by    R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of   Intent-sive Nature & theBrand Shamans network

Sapling of Colfenor is a fascinating Legendary Creature from Eventide. For the most part, she's seen play in Commander alongside Doran, the Siege Tower. As that Commander lets creatures assign their combat damage by their toughness instead of their power, pretty much every creature in that deck has very high toughness..

This makes the Sapling a great way to get creatures into your hand easily while gaining more life than you'll likely ever lose by doing so. Also, because the Sapling is indestructible, you can swing away with her without many worries. (only effects that can exile it when it's attacking are a problem). Therefore, the Sapling's effect should activate fairly often.

With the introduction of Assault Formation in Dragons of Tarkir, copies of Doran the Siege Tower more than doubled in price. That Enchantment essentially doubles as a second copy of Doran. Forgotten Ancient, another popular creature in that deck, also saw a great uptivk in interest. The Sapling would soon follow, due to her utility in that sort of deck.

Also, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, also  introduced in Dragons of Tarkir, is a 4/6 with deathtouch that both works well with Doran and Assault Formation's effect and also serves as a sort of Demonic Tutor. This Sidisi works well with both Doran and Sapling of Colfenor.

But, there's more to this card than simply her strong interaction with Doran & Friends. Being a Legendary Creature of her own, the Sapling can support a similar kind of deck of its own with the addition of Assault Formation. The Sapling has long been used as a Treefolk Tribal Commander. Now, she's better than ever.

Also, the Sapling of Colfenor has quite a backstory that you can read about here.

by    R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of   Intent-sive Nature & theBrand Shamans network

The Tiny Leaders format once took the Magic the Gathering world by storm. It's a variant of the Commander format in which you can only play 50 cards, one of which is your Commander. All of your cards must have a converted mana cost 3 or less. As a result, your choices of Commander are greatly limited.

Today, we'll take a look at one of the more unusual Tiny Leaders, Soraya the Falconer.

As a regular Commander, Soraya doesn't really have the support to be a viable leader in EDH. The good news is that she doesn't just help Falcons, as Falcons were retyped to include all Birds. The only part of her abilities that we will focus on is the fact that she gives all Birds +1/+1. Her banding part is something we can happily ignore for the most part – although it's there for kicks. Banding was one of the early rules in Magic that simply confused people, and for the purposes of this deck, ordinarily it will so rarely come into play.

Since we're only playing 49 cards besides Soraya, it's fairly easy to find 20 Birds to give the deck plenty of firepower in the air.

Here's the list:

Tiny Leader

1x Soraya the Falconer


Creature (20)

1x Adaptive Automaton
1x Apex Hawks
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Aven Riftwatcher
1x Aven Sunstriker
1x Beacon Hawk
1x Cloudreach Cavalry
1x Courier Hawk
1x Defiant Falcon
1x Duskrider Falcon
1x Eagle of the Watch
1x Freewind Falcon
1x Gustcloak Harrier
1x Lieutenant Kirtar
1x Mystic Familiar
1x Soulcatcher
1x Skyshroud Falcon
1x Suntail Hawk
1x Wild Aesthir

Instant (6)

1x Condemn
1x Disenchant
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Path to Exile
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Tithe

Enchantment (4)

1x Crusade
1x Honor of the Pure
1x Land Tax
1x Soulcatchers' Aerie

Artifact (4)

1x Aether Vial
1x Glint Hawk Idol
1x Spear of Heliod
1x Sword of Feast and Famine

Land (16)

16x Plains

There aren't an incredible number of choices for Birds that cost 3 mana or less, 35 to be exact (As of March 2015).

Some people may play Roc Egg, but it seems a bit too defensive for this deck. The Seller makes a 1/1 bird token, but it's attached to a pretty vanilla 1/2 Human body. Cloudchaser Kestrel seems like a great card to take out Enchantments, but in fact many times you'd hit your own Enchantments. One Bird that was on the bubble for me was Aven Riftwatcher. While he does leave the board after 3 turns, he gains you 2 life on the way in and 2 on the way out. Having a 2/3 body while he's on the board is good, too. While he's a one-drop Glint Hawk was too situational for me to include, especially as there are so few artifacts in the deck.

On the non-creature spell side, Glint Hawk Idol pretty much gives you a Glint Hawk every turn.. Sword of Feast and Famine is a Tiny Leaders staple, and it's going to connect with playing often with all of your flyers. Aether Vial speeds up the attack of your birds by giving you a free one, two, or three drop each turn depending on how many counters you decide to tick it up to. It's a pricey card but is so good in the creature-happy Tiny Leaders format that it fits in a lot of lists. The deck also has mana acceleration with Land Tax and Tithe.

What really helps this deck win, however, is that it has plenty of ways to pump your creatures: Crusade (which affects all White creatures), Honor of the Pure, and Spear of Heliod. Soulcatcher's Aerie can also become a huge boost to your Birds, too, as each one that dies gives the Aerie another feather counter. Each feather counter gives each of your Birds +1/+1. It can get pretty out of control.

While this probably isn't the best Tiny Leaders deck out there, with all of the flyers and pump spells in this deck, it functions much like a White Weenie deck. Soraya is basically another Honor of the Pure, but she does the job. I think this list could be a lot of fun and steal quite a few wins on its aggressive curve alone., I would recommend giving it a try!

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Ever wish you could shut down those pesky Blue players? Well, players of the popular "Rock" deck in Modern have found one: Choke from 8th Edition. It's actually a card originally from Tempest, but was reprinted in the 8th edition Core Set, making it available to Modern players.

Choke is an Enchantment that costs 2G (2 colorless, 1 Green) to cast. It prevents Islands from untapping during their controllers' untap steps. Not only does Choke shut down basic Islands, but also any of the Ravnica shock lands that count as Islands (Breeding Pool, Hallowed Fountain, Steam Vents, and Watery Grave). In Legacy, it also includes the original dual lands: Tropical Island, Tundra, Underground Sea, and Volcanic Island.

Starting in December 2014, Choke shot up in price from about $1.50 a copy on average to nearly $6 in March 2015. With many Modern Green decks sideboarding at least 2 copies, Choke's value has skyrocketed. With how well the Abzan (Green/White/Black) version of the Rock has done in Modern, Choke has been the perfect way to deal with control players.  Essentially, Choke will paralyze opponents in those matchups. It's also seeing some play in Legacy, as Islands rule that format.

If you happen to find copies of Choke sitting around in old uncommons boxes at your local game shop or in your bulk boxes at home, keep in mind that it's roughly a $5 card nowadays. It's definitely one for the trade binder.

(UPDATE JULY 2015: Choke is now over $8 a copy. WOW! Definitely still a card to find!)

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Abzan Beastmaster is an interesting creature card from Fate Reforged that helps you fuel your hand. The Beastmaster allows you to draw an extra card at the beginning of your turn if you control the creature with the greatest toughness or tied for the greatest toughness.

Wizards of the Coast seems to love this card a lot because they decided to commission alternate artwork for a Friday Night Magic promo card, which will be handed out as part of the prize packages for May 2015 FNM events. So far it hasn't seen much play outside of sideboards, but it's a card with some potential.

With high-toughness creatures such as Siege Rhino (5) and Wingmate Roc (4) seeing considerable play, it's not hard to see the Beastmaster consistently drawing you a card or two in the course of a game.. It does have a rather fragile body at 2/1, and currently creatures like Courser of Kruphix take up the 3-mana slot in many Standard decks. But at the September 2015 rotation, there will be room for this card to see play.

In Commander, there are plenty of options in Green for card draw.. Garruk's Packleader, which lets you draw a card anytime you play a creature with power 4 or greater, is a bit more consistent at the creature level. If you can pump out a ton of creatures quickly, though, the Beastmaster should be able to draw you at least a couple of cards, but there are better things to put out in Commander on turn 3. Plus, you have Harmonize, which draws you 3 cards for 4 mana (2GG). Beastmaster is a bit slow for that format.

While Abzan Beastmaster isn't the strongest Friday Night Magic promo ever, it's one that should be played a bit at some point, so it's a good one to have around for when it does end up in some top lists.

by  ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave has always been one of the most unique Legendary Creatures in Magic: the Gathering. Originally released in the Commander 2011 Counterpunch pre-constructed deck alongside Ghave, Guru of Spores. Skullbriar has had his fans for a very long time. Not only does he gain +1/+1 counters very quickly, but he keeps them as long as he is not sent back to the hand or graveyard.

For some time, Skullbriar has been about a $6-7 card who sees a ton of play in the Commander format. However, in late March 2015, an announcement was made that will change the Commander format forever: Commanders originally could only return to the Command Zone whenever they were destroyed or exiled. They could still be sent back to the library or to their owners' hands. Due to a new rule change, players can choose to have their Commander return to the Command Zone instead no matter how the Commander is removed from the field.

"Tucking" Commanders has long been a part of the Commander format. Many players aren't happy about this change, since some Commanders are best dealt with by returning them to the deck. Now this isn't going to be possible. Returning to the hand isn't too big a deal for most Commanders, and some players prefer this, since you can recast the Commander for its original cost from the hand, However, in the case of Skullbriar, the only way to reset his +1/+1 counters was to send him to the library or the hand. Now, the Skullbriar player can elect to simply return him to the Command Zone. Sure, you'll pay an additional 2 colorless mana for each time he's been cast, but you get to keep his counters. Plus, he has Haste to begin with, so you don't even lose a turn of attacking with him.

Now that Skullbriar can go back to the Command Zone any time he would leave the field, his greatest weakness no longer exists. It makes him a lot, lot scarier, and players who felt his weakness was too great a drawback before suddenly want to play him. Since Skullbriar was only available in a pre-constructed product, and an older one at this point, his price has spiked ridiculously. The beauty of Skullbriar is that really all you need for him is ways to protect him and get him through unblocked (or give him trample), while supplementing him with Zombie tribal support (as he is a Zombie Elemental). You have all of the green mana ramp you could dream of, and the black removal to make sure Skullbriar and his Zombie hordes have plenty of room to deal massive damage.. Cards like Doubling Season are also quite beneficial to stacking up his counters more quickly.

While many Commanders will benefit from the Command Zone rule changes, none benefits nearly as much as does Skullbriar. If you still have a copy of him hanging around, you may want to give him a shot as your next Commander. If you've already been playing Skullbriar, congratulations: things have just gotten a lot more fun for you! Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is now one of the top Commanders in the format.

Shadowmoor is a set full of interesting cards, many of which have been growing in value in recent years. One of these cards is Savor the Moment, a three-drop extra turn spell. For only 1UU (1 colorless, 2 Blue), you get to take an extra turn, but you skip your untap step.

You may ask, what's the point of taking an extra turn if you can't untap? It would seem that the most you can do is activate planeswalker abilities an extra time. But, if you have Green mana, you could play cards like Awakening and Bear Umbra to get around that drawback.

Awakening is an Enchantment for 2GG which untaps all lands and creatures each turn. Bear Umbra is an Aura (Enchant Creature) that also costs 2GG and whenever the enchanted creature deals combat damage, you get to untap all lands you control. The most obvious solution in any case is to equip a creature with Sword of Feast and Famine, which does essentially the same thing as Bear Umbra but also makes your opponent discard a card – plus it's a colorless Equipment.

Planeswalker-based decks have become particularly popular in Commander and "Super Friends" decks have been around for quite awhile as casual favorites. As such, Savor the Moment has seen play here and there. But, considering how many extra turn spells exist in the Commander format, Savor the Moment is usually the forgotten one.

The Tiny Leaders variant of Commander, however, is unable to use any of these other extra turn spells, as all cards must be converted mana cost 3 or less in order to be played. This makes Lighthouse Chronologist, Sage of Hours, and Savor the Moment the only ways to take extra turns in that format.

That being said, there are fewer planeswalkers in the format for Savor the Moment to take advantage of, but there are some powerful ones: Ajani, Caller of the Pride, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Dack Fayden, Domri Rade, Jace Beleren, and Liliana of the Veil. Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded is available, too. Getting additional effects from Ashiok, Jace, and Liliana seems worth playing Savor the Moment.

Unless you have an easy way to untap enough mana to be able to make that extra turn useful, Savor the Moment is one of those very niche cards mostly only useful to enable extra activations of planeswalker abilities. That being said, it's still a cool card. It's one to watch for, especially if you happen to be playing against a deck that's built around taking extra turns.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Relentless Rush, the red/black Intro Pack for Dragons of Tarkir, features an alternate art foil version of Boltwing Marauder and a whole suite of creatures featuring the Dash mechanic. Using Dash lets you cast a creature, sometimes even for cheaper than its original casting cost, and giving it haste at the cost. That haste comes with a cost, however: having to return it to your hand at the end of the turn.

This deck focuses on hitting hard and fast with the Marauder being a potential finisher. It also features a decent uncommon in Lightning Berserker and an interesting rare card in Foul Renewal.

Here's the deck list:

Creatures (20)
2 Lightning Berserker
2 Kolaghan Aspirant
3 Kolaghan Skirmisher
2 Kolaghan Forerunners
2 Screamreach Brawler
2 Ambuscade Shaman
2 Warbringer
2 Sprinting Warbrute
1 Boltwing Marauder
2 Swift Warkite


Sorceries (4)
1 Duress
2 Tormenting Voice
1 Defeat

Instants (7)
1 Foul-Tongue Shriek
2 Twin Bolt
1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
2 Flatten
1 Foul Renewal

Artifacts (2)
1 Vial of Dragonfire
1 Kolaghan Monument

Enchantments (2)
2 Impact Tremors

Land (25)
1 Evolving Wilds
13 Mountain
11 Swamp


Creature Spells

Let's take a look at the heart of this deck, which is the cover card, Boltwing Marauder. He costs 3BR (3 colorless, 1 Black, 1 Red) to cast and is a 5/4 flyer. Whenever another creature enters the field under your control, you can give a target creature +2/+0 until end of turn. With the amount of creatures in this deck, especially with them often returning to your hand if you use their Dash abilities, you're often going to use this ability on the Marauder itself to swing for a lot of damage in the air.

Swift Warkite is an interesting Dragon that is a whopping 6 mana (4BR) to cast, but can bring back a creature with a converted mana cost of 3 or less from the graveyard. That creature gains haste and returns to your hand at the end of the turn.

The main issue with Swift Warkite is that you're going to want to play this before combat for that haste to be relevant. It has an okay synergy with the Ambuscade Shaman or Boltwing Marauder, but 6 mana is a lot to invest to get essentially one free Dash.

Overall, the synergy of the creatures in this deck is pretty good. The Dash mechanic is well-represented, and there are enough other creatures with Dash in the Tarkir block that could easily supplement this deck: Mardu Shadowspear and Mardu Strike Leader in Black and Mardu Scout and Goblin Heelcutter in Red are excellent candidates to upgrade the creature lineup.

The Warkites are probably best replaced by a couple copies of one of those other Dash creatures. Flamerush Rider is another creature you could consider, as it can make a token of your best attacking creature. That token entering the battlefield also has great synergy with the Marauder and Shamans, as well. Another card to consider would be Brutal Warchief, which fits well in this attack-happy deck, and has the added benefit of paying 3RR to choose how your opponent's creatures block.

Lightning Berserker is probably the best creature in the deck outside of Marauder itself. Being a 1-drop that can pump itself +1/+0 for any number of Red mana is pretty solid. It also has a Dash cost of only a single Red. Of all the cards in the deck, it has the best synergy with the Marauder, as it's cheap enough to recast every turn.

Kolaghan Skirmisher is a fairly vanilla 2/2 for 1B, but it does have a Dash cost of 2B. They're not too exciting. Kolaghan Aspirant is a worse version of an older card called Ashmouth Hound; whenever it becomes blocked, it deals 1 damage to that creature. The Hound could deal 1 damage if it were to block itself, as well. It's not terrible, though.

Kolaghan Forerunners is actually a pretty decent Dash creature. It costs 2R to cast and also has a 2R Dash cost. The Forerunners always have 3 toughness and Trample, but its power is decided by how many creatures you control, making it much better as the game goes along. It also has solid synergy with the Marauder, as its damage is a lot harder to block due to the trample.

Screamreach Brawler is pretty unexciting as a 2/3 for 2R, but it also has a Dash cost of 1R, which makes it okay for purposes of this Intro Pack.

Ambuscade Shaman is a nice compliment to Boltwing Marauder. Whenever he or another creature enters the battlefield, that creature gains +2/+2 until end of turn. A 2/2 for 2B doesn't seem all that great, but if you cast him for 3B - his Dash cost - he's essentially a 4/4 with Haste when he's cast. When paired with the other Dash creatures in this deck, this Shaman actually can do a good deal of work for you over the course of a game. Lightning Berserker becomes a 3/3 with his effect alone. Plus, if you manage to have both copies of this deck on the field at once, you get the effect twice.

Warbringer is extremely effective in a deck like this, as it reduces Dash casting costs by 2 colorless mana. A 3/3 for 3R isn't too exciting, but it also has a 2R Dash cost. However, it's worth playing it for its regular cost just to keep it on board to get the Skirmishers, Forerunners, and Brawlers on the board with dash for only a single colored mana.

Sprinting Warbrute is a 5/4 for 4R that has to attack every turn if able, but has a Dash cost of 3R. With Warbringer, that Dash cost is only 1R.

Foul-Tongue Shriek is probably the most interesting non-creature spell in the deck. For only a single Black mana, target opponent loses 1 life for each attacking creature you control. You then gain that much life. This is an interesting tempo play. While this particular deck may or may not take full advantage of it, there's the potential to create some serious life point swings. You only need 3 creatures attacking to create a 6 point life swing, which for a single mana is really solid. It's a common with some potential.

The non-creature spells are rounded out with the obligatory Monument and Vial of Dragonfire. In this case, the monument is of Kolaghan, which serves as both a mana rock for Red and Black mana and providing an opportunity to create a 4/4 flying Dragon. The Vial of Dragonfire is an expensive Shock. You'd be better off replacing both with copies of Wild Slash or Lightning Strike.

Also, as is usually the case with Intro Packs, the mana base has 25 land in order to guarantee hitting your land drops. A full playset of Bloodstained Mire - the red/black fetchland - would allow you to drop this land count to 23 or 24 to make the deck a bit more consistent.

All told, there's a decent basis for a very playable Dash-centered deck. As the creatures that would complement and improve this deck aren't incredibly expensive, this Intro Pack looks to be a pretty good buy. Keep in mind that while there are synergies that are fairly effective in the deck, it probably won't be the shell of a future tier-one deck. It will be at the very least fairly fun and consistent, however.

Non-Creature Spells

As usual, Intro Packs tend to have rather strange combinations of non-creature spells. In this case, this non-creature lineup is headlined by Foul Renewal. It serves as both a way to return a creature to your hand and also a sort of removal. It gives a target creature -X/-X where X is the toughness of the creature you got back from the graveyard. Whether or not that's worth 4 mana is hard to say, but as removal in an Intro Pack. it's not too bad.

Twin Bolt is decent enough removal for the early game. Tormenting Voice gives you two cards at the cost of 1R and having to discard a card. Impact Tremors is an interesting enchantment that deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever a creature enters the field under your control. Flatten is a bit costly at 3B, but gives a target creature -4/-4. Defeat only destroys a creature with power 2 or less. Foul-Tongue Invocation forces your opponent to sacrifice a creature, and if you reveal a Dragon from your hand as you cast it or control a Dragon already, you get to gain 4 life out of it. There's also a random copy of Duress thrown in.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Hidden Dragonslayer  is a 2/1 Human Warrior with Lifelink. It was a creature in a cycle that produced other good creatures like Den Protector and to a lesser extent Stratus Dancer. The Megamorph ability costs 2W and allows you to destroy a target creature with power 4 or more than an opponent controls.  It also gives the creature a +1/+1 counter.

While that Megamorph ability sounds a bit costly, it's an ability best used later in the game. Hidden Dragonslayer can deal with a lot of threats that many aggressive decks would face. Anytime that you can get a two-drop that adds value later in the game, that's something that will probably see at least some Constructed play.

Hidden Dragonslayer saw a lot of competitive Standard play, starting with Selesnya Aggro as a two-of alongside Den Protector. It also saw play in Megamorph decks with Mastery of the Unseen. This Enchantment not only could gain you a significant amount of life when cards were flipped face-up, but it could also "manifest" cards from the top of your deck. It would make that card a face-down 2/2 creature that could be flipped face-up for its regular mana cost. Hidden Dragonslayer was useful in this deck because not only could its ability essentially be used for one fewer mana, but you could easily manifest it without having to actually cast it.

By far, the deck that made the best use of Hidden Dragonslayer were Collected Company decks as a one-of in the sideboard. As a two-mana creature, it was a hit off of Collected Company. While a lot of its value comes from its flip ability, a 2/1 with lifelink is not bad at all to hit.

Outside of Standard, Hidden Dragonslayer hasn't seen much play in EDH or anywhere else for that matter. However, Hidden Dragonslayer has seen some play in Cube as an efficient creature that can also serve as creature removal. While it's not a top pick in most Cubes, there is interest in it. Also, Najeela, the Blade-Blossom has occasionally included the Dragonslayer in EDH, but with so many strong Warriors to choose from, Hidden Dragonslayer is  hardly an auto-include in the popular Commander deck.

Overall, Hidden Dragonslayer was a very good card in Standard. While it's still a decent card on paper, the Dragonslayer simply hasn't found another consistent home.

by  ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Of the five two-drop Morph creatures in Dragons of Tarkir, Ire Shaman is the easiest to flip. Of those that should see Constructed play, this is probably the most likely candidate. First of all, he's a 2/1 for 1R that can only be blocked by two or more creatures. While this isn't the greatest form of evasion, who will usually want to block with two creatures to kill a 2/1? It takes even two 1/1 Monk tokens from Monastery Master to kill him, and a face-down 2/2 Morph can't even trade with him.

He gets a lot better with his Megamorph ability, though. For a total cost of 3R you end up with a 3/2 that also exiles the top card of your library and allows you to play it until end of turn. We've seen with Chandra, Pyromaster how powerful that effect can be. That's a good amount of value for a Morph creature.

While Megamorph hasn't exactly been a well-received mechanic, this is probably going to long-term be the best of the five due to his usability in aggressive decks. There is also the synergy with +1/+1 counters that could become more relevant as the metagame shifts due to the two Standard rotations that will occur while Dragons of Tarkir is still in the format. Mono-red aggro and Red/White decks should find a home for this guy at some point. At the very least, he's going to be very strong in Limited, but he should be a decent Constructed player, too.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Stratus Dancer is an interesting Morph creature, but she's no Voidmage Apprentice or even Kheru Spellsnatcher. A 2/1 flyer for 1U that can become a 3/2 flyer after flipping face-up (due to Megamorph) is decent. The flip cost is reasonable at 1U. On top of that, upon flipping, the Dancer can counter a target instant or sorcery spell.

Voidmage Apprentice is a common creature from Legions that also cost 1U to cast, but also was only a 1/1. However, for 2UU (2 colorless, 2 Blue), he could morph to counter any target spell. That's a total investment of 5UU to target a spell, which is pretty good in Limited (especially at common). Stratus Dancer is more like a limited Negate, but with only a 2UU investment.

Kheru Spellsnatcher is an interesting card, but its Morph cost is 4UU. Then again, you can steal the spell you counter with the Spellsnatcher's ability. It's been fun to play in Khans Limited, but Stratus Dancer is a lot cheaper.

Being a flyer is already a plus for the Dancer in Limited. Also, the Megamorph ability is a fine way to counter removal. Since removal is at such a premium in Limited, the value of having a 3/2 flyer that can counter many kinds of said removal is huge. While I don't see her as much of a Constructed card, Stratus Dancer is pretty solid for Limited. Were that Megamorph ability expanded to include all non-creature spells, even if it cost another mana, then I would see it being played in some sideboards.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Shadowmoor is a set full of very good cards, many of them having been played in Modern, Legacy, and Commander for quite some time. Order of Whiteclay is a very interesting card, but has never seen much play at all. Yet, at the beginning of March in 2015, his price shot from about a dollar to over 5 dollars in the course of a few days. Was it a buyout driven by speculators or is this curious creature actually the engine of a brand new winning deck?

Unlike Ghostway, which saw a price spike due to actually becoming the centerpiece of a viable Modern deck, there were no top decks using Order of Whiteclay. But his effect is actually quite good. With it, you can return a target creature with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to play. The trick about his ability: you have to untap him.

There's a clever interaction here with Springleaf Drum. You can use the Drum to tap any creature down for one of any colored mana. Then it's easy enough to untap Order of Whiteclay to use his ability. The question then remains, what creatures will you want to bring back, and how will you facilitate them getting there?

One list that I found online,By the Order of Whiteclay on MTG Vault, has some good ideas. It's a white/black deck that is focused around hand control. Not only does it use the traditional discard spells such as Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize, but it also uses creatures like Tidehollow Sculler and Brain Maggot to deprive your opponent some more. It also plays Kitchen Finks for lifegain and the Persist ability and Phyrexian Rager for card advantage. It also plays one Banisher Priest to deal with big creatures. To get those creatures in the graveyard are 2 Viscera Seer, which allow you to sacrifice a creature to Scry 1, and a full playset of Bloodthrone Vampire. The Vampires allow you to sacrifice a creature to gain +2/+2 until end of turn.

It's an interesting list to be sure, and I'd like to see this sort of deck in action. I'm not sure what the endgame would look like, though. Since you have the Springleaf Drums, you could run more colors. If you have the budget for it, a card like Fulminator Mage could help the deck by holding opponents back by destroying non-basic lands. Tarmogoyf would give the deck a more potent threat, as well.

While the hand control idea seems cute (there are 4 Sin Collectors in that MTG Vault deck's sideboard), Tidehollow Sculler and Brain Maggot have temporary effects. If this type of deck is going to succeed, it's going to need a consistent way to win. 3 mana to reanimate isn't terrible, but it's still a bit slow for competitive Constructed environments, especially Modern.

There's another explanation for the sudden speculation: a very popular Commander by the name of Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Her ability can bring back a creature with power 2 or less from the graveyard into play tapped and attacking. Being only a 1/4, it's likely it will survive combat. Plus, it reanimates a lot of things in the deck. While it can't use the untap ability immediately after Alesha brings him back (unless he otherwise gains haste), he's bound to be able to attack at other points and bring back a useful creature from the grave. Alesha plays a lot of CMC 3 or lower creatures with useful effects, so it's not hard to see this not included in a lot of Alesha lists. There's a great article about Alesha on Hipsters of the Coast.

The other explanation for the speculation is the rapidly growing Tiny Leaders variant of Commander, where you can only play cards with CMC 3 or less. Order of Whiteclay most definitely fits that mold, and since Alesha is a fine Commander in that format, as well, is doubly a good reason to have this card have a sudden jump in popularity.

If you can find Order of Whiteclay in a bargain bin somewhere, go ahead and pick them up. Shadowmoor is a set with fairly low supply at this point, so once the market settles, it's probably not a bad card to have around regardless.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Do we really need another Zombie lord? Magic the Gathering already has plenty of Zombie boosts on creatures: Cemetery Reaper, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Lord of the Undead, Undead Warchief, and Zombie Master. All but Zombie Master give your other Zombies at least +1/+1 and Undead Warchief gives +2/+1. Zombie Master allows your Zombies to regenerate for a single Black mana and gives them all swampwalk (can attack players without being able to be blocked if they control a Swamp).

Risen Executioner is a 4/3 Zombie Warrior for 2BB (2 colorless, 2 Black) that can't block. He gives other Zombie creatures you control +1/+1. What makes him different from the other Zombie lords is that you can cast him from your graveyard. The drawback is that you have to pay 1 colorless mana more to cast him for each other creature card in your graveyard. If he's the only creature in your graveyard, though, you're in luck. Basically, he's a more expensive Gravecrawler that pumps other Zombies.

Since even before the set released, Risen Executioner has been a bulk mythic rare. There was some early interest in him for inclusion in Zombie Commander decks such as Ghoulcaller Gisa and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. He's a bit redundant even in those decks. The Executioner isn't a bad card. It's just one of those mythic rares that is just a bit too good to be a rare, but not really strong enough to hold much value as a mythic. In Limited, I can see why this was a bit too strong to be a rare. It could do some serious damage.

Zombies aren't really big in Constructed right now. Even then, there are just better Zombie lords than he, Risen Executioner is a nice Zombie to have that can recast himself. The boost effect is only going to be relevant in Zombie Tribal decks. Even still, there are better choices like Death Baron and Cemetery Reaper that do the job at 3 mana, anyway. Recasting the Executioner in the later game simply doesn't seem worth the mana, not in a deck archetype that depends on having creatures in the graveyard. He's basically a Commander-only playable.

 by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Surrak, the Hunt Caller is the Surrak of the Dragons of Tarkir timeline, and he's no Surrak Dragonclaw. Not only is he mono-green rather than three colors, but he has an ability only good if you control creatures with a total power of 8 or more.

The good thing about the Hunt Caller is that he's a 5/4 for 2GG (2 colorless, 2 Green). Four mana for a 5/4 is solid enough, and his Formidable ability that gives haste can work on himself. Consistently being able to give a creature haste during each of your combats is fairly good. The caveat of total power 8 or more could be a relevant drawback, however. Still, he would be Constructed-playable.

At the time, Red/Green Devotion was the deck in which this Surrak made the most sense. The deck had strong enough creatures that playing a copy or two of this guy wasn't out of the question. The ability to give himself and the deck's other creatures haste is pretty strong. Once Devotion was no longer a thing  after the Standard rotation of Theros block, he was still strong enough to see some play because of the Formidable ability in aggro Temur decks  in which amassing 8 total power was rarely a problem. Abzan Midrange, Bant Aggro, and Temur Aggro were happy to have him around.

Although he's a Legendary Creature, he never really made it as a Commander. On the other hand, he does see some play in other Commander decks. It really isn't hard to get 8 total power on the board in Commander, however. His high initial power and ability to gain haste for himself and other creatures have helped him become useful as a member of the 99 in Commander decks.

All in all, Surrak, the Hunt Caller was a bit underrated during his time in Standard, but lives on as part of some Commander decks today.

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Dromoka's Command is so much more than a less expensive version of Hunt the Weak. Not only do two of its modes do something for two mana that another card did for four mana, but it has two other options, as well, which could serve quite useful. Whereas Hunt the Weak was at Sorcery speed, Dromoka's Command, like all of the other Commands, is at Instant speed. Let's take a look at this card's four modes, of which you can choose two:

• Prevent all damage target instant or sorcery spell would deal this turn.
• Target player sacrifices an enchantment.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. 
• Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.

The final two are the combined effects of Hunt the Weak, a Sorcery spell card that has been printed in the Magic 2014 & Magic 2015 Core Sets, as well as Fate Reforged. Hunt the Weak has seen some limited sideboard play. But having that effect for only two mana at instant speed is even better.

Having the white mana requirement does restrict what decks can use it, but this card has even more uses than just the Hunt the Weak abilities. The other two modes could also prove useful. The first lets your prevent all damage a target instant or sorcery spell would deal that turn. That effect is a solid sideboard option against burn-type decks or damage based removal spells. The other forces an opponent to sacrifice an enchantment. There are plenty of popular enchantments that this would be good against, especially Enchantment Creatures like Courser of Kruphix.

At two mana, the final two modes in the right deck might make this very main-board playable in an Abzan (Green/White/Black) or Selesnya (Green/White) aggro deck as it can serve as removal that has additional upside. While it may be best suited as a sideboard card, it's well-designed for the colors that it's in.

Myth Realized is far more than just an Enchantment version of the creature Chimeric Mass. Whereas the Mass was an artifact that needed to have lots of mana invested in it for charge counters, Myth Realized gains lore counters whenever you cast a non-creature spell. Not only that, but it can even give itself counters for 2W. It also only costs a single white mana to cast.

Like Chimeric Mass, it takes only a single mana for Myth Realized to become a creature with power and toughness equal to the amount of counters on it. Unlike the Mass, however, Myth Realized only gets better with each noncreature spell you play and leftover mana spent to give it more counters (the counters can be placed at instant speed, too.)

When Myth Realized becomes a creature, any +1/+1 counters placed on it remain on it as long as it remains on the field. (This is the same ruling that makes Steel Overseer and Inkmoth Nexus best friends.) While it's not an artifact like Chimeric Mass, which has its advantages, this card can be just as powerful and amass even more power more quickly in some cases.

While it wasn't the easiest card to build around in Standard, people did try. What about in EDH? It would seem that Myth Realized would be at home in decks that manipulate counters. Sadly, it doesn't fit into a deck like Vorel of the Hull-Clade, which is blue/green, and abuses counters like crazy. It doesn't really fit into decks that would take advantage of the counters.

However, Myth Realized is at home in decks like Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, which plays an enormous amount of noncreature spells. Daxos the Returned, an Enchantment-happy deck, is also a great home for this Enchantment. Narset, Enlightened Master also can find a home for it on occasion.

Conceptually, this card is awesome. Play-ability wise it's okay, as anything that gets better as the game goes along is pretty awesome. To be fair, the earlier this card hits the board, the better it will be. You don't want to draw Myth Realized in the end game, which is why it's not that Constructed playable. The fun factor here is definitely great enough, however, for casual and EDH play.