Accorder Paladin
Knight vs Dragons. No more soldiers!Ardent Recruit
First they had Court Homunculus masquerading as Isamaru, then they have Glint Hawk as flying Isamarus that comes free if you have Mox Opal/Ornithopter/Memnite, now they have Wild Nacatl in Affinity? Now that's noteworthy! With burn in the form of Galvanic Blast and Shrapnel Blast (even the old Lightning Bolt), on color removal in the form of Path to Exile, and heavy hitters like Master of Etherium and Arcbound Ravager, what's the difference between Zoo and Affinity now?Just that, is there enough space in Affinity? What do you kick out? Disciple of the Vault that is good only with Ravager?
And do you want to go 4 colors?
Let me know what you think.
Frantic Salvage
Would be funny in Sunny Side Up!Hero of Bladehold
Goblin Ringleader/Siege-Gang Commander
Frogmite/Myr Enforcer
Abyssal Persecutor
Tombstalker
Iona, Shield of Emeria/Sphinx of the Steel Wind/Terastodon/Inkwell Leviathan/Blazing Archon
Rakdos Pit Dragon/Arc-Slogger/Gathan Raiders
Progenitus
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Most of the above are cheated into play, either using Goblin Lackey, Aether Vial, Affinity and Delve mechanic, or cards such as Reanimate, Natural Order, Show and Tell. The remaining belongs to Dragon Stompy with fast Ancient Tomb mana. Should Hero of Bladehold see play, it's most likely to be in some shell similar to Dragon Stompy.
Even then, without some protection from removal and only a toughness of 4, it's easy to kill. Probably won't see Legacy play.
Leonin Relic-Warder
Question, why would we use this over Qasali Pridemage? Perhaps only in mono white decks such as Death & Taxes. Then again, there's already Green & Taxes, so unless there's a combo lurking somewhere, get some for your EDH.Blue Sun's Zenith
Some call this a better Stroke of Genius, mainly because you can use it over and over again. Stroke of Genius is used only in High Tide combo decks and as a one-off. So if you want to draw your deck once, then deck your opponent the 2nd time you cast it, get 1 for your deck.Consecrated Sphinx
Woah. There's 3 things that amaze me about this card.
1) Imagine drawing 3 cards every turn.
2) Imagine drawing 6 cards every time your opponent casts Brainstorm!
3) Imagine trying to get this into play!
Sure you can cheat this into play with Reanimate/Show and Tell, but you'd probably prefer getting creatures like Progenitus/Emrakul instead.
How about casting this the hard way? 6 mana and you'll win the game 5 turns later. Hmmm... Play Hive Mind instead.
What about Dread Returning this in Dredge? Dredging 3 time a turn is enormous! How about Returning Sphinx of Lost Truths and winning on the spot instead?
If you really want this, get 1 for your EDH deck.
Steel Sabotage
A weaker Annul? Not really. Artifacts are played more abundantly than Enchantments in Legacy. Here's a list for illustration:Artifacts:
Aether Vial
Sensei's Divining Top
Umezawa's Jitte
Sword of Fire and Ice
Engineered Explosives
Trinisphere
Enchantments:
Counterbalance
Pernicious Deed
Manabond
Exploration
Oblivion Ring
Seismic Assault
Steel Sabotage will at least get rid of some artifacts for a turn, making it lesser of a dead draw than Annul. Consider it in your sideboard should your area be filled with artifacts.
Treasure Mage
Flesh-Eater Imp
Nantuko Husk Infect style with evasion!Go for the Throat
Sigh, it's still not a good 1cmc removal the likes of Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile, which is what black has been wanting for a very long time. Nonetheless, this is still a staple card and you should get multiple playsets of these. This will replace Smother as the default black targeted removal.Horrifying Revelation
Nope, don't use this horrifying card in Dredge.Galvanoth
Free spells are always good and there's already Sensei's Divining Top to help you find a Cruel Ultimatum like sorcery. Also, Seething Song and Ancient Tomb can help you land this early. The problem is to prevent this from going to the graveyard before you find the sorcery you want to abuse. I hope nobody creates a crazy Doomsday pile with this.Goblin Wardriver
A semi-lord, works well with Mogg War Marshal in Goblins.Slagstorm
Flamebreak with less stringent mana requirements. Then again, there's already splashable Firespout.Green Sun's Zenith
Unlikely that you'll play this outside Elves. This is no Summoner's Pact as you can't grab Elvish Spirit Guide for mana. However, you can bypass Counterbalance, which is a big plus for the tribal deck.Lead the Stampede
Elves again! They already have Sylvan Messenger though. Unlikely that non-elves deck would want this.Praetor's Counsel
Thrun, the Last Troll
Some cards are good in standard but not in Legacy. This is a typical example.Viridian Corrupter
Bye bye Viridian Shaman, this is a -2/-2 “removal” on a stickGlissa, the Traitor
Is there a game-winning combo with her? I don't think so. For those who wants to try it and realise that your opponent doesn't have/play any creatures, Forbidden Orchard is your friend.Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Searches for disruption/combo piece, check.
Alternative win con, check.
On color with disruption, check.
And with a cost of 2ub, this is good enough to see play in combo decks based on artifacts (eg Thopter Swords). As mentioned elsewhere, it also presents a game ending ultimate for Affinity. However, the same effects appear in Tezzeret the Seeker, and Tezz 1.0 hasn't made much of a splash in Legacy, so will this? Let's make a closer comparison between the two.
Evaluating a Planeswalker
Of all the planeswalker ever printed, Jace the Mindsculptor and Elspeth, Knight-Errant rank way up there amongst the stars. Other planeswalkers that see play (but not in Legacy) include Ajani Vengeant and Goldmane, Garruk Wildspeaker, Jace Beleren, and Sarkhan the Mad. Now what separates the top tier from the rest?
Staying power.
In Legacy, Planeswalkers are essentially control cards. They cost 3 or more mana and you can only use one of their abilities once a turn. Combo decks don't want 3cmc or more cards unless their ability is game-winning. Aggro decks are more likely to reduce their mana curve and fit in more spells than to plug in these cards. Control decks, however, welcome incremental benefits that builds to victory with each progressing turn. You can literally pack whole decks with answers and use some numbers of incremental planeswalkers as win conditions.
Both Jace and Elspeth enable such incremental advantages. Jace the Mindsculptor Brainstorms and draws you 1-3 cards, or denies your opponent of a good draw every turn. Elspeth produces a blocker or gets in damage every turn. More importantly, these abilities either add loyalty, or don't cost anything other than a one time down payment of mana. In addition, these abilities help the planeswalker survive either by finding answers/preventing threats (Jace), or just being the answer itself (Elspeth's token).
The second tier of planeswalkers that see play are those that fit nicely in certain decks in certain formats. Ajani Goldmane in tokens, Garruk Wildspeaker in elves/tokens, Sarkhan the Mad with Sprouting Thrinax, Ajani Vengeant in a format with cip tapped tri-lands and 3-color decks.
Now the question is, which genre do Tezzeret the Seeker and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas fit into in Legacy?
Now for Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Is it an a first tier planeswalker? Its first ability draws you an artifact, an incremental advantage that is likely to give you substantial advantage over the course of the game. However, unless your deck is filled with artifacts that act as answers such as Engineered Explosives, Executioner's Capsule, Ensnaring Bridge (what's with the letter E?), corrupted Tezz is unlikely to withstand an attack without any help.
In order to let blue-black Tezz survive, the deck is likely to be filled with other removals/disruption, which are unlikely to be artifacts. This runs contradictory to its incremental ability even though it digs 5 cards deep.
What about the second ability? Surely a 5/5 will be able to hold off attacks!
Yes, a 5/5's quite formidable and can ward off attacks to a large extent. Alternating this with the first ability effectively gives you an indefinite incremental advantage generator that will win you the game. This however, leaves evil Tezz hovering around the magical 3 loyalty counters, susceptible to bolt and other situations that are frequent in Legacy (eg Wild Nacatl, Merfolk with 1 lord, bear + Noble Hierarch, Tarmogoyf). In other words, it might not live to see the next turn.
Final verdict: I think Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas will see some play, although it is unlikely to be at Jace's or even Elspeth's level. It'll take the right deck to propel him forward.
Blightsteel Colossus
Ichor Wellspring
Goblin Welder and this makes a draw engine. Krark-Clan Ironworks turns this into 1 free draw. Heck, you can even play this in some Second Sunrise combo provided you have a sacrificial outlet *cough Krark-Clan cough*. This interests me the same way Tumble Magnet did.Knowledge Pool
If only there's a loop with it. If you know of any, let me know as it'll be fun with Master Transmuter/Goblin Welder.Myr Sire
2 sacrificial lambs I mean Myrs for the price of 1! Now the only card I can think of to pair it with is Krark-Clan Ironworks.Myr Welder
is no Goblin Welder.Phyrexian Revoker
Edit: Zaaba has rightly pointed out that I didn't do much justice to Phyrexian Revoker with this short paragraph. The following is for Zaaba and other readers like him. =)
Comparing Phyrexian Revoker to Pithing Needle the inability to hit lands (eg fetchlands, Maze of Ith, Wasteland etc) is made up for by its ability to hit mana abilities (eg Grim Monolith, Noble Hierarch) and by its 2 power. Now is this good or bad?
After typing (and deleting) a bunch of words, I realized that the main contention is that as Revoker can attack, it is main deck material but Needle isn't. You don't really need Revoker to hit lands as there's Wasteland for it (though I'd really want to build a deck with Wasteland, Stifle, Leonin Arbiter, and a Revoker than hits fetchlands). There are also better sideboard cards than Revoker if you wish to handle fast artifact mana. What is more important is that Phyrexian Revoker is a creature that bumps life points off while serving sometimes as relevant disruption. You know, just like Leonin Arbiter.
Wait, did Leonin Arbiter see play? I think I did mention that Suppression Field is better but still sees no play. If the mana-stopping ability of Phyrexian Revoker pales in comparison to better sideboard materials, then why not just use Suppression Field as it blanket stops everything for 2 turns? In case you don't know beforehand, 2 turns in Legacy is quite a lot.
Point is, probably only certain decks want Revoker main. Perhaps some ingenious designer will prove me wrong in the future with some concoction of extra disruptive fish decks with Vial, counterspells/discard, and disruptive bears like Phyrexian Revoker main. Until then,I'm inclined to say that it'll just be sideboard material.
Shriekhorn
I need these for my deck! Donate some to me!Signal Pest
I'm not the first to say that this works well in standard Kuldotha Red. Now look at it as a 1cmc semi-lord. I'm not too sure about a Legacy tokens deck though, but looking at the speed of Standard Kuldotha Red, you might want to try porting it to Legacy.Sphere of the Suns
Ooooo... EDH....Inkmoth Nexus
I don't think you want this even in Affinity.Well, that ends my opinion of what cards will make an impact in Legacy. Now let me know what you think about Mirrodin Beseiged. Do you agree or disagree about any of the above evaluations? Or have I missed out some cards that you think are interesting in Legacy? Let me know by commenting below or on Facebook. Tweet this!
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