiped her eyes.

"You're an idiot."

She knew immediately that it had to be published.

The book was released quietly.

There was no elaborate campaign.

V didn't appear on television.

He refused a major launch event.

The title was simple:

The Language of Forever

The publisher expected respectable sales.

Perhaps a strong showing among older readers.

Maybe some university interest.

What happened instead stunned everyone.

The book became a cultural phenomenon.

Older scholars recognized the early poems immediately.

They began discussing the classical structures.

Young readers became fascinated by the later poems.

They highlighted passages.

Posted photographs.

Discussed meanings online.

And then something strange happened.

The generations began needing each other.

Young people went to language institutes where elderly scholars taught classical Korean.

Students arrived with copies of the book and asked questions.

"What does this expression mean?"

"Why is the poem structured like this?"

"Why does the language change here?"

The older scholars, in turn, encountered expressions from the final poems that they didn't understand.

They began asking younger people.

"What does this phrase mean?"

"Why would someone write it this way?"

The young explained.

The old listened.

And then the conversations continued.

Soon, university students were sitting in cafés with retired professors.

Grandparents were discussing poetry with teenagers.

Young people began taking an interest in old forms of Korean poetry.

Older readers began learning contemporary expressions.

The boundaries between generations softened.

One newspaper called it:

The Book That Made Korea Talk to Itself.

Another called it:

A Bridge Between Centuries.

Mina thought both descriptions were inadequate.

Because the strange thing about the book wasn't that it was old-fashioned or modern.

It was both.

It began in the distant past and slowly walked toward the present.

Just like its protagonist.

An immortal being watching the world change around him.

Learning new languages.

New customs.

New ways of expressing love.

But always carrying the same feeling.

Le-Ann read it alone.

She had hidden the copy beneath a pile of clothes in her room.

She didn't want the other members asking questions.

She didn't want Jiwoo looking over her shoulder.

She certainly didn't want anyone knowing how deeply the book affected her.

At first, she smiled.

The earliest poems were difficult.

She recognized the rhythm.

The imagery.

The ancient language.

Some of it felt strangely familiar.

Then she reached the middle.

The language became easier.

The poems began describing a woman returning to the world.

Again.

And again.

And again.

She knew.

She knew before she reached the end.

The dragon wasn't fictional.

Not really.

The woman wasn't fictional either.

It was them.

Their lives.

Their memories.

Their centuries together.

Their separations.

Their reunions.

Their ridiculous little moments.

The temple.

The mountains.

The gardens.

The food.

The laughter.

And finally, the decision.

The dragon would stop searching.

He would let her go.

Le-Ann's eyes blurred.

She turned the page.

Another poem.

The language was completely modern now.

No ancient metaphors.

No elaborate structures.

Just a person admitting that sometimes loving someone meant allowing them to walk away.

Le-Ann covered her mouth.

Tears fell onto the page.

"V..."

She kept reading.

The final poem was almost painfully simple.

The dragon didn't ask her to return.

He didn't ask her to remember.

He didn't ask her to love him.

He simply wished her a long life.

A happy life.

A life in which she could become whoever she wanted to be.

Even if he wasn't part of it.

Le-Ann closed the book.

She pressed it against her chest.

For a long time, she cried silently.

Not because she was unhappy.

Because she finally understood.

V had never truly stopped loving her.

He had simply changed what his love meant.

He had spent centuries searching for her.

And now he was asking for nothing.

Not even another lifetime.

Le-Ann looked down at the book.

"You're such an idiot."

She laughed through her tears.

Then she opened it again.

She read the first poem.

Then the last.

Then the ones in between.

And somewhere between the oldest words and the newest ones, Le-Ann realized what V had given her.

Not a farewell.

Not exactly.

A record.

Proof that they had existed.

That they had loved.

That their lives had mattered.

A bridge between everything they had been and everything she might become.

Outside her room, the other members were laughing.

Life continued.

Le-Ann wiped her eyes.

She knew she should put the book away.

Instead, she turned back to the beginning.

She wanted to read it again.

And for the first time, she wondered if perhaps V had misunderstood the final lesson of their story.

He had spent centuries finding her.

Perhaps this time, he needed to learn that she was capable of finding him too.

"Miss Highwater: Sign Here, Die Later"

 "Miss Highwater: Sign Here, Die Later"

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

Black is getting some really great toys next year, and Miss Highwater will be among them.

She is a four-mana creature with a 5/3 body and Menace. But it's her text box that really caught my attention. At first glance, her ability seems fair. The more you think about it, though, the more you realize just how unfair it can become.

Miss Highwater is, appropriately enough, a Demon Lawyer/Advisor. And like any good lawyer, she gives your opponents something that looks attractive in the short term while quietly setting up the long game in your favor.

Here's how it works.

When Miss Highwater deals combat damage to a player who doesn't already have a contract counter, that player may discard their hand and draw seven cards. At face value, that sounds like a pretty good deal. You are essentially giving an opponent a fresh hand of seven cards.

Of course, there is a catch.

That player then gets a contract counter.

And that's when things get interesting.

The Contract gives you a very strong incentive to make sure that player eventually leaves the game. If a player with your contract loses the game, the artifacts and creatures they controlled are copied and end up under your control.

All their mana rocks?

Yours.

All their big, beefy creatures?

Yours.

All the other toys they spent the entire game building?

Congratulations. They're now part of your collection.

Meanwhile, your opponent is sitting there waiting for the next game while you continue playing with a significantly stronger board position.

And Miss Highwater has Menace.

That means she has a pretty good chance of connecting with multiple opponents throughout the game, potentially putting contracts all around the table.

Which brings us to the really fun—or really evil—part of the strategy.

You don't necessarily have to be the one who takes out the player with the contract.

You just have to convince everyone else that they should.

Politics suddenly becomes a very important part of the deck. Give someone seven fresh cards, put a contract on them, and then quietly encourage the rest of the table to deal with the problem you just created.

The trick, of course, is making sure that you aren't the problem they decide to deal with.

Miss Highwater isn't just offering contracts.

She's creating incentives.

And in Commander, there may be nothing more dangerous than an incentive that makes everyone else do the dirty work for you.

"My Daughter Loved Jollibee. Then I Found Out Why."

 "My Daughter Loved Jollibee. Then I Found Out Why."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

When my daughter Aven was three years old, we had a birthday party at Jollibee in West Avenue. During that party, I managed to take a snapshot of Aven hugging Jollibee.

The look on her face was pure love.

Her eyes were closed, and she was hugging him as tightly as she could.

I have often joked that Jollibee was Aven's first love.

I sometimes wondered if that was actually true because every time my daughter hugged me, I felt no less love from her than what I saw in that photograph—a little girl embracing the symbol of Pinoy food excellence with all her heart.

Recently, I shared that old photograph on my Facebook page. The following night, during dinner, I brought it up.

"Love na love mo si Jollibee, ano, anak?"

What our now 20-year-old daughter told us next shook me to the core.

"Daddy, didn't you know I hugged Jollibee like that because he reminded me of you?"

A teardrop was about to fall from my left eye.

I was genuinely touched.

And then, somewhere between the emotion and the realization, the tear decided to retreat.

Wait.

I looked like Jollibee?

Suddenly, an internal debate began.

Should I feel loved?

Or should I feel offended?

I looked at old photographs of myself from when Aven was three years old.

Unfortunately, the resemblance was uncanny.

There I was, staring back at myself, and I had to admit that my daughter had a point.

In the end, though, the sentiment of love won.

Because what she was really telling me was that even as a three-year-old, she associated that feeling of warmth and happiness with me. She saw something familiar in that big red-and-yellow mascot and hugged it the same way she hugged her father.

And honestly, there are worse things a daughter can compare her dad to.

A little part of me was still offended, though.

Just a really, really small part.

"Blor: You Can't Kill This Frog."

 "Blor: You Can't Kill This Frog."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

Blor is one of those funny cards because, well... he just is.

Imagine getting him onto the battlefield. Short of sacrifice effects, exile effects, mass bounce, or putting -1/-1 counters on him with something like Black Sun's Zenith, there really aren't many ways to get him off the field.

At five mana, he's fairly easy to cast in Green. Trample, Hexproof, and Indestructible. They were even a little shy about giving him Haste and making him unable to be countered, like some Hydras I know.

He really isn't that beefy at 3/3, but with Indestructible, he simply brushes off traditional creature removal.

Wrath of God?

Damnation?

Blasphemous Act?

He just puffs out his chest, shrugs them off, and keeps going.

The question of whether you can Doom Blade him is also moot. Hexproof takes care of that. Can you Boomerang him? Swords to Plowshares him?

Nope.

Your opponents can't target him, but you certainly can.

And that's where things get interesting.

Now imagine Blor wearing a Blanchwood Armor or an Alpha Status with a bunch of other Frogs in your deck. He can become massive enough to make full use of that Trample, and suddenly that seemingly unimpressive 3/3 doesn't look so small anymore.

And, as usual, my game plan involves making Blor a Phyrexian.

Just equip Grafted Exoskeleton to him.

Blanchwood Armor and Grafted Exoskeleton on a trampling, hexproof, indestructible creature?

I am absolutely in.

At that point, Blor isn't just a frog.

He's a problem.

"Ekthi, Contaminator Priest: Give Your Equipment a Life of Its Own."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

The Mystery Boosters Commander Edition doesn't just give us Planeswalker Commanders. It also introduces a whole lot of Legendary Creatures that can support some very interesting and specialized builds.

Someone in Wizards R&D must have taken a look at all the Equipment cards available to players and thought, "We have a lot of weapons. But what happens if the weapons could fight on their own?"

Because that's the thing about Equipment: if you don't have a creature to equip it to—to wield it, so to speak—it is basically just a very expensive piece of metal taking up space on the battlefield.

Since their introduction in the original Mirrodin block, Equipment has become a favorite tool for many Magic players. And then the Phyrexians came along and, naturally, decided that perfectly good artifacts weren't horrifying enough. They corrupted them, twisted them, and turned them into Living Weapons.

Living Weapons are essentially Equipment that come with their own creature to wield them.

They can be used for the glory of Phyrexia!!!

Sorry. My Phyrexian is showing.

Or, if you prefer, they can be used for your own personal glory.

Now, what if those Living Weapons had a Lord?

Enter Ekthi, Contaminator Priest.

Obviously, Ekthi appears to be aligned with Elesh Norn's faction, and she seems to believe that purification comes through the corruption of the vessel. Maybe that vessel is an Equipment. Maybe it's a person.

Potatoes, potahtoes.

This four-mana creature does what Lords have traditionally done best: she gives her chosen creature type a +1/+1 boost. And yes, Phyrexian is now a creature type, so there is plenty of room to build around that.

But Ekthi isn't just a Phyrexian Lord.

She is the Lord of Phyrexian Living Weapons.

And she creates those Living Weapons as they enter the battlefield under your control.

Think about all those Swords that already come with Protection and a variety of useful abilities. Now imagine them coming to life, ready and willing to serve. Swords, armor, cloaks, daggers, spears—pretty much anything you can imagine turning into a creature as soon as it enters the battlefield.

Imagine something like Blackblade Reforged becoming a Living Weapon.

Not only would you get its power and toughness based on the number of lands you control, but that creature would also receive an additional +1/+1 from Ekthi because it is now a Phyrexian Germ.

That opens up a lot of possibilities.

There are so many interesting pieces of metal sitting in my collection just waiting to be put to use.

With Ekthi around, they don't have to remain pieces of Equipment anymore.

They can become an army.

And I think this is going to be fun.

"Garruk, Curse Breaker: Why Kill Them When Someone Else Can?"

"Garruk, Curse Breaker: Why Kill Them When Someone Else Can?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Since I started writing again this month, I've gotten into the habit of analyzing the planeswalkers we're going to be getting in 2027.

I've deliberately avoided many of the current planeswalkers in circulation, mainly because I feel they have already been covered to death at this point. There are only so many ways you can analyze a planeswalker before you start repeating yourself.

Now that I've written about the nine planeswalkers coming in Mystery Booster Commander Edition, I'd like to turn my attention to the last in-universe set of the year, Reality Fracture.

The premise is certainly interesting.

Jace is essentially trying to pull a Hal Jordan—and if you don't know the reference, go read up on Green Lantern. He is attempting to alter reality so that all the terrible things that have happened up to this point simply never existed.

Joining him are planeswalkers who appear in colors opposite to their usual identities.

Opposites, yes.

But as we see later, these opposing colors aren't necessarily foreign to these planeswalkers. In fact, they may represent aspects of their personalities that were already there.

A good example is Garruk.

After being cursed by the Chain Veil, Garruk carried black mana within him. So in Reality Fracture, we get both a green and a black version of Garruk.

Today, I'll be focusing on Garruk, Curse Breaker, a five-mana planeswalker costing three generic mana and two green.

I have several Beast decks that are going to want this planeswalker as support, as well as a redundancy for an existing enchantment I already love: Garruk's Uprising.

Garruk, Curse Breaker's static ability is a significant improvement for this strategy. It simply checks whether a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, and if it does, you draw a card.

That's a pretty good deal in a Beast deck.

Big creatures are already what you're planning to play, so getting a card every time one of them enters the battlefield can generate a considerable amount of value.

His +2 ability allows you to untap two lands.

That's great for Garruk, especially if those lands are capable of producing more than one mana. Imagine untapping something like Ancient Tomb or Gaea's Cradle.

Now you're not just building loyalty.

You're potentially setting yourself up for an even bigger play on your next turn.

His -3 ability is classic Garruk.

You create a 4/4 Beast token with trample.

A big body that can protect Garruk, attack your opponents, and, thanks to his static ability, immediately draws you a card when it enters the battlefield.

A 4/4 Beast, a card, and a planeswalker that can start generating more mana?

I'll take that.

But then we get to the -6 ability, and this is where Garruk gets a little political.

The ability lets you persuade another player to attack one of your other opponents. When they do, the creatures they control get +2/+2 and trample until end of turn.

You can activate it, point toward another player, and essentially say:

"You know that guy over there? I think you should attack him."

And suddenly their creatures become significantly more dangerous.

If they have a large army, you might even be able to convince them to put the final nail in another player's coffin.

Of course, you could do the deed yourself. Your own creatures can take advantage of the +2/+2 and trample as well.

But where's the fun in that?

I'd much rather have somebody else take out another player for me.

At least when I'm playing with Garruk, Curse Breaker on the battlefield.

I still prefer to bloody my opponents whenever I can.

I'm just perfectly happy to let someone else do it first.

And that's what I find particularly interesting about this version of Garruk. He's still doing the things you'd expect from him—making Beasts, generating mana, and encouraging creatures to smash into each other.

But now there's a little bit of politics involved.

And sometimes, the best way to win a Commander game isn't to kill everyone yourself.

Sometimes, you just need to point Garruk in the right direction and let everybody else do the work.

"Nephilim Epochal: The Lord They Always Wanted"

 "Nephilim Epochal: The Lord They Always Wanted"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

The Nephilim were a cycle of five awesome creature cards that first appeared in Ravnica: Guildpact. They were the ancient gods of Ravnica, predating the Guildpact itself. Eventually, they were subdued and buried.

Then an excavation in the Utvara district awakened all five of them.

And, naturally, they went on a rampage.

All five Nephilim required four different colors of mana to cast and came with powerful abilities. Players have long wished that Wizards of the Coast had made them legendary creatures because they could have been fantastic commanders.

Well, it's far too late for that now.

So what did Wizards do?

They gave the Nephilim a Lord.

That way, you can finally put all of these ancient monstrosities into the same deck!

Enter Nephilim Epochal, a creature that can be cast using all five colors of mana thanks to its hybrid mana requirements.

So what makes it a Lord?

It gives benefits to the creature type it is associated with.

For starters, it can search your library for a Nephilim and put it directly into your hand. That's already a pretty useful ability when you're trying to assemble a very specific five-color tribe.

Then there's the stat boost.

Nephilim you control get +1/+1 for each other Nephilim you control, and they can't be blocked by monocolored creatures.

The monocolored restriction can be made particularly interesting with cards like Darkest Hour. In that case, all creatures become black, essentially making the entire battlefield monocolored.

That could make your Nephilim army very difficult to block.

So let's say you somehow manage to get all five original Nephilim onto the battlefield.

That's five Nephilim plus the Lord.

Each original Nephilim could potentially get a +5/+5 boost.

That's not bad at all.

And, of course, there's another possibility.

Changelings.

Because Changelings have every creature type, they can join the Nephilim party as well. Add some inexpensive Changelings to the deck and suddenly you have additional bodies contributing to that enormous stat boost.

Oh, and Nephilim Epochal can search for those Changelings too.

So now the deck isn't limited to simply finding the five original Nephilim. You can use your Lord to assemble an entire Eldritch-looking army.

And honestly?

That's exactly the kind of nonsense I enjoy in Commander.

The original Nephilim may never have become legendary creatures, but Wizards has given us another way to bring these ancient gods together.

Five colors.

Five ancient monsters.

One very helpful Lord.

Casting Eldritch monsters is my jam, after all.

"Feroz, Ulgrotha’s Warden: Birds, Bans, and Bant Stax"

"Feroz, Ulgrotha’s Warden: Birds, Bans, and Bant Stax"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Feroz, Ulgrotha's Warden was a good person.

He was a wizard, a teacher, and, perhaps most importantly, the husband of Serra.

Yes, that Serra.

The Serra who had her own realm.

The Serra who created angels.

That Serra.

Feroz, as his planeswalker card proclaims, is the Warden of Ulgrotha. He protected the plane from threats such as Baron Sengir, as well as incursions from other planeswalkers. Those incursions eventually became the reason he created Feroz's Ban—at least, that's how the lore tells it.

So, on to the card.

Feroz is a six-mana planeswalker in Bant colors, requiring three generic mana and one each of green, white, and blue. He enters the battlefield with five loyalty counters.

His +2 ability creates two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying.

These are probably the albatrosses associated with Feroz, and honestly, getting two flying bodies every time you activate the ability isn't a bad way to protect your planeswalker.

But his second ability is the one that really excites me.

It's a 0 ability.

You draw a card, and then you may put a permanent card with mana value 4 or less from your hand directly onto the battlefield.

Yes, you can put lands into play this way.

But that's hardly the most interesting thing you can do with it.

There are so many permanents with mana value four or less that could benefit from being cheated directly onto the battlefield. Creatures, enchantments, artifacts...

Maybe even some Stax pieces.

Boooo.

But let's be honest: if you're playing Bant and your planeswalker is giving you a free permanent every turn, someone is probably going to find a way to make the most annoying permanent possible appear on the battlefield.

And then we get to his -7 ability, which allows you to create Feroz's Ban.

It seems more anti-creature than anti-planeswalker to me, but hey, this is just another Stax piece to add to the collection.

At least it follows one of Feroz's most important beliefs: summoning creatures for battle is immoral.

He apparently believes that so strongly that he's willing to make sure everyone else has a very difficult time doing it.

Birds.

Free permanents.

And a Ban that tells creatures to stay home.

Feroz may have been a good man and a devoted husband to Serra, but as a Commander?

He might be an absolute nightmare to play against.

"Sifa Grent: Blood, Politics, and a Little Bit of Rakdos"

 

"Sifa Grent: Blood, Politics, and a Little Bit of Rakdos"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I can just see it now.

The smile on the faces of those blood-sucking, Aristocrats-loving players who finally have a planeswalker commander in Rakdos colors, giving them another way to build their favorite blood-soaked sacrifice decks.

And honestly?

I can't blame them.

Sifa Grent originally came from the plane of Grixis. Her spark was ignited when the Demon Malphegor attempted to steal it so he could escape that sliver of a plane.

Because, of course, Grixis was originally just a small piece of Alara.

Sifa was also Dack Fayden's archnemesis in the comic book series.

Rest in peace, Dack.

Oh, and you too, Sifa.

Apparently, this all happened before Sifa eventually met her end at the foot of Vitu-Ghazi on Ravnica.

So what exactly would make Aristocrats players happy about Sifa?

Her static ability, of course.

Whenever a creature dies, a target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

Bring out the dice, counters, or whatever other recording devices you use, because there is going to be a lot of upticking and downticking going on in games with Sifa.

And notice that it simply says whenever a creature dies.

Let's say each of your three opponents has at least one creature on the battlefield. You then cast Fleshbag Marauder, forcing everyone to sacrifice a creature.

Even Fleshbag Marauder itself ends up in the graveyard.

That's four creatures dying.

Four life lost by your most hated opponent.

Four life gained by you.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Sifa can also get surprisingly political.

Her +1 ability allows you to goad two creatures at once. That means those creatures can't attack you—or a planeswalker you control—but they can attack everyone else.

Now imagine that you've goaded two enormous creatures on opposing sides of the table. Maybe they're both 8/8s.

Suddenly, you're forcing one player to send their giant creature into another player's giant creature.

They could trade.

They could take each other out.

And if both creatures die, that's two more life lost for an opponent and two more life gained for you.

Hmmmmm.

Protective and political.

I like it.

Then there's the -6 ability, which gives you a form of impulse draw while disrupting everyone else.

Each opponent exiles the top two cards of their library.

Hopefully, you just exiled a piece of the combo they were building.

Or maybe that board wipe they were hoping to draw.

Perhaps you just ruined the plans of the player who has been digging through their deck all game with Sensei's Divining Top.

Hahahaha.

That's not card advantage in the traditional sense, but it is certainly disruption.

And when you combine that disruption with the life-drain engine and the political manipulation from her +1, Sifa starts looking like a very interesting commander.

Card Advantage. Disruption. Life Drain. Politics.

Better still.

While I don't normally play these types of decks, I have to admit that if I eventually decide to build an Aristocrats deck, Sifa Grent will probably be at the top of my list for commander.

I may not normally embrace the blood-sucking lifestyle.

But if Sifa is offering?

I might just make an exception.

"Thomil, the Destroyer: Five Mana for a Lot of Sacrifices"

 

"Thomil, the Destroyer: Five Mana for a Lot of Sacrifices"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Thomil, the Destroyer has the template of Liliana Vess, but with significantly weaker text than that wonderful black planeswalker.

Honestly, I find Thomil a little ho-hum for his mana cost.

Five mana is a significant investment, although in Magic Christmas Land, you can probably find a way to get him onto the battlefield as early as turn three.

His +2 ability creates a 2/2 black Zombie token. That's certainly useful, especially in a deck that wants creatures around for sacrifice effects.

Then there's his 0 ability, which allows you to sacrifice a creature for three mana.

It's essentially a weaker version of Culling the Weak. You're giving up a creature to generate mana, but instead of getting four black mana, you only get three.

Still, in the right deck, sacrificing creatures can actually be part of the plan.

And then we get to the big one: his ultimate summons a Lord of the Pit token.

A monstrous 7/7 flying, trampling Demon that gets hungry during every upkeep.

And by hungry, I mean you need to sacrifice a creature to it.

If you can't—or don't want to—feed it, Lord of the Pit takes seven life from you instead.

In an EDH game, where everyone starts with 40 life, seven damage doesn't sound like an enormous price to pay.

But you are now on a clock.

Once you summon this Demon, you need to win—or at least be building toward a win—before that recurring seven damage starts eating away at your life total.

Fortunately, anyone playing Thomil is probably going to have plenty of creatures that they don't mind sacrificing. Zombies, token creatures, and creatures that want to go to the graveyard anyway could all make Lord of the Pit considerably easier to manage.

That makes Thomil potentially useful support for mono-black token and sacrifice strategies.

But here's my problem with him.

I feel like Thomil is ultimately a watered-down version of Liliana Vess. Liliana is simply more efficient at doing what I would expect a black planeswalker to do, particularly when it comes to generating Zombies and providing value.

Thomil isn't terrible.

He's just not particularly exciting.

I can see him working in the right sacrifice or token deck, and I'm sure there are players who will find some wonderfully evil combinations with him.

As for me?

I hope I can pick up Thomil cheaply enough to add him to my collection.

But I probably won't be building him.

Five mana is a lot to spend for a planeswalker who asks me to sacrifice so much.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day — 3 Reasons Why It Worked for Me"

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day — 3 Reasons Why It Worked for Me"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

“Superhero fatigue” has been thrown around as a term ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe decided, perhaps in all its hubris, to expand far beyond the basics of simply entertaining people.

You could say they started taking things too seriously and simply lost the plot.

You could also say they managed to lose it on multiple levels.

So I went into Spider-Man: Brand New Day with an open mind.

I honestly enjoyed No Way Home, especially seeing three different Spider-Men interact with each other, but I also knew going into this movie that there were probably going to be some sad parts.

So why did it work?

Why did I leave the theater feeling entertained?

I think there are three reasons.

1. You Didn't Need to Do Your Homework

Aside from perhaps watching No Way Home as a refresher, there was no need to finish an entire assignment just to understand what was happening in this movie.

They carried forward the consequences of the previous film and made sure there were enough callbacks to remind you where Peter's story had been.

Even something as simple as the coffee cup from the donut shop works because it connects back to Peter's last encounter with MJ.

You don't need to remember every single MCU project that has come before this one.

You just need to remember Peter Parker.

And honestly, that's refreshing.

2. They Kept It About Spider-Man

Unlike Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, or even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where the titular character sometimes feels like they are sharing the spotlight with a much larger story, Brand New Day feels like it is actually about Peter Parker.

The movie focuses on how Peter has been coping with everything that happened in the previous film and how difficult it has been for him to move on.

You feel his loneliness.

And that's particularly interesting because Peter is still surrounded by people who care about him. But the people who loved him most—MJ, Ned, and even Aunt May—are no longer able to be part of his life in the same way.

That's a very different kind of superhero problem.

Peter isn't trying to save the multiverse.

He's trying to figure out how to live with what he's lost.

And sometimes, keeping things personal makes a superhero story much more effective.

3. There Were Funny Moments—But Man, the Action Was There!

There were definitely funny moments, but what really stood out to me was the action.

This has some of the best Spider-Man action sequences I've seen in quite a while.

That sequence involving The Hand was particularly cool, and the movie really takes advantage of just how dynamic Spider-Man can be when he fights.

Web-slinging.

Wall-crawling.

Flipping around.

Using the environment.

Moving in ways that a normal human being simply couldn't.

They really went all-in on what makes Spider-Man's fighting style so much fun to watch.

And then there's the fact that we watched it at the Uptown Tempur Cinema in BGC.

Thanks to my wife for arranging all of that!

My back was relaxed, I had all the snacks I wanted, and I was there with my family.

So maybe I'm giving the movie a little extra credit because the entire experience was great.

But that's also part of going to the movies.

You don't just watch the film.

You experience it.

And for me, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a great experience.

The movie entertained me, gave me a Spider-Man story that actually felt like a Spider-Man story, and reminded me why I still enjoy sitting in a theater and watching someone swing across New York.

For all the talk about superhero fatigue...

Maybe sometimes we just need to let Spider-Man be Spider-Man.

"Worzel, the Protector: Ten Fairies and a Whole Lot of Loyalty"

"Worzel, the Protector: Ten Fairies and a Whole Lot of Loyalty"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Worzel, the Protector is a mono-white Commander-eligible planeswalker who makes her appearance in Mystery Booster Commander Edition.

She is the sixth planeswalker I've talked about so far, and I think she can be effective even as part of the 99 rather than necessarily being the commander of the deck.

At four mana, with a cost of 1 colorless and 3 white mana, there is certainly a heavy commitment to white. You're probably going to want to play her in a deck that is heavily invested in white, if not outright mono-white.

Whew. That was a lot of white!

Fortunately, that's not really a problem.

White has no shortage of planeswalkers, so there are plenty of options for building a deck around her.

And at only four mana, Worzel is considerably easier to get onto the battlefield than some of the more expensive planeswalkers I've looked at so far.

Now, on to her abilities.

Her first ability is a 0 ability that creates a 1/1 Cat token. But this isn't just another disposable creature token. The Cat can eventually tap to put a loyalty counter on each planeswalker you control.

Well, well.

A creature worth having around!

Not only does it give you another body on the battlefield, but it can also help get Worzel closer to her ultimate while simultaneously helping every other planeswalker you happen to have in play.

That's a pretty useful little Cat.

Her second ability is a -1 that lets you look at the top six cards of your library and dig for either a planeswalker or a basic Plains.

What you choose depends on what you need at the moment.

Are you behind on lands? Grab the Plains.

Are you setting up your next big play? Find the planeswalker you need.

Everything else goes to the bottom of your library in a random order. It's a simple ability, but being able to look six cards deep for exactly one of two things you are likely to want is pretty useful.

Let there be Plains or planeswalkers!

And then we get to her ultimate: -8 to create ten Scryb Spirit tokens.

Ten 1/1 flying Faeries that are, rather oddly, green.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Green.

Which makes me think that Worzel might have a home beyond mono-white planeswalker decks. She could potentially fit into one of those Trostani/Selesnya token decks as well.

Ten flying creatures represent a potential ten points of damage coming from the air, and suddenly that doesn't look so insignificant.

Especially when you remember what token decks tend to do.

Doubling Season.

Second Harvest.

These decks are already perfectly capable of turning a modest army into an absurdly large one. Add ten flying tokens to the equation and things could get very interesting very quickly.

And because Worzel only costs four mana, getting her onto the battlefield and working toward that ultimate isn't quite the investment it would be with a more expensive planeswalker.

I think Worzel is worth considering for mono-white planeswalker-centered decks, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see her find a home in Selesnya token decks.

A Cat that helps your planeswalkers gain loyalty, a little library digging, and an ultimate that gives you ten flying tokens?

That's a lot of loyalty for one protector.

"Dyfed: The Original Phyrexian Tour Guide"

 "Dyfed: The Original Phyrexian Tour Guide"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Before the Brothers' War, Dyfed had a chance encounter with Yawgmoth, who at the time was still a Thran physician. Yawgmoth claimed that he wanted to find a paradise for the Thran, and it was Dyfed who ultimately led him to Phyrexia.

Not Mirrodin after it had been converted into a Phyrexian world, but the original Phyrexia—the plane that would eventually become the foundation of Yawgmoth's greatest ambitions.

Dyfed was also instrumental in opening a permanent portal to Phyrexia, allowing Yawgmoth to enter the plane and eventually fuse with its core.

Thanks, Dyfed!

You probably don't really want to know what happened to her afterward. Just know that her fate was about as Phyrexian as you could possibly imagine.

So, on to the card!

Dyfed, the Guiding Hand is another five-mana planeswalker commander, this time in the mono-blue variety.

And this is one I am actually excited about adding to my Atraxa Superfriends EDH deck.

Her +1 ability creates two tapped Powerstone tokens. That's pretty useful for powering out even bigger things, particularly artifacts. More mana is always welcome, especially when your deck is already planning to cast some very expensive toys.

Her second ability is a -X that untaps X target artifacts.

Now this is where things start getting interesting.

Imagine a whole collection of mana rocks waiting to be untapped. Or perhaps an Isochron Scepter with Dramatic Reversal imprinted on it.

There are plenty of possibilities here, and suddenly Dyfed starts looking less like a simple value planeswalker and more like someone who can enable some very explosive turns.

And then we get to the wonderful -6 ultimate.

You get to search your library for an artifact card, put it directly onto the battlefield, and then shuffle your library.

That is a very open-ended ability.

Portal to Phyrexia seems particularly fitting, considering Dyfed's history, but the best choice really depends on what you need at the time.

Mindslaver would certainly be high on the list.

A Blightsteel Colossus is another possibility.

Even something like Planar Bridge could be an interesting choice if you're looking toward the long game.

That's what makes this ultimate particularly appealing. You're not locked into one particular artifact. You get to find the tool that best fits the situation—and you get to put it directly onto the battlefield.

Dyfed is pretty high on my list.

Sorry about what Yawgmoth eventually did to Phyrexia.

But hey...

Thanks for showing him the way!

"Venser, Visionary Traveler: Wait... Isn’t Venser Dead?"

"Venser, Visionary Traveler: Wait... Isn’t Venser Dead?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Any Phyrexian worth his salt knows that Venser is dead.

He sacrificed his spark—his very life—to free Karn from the Phyrexians. And one can only imagine what might have happened if Karn had remained the Father of Machines. Would we have lost the war? Would Wizards of the Coast have ever explained why Phyrexian oil could be incredibly deadly one moment and seemingly ineffective the next?

But I digress.

Knowing that Venser is dead merely means that Venser, Visionary Traveler might be a younger version of him—or perhaps an entirely different version from another timeline.

And why does he look so much like Hugh Jackman?

Are they trying to get him to play Venser in some unnamed Planeswalker project?

Again, I am getting distracted.

I checked my collection binder, and there have actually been quite a few planeswalker versions of Venser over the years. The last one we saw was essentially a corrupted version of his own corpse. So perhaps the fact that Venser keeps showing up in different forms shouldn't surprise me anymore.

Still, here we are.

This five-mana planeswalker in Azorius colors looks like a mid-to-late-game advantage engine. However, if you've ever played with these particular colors, you know that Azorius isn't exactly known for attacking with hordes of creatures. They would much rather lock everything down until you eventually rage-quit.

So the static ability on this Venser is particularly interesting because it seems to encourage you to play with creatures that have been Suspended, are sitting in Exile, or have somehow made their way into your graveyard. Foretell also fits the bill.

Non-token creatures entering the battlefield with two additional +1/+1 counters is certainly useful.

But creatures coming out of Exile or Suspension bigger than when they went in?

That doesn't exactly scream Azorius to me.

His first ability, a +1, allows you to bounce a target permanent you control and return it at the beginning of the next end step under its owner's control.

Now this sounds like Azorius.

You can temporarily remove one of your own permanents and then take advantage of either its leave-the-battlefield or enter-the-battlefield ability when it returns. There are plenty of ways to turn what looks like a simple defensive trick into additional value.

And then there's the -2 ability, which lets you return up to one target nonland permanent that a player controls to its owner's hand.

That's a pretty useful bit of disruption when an opponent is pulling ahead with powerful permanents. Of course, there's always the downside that you're potentially helping them reuse something with a particularly nasty enters-the-battlefield ability.

Still, that's the sort of interaction you expect from an Azorius planeswalker.

At five mana, though, Venser feels a little underwhelming.

Nothing here immediately makes me think, "I absolutely need this card." The abilities are useful, the synergies are there, and there are definitely decks that can take advantage of what he offers.

But perhaps that's the point.

Having Venser as a commander might be exactly what some Azorius player is looking for right now—a planeswalker who rewards patience, careful sequencing, and making the most out of creatures that keep leaving and returning to the battlefield.

And considering how many times Venser has already shown up after supposedly being gone for good...

Maybe we should just stop asking whether he's dead.

He'll probably be back anyway.

"Arzakon: Chaos, Black Lotus, and Big Questions"

 "Arzakon: Chaos, Black Lotus, and Big Questions"

by: 

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr.MD

Arzakon was a powerful planeswalker from an unknown plane who once sought to conquer Shandalar, only to be defeated before disappearing into Magic's history.

As the main villain of an old MicroProse game, I had absolutely no idea who he was. After finally seeing his card, though, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed. Between the demanding WUBRG mana cost and what he actually brings to the table, he seems... kind of tame.

To be fair, any deck capable of casting Arzakon probably has plenty of powerful things it can already be doing before he ever enters the battlefield. You'll need serious mana ramp just to get him into play, so that part is practically mandatory.

His first ability, a +2, lets you throw what is essentially a Lightning Bolt at any target. Sometimes that's enough to kill a creature, sometimes it just chips away at an opponent's life total. More often than not, though, it's simply an invitation for someone across the table to decide that you are now the biggest threat. It's a perfectly serviceable ability, but not exactly the kind of effect that makes you excited to spend five different colors of mana.

Then there's the controversial -3 ability, which creates a Black Lotus token.

There has already been plenty of discussion about Wizards of the Coast tiptoeing around the Reserved List, and this feels like another example of them finding a creative way to reference one of Magic's most iconic cards without actually reprinting it.

After all the work it takes to cast Arzakon, your reward is a one-shot three-mana boost. It's undeniably powerful, but I also couldn't help wondering how Arzakon himself managed to get hold of a Black Lotus in the first place. Then again, suspending disbelief is part of being a Magic player.

So... yay. Black Lotus token.

Finally, we get to his -7 ultimate.

Each player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library and then draws seven cards.

Personally, this feels far too chaotic for my tastes. Imagine you've carefully built an advantage, your opponents are running low on resources, and you decide to fire off the ultimate. Congratulations—you've just handed everyone else seven fresh cards that could easily include the answers they need to destroy your planeswalker, dismantle your board, or simply win the game outright.

Sure, you also get seven new cards, but there's no guarantee they'll be any better than what your opponents draw. Sometimes you'll hit the jackpot. Other times you'll wonder why you helped everyone else refill their hands.

In the end, I think Arzakon is a commander looking for a very specific kind of player—the one who embraces unpredictability, thrives on chaos, and enjoys letting the game go completely off the rails.

If that's you, then congratulations.

You've found your planeswalker.

Good luck.

"The Unluckiest Planeswalker: If Life Gives You Curses... Build Around Them."

"The Unluckiest Planeswalker: If Life Gives You Curses... Build Around Them."

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

The Unluckiest Planeswalker has become something of an inside joke among Magic players. Over the years, he has been the subject of multiple cards—most notably a series of Aura cards in the form of Curses that seem to follow him no matter which plane he visits.

The running joke is that he somehow crossed the warlock Lynde, and that's where all of his misfortunes began. I mean, it probably says something when someone keeps a doll made in your likeness within arm's reach at all times.

Well, the poor guy is finally getting his own planeswalker card, and unsurprisingly, it continues the Aura theme.

First, he comes with the new Rule Breaker mechanic, allowing you to include Aura cards of any color identity in your deck, along with basic lands of any type.

That immediately points toward a five-color Aura deck, which sounds like a blast to build. At just three mana, the Unluckiest Planeswalker can even come down as early as turn two.

He starts providing value immediately with his first ability. His +1 adds one mana of any color, and if that mana is spent to cast an Aura spell, you create a 1/1 red Gremlin creature token.

That opens up some fun lines of play. You can cast a Curse or other negative Aura on an opposing creature—or even directly on an opponent—and still end up with a Gremlin on your side of the battlefield. Then you can suit up that Gremlin with a beneficial Aura that grants abilities or simply makes it bigger. Negative Auras for your opponents, positive Auras for your own creatures. I have to admit—that sounds like a lot of fun. Not bad at all for a +1 ability.

His second ability, a -3, is even more interesting. You discard your hand, then draw cards equal to twice the number of Auras you control. In a dedicated Aura or Curse deck, that number can get ridiculously high. It's an excellent way to refill your hand or dig for exactly what you need. Better yet, several cards can return Auras from your graveyard back to the battlefield, making the discard less of a drawback and more of an opportunity.

One interaction I found particularly amusing is that if you've somehow managed to "curse" yourself, you can later transfer those Curses to an opponent. That sounds both hilarious and incredibly satisfying.

Overall, I think this is a very interesting commander. It finally gives me a reason to dust off the pile of Aura cards I've accumulated over the years and see if they can all work together in one deck.

Now the only question is...

Can I actually pull it off?

"Greensleeves: Badgers, Mana Dorks, and Big Expectations"

 "Greensleeves: Badgers, Mana Dorks, and Big Expectations"

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

The Mystery Booster: Commander Edition features nine new planeswalkers that can serve as your commander, and almost all of them are callbacks to Magic's rich history.

One of those is Greensleeves, a character whose story dates back to the Brothers' War. Now she finally gets her own planeswalker card.

At six mana, she immediately reminded me of Garruk. Then again, Garruk himself can't officially be your commander unless you're playing with Rulebreaker rules, so perhaps this was Wizards' way of giving players a similar experience without actually making Garruk legal in the command zone.

Her first ability is a +2 that creates a 2/2 Giant Badger token. For a six-mana planeswalker, that's not the most impressive plus ability, especially when compared to Garruk's ability to create a 4/4 Beast. Still, the extra loyalty from a +2 is always welcome.

Her second ability is a -3 that mills three cards, then lets you put all permanents milled this way into your hand. It's essentially conditional card draw for green. If your deck is packed with lands and creatures—as most mono-green decks naturally are—you could easily "draw" three cards and refill your hand.

Finally, her -8 ultimate turns all of your creatures into 8/8 tramplers until end of turn. Since green decks are full of mana dorks that can help power out this commander early, this has the potential to be a devastating finisher.

Assuming, of course, that you still have those mana dorks—and perhaps a couple of Giant Badgers—you've been creating over the last few turns. Suddenly, those humble utility creatures become legitimate game-ending threats.

Overall, I get the feeling that Wizards simply didn't want to make another Garruk, nor did they want Garruk himself to become a commander. Greensleeves certainly captures some of his flavor while carving out her own identity.

Will she dominate the format? Probably not. I suspect a mono-green planeswalker commander like this could easily be outclassed by more explosive options.

That said... it doesn't mean I won't build her anyway.

After all, sometimes creating an army of Giant Badgers and turning them into 8/8 tramplers is reason enough to sleeve up a deck.

And honestly? That sounds like a lot of fun. Hahaha.

"A Seat at the Table"

"A Seat at the Table"

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

Earlier today, one of the more popular Facebook pages for Magic: The Gathering shared a simple letter. It was written by a girlfriend on behalf of her boyfriend.

She asked if there were any players willing to play with him. He had gone to a local venue, but although plenty of people were there, everyone was already paired off or playing within their own established groups.

I could immediately relate to that situation. More often than not, the hardest part of joining a new community isn't learning the game—it's introducing yourself to people who have been friends or playgroup members for years.

I consider myself fortunate to have found my own communities over the years. Whether it was the SM North community, my fellow Planeswalkers in Accenture and DXC, or the wonderful people at Forge Hobby Shop in Monumento and Collecticat in Greenhills, I've been lucky enough to always find a table where I belonged.

Having spent enough time in Magic's online community, where everyone seems to have an opinion about everything, I was pleasantly surprised by the response to that post. In fact, I honestly didn't see a single negative comment.

People invited the guy to join their pods. Others tagged friends who might be looking for another player. Even several local game stores in the area reached out and invited him to drop by.

I've certainly had my share of unpleasant experiences in the hobby over the years, so seeing this outpouring of kindness and encouragement was a welcome reminder of what the Magic community can be at its best.

I sincerely hope he found a game that day.

And I have to say, he's also incredibly fortunate to have someone who not only supports his hobby but is willing to step outside her comfort zone to help him enjoy it.

In my opinion, that's a keeper.

Because sometimes the best thing you find through Magic isn't a rare card or the perfect topdeck.

Sometimes, it's simply a seat at the table.

"Nivea: The Woman Behind Akroma"

"Nivea: The Woman Behind Akroma"

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

Nivea.

Just seeing her among the spoilers for the Commander Mystery Booster brought a tear to my old, nostalgic heart.

I still remember reading the Odyssey storyline, where Nivea—the beloved wife of Ixidor—was slain by Phage the Untouchable in the Cabal fighting pits. It was one of those moments that reminded you Magic's story wasn't afraid to break your heart.

Overwhelmed by grief, Ixidor used his illusion magic to create an angel in Nivea's image. That angel would become the iconic Akroma, a creature that set the standard for what a powerful finisher looked like during her era.

Personally, I've always thought it would have been interesting if Akroma had retained more of the animalistic features that Ixidor gave her in the original story. It probably wouldn't have looked quite as elegant on an angelic figure, but it would have been a fascinating nod to her origins. Card Akroma is different from Story Akroma and it feels nice that only those who read the story actually know that. 

So seeing Nivea finally receive a card of her own warmed my nostalgic heart. Then I read the card and discovered that, after she dies, she creates an Akroma token.

Damn.

What a beautiful way to tell that story through gameplay.

I'm pretty sure an Akroma, Ixidor, and Nivea Commander deck won't be particularly good.

But you know what?

I'm going to build it anyway.

"Saved by Geography: The Commander Mystery Booster Story"

 "Saved by Geography: The Commander Mystery Booster Story"

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

Magic has continued its barrage of spoilers for the 2027 lineup as if the year were already coming to an end and there were no more sets left to reveal.

The latest offering is the Commander Mystery Booster, available to the fortunate players who can attend MagicCon events.

With the number of cards that have already been spoiled, this honestly feels like a hidden Unhinged set. It embraces the goofy, the absurd, and the downright hilarious.

Yet mixed in with all that silliness are some genuinely groundbreaking cards.

Featuring an impressive lineup of 59 legendary creatures along with the new Rule Breaker mechanic, Wizards of the Coast is practically guaranteeing that MagicCon venues will be packed to capacity.

I've always believed that Mystery Boosters are among the most enjoyable Magic products to open and draft. They thrive on surprise, nostalgia, and unexpected interactions. Now that this version is built specifically with Commander in mind and introduces even more unique cards into the mix, it looks like it will be even more entertaining.

Thankfully, all of this is happening in 2027—and only at MagicCon. Between the cost of travel and my own time constraints, attending simply isn't an option.

Which, come to think of it, may be the best thing that could happen to my wallet... and my sanity.

Sometimes missing out doesn't feel quite so bad when geography makes the decision for you.

Hahahaha.

"Star Trek in Magic: Great Idea, Questionable Extras"

"Star Trek in Magic: Great Idea, Questionable Extras"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

When it was revealed that Star Trek would become a Universes Beyond set for Magic: The Gathering, a friend asked me how I felt about it.

My answer was... mixed.

On one hand, there is so much Star Trek lore that I would love to see translated into Magic cards. I've watched almost everything the franchise has put out, even if some of its more recent iterations made me want to gouge my eyes out afterward.

To me, Star Trek isn't what it used to be. It has been hijacked by identity politics and the pursuit of appealing to a so-called "modern audience." Much like what happened with Doctor Who, the franchise often feels like a walking zombie, wearing the skin of a brand it no longer resembles.

So when the previews focused on Captain Kirk and Captain Janeway, I was relieved. Seeing two of the franchise's greatest captains gave me hope. I'm sure Captain Picard will be included as well, and probably a few characters from the newer series, but I'm hoping Wizards of the Coast stays away from the Kelvin Timeline and instead focuses on classic Star Trek—the version that made so many of us fans in the first place.

That said, there is one preview that I'm not particularly on board with: the autographed cards.

I understand why people have cards signed. Maybe it's their favorite artist. Maybe they want a keepsake from a memorable tournament or a hard-fought match against a respected opponent. Those signatures have personal stories behind them.

What I don't understand is creating autographed versions as premium chase cards. The regular versions would have been perfectly fine. As much as I like Star Trek, I don't necessarily want my Magic cards to look like collectibles that belong in a display case instead of being shuffled into a deck.

Then again, perhaps that's exactly the point. Those autograph cards aren't really meant to be played with—they're meant to be displayed. A way of saying, "Look what I pulled," and earning a little more nerd cred than the next fan.

As for me, I'll probably be buying singles, and I'm seriously considering picking up the Commander decks. I'm just not convinced this will be a particularly exciting set to crack open by the box. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

If there's one thing the past few years have taught me as a Magic player, it's that patience usually wins. Waiting a few months before buying sealed product or expensive singles has often paid off, as Wizards of the Coast has shown a tendency to lower prices once the initial hype has faded.