Insider: Crimson Vow – Commander decks spoilers!
Two tribal decks follow this time with this Release – vampires and spirits. Vampires are a popular creature type and Edgar Markov has been one of the strongest tribal commanders you have been able to play for a long time. Now we get a new vampire deck and we get to see if there are any new vampires that fit in the old decks as well.
Spirits, on the other hand, have not had the same conditions and even finding a spirit commander in the white-blue color pair has been difficult/impossible. Millicent, Restless Revenant is the leader of this deck and is an interesting card:
Millicent, Restless Revenant
Millicent comes at a discounted price if you've started the game playing some cheaper spirits in the early game and then it starts pumping out 1/1 tokens as you attack and deal damage with your little spirits. Spirits are hard to block and damaging the opponent should not be a concern. The question is what to use these small tokens for, pump up and attack or find value in sacrificing them to create greater effects. This Commander helps you in both cases and it's nice that the commander allows you to build the deck in different ways.
Strefan, Maurer Progenitor
Steffe here is a built-in Warren Instigator effect (fixed for vampires instead of goblins) and what makes it really interesting is that it creates Blood tokens itself. Which great vampires can we imagine playing out for free then? Timothar, Baron of Bats from the same deck is an option, Butcher of Malakir or Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood could be interesting... Or why not the new Olivia, Crimson Bride which gives you even more value when it still has to attack directly. As with Spirits, build a tribal deck - don't forget to research which Shapeshifters are available.
Spectral Arcanist
This is a personal favorite of the Crimson Vow players. A 3/2 flier for four is a lot, especially in Commander but the effect of actually getting two Spirits for four a little later in the game is enticing. I envision myself having four small spirits in play (probably tokens...), and play this out to pick up one of my best spirits from the grave, which also has some nice Enter The Battlefield effect. It only works in tribal spirits, but this is the type of card I like to fill my decks with.
Olivia's Wrath
Boardwipe that doesn't affect myself? Sign me up!
Shadowgrange Archfiend
It's the madness cost that interests me the most about this card. 3 mana and 8 life for an 8/4 with a strong ETB effect can be very handy. Playing something for madness cost allows you to play the card just like a creature with flash, which can be very advantageous if you get attacked by a couple of creatures. Opponents get to sacrifice their biggest creatures and you can block it a little less with this. The question is how much 8 life really is and if it is a deterrent in games that don't contain much lifegain?
Wedding Ring
Not the strongest card, but one of the funniest I've seen. You simply marry an opponent and you get benefits from each other. You draw cards together and you get life together. Sweet!
Haunted Library
An enchantment, which like Bitterblossom creates 1/1s, but potentially several each round and you pay mana instead of life. It's generally better to pay life, so you can use your mana for other things, but only costing 1 colorless mana can make the card interesting. Bitterblossom is better, but this can work as Bitterblossom number 2 in the deck if you play a sacrifice deck for example. Unfortunately, it is the opponents' creatures that have to die, so a loop with this and Phyrexian Altar is unfortunately out of the question.
Competition of the month!
In this month's competition, you have the chance to win a booster (surprise what) and a promo version of Bolas's Citadel!
What we want you to do is tell us which card you're most looking forward to testing from Crimson Vow (Main set or Commander set) and tell us what kind of deck you want to play the card in! Which format you want to test it in doesn't matter. The competition ends Thursday 18/11 and the winner will be revealed in next week's blog post.
Leave your comment on our Facebook page! (Where this blog post is linked)
Have a great time!
/The wedding cod
PS
Cod would like to wish a big congratulations to Olivia and Edgar on their upcoming wedding! We hope nothing interferes with your eternal happiness!
