Commander 2014 Card Review, Part 2!

Since the Dear Azami duo are cranking through the new legends from Commander 2014, I thought I would hold off on my own takes a bit to avoid any double
legend coverage in one week. Instead I’ll go over the other brand new cards printed specifically for this set and format, and offer up my thoughts on how
to best utilize these in your own decks.
Last week I covered White, Blue, and Black so if you missed it you can click here to check it out
. Today I’ll finish out the colors, artifacts, and lands so let’s roll!

Red

Cards to consider: Cloudstone Curio, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Rage Reflection, Avatar of Slaughter

There’s no doubt this card can provoke some very interesting stories by provoking doubly large haymakers between two players. It’s nice that you get to
target two players instead of two opponents, so it’s got the flexibility of benefiting yourself if you need a boost for an alpha strike against someone
(though be careful because you’re also setting up some vulnerability). Avatar of Slaughter can help prevent the two feuding players from refusing to feed
your shenanigans by choosing not to attack each other, while Dictate of the Twin Gods can ramp aggression between the two into a true bloodbath. The one
downside I see to this card is that it becomes useless when one of the two feuding players dies, so you might consider something like Cloudstone Curio to
bounce the enchantment so you can replay it and choose two new targets.

Cards to consider: Riptide Laboratory, Stonybrook Banneret, Voidmage Prodigy, Diviner’s Wand, Temple Bell, Wizard Mentor, Erratic Portal, Wild Ricochet, Radiate, Oni of Wild Places,

Everyone recognized this as a powerhouse card right away, especially given the big powerhouse instants or sorceries people play in Commander: Treasure
Cruise, Tooth and Nail, Time Stretch, Berserk, Mind Twist, Cryptic Command, Dig Through Time are just a few off the top of my head. You may want to play
some “everyone draws” cards like Temple Bell to encourage people to play these sweet spells early and often. It’s sweet that this guy is a wizard-how much
fun would it be to respond to one of these spells by casting Dualcaster Mage, copy the spell, and then sacrifice it to Voidmage Prodigy to counter the
original spell? You can also take advantage of his tribe to get multiple uses out of him with Riptide Laboratory too. Regardless if you tailor your deck to
take extra advantage of Dualcaster Mage, if you’re playing red you should have this guy in there.

Cards to consider: Fork, Mogg Maniac, Furnace of Rath, Stuffy Doll

This card just boggles the mind to think about the possibilities in Commander. Just ponder all the times when something dealt a huge amount of damage:
Chameleon Colossus going nuts with Gaea’s Cradle mana, the size of a lategame Lord of Extinction. At its basic level you can use it to kill one huge
creature after it deals damage, which is definitely nice, but I love the flexibility this has to divvy up a huge amount of damage into smaller parcels to
mow down multiple creatures. The one downside is that Impact Resonance only deals damage to creatures, but you can get around that restriction with one of
my faves, Mogg Maniac!

Cards to consider: Claws of Gix, Varchild’s War-Riders; Akroan Horse, Hunted Dragon

Incite Rebellion is one serious hate card to punish those who love to rock the token decks. The problem here is that it affects all players, including
you-which is to be expected from this sort of card, but I’ve gotten a bit spoiled by Commander 2014 cards that seem to be all upside. You can trim your own
creature force down if your life total is low by sacrificing them to cards like Claws of Gix. Also, if one or more of your opponents isn’t playing many
creatures, this card’s efficacy drops quite a bit, but you can mitigate that playing giving them token creatures from Varchild’s War Riders or Hunted
Dragon.

Cards to consider: Lotus Bloom, Mishra’s Bauble, Tormod’s Crypt, Entomb, Faithless Looting, Arcbound Ravager, Shattered Perception, Wheel of Fortune,
Eye of Doom, Grimoire of the Dead, Trading Post

This is a sweet card patterned off the highly powerful classic card Living Death, and all the shenanigans you could pull with Living Death apply to Scrap
Mastery except swap “creatures” with “artifacts.” It is a little harder to fill the graveyard with artifacts as opposed to creatures (*cough*Survival of
the Fittest*cough), but we can get there two ways: using red’s filter ability to draw cards and discard cards such as Faithless Looting and Wheel of
Fortune, and also to take advantage of a host of artifacts that sacrifice for profit (ahh, yet another sweet interaction with Trading Post). I’m kinda
digging playing this with Grimoire of the Dead since you can either pitch artifacts to get back with Scrap Mastery, or creatures to get back with the
Grimoire activation. Of course, be aware that Scrap Mastery applies to all players, so you can spoil someone else’s fun with something like Tormod’s Crypt
before you fire it off.

Cards to consider: Basilisk Collar, Panic Spellbomb, Archetype of Aggression, Goblin War Drums, Rorix Bladewing

I like that this lieutenant has haste, which means it’s going to be best coming down when you have your commander already in play. The one that really
comes to mind is Aurelia, the Warleader: she costs six, so she’s coming into play the turn before, and wow-getting to attack with Tyrant’s Familiar twice
next turn is quite fearsome! You might want to play with something like Panic Spellbomb or Goblin War Drums to make sure he can attack with impunity in
case your opponent happens to have a flying blocker that can survive the seven point hit.

Cards to consider: Increasing Vengeance, Restore, Terravore, Detritivore

This is one of those “all upside” cards I was talking about, where there’s just about no way this can blow up in your face (other than perhaps getting two
or more players upset with you). It’s a great tool for knocking down two of the biggest land threats (Gaea’s Cradle, Alchemist’s Refuge), and two of large
creature threats… neither of which belong to you. If you’re playing green you can play Restore and snag the lands for yourself!

Cards to consider: Slumbering Dragon, Circle of Flame, Raking Canopy, Blood Reckoning, Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs; Gahiji, Honored One

You gotta love Warmonger Hellkite for its ability to get the game moving fast. All creatures are forced to attack, so if you don’t want to let your
defenses down the turn you play this, make sure you wait until your second main phase to cast. I really like that you can use his ability to juice up
attacks during other players’ turns, so even if you’ve only got one or two creatures, the guy who’s got a token horde can attack the biggest threat on the
table, and you can boost them to deal a ton of damage. If you’re worried about all these forced attacks coming your way, there are certainly some cards
that can discourage them, like Slumbering Dragon, Blood Reckoning, and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs.

Green

Cards to consider: Kher Keep, Spike Feeder, Mindless Automaton, Trading Post

The obvious include for this card is any sort of elf deck, which will have lots of dudes you want to pump up and lots of mana, but I have to admit my first
thought was to use this to pump up Kobold tokens from Kher Keep or Goat tokens from Trading Post and rumble in. It’s also good to boost creatures that
start out small but have +1/+1 counters on them, since the ability makes them a base 5/5 and then you still add the +1/+1 counters.

Cards to consider: Contested Cliffs, Brighthearth Banneret, Saffi Eriksdotter, Nim Deathmantle, Incandescent Soulstoke, Ravenous Baloth, Horde of Notions, Feral Throwback

This is one of those cards that has the annoying green “share” theme where everyone gets to take advantage of the ability. The fact that the ability gets
better the more tribal your deck is can break the synergy if you’re the only tribal deck. What’s really cool is that Grave Sifter belongs to two different
tribes that have had some nice support over the years-it’s an elemental and a beast so it naturally goes in either tribal deck. I also like its smaller
synergy with cards that can trigger its enters the battlefield trigger multiple times like Saffi Eriksdotter or Nim Deathmantle.

Cards to consider: Phyrexian Tower, Ordeal of Thassa, Solidarity of Heroes, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Cradle of Vitality, Disciple of Bolas, Mana Geyser, Black Market, Doubling Season, Kalonian Hydra

This card just wows me, providing card advantage and a little lifegain on top when it dies. There are so many ways in Commander to either generate a ton of
mana or to add more counters to a creature that you can make this an all-star in your deck with very little trouble. Vorel of the Hull Clade got a new best
friend!

Cards to consider: Fires of Yavimaya, Temur Ascendancy, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician; Spawnwrithe, Sword of Feast and Famine, Trygon Predator, Bident of Thassa, Maelstrom Archangel

It’s really sweet this card provides a neo-Falter effect for all your creatures and is tied to a really big creature itself. You basically want to look for
cards that say “combat damage to a player” to find cool stuff to pair this with, and there is plenty out there. I particularly like Spawnwrithe since
whether it’s blocked and killed or not, it’s always going to give you another copy. The one issue I have with Siege Behemoth is that his ability is “slow”
– he’s got to attack himself to take advantage of it for all your creatures, so you may want to play ways to give your team haste. I’m looking forward to
pairing this up with Temur Ascendancy, making Siege Behemoth a cantrip in addition to giving it haste.

Cards to consider: Greater Auramancy, Sterling Grove, Unseen Walker, Coiling Woodworm, Privileged Position, Gaea’s Liege, Hidden Path

This is a really cool way to imprison an opponent’s commander since it doesn’t kill it, doesn’t exile it, and doesn’t allow it to block and die. Sure, Song
of the Dryads can be destroyed relatively easy, but you can make it harder with cards like Greater Auramancy or Sterling Grove. What I find particularly
fun to think about is using this in conjunction with cards like Unseen Walker or Hidden Path, turning a player’s own commander into the back door way for
creatures to attack unblocked.

Cards to consider: Gaea’s Cradle, Rhys the Redeemed, Intangible Virtue, Nissa Revane, Parallel Lives, Primal Vigor; Wort, the Raidmother; Emmara Tandris

If you love token decks, you’re bound to love Sylvan Offering, which can crank out quite the horde of elves along with a Treefolk guardian, especially if
you’ve got ways to double the creature tokens like Parallel Lives. How about running this in your Wort, the Raidmother deck and getting to double your fun?

Cards to consider: Bow of Nylea; Titania, Protector of Argoth; Nacatl War-Pride

Fun trivia here: when I was a senior in high school I joined our soccer team even though I’d never played soccer before. Why? Because our soccer team was
terrible and always lost, so everyone on the team just played soccer to have fun and hang out with friends. Unburdened from the stress of trying to win
made for a lot of silly antics. Anyway, I got the nickname “thunderfoot” because of my size and the ability to send the soccer ball from one end of the
field to the other the few times I actually was able to connect with it. Anyway, nominal affinity aside, I really love this lieutenant because it provides
two abilities “with haste” – your entire army gets to take advantage of the +2/+2 and trample right away (assuming you’ve got your commander in play).
Seems like a great inclusion in a Titania, Protector of Argoth deck right? Play Titania, get back a fetchland, sac to get a sixth land and a 5/3, next turn
drop Thunderfoot and attack with Titania and her elemental friend, both now 7/5 tramplers. Of course, the ultimate Thunderfoot accoutrement is Bow of
Nylea, which gives all your boosted tramplers deathtouch when they attack, and we all know deathtouch and trample are the peanut butter and chocolate of
creature abilities.

Cards to consider: Ashnod’s Transmogrant, Liquimetal Coating, Soul Sculptor, Xathrid Gorgon

Wow! What an amazing way to clean up the battlefield and keep everyone honest. Artifacts, equipment, enchantments all go bye-bye, and no amount of
indestructibility or regeneration can save them. This is a fantastic tool to have to combat the new Theros block gods that can otherwise be quite
problematic to deal with. I also love that this nukes non-basic lands but kindly replaces them with basic lands so as to not leave anyone completely dead
in the water unless their mana is so greedy they run no basic lands. And no, I wouldn’t even dream of combining this with Mycosynth Lattice!

Cards to consider: Mikokoro, Center of the Sea; Heartwood Storyteller, Immerwolf, Paradox Haze, Master of the Wild Hunt; Selvala, Explorer Returned;
Temple Bell

If your table is filled with people who love to draw cards, Wolfcaller’s Howl can do some good work. You can help the cause by playing “everyone draws”
cards like Mikokoro, Center of the Sea and Temple Bell, along with parley abilities on cards like Selvala, Explorer Returned. Paradox Haze can double the
upkeep fun, and Master of the Wild Hunt loves to get all those extra canines in his pack.

Artifacts

Cards to consider: Darksteel Myr, Predator Ooze, Ruhan of the Fomori, Raving Dead; Tajic, Blade of the Legion; Darksteel Juggernaut, Zurgo Helmsmasher,
All Is Dust

What an absolutely fun card! There are obviously creatures in the game that have more fun the more you can attack, so why not pass them around to your
opponents to be able to attack each other? Ruhan of the Fomori and Zurgo Helmsmasher are the best choices because they have to attack each combat so your
opponents won’t wuss out on you. I also love that Assault Suit protects the creature from being sacrificed, so when it comes back around to your turn you
can cast All Is Dust and not lose your colored commander.

Cards to consider: Glissa, the Traitor, Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, Prototype Portal, Mirrorworks

Commander’s Sphere is a fantastic card, and I can’t see it not going into nearly every single Commander deck out there. Not only does it fix and accelerate
your mana, but you can also sacrifice it for a card for no mana and no tap. This is the perfect sort of card I want to run in a Glissa, the Traitor or
Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient deck for the reusable value you can eek out of this card.

Cards to consider: Burning Earth, Manabarbs, War’s Toll, Zedruu the Greathearted; Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

I love that once you give this hot potato away it can’t come back to you-let it out into the world and watch the fun roll in! War’s Toll seems like a
fantastic combo with this card. If you’re playing a deck with a lot of tokens, the Crown can provide a nice boost to them if you want to attack whoever is
holding the crown.

Cards to consider: Manabond, Dreamscape Artist, Lotleth Troll, Pack Rat, Attunement, Devout Witness, Ice Cauldron, Grafted Skullcap, Null Brooch,
Thought Gorger,

Tapping to draw three cards is quite strong, but the mana cost can be quite high if you don’t find ways to keep your hand size down. Manabond can quickly
empty your hand while accelerating your mana at the same time, as can cards that let you pitch cards for a good effect like Pack Rat or Devout Witness. I
can also see this card going into some sort of heavy artifact deck with Null Brooch.

Cards to consider: Chief Engineer, Leonin Squire, Skullclamp, Sword of Light and Shadow, Thada Adel, Acquisitor; Quietus Spike, Trinket Mage, Auriok Salvagers, Tezzeret the Seeker, Salvaging Station

The trick to playing this card is to make sure you or the people you’re playing with have enough good equipment cards in their deck to ensure something
good to copy-any of the Swords and, of course, Skullclamp seem like excellent choices. The mana cost on this equipment is really where it shines, letting
you easily fetch it with Trinket Mage and Tezzeret the Seeker, or retrieve from the graveyard with Auriok Salvagers or Salvaging Station.

Cards to consider: Eternal Dominion; also, see Commander’s Sphere

This is another card I rank right up there with Commander’s Sphere, providing mana utility but also some much needed board control that’s expensive but
sometimes necessary. It’s particularly nice with Glissa, the Traitor since her dies trigger will let you get it back. I mentioned Eternal Dominion here
because if you assume this card is going in a lot of Commander decks, it makes a pretty nice target to go find if you need to deal with a problematic
permanent while in epic mode.

Lands

Cards to consider: Expedition Map, Terminate, Merieke Ri Berit, Proteus Staff, Willow Satyr

I’m really thrilled that R&D provided us with a way to deal with otherwise problematic hexproof creatures without taking up a spell-slot in your deck.
Provided you’re not running too many different colors, this can and should be run in any Commander deck, along with an Expedition Map to go fetch it.

Cards to consider: Expedition Map, Bone Dancer, Brimaz, King of Oreskos; Beguiler of Wills, Visara the Dreadful; Tariel, Reckoner of Souls

This is a really sweet utility land that any red deck will run regardless of whether it runs enough elementals to reveal. There are a lot of creatures that
are really good already but just get insane with haste. When any creature in your deck can hit the ground running it can be a scary thing for your
opponents.

Cards to consider: Cabal Coffers, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Expedition Map, Life from the Loam, Knight of the Reliquary, Second Sunrise, Avenger of Zendikar

Another home run here, this provides some much needed mana ramp to bring non-green decks closer to par with the mana acceleration that green can do. In
particular are cards like Cabal Coffers and Emeria, the Sky Ruin, which get so much better the more of a basic land type is in play.

So there we go-whew, that was a lot of new cards to unpack, and I’m sure there are even more cool uses that I can’t wait to stumble upon as I play with
them. What other sweet combos have you discovered with these new cards from Commander 2014?

And speaking of Commander 2014…

did you see the news that I’ve updated my ebook The Complete Commander through Khans of Tarkir and Commander 2014?

If you’ve already bought the first edition, you can download the update for free, and if you haven’t yet bought the book, now’s a great time to get the
latest, greatest edition!

New to Commander?

If you’re just curious about the format, building your first deck, or trying to take your Commander deck up a notch, here are some handy links:

Commander Primer Part 1
(Why play Commander? Rules Overview, Picking your Commander)
Commander Primer Part 2
(Mana Requirements, Randomness, Card Advantage)
Commander Primer Part 3
(Power vs. Synergy, Griefing, Staples, Building a Doran Deck)
Commander Starter Kits 1
(kick start your allied two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 2
(kick start your enemy two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 3
(kick start your shard three-color decks for $25)