An Elf Overrun Lord - Ezuri, Renegade Leader
His second ability is where Ezuri really shines. One of the disadvantages of Elves is that while they can swarm pretty well, there's not been an Elf Legend that can really push their damage potential over the top. The afforementioned Coat of Arms, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or Overrun are generally included in the hope that they will become available at the right time and each has it's own drawback: Coat will also pump opponent's creatures; Kamahl is not an Elf, probably isn't your general and costs 10 to cast and activate his second ability; and Overrun is a Sorcery (still not an instant, Marc!) in a colour that doesn't really have a cheap way to tutor for it when necessary. Ezuri as your general gives you this ability built in and freely available from the General Zone to bust out a bunch of dorks and turn them into a force that will put a dent in any life total.
Do not underestimate the ability to protect your army and have repeated Overruns on a stick. He's cheap and he ticks all the right boxes. Straight to the top of the Elf Legend queue, Mr. Ezuri!
A Zombie Dragon - Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
What pushes Skithiryx over the top is the new key-word "infect". Infect is a mix of Wither and Poison: You deal wither damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and Poison damage to players. The advantage of dealing poison counters to players is that it only takes 10 to kill a player making Skithiryx what in normal damage terms would essentially be the equivalent to an 8/4 when unblocked. Two and a half hits just with this bag of bones and you've won the game and that's without pumping him in some manner. If he tackles a bigger beast than he is, well that beast isn't going to be bigger much longer with all the -1/-1 counters he's handing out. He regenerates to be able to stick around to do it again next turn too so all in all this is a nice creature to have on your side. All that taken together is what pushes him over the top in EDH.
In EDH we have 40 life, 21 general damage and 10 poison counters as means of winning the game (There's decking and a couple of "I win" cards but essentially the first three is what we're focusing on.) Poison was pretty much the forgotten child up until now but with Scars of Mirrodin and the two subsequent extensions, that's about to change. Skithiryx is the first huge step in that change. Where a normal general is looking to get in for 21 general damage, Skithiryx is looking to get in for 21 general damage or 10 poison counters, whichever happens first. Anyone who's any good at math can tell you that 10 is most likely going to happen before 21. Should you use Skithiryx as your general, you're announcing that you intend to win in half the time another 4/4 general would usually require. Add in Unholy Strength, Howl from Beyond, Hatred or any other boost effect and you can cut the time it takes you to win down even further. Look at all the support cards that Scars is offering the Infect mechanic, especially the other new Scars keywords "Proliferate", and it's entirely possible that you're not using Skithiryx as a two hit general, rather that you're intending to win once he connects even once as some smaller minnions have gotten in there already to start the infection and he's just the coup de grace.
A new, very aggressive black aggro-poison strategy is now available in EDH and it's got Skithiryx front and center. Dust off your leeches and fight the infection! [And check the comments below for how to die to general damage (not poison counters) from Skithiryx !]
Let's be honest, Skithiryx is not a flavour legend, he's a mechanic-driven beast with extra "legendary". Scars of Mirrodin has given us a second mono-black general who is very much a sop to the Vorthos types out there who clamour for storyline enrished goodness at every opportunity. Geth is a Lich. At the end of the original Mirrodin Block storyline Geth was decapitated but, being a lich, he just went on undying. Apparently in the intervening time he managed to convey himself back to the Mephidross and went about putting a body together with the help of some of Magics' more dastardly villans: the Phyrexians. Those nice Phyrexians gave Geth the lovely half artifact/half carapace thing you can see in the card-art here.
Strangely enough, even though the Phyrexians are the source of the infection, they didn't give it to Geth so he doesn't get to poison or wither like Skithiryx. He's a formidable leader apparently so he gets to Intimidate and he's got a decent 5/5 body to go with his 4BB cc. His ability is interesting and self sustaining and very relevant for both standard and EDH except for one little thing: the Eldrazi are everywhere and mono-black doesn't destroy artifacts well in order to get the Geth ball rolling. There work getting that first artifact (and thus the mill effect) into play and you could just as easily hit one of our colourless legendary friends and undo all the hard work.
Edit: Nah, you don't really want to read all that stuff up there! ;o) As was pointed out in the comments, Geth's reanimate ability is not just for artifacts, a card type that, along with Enchantments, Mono-B usually has a little more trouble than most handling once they have resolved. It also targets creatures which is a card type that Mono-B generally has very little trouble dealing with, thankyouverymuch! So what does that change? His ability can target two very common card types in EDH and is self sustaining. He can start the ball rolling in-colour and, as such, is potentially very effective as a mono-coloured general. If an opponent doesn't have the means to automatically re-shuffle his/her graveyard into their library, you've got the upperhand in the resources game because you're depriving him/her of potential cards in hand and thus solutions to deal with your Geth.
There is a small downside to giving your opponent an increased number of cards in his/her graveyard, that's a resource he/she can mine too, however I think that here the advantages outweigh the disadvantages given that it's now your resource pool too and you have a means to play repeated, targetted Beacon of Unrests at instant speed while your opponent has to use a new card each time to benefit in the same way. You're using your opponent's resources to win the resource war and, in doing so, fuel the pool.
I mentioned the Eldrazi Legends above and I'd like to come back to them. Unlike Darksteel Collossus, who has a replacement ability and never goes to the graveyard, Geth can yoink an Eldrazi Legend out of your graveyard in response to the ability going on the stack. In fact, should this ever happen, if you listen carefully, you will actually hear a tiny >YOINK!< noise as Geth's ability resolves. The grumbling noise you will hear just afterwards is your opponent grinding his teeth.
So, am I sold on Geth now? I'm not sure. Yes, it's a lot better than I had originally thought and he can head up a very focused type of Mono-B EDH deck. I still think 5B is a hefty price to pay for your general, though it's true that we see Invasion and Planar Chaos Dragons quite frequently so a cmc of 6 is not strictly "too much". I think I'll have to see Geth in action to fully appreciate his power.
Edit: Ok, I'm halfway through our first Draft and I got passed a foil Geth as a second pick/first pack. The player to my right preferred the 7/7 green dude who blows up blockers. I take it all back.
Geth is insane.
A Kitty with a Rack - Kemba, Kha Regent
What about the ability trade-off? I'm sure everyone would just love a straight discounted Raksha but you can't have everything. Instead of granting your cats Double Strike, Kemba gives you free 2/2 cats for each equipment attached to her. One equip: one 2/2. 5 Equips: five 2/2s. Realistically you're not going to get a huge number of equipments onto her any any one time, but there are quite a few juicy ones that would make it worthwhile. Konda's Banner springs to mind. Kemba herself doesn't gain anything but she'll be whelping 4/4s, not 2/2s, if she's holding the Banner.
Given that the ever increasing instances of equipment support are turning up in mono-white of late, Kemba is going to have all the back-up she needs to find and equip the bling that builds her army. Cats are not the most explosive tribe ever but Kemba is a step in the right direction for a solid Cat deck. Hum, Is this the right place to question whether R&D are aware that they are treading a very fine line with Kemba? Give lady bling: lady gives you babies. There's a message here somewhere. Who designed the card exactly?
As her flavour text proclaims: "I am not Raksha. I never will be." Damn right, you're playable!
That's all for now folks. Here's a quick recap:
Top of the class: Skithiryx. New archetype, new playable Mono-B general. Beastly beast. A+
Close Second: Ezuri. Right up there for the go-to elf general. Will being Mono-G hurt his chances as he goes toe-to-toe with G/W Rhys?
Moving up through the pack: Geth. I'm bowing to crowd pressure here. He's not as explosive as Skithiryx or Ezuri given the built in damage work-around of the Dragon or the tribal support of the Elves.
Thunder Cat: Kemba. Nice cost, nice ability, right colour for all the support you will need, nice rack, questionable sexual politics in the design process. Not a "Must Play" legend, but a good, fun legend.
Thunder Cat: Kemba. Nice cost, nice ability, right colour for all the support you will need, nice rack, questionable sexual politics in the design process. Not a "Must Play" legend, but a good, fun legend.
