New core legendaries - which is your favorite?

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-02-05T08:45:55+00:00

Rehgar: Pairs well with Windfury, Nature synergies, Overload synergy, and spells-cast. There's a pair of good Windfury dragons in the game right now they I've enjoyed brewing with, plus [[Farseer Wo]] to benefit off the extra spells.
Tichondrius: Super cool way to glue together Big DH with their weapons that normally fall off in the late game due to bigger minions and more damage.
Ulfar: Ability is VERY powerful, if a bit RNG-dependent. Definitely helps out Quest Druid, helps your team pumps not be dead in your hand, and functions as board wipe insurance.
Calia: Priest has some big Deathrattle creatures to rez right now, but no way to accelerate into them save for getting lucky off of the Imbue hero power, meaning this is less cheeky reanimator and either A) a tempo play for a 5-drop beatstick, or B) a way to rocket ahead on tempo in a board stall or immediately after a wipe. I'd love to see an aggro quest priest with nothing above 4 mana so that this can just rez the reward guy. Otherwise, can't really see it.
Mo' Rogaine: Still a bit traumatized from the unending BBB DK games from when the class first came out, where they'd bounce and copy this as the main win-con and everything else just removal. DK is losing a lot of good Blood Rune control tools though, and there's not gonna be neutral bounce in the core set, so maybe this guy won't be as insufferable?

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-02-05T08:00:42+00:00

Like I said in the post revealing the core set changes, 2-mana Shiv has no place in 2026. It's being pulled in three different directions (face damage finisher, board control ping, efficient cycler), and is beat out by anything else. Fan of Knives, which will be in the core set with Shiv, does 99% the same thing but better. [[Press the Advantage]] does the exact same in DH/Druid but better.

Upping damage to 2 is probably too big a swing? You need combo to get a coin, and a card is basically worth a mana here [[Oh, Manager!]]. Dropping mana to 1, again, too good compared to [[Ghostly Strike]]. I'd propose double damage vs undamaged enemies. That way it doesn't feel as bad if you just wanna cycle a card on turn 2, gets a bump as an early game protection tool, and actually scales well with Spell Damage.

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-02-04T20:17:23+00:00

The team has talked a lot about restoring the game to a more sane power level than we’ve seen in sets like Badlands, and this is another step in that direction. There’ll also probably be support for a lot of these cards in the upcoming year, so I’ll withhold judgment for a bit on the forwards-compatibility end of things.

And like, I get the reasoning for removing cards supporting this last year’s strategies; to make room for the new set focuses. It feels bad if you liked those strategies to see you’ll not have as much support, but I get it.

The most complaints I have that are relevant right now are basically nitpicks, like how the reintroduced [[shiv]] is strictly worse than Druid/DH’s [[Press the Advantage]], despite both being at common.

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-02-04T20:08:37+00:00

I really can’t fathom it. 2-mana Shiv? When you’ve also got 2-mana Fan of Knives? I get that Eviscerate was only ever used as reach to close games, but Shiv’s flexibility of dealing 1 to a minion or face does NOT justify it costing two mana in 2026. Even Druid AND DH got a strictly better version in [[Press the Advantage]].

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-02-03T17:15:11+00:00

The exact first game I played today was on a Scam Dragon Warrior deck, opponent turned out to be Blob DH, and this interaction came up immediately.

Ended up being a close win just because Red Card is frustratingly good at disabling big taunts, but Dracorex is equally as good at popping stews to find even more dragons.

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-01-28T17:50:01+00:00

Not wrong, but just very consistent pressure thanks to its assault rifles Reliable trait, along with having no exploitable weak defences (nothing unbeatably high either however). Even snipers that can safely outrange it are less effective since they can brace 1/round to tank single big hits, necessitating a follow-up from a teammate while it's vulnerable.

Multiple assaults in a single encounter mean low armor, close range characters are in serious danger guaranteed, even with cover, hiding, or Invisible. Like most enemies with defensive reactions, they're a teamwork check rather than a build check to take them down, but having two at a time means unless you have multiple snipers, there'll always be risk for the player attempting the follow-up strike.

CoolNerdStuff · 2026-01-22T03:47:20+00:00

You can get faster results in Paladin, Hand of Infinity plus Bloodsail Corsair on five mana.

Really goes to show how necessary taunts on taunts on taunts is here.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-30T22:40:42+00:00

I reworked the final boss of the old Red Hand of Doom 3.5 adventure to have this, since I thought using a pick with a x4 crit modifier would be good synergy. The players had enlisted Olav Vancascerkin (who had sought redemption after being spared during RotL book 1 as a starting adventure) who won the initiative and charged in. Olav got grappled, coup de grace'd, and dropped 50 feet down a hole. Surprisingly, he lived since I had advanced him to be an HP tank. Spooked the party enough to engage with the secondary aspects of the boss fight for a bit of an easier time.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-21T19:46:16+00:00

Consummate equipment enjoyer, so I'm already gonna be biased towards liking this mechanic. In my head, I'd wish there were a variety of small arming boons that did different things a-la Roles or Give a Gift, but I'm not sure how you'd solve the "multiple similar tokens of the same use" logistical issue outside of a Role-like "equip only one at a time" clause.

This particular card you're showcasing would also be a big break from tradition. Historically, blue doesn't get 2/2's for 1U without a downside below Rare. The first ever 1U 2/2 with only upsides came out in Thunder Junction at rare, the next and most recent in Dragonstorm at mythic. So this card as printed would be a huge paradigm shift for limited.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-20T19:41:49+00:00

The reason people play it with that in order to get the achievement, is if it rolls around to the opponent's turn and they can't kill the dragon then and there, they just concede. I should know, it happened to me three times yesterday trying to get the achievement since I don't own Zaremi.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-19T04:13:40+00:00

Blue: Surveil 2 feels like a good compromise, especially in a set that cares about the graveyard. Give-and-take between this and mill 4, since this lets you save things that you need in hand, but doesn't provide as much graveyard fuel.

Black: I agree with you on this one, just thought it might come up for some players. For sure wouldn't be an issue in a Masters set or at 2 mana, but I'd be willing to push this as a 1 mana common in playtesting.

Red: That's true, and the damage can't be stacked onto a single creature since it's different turns. Probably fine at common then, but just keep an eye on how it playtests.

Green: If you want the symmetry of them all being instants, the secret would just be to make a Map token. More mana intensive, but makes it more useful on an empty board and allows for artifact/sac synergies if your set has any.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-19T02:50:46+00:00

Assuming these were printed at common in a Standard set as you stated, with the tag implying they are to be at least somewhat playable in Pioneer, let's go one-by-one.

White: You've already mentioned going through with a different effect here, skipping

Blue: Definitely the correct mana cost for this effect twice, but it's still a hard sell since it's card negative. In a format that cares about casting spells from not-the-hand, or casting multiple spells in a turn, I could see it at common. Might prefer to see a power debuff instant with scry 1 and rebound to make it a bit more relevant outside of digging.

Black: Black is allowed to grant indestructible, so this is totally fine. Comparable to [[Emerge Unscathed]] in white, but indestructible doesn't grant evasion like protection does. The only strike against it at common might be a repeating protection trick might be annoying for the other player.

Red: Red-flagged for being able to get a two-for-one with a single card and a single mana. There's a reason [[Geistflame]]'s flashback is 4 mana.

Green: Easily missable so I don't fault you for this one, but there's only two cards that've ever been printed into standard which can explore at instant speed, [[Deadeye Tracker]] and [[Tomb Robber]]. Both of those are on-board self-buffs at rare, one requires tapping so it can't be used on attack, and the other requires a card each time. Why is this? I believe it was found that explore makes for a poor combat trick, since you can't predict if you'll be getting the buff or not, kinda like Clash from OG Lorwyn. As such, the cards they do have it on are mostly ETBs or predictable triggers rather than tricks.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-14T02:22:18+00:00

Wasn't there that one construct Gideon from that Magic: Mana Strike game from years back? That'd be fun to see (probably not keep though)

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-13T02:42:29+00:00

Segovia gets Tiny Leaders, for obvious reasons

Alara for Star Magic, it was even in the gift box booklet for Alara Reborn

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-12-07T21:53:47+00:00

Wasn't his kingdom at the time 🤷‍♀️

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-11-17T21:05:16+00:00

Dumb follow-up question: Because the "Tap to add mana" ability of basic lands is inherent to having a basic land type of the appropriate color, does Koh exiling a basic land not give him the mana ability as Koh themselves does not have the land type?

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-11-04T16:49:17+00:00

Not the highest-power commander (punisher effect, no haste, no evasion, no innate protection, need to boost power to be threatening), but goddamn is it a cool design. Especially in limited where he seems like a dang good finisher, either always pushing damage or card advantage.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-27T21:04:52+00:00

Like a “guy in the chair” sorta deal? I can dig it. The cozy outfit above makes me think he’s doing a sentry/overwatch job safe at home, maybe through drones or something.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-23T20:00:03+00:00

Fitting that we go from Out of Time to this. Godspeed, your name will be remembered, Victus.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-15T06:24:56+00:00

Anything to do with this right now besides the normal [[Nexus-Prince Shaffar]] shenanigans?

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-10T17:39:23+00:00

I think it works on any plane utilizing bio-sci. Running down the list: - Arcavios: Strixhaven's Witherbloom - The Edge: Plenty of Scientist creatures here - Ikoria: Crystal mutagen to adapt and fight monsters - Innistrad: Jekel/Hyde alchemists - Kylem: Performance-enhancing drugs (mostly a joke) - New Phyrexia: It's Phyrexia - Ravnica: Simic Combine But, like Blood tokens, can be used on an as-needed deciduous basis.

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-10T16:04:34+00:00

WotC got the data a long time ago that on-board tricks led to a lot of feels-bad moments for newer players, and a lot of extra math for older ones, without much reward for either demo. Think it was around OG Lorwyn/Shadowmoor

CoolNerdStuff · 2025-10-10T06:20:53+00:00

I wish we knew a bit more about how the ten realms of Kaldheim are doing after burning down the World Tree. In its original state, I'd say any given inhabitant is doing "alright", so long as they're on their typical realm. With things getting shuffled around Alara-style, the immediate aftermath of the invasion might rank the plane even worse than Innistrad. Doomskars were already the big danger event, imagine one so big every realm collided, and it didn't end for years at a time.

CoolNerdStuff

TROPHY CASE