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thequeenofsheba-blog · 2 years

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Barcelona 4th foodie trip report

ORIGINALLY POSTED IN OCTOBER 2019

Here are some notes from my last trip to Barcelona in August 2019, and further down my current definitive restaurant list for Barcelona.

Brugarol

This place is superb, is all I can say. You must must go. Some of the standouts from the meal- patatas bravas (so Japanese, and a play on okonomiyaki), truffle flan (get one per person), egg yolk sushi (wonderfully simple), tuna tartar with soba (stunning and the broth was so delicate), Corrine sashimi (awesome and herbaceous), beef tartare, and pork cheeks. The only dish I thought needed any kind of tweak was the foie gras pie which I found a bit tough, and needed a few salt grains to overcome the sweet.

Mont Bar

This is our fourth trip there and yet again, neither my husband nor myself could find a single wine by the glass that we liked, and this has been the case on every single visit so is a bit annoying. We ordered a few things we had had before and then some new dishes- we had the langoustine which was delicious, jalapeno and corn which is always great when you get the right bite, almond panna cotta which was so delicate and lovely, pork and shrimp sandwich that eats like warm yummy comfort food but like all their dishes is highly technical, shrimp tartar which I didn’t like, pesto risotto which I also thought was disappointing (could not taste the truffle, and tasted just like a nice pesto without much pine nut flavor but nothing out of the ordinary). Every time we come we have one or two dishes that are a bit of a fail, and then the rest blow our socks off.

Hoja Santa

Like Tickets, it is a massive mistake here to let the waitstaff pressure you into letting them pick your tasting course. They will charge you per item anyway, so best is that you customize your whole meal, or you will be disappointed. Some of the highlights- tamale with ricotta (a fantastic blend and Mexican, but needs some spice), guacamole with lettuce (also needed heat), bloody mary (the cocktail), oyster, scallop ceviche, bone marrow taco, tuna mole and almonds, ravioli of chicken, duck and foie in mole (the only dish we ate that I thought tasted truly Mexican), and pork tacos. The other dishes we had were bland, like the tomato salad, or desperately needed heat like the cochinita pibil. There was no real heat to any of the dishes, you need to ask them to get hot sauces to add for yourself.

Also, despite the great mezcals and tequilas that they have, the bartender really doesn’t know much about his collection. What was perhaps the low-point of the meal was when I saw he had two bottles from Empirical Spirits at the bar. I asked him to serve me one of them- he had literally no idea what they were or how to serve them. A real disappointment after I got super exited to see them there.

Nairod

This was a great meal, the place is lovely, as are the staff and the vibe. We started with an excellent soup, a croquette with thyme that very thyme forward and fantastic, and then incredible roast beef, fish and veal cheeks, and a fab chocolate dessert. The eggplant and bonito dish was a bit of a disappointment, but all the other dishes just blew it out of the water. Can't wait to come back again soon.

Based on my previous reviews/meals and this most recent trip, this is my current definitive Barcelona restaurant list-

Traditional tapas:

- Bar Canete- delicious traditional tapas place. If you didn’t book way in advance, you can usually go and wait to be seated at the bar, takes about 30 mins if you are only two and it’s not a busy night.

- Cal Pep- excellent tapas, some of the best in town.

- Barra Alta- a real cut above your typical tapas place.

- Monocrom- solid lunch spot.

- Quimet & Quimet- a Barcelona institution, but everything they serve is canned, and all on a toast that I don’t love. But still an institution.

More exciting, not too fancy:

- Teoric- fantastic tapas, need to book way in advance but so worth it.

- Yakumanka- really fun Peruvian, good ceviches, great cocktails.

- Mont Bar- if you want molecular gastronomy of the highest standard, and aren’t doing - Disfrutar or Enigma, you must do a meal here. A few of the dishes aren’t perfect, but the ones that are make you dream of them for years to come. The stracciatella is a must, but read my earlier reviews above for other menu ideas.

- Pur- very solid seafood and lovely space, delicious bar downstairs.

- Paco Meralgo- excellent but expensive seafood.

- Brugarol- really fantastic, need to book a few days in advance- book to sit at the chef’s counter. South African chefs that love fresh farm produce and add a Japanese spin to most of their dishes.

Tasting menus that aren’t too fancy-

- Agreste (used to be called Malahierba)- excellent place for dinner but you should request the tasting menu already when you book. Not hard to get a last minute booking.

- Nairod- wonderful tasting menu by an up and coming chef.

- Capet- wonderful tasting menu, one of the best.

- Mano Rota- South American chef doing magical fusion things.

Fancy, need to book in advance-

- Disfrutar- this is one of my favorite restaurants in the world, and one of the best tasting menus I have ever had, with many of El Bulli’s best dishes on the menu. If it’s your first time there, get their classic hits menu, if second time get their experimental menu. Plan to be there for 3-4 hours, and book way in advance.

- Enigma- this is more expensive then Disfrutar, and easier to book just a few days in advance. The bad- the decor and servers’ outfits. The good- the food is incredible, and the moving around throughout the meal really does elevate the experience. Between the two, it’s hard for me to pick one, but perhaps Enigma; which is a once in a lifetime experience.

- Tickets- it is an experience but not one I would choose over Enigma, though they have the same team behind them- Albert Adrià (elBarri group). If you want the theater of it all, then go for it but do not let them pick your dishes, that is a big mistake and you will come out not being pleased.

- Hoja Santa- also the elBarri group but this time doing Mexican. Just like Tickets in that some dishes are great, others aren't, and if they select the menu for you, you get some filler dishes that are a real disappointment. You need to take charge of the menu and select your dishes.

- Alkimia- very good if you go for the classic menu, but very odd costumes and interior.

I would not recommend Estimar, Gresca, Dos Palilos, and probably not Pakta (it was good but not stand out, especially if you have ever eaten in Japan).

Ice cream:

- Rocambolesc- On las ramblas, a product of the Rocco brothers, and a real must.

Bars:

- Dry Martini- good for a dry martini

- Dr. Stravinsky- excellent drinks, tough to get a table if you go after 10pm but it’s worth the wait

- Paradiso- fab bar, great drinks, also worth the wait

- Morro Fi- a solid chain of vermouth bars that serve their own artisanal vermouth

- Impur- very interesting cocktails, downstairs from Pur restaurant.

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apenapaperandadoofus · 3 years

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Can i request the RFA with a mexican MC?

Hellou! Aight so I'mma make it a bit more general latinx MC bc I am not mexican BUT I am a latina pft so yeah! Also should I add the minor trio and maybe Rika on another post? 👀

(psttt also if you're into BNHA @cafedanslanuit made an awesome hc post about the BNHA boys with a latinx MC if you want to check it out: x

RFA members with a Latinx MC:

Zen:

This man absolutely loves the MUSIC

Salsa? Merengue? Rumba, Samba, Bachata, THE CHA CHA CHA!?

He is an absolute BEAST he seriously loves all the dances and he has some friggin HIP MOVES.

Honestly you're kinda jealous he dances better than you

Some days while you're cooking or just chilling at home, you'll put up your favorite music, and soon enough you'll be swaying to the rythm of the beat, swaying your hips and signing along to the music

Zen will come back from work and find you dancing, so he'll come up behind you and wrap his arms around your hips, the two of you dancing together

At one point he'll probably try to sing but absolutely butcher the words too lmao

Yoosung:

The first time you met for a date, you actually broke the poor boy

He was NOT expecting the kiss on the cheek, he wasn't prepared!!!

Especially since Korea saves the whole touchy feely things for people that are either family or couples, usually they aren't really ones to come and hug their friends or kiss their cheek to say hello as a greeting

Meanwhile, in your culture if you don't do it you get a glare from your mother and probably a chancla beating for being rude AKSJSNSJS (been there too many times 😅💀)

After you start dating though he absolutely loves it. He didn't realize how much he loved being hugged or kissed until he met you!

He finds it pretty funny whenever you get mad and go on a swearing spree, especially when you hit your foot or elbow against something. You just start yelling and curing their mother, their father and their children, and he just loves you so much, it's weird, but he loves it.

Btw, COOKING TRADITIONAL LATIN FOOD AJSJSNSJSBS

At first it's an absolutely mess but he soon gets the hang of it

Jaehee:

MORE FOOOOD

Jaehee absolutely loves EVEYTHING about your culture, especially the food.

Whenever you are having a bad day she will cheer you up by making you your favorite foods!

On Christmas she makes a mix between korean and latin foods that you both enjoy, her favorite, of course are tamales! (Who doesn't love tamales, also they're a MUST for Christmas akkssnsn)

She also likes cooking you for breakfast gallo pinto (it's basically rice and beans but it's friggin delicious.)

Some of her favorite's are chalupas and chifrijo too!

listen you basically won the lottery with this woman, she is such a GOOD cook and she makes the most delicious food.

Sometimes you will find her in the kitchen trying to sign some of her favorite songs. She only knows the chorus but she definitely has the spirit!

Jumin:

One word:

Telenovelas

Listen, it's already been confirmed that Jumin has seen a few soap operas (and been influenced by them hence the kiss scene in his route ajsjsjsj)

Now k-dramas can be pretty dramatic.

BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THE SPANISH TELENOVELAS!?

Seriously if you get this man near them there's no telling what he'll do.

Our sweet and adorable Jumin can get influenced by Tv like that pretty easily, let's admit it, so at one point you may wake up and be in a spanish telenovela lmao

Honestly, when it all started, you were chilling at Jumin's place, ironically watching (but actually who are we kidding, you were pretty invested) one of the stupidest telenovelas you had seen in a while. You loved making fun of the characters and watching as chaos unfolded. It eventually became a routine and every Thursday you'd sit on your couch and stream the new episode.

That day Jumin came home early, and he saw you watching TV. You kissed him to welcome him home, but kept your eyes on the dramatic 'cat fight' scene on the tv. Jumin got pretty curious about what you were watching, and so he sat beside you, watching the whole episode in silence.

Once it was done, you felt a bit shaken up by the cliffhanger, but then got up to make some dinner. However, before you could leave Jumin grabbed your hand making yoy raise an eyebrow, confused.

"Jumin? What's wrong?"

"....MC. Why are you leaving? The show hasn't ended yet, has it? We still don't know what happened to Emilio, and Maria still hasn't figured out that Elena tricked her into leaving. Not only that, the 'salon' is about to close down. Love, we have to keep watching to find out what happens."

You let out a laugh and squeezed your boyfriend's cheeks. "Jumin! I didn't know you got so into it. Well sadly, the next episode comes out until next week so we'll have to wait. I can record it though, and wait till you come home so we can maybe watch it together?"

Jumin nodded and you couldn't help but compare him to an excited child that had suddenly found their favorite TV show. Soon, every Thursday the two of you would cuddle in bed together and watch another episode of the soap opera. Jumin enjoyed those moments so much. Not only because he was focused on the story, but because he loved the way you would suddenly gasp or randomly curse at the screen whenever something happened

(ALSO C&R cat telenovela coming out when??? -pfttt poor Jaehee but I'm 100% convinced Jumin would do this lmao)

Saeyoung:

Ohhh boy

You should have never told him about every single leyend that you grew up with as a child.

One day you were sharing with the RFA about all the spooky ghost stories, since Jumin had been asking about a few of them.

Saeyoung came in, heard spooky ghost stories and was immediately sold. That night you told him about La Segua, La Llorona, El Cadejos and more.

The thing is, you were not prepared for the chaos you had suddenly unleashed upon the world.

The next day while Saeyoung played LOLOL with Yoosung, you heard him retelling one of his favorite leyends that you had told him.

La Segua. The story was about a woman that would appear before sunset, asking for help with directions. The thing is, as soon as you helped her and night came, she'd turn into a horse and kill you. (I know it's weird AKSKSJA but I remember being SO scared of this when I was a kid, honestly these legends are so freaking good lmao, everyone in primary school would just be scared of a lady with a horse head pfttttttt)

As soon as you heard him tell the story to Yoosung, you knew that he was planning something. And were you going to stop him? No :D

A few days later, you invited Yoosung out to eat. As the sun was setting you led him towards Saeyoung's home, and then while you walked you met up with a very beautiful lady asking for directions. Yoosung immediately said 'nope' and tried to get you to quickly run away, but you insisted on helping the poor woman. After calming down a very shaken Yoosung, you explained that La Segua was just a story, and that Saeyoung was poebably just trying to spook him when he told it to him. Yoosung calmed down and apologized to the lady, offering to help her go home.

Suddenly you ended up in a very deserted place, making Yoousng feel a bit uneasy. As Yoosung walked, he turned around to tell you something along the lines of 'fuck this, let's go back to Saeyoung's.' he found that there was nothing behind him. He looked around, trying to look for you, but you appeared to have suddnely vanished.

Yoosung felt his throat get dry as the woman's arm tightened around his, and he tried to look anywhere but beside him

"Yoosung~" the woman whispered.

He yelped as he slowly turned around to look at the woman.

And he found a horse head staring back at him.

Later both you and Saeyoung had to look for him for about an hour and a half, and you found him under a bridge, shaking.

Yoosung did not find it funny at all, and you tried to nag Saeyoung telling him that maybe you had taken it too far, but you both couldn't help but laugh.

Of course you made it up to him, Saeyoung got him very exclusive Lolol costumes for his avatars, and Yoosung, even though he developed a trauma for both women and horses, ended up forgiving him and totally forgetting about the incident.

So the next time Saeyoung told him about La Llorona and gave you a mischievous smirk, you prayed for poor and innocent Yoosung, who obviously hadn't learned his lesson.

(this also happened a few more times until you had to intervene bc by now Yoosung wouldn't even go outside pfttt)

Also a few years later, while at the RFA Halloween party, Yoosung got stuck on the top of a tree and wouldn't come down.

Why you may ask? Because as he was drinking some wine, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to find a big ass horse head staring back at him.

Rip Yoosung 😔✊

#mystic messenger #jumin han #saeyoung choi #mysme #yoosung kim #jaehee kang #jihyun mysme #choi bois #mysme zen

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commandertheory · 5 years

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War of the Spark Commander Set Review

The Commanders of War of the Spark

In white, there’s not too many ways to build around her. Once you exhaust the suite of self-bouncing creatures you commonly see in Karametra lists (e.g., Kor Skyfisher, Whitemane Lion), the next best cards to run are cheap utility creatures like Stoneforge, Weathered Wayfarer, etc.-- essentially goodstuff.

It’s notable that this card could be very good as part of the 99 in Karametra and Ephara lists. Also, it’s a double striker with a big butt for Doran lists.

I’m not a big fan of commanders that solely care about what your opponents are doing because they don’t give your own deck a lot of direction. If you’ve got a Lord Windgrace deck in your meta, then this might be useful in the 99 of hatebear decks that are good at finding their silver bullets.

The best piece of tech for Fblthp is Proteus Staff. If you run a creatureless Fblthp list, you get to stack your entire deck and then immediately draw two cards, which is great for assembling combos, such as Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. If you have mana rocks that produce three or more mana, Scepter + Reversal will give you infinite mana and then infinite activations of Proteus Staff so you can draw your deck and find a win condition.

Nexus of Fate is another solid combo piece to stack on top of your deck with Fblthp, as you can keep stacking it to the top with Proteus Staff and Fblthp, provided you have the 10 mana required to do so every turn.

I’m a little skeptical that this strategy is going to be significantly stronger than what was already possible in any Commander deck with access to Proteus Staff. Like, if you’re already in Blue, you’re not going to be starved for card draw, and you could be running a different commander that provides additional benefits (or additional colors) instead of an effect that your color identity could easily do anyway.

Seems like a very strong commander for extra turn effects. As long as you can keep Scroll Racking your Time Warps to the top of your library, you get infinite turns; even if you have to rely on one-shot effects like Brainstorm or whatever, you’ll still be taking a lot of extra turns, which will hopefully be enough for your 4-power evasive commander to eliminate some threats.

This deck naturally runs a ton of sac fodder; Bloodghast, Reassembling Skeleton, and Bloodsoaked Champion are all good here. You may also want to run some efficient token generation, as well. I also think it’s a good idea to run some of Black’s strong sac outlets like Attrition and Mind Slash so that you have the option to control your opponents with your sac fodder instead of just exchanging them for random cards via Bontu’s ETB. These sac outlets can also help you more easily reuse Bontu’s ETB trigger, especially if you sacrifice her in response to the trigger so you’ll immediately redraw her.

The most unique thing about this commander is the ability to sacrifice noncreature permanents. This opens up cards like Ugin’s Nexus and Spine of Ish Sah, which get you value when they die.

One interesting idea I’ve heard was to run Endless Whispers with her so that you get all your opponents’ creatures that die to her ETB trigger. Blink effects seem good here and I’d think about running stuff like Undying Evil, Kaya’s Ghostform, Abnormal Endurance, and Supernatural Stamina to both protect her from removal and reuse her trigger.

It may also be a good idea to run random sac fodder to ensure the ball gets rolling; it’d be a shame if the massacre never got started because the board was full of 2+ toughness creatures.

Sample Decklist

Similar to a regular Krenko, Mob Boss deck, but with power-pumping effects in place of the activated ability synergies and some of the token generation.

With Krenko, it was important to be able to get a ton of dudes onto the battlefield early to maximize his gobbo-doubling power. Krenko 2.0 doesn’t need random gobbo bodies unless they do something useful.

Sample Decklist

Neheb is kind of a sidegrade from his previous incarnation. The card filtering makes it so that you’re not quite as likely to run out of gas, but the fact that his mana generation is limited by the number of cards you discard to his trigger prevents some of the truly absurd plays that Neheb 2.0 was known for-- you’re not going to be hardcasting Eldrazi and Blighsteels nearly as often in this deck.

Extra combat step effects are very good here, as they can potentially net you mana and they give you another chance to rummage for good cards. I like that this deck can run situational cards like Ruination and Blood Moon because there’s no such thing as a dead draw in this list-- Neheb hungers for bad cards to discard.

Mass land destruction is great in this deck because, like the first Neheb, the Champion can provide the mana you need to cast your stuff.

The single best card in this deck is Aggravated Assault, which goes infinite with your commander, provided you have five or more cards in hand that you can discard-- just make sure you’ve got one of the original three legendary Eldrazi so you can shuffle your graveyard back in and prevent yourself from milling out.

I wish there were more good madness cards in Red, or in Commander in general. Neheb 3.0 is the perfect commander for madness since he provides both an outlet and mana to cast stuff, but the only madness cards worth running are like Fiery Temper and maaaaybe Avacyn’s Judgment.

Sample Decklist

This seems like an awesome reward for running fat donks like Blightsteel and Malignus.

Although he doesn’t play nicely with attack triggers, you’re on color for some sweet combat damage triggers like Balefire Dragon, Hellkite Tyrant, Dream Pillager, Rapacious One, Neheb 2.0, Steel Hellkite, and Mordant Dragon. Neheb, the Eternal, while not a combat damage trigger, also works pretty well with Ilharg.

Ilharg has some synergy with echo, since you’ll never have to pay the upkeep cost, so cards like Volcano Hellion and Crater Hellion are much better in this list than they normally are.

Having six toughness and an ability that lets you cheat mana costs means that Wildfire and Destructive Force are very good here, as is mass land destruction in general. Keldon Firebombers seems like a great way to repeatedly limit your opponents’ mana.

In addition to the usual suite of mana accelerants and haste granters, Generator Servant is quite good here, and I’d consider running Seething Song, as well.

Sample Decklist

The creatures that benefit most from Rhonas’s ETB trigger are win conditions in their own right; you don’t need to rely on your commander to make canned armies like Rampaging Baloths, Titania, and Avenger of Zendikar into threats.

Maybe this wants to be an infect deck, since doubling the power of cards like Phyrexian Juggernaut and Phyrexian Hydra makes them one-hit KOs.

Muscle Mutt is just a voltron deck, albeit one that uses an unusual subset of cards. I wouldn’t run most cards that solely put counters on Mowu, but I like cards that put counters on him while generating cards, like Ordeal of Nylea, Ancient Animus, or Implement of Ferocity. I also like some of the repeatable counter-generating effects; Retreat to Kazandu, Armory of Iroas, and Invigorating Boon (cards with cycling) seem good. There are also some lands that can get counters on your commander, such as Oran-Rief, the Vastwood; Forge of Heroes; and Opal Palace. Also, don’t forget your Hardened Scales!

There’s been a little bit of controversy about Yanggu and Mowu lately because Yanggu is able to bring Mowu with his when he planeswalks (which is supposed to be impossible, as Huatli’s tamales illustrate; normally, creatures are summoned to a plane). It would be weird if Yanggu could only do this with Mowu, but my headcanon is that Mowu is able to do it with anyone but has so far only attempted it with his dog (or that if he had previously done it, he forgot about it when he came down with amnesia).

I don’t think it’s worth running random wolves as sorcery-speed kill spells, but I might run wolves that get me value in addition to fighting (e.g., Rot Wolf, Skalla Wolf, Pack Guardian). Wolfir Silverheart is too monstrously large to leave out of this deck.

I’d also run repeatable wolf token generators like Sword of Body and Mind, Wolfcaller’s Howl, Master of the Wild Hunt, Kessig Cagebreakers, and Feed the Pack. You can also run some of the wolf token generators that create a bunch at once (such as Howl of the Night Pack, Predator’s Howl, and Wolfbriar Elemental) to build your own Ezuri’s Predation.

I gotta say that it’s very cute that they gave Voja a title so that he wouldn’t legend rule the tokens made by the old Tolsimir.

We all know that BG has a lot of good creatures that are worth recurring (putting your opponents under the Abyss with Fleshbag variants sounds like a barrel of laughs), but it also has a ton of good planeswalkers, especially when you don’t have to care too much about protecting them. Firing off a Sorin Markov or a Vraska 1.0, letting your opponents dogpile on it, and then getting it back again next turn seems like a great way to control the board and divert aggro away from your face.

I would try to fit in some ways to give your commander haste (Greaves, Hall of the Bandit Lord) and protect him (Yavimaya Hollow) since he’s the engine your deck revolves around.

This guy checks some boxes to make use of mana dorks that are too narrow for most decks: he costs four, he’s got 4+ power for Whisperer of the Wilds, and he’s an Elf for Priest of Titania.

This card does not appear to be designed with Commander in mind. Death triggers don’t work very well in this format, especially when you don’t have access to black and white reanimation engines. If you discount the proliferate (as you should), all that’s left is a pile of stats, which has never been particularly strong in Commander.

If this guy was just ETB double proliferate, he would have been waaay more interesting.

I’ve heard about lists that use clones to farm his death and ETB triggers, but I tried it and it was not… great… Proliferating before you add the new counters is pretty lame, and one-shot proliferation without cards attached to it is not worth a card slot, IMO.

The best Boros commander ever, and it’s not close. This deck draws tons of cards thanks to white and red’s many cheap cantrips, it can protect its commander pretty easily thanks to the million 1CMC instants that give things protection or indestructible, and it has some great combo pieces like Aurelia’s Fury and Blinding Beam to allow you to soft lock your opponents.

Plus, if you’d prefer to eschew the controlling playstyle for something more aggressive, you can run a bunch of Fists of the Anvil and Double Cleave variants to beat the hell out of your opponents.

Sample Decklist

This card just encourages you to run the most powerful multicolored cards, which tend to be hyper-efficient removal spells like Assassin’s Trophy and Anguished Unmaking. The only non-goodstuff cards in the list are a handful of blink spells so you can dodge removal and refill your hand. As far as win conditions go, turning Niv sideways seems to be the best one; Civic Saber, Conqueror’s Flail, and Duelist’s Heritage will cut your clock in half.

Sample Decklist

Card Ratings

In this set review, I’ll be using two five-point rating scales to evaluate the nonlegendary cards, one that measures how many decks a card is playable in (we’ll call that “spread”), and one that measures how powerful it is in those decks (”power”). Here’s a brief rundown of what each rank on the two scales means:

Spread

1: This card is effective in one or two decks, but no more (ex: The Gitrog Monster). 2: This card is effective in one deck archetype (ex: self-mill decks). 3: A lot of decks will be able to use this card effectively (ex: decks with graveyard interactions). 4: This card is effective in most decks in this color. 5: Every deck in this color is able to use this card effectively.

Power

1: This card is always going to be on the chopping block. 2: This card is unlikely to consistently perform well. 3: This card provides good utility but is not a powerhouse. 4: This card is good enough to push you ahead of your opponents. 5: This card has a huge impact on the game.

The Planeswalkers of War of the Spark

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I could imagine running this in Odric, Lunarch Marshal, since it’s a cheap way to give all your guys indestructible and lifelink or vigilance. Otherwise, it’s not worth your time.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Might see a little play in Arcades as a way to produce a pair of beaters and draw a couple cards. It’s nice that you can curve Teyo into Arcades to frontload the mana cost but wait to produce your tokens and get your cards until after your commander comes down. The rate is not insane, though, and I could see this getting cut for a better stats-to-cost ratio in the future.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

This is solely for self-mill decks. It’s less vulnerable to removal than Laboratory Maniac but you can’t get it back with Dread Return or something similar if you mill yourself out. Either way, both Jace and Lab Man are worse than Nexus of Fate.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

I could see running this in a deck with a lot of wheel effects (Nekusar and The Locust God being the obvious ones) to act as a Leovold, making your opponents discard their hands and only drawing one card to replace it.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Liliana is a bit expensive, but she might have potential in the few decks that can make use of more than one of her abilities. For example, sacrifice-oriented decks are interested in black token generation and getting value when your creatures die, so both her static effect and +1 will be useful there. Also, it’s worth noting that although planeswalkers are generally pretty fragile in Commander, Liliana makes a chump blocker and she’s going to have 7 loyalty when you pass the turn, which can be difficult for your opponents to beat though, especially if you’ve got Savra, Queen of the Golgari or Teysa, Orzhov Scion to control their boards.

Spread: 4

Power: 1

This card is really similar to Chandra, Pyromaster, and that card sees almost no play.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

For the purposes of the Ur-Dragon, it’s two dragons for the price of one and it can potentially deter attacks. I don’t think there’s anyone else that’s really interested in this, though.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

He’s a second copy of Rishkar for green +1/+1 counter decks.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Omnath, Locus of Mana seems like a natural home for this card. It’s kind of cool that it’s effectively three mana since you can untap a Forest with the +1, but this card is still worse than Vernal Bloom in most ways. Vernal Bloom gets you to the game-winning threshold for mana a lot quicker; you don’t need more than 8 or 9 mana to win a game of Commander so what really matters is hitting that game-winning threshold as early as possible. Casting a turn four Bloom into a turn 5 Tooth and Nail is much stronger than casting a turn 5 Nissa into a turn 6 T&N, especially when you consider the fact that your Vernal Bloom can’t be attacked or Bolted in the intervening turn.

That being said, this is still a powerful card for monogreen ramp.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I like the surprise factor of the -2; it’s cool that they’re finding ways to improve on abilities we’ve seen a thousand times already. Anyway, this card is not good. If you want two random cards out of your deck, you can get it at a better rate than this.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Overall, this card feels very intro pack-y. The plus ability doesn’t affect the board, the -3 is a pretty bad rate, and the ultimate is not very impactful. This doesn’t seem like a great reason to buy a box (unless the price ends up being super high).

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Every element of this card can be done much better somewhere else in these colors. There is something to be said for the power of choices, but I really don’t think this card is good enough to see play.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

This card looks a lot like Ajani Goldmane, although it’s much better in superfriends decks than Goldmane ever was. It’s also worth noting that Ajani will probably draw less aggro than whatever busted planeswalker you’re bumping up, so he’s less fragile than he looks. However, I still think this effect is not worth a card. There are some solid repeatable proliferators in WAR, and I’d much rather use them than rely on a card type that can get attacked to death.

Spread: 3

Power: 1

I really like CMC-based reanimation and I’d really like to see it on a WB commander one day. Anyway, since you’re on color for both white and black reanimation you can do way better than this. If your deck is trying to recur a lot of weenies you can run Return to the Ranks or Dusk/Dawn, and if you want to get back one big thing, you can run Animate Dead or Reanimate or Necromancy or whatever.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

With a little tweaking, this could be an interesting commander, as it rewards you for playing with a subset of cards that normally doesn’t get played in Commander. In the main deck, however, this card seems pretty underwhelming. Even in lists that naturally have a ton of deathtouchers such as Hapatra, this is a pretty slow, small, and fragile anthem. If she had some way to gain loyalty, the -2 could help the card find its way into decks looking for sac fodder, but two tokens over two turns for four mana is not going to turn a lot of heads.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

There’s currently no UG commander that really rewards lots of large dudes, but I’m hopeful we might see something in the future (maybe a Simic or Temur Divine Visitation effect on a commander?).

Between Kiora, Temur Ascendancy, Garruk's Packleader, Kavu Lair, and Elemental Bond, we are getting very close to a critical mass of this type of card.

Spread: 1

Power: 4

Maybe if you’re running a deck with a ton of Twincast variants, this could serve as a potential win condition/storm enabler. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the combo, you cast a Fork variant copying any spell, then cast another Fork variant copying the original Fork variant. The second Fork resolves, putting a new copy of Fork #1 on the stack, which can then target the original Fork #1. Keep going through this loop and netting Ral triggers until your opponents are dead.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Young Pyromancer sees play in 6400 decks on EDHREC, many of them in Izzet color identities. I think Saheeli slots into those same lists pretty easily, especially given the potential power offered by her -2 when copying mana rocks or utility creatures.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

What a brutal mana cost. I’d run this in superfriends since it’s almost a planeswalker clone and killing creatures/drawing cards is not terrible in that deck. I think that mana cost and the general meh-ness of PWs in Commander keep him out of most other decks.

Spread: 5

Power: 0 (no sideboards) / 4 (sideboards)

The playability of this guy hinges on whether your playgroup allows you to get cards from outside of the game. The Rules Committee’s stance is that sideboards are not officially supported and have to be house ruled into the format. If your playgroup follows that bit of dogma and Karn can only search your exile zone, then he’s not really worth playing; Null Rod only sees play in the most cutthroat cEDH lists, and while Karn only affects your opponents, I think that’s more than offset by the fact that he costs 4 and can get attacked to death.

Now, if your playgroup DOES let you have a sideboard or just dig through your binder or whatever, Mycosynth Lattice is one of the best things it can do, as it shuts off your opponents’ lands and all of their activated abilities in combination with Karn. Paradox Engine and Bolas’s Citadel are strong cards that don’t require much set up, but if you’re trying to combo off with those cards, you’d probably rather have them in your maindeck, rather than only accessible via a planeswalker. There are some neat artifact combos that you can search for both halves of if you can ensure that Karn lives long enough to activate twice: Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth gets you infinite mana (although again, these cards may be better in your maindeck), and if Painter’s Servant ever gets unbanned, you can use Karn to grab it and Grindstone to mill your opponents out one by one.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

Now, this guy is a Commander-playable planeswalker. I’d run this in any deck currently running Scour from Existence (barring Mizzix), which mostly means colorless, monoblack, and monored decks. The +1 is also solid, offering sacrifice fodder that is likely to be pretty useful in many of the monoblack decks that run it, and colorless cost reduction makes it even more powerful in the colorless decks that run it. I’m a big fan of this card, and I like that it disproportionately helps color identities that were on the weaker side.

It’s great that he’s rare, since I plan on picking up a bunch of these.

Maindeck Cards from War of the Spark

Spread: 3

Power: 3

At low numbers, the ratio of bodies to cost is not great. There are so many good white token generators that I doubt this makes the cut, even though the tokens are better than the ones produced by most of its competitors. Also, you should treat the “10 or more” text on this card like a planeswalker’s ultimate and ignore it.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Seems very good in a Mikaeus, the Lunarch deck and in planeswalker decks that don’t invest heavily in mass removal. It stinks that White got the worst experience counter commanders and never got a poison commander because this card has so much potential, but the support isn’t there.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

This is a lot of mana for a narrow tutor. When you consider the fact that most Superfriends lists are already running Black and have access to cheap unconditional tutors, the Beacon becomes much less appealing.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

It does make a lot of Angels for your Lyra Dawnbringer deck. It’s not worth 8 mana, though.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Hating on multicolor permanents is not that great. Although most commanders are multicolor, most main deck permanents are one or fewer colors. To put this card in perspective, Radiant Purge sees almost no play in Commander.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I think Diving Reckoning is a fair point of comparison for this card. Divine Reckoning sees a fair amount of play; it’s in almost 6000 decks on EDHREC, most of them Voltron. While Single Combat has a few knobs that distinguish it from Reckoning, it’s probably a safe bet that it’ll see similar amounts of play in similar lists.

That being said, I’m not a huge fan of this card. It guarantees that the biggest threats survive and most of the time I’d rather take out the scariest things on my opponents’ side of the field than protect my own things.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Varina is very interested in making multiple Zombie bodies for less than three mana. I’m gonna save a little space in a very long set review and suggest you apply the previous sentence and ratings to every Amass creature and most Amass spells that cost less than four mana.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

I like this card a lot. I think it’s much stronger than Steady Progress, and about on the power level of Tezzeret’s Gambit, which sees play in 8500 decks on EDHREC.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Kruphix is very interested in outlets for the absurd amounts of mana he produces, and unlike almost any other commander, he can realistically hit the “10 or more” mode.

Mizzix likes X spells that generate value, so she might also be in the market for this card.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This card could see play in planeswalker decks as another Inexorable Tide. This could also potentially see play in Mizzix decks as an additional way to bump up your experience count or in Noyan Dar as a way to grow your manlands.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

The additional mana relative to Thrummingbird hurts, and this also misses on some of the bird tribal lists (Kangee) that were interested in that card. Still, I could imagine running this in Atraxa, Ezuri 2.0, and Vorel.

Spread: 1

Power: 3

It’s a cheap Sphinx for Unesh, and it can bounce another Sphinx to your hand so you can get another trigger.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

Unfortunate that it can only target your own creatures and planeswalkers, but it seems strong in superfriends decks and simic +1/+1 counter lists. It’s also quite good in Estrid, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, and Saheeli, the Gifted, since all of those commanders have mana-generating abilities that make the Double free or cheap to cast.

There are also a ton of commanders that this can break wide open. Double Reaper King, double Atraxa, double Zndrsplt… if you’re in Blue and you’re running Helm of the Host, this card seems like a big upgrade.

Spread: 3

Power: 5

This is the new Paradox Engine. If your deck has a lot of card selection and tutors then this ought to be able to win the game all by itself. Some of the better interactions:

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: This guy was kind of a joke before Citadel got spoiled. His mill effect is really weak and he’s in the bottom half of all Dimir commanders when it comes to popularity. However, he works pretty well with the Citadel because he can mill off excess lands from the top of your library so that you’re less likely to fizzle when comboing off.

Sensei’s Divining Top: Turns the Citadel into a Yawgmoth’s Bargain (thanks to @snarwin for pointing this out).

Mana Severance: Gets rid of all the lands so you won’t fizzle.

Aetherflux Reservoir: Subsidizes the Citadel’s life payments and eventually serves as your win condition.

Spread: 3

Power: 4

It’s interesting that this and Bolas’s Citadel showed up in the same set, since they’re both six mana black rares that offer insane card advantage and mana savings at the cost of a ton of life.

Anyway, I’ve heard people talking about using this in Oloro and other decks that gain life very easily. It could also be good in decks with very low curves so that you’re getting more cards for the life you’re paying.

Interestingly, it deals damage to you rather than makes you lose life, which means that you can prevent the damage, give yourself protection, or give the spell lifelink in order to cheat the life cost.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

The ability to get back noncreature cards is pretty rare in black, and if your deck has a lot of redundancy built into it you can sometimes remove your opponents’ ability to screw you. Plus, there’s a lot to be said for making deals with the opponent in the weakest position to get back the cards that will knock someone else down a peg.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

It provides a steady stream of Skullclamp-compliant sac fodder for decks that need it, as well as a self-recurring threat for Varina Zombie tribal lists.

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This card seems like great value for mopping up small utility creatures. 4 mana to kill some combination of Oracle of Mul Daya, Fauna Shaman, Tymna, Edric, Mentor of the Meek, etc. seems pretty strong. I think the easiest point of comparison is probably Black Sun’s Zenith. Black Sun’s sees play in over 15,000 decks, and it’ll cost you the same amount of mana to kill the same creatures. This one is asymmetrical but won’t get the random collateral damage against your opponents’ other creatures. I think they’re about on the same power level, although it’s worth noting that you could conceivably hit the 12 mana in a monoblack deck with Coffers and a bunch of ways to find it.

Spread: 1

Power: 1

This guy requires you to jump through a ton of hoops. In order for him to do his thing, you have to have:

A way to give him haste and/or a way to protect him until your next turn.

A high density of instants and sorceries

Either an extremely low curve on those instants and sorceries or a way to buff the Arcanist’s power.

I can think of commanders that fulfill some of those requirements, but not all of them.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

X spells are great in Mizzix and she has a ton of great targets to choose from. Seems like an easy inclusion in that list. It could also be good in Zada as a way to re-use your token-generating spells and cantrips.

Neheb, the Eternal is one of the few commanders who can reliably get X to 10 or higher, since that deck is desperate for good mana sinks and it runs a fair number of strong instants and sorceries.

Spread: 2

Power: 3

This card is awesome. Great in Hapatra decks as a way to get a bunch of Hapatra triggers at once and accelerate the death of your opponents’ dudes. Also seems solid in Thelon of Havenwood for spreading spores, nabbing experience with Meren and Ezuri 2.0, pumping the team in Mazirek, and of course, building loyalty among your planeswalkers.

Spread: 4

Power: 4

I don’t think we needed more cards like this, but whatever. The rich get richer. Other cards in Green that accomplish the same thing:

Tooth and Nail

Green Sun’s Zenith

Survival of the Fittest

Finale of Devastation

Chord of Calling

Worldly Tutor

Natural Order

Fauna Shaman

Note that all of the above are Commander staples.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Useful in Sasaya as a way to get more Forests in hand. Also a solid upgrade over Sylvan Scrying in a Nissa, Vastwood Seer deck.

Spread: 2

Power: 2

Unfortunately, none of the Green planeswalkers that you can run as your commander have insane ultimates, so I don’t think it’s worth running in those decks as a means to pop em off really quickly.

It is, however, a slightly more expensive Deepglow Skate for Atraxa, Ezuri 2.0, Vorel, Pir & Toothy, and all those other blue/green counter-based decks.

Spread: 4

Power: 2

Over 7500 decks on EDHREC run Naturalize, and this is strictly better, even if it’s not a huge upgrade.

Spread: 2

Power: 1

This card suffers from the Immortal Sun effect, where it does several things, but none of them particularly well. +2/+2 isn’t a huge boost for a one-shot effect, and the lack of trample is frustrating. Also, I don’t like that this card is really bad at punishing pillowfort, since their artifacts and enchantments are what’s preventing you from getting it.

If you’re in need of artifact destruction, you’re probably better off running a tutor to find your Bane of Progress. If you’re in need of an Overrun effect, you’re better off running a tutor to find your Craterhoof Behemoth. Might I suggest Finale of Devastation?

Spread: 1

Power: 2

I really don’t like the idea of pumping mana into this in the hopes of getting something relevant. However, I do like running it in decks that can manipulate their top card (Hua Tuo, Honored Physician comes to mind) and in decks that just like its type line and don’t actually care what it does (such as Reki, the History of Kamigawa, who only cares about running the cheapest legendary cards possible).

Spread: 4

Power: 3

I really like Negate and Countersquall, so I’m happy to run this effect as a 5th or 6th counterspell in all my decks with a blue/white color identity.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

I love asymmetrical board wipes. Note that it doesn’t target the creature it bounces so you can still cast it when you have no targets and it can’t be fizzled by removal. This seems like a pretty easy inclusion in most blue/white lists in the market for sweepers.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

This could be really sweet in any GR deck that runs a lot of mass land destruction-- maybe something like Grand Warlord Radha that isn’t totally reliant on its lands to cast its spells and can generate enough mana early in the game to bounce its lands and still cast a Thoughts of Ruin.

It also might be good in Borborygmos Enraged, as it’s a way to get lands back to your hand that is much less painful than Storm Cauldron.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

While the average CMC of Commander decks has crept down over the years, this is probably still very good. It kills all but 4 of the top 21 commanders of all time and while it’s pretty bad at taking care of mana accelerators and cheap draw engines, it’s great at killing the most terrifying threats in the format (such as Paradox Engine, Gods, Praetors, Titans, etc.). Don’t run it over Anguished Unmaking but consider it in a high-CMC metagame.

Spread: 3

Power: 3

I have not played a lot of Decimates, so I can’t fully judge how strong this card is. I thiiink it’s worse than Windgrace’s Judgment because of the rough mana cost, 6>5, sorcery speed.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

Eldritch Evolution sees a surprising amount of play (almost 9000 decks on EDHREC), but Neoform is worse in three ways, so it’s hard to be bullish about this card. I think I like it in Tishana, since she naturally wants a bunch of creatures on the field and morphs into Craterhoof, but I’m not sure there are many other commanders that would be stoked to run this. Maybe in Ezuri 2.0 as a way to trade mana dorks for Sage of Hours?

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This is the cheapest we’ve ever seen this effect and it can be really devastating to an opponent to have their commander permanently stolen. That being said, there are other cards with similar effects that cost only a little more, such as Legerdemain and Switcheroo, see hardly any play in Commander.

Spread: 1

Power: 2

Very unfortunate that the red mana in its cost disqualifies it from being used in the two decks that want it most: Doran and Arcades. There are a bunch of Kynaios and Tiro decks running Wave of Reckoning, so there’s potential for it to be run there (although it’s worth mentioning that Wave of Reckoning was included in their precon, so it may not actually be that great in the deck; maybe people were just too lazy to take it out).

Spread: 4

Power: 3

This seems very good in Lord Windgrace since that deck has a ton of mana to pump into it, a slow clock, and many ways to recur it.

Other slow control decks with lots of mana available will probably be happy to run this card, since it’s a difficult-to-answer counter that doesn’t require a deck slot.

Spread: 5

Power: 1

Even with the restriction to creatures, Winding Canyons is much better than this and doesn’t see a whole lot of play, so I’m skeptical that this will accomplish much. Losing a land is a huge downside.

Spread: 3

Power: 2

This is great! Coming into this set I was hoping to see a lot of proliferate attached to staple effects, and there’s nothing more universally useful than lands. It’ll be tricky to run this in Atraxa and five-color superfriends lists because of the heavy color requirements in those decks, but I’m sure planeswalker decks with fewer colors (the nicer Narset builds, for example) and infect aggro, +1/+1 counter decks, -1/-1 counter decks, and experience counter commanders are all going to find room to run this card.

Wrapping Up

Were there any cards I missed? Do you disagree with any of my ratings? Let me know!

#set review #commander #edh #mtg #magic the gathering

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