CMDTower Special: Preview Edition!
Heeeyyy Cats and Kittens!
Big Tuck here from CMDTower trying to reach you via text instead of voice! Don’t worry we still know that there’s a series of tubes involved, but we thought that we would give you a new avenue to rest your ears for a very special announcement!
We here at CMDTower are very excited to announce that we were gifted three (3) FREE preview cards from Wizards of the Coast for the upcoming Commander 2020 set! This could have only happened with your support, so before we go any further feel free to reach around and give yourself a big ole’ pat on the back. Thanks for liking, subscribing, and sharing our content, and we look forward to continuing giving our view on the game of EDH for years to come!
However, I think that the real heroes here are Mr. Combo #5, Squee McGee, and myself for being the content creator masterminds we are. So don’t get cocky, Collective!!
Anyway, onto the stars of the show! I thought I could break them down in alphabetical order, highlighting some synergies and maybe even a guess or two around which new Commander 2020 Precon they would fit in best!!
First off, we have a great Budget Black Boardwipe (or BBB, if you will), in the form of:
Deadly Tempest!!
As discussed on the breaking Action 4 News segment that aired this weekend, black obviously has piles of options for board wipes, BUT there is a pretty clear gap in quality. You have the amazing Black Sun’s Zenith for XBB, the back breaking Toxic Deluge at 2B, and the big daddy (where’s this reprint, WOTC??) Damnation at 2BB. In the right situations, these premier removal spells can just about get the whole board taken care of.
Unfortunately, greatness comes at a price as those top-notch spells will cost you $4, $24, and $30 respectively, leaving us budget brewers out in the figurative dust. However, by going a little higher in your curve, you can still get some serious bang for your buck!
Our first card Deadly Tempest really sets itself up for sac themed or Voltron decks. It’s easy to have a HUGE board and feel threatened, then sac your creatures to value to things like Viscera Seer or even Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, then slam this Storm down and watch your Selesnyan opponents get domed for 10+. Coming in at 50 cents for the recent reprint off the mystery boosters, it’s hard for even this penny pincher to not punt my preferred pennies-on-the-dollar…pwipe. Most decks that run black have at least one sac outlet, so being able to turn your opponents Doubling Season and Primal Vigors into insta-face damage is well worth the one additional mana!!
We also discussed some Precons this may come standard in, and because we are AWESOME at our jobs we predicted a commander like Otrimi, the Ever-Playful to be a part of this set. having the ability to eat up some creatures to negate the damage from the board wipe, AND pulling a mutate creature from the graveyard was totally on point!
Speaking of Sultai decks….our next preview is going slot right in! We are talking
Masked Admirers:
Outside of SHOCKINGLY looking like Squee McGee in disguise, this card also does a very good impression of another mono-green elf staple: Elvish Visionary! Mono-green traditionally (until arguably the last 2 years) has struggled with drawing cards and keeping threats in your hand, which is why this card is widely played in the mono-green 2014 Precon and its subsequent reprint in Commander Anthology. That being said, it saddens to see this sleeper only being present in 1129 decks, and only 1% of the 152k decks it could be played in!
I think this card could go swimmingly in a creature based sacrifice deck, which would allow it to constantly be sac’d for value, put back into hand by casting a low CMC creature, and then drawing a card. Throw in a way to make extra mana (yeah, I see you over in the corner there Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro!) and you could make a real nice value train on a budget!
This is another card that would go great with Otrimi following a board wipe. Pulling a creature with mutate to hand, to cast with an additional GG to draw a card and have another body on the field screams VALUE.
Well. evidently the alphabet knew we were saving the best for last, because we are FINALLY getting a reprint of a Voltron and Stax favorite:
Silent Arbiter:
So if Solemn Simulacrum is Sad Robot, does that make this guy Hushed Android? #BLASTED!!
For reals this card is no joke. I have “fond” memories of rage quitting a 4 pod draft of original Conspiracy in China (long story), so it’s also “thrilling” that this guy will likely get down to a more affordable price tag than his current $4-$5 dollar slot.
All joking aside, everyone here at CMDTower was ecstatic to see this free preview from WOTC. This card has saved our collective bacon more than the amount of tokens Squee can make in a turn with Rhys the Redeemed. Slowing down and being able to dictate the flow of Attacks and Blocks can completely stymie go wide and go medium decks, while protecting decks that need it against most incoming threats (looking at you, my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck). Additionally, this can make commander with unique evasion (ie Greven, Predator Captain aka Vin Diesel as Mr. Combo rightfully pointed out) even more unstoppable, and gives Voltron/Commander Damage decks surefire ways to keep their big monstar swinging. Being an artifact AND a creature he is fairly susceptible to removal and board wipes, but I think in the long run you’d love to have this Hushed Automaton eat a key piece of removal to leave your bigger threats on the board!
Luckily we were 3 for 3 (like a Beast token) on our guesses, as this is another card that makes Otrimi sing! Letting it swing for commander damage over and over again while ploughing through anything in its path due to Trample makes this innocuous automaton a win-con in this 99!
Clean Up Phase
Welp that’s going to do it for our first spoiler run. I will say it was absolutely incredible for the whole team here at CMDTower to be a part of this and receive not 1 but 3 free spoiler cards direct from WOTC. What do you guys think about these cards coming down in price? Do any of them jump out as windmill slams into your decks? What Ikoria precon are you most excited about?
Feel free to reach out to us with your ideas/complaints/death threats on twitter at:
@mrcombo#5
From everyone here at CMDTower, peace out!