Welcome back!
Thanks for reading. After taking some me time, I’m back to writing weekly Magic: The Gathering posts. If you want to hear about what I’ve been up to in the meantime, there’s a small paragraph after the card review that describes why I’ve been on hiatus.
But let’s not waste any more time. I’ve been looking at the precons that were created for this set. Over the next few weeks, I’ll review each of the face commanders for the precons, starting with Silverquill’s Killian, Decisive Mentor.
Killian, Decisive Mentor
{1}{W}{B}
Legendary Creature — Human Warlock
Whenever an enchantment you control enters, tap up to one target creature and goad it. (Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)
Whenever one or more creatures that are enchanted by an Aura you control attack, draw a card.
Killian, Decisive Mentor, follows the Silverquill standard of pushing forward Orzhov designs. Tolarian Community College recently posted an incredible video on this topic, which you can watch here. Killian follows the likes of the former Silverquill face commander, Breena, the Demagouge, by allowing you to make combat happen in your favor.
Whenever an enchantment enters, Killian taps down a creature and goads it, forcing it to attack a player other than you each combat that it can. Whenever one or more creatures enchanted by an aura you control attack, draw a card.
The first cards I wanted to use with Killian are the impetus cycle: auras that goad creatures by themselves, allowing Killian to goad two creatures for the price of one (there are four in Orzhov). Alternatively, Killian can turn Pacifism and similar auras into ways to lock down creatures and goad less threatening ones.
Pacifism
1{W}
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
However, the cards I’m most excited to play with Killian are enchantments with flash, which allow Killian to control combat with more finesse regarding timing. For example:
Dog Umbra
{1}{W}
Enchantment - Aura
Flash
Enchant Creature
As long as another player controls enchanted creature, it can’t attack or block. Otherwise, Dog Umbra has umbra armor. (If the enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Dog Umbra doubles as the Pacifism-style approach mentioned above, AND a form of protection if needed.
Triclopean Sight
{1}{W}
Enchantment - Aura
Flash
Enchant creature
When Triclopean Sight comes into play, untap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has vigilance.
Triclopean Sight allows for the chance of politicking by offering to untap an opponent’s creature so that it might be used as a blocker (remember that even if they use it as a blocker, it can still be goaded).
Minion’s Return
{2}{B}
Enchantment - Aura
Flash
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
Minion’s Return allows you to make the most of these forced attacks by taking creatures that die in these clumsy combats. While not an Aura, Grave Betrayal offers the same sort of opportunism to make the most of the deaths that are sure to happen from goading. That said, I could just be trying to find ways to incorporate theft into Orzhov. Then again, the way WOTC is designing Silverquill, that could very easily become the focus of the next Silverquill precon.
That’s all for this post. I plan on posting once per week, on Mondays, then ramping up to more as I see fit. As for what I’ve been up to, here’s a quick recap:
After being laid off last year, I started two new jobs: one as a Bank Teller and the other as a training contractor for folks looking to run for local political office. I’m also pretty active in my local DSA.
I’ve also been doing a lot of reading as the world gets crazier. I want to understand why this is happening, so I’ve done some research into history and economics. I plan on writing book reviews (not on this blog) in the future.
I plan on applying to law school, so I’ve been trying to rework my schedule to adjust for that.
I am still working on my TTRPG: Arbitrage. After my first playtest last year, I was able to revamp the d6 system I based it on, create four classes (Arbiter, Luminary, Medium, and Outlaw), and have begun building skill trees.
While I recognize that TMNT cards are not only valid, but some are really interesting and fun, I was somewhat overwhelmed by Magic at the time. I spent some time taking decks apart, upgrading my current favorites to make them stronger, and trying to find more time to play amidst the job difficulty.
The real reason I mention these things is that I plan on writing about them in the future. While I have really enjoyed the writing I’ve done here, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing about Magic. But I want to do more than what I’m doing here, so occasionally I’ll take time to do that. I want to improve the quality of my writing, truly develop thoughts on this game, and even expand this blog to other nerdy interests that I have. I hope to share those with you in the future. Thanks for reading!