Many Magic the Gathering players were excited about the return of the planeswalker Ajani Goldmane on Kaladesh! Indeed, Aether Revolt features not just one, but two Ajani Planeswalkers. First, we'll take a look at Ajani, Valiant Protector, the Planeswalker deck exclusive. Then, we'll compare him to the expert level expansion incarnation, Ajani Unyielding! Both have the same mana cost and are both Standard legal. So today, it's Ajani, Valiant Protector VS Ajani Unyielding!

Ajani, Who Is Protecting Valiantly!

So we have a 6-mana planeswalker who starts with 4 loyalty. That seems a bit low, doesn't it? That's ok, because this Ajani has two ways and not just one to gain loyalty counters.

His +2 allows you to put two +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature. This isn't a bad ability at all, but it seems rather pedestrian on sch a highly-costed planeswalker, does it not?

The +1 ability is similar to Tezzeret, Master of Metal's in that he lets you reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal a particular card type. In Tezzeret's case, it was artifacts. In Ajani's case, it's a creature. The rest of the revealed cards go harmlessly to the bottom of your deck in a random order. That's a decent way to get some card advantage, but again, is it worth 6 mana?

The "ultimate" -11 ability lets you put X +1/+1 counters on a target creature, where X is your life total. That creature also gains trample, but only until end of turn. While this could be a game-winning swing, 11 counters is quite a high price to pay! It's reminsicent of the avatar ability of the original Ajani Goldmane, which gave you a token with power and toughness equal to your life total. This isn't nearly as good.

As a "kitchen table" planeswalker, I feel like Valiant Protector comes up a bit short. He has decent abilities, but 6 mana is a lot to ask to be ticking up those two to get to the ultimate. He does sort of protect himself by boosting a creature. But otherwise, he may just draw you into a creature card or two before opponents take him out. I do think that there is going to be room for him in some Commander decks, though. As far as Standard playability? I don't see it happening.

The card art is really nice, though.

Ajani Who Will Never Yield!

OK, so Ajani Unyielding also costs 6 mana to cast, and only has 4 loyalty. However, his abilities are far more powerful than his Planeswalker Deck counterpart's.

His +2 is worlds better than Valiant Protector's +1. While you're limited to the top three cards of your deck, you get to put all nonland permanent cards you reveal into your hand. Essentially, he can draw you three cards for 6 mana right away. That's fine with me. Even if you only get 1 or 2 cards out of this ability, it's well worth it.

Unyielding's -2 abiity is literally Swords to Plowshares. You exile a target creature and its controller gains life equal to its power. You can even use this ability on one of your own creatures to keep yourself alive! (Such a pro play!) It's not exciting on a 6 mana planeswalker, but it's going to be relevant by the time you get this guy in play!

Ajani's ultimate costs -9 loyalty counters and is actually pretty insane. You put 5 +1/+1 coutners on each creature you control PLUS five loyalty counters on each other planeswalkers you control. While it takes a bit to get up to this ultimate, in  a "superfriends" style deck based around planeswalkers, this is pretty devastating for your opponents. Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar are going to have a field day with this sort of boost, especially as they create tokens themselves that get the boost!

It gets better for the Unyielding. Oath of Ajani will let you cast this guy a turn earlier! The Oath makes all of your planeswalker spells cost one less to cast, plus puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control when it enters the battlefield! This Ajani costing 5 mana instead of 6 makes a pretty big difference. A Green/White Planeswalker deck will be more than happy to top off its mana curve with a couple copies of this guy! Heck, this guy will be playable in Modern if you throw up enough counter-magic to protect him.

The Verdict?

There doesn't really seem to be much contest here between the two Aether Revolt Ajani's. Ajani Unyielding is so much more powerful than Ajani, Valiant Protector, and it's not even close. However, Valiant Protector has his fans and he'll be kicking around kitchen tables and creature-heavy Commander decks for years to come.

Here we are again: Planeswalker Deck promo planeswalkers versus the expansion set planeswalkers! This should be a fun VS series for every set going forward. Today, we have the two incarnations of Tezzeret featured in Aether Revolt: "Master of Metal" and "the Schemer." Let's put them side by side and see if either of these guys will have an impact on competitive MTG or just be a couple of fun cards to throw at each other.

The Master of Metal!

All metal band references aside (especially Metallica references), as a six-mana Planeswalker, Tezzeret, Master of Metal is a bit underwhelming. However, in raw power of his abilities, this Tezzeret isn't bad at all! Starting with 5 loyalty isn't bad, either, even for 6 mana (4UB).

First, his +1 one essentially draws you an artifact card. That's not a bad plus ability. Plus, the other cards you reveal just go back to the bottom. The other great thing about this Tezzeret's +1 ability is that it doesn't force you to select a card from a certain number of cards from the top of your deck. You can't actually "whiff" with this ability. While card selection is typically preferable, it feels bad to miss on a card advantage ability. So this is a good start for the Master of Metal.

The -3 ability makes me very happy. It reads "Target opponent loses life equal to the number of artifacts you control." You don't need to control a bunch of artifacts for this to take a huge bite out of your opponent's life total. In EDH, I could see this ability instantly taking out players. There are plenty of artifact decks that could use this ability to fantastic effect. In Standard, Modern, et al? It's not going to be worth casting him for on its own.

The -8 "ultimate" ability is extremely powerful. Not only do you gain control of all artifacts an opponent controls, but all of their creatures, too! Plus, it's not until end of turn. It's indefinitely! This is an even better ability to use in a grindy format like EDH. It takes some work to get to, but it can be a win condition! Who doesn't like potential win conditions?

So far, the Master of Metal looks pretty good. But 6 mana is a lot to ask in Standard. In a kitchen table setting, though, this guy is a boss! If you cast Mycosynth Lattice and turn everything into artifacts, it's particularly absurd! And since the Planeswalker deck exclusives are Standard-playable, who knows... he could sneak into some list sooner or later!

The Schemer!

So here we are with the "real" Tezzeret of Aether Revolt, Tezzeret the Schemer! He's much more aggressively costed at 4 mana instead of 6 in the case of the Master of Metal. Like the Master, the Schemer starts with 5 loyalty counters. His abilities are considerably different, however.

His +1 ability is one that I actually really like. He creates an "Etherium" token, which you can tap and sacrifice to add one mana of any color to your mana pool. They're sort of like clue tokens, except they give you mana instead of drawing you cards. I think some people may be underrating this ability. Extra mana is always good, especially in Blue!

His -2 is remiscient of an old Liliana planeswalker ability, except instead of caring about Swamps, it cares about the number of artifacts you control. You give a creature +X/-X until end of turn where X is the number of artifacts you have in play. This ability can be used both offensively and defensively, but I see it mostly being used for removal. That's not bad for a -2 ability on a planeswalker that starts at 5 loyalty, and it only gets better as the game goes along. The Etherium token synergy is pretty good, too!

The -7 "ultimate" ability grants you a pretty cute emblem. At the beginning of each combat on your turn, a target artifact you control becomes an artifact creature with base power and toughness 5/5. It's sort of like a free Ensoul Artifact every turn, except that it's permanent without the need for an Enchant Creature card attached to it. There is one important thing I must point out, though: the emblem's effect is not optional. Once you start combat, you must choose an eligible artifact to become a creature. While this won't always be a problem, there are cases in which an opponent could pick off one of your better artifacts with creature removal in response to this ability. I still think this is a pretty good ability, regardless.

The most obvious synergy to me for this emblem is with the Kaladesh vehicles. Turning your Smuggler's Copters into permanent 5/5 flyers is extremely scary, for example. (Sadly, Copter is now banned, but there are other good vehicles, of course!) And as one player has already said, with the Etherium Tokens, you're getting free Lotus Petals every turn, which  is pretty good, too! People are already talking about how well he'll work in a Blue/Black Masterwork Colossus and Aetherworks Marvel decks. There's definitely a lot to like about this guy!

The Winner?

From a Standard standpoint, the Schemer looks more pushed for competitive play. But the Master of Metal just has so much raw potential that even at 6 mana, if he's protected and set up correctly, he could see a lot of play. He's going to be all over EDH, at least. Both of these Tezzerets were well designed, and while I know the Master of Metal was specifically designed for the kitchen table, he's actually a lot more aggressively costed than the Chandra and Nissa exclusive planeswalkers of Kaladesh.

I give both of these planeswalkers two thumbs up, but if I have to pick a winner, I have to choose the Schemer since he can fit into a lot of competitive strategies. Personally, though, I'll be looking to cast the Master of Metal more often. Or just both!

Updated 1/29/17

By Shawn Leonardo, CommanDollar

 When the  Zendikar  block first hit shelves,  it was madness(as it usually is when new sets are released). This set, however, carried with it three immense legends that warped  the game around them; Ulamog, Kozilek and Emrakul slammed down onto tables, demanding answers or they would decree annihilation. Emrakul was the mightiest of the three,  with  so much attached it was almost unstoppable on its own. Standard decks revolved around casting the mighty titan as early as possible, and other formats warped around the  creature as well. Emrakul  was quickly  struck with the ban hammer for  EDH/Commander, one of the few weapons to ever  successfully  damage it,  and  while both Ulamog and Kozilek rampaged  as  threatening commanders, all was well for a while.

Fast forward to fall of 2015.  Battle for Zendikar  was out, and I was eagerly buying packs like the rest of the community, eagerly hoping for an expidition land. What I received instead was this:

 While I pulled a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on the same day, it wasn't as appealing as this new monstrosity. Another player ran a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth   commander deck, and the speed, ferocity, and sheer number of times he could cast a 10+ CMC commander in a single game were devastating, enough to the point that everyone knew to focus him quickly or become the target of utter annihilation themselves. So naturally I thought that, since I now had a Legendary Eldrazi of my own-my first and only, nonetheless-that it was time to even the odds. I went home that night and quickly assembled a shamble of a deck, with barely enough colorless producing lands to support it, and tested it the very next week, thinking myself unstoppable.

The deck never got off the ground. It was too slow on lands, mana rocks and the like, and ended up durdling, never accomplishing anything. I did not give up hope, however.  I figured that the next set,  Oath of the Gatewatch,  would provide me with some support, and that this colorless deck would become my personal project-to build something mighty and terrible out of a deck that many at my local meta called a "gimmick". 

After  Oath   was spoiled and released, it wasn't long before I got a hold of both Kozilek, the Great Distortion   as well as some Wastes. I kept  the new Ulamog (dubbed "Newlamog") as the commander for a while, until realizing how desperate the deck needed both ways to draw and counter, both of which the new Kozilek provided.  I slowly built the deck up while maintaining a budget, aquiring only a few pieces through trade, lucky pulls from packs, or even trading in cards for store credit and buying a few pieces (including a FOIL Eye of Ugin, which at the time was only $8 [this was before  the Modern  format was warped by the eldrazi menace]).  I rarely played it, for while it was a fun deck, it still left a lot to be desired. I moved, all the way from New Jersey to Idaho, around the time Shadows over Innistrad  and, more importantly,  Eldrich Moon   came out.  At the tail end of July this year, I impulsively bought a  few packs and pulled the  card that would eventually inspire fear in my meta:

At the point that this card was  pulled, Magic: the Gathering wasn't exactly a priority at the time. It was the summer, and my focus was primarily on work. I was undoubtedly excited, however, that I had pulled the one rare I wanted in the entire set,  carefully put it in a sleeve, put it as one of the other 99 in the deck, and went about the rest of my summer in bliss.

As the fall set in, I sought out all the basics-a new apartment, new job, and most importantly-a game store to settle in to. I found one not ten minutes from the room I rented, which came as a thrill since before I had to travel a half hour just to find the nearest gaming store. I quickly found  when EDH/Commander was played, and made friends even faster. After a few nights I decided to pull out my colorless deck, with new Kozilek at the helm. We were going through a game and, by some miracle, I managed to get all three of the new eldrazi titans on the field at the same time.

As you all can imagine, the game didn't last much longer after that. 

When the massacre was over, I was outside talking with a friend, and he asked why I didn't have the new Emrakul as the commander. I babbled an answer about needing card draw and such, but he responded on the power of taking someone else's turn, and after that conversation I decided to give it a try. 

The effect it had on the EDH/Commander meta here was  devastating.

When played at the  commander night the next week,  people noticed I was playing the colorless deck again, saw Emrakul, and glanced over it, as there were other, more consistent threats on the table at the time.  When I got to thirteen mana, with the help of  many mana rocks,  and took the turn of the "threat" player,  it grabbed all the politics of the game  and crammed them down a blender set to purée. I took control of their turn, and used the ensuing chaos to gain a board advantage. I did not win that game-everyone wisely ganged up on me-but from there on out the meta was warped. I rapidly discovered that many experienced players have ways to destroy themselves in their own deck-and love to have tutors available. One player, the friend who actually recommended I try Emrakul as a commander, had their turn taken and was furious. When asked why, he revealed the Hatred   in his hand-a way to take him out with his own cards-and not enough mana to cast it before I would take control. 

The best game where Emrakul took to the stage, however, was only about a month ago.  In a five man pod, where someone playing Tasigur, the Golden Fang  had locked down the game, I took control of his turn with him having only six  life remaining. Most everyone had grown bored and tired of this game, so when it came time to take his turn I knew I had some allies in making sure it would go quickly. He dumped every potentially damaging card in his hand, trying to make his Mindslaver turn  not be his Worst Fears  realized. On his (my) turn, I activated the Tasigur he had on field , choosing myself as the player to pick, returned a Tempt With Discovery  from his graveyard to his (my) hand, and cast it using his City of Brass to bring him to five life. Everyone got a land, giving him (me)  five lands. I searched out  a shock land and three fetches(as well as some other, non-important land), shocking him and bringing the life total down to three-within lethal range  of his own fetch lands. With my colorless deck, I grabbed a Thespian's Stage as backup for any potential shenanigans.  I then  used all the creatures he had on field to attack and kill all but one player aside from myself, then cracked all his fetch lands, removing him from the game. I finished off the other player because he had a Dark Depths on field, less than 20 life and no blockers, so I used Thespian's Stage to make a Marit Lage token, equipped a pair of Lightning Greaves and won the game. 

With Emrakul as the commander, I have milled people out with their own decks, swiped the board clean of both creatures and other players, and cleared a path to victory more times than I can easily count. The meta had no choice but to provide countermeasures, from simple counterspells and artifact removal to Stifling Emrakul's ability multiple times in a game. Some players have even reconstructed their decks to ensure that they hold no means of self-destruction in the hands of another player-yet there is only so much that can be done when your hands are no longer your own. While I have seen other  colorless decks, none quite match up to the sheer danger my own brings to the table with the Promised End at the helm. No deck should ever be considered "complete", however this colorless deck is very close to such a mark. Building a colorless deck leaves a very narrow amount of creativity or room for error, even among a land base.  The effect, however, all have a similar means of devastation they inherently cause.

So, for future reference, if you find yourself sitting across a table facing any colorless commander deck-and especially so with Emrakul-know that you face nothing but your own worse fears. Your deck is no longer your ally, but your own worst enemy, working deviously against you  as time creeps forward towards the inevitable.  Your last and only hope is speed, wary player, lest you be eclipsed by a great and terrible moon . 

Gather Courage  is a reprint from the original set that first introduced Convoke, Ravnica: City of Guilds. It's a decent card. For a single green mana, it gives a target creature +2/+2 until end of turn. What makes it more than simply a weaker version of Giant Growth (which is +3/+3) is that you can essentially cast it for free simply by tapping a green creature you control. Interesting that it was moved up to uncommon from its original common rarity. It would be nice to have more than a single copy of it in this deck, but that rarity bump is the reason for this.

Naturalize is your typical 1G destroy a target Artifact or Enchantment at Instant speed. It's been reprinted tons of times. Titanic Growth is 1G for an instant that gives a target creature +4/+4. Giant Growth is usually better, and it was still in Standard when this deck was first released.

Raise the Alarm  is a great reprint from Ravnica: City of Guilds. It's a common that for 1W makes 2 1/1 White Soldier creature tokens at instant speed. It's fantastic for giving you creatures to tap for your Convoke costs, and being White creatures, they help you with your White mana requirements. There are 3 copies of it in this deck. It's a very playable card that sees Modern play in Black/White tokens, and has seen Standard play whenever it's been in the format.

Devouring Light  is yet another Ravnica reprint, with awesome new artwork. It has Convoke, which means that it combines perfectly with  Raise the Alarm. For 1WW, you can exile a target attacking or blocking creature. This is very strong removal when you figure that you can potentially play this card for zero mana. Very strong card. There are two copies in the deck.

Nissa's Expedition was a new card from Magic 2015. It's a sort of ramp card, allowing you to search your deck for up to two basic lands, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library. It's slightly better than a card like Cultivate, which lets you search out two lands, but one of them go into your hand. Five mana seems a bit costly for a ramp spell, especially at sorcery speed, but it does have Convoke. It was never great in Constructed, but has seen a bit of play in some Commander decks.

Sanctified Charge is another new card. It costs 4W for an instant that gives creatures you control +2/+1 and first strike until end of turn. This is an interesting combat trick, although 5 mana is a lot.  Dictate of Heliod  from Journey into Nyx is a better combat trick, and that's an Enchantment with Flash that boosts your creatures by +2/+2 as long as it remains in play. But it's not a bad common, and it's an okay Intro Pack card. The first strike is especially nice, as it can turn would-be trades into wins for you.

Meditation Puzzle is one of the Convoke cards that makes me scratch my head a little, but I see why it's in here. It's a common Instant for 3WW and Convoke that gains you 8 life. That's quite a tempo swing, and there are people that have enjoyed playing cards like Angel's Mercy - which gained you 7 life for 4 mana. It's a great Limited card, but I don't typically like it in Constructed unless you're specifically playing around a lifegain or tempo theme.

Triplicate Spirits  is a Convoke card I can get behind a bit more. It costs 4WW for a Sorcery that makes three flying 1/1 spirits. The Convoke cost makes it a bit easier to stomach, though. I like this card more than Meditation Puzzle, certainly, and getting fliers is pretty cool. I do feel it's a bit slow for Constructed, though.

Next we have Overwhelm, which is basically Overrun with Convoke. There's an obvious problem with that. Having to tap down creatures to help pay for an effect that boosts your creatures by +3/+3 until end of turn seems a bit counterproductive. Plus 5GG is a lot for that sort of effect, especially when you don't gain trample as most Overrun type effects do. I'm simply not a fan.

Feral Invocation rounds out the mana curve all the way up at a whopping nine mana (8G). However, it does make three 3/3 beasts and it does have Convoke. At the time, though, the two "Surprise Centaurs" of  Fated Intervention from Born of the Gods were simply more cost-effective. I would play that over this at Sorcery speed. Were it Instant speed it would be a cute combat trick in an Intro Pack. But at Sorcery speed, it's just very slow.

The list finishes out with 13 Forests and 12 Plains, for your typical 25 land in an intro pack.

"Will of the Masses" has a lot going for it. It shows off some of the cool things Convoke can do, by helping you amass forces that can do some serious damage. But the higher end of the curve is clogged up with what I feel are rather inefficient cards like the Seraph and some of the high cost Convoke cards. I like what Triplicate Spirits is doing and gaining 8 life out of nowhere with  Meditation Puzzle  is cute, but overall it's a bit of a disappointing finish to what starts out as a pretty cool list. The top end of the curve needs work, so I'll give this a B-minus as far as intro packs go. 

The final verdict is that this may be the second- or third-best of the Magic 2015 Intro Packs, with Flames of the Dragon being the best of the bunch. For awhile, though, when Hornet Queen skyrocketed in price, this was the most valuable.

by Kai Chang, Crazy About MtG

Previously, I looked at a Blue/Red (U/R) Delver deck that was making waves in Modern. At the time, it was relatively budget, about $250 in paper with the majority of that price being Snapcaster Mages. As the prices of Snapcaster and Serum Visions were rocketing out of control, however, that list was no longer budget whatsoever.

The good news is that there is a Modern U/R Delver deck that emerged on Magic Online that is about $160 in paper (as of 12/16) that went 4-0 in a Modern Daily back in July 2015. It's still a solid list to consider now.

Here is the list as piloted by Nielsen333 on Magic Online.


CREATURES

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Young Pyromancer

NON-CREATURES

4 Sleight of Hand
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Remand
4 Vapor Snag
3 Peek
2 Forked Bolt
2 Lava Spike
2 Mana Leak
2 Mutagenic Growth
1 Dispel
1 Repeal
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce

LANDS

5  Island
3 Mountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
1 Shivan Reef

Young Pyromancer has been a perfect combination with Delver of Secrets since the Delver deck archetype actually began in Legacy. While Modern's non-creature spells aren't quite of the power level of Legacy, making an army of 1/1 Elemental creature tokens every time you cast an instant or sorcery is extremely powerful. With the Delver deck being mostly about tempo in Modern, having a constant army of chump-blockers and pingers is going to be the foundation of this deck's success.

In place of Snapcaster Mage is a much more aggressive creature from Khans of Tarkir, Monastery Swiftspear. The Swiftspear has already seen plenty of play in Standard, Modern, and Legacy. With her Prowess ability, though, she can become quite a formidable presence on both offense and defense. With spells properly timed, the Swiftspear can deal powerful blows that would put stalwart red creatures like Goblin Guide to shame. With Delver flipping into the flying 3/2 Insectile Aberration, Delver now has more of an aggressive flair than its many tempo components would lead you to believe.

Eschewing the typical (more expensive) inclusions of Gitaxian Probe and Serum Visions, this build uses more affordable draw options Sleight of Hand and Peek. While the Scry ability of Serum Visions is somewhat superior to Sleight of Hand, this is a more budget way to get basically the same thing done.

(Note: With the reprint in Conspiracy 2, Serum Visions are now about the same price as Sleight of Hand, making them a good substitute for the Peeks if you can get them.)

Lightning Bolt and Vapor Snag are the burn and tempo all-stars, respectively. Remand and Mana Leak are the primary counterspells. The rest of the non-creature spells are interchangable with those in the sideboard. In the board there are: 3 Molten Rain, 3 Rending Volley, 2 Dispel, 2 Electrickery, 2 Negate, 2 Roast, and 1 Forked Bolt. This assortment allows the deck to adjust to many different kinds of matchups.

Also, like previous incarnations of Delver in Modern, the deck doesn't need fetchlands. Steam Vents and Sulfur Falls aren't exactly inexpensive nowadays, but they are certainly less than a playset of Scalding Tarns.

If you're looking for a budget Modern deck, this version of Blue/Red (U/R) Delver should be a great place to start.

Always wanted an Opportunity that can't be countered? With Dragonlord's Prerogative, you may have just that! If you have a Dragon in hand as you cast it or have one already in play, you're in luck. Enjoy your four cards! Then again, I highly doubt that Opportunity has been countered much in the past. Then again, 6 mana is a huge investment and essentially eats up your turn.

But in control and tempo builds, you can play Dragonlord's Prerogative on an opponent’s end step.  This is much like the role Jace’s Ingenuity has played in the past. So the potential added protection against counter-magic is useful. But is it just flavorful icing?

Opportunity is pretty good in Limited and usable in Commander. But it's hardly ever been a Standard playable card. So how does Dragonlord's Prerogative stack up? Were it not a rare, I wouldn't care so much. The rarity is likely Limited influenced, as it is a strictly better version of an older effect.  Still, drawing 4 cards at instant speed is awesome. This is a cute draw card with a seemingly very narrow additional effect.

However, Esper Dragons and Blue/Black Control ended up playing it on a regular basis with a fair amount of success. It turns out that 6 mana for 4 cards is always pretty much worth it, especially with no chance of being countered. With Dragonlord Ojutai and other Dragons seeing plenty of Standard play during the Standard heydey of Dragons of Tarkir, it pretty much never could be countered.

As for Commander, Talrand, Sky Summoner was one of the first Legendary Creatures to adopt it for his deck, loving the functional reprint of Opportunity. Niv-Mizzet the Firemind Commander players wanted it, too, as well as many other Dragon Commanders such as Scion of the Ur-Dragon, Dragonlord Ojutai, Intet, the Dreamer, and others. It's very good in the format, especially whenever you can make it uncounterable.

It's true that Dragonlord's Prerogative has relatively narrow playability due to it needing Dragons in your hand to be used to full effect. While I've argued in the past that this easily could have been an uncommon, that doesn't matter now that no one is drafting the set. The card does exactly what it was designed to do, give Dragon decks a fair, but powerful way to draw cards. It is indeed a Dragonlord's Prerogative to draw 4 cards and there's nothing you can do about it!