Enhancing a B01 Standard Orzhov Cleric Deck with Final Fantasy

June 23, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Magic’s latest set, Final Fantasy, has now been out for three weeks. As with every other Standard set, let’s take a look and see what new cards I may be able to add to my typal Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric deck in a bid to finally transform it into a first tier deck. The first Universes Beyond set to be Standard legal brings six new Clerics to the table.

As always, a number of them can be immediately skipped over as they don’t fit into the Orzhov colours. That does not mean that they don’t have potential. Yuna, Hope of Spira, in particular, could fit nicely into a Selesnya enchantments deck.

Back to our deck, we have three Clerics that could fit into the deck. Let’s take a closer look at these.

Aerith Gainsborough certainly could be a good fit. Lifelink helps power some of the other Clerics in the deck. Any tokens it gains can be saved when she dies if I have a legendary creature on the board. Without any protection, I have a feeling that Aerith is simply too vulnerable. And the limited number of legendary creatures means that I may not be able to save those counters to make it worthwhile. I may swap out two Annex Sentries to see how she would fare in its place.

Rosa, Resolute White Mage, is another card that seems decent at first glance Giving creatures a +1/+1 counter and lifelink until end of turn fits well into the deck. At a cost of , I’m not sure I want to cut Roaming Throne for this card. Then again, it might be time for some experimentation. Let’s try it!

Finally, here is a card that I have been excited about since I first saw it. Minwu, White Mage, is definitely going into the deck so that I can see if she is as good as she seems to be. Right out of the gate, she comes with vigilance and lifelink. So far, so good but whenever I gain life, she allows me to put a +1/+1 counter on each Cleric I control. That could end some games. The only downside is her cost. At , this is not a cheap card to cast.

Final Fantasy comes with another goodie for Clerics. There are two equipment spells that can turn any creature into a Cleric. While only one fits an Orzhov deck, this is definitely an interesting development. Both White Mage’s Staff and Sage’s Nouliths turn creatures into Clerics while they are equipped. The job select mechanic means that both enter already attached to a Hero Cleric and both have nice upside when they attack.

My first instinct is to not include White Mage’s Staff simply because so many of the other Clerics already have lifelink. But again, this may need to be validated in the lab of gameplay first.

One other change I made to the deck was to remove Fell in favour of Exorcise. Both work at Sorcery speed but the latter gives me more options to target.

One last change: I cut the Krumar Initiates in favour of Authority of the Consuls. It should slow my opponent down a bit and give my Clerics deck a bit more time for the pieces to fall into place and hopefully take control of the game.

Here is the latest version of my Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric deck:

Deck

2 Go for the Throat (BRO) 102
3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
3 Essence Channeler (BLB) 12
3 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
3 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
2 Authority of the Consuls (FDN) 137
3 Preacher of the Schism (LCI) 113
2 Rosa, Resolute White Mage (FIN) 555
2 Cut Down (DMU) 89
2 Minwu, White Mage (FIN) 26
2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
2 Exorcise (DSK) 8
2 Aerith Gainsborough (FIN) 4
2 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269
1 The Dross Pits (ONE) 251
1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
1 The Fair Basilica (ONE) 252
8 Plains (THB) 250
3 Scoured Barrens (IKO) 254
6 Swamp (THB) 252
2 Valgavoth’s Lair (DSK) 271

Sideboard (or cards I may want to bring back into the deck later)

1 Grand Abolisher (BIG) 2
1 Skrelv, Defector Mite (ONE) 33
1 Pest Control (BIG) 22
1 Lay Down Arms (BRO) 11
1 The Witch’s Vanity (WOE) 119
1 Starscape Cleric (BLB) 116
1 Krumar Initiate (TDM) 84
1 Sanguine Evangelist (LCI) 34
1 Zoraline, Cosmos Caller (BLB) 242
1 Leyline Binding (DMU) 24
1 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
1 Virtue of Persistence (WOE) 115
1 Moonrise Cleric (BLB) 226
2 Roaming Throne (LCI) 258

Is Final Fantasy a dud Magic TCG set?

May 24, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

First, my apologies for that complete click bait title! I doubt that anyone will call the upcoming Final Fantasy set for Magic: The Gathering a failure (or they will be very few and far between). It has already become the best-selling Magic set of all times and it is still not out for another couple of weeks! I expect that this alone will be enough for Wizards of the Coast to call it a success.

For anyone living under a rock, Final Fantasy is the first Universes Beyond set that will be Standard legal. It comes with an army of fans that have followed the video game dynasty that goes all the way back to 1987! That interest alone has shone a new light on this family’s favourite game and brought waves of new players.

Add in Commander sets, the “Through the Ages” bonus consisting of 64 reprints that have been given a Final Fantasy treatment (including the return of Dark Confidant to Standard) and a number of Secret Lair sets, and this is shaping up to be a massive release for the game.

So why that title for this post? Simply put, Final Fantasy is not connecting in this family. First, let me set the stage a bit. It starts with the fact that none of us are Final Fantasy fans (please, no hate mail!). I was not a console gamer in my youth and so missed the early games. I remember the hype and noise each time a new installment came out but never played. Similarly, the boys never got into the game despite they growing up with gaming consoles in the house. I’m not sure why but there it is.

Back to why I’m calling it a dud. It starts with my disappointment that Universes Beyond Magic sets are now becoming Standard-legal. I’m just not keen on seeing cards of this set in upcoming Standard games. The boys are equally unimpressed by the set. Like me, they are not familiar with the lore. The art, what initially got Noah into the game so many years ago, is not connecting with him.

The cost is not helping. A Final Fantasy Play Booster box is going for CA$249.99! The Commander decks are selling for CA$549.99 for the set of four and none of them sell for less than CA$120 individually. A single Collector Booster pack is selling for CA$94.99 – That’s over CA$6 a card before taxes! A Collector Booster box is going for CA$1099.99! Note that all prices are from Face to Face as of the day I published this post; 401 Games is slightly cheaper and has a better stock situation at the moment.

Even the pre-release events are more expensive (no surprise given the set prices) than usual. At CA$67.50 per person, this is a more than 30% increase over the recent pre-releases which had cost CA$50 or so. With the tradition that Papa pays for these, this gets to be pretty pricey!

All right, I still have not said why I’m calling the set a dud. Simply because there is no interest in this set in this household. I think I will be the only one going to a pre-release event – I love these events. Noah is emphatically saying no at the moment and Christian is on the fence due to lack of interest and possible work shift conflicts. When was the last time we missed a pre-release out of a lack of interest? Never ever since we started!

Our disinterest is extending to a communal decision not to buy a Play Booster box of the set. This is a long-standing tradition for us and the fact that we are deliberately skipping it is another Has-not-happened-in-a-long-time kind of moment.

And last of all, these Moogles and Chocobos look like they belong in the Pokemon world rather than Magic! And this is from someone who initially thought Bloomburrow might be too cute for Magic!

It is increasingly looking like there will be very little Magic for us this summer (aside from hopefully our regular games). And this is particularly sad because Noah is headed out of province for university at the end of August. It definitely feels like the end of an era! And while I cannot blame Final Fantasy for this, I can certainly blame it for it wiping out one of my favourite family traditions. At least until Edge of Eternities comes out this fall!

Drop us a note and let us know your thoughts!

Aetherdrift Review: Impact on Standard B01 Orzhov Clerics

February 6, 2025February 7, 2025 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Time for my usual new set review to see how I might be able to improve my Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric deck. As always, each new set offers the possibility that we can finally turn this deck into a strong Tier 1 competitor. Alas! While Aetherdrift is better than Outlaws of Thunder Junction when it comes to clerics, it’s not by much. Unless you include the clerics in the Commander sets, there are only two new cards to consider.

Of these two, only one is works in an Orzhov deck. A closer look reveals it to be slightly more than a vanilla 2/2. Granted it throws in Flying and ETB lifelink and indestructible trigger but that will not be enough to displace an other card from my current deck.

Samut, the Driving Force is a card with more upside but unfortunately sports Naya colours. As an aside, I’m not sold on Start your engines! as one of the new mechanics of the set. But let me see how the Aetherdrift pre-release goes before I commit to my current opinion.

Taking a look at Clerics in the Commander decks, there are three additional cards. None of them could go into a Standard deck but they are worth a look as I continue to think about a Commander version of my Clerics deck.

Vizier of Many Faces is as Blue a card as ever so it is automatically out.

Priest of the Crossing is less interesting version of Luminarch Aspirant, a card that was nerfed on Arena (to become an Alchemy card). While the stat improvement and Flying are nice improvements, the fact that some of my other creatures have to die to trigger the pump is enough to pass on this card unless I would be hard-pressed to come up with 99 other cards for a Commander deck.

Wizened Mentor lacks any synergy with the deck and is also a hard pass. Maybe in an Orzhov Zombie deck?

All in all, Aetherdrift will certainly not go down as a favourite for Orzhov Clerics. There simply not enough cards and especially good ones.

With no changes with the launch of Aetherdrift, here is the current version of my kindred Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric deck:

Deck

2 Go for the Throat (BRO) 102
2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
2 Fell (BLB) 95
3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
8 Plains (THB) 250
6 Swamp (THB) 252
3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
1 Forlorn Flats (OTJ) 258
1 The Fair Basilica (ONE) 252
2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
1 The Dross Pits (ONE) 251
1 Valgavoth’s Lair (DSK) 271
2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
3 Essence Channeler (BLB) 12
2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
3 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2
3 Preacher of the Schism (LCI) 113
2 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269
2 Roaming Throne (LCI) 258
2 Metropolis Reformer (MAT) 4
2 Cut Down (DMU) 89
2 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
3 Infernal Vessel (FDN) 63

Sideboard

2 Grand Abolisher (BIG) 2
1 Skrelv, Defector Mite (ONE) 33
1 Pest Control (BIG) 22
2 Lay Down Arms (BRO) 11
1 The Witch’s Vanity (WOE) 119
1 Sanguine Evangelist (LCI) 34
1 Zoraline, Cosmos Caller (BLB) 242
1 Leyline Binding (DMU) 24
2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
2 Virtue of Persistence (WOE) 115
1 Moonrise Cleric (BLB) 226

P.S. For fun, I tried the AI generated feature image tool for this post. Is it possible that some Magic characters have six fingers?

Duskmourn Clerics: Worth Adding to Your Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric Deck?

September 22, 2024September 23, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

A new set means that it’s once again time to see how we might possibly improve our Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric typal deck. Unfortunately, Duskmourn: House of Horrors only brings three new Cleric cards to Standard. Commander players will find an additional five, mostly reprints, in the pre-constructed decks. I guess that clerics are not very welcome on a plane ruled by a demon although Valgavoth might have been more open minded about clerics who worshiped at its feet, especially if they were willing to suffer for him.

Let’s take a closer look at these new Clerics. All three new Standard Clerics are Black cards. There are no Mythics or Rates, only one Uncommon and two Commons.

Valgavoth’s Faithful is a cheap card at only for a 1/1. But unlike many such cards, it comes with an activated ability that costs that could be very useful in bringing back a more expensive card later. But it will either require protection until then or a later play.

Fanatic of the Harrowing is not jumping out at me either. For , you get a 2/2 that forces card discards. It might get you a card back but this is the type of card that is just too situational in my opinion. In the right circumstances, it can be useful but it can also prove to be useless. For example, my opponent could have no cards in hand or I could be forced to discard something that I would rather hang on to. It won’t displace anything in my deck at this cost.

Resurrected Cultist is bit cheaper than Fanatic but offers less for it. A 4/1 is likely destined for a quick death and bringing it back with Delirium only means another quick death. It is again a card that does not offer better value than existing Clerics.

While I may play with all three just to see if I’m wrong, my initial thought is that the deck will remain unchanged for now. If it changes, it may be to bring other cards in. For example, Sanguine Savior has disappointed and is on the chopping block. But I doubt that it will make room for a Duskmourn Cleric.

So, no changes to the current deck:

3 Go for the Throat (BRO) 102
2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
2 Valorous Stance (OTC) 88
3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
2 Essence Channelers (BLB)
4 Starscape Cleric (BLB)
2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
2 Moonrise Clerics (BLB)
2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
2 Sanguine Savior (MKM) 230
3 Preacher of the Schism (LCI) 113
2 Roaming Throne (LCI) 258
2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2
8 Plains (THB) 250
7 Swamp (THB) 252
2 Forlorn Flats (OTC) 258
3 Three Tree City (BLB) 264
2 Fabled Passage (BLB) 252
2 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269

Sideboard:

2 Cut Down (DMU) 89
2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
1 Essence Channeler (BLB)
2 Skrelv, Defector Mite (ONE) 33
2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97

Value Boosters: Another Booster Type is born

July 13, 2024July 14, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Previews kicked off in earnest earlier this week for the upcoming Bloomburrow set. Better yet, the first hints of Magic’s first Mustelid typal deck came to light. But not all was good news; Wizards also introduced Value Boosters in a relatively terse announcement. Billed as “smaller, lighter booster that contain a handful of new cards any fan can enjoy,” they come with seven cards and presumably (but not confirmed yet) a lower price.

It was less than a year ago that Wizards announced that it was doing away with both Set and the venerable Draft boosters in favour of a single Play booster meant to offer the best of both worlds. Part of the reason for the decision was to eliminate the confusion between the two types of boosters. According to Mark Rosewater, offering two caused friction and upset players when they felt that they got the “wrong kind” of booster. He specifically excluded the much more expensive Collector Booster from the discussion because “players who buy Collector Boosters enjoy them.” We were left with one booster type geared more at play and another at collecting.

Not long after, Wizards decided to bring back booster confusion when it unveiled March of the Machine: Aftermath and its five card Epilogue Boosters. The set did not sell well (for a number of reasons) and the company quickly killed its latest booster type, rolling up a planned second set into Outlaws of Thunder Junction as The Big Score bonus cards. But it was not done with its experimenting. Earlier this month, it released the Universes Beyond: Assassin’s Creed set with new Beyond boosters. These feature seven cards, three Uncommons, one Land or Scene card, one Rare or Mythic, and a “Booster Fun” card. A pack sells for just under CA$8 at LGS around me.

And now, here come Value Boosters. So what do you get in one of these? It will contain 3 Commons, 2 Uncommons, 1 Wildcard of any rarity, and 1 card that may be a land, a traditional foil, or a Special Guests card. Seven cards and no guarantee that you will even find a rare card. Is that value? They will presumably sell for less than Beyond boosters but I’ll let you decide for yourself if they’re for you.

Value Boosters will launch alongside the upcoming Bloomburrow set at “select retailers.” No details have yet been provided as to who these retailers will be and what the price of a pack will be.

It remains to be seen who is the audience for Value Boosters. Maybe they will end up at big box stores alongside other TCGs such as Pokemon. My guess is that this is a way to offer a lower cost alternative to other boosters as prices continue to tick up (inflation and the lack of MSRP to help regulate). One thing is for sure, I cannot see any collectors picking them up. And a second thing, I have no plans to pick any of these packs up.

Hopefully the booster experiments will come to an end soon.

Five cards looking for a Commander deck

June 12, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

I use my local LGS website’s wish list feature to keep track of cards that I’m interested in. Everything from cards that I want for an existing deck, think are neat enough to build around or even both, to ones that might be a good gift for one of they boys (maybe they made a mention in passing at the dinner table for example) might end up on that list.

After my last post about Modern Horizons 3 cards that could fit into decks, I had a look at my list and it occurred to me that some of them might fit into Commander decks.

Steel Seraph

I wanted to play Steel Seraph as soon as I saw it during previews during Brothers’ War. The Prototype mechanic is neat – Similar to Kicker but offering essentially what is a downgrade option instead of an upgrade. Much like Kicker, offering a lower mana cost to get a less powerful version of the card opens up a number of options during game play. Do you go for the cheaper mana cost and benefit earlier or do you wait until later in the game? With Prototype, the ideal is when you have a way to pull the card out of the graveyard as it returns in its full-powered version.

Paying to have a 3/3 earlier in the game is not great value but it can help smooth out game play and has decent evasion. The full version is not cheap either but is definitely worth experimenting with. I love Steel Seraph’s flexibility, offering the choice of Flying, Vigilance or lifelink at the beginning of combat on my turn opens up options. Flying is a good offensive trick, Vigilance gives you the ability to attack and still defend while lifelink is useful when you’re taking a beating. And here you have all three on one card!

I think this one is headed into my Kaalia of the Vast Commander deck. Probably at the expense of a demon or dragon as this deck continues to morph more into an Angels deck every time I make a change.

Ocelot Pride

This one is a new addition to my wish list after the Modern Horizons 3 previews. A 1/1 Cat for that adds First Strike, lifelink, Ascend and the ability to crank out 1/1 white Cat creature tokens whenever you gain life during your turn cannot be bad.

The price as it stands certainly proves that. At CA$30 for the cheapest variant (as I write this ahead of next week’s release), I’ll likely sit on this and see if it comes down in price. Considering the card was selling for CA$40 a bit earlier, I think there is room for it to come down further and then slide into a deck.

As for what deck, I don’t have a tokens deck so this may be a card asking me to build one. Maybe Darien, King of Kjeldor. Not sure mono-white would last long in our house though; the boys would quickly go after it if only to put me on the back foot. And the cost to bring it back would quickly become unaffordable. How about Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard instead? Giving your attacking tokens double strike sounds like something fun to me. And a bit of card replenishment is not bad either.

Grand Abolisher

When I first saw this card, I immediately thought it was perfect for Commander, especially with the decks that the boys love to play. Disrupting their plans is a strategy that I have oft thought about. This card would certainly do that, if only during my turn. Maybe I should pair it up with an Esper Sentinel.

This feels like a cool card in search of a deck for me to play it in. One thing it has going for it is that it is a Cleric.

All I know is that I want this card. But it will stay on the wish list until I think of a deck that will welcome it with open arms.

Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant

Kurbis has been on my wish list for a while. I can’t quite remember how it ended up there but I suspect it had something to do with +1/+1 counters. Giving itself some counters upon entering the battlefield is okay but it’s the second ability that stands out. Removing a +1/+1 counter to prevent damage to another creature with a +1/+1 counter on it is a useful little ability.

Revisiting the card for this post, I thought at first that it might be a good fit into my Animar, Soul of Elements deck but it will likely fit better in my Atraxa deck where it could protect the creatures around it. Giving it some further thought, it might be better off in a different deck altogether. Maybe in the same deck as Ocelot Pride?

Envoy of the Ancestors

This is another new addition to my wish list. It caught my eye given it is a Cleric. For , you get a 2/3 creature with Outlast . Combine that with its ability to give modified creatures lifelink and you have a pretty strong candidate for any deck that relies on counters on Equipments and Auras.

It might be a good fit into my Atraxa deck. Or maybe it is time to build a Commander deck built around Clerics. Wait a second! Grand Abolisher is a Cleric too! Hey, I already have two cards for my new Cleric Commander deck…

Bonus card: Basking Dreadscale

There is a lot of early interest in this card. While Adapt is not quite as potent as Outlast given that it can only really be used once, Basking Broodscale’s second ability, namely creating a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token every time a counter goes on plays nicely with mechanics like Proliferate.

So, we have yet another card that could fit nicely into a +1/+1 counter deck even though that’s not what is driving the current interest in the card.

The key takeaway today seems to be that I need to build a Cleric Typal deck as well as one for +1/+1 counters. And I probably need to clean my wish list a bit as well…

Exploring Modern Horizons 3 Singles for Commander Decks

June 1, 2024June 3, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

Modern Horizons 3 is just around the corner with pre-release events starting June 6th. I have been keeping an eye on the previews despite this being one of those sets that I will skip. While Maro would say that this is “not be the product for you,” I simply say that it’s prohibitively expensive. A pre-release event at my LGS would set me back CA$70 while a Play Booster box is on sale for CA$399.99. Too rich for my blood or that of the boys. We might get a few packs but I suspect that we will hold off until Bloomburrow comes out.

So, back to the previews. I am looking to see what singles I could pick and drop into a few of my Commander decks.

First up, Ruhan of the Fomori. I have not made any modifications to this deck in a while. One card in particular stands out in Modern Horizons 3 that I will look to slot into it is Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury. Paying for a 6/6 is not a bad cost for a card that immediately gets sacrificed. Why, you ask? For the additional Escape cost (along with five cards to exile), you get a sorcery speed Lightning Helix each time Phlage enters the battlefield or attacks.

Unfortunately, it’s the only Giant in Ruhan’s colours (and only one of two Giants in the whole set).

I’ve seen recommendations to add Lavaspur Boots from Outlaws of Thunder Junction but I’m on the fence on that one. It’s a cheap equipment but not sure what I would pull out to slot it in. Let’s see what happens.

Next up, Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice, which I played with against the boys earlier this week (won one and lost one). Nothing leaps out at me at first glance but I really should look to get a Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, into the deck. Sure, it will have a target on its back as soon as it enters but its ability to double +1/+1 counters on each creature I control is pretty sweet albeit expensive.

Modern Horizons 3 is more generous when it comes to elves than giants. There are five in total, including the new Eladamri, Korvecdal. I want to try to see if the card draw outweighs the disadvantages (like not having any removal protection and being susceptible to so many removal threats). An addition to the deck that could easily become a quick exit.

I’m not much of a Blue player. If anything, it is a colour that I will splash but I do have a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck that I like to pull out every once in a while to try to frustrate the boys. It is not well tuned and has not done well in the past but it has won a few times.

When it comes to Talrand, I wish Christian had told me that he was going to sell his Swan Song as I would have picked it up from him for this deck. With Modern Horizons 3, I may look to add Strix Serenade as a variant of that card (or maybe I pick up both). While the swan counters Enchantments, Instants, and Sorceries, Strix Serenade instead counters Artifacts, Creatures, and Planeswalkers. A 2/2 bird can be a more-than-fair tradeoff depending on what is getting countered.

The other card I would like to get for Talrand is Harbinger of the Seas. The thinking here is simply to slow my opponents down by messing with their mana base.

I will need to dust off a few other decks to see how they could benefit from new Modern Horizons 3 cards (or price drops due to reprints). For now, I will update my deck lists and post them on the site when I get all these new cards. Some of these are not cheap so it may be a while yet.

Goodbye stickers and Attractions from Unfinity!

May 25, 2024May 26, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

It’s not often that entire mechanics get banned but that’s exactly what happened with the latest banned and restricted announcement. Before revealing which mechanics, yes, not one but two, will no longer be able to grace your pauper, legacy and vintage decks, let me just say that I am not sorry to see them go. So, without further ado and assuming that you came here to get your banned and restricted announcement rather than from more official channels, gone are Attractions and stickers, both from the Unfinity set that came out in October 2022.

If there ever was a time that Maro was right when he said that “This product is not for you,” this was it. Insert whatever product you want in that sentence and there will always be some things that are not for you. The Magic ‘un’ sets are such a product for me. And the latest one, Unfinity, was even less of one than previous ones. I simply did not like the mechanics and concepts it introduced.

Forcing unsets into legal formats with the retirement of silver borders was a poor decision in my mind. Right out of the gate, it introduced unnecessary complexity with the new acorn and non-acorn cards. Acorn cards were not legal in Constructed formats unless specifically allowed (so, no easily discernible border and a bunch of exceptions on top of that). Magic is already a complicated game; there is no need to introduce more especially when it is so haphazard.

And even more of a head-scratcher were stickers. We (okay, I) spend all this time making sure our (my) cards remain in pristine order and now Magic wanted to stick things on them. Say what? Hard pass, even in the name of silly fun (call me a humbug, my kids already do!). Stick them on the sleeves instead, you say. Yeah, that could work but still annoying. Your cards end up looking garish! And if there is one thing I don’t like, it’s garishness (is that even a word?).

Unfinity also came with Attractions. These were a new type of card that did not go into your main deck but into a different one called the Attraction deck. They did not even have normal Magic backs. They were artifacts but without a mana cost. And no, you did not cast them but relied instead on other cards to bring them into play. They also had lights numbered 1 through 6 in the lower right corner used to decide if an action triggered based on die roll. Just writing all this made my head hurt!

I had no interest in such mechanics. The boys were equally unimpressed and we simply skipped the set. As Maro had said, this was not a product for us. But with the new rules that some of these cards could make it into “traditional” formats, there was the chance that you could run into some of these cards in a regular game. Kind of like now when you run into a Dr. Who or Warhammer 40K card in a Commander game (Still feels odd to me but that’s a topic for another day).

The set also came with other mechanics. If you want to read more about them, check out the original article outlining all the Unfinity mechanics.

It all felt very forced and the acorn cards felt like an attempt to extend the life of the set by jamming some of the cards into other formats. So, this family let our wallets speak and skipped the set. And frankly never looked back on it until this ban announcement.

WOTC acknowledged that its experiment with unset cards went too far. It also confirmed that we will not see something similar again in the future:

When we released Unfinity, we knew that its partial legality in Magic‘s broader formats was an experiment with risks. The concept of widening a set’s appeal to more players is at its core a good one. Moving forward, we won’t be revisiting this kind of experiment any time soon.

Not all mechanics are great. For every one that enriches the game, there are some that instead take away from the game. It’s good to see that WOTC has finally recognized that Unfinity had no business being legal in regular formats and being anything more than an unset.

All right, enough old man ranting for one day!

Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric Typal in Outlaws of Thunder Junction

April 4, 2024 / Jerome / Leave a comment

This will be a very short installment in our Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric Typal adventure. While with a new set comes the promise of new cards and hopefully a strong deck, this latest set fails to deliver. Why? you ask. Well, simply put, there are no Clerics in Thunder Junction. Nary a one! Not even one! But it still finds room for squirrels? Don’t believe me? Have a look at Scryfall and see for yourself.

I’ll take a look at other cards that could slot into the deck to work alongside the clerics. Maybe I should look at the new Saddle mechanic. Can you imagine the fear when a Cleric mounted on a Bounding Felidar, a Bridled Bighorn or a Caustic Bronco comes riding at their opponent?

More seriously, I think I may look at the new Commit a Crime mechanic and see what options there might be.

For now, here is my unchanged Orzhov Cleric Typal deck:

3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
2 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
2 Sanguine Savior (MKM) 230
3 Preacher of the Schism (LCI) 113
2 Roaming Throne (LCI) 258
2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2
8 Plains (THB) 250
6 Swamp (THB) 252
2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
2 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269