There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
When Battlebond was first spoiled, to quote Gavin Verhey: 'Battlebond is the first set in Magic's history designed specifically for Two-Headed Giant play!'
Despite that tagline, there's quite a few exciting spoilers I'd like to go over that have Eternal implications. There’s a few conditions I look for in evaluating new cards for older formats:
a) Does it provide a unique effect? b) Does it provide a similar effect to an existing card but for a lower cost? c) Does it hose a current deck?
I envision an Esper Control style of deck in Legacy (with Cabal Therapy / Phyrexian Tower / Swords to Plowshares, and some cantrips to tie the entire deck together). Casting Supreme Verdict also does the job in a pinch, and additionally, you don't need to be all-in on this plan since you can have the backup plan of hardcasting most of your Planeswalkers.
Here's my first sketch:
I chose not to go overboard on Planeswalkers. Often Rectoring up Ugin or Jace should be good enough in most scenarios, and I'd like the option of being able to hardcast my expensive walkers in a protracted game (i.e. no Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, or Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah).
Other options that may make sense are Gideon Jura (makes Supreme Verdict significantly better by forcing people to overextend into it), Sorin, Grim Nemesis, and Elspeth Sun’s Champion (three creatures makes sweepers a lot better for you).
An existing deck that could take advantage of this card includes Nic Fit (Cabal Therapy / Veteran Explorer-based ramp deck), since those cards naturally synergize with hardcasting your expensive Planeswalkers as well.
Another exciting card:
Text decklist here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1120059#paper (Merchant of Secrets is a proxy for Spellseeker)
This is a barebones draft of what is possible, but the general idea is to assemble Channel / Emrakul or Show and Tell / Omniscience into either Living Wish for Emrakul or Emrakul or Spellseeker into Living Wish into Emrakul. I’ve chosen to eschew the Oath of Druids package since I’m not fond of splash hate (Grafdigger’s Cage). People do play Containment Priest, but Show and Tell into Omniscience allows you to avoid that, and Channel also avoids Containment Priest.
Spellseeker synergizes well with flicker effects, which leads me to Restoration Angel and Mana Drain in Vintage:
This is a rough draft inspired by previous iterations of the deck known as ‘Blue Angels’ once popularized by Craig Berry and Rich Shay, but it looks like a solid starting point to me.
Other cards you can include to search for with Spellseeker are the following:
Balance (great versus Shops, not great versus most opposing Blue decks) Chain of Vapor Disenchant Revoke Existence Abeyance
Orim’s Chant
Enlightened Tutor (along with Moat / Humility / Energy Flux)
Other homes in Vintage for Spellseeker include Paradoxical Outcome (it’s a nice value play to find Ancestral Recall or a cantrip to assemble critical mass for Paradoxical Outcome).
Spellseeker also seems like a natural fit in Food Chain and Aluren (another value guy, can go grab Cabal Therapy/Brainstorm/Ponder/Gitaxian Probe/Abrupt Decay).
Another standout card for specifically Oath of Druids is:
Battlebond is going to reshape the Eternal formats. Is there anything I missed? Sound off in the comments!
Previous Articles · Meet the Massdrop Teams: http://dro.ps/mtg-team-announce · *2nd* at Pro Tour Ixalan: http://dro.ps/ixalan · Unclaimed Creature Types: http://dro.ps/ari-creatures · Why I Never Drop From Tournaments: http://dro.ps/eric-nevergiveup · The Art of Sideboard Construction - Sultai Energy: http://dro.ps/jon-sideboard · A Commoner’s View on Pauper: http://dro.ps/mark-pauper · Blue Moon Beach Control: http://dro.ps/scott-bluemoon · Top 5 Modern Decks: http://dro.ps/pascal-modern · Storm in Vintage Cube: http://dro.ps/ben-storm · An Early Look at Rivals for Standard: http://dro.ps/shaun-rivals · A Standard Approach to Evaluating New Cards: http://dro.ps/rob-newcards · Drafting Rivals of Ixalan: http://dro.ps/tim-ixalan · Team Sealed Secrets: http://dro.ps/eric-secrets · Steal My Standard Ideas: http://dro.ps/tommy-secrets · Vexing Devil. Any Questions?: http://dro.ps/jon-devil · Team Massdrop Rivals of Ixalan Limited Primer: http://dro.ps/ari-primer · Gestation of RG Eldrazi: http://dro.ps/ben-gestation · Top Tim Tournament Training Tips: http://dro.ps/tim-tips · What Makes Someone Bogle?: http://dro.ps/tommy-bogle · A Pauper Adventure: http://dro.ps/pascal-pauper · Blue Moon at GP Phoenix: http://dro.ps/rob-bluemoon · Brawling into Dominaria: http://dro.ps/scott-brawling · Looking at The Current Lands(cape) of Legacy http://dro.ps/jarvis-land · Deconstructing Dominaria Limited: http://dro.ps/jon-dominaria · Diving into Dominaria Standard: http://dro.ps/mark-dominaria · What are your.. drives?: http://dro.ps/tommy-drives · Top 10 Cards for Dominaria Modern: http://dro.ps/rob-dominaria · Brewing Standard with Dominaria: http://dro.ps/pascal-dominaria · Dominaria Team Sealed: A Case Study: http://dro.ps/tim-dominaria