Tuesday 20 December 2011

The Best Blue Creature in Commander?

Ok, here's a bold claim.

We've a couple of players that have been rocking a Time Spiral Rare over the last few months and it has iced games multiple times when it has hit the field.

While it's not exactly Primeval Titan level good, it's a great foil for the titan and any other non-vanilla creature, which is to say, pretty much the entire format. It's not Draining Whelk, it's not Deep-Sea Kraken nor, surprisingly enough, is it Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. My current top dog for best blue creatures in Commander is:



No direct damage to ping off that annoying creature that's just ruining your day? Ixidron

Some general just running away with the game thanks to their activated abilities? Ixidron

Lord of Extinction going to kill you next turn? Ixidron.

The "problem" of leaving a pile of faceless 2/2's sitting around should be mitigated somewhat by your own upturned dudes fending off similiar sized attackers allowing you to be the biggest dog on the block for a turn or two. And that's what a blue deck wants after all, isn't it? A few extra turns of not being milled, targetted or beaten down by the format's diverse set of creature abilities.

Oh and something else, death triggers don't trigger if something dies as a 2/2 morph. Suck it Reveillark!



Essentially the only ways players can get out of the Ixidron "lock" are:
1. Have their creatures die in some manner and bring them back.
2. Blink their creatures in some manner
3. Morph their creatures (Maindeck Break Open ftw!)


God forbid you managed to stick one onto a Mimic Vat. Everyone would be overpaying for vanilla 2/2s all over the place.

2 comments:

  1. Ixidron is delicious indeed. I've found it best not even to think of it as a creature, because that will screw you up. Rather it's like a sweeper version of Pongify that doesn't target. Great way to get ugly opposing generals out of the way somewhere they can't be immediately recurred.

    Also, remember that Ixidron says "As Ixidron enters the battlefield" so creatures are flipped before enter the battlefield effects trigger. There have been many games where this difference is significant.

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  2. dude, you could use "flash" the instant to use the 2/2 ability of ixidron and then let him die then cast massacre wurm to kill all opponents creatures dealing 2 to him for each one that died...

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