#atraxa less so
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tutelage.
#art#vielleart#mtg au#phyrexia au#atraxa#mtg fanart#’training’ aka a v aggressive railing post-combat#norn can be nice#atraxa less so#but she’s just as hot#mtg brainrot#skfjgjfkdk#I just wanna be their pet#idk is that too much to ask for#just the lil lapdog for the praetors#here to look pretty and worship in all ways#and also to get my ass kicked by atraxa idk man#I’m just weak#im so sorry i have excrutiating brainrot#monsters#I just#she has 4 arms think of the possibilities#aaaaaaaaaa
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Gonna hit that “Genuine Character Analysis” blunt and talk about Atraxa and Art for a minute
Ok so in Chapter 4 of the MOM story, we see Atraxa see a museum for the first time and discover art, and also discover that she absolutely fucking hates it. Now, I noticed this was actually pretty similar to her seeing that Ixhel made Vishgraz and getting absolutely pissed at her for it, and I was gonna make a joke about “Atraxa hates arts and crafts lol”, but then I noticed that there is a genuine theming to it that’s pretty interesting.
Atraxa doesn’t seem to hate art or creating specifically, she seems to hate the concept of creating something without an direct purpose for it. She was fine making Ixhel because Ixhel is her tool. She’s supposed to be the extension of herself that can do tasks for her while she’s preoccupied. She doesn’t mind compleation because it’s not creating something, its converting something. But then she sees the art museum, and Vishgraz, and how they were created more or less for the purpose of creating, and she can’t understand it. It makes her angry because it genuinely goes against her entire philosophy. It has no direct reason to exist, so why should it exist? And her answer is that it shouldn’t.
The reason she has this mindset is actually pretty simple and actually a genius way to implement the few bits of lore she got before All Will Be One; she was compleated and effectively reborn by the combined efforts of four Praetors. Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxias, Vorniclex, and Sheoldred. The one that didn’t participate? Urabrask, the red Praetor. Red, the color of creativity and self expression. The color of Phyrexians that canonically spend all day making new stuff out of spare junk they find in the Furnace Layer. The faction of Phyrexians that literally encourage making whatever your creativity demands. The reason for her mindset is that she’s literally missing her creativity on account of Urabrask refusing to participate like the others. She was created to be the embodiment of the four other Praetors, so of course anything relating to the one who didn’t show up was completely left out. By design she has no self expression, and she sees that as perfection, so anything that goes against that concept makes her angry. Hell, you can even make the argument that she gets so mad because it reminds her that there is something that she’s missing. That she isn’t perfect.
Just a neat detail I noticed.
#Magic the gathering#character analysis#Atraxa#New Phyrexia#also theres probably a lesson about generational trauma/abuse in here with her treatment of Ixhel but eh#march of the machine
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Design Deep-Dive #6: Lands Week - Discard/Sac Lands
I'll be the first to admit I'm playing with fire with this one. I've designed several cards in this set with "Discard or Sacrifice" activated abilities, including today's cycle of mono-colored lands! Most real Magic cards stick to one or the other, but these have the versatility to do both. They can be played out as (slow) lands and later cashed in if the game goes late enough that land count matters less than some action, or they can be discarded straight from hand as pseudo-sorceries!
To account for this flexibility, I aimed for lands with 3-mana effects that would feel about right if they were standalone 2-mana sorcery-speed cards... Time and testing will tell if this is a fair tradeoff. The abilities themselves should be fairly familiar for each color, so let's dive into how I landed on the current text for each one.
White - Eldoris
Eldoris is a simple blink effect a la Flickerwisp. While the set doesn't have a ton of "enters the battlefield" triggers in white to double up, there are several synergistic cards that care about, say, other enchantments entering or leaving. Beyond that, it can also disrupt an opponent's board by removing a key blocker for the turn or making quick work of a token.
Blue - Loam
Loam is a blue, single-use Rogue's Passage, inviting you to either find that perfect moment to strike, or find ways to get lands back from your graveyard to do it turn after turn.
Black - The Indigo
The Indigo is a reanimate effect with a fun condition: instead of limiting a creature based on mana cost, this one only cares about its power! (Can you tell my first-ever commander deck was Nethroi?) This meant I could print some key signpost cards in Black/Red and Black/White with high costs, low power, and strong effects. This particularly synergizes well with many of Red's Inspire cards, as they quickly offset natural low stats with Inspiration buffs.
Red - Frosttip Peaks
The distant northern mountains known as the Frosttip Peaks are rumored to contain untold treasures, guarded by fierce and powerful monsters! Here, you can ramp the way Red knows best: impulsively, making as many Treasure tokens as possible!
Green - Memnos, the Giantwood
Lastly, I expect Memnos, the Giantwood is the strongest of this batch. While cards like Atraxa's Fall have proven that this is a 2-mana effect at sorcery speed, it's some powerful conditional removal. Beyond that, Green naturally has the most ways to take advantage of a land, either through graveyard recursion or simply by ramping enough that sacrificing a land won't really set you back. I first tested this one at instant speed and it immediately stood out as an oppressive card!
Final Considerations
These lands are difficult to assess. They behave almost like MDFCs that don't ask you to choose up front between land or effect, so I'm curious to see how players work them into their mana bases when deckbuilding.
Also, alarm bells may have been ringing when I compared these to sorcery spells -- "Hold on! It's much easier to interact with a sorcery than an ability!" Fret not, there are enough abilities like this in the set that the Unwell Kingdom has several counterspells and other effects which can target activated abilities as well... Players won't get to fire these off risk-free.
Tomorrow on Lands Week: Utility Lands
UWK Lands Week
Designing the Illusory Palace
The Tri-Lands
>Discard/Sac Lands
Utility Lands
Back to Basics
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So I looked through Strixhaven Commander earlier
Theres a lot of rad cards and weird things in that set. So much gets churned out, I wanted to bring up 10 cards worth pennies from C21 that are worth picking up for your binder.
These are NOT price speculations. These are cards I think play interestingly and are fun for the format.
Artifact decks LOVE cracking small artifacts open for different ones. There’s a kind of wheel and deal with them, using goblins or trading post to bust em open for something new. Audacious Reshapers is a great new card for the category, producing a new artifact with another left in the gy for recursion. Great for Ichor Wellsprings and the like to crunch em down for a random but likely more useful thing. And if it ain’t great crunch it down again!
The technique cycle is rad. I think white is the only one I hesitate on. Demonstrate is great and often well worth the extra copy. I feel using the word Interaction to describe removal is being a bit too broad. Removal does’t cover all of interaction, interaction can go beyond removal. I will creative technique a player who is behind and jumpstart their strat to keep from having to solo the stronger player. This card is a red Unexpected Results that can be discounted down to R and works well with Prosper and other cast from exile strats.
This is more interaction I think people should run. Ideally you use this if you can manipulate the top of your deck or have a high mv. You get more cards drawn in the game and you start chipping life totals faster. It comes out turn 2 and each turn after you draw 2 before you start playing things. I’m a big fan, plus you get insight on what your opponents are drawing.
This card is clunky at 5 and lots of things you’ll want to cast hurt your life total a good deal, AND its still (1)B. This card is not the most ideal. Its strong if you have life to spare like orzhov lifegain or life to waste like Greven Predator Captain. Not ideal, not perfect, but this card will enable something nutty in the future. Its gonna be bonkers when it happens.
Essentially a Epic Experiment in blue, Talrand decks get access to whats usually an izzet brand. Its easy to see only casting one card as a downside but really this card digs for a lot of spells then allows you to use one now and keep the rest for later. Great when your spells have delicate timings. Also less likely to be counterspelled than Epic Experiment is.
Paradox Zone is huge. The first turn you play it the card makes a 2/2 then next turn a 4/4. What makes this card stand out to me is its dual counter nature. The card itself doubles counters, then the tokens it produces have power represented in counters. That is NUTS with any proliferate. If you drop this and get a 2/2, then next turn Proliferate, you will double 3 counters into 6 and make a 6/6 then tick up your 2/2 into a 3/3. Proliferate makes this card pop off and it can be played the turn after you drop Atraxa. With how much counter based keyword tech there is its easy to juice these too. This card can make some wild tokens very quickly.
Reinterpret has quickly become my favorite counterspell. You can literally get a turn ahead of your opponent with it. The card you cast doesn’t need to share a typing, it just needs to be equal or less mana. This card is ideal for helping spellslinger set up key pieces before popping off, and it can be discounted to UR letting you counter with one blue mana.
We’d mentioned cracking artifacts earlier. Grinder is a 7/4 menace so you can swing big to deal damage. Its also got mountaincycling so you can discard it to pull a shockland with intent to recur this later. Most importantly you can crack it for a wheel. I find wheeling in monoR artificer to be HUGE. And as a creature you can easily slot it into reanimator builds or sacrifice builds. Its a multipurpose card that refills your hand!
Im shocked by how little I see this card. This is a card that ends games. This is a card I ended a game with tonight. Spellslinger is an archetype that’s perceived as being creature light, and I think that’s false. Talrand, Murmuring Mystic, Alandra, Unlikely Alliance, Shark Typhoon, Metallurgic Summons, Manaform Hellkite, Zaffai, there’s so many ways to spawn tokens off casts its nuts. Getting the damage buff is already good, getting to copy spells is great, getting to freecast is insane. That’s two magecraft triggers per spell. Tonight I exiled Magma Opus and Ignite the Future giving my dudes +12/+0. And the freecast triggers all your Talrand and Metallurgic Summons again! I prefer this over Mizzix Mastery. MM takes forever to resolve and doesnt move the game along unless you win with storm. Victory buffs your dudes, motivates play through combat, and can lead to a nutty level of casting. Also look at that pest. He’s goin so FAST.
Its simple. (2)U, copy a dude. Usually your opponent will stop playing dudes, but there’s a few cases where they’ll be unable to. Primal Surge, Genesis Wave, Sudden Disappearance, Living Death, Rise of the Dark Realms, and the best part is you don’t steal it, the threat level is lower and the game can continue. Theoretical Duplication is a great warding card, one that joins in on a crazy turn rather than stops it. I run it in my Riku hugs so I can copy the spell to get 2 dudes for each 1 you get. It is a potent and underrated pick at just 3 mana.
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Finally got the time to read chapter six is oooooooooh lordy lord lord!!! One, your description of Atraxa's view of the city was off the charts, you really catch the vibe of New Capenna so well!!! And afcxsfgvcdjjcd the bit with her looking over Jaxis while she slept- she obviously has no idea what's going on but methinks babygirl is catching a little feelings!!!! So soft, so so so so good aaaaa!!!
Super excited for what special thing you have planned for next chapter!!
Hey thanks man I liked your fic where a spider lady laid eggs in a trans woman’s ballsack.
In all seriousness though, thanks for the compliments! I am proud of the New Capenna description, it was one of the first scenes that came to mind when I was planning the fic. Atraxa is still very much in a Machine Orthodoxy “if you show feelings you are impure and will be disposed of” type mindset but she’s slowly working her way out of it. Next chapter we’re going to catch up with her estranged creation/daughter Ixhel on New Phyrexia. Urabrask will be there :)
Also, after that chapter releases I’m planning on writing a one shot fic of my own on Eldraine, to try and make up for the lack of side stories in WOE. My Eldraine fic will probably have a lot less oviposition (Unironically I did enjoy the Royse fic, it was shmexy)
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Limited Experiences, Archetypes, and How a Little Madness will Get You Nowhere or Everywhere
Folks, I don't play Arena and I don't have a MODO account. I've drawn tokens and borrowed dice. My experiences in MTG have been weird to say the least and I've been playing since before I needed to shave regularly. Which I still don't.
But part of Magic's versatility is the ability to go hog wild with the card that you pick as long as you're doing something fun. I draft a lot with my students when we can, and I get to see the kinds of decks that they play as well. Back in Shadows over Innistrad, I was fascinated with a student's Jeskai Aggro build; he's still playing at the LGS whenever he can, with a real job and everything. When we drafted Streets of New Capenna, one student played BW Elspeth and another swung Temur, of all things. You don't have to be normal about anything.
I'm far from normal in my constructed designs, so I'll admit to being caught by the bug; my competitive Pioneer decks are a homebrew Mono-White Weenies deck that still runs Brimaz, and a Mono-Red Skredless Skred Karnfires pile of nonsense that baffles the Spikes right before they beat me (or get Glorybringer'd). And yet, when I draft, normalcy abounds. The big cards are big, and the other cards are... Well, sometimes control works. Sometimes.
I'm going to go through the four most recent standard sets and talk about their archetypes, my experiences, and whether or not weirdness is permitted. Hopefully this will encourage you to go back and find a bit of weirdness yourself. Or not. But whatever you make for this week, it has to capture something that'll make us feel again. Don't let me down—but how can you? You're an Inventor.
Let's start most recently...
MARCH OF THE MACHINE
As many folks have heard me crow about already, I won our LGS's March of the Machine store championship. The deck was greedy, swingy, and the legends really tore the deck apart with their power level. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite was and is a very powerful card. The limited archetypes were:
WU Knights
UB Instants/Sorceries/Recursion
BR Sacrifice
RG Battles
GW +1/+1 Counters
WB Incubate/Phyrexians
BG Incubate/Phyrexians
GU DFCs
UR Convoke
RW Backup
An abundance of mana-fixing ensured that the three/four/five-color decks could have fun on their own, and the wedge legends encouraged that as well if you could pick them up. The inclusion of Yarok and Atraxa were rare, but also pushed for a little bit of green-oriented power there.
As you can see, two archetypes (Battles & Backup) pushed for the newest set mechanics. Personally? I never tried them. Backup was best used wherever the aggro happened on its own, and Battles were better in the grindier colors and/or as bombs for other archetypes when necessary.
Grinding out fliers was usually the way to go. I don't have many fond memories of drafting this set, not in the same way I do with other sets. The mechanics were great, and Battles were surprisingly fun, but coming out on top felt less about who was the better player and more who could draw into the uninteractive over-the-top synergy first.
When things got good, things got GREAT. I stared down an amazing five-color Alara pile once that blew me out of the water, and knights had a heck of a time. But sealed... Sealed was amazing. Even the prerelease (which I missed winning by a hair) had amazing moments. The decks could pack all their iconic characteristics into one mashup and it felt like assembly of a monument, less haphazard and more genuinely epic. What does it say that a set feels more cohesive the less control you have over what you pick from it?
At least the Incubate mechanics were awesome all around. It synergized with Phyrexian typal, +1/+1 counters, and the transformation theme. I'd put Incubate as my favorite mechanic and archetype.
WEIRDNESS CONCLUSION: You had to get weird with this format, but even the weirdness didn't feel good because the biggest cards like Ghalta and Chandra performed regardless of their archetype. It was both cluttered and samey at the same time. Weirdness failed to find the good-feeling spot.
Best you could do was the five-color pile, and that relied on bomb support—not that you really had to ask for it.
PHYREXIA: ALL WILL BE ONE
This set was baller. It was fast. It was fun. It was interactive on the battlefield. Combat mattered immensely and topdecks felt radically tense. I had so much fun with this set. The archetypes were:
WU Artifacts Matter
UB Proliferate
BR Oil Sacrifice
RG Oil Aggro
GW Toxic Midrange
WB Mites/Tokens
BG Toxic Aggro
GU Proliferate
UR Noncreatures
RW Equipment
Out of all of these, the only archetype I saw eschewed was GW. My favorite deck I made was a four-color pile with Atraxa (hnnng, yet 2-1 overall) but I saw mono-red go undefeated one night as well. Two proliferate and two toxic archetypes meant there was a fair amount of love to be spread, yeah? But speed mattered a lot. Usually.
There was a night where I had the fastest BG deck possible, and only dropped a game where I missed four land drops in a row. But I won the match because the proliferation mattered when the toxic couldn't connect, and there was no way out. Battles were furious. People say that RB was the best archetype—or was it RG?—but just about everything could be done well. WU wasn't the most popular, and neither was UB, but both of them performed well.
Oil counters being the newest addition as do-nothing-but-synergize felt a little off at first, but when they worked, they worked immensely well, and they suited the environment in a way that I really didn't expect. You wanted to get them, use them, board them, and burn them. And don't get me started on the awesomeness of For Mirrodin! As a piece of noncreature-ish tech, the equipment archetype was more powerful than I had thought possible.
WEIRDNESS CONCLUSION: If you could do it right, you could do it well. 3-5 color decks had odd synergies but had stiff competition. This set didn't feel like it had quite the wiggle room for competitive oddities, but it felt good to perform with them all the same. Cunning mattered more.
Best you could do would probably be a control curve. A lack of sweepers meant true control was next to impossible, but you could eke it out.
THE BROTHER'S WAR
Out of all the disappointments, BRO was one of the most frustrating to contend with. Big stuff on top of big stuff only mattered when you could cheat it out or go fast enough that it hardly made a difference when you killed someone. Forgone conclusions were just that. The archetypes were:
WU Soldiers
UB "Draw Two"
BR Sacrifice
RG Powerstone Aggro
GW Artifact ETB
WB Small Soldiers
BG Self-Mill
GU Big Robots
UR Noncreatures
RW Aggro
Go fast or go home. When games got grindy, everyone went to time, and then everyone who drafted red got to sit around and watch them before winning the event. There were, on occasion, odd decks that managed to eke out victories, but the archetypes felt more or less directionless.
Soldiers had to be committed to so early that, if you didn't draw a bomb P1P1, you were done for. Powerstones felt good and versatile all around, but they were primarily sacrifice fodder and on occasion used in combat for tricks that would get lethal anyway. People would hate out the RB deck for that alone, and then whoever got the red bombs or the ramp would come out on top. Removal felt decent. Blue was a strange fiend where practically none of the archetypes felt supported, but WU worked if you just went for straight midrange. Urza's rare card in particular was stellar.
Drafting a curve was useless unless you built specifically to go against the decks that were going faster than you. The bonus sheet as well was...interesting. Quicksilver Amulet was particularly strong if you could find it. But even Wurmcoil Engine was slow. Sometimes you got to go nuts with Bone Saw. Most often, they slotted in, but didn't change much unless they hit the other singularly good card in your deck.
WEIRDNESS CONCLUSION: I watched my Students play with this one. One of them assembled the Workers in his deck and only lost one match. But RG aggro got there because the kids drafting RB weren't quite ready to go nuts. I was surprised at some of the expertise and not at all surprised at the others. With the LGS, nobody particularly liked the set because of the imbalance.
Best you could do probably WOULD be the Workers deck, unless you had some kind of combo. To get true jank, you'd have to board specifically against the best decks.
DOMINARIA UNITED
This is how you can make weirdness work. You know how in Khans of Tarkir, the lifegain lands made all the difference? But in March of the Machine, they muddled the waters? Well... Anyway, here are the archetypes:
WU Instants/Sorcery Midrange
UB Instant/Sorcery Control
BR Death/Sacrifice Aggro
RG Domain Beats
GW Tokens
WB Aristocrats
BG Graveyard Matters
GU Domain Ramp
UR Instant/Sorcery Aggro
RW Enlist Aggro
Fast and furious? It would seem so, but there was enough countermagic, removal, and interruption in this set to give it a strong back-and-forth. Even lifegain mattered immensely! My favorite deck I made was an incredible Sultai control build, but I got blown out on other nights with other fantastic decks, and in general? We had so much fun trying to be weird. That Sultai deck was splashing for the Domain lands, and that's where the fun happened.
The aggro was often offset by the other colors having big durdly butts and toughness that could match it, plus draw power on the side. Splashing was vital unless your game plan was tuned precisely. Equipment mattered, and every draw got you closer. Searching was fun and made for difficult choices. Domain was always relevant, always.
In every color combination, you could make something relevant, and if things went wrong, that was okay. Off-color kicker still felt great to build a powerful deck around. Removal felt like it had to be used at the right time, and it could turn the tide of battle with effort yet. Sometimes white felt a little weak, until it flew through the air and smacked the crap out of you. And if someone got a solid defenders deck, they were on cloud nine.
The format allowed for decks to slow down the field enough for interaction to happen, and the fast decks got their day in the sun all the time. Balance and options without too many cards and without a push towards bombastic setpieces meant that synergy could prosper. Yes, even with Sheoldred in the set.
WEIRDNESS FACTOR: If you could dream it, you could do it. The set punished spreading yourself too thin without support, but the support that it gave allowed for weird stuff to manifest quite well.
There's no limit to the best you could do: Abzan sacrifice, five-color goodstuff, Legendary typal, Jeskai spellslinging (that happened a fair amount actually), Bant control... It was awesome.
But these were just my experiences and my observations. On Arena, the same draft rules hardly apply. On MODO, the player base is much different. And of course, every LGS has its player base who plays differently.
What were your best limited experiences? What's the set where you felt the most powerful weirdness, and how do you want to bring that to your card this week?
With love,
@abelzumi
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Magic: The Girlbossing Round 3
Another exciting week of girlboss battles has come to a close! Girlbosses across the multiverse have done battle and 32 of them continue on to the next round.
Round 3 will begin on Monday, April 10th at 12:00 PM EST
Bracket as of the beginning of Round 3 below:
Link to round 2 master post
Here's last rounds roundup of notable matches:
Last round we had to run one rematch by popular demand. The original battle of Nahiri vs. The Wanderer ended with just a 0.6% difference. If one person who voted for The Wanderer had instead voted for Nahiri, it would have been a tie. This felt too close to comfort, so we ran a rematch, in which Nahiri shockingly beat out The Wanderer 54.9% to 45.1%
The closest match that didn't have to go into rematches was Chandra vs. Arlinn, with Arlinn just barely eking out a win against the flaming failgirl.
There were many other close matches this round, too. Marit Lage, Thalia, Nahiri, Sigarda, and Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar all won with less than 55% of the vote.
The greatest sweep seen in this round was Teysa Karlov vs. Aminatou, with Teysa coming home with 81.2% of the vote. Close behind was Vraska vs. Gallia, with Vraska winning 81.1%
Below the break there is a list of matches for this round.
Alesha vs. Greasefang - Alesha wins!
Marit Lage vs. Atraxa - Marit Lage wins!
Elesh Norn vs. Marchesa d'Amati - Marchesa wins!
Gisa Cecani vs. Niv Mizzet - Gisa wins!
Liliana Vess vs. Ashiok - Liliana wins!
Thalia vs. Zacama - Thalia wins!
Nahiri vs. Jaya Ballard - Nahiri wins!
Kiora vs. Xantcha - Xantcha wins!
Teysa Karlov vs. Massacre Girl - Teysa wins!
Elspeth Tirel vs. Kaya Cassir
Wrenn vs. Xira Arien - Wrenn wins!
Ashnod vs. Arlinn Kord - Ashnod wins!
Emrakul vs. Sheoldred - Emrakul wins!
Avacyn vs. Sigarda - Avacyn wins!
Vraska vs. Beckett Brass - Vraska wins!
Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar vs. Ayula - Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar wins!
#magic: the gathering#mtg#magic: the girlbossing#magic the girlbossing#poll#poll bracket#girlboss#was genuinely shocked to see arlinn beat out chandra#i voted for her but i didnt believe#rip to greasfang elesh norn ashiok and beckett brass sorry aint no way you're surviving this one
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For the character ask game, Falco Spara! :)
Send Me A Character
First impression
HYPE! I had been looking forward to non-Black non-Red demons for a while. Shame he was the only one in the set.
Impression now
*shakes head violently, as if having a chew toy in my mouth*
Favorite moment
Whatever bullshit he pulled off-screen that got Atraxa to hate him personally.
Idea for a story
I've been working on a fic titled "Back In Time" about the demon family heads before they signed the contracts to become demons. Right now it's probably going to be more smut than anything else.
Unpopular opinion
He needs better friends.
Favorite relationship
It's a tossup between just Spara and Xander or if Jetmir's there too. Love these little antagonistic assholes.
I've also more or less started writing Spara as having beef with Raffine and Ziatora, so that's fun.
Favorite headcanon
Fucker sleeps on a mattress on the floor. No bedframe or anything. This made it into chapter 30 of my fanfic Blood and Songbirds.
Thanks for dropping by and letting me froth at the mouth about one of my Blorbos!
~Jasper
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Elesh Norn flexed her clawlike fingers, and shards of enchanted porcelain broke off from her headgear to swirl around her in a constellation of shrapnel. The praetor pointed a talon at her target - a training dummy in the guise of the planeswalker Elspeth Tirel, sitting on the other end of the chamber - and the spikes shot from Norn’s side to impale the target. A dissatisfied frown spread across Norn’s flayed face as she studied her handiwork.
“Hmm. Still hanging a little to the left. Maybe I could…”
“My praetor?”
Norn tore her gaze from the mutilated dummy to smile grandly at the four-armed Phyrexian angel behind her.
“Atraxa, my child,” Norn greeted softly. “What brings you to my sanctum today?”
Atraxa used one hand to point to the destroyed target on the far side of the room, and a second to point to her helmet, fashioned after Norn’s. “I saw you practicing. We have the same headgear. I was wondering whether you could teach me how to do that.”
Norn tutted disapprovingly at the Atraxa, prompting the compleated angel to anxiously grip her left arms with her right. Norn then gave her reply, and Atraxa shrank at the sound of her praetor’s words.
“The answer is no, my dear. You needn’t trouble yourself with such brutal methods. You have all the forces of New Phyrexia behind you, including me and the other praetors…less Urabrask. And besides, the process is quite painful.”
Norn’s fingers twitched. The launched shrapnel tore itself free from the dummy, and clicked back into place in Norn’s headgear, eliciting an exhale of discomfort from the praetor as the porcelain shards re-fused with the helmet.
“So, no. I shall not teach you.”
Atraxa bowed her head, both from disappointment and in deference. “Of…of course, my praetor. I forget myself. I apologize.”
“Oh, my child…” Norn gingerly wrapped her distended arms around Atraxa. “All is forgiven.”
Atraxa’s lips curled upward in a strained smile. “Thank you…my praetor,” she sighed.
[This may be my last chance to get Atraxa’s characterization dead wrong. I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity!]
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Card transcription
Atraxa, Praetors' Command GWUB
Legendary Creature- Phyrexian Angel [mythic]
Flying, toxic 2
Whenever Atraxa, Praetors' Command deals combat damage to a player, choose two -
Create a 1/1 Phyrexian Mite artifact creature with toxic 1 and "This creature can't block."
Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control.
Proliferate.
Draw a card. You lose 2 life.
4/4
End transcription
For people who missed the leak, we saw this exact token spoiled, which tells us what toxic 1 is. (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.) There wasn't room on this card for the reminder text, sadly. And yes, I forgot the word "token".
This card was inspired by the art; it had the exact same title as this card, "Atraxa, Praetors' Command" and that made me imagine what that card would look like, and a choose two of four felt very natural since that's what a command is in magic. I wanted to have some interesting interplay between the different modes and I'm rather happy with where they all balanced out (the card draw is a bit less synergistic but it's good generic value) and I definitely think she feels like an atraxa. The intention was to design this in a way I could imagine exists in the upcoming All Will Be One set, so I designed it based on my expectations of that environment that may not prove accurate
Art link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5BYrNw
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Title: FFXIV Write 2022 - 4. Free Day 1
Characters: Venat, Karasawa, Atraxae
Rating: Teen
Summary: What if a failed would-be Azem made it all the way to the modern era? These are the Misadventures of Karasawa Atraxae.
Notes: So a theme I am leaning into for FFXIV Write 2022 is that of focusing on the Scions of the Seventh Dawn; I decided, however, to use my Free Days to focus on other possibilities. Warrior of Light concepts I have thought of, but will never use, since the game is so alt-unfriendly. These are not any kind of canon, and in fact, I am feeling free to be kind of nonsense with them.
Atraxae paced on the stage as she ranted about her thesis to those Ancient fellows who had seen fit to make an appearance at her little one-woman conference.
"Our world is being improved all the time," she said, "by the hard work of our compatriots, who are striving ever forward to improve our star. And when their hard work is done, of course, it is the done thing to retire, job done, go back to the lifestream, give the energy back and pay it forward to the next iteration of who we might be, and hopefully maybe learning something ineffable in the process. Well, swive that, I say! Look, we think we're going for perfection, but hey, maybe we don't know what perfection really is, right? Maybe someone somewhere will come up with some paradigm-shifting Etheirys-shattering paradigm shift, and then what? You're asleep in the lifestream, unable to appreciate the changes that have been made. Maybe you could've found something new to improve! Maybe you could've learned more! But no, you checked out early, and so you don't have squat to do with the brave new world that may have been made.
"That's why I'm proposing something completely different! Instead of just checking out of existence, why not simply take a little sidestep? Sure, go to the lifestream, but instead of getting all your life experience flushed gone and away, just hang out there for a bit, and come back in, oh, I don't know, maybe a century or something? Maybe something will have changed while you were gone, and when you come back and learn about it, you'll go hey, look at that! There's more work for me to do now! You can find new purpose without having to do the whole retirement gig, and you'll be smarter for having done it.
"That's why I'm presenting today the culmination of my personal life's work. A way for any one of us to immerse ourselves fully into the lifestream, and then, at a predetermined time, come back up, just as we are! I mean, there's probably a few more things to work out, and it hasn't been tested, but just think of it! Instead of returning to the lifestream fully and pretty much getting erased, you can take a bit of a break, come back, uh, hopefully refreshed, and then, boom! Learn about how much more awesome our world has gotten in your absence, and then use that to springboard yourself into a new life with new discoveries! Wouldn't it be grand!"
Atraxae stopped at this point, throwing her arms wide and grinning at her assembled audience. Most of them looked back, their expressions unreadable behind their masks, but their body language was... well, if she was to be honest, it was less than interested. Only Karasawa, her good friend standing in the back, seemed enthusiastic at all as he threw a fist up in the air and pumped it a few times in support.
Well, one was better than none, even if she knew that the one would always be there for her. She grinned back at him, and gave a bow as she moved on to the next part of her presentation.
"So that's why today I'm revealing to you, dear friends, the IDEA engine and the SWORD device, as well as the FOCUS chamber!"
The assembled Ancients looked back and forth at each other. One of them shook his head - no, wait, that was a her- and raised her hand. Atraxae pointed at her.
"...I am certain I am going to regret asking this, but what could those acronyms for these concepts you are proposing possibly stand for?"
Oops, it was a him. Oh well, not like she was planning on any formal relationships with anyone present. She hated how well the robes hid the forms of those under them, and how the masks hide their faces from one another. Better to go bare faced and naked, she thought.
Where was she?
Oh right.
"Well, here is the IDEA engine," she said, holding up what appeared to be a gem. "And uh, the acronym, let's call it a work in progress. But! It's the bit that keeps you, you. At least in spirit. See, we all are capable of pretty impressive shape changing, and what form is in vogue now may not be in vogue when you come out, so it's designed to help shift and adapt your spirit to a new vessel so that you'll fit in whenever you come out! The SWORD," she said, and here she hefted what appeared to be a sword in the air, "Stands for the Soul Wave Omega Reinforcement Device. Spending so much time in the lifestream may make you a little bit thin, and the SWORD draws on ambient aether to reinforce your form, no matter how long you've been gone. It also makes a pretty good focus for magic and, uhm, well, it's... it's an actual weapon. You can stab people with it if you like. Its form is mutable, though, so it can appear to be practically any weapon you need it to be! And that over there, that bed like chamber with a lid that you can close, well, that's what'll help reconstitute - uh, reinvigorate - uh, it's... it's what helps to bring you back. It stands for the Final Oculus for Constraining the Universe of Spirit. You store your pattern in it, and set a time. When the time comes, it looks for your pattern in the lifestream, and activates your IDEA engine, as well as attuning your SWORD to your new, old, reborn self!"
She grinned wildly at the assembled few, and waited patiently.
Finally, one of them with a sigh, raised their hand. Atraxae pointed at them. She decided to stop guessing at the kind of person that might be in those robes. If pressed, however, she was certain this one was male.
"Did you pick those names just to make the acronyms work? Also, have any of these concepts been passed by review?"
Drat. Wrong again.
"One, yes, of course I did. Two, no, shut up, I don't need to, as I still haven't even tested them. Which I just need a bit of help with, and then, sure, we can punt them up for concept review." Atraxae saw another hand go up. "Oh! What's your question?" she asked cheerfully.
The owner of this question stood up, and she was positive this one was a man. "Atraxae. Is this just a pathetic attempt to see if you can outwait the current Azem, and when they are done with their job, make another bid for their seat? Are you that upset about losing the bid for that convocation seat?
Okay, ouch, that was rude, she thought. But at least she got his gender right.
"What? No," she said breezily, "and I'm insulted that you would think that. I mean, yeah, I do plan on outlasting the current Azem. But if my work is good and I've done the math right, I won't just outlive this Azem. I'll outlast a dozen Azems! And then when I come back, hopefully we'll have changed as a civilization enough that maybe I'll find some new purpose! I won't even want to be an Azem, you know. I'll have something even better to aspire to, I'm sure!"
She clapped her hands. "That's enough questions for now though! Please come back tomorrow if you're willing to help, we can use all the hands we can muster!"
"Who's we?" said the same man, dryly, clearly not expecting an answer as he headed for the door. As did the other six people present. Which was everyone in the room except for Karasawa.
The room had been reserved and able to seat a hundred. Atraxae had to admit, she might have set her expectations a bit high. Still, she was more than a little disappointed at the small turnout.
"Well, it's me and Karasawa, that's technically two people, that's enough for a we," muttered Atraxae under her breath as Karasawa walked up front to her.
"Enthusiastic as always," said Karasawa. "You continue to be a light upon this star, as bright as any."
"Yeah, well," said Atraxae. "Wish others saw it the same way." She sighed, and gathered up her equipment and gear, shoving them into her robes where they vanished into an ethereal other space that she used for storage, like many ancients did. At least, those who didn't just use their creation magics to collapse and rebuild their belongings as they needed. "Oh well," she said. "Could've gone worse." She looked to the door, and sighed, her shoulders slumping.
"Wish Venat would've shown up," she said.
Karasawa crossed his arms, and nodded. "I'm just glad that she has continued her work, despite relinquishing the seat of Azem. We could use more people like her."
"Yeah," said Atraxae, despondent. "Well, that's that, I guess. There's a place that makes a killer food concept not too far from here, they call 'em chupaquesos. Let's go snag a bite."
Karasawa nodded as Atraxae finished gathering up her equipment, and they headed out.
-*-
The next day found Atraxae and Karasawa working. Once it had become clearly obvious that nobody was coming to help them, they had shed their masks. Atraxae hated having to wear one, and while it Karasawa pretended to be reluctant about the matter, secretly, it gave him a quiet thrill to push into such a taboo.
"Was what that one man said yesterday correct? About the seat of Azem?" asked Karasawa. It was a topic they had not talked about at all since Atraxae had lost her bid for the seat, as he did not want to unduly distress his friend.
"Oh, hells no," said Atraxae. "I mean, yeah, I wanted the seat, but I see now I had it all backwards. I wanted to become Azem so I could go out and see the world and do all that cool shite and explore and whatnot. If I was really suited to the seat, though, I would've done what Venat's protege did, which is to say, already have been doing all that. No, I swived it up, and the better Azem got the seat. The Convocation made the right call."
Atraxae held up a lattice of crystal work, and let it go, allowing it to hover in the air as she held a hand up to it, and pushed aether into it. "Besides, look at us! This is a way better use of my talents. Just you wait, Karasawa. I'll show them. I'll show them all!"
"You know, you talking like that is why people are wary of you," said Karasawa, who nevertheless moved to the side to peer closely at Atraxae's work, and help make small adjustments of it.
"Pft. Whatever. Maybe I'll just zipper a few hundred years into the future and they'll appreciate me more then."
"I think you misestimate how slowly our society moves."
"Is this the workshop for the Future Technologies Symposium?" said a voice, and Atraxae and Karasawa both scrambled to put their masks back on.
"Yes! Hello! Welcome to our workshop! We're currently calibrating the IDEA engine, but we're happy to - VENAT!" said Atraxae animatedly, and Karasawa looked up from adjusting his mask to see her standing in the doorway.
"I didn't expect you to drop by! I thought you were busy out exploring the star or whatever!" Atraxae continued, babbling now.
Venat's robe was white, as befit her role as an advisor, and her mask unmistakeable, with its fine filigree. One of the few methods of personal expression allowable in their society. Karasawa gave her a bow, which she returned in kind.
"Well, I cannot stay for long," said Venat. "But I have heard very interesting things about what you are working, and I wished to see for myself. But wherever are my manners? It sounds like I was interrupting a conversation about our fair society."
Karasawa looked to Atraxae, and shook his head slightly, worried. Atraxae frowned at him, and he thought for just a moment that she would be able to contain herself.
"Aw, we're just griping about how slowly anything ever changes around here," said Atraxae, and Karasawa groaned. He -had- meant to spin her up into a good rant, as she was entertaining to listen to, but he had meant it to happen in private, and not in front of a former member of the convocation.
"Do go on," said Venat, and Karasawa moved to pretend to work on the crystal lattice.
"Well, look, all the work we do, everything we are, we're supposed to be stewards of the star, right? Aiming for perfection? But what the bloody hell is perfection? I'll tell you, what we're making, we ain't making perfect. We're making stagnation is what we're doing. I was at the Concept House the other day -"
"That's not what it's called," said Karasawa, exasperated. At least she could not slag off on beloved public works institutions if she was going to rant in front of others.
"-whatever, and you know what I saw?"
"What, pray tell?" asked Venat.
"SHARKS."
Venat's expression was unreadable behind her mask, but Karasawa certainly felt bewildered. This was a part of the rant he had not heard yet.
"And the time before that, and the time before that. I don't go there nearly often enough for it to have been just a fad or something. Sharks! Nothing but sharks. Nobody coming up with anything new, just a dozen variations on bloody sharks. And you know what? That's a symptom, that's what it is. That's just part of the whole thing. Nobody has any new bloody ideas anymore. No, you go down to the Concept Store-"
"Also not what it's called."
"-and you pick up someone else's ideas, and you drop off your ideas, but they ain't new. Ain't -nothing- new. Karasawa here was just reminding me of how slow our society moves, and you know what? He's right. It's just about moved itself to a dead stop! Perfection, my perfectly pert round -arse-."
"Atraxae!" gasped Karasawa.
"Well it is, I made it myself."
Karasawa looked in horror at Venat, and was relieved when she reached up a hand to hide a laugh.
"And so I'm working on this," said Atraxae, grumpily. "Between the FOCUS and the IDEA and the SWORD, I'm gonna send people into the future. Maybe someone, somewhere, will come up some Etheirys-shattering idea that'll change everything, and when we come back out, the whole bloody star won't be so backwards anymore. It'll be something new." she turned to Venat, and grinned at her. "...I bet you can imagine, can't you? Look at you, all white-robed and still working after you were done with the convocation. Just itching at the bit. Imagine never returning to the star, but instead just jumping forward a bit whenever you think it's time. Just infinitely into the future. Never leaving."
Atraxae had grown quiet towards the end, and Karasawa looked at her quizzically. Venat shook her head.
"It is the duty of all of us to return to the star once we feel our work is done, Atraxae. I'm just not done yet, that's all, but I do intend to return one day."
"Right. Right. Of course, of course," said Atraxae, rubbing her arm. Karasawa tilted his head at her. To say she was a chaotic personality would be an understatement, and this was a side of her he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before.
"Wait. Infinite. Oh, that's a good word! Hang on, hang on, let me think about it. Okay. Okay. Infinite Diversity Etheric Attuner! Yeah, that's a great name for it! Oh, oh, Karasawa, write that down."
Karasawa dutifully fetched his notebook out from his robes, and wrote down the device's name next to its entry that he already had mostly filled out.
"What is that, I wonder?" asked Venat.
"Oh right you weren't at the presentation yesterday. Right! The three fold devices. It's how I'm going to help people skip into the future. The IDEA engine takes your pattern and keeps it for you while you're in the lifestream, and then when it's time for you to come back, it'll put you in a new vessel appropriate to whenever you are, neat as you please. The SWORD is actually kind of an aetheric converter engine. Like if the IDEA makes sure you're you, the SWORD makes sure you stay, reinforcing you and shoring you up and stuff, and, uh, well, it's also legitimately a weapon. And the FOCUS, well, that's what calls you back when the time is right. Boom! Just relax into the FOCUS, let yourself drift down to the lifestream, and you'll wake up just like coming up from a nap when the time is right, ready to get back to work.
"It's genius, if I do say so myself. Say, while you're here... would you mind helping calibrate the IDEA engine? I've tested it with me and Karasawa, but as you know, one time's just an event, doing it twice is just coincidence, we really need three patterns to make sure we've got a pattern. A pattern of patterns. Of working! Yeah."
Venat tilted her head at Atraxae, and Atraxae grinned back.
"It's okay. It'll just record parts of your pattern, nothing more, and once we check that it looks okay, we'll wipe it right here, don't you worry. Karasawa will monitor from there, and I'll be right here to help calibrate it as you go. All you need to do is hold your hand out to this crystal lattice we've got floating right here, and we'll do the rest."
"...intriguing," said Venat, and after a moment's hesitation, she held her hand out to the crystal lattice, and began to pour aether into it. Karasawa quickly moved to watch while Atraxae fiddled with the crystals.
Venat's aether work was beautiful, he had to admit, and as he saw the 'signature' of who she was started to form, he thought that beautiful as well. Venat's was a pretty shade of light blue. Atraxae had been a purple, while his own had been orangish.
"And you say the intent is to preserve a soul into the future, that it may come back to our star, as itself, intact and hale and whole?" asked Venat as they worked.
"Yeah! You get it! Genius, right?" said Atraxae.
"...perhaps." said Venat.
"I think we have enough, Atraxae," said Karasawa. Atraxae fiddled with the crystals one last time, and then after a moment, she nodded to Venat, and Venat withdrew her hand. The gentle aether flow stopped, and Atraxae took the crystal lattice down, and she worked with it for a bit.
"...I think that's it. Yeah, that's - look at this pattern, Karasawa," she said, handing the crystals over.
Karasawa took it, and looked it over, and nodded. "...your pattern is quite lovely, if I do say so, Venat."
Venat smiled and shrugged. "I shall have to take your word for it. I trust, however, that you are not going to be plucking me from the lifestream at a moment's notice?"
"Oh, no no no, not with this alone," said Atraxae. "You've confirmed our work, though, but no. Here, I'll release your pattern from the crystals in a moment, but for this to work - we need a bigger crystal, and you'd have to commit your whole self to it. Basically this serves as a prism for your soul, and you push yourself through it on your way to the lifestream, and it remembers enough of it as you do so to call you back later. This is part of the IDEA engine. The other part's the resonator, over there - I think I'll make it into a necklace, I can get it small enough - and the crystal as its main stone. When it's time, you get called back, and the resonator's what's responsible for finding you a new form to inhabit, while the crystal busies itself making you, well, you once more."
Venat crossed her arms, and looked thoughtful, and when she spoke, Karasawa got the feeling she wasn't really talking to anyone in the room. "A spark thrown into the future." she said. "...but who?"
Atraxae and Karasawa looked at one another.
"What?" asked Atraxae.
Venat smiled, and shook her head. "Nothing. Just idle musings. I think... you should continue you work, Atraxae. You have my support, should you ask for it. I think... perhaps it will make for a good alternative, perhaps to - ah. To, ah... other plans one might make for the rest of their life. In service to the star, of course."
It would've been hard for someone else to tell, because of the mask, but Karasawa had long been friends with Atraxae, and could tell she was lighting up.
"Oh yes! Of course! I'm so glad you approve! Maybe with your word, we can get more help here. I mean, if you want to give it, but really, your support alone is enough, and I think we're pretty close to testing anyway!"
Venat smiled, and bowed. "Thank you for sharing your work with me, Atraxae, Karasawa. I am afraid, however, that my visit, by necessity, must be a short one. I have other matters to look after. Kindly keep me appraised of your progress, however."
"Oh yes. Absolutely. Have a good day. Hey! Tell the new Azem I said hello! No, tell them I said congratulations!"
Venat nodded as she glided out of the workshop, and Atraxae grinned giddily at the door as she left. Karasawa slowly turned to her.
"...it's not for the seat of Azem," he said. "It's for her."
"What? Huh? Sorry. What?" said Atraxae, shaking her head clear.
"All of this that you're working on. All that you're doing. You were thinking about her. You were thinking of a way to keep her around on the star, and instead of talking to her like a well-adjusted being, you decided to throw yourself into this project," he said. "You care deeply for her."
"Everyone who's ever met her cares deeply for her, are you kidding? She's one of like five people who are interesting at all on this planet. It's like, you, me, her, the new Azem, and iunno I'm sure there's a fifth somewhere."
Karasawa smiled gently, and Atraxae grinned back at him. "I am certain there are more than five," he said. "Sheer statistics alone-"
"Yeah yeah by the numbers, sure, I know, I know," said Atraxae, rolling her eyes. She held the crystal lattice between her hands, and shrunk it down to be the size of a gem. "And I'm not going to tell HER any of this though, what kind of idiot do you think I am?"
Karasawa looked around the room. "The kind of idiot to forward some of the most heterodox research our star has seen in an age in the pursuit of violating one of our society's most dearly held taboos. This sort of thing might be why you have so few friends, now."
"I will have you know I was quite popular in my youth," she huffed.
"You were so popular because you were such an iconoclast, running around with your mask off and almost as frequently without your robes. They saw you as a punk, if not a bit daft. They thought you were interesting. But most of us grew out of that phase, Atraxae."
"Yeah. They had better things to do. Saw to their duties, fulfilled their goals, settled down into an existence of mediocrity complacency and fitting in or flitting off once the job was done and dissolving into stardust," she grumbled. "Venat's the only real one around here. She knows what she's about."
She focused her creation magics, and began to form a necklace in her hands. Across the room, the resonator she had mentioned earlier floated up, and came to rest in the middle of the band, and in front of it, she placed the gem. She frowned as the energies came together, and looked up at Karasawa over them.
"...you're not gonna leave me too, are you, Karasawa?" she asked, her voice quiet. "Wouldn't blame you if you did. I'm a disaster. You know it. I know it. It's a fair miracle I haven't been censured yet."
Karasawa grinned at her. "I am your entire conscience and half of your impulse control. No, Atraxae, you will not be rid of me that easily."
Atraxae smiled as the IDEA engine formed, finished at last, in her hand, and she looped it around her neck.
"...chupaquesos before we test this thing?" she said.
"Absolutely," he said.
-*-
The world had gone mad.
The world, for Karasawa, had long been mad. Not due to any special circumstance, other than the close orbit he had insisted upon living his life around Atraxae's gravitational pull.
But now she was gone, and he was here, and the sky was literally falling, and monsters roamed the world.
Overhead, meteors and fireballs fell lazily towards the ground, a rain of fire that had left devastation in its wake. Around him, monsters from nightmares and worse rose up out of the firmament, razing entire cities and robbing the star of thousands of lives.
The convocation was supposedly convening with a plan, but Karasawa had no interest in waiting around to see what it might be. He held in his mind a singular purpose, and with that purpose he strode through rubble strewn city street and past burning plants and trees.
He had met the monsters, of course. There were so many of them, and they seemed unavoidable. He noticed they seemed to go after those who were most panicked first. He supposed, whatever they were or wherever they came from, that they were inclined to go after easier prey first, but he had no intention of making himself be easy prey, much less appear to be any.
So when they met, he held tight in his mind's eye that he would be the victor. Determination poured through his veins and sheer stubborn will powered his every step.
He could not save this world. He could not fix it. That would be a problem for the convocation to solve.
But there was one thing he could do, and he would do it.
He made his way to a small nondescript building tucked away in an unremarkable corner of an unnotable city. One of the most boring places on Etheirys, someone had once complained to him. The perfect place to set up shop and shake the star, he had been told.
Well. The star was shaking now, but it certainly was not from his own work or that of his friend.
He looked behind him just once as he crossed the threshold, and saw a mighty monstrous entity tear down an entire building, towering over its rubble, and he ducked inside.
This was a long shot, he knew, but it had a chance of working, which was more than the star had at the moment.
He found what he was looking for.
The FOCUS, its panel blinking plaintively in the dark.
He knelt next to it. It was a largish rectangular box, fit to hold a body. And though it did not appear to be holding a body at the moment, he knew the truth of it, as he wiped away its display, and checked its settings.
Ten years.
A short test.
A short test, and then they would celebrate, and toast one another's accomplishments, and at last submit their concept to -
He laughed to himself, despite everything.
"To the concept house store," he said, and he laughed, shaking his head.
His friend had always been just shy of insane, and he was certain they would have been both censured had any of these concepts gotten as far as being submitted, but oh would in not have been worth it? To be the first minds in an age to be censured?
She would've celebrated the occasion, and probably would have wanted to see if getting double censured was a possibility.
A possibility she would not get to enjoy.
Well, not yet, anyway.
He checked the other settings and was mollified to find that the IDEA engine and the SWORD device were both tucked into the FOCUS, and apparently working correctly.
He bowed his head, and thought for a moment of the sky burning high above him.
The convocation might rescue the star, but how long would that take, he wondered.
He looked at the display once more.
Ten years seemed very optimistic.
He sighed, and reached into his robes, and pulled out his notebook. He scribbled a quick note down, and wished desperately that he had more time, to leave more notes behind, not just for his own benefit, but for those who would come after.
But he did not have enough time, and what time he had was just about up.
He opened a panel on the FOCUS, and slipped his single note down into its side, then closed it again. And then he lifted another panel, the aetheric siphon that was used to power the FOCUS. The more power it had, the longer it could keep track of a person's pattern for recall.
He wondered how long he would need, and shook his head with a sigh.
Well, gambling was more her thing than his. In this, he would not gamble.
He held his hand to the siphon, and he pushed. He pushed, and he saw the display indicating how long it would wait for the future start to tick up. It went up slowly at first. Eleven years, twelve years, thirteen, fourteen.
He pushed harder, and it began to tick upwards faster and faster, and as he got a feel for it, he felt something shift, and he smiled.
"Goodbye, Atraxae, you mad woman," he said. "May the future to be everything you hoped it would be."
Karasawa closed his eyes, and he pushed the remainder of all that he was into the device, even as the building crashed down around him, burying the FOCUS and all that it contained underneath a pile of rubble.
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Edge Case Corner - Plaza of Heroes
Every spoiler season, there is a card that gets hyped up with overly broad claims. And my mental knee-jerk reaction is to find the edge cases where the claim is WRONG!
For Dominaria United, the big winner of this phenomenon is Plaza of Heroes.
So a lot of people are hailing this as Command Tower 2.0, as there are many cases where it does a really close approximation of that format staple.
This is a great card (that I will pick up multiple copies of), and it will have many homes. However, there are a number of cases where it isn’t as solid, and I’d to delve into them a bit.
In an ongoing series, I’m going to point out as many cases where this card isn’t the wonderful panacea that will cure your mana base ills.
But first, let’s go over both the abilities of this card and where this has a home.
T: Add {C}
As a baseline, this will always produce colorless mana. In a lot of cases, this will allow Plaza to pay for generic mana costs for casting spells or activating abilities. So in general, this allows the restrictions on other abilities to be less relevant in the late game.
T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a legendary Spell.
In some ways, this is the key lynchpin ability for this land. It fixes your mana excellently for casting your commander (or other incidental legendary creatures).
Color fixing typically is the most important in the early game for multicolored decks.
T: Add one mana of any color among legendary permanents you control.
Once you’ve cast either your commander or other incidental legendaries, it will be a better general fixer of mana for nonlegendary spells.
I would not rely on this ability when it comes to assessing this card, but it is definitely a solid part of the card.
{3}, T: Exile Plaza of Heroes: Target legendary creature gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
Utility abilities on lands are a weakness of mine. The overlaps between spell-like effects and mana bases are an aspect of deck building that a lot of people sleep on.
This is not a cheap cost for this effect if you are in white or green. But it does have some upsides. It will be harder to counteract, it gives this type of effect outside of its usual color niche, and the opportunity cost of having this effect in your deck is very low, especially if you were already going to include this card for the mana abilities.
Good Homes: Decks built around multicolor commanders
Ever since the tuck rule was changed and WotC has increasingly designed cards with EDH in mind, decks built with their commander as an essential lynchpin have noticeably increased.
Plaza serves to fix mana for this key card so it can be played as quickly as possible. And once it is out, the last ability provides an expensive means of protecting your commander.
This likely applies more to commanders with three or more colors in their casting cost, as two-color commanders can more easily find the right combination of dual lands and basics to cast their commander on 2/3. Granted, a two color commander will still find Plaza very useful, just less critical.
Good Homes: Low to Mid MV Commanders with some combination of high color concentration, variety, or intensity
In general, when you increase the number of colored mana pips or the variety of colored mana pips; a given card is becomes harder to cast.
When I’m assessing cards, I look at three different types of ratios of mana pips and mana value.
Color Concentration: the ratio of the number of pips of a given color to the mana value of the card. An example of a high color concentration commander is Feather the Redeemed, with a white color concentration of 0.6
Color Variety: the ratio of the number of colors of pips in a card’s casting cost to its mana value. An example of a high color variety commander is Atraxa or any of the 3 mv tri-color commanders (like Tuvasa the Sunlit).
Color Intensity: the ratio of the total number of colored pips (of any color) to the mana value of the card.
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Commander one with nothing kill yourself
While the idea of doubling the threshold for Infect makes sense in the context of doubled life totals, it overlooks the nature of having multiple opponents. The larger issue, if not the more pressing one, is how terribly weak Infect is in any multiplayer format. I talked earlier about the problems that Infect has when it comes to making the leap to Commander, but largely in relation to how it makes those on the receiving end of poison counters feel. However, it would also make just about every other Infect card completely unplayable. It would even nerf the irritating and infamous interaction between Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice and Ichor Rats. It would also make Triumph of the Hordes less likely to result in a sudden kill. It would avoid feelbads from the dreaded Blightsteel Colossus in a format where cheating creatures (not to mention artifacts) into play is trivial. Infect would still be a faster way to kill your opponents than traditional aggro, and would still circumvent any sort of lifegain strategy. Ostensibly, raising the Infect threshold to 20 would lead to far more internal consistency when it comes to Commander’s philosophy. This is similar to the problem that Voltron decks (and commander damage as a mechanic ) must grapple with. Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of poison counters, as there is truly nothing you can do to remove them – yes yes, there’s one exception, but are you really going to put Leeches in your deck? Dying first and sitting around waiting for the game to finish is not a fun experience. After all, if typical aggro creatures like Monastery Swiftspear are neutered in Commander, shouldn’t Glistener Elf suffer the same fate? The simple logic here is why many new players naturally assume the poison threshold is set at 20. It stands to reason that if our life is doubled, our poison threshold should be as well. The RC ’s primary way of achieving this has been the 40-life starting total, giving players enough time to get their deck up and running before having to worry about aggression. Why Infect Is So FrustratingĬommander is supposed to be about longer games and less competitive-minded play. Indeed, the two most-played cards with Infect in Commander also happen to sit on the saltiest cards list. Scores of players houserule the threshold up to 15 or 20 out of frustration. I’ve seen more players leave the table in anger over Infect than any other mechanic. For one thing, calling it polarizing is underselling it. It feels like a mechanic that totally circumvents inflated life-totals should thrive, but the reasons it doesn’t are myriad. While not unpopular by any means, Infect simply does not translate well to Commander.
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Welcome to Other Skies
The year is 3035. Long gone are the years of wondering if we’re alone in the universe; not only does intelligent life exist, but the universe teems with it. Eventually, the vastness of space and the unknown universe was demoted from “insurmountable obstacle” to “mild inconvenience” for one planet after another, and more and more species began discovering each other over the radio waves and even in person. With enough contact came the need for diplomacy; the Intergalactic Union was formed as a sort of interplanetary united nations-- a way to ensure that all beings on all planets would be able to live as comfortably and harmoniously as possible. Slowly, more and more species began traveling to other planets, even making their homes there; advanced artificial gravity and inertial dampening technology made trips to planets millions of lightyears away as easy as a long airplane trip. The age of universalism had begun.
The biggest players on the intergalactic field are Santorna, Lunestria, Terra (nee “Earth”), Eshenal, Palazair, Laranth, Citadel-8 (nee “Atraxa”), Sucralis, and Kokoro, each populated by its own native dominant species (known as Santornans, Lunestrians, Humans, Eshenali, Zairs, Laranthians, Atraxans, Sucralites, and Kokoro, respectively). Though each has their own unique background, culture, and politics, all nine planets have agreed to operate peacefully with each other, welcoming the others in trade and travel across the board (though some planets can be more or less hospitable to some species based on environment alone). In fact, most species are well-known to the others now, and interplanetary immigration, education, and relationships are commonplace.
Even with so many of the mysteries of the universe understood and many of the great old questions answered, some things still remain out of our grasp. There are individuals, across the galaxies, who seem to possess amplified psychic powers. These people can move objects, manipulate speech, scry dreams, and even see the future with only their minds, a fact that is widely known yet little understood. What’s more, many people find that their dreams are more to them than fleeting, whimsical nonsense; some receive powerful visions and premonitions through their dreams, or can even visit others’ dreams; what’s more, the rising and ever-more-shadowy “Electric Dream Company” seems to have been infiltrating dreams for purposes yet unknown.
With nine inhabited planets full of dozens of billions of individuals, the possibilities for exploration, discovery, and drama are nearly endless. Enjoy the journey.
#intro#lore#santornan#lunestrian#laranthian#eshenali#zair#atraxan#sucralite#kokoro#human#sci fi#rpg#tabletop#tabletop rpg#original rpg#alien#alien ocs#original alien species#pinned
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So, I’m gonna give you a feel for how evolving products have affected people like myself.
Its 2015 and you buy your Orzhov commander deck for $35. You bought one in 2011 for $30 but you felt 2013 wasn’t too strong. You’re just playing for fun. You go to the card store. Oh! They have C14? Those were fun but you never got one.
You’re told its $60-$80 because of the deck contents. You’ve missed our on buying one. Unless you’re willing to pay many times the MSRP you’re gonna have to buy individual singles.
C16 rolls around and prints pushed commanders like Atraxa as well as the uncoupled partner mechanic. These prices skyrocket, and the only fair way to get the card is to buy the precon.
C19 hits. Dockside Extortionist is a hit at 2 mana and a tiny supply pushing $40-$50 for the card. You didn’t preorder your decks before the reveal and your LGS has priced that deck at $60. You have to eat that cost because you werent ready. You also weren’t originally interested in the flashback deck, you wanted morph. But you’re trying to find a fairer way to obtain the card. So $60 for a deck isn’t too bad, right?
You hear there’s a new cycle of decks. You’ve been “burned” before on precons for your favorite format with Atraxa and Dockside, as well as wild speculative prices with the removed MSRP. Your store offers you a deal: all 5 commander decks preordered before sale for $180. A $20 discount assuming they’ll be sold at $40 each.
Of course the right decision feels like going for it. You’re making the “smart” choice by buying the whole cycle so you can access cards for your deck. With tax this has ended up being around $200 for five preconstructed EDH decks. Here are some other things you can buy for roughly the same price:
3 $70 first party Sony PS5 games
Half of a nextgen console
Groceries for around a month
Twenty blu rays
Four D&D supplemental books
13 sets of $15 dice
3-4 new tabletop board games
But in your brain you feel you’re buying hassle free access to the cards in limited supply. These are all things WOTC has added to the experience to keep you buying them in mass. Instead of buying one deck on release you’re buying the cycle bc you’ll miss out. And missing out varies wildly from what is a helpful card to your next favorite deck.
The more I look into this the less I like it.
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32 Commander Decks
I mentioned some reasons as to why I have been absent lately in an earlier post. What I did not mention was I have also been working on a very large scale Magic: the Gathering project. Over the 20ish years that I have been playing Magic, I have mostly played commander. I tried standard and modern and pauper and while all of those formats are great, they lack the multiplayer aspect, which I find very appealing about the commander format. Not to mention, when I was a kid, I didn’t have access to a lot of money, or even online card shops. Everything I got was from trading with friends and scouring any LGS I had heard about.
Over the years, and once since I started this blog, I have attempted to narrow down my collection of commander decks. Making lists about which ones I like the best, how to condense less powerful ones into a single, optimized power-house. However, I always find myself wanting to make another, wanting to create something new. I had thought about the idea of sleeving all of my cards in the same color, so that I could continuously tinker and swap cards around from deck to deck, but instead, chose a different path. I decided to build a commander deck of every color combination possible.
Truthfully, the cycle is not 100% complete and this is due to the lack of diversity in commander decks that are of four colors and colorless. In theory, I could make all six of those decks, but the world doesn’t need ANOTHER Atraxa deck. Maybe if they make more four-color and colorless legends, but not until then. However, I have multiple five color decks, and at least one of every three, two and single colored decks.
Part of why I did this is so that, in the future, I can just swap out the commander and some key cards if I want to make a change. Another reason is that, I like trying out different strategies, finding new ways to play the same game that I was playing as a child. On top of that, all of my decks are at varying power levels. At my LGS, the play group is ever expanding, and there are often people who are new to Magic as a whole, who wish to learn. I can hand them a more straight forward and simple deck and teach them as we play. It also helps if someone forgets their deck, or would like to try out a new strategy. These decks aren’t just for me, but for my friends.
Now, comes the list. I am not going to go into major detail about all of my decks. That would make this arricle so long, I would possibly break this site. The decks will be rated on the 1-10 power scale, along with a very short description of what the strategy it uses. So, without further ado, here are all of my commander decks:
W - Avacyn, Angel of Hope - 8
Angel tribal with mass boardwipes
U - Taniwha - 7.5
“Big Blue”, mass bounce tempo
B - Bontu, the Glorified - 7
Aristocrats
R - Lathliss, the Dragon Queen - 7.5
Dragon Tribal, fast aggro
G - Gargos, Vicious Watcher - 5
Hydra tribal, mass ramp
UW - Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun - 4
Tokens and copies
UB - Oona, Queen of the Fae - 9.5
cEDH combo/control
BR - Xantcha and Chainer - 7/7
Xantcha is a politics and control deck
Chainer is reanimator
RG - Hallar, the Firefletcher - ?
Kicker synergy, have not played it yet so no rating.
GW - Dragonlord Dromoka - 8
Stax control/midrange
WR - Tiana, Ship’s Caretaker - 6
Voltron equipment
UR - Jhoira of the Ghitu and Adeliz - 6/4
Jhoira is suspend big nonsense
Adeliz is pauper spell-slinger wizard tribal
BG - Ishkanah and Slimefoot - 8.5/7.5
Ishkanah - dredge/graveyard combo (favorite deck)
Slimefoot - Fungus tribal, token combo
WB - Tymna & Ravos partners - 5
Cleric tribal
UG - Experiment Kraj - 7
Combo and +1/+1 counters
WUG - Angus Mackenzie and Phelddagrif - 8/how do you rank group hugs?!?
Angus - Bant Superfriends
Pheldagriff - OLD SCHOOL group hugs
WUB - Varina (upcoming, Alela) - 7
Tribal Zombies (Tribal Faeries)
UBR - Admiral Beckett Brass - 5
Vorthos Pirates
BRG - Wasitora, Nekoru Regent - ???
Dragons/goodstuff (too early to rate)
WRG - Zacama, Primal Calamity - 6
Dinosaur tribal
WBG - Doran, the Siege Tower - 6
Tribal Treefolk
WUR - Pramikon, the Sky Rampart - 5
Chaos and group interaction. Walls
UBG - Yarok, the Desecrated - 8
ETB value, Primal Surge
WBR - Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - 8
Reanimator combo with ETB value
URG - Animar/Omnath, Locus of the Roil - 6
Elemental Tribal (still debating commander)
WUBRG
Sliver Overlord - 8.5
Sliver Tribal, combo, toolbox
Reaper King - 7
Scarecrow Tribal, artifacts, control
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim - 5
All foil, lands matter
So there we go! All 32 of my current commander decks ranked. I still have some cards I want to acquire for these decks, but for the most part, I don’t see myself building a new commander deck from scratch in the future.
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