The Really Great Rivals Of Ixalan Commander Update

For: Spitemare

It’s hard to modify a deck you recently made, but in the context of there
being new and cool Dinosaurs, it’s going to happen here more than once.
Spitemare was a neat find, but Trapjaw Tyrant will do a little more heavy
lifting in the deck.

Into:

Obzedat, Ghost Killer

For: Sun Titan

Obzedat is all about not letting other creatures be on the battlefield,
especially destroying them during other players’ turns. Zetalpa, who is
simply a beating, can survive most of those things. Sun Titan comes out for
being in so many other decks.

Blue

Into:

Lavinia Blinks

For: Slithermuse

What’s better than one Crafty Cutpurse? Repeatable ones. I might consider
also playing Crafty Cutpurse if I were playing Hunted Phantasm in a deck.
Slithermuse is simply retiring; thanks for all the memories.

For: Defense of the Heart

In a deck all about drawing cards so its creatures can be bigger, you draw
more cards. I will frequently enough have the city’s blessing. In this
particular deck, my Defense of the Heart pairs are so bad that I just want
to move it elsewhere; where that might be is TBD.

For: Pathbreaker Ibex

What I just said about drawing cards? Ditto. Nezahal feeds everyone else,
provides strong beats, and my hand has enough cards in it to use the last
ability. Pathbreaker Ibex is a little out of place in this deck; it will
find a new home in the eventual rebuild of my Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
deck from the Commander Rotisserie Draft.

Into:

Animar Do-Over

For: Primeval Bounty

Animar, Soul of Elements is frequently the target of peoples’ hate, and
justifiably so. It can get expensive to cast subsequent times, so saving it
by releasing it to the wind is nice self-preservation. Since you’re casting
it from exile and not the command zone, you don’t even have to pay the
commander tax (see Rule 8 for more
details).

For: Profound Journey

It’s starting to look like Rivals of Ixalan is the “let’s rebuild
Phelddagrif” set. Again, I’m going to have the city’s blessing already, so
the additional card draw is quite likely to happen. Profound Journey has
been disappointingly unprofound, so it goes away.

For: Wily Goblin

Again, I’m not a huge fan of updating decks that I just built, but in this
case I asked myself if Timestream Navigator would have been in Ixalan, would I have put it in straight away. The answer is a
resounding yes. Rough beats, Wily Goblin.

Black

Into:

Rakdos Reimagined

For: Purphoros, God of the Forge

Of course Champion of Dusk goes into my Vampire deck. You’re probably
scratching your head over why I’d take out Purphoros, God of the Forge, but
the answer is simple. It’s not a Vampire, and I’m a slave to theme.

Into:

Kresh Into the Red Zone

For: Kothophed, Soul Hoarder

Kresh sometimes has a little trouble casting things, but it can kill them
pretty good. Getting to play off of a pile from someone else’s deck makes
Gonti, Lord of Luxury very happy; there’s probably the beginnings of a deck
there. Kothphed has been okay, but not spectacular enough to keep around.

For: Pirate Ship

The Pirate tutor had to go into the Pirate deck. What’s sad is taking out
the Pirate Ship, which is sweet thematically but not all that great
otherwise. Since Forerunner of the Coalition is equally thematic, I’m not
bothered.

For: Arcane Adaption

Pitiless Plunderer will not doubt help me Revel in Riches at some point. Or
just fuel getting more Pirates to show up. The more Pirates become
available, the less I need to turn everything into a Pirate, so Arcane
Adaption isn’t all that necessary (although it’d be cool to cast Forerunner
of the Coalition to get anything in the deck).

Into:

Obzedat, Ghost Killer

For: Ghost Council of Orzhova

What’s weird is that the rest of the deck might be too good at killing
creatures for Tetizmoc to be super-useful, but I’m willing to take the
chance. The deck doesn’t create enough creatures for Ghost Council to be as
useful as I’d like.

Into:

Halloween with Karador

For: Liliana, Heretical Healer

It might seem like Twilight Prophet goes into the Vampire deck, but I
prefer to have it in a deck in which I gain a great deal of life. Karador
definitely does that. I played Karador recently and had a number of chances
to search the deck, and Liliana was always left behind in favor of other
things. I have a non-foil version in

Gisa and Geralf Together Forever

, so taking it out of here is a little less painful.

Into:

The Altar of Thraximundar

For: Cryptic Command

What better deck to make everyone else sacrifice a bunch of creatures than
the one that will get murderously large? That Vona’s Hunger is an instant
might surprise someone who hasn’t blocked with a one-shot commander damage
kill. The deck has always struggled to support Cryptic Command, so I felt
like it was an easy removal; I’m sure I’ll build a new deck in the near
future which can use it.

Red

Into:

Rith Do-Over

For: Cream of the Crop

What I like most about Blood Sun (in addition to replacing itself) is that
it turns off Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Kessig Wolf Run. It goes into the
Rith Do-Over since it doesn’t turn off anything of mine.

Into:

Kresh Into the Red Zone

For: Flaring Pain

As I mentioned earlier, Kresh sometimes has trouble casting stuff-mostly
from me including more beat sticks than setup. Etali is salve for that
wound. Depending on what gets exiled, it may just stay there. Creatures
especially might get left behind because they’ll die eventually and go to
their owners’ graveyards, which puts a crimp into my Living Death plans.

For: Scourge of Kher Ridges

Getting the right Dinosaur is a nice start, but since the deck is quite
enraged, we’ll get lots of triggers. Scourge of Kher Ridges was in the deck
to do exactly what Forerunner of the Empire does-it might be more flexible,
but it’s also quite a bit more expensive. We’ll see how it plays out.

For: Stuffy Doll.

While Stuffy Doll is fine on its own, Shake the Foundations helps continue
the idea of replacing Scourge of Kher Ridges-not to mention replacing
itself. That’s the flexibility we’re looking for.

For: Raptor Hatchling

The deck is getting really angry, isn’t it? Raptor Hatchling only gets us
one use. Silverclad Ferocidons will clear the path for our other thunder
lizards to start rampaging all over peoples’ faces. The only problem is
that I’m running out of stuff I want to take out of the deck already, and I
know there’s some goodies coming up in green.

Green

Now is the time to mention that there are some green, blue, and green/blue
cards which are going right into the Prime Speaker Zegana Do-Over deck,
coming soon to a tabletop or game report near you. If the list of green
cards that I’m putting into existing decks seems short, it’s because there
are quite a few that are headed there. That list will likely include, but
not be limited to, Riverwise Augur; Seafloor Oracle; Deeproot Elite;
Forerunner of the Heralds; Jade Bearer; Jadelight Ranger; World Shaper;
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca; Merfolk Mistbinder; Hadana’s Climb.

For: Adaptive Automaton

The defensive possibilities of Cherished Hatchling exist in addition to
just slamming it into people. There’s not much advantage of giving them
flash on your own turn, since you might have been casting them anyway, but
the opportunity to fight other creatures provides you with a combat
advantage opponents might not be able to overcome.

Into:

Adun’s Toolbox

For: Flesh Carver

Because Ghalta’s ability helps pay the commander tax, it makes sense to
have it at the helm of your mono-green deck. For me, making such a thing is
a task for down the road, so I’m putting it into a deck right away. And
sure, I could put it into Gishath, but that’s already getting enough
updates and I want to spread around the power a little. One of the tools
that the Adun Oakenshield deck doesn’t really have is the giant
face-smasher. It durdles around really well and finds some ways to kill
people occasionally (like by bloodrushing a Rubblehulk), but I like the
idea of the huge, obvious threat on the board as well.

Into:

Karador Do-Over

For: Tangle

I’ve previously mentioned that explore as a mechanic interests me, but the
creatures that have it don’t. Giving it to all my creatures, on the other
hand, changes how I look at it. It seems like putting it into the “+1/+1
counters matter” deck is the right call. I know that I keep hammering home
the idea that you need to play your Fogs (and eat your vegetables and stay
in school), but there are other Fog effects in the deck, so I feel safer
moving Tangle out.

For: Kindred Boon

I could be setting myself up for failure here. The deck has only one
sacrifice outlet: Miren, the Moaning Well. If I cast Polyraptor with Aether
Flash on the battlefield, we infinitely loop the game into a draw (unless
someone else has a way to stop it), as each copy of Polyraptor will create
another, and so on. I suppose I could also use Fault Line at some point-but
I’ll live out on the edge on this one. It’d be easy to shove Goblin
Bombardment or Altar of Dementia in there, so who wants that?

Into:

Zegana and a Dice Bag

For: Fuel for the Cause

The deck is all about adding +1/+1 counters; Strength of the Pack will add
twice as many as Fuel for the Cause. Sure, there’s no counterspell backup,
but sometime’s life is about playing through the tough parts without having
every answer.

Into:

Karador Version 3

For: Wickerbough Elder

Thrashing Brontodon is a straight upgrade in a Karador deck over
Wickerbough Elder. They basically do the same thing, but the Brontodon ends
up in the graveyard, where I want it. You mileage might vary in other kinds
of decks; for this style, it’s the right answer.

Into:

Animar’s Swarm

For: Nevermaker

Any land ramping is fine in Animar, because some of the cards, to include
the commander, are sometimes tricky to cast. The Swordtooth will help me
get the city’s blessing soon enough that I don’t care that it won’t be able
to attack or block for a few turns. Nevermaker is still one of my favorite
cards, and it’s done great service in this deck-it’s just time for a
change.

Into:

The Mill-Meoplasm

For: Riftsweeper

There are lots of good dredge cards in recent sets, but I don’t have a
dredge deck. What I do have is a “mill everybody” deck in The Mimeoplasm,
so that’s the spot for World Shaper. The dream, of course, is an early
Mesmeric Orb, lots of activity, and then shaping the world.

Multicolored

Into:

Lavinia Blinks

For: Galepowder Mage

The opponents can still cast instants and sorceries on your turn,
so be careful when you battle with Azor. Of course, since the trigger is on
attacking instead of combat damage, you might not even care; once could be
enough.

For: Rowdy Crew

I want my Pirates to be deadly and dangerous. If they also happen to
pillage stuff off of you, that’s great, too. But beating your face is even
better. Rowdy Crew falls into the same pile as other cards that wouldn’t
have gotten chosen if all the Pirates came out at once.

Into:

Karador Version 3

For: Caller of the Claw

Getting lifelinking Vampires instead of just 2/2 Bears is better in my
book, especially since Elenda will be lifelinking me up some before she
goes away. There’s an easy argument to have her as the commander of her own
deck. You solve the dies/command zone problem by having a card like
Scrabbling Claws. Let Elenda hit the graveyard, then use Scrabbling Claws
to exile her, choosing to instead put her in the command zone. While you’re
not doing these kinds of tricks with Scrabbling Claws, use it to keep other
graveyards under control.

Into:

Rith’s Tokens

For: Samut, the Tested

The simple path looks like this: Battle with Rith. Use the trigger to get
some Saprolings. Cast Huatli. Activate the +1 ability. Protect the heck out
of Huatli. Get the emblem. Repeat.

For: Huatli, Warrior Poet

There’s a compelling argument to build Zacama its own deck, which I will no
doubt do down the road, especially since it doesn’t really have to be a
Dinosaur deck. There are any number of flavors that build could take, from
Voltron to Good Stuff. The only limit is imagination. For now, Zacama will
head into the Gishath deck so that I can play with it until I find the time
to build a new one.

Double-Faced

Into:

Zegana and a Dice Bag

For: Reverent Hunter

Hadana’s Climb, or more correctly, Winged Temple of Orazca, solves one of
the problems this deck has, namely getting through with creatures; it
simply doesn’t have that many with evasion abilities. The Winged Temple can
make Prime Speaker Zegana into a one-shot commander damage kill pretty
easily, especially with Crowned Ceratok on the battlefield. No insult to
Reverent Hunter, Hadana’s Climb makes the deck more dangerous.

Into:

Halloween with Karador

For: Razaketh, the Foul-Blooded

This card has my name written all over it. It’s just one of the cards that
I’ll love playing, even if it doesn’t win games for me (which I suspect it
will). One of the anxieties I always have about the Karador deck is getting
blown out by some mass removal while I’m building up a good graveyard.
Atzal, the Cave of Eternity will help me to tricks and occasionally save
stuff as well. Playing with Razaketh was about as little fun as I expected
it to be. Tutoring for anything is an efficient way of winning games; it’s
also thoroughly boring.

Into:

Merieke’s Esper Dragons

For: Aura of Silence

Even though she’s moved to being a flying beatdown with Dragons deck,
Merieke Ri Berit still has control elements. Profane Procession is one of
the best control elements in a long time. The good news is that you can
just exile stuff and let it stay there. There’s nothing that says you have
to let it back into the wild. Of course, you probably will, since it’ll
help you kill people more deader.

Into:

Dreaming of Intet

For: Proteus Staff

I want to play this more to see what all the fuss is about. Intet draws
enough cards that there will always be the ones I can afford to exile, and
then the Sanctum of the Sun will provide mana for a big Comet Storm. All
the love to Proteus Staff, but the card was one of the first in the deck,
so it’s time for it to rest-for a while. I won’t put it back in the box,
I’ll put it in the “cool card to put into a deck somewhere” pile.

Artifacts and Lands

Into:

Karn

Evil No. 9

For: Colossus of Akros

34 different land names should always ensure that Awakened Amalgam is huge.
Let the beatings commence.