#y’all ever wanted to know what happened to mana’s family

[loreleywrites]

Command Zone: The Legends of Commander (2017 Edition) - Part 1

Yooooo Commander (2017 Edition) is lit with tribal sweetness. Dragons, Vampires, Wizards, and Cats know that family is where it’s at this year. There are sixteen new legendary creatures between the four decks, which is way too many to talk about in one article. So today I’ll be highlighting the new Dragons and Vampires, while Wizards and Cats will be in part two tomorrow. There are commanders to promote, so introduction out!

URRRRP

“Excuse me.” -The bURp-Dragon.

The Ur-Dragon is the paragon of dragonkind, siring dragons across the Multiverse since the dawn of time (probably). Nine mana is a lot, but hitting like the iceberg that sank the Titanic while providing raw card advantage and board presence is exactly what you want to be spending that mana on. I mean, there’s not much to analyze here. You want to attack with Dragons, draw cards, and plop down more Dragons.

The Cool New Feature™ in this product is eminence, a mechanic shared by the four face cards of each deck. Eminence abilities function both while the commander is on the battlefield or in the command zone. While most Dragons aren’t so expensive as The Ur-Dragon, most of them still cost six or more mana to cast. The Ur-Dragon’s eminence ability helps you out by making all your Dragon spells cost one generic mana less to cast. And that’s any Dragon spell, not just creature spells, so enjoy your two-mana Crib Swaps. Tribal decks rely on getting a critical mass of creatures, so ramping them out faster is exactly what you want to be doing.

If you’re looking to break into the WUBRG Dragons game, there is no sexier leader than The Ur-Dragon

The Huuuge Engine That Could

He thinks he can, but only because Urza told him to think that.

While only the fancy face card with the eminence ability aims to be a tribal commander, each deck does come with three new commanders belonging to the tribe and color identity. Ramos, Dragon Engine is still a Dragon, but cares specifically about casting multicolored cards. Time to break out your Urza’s Filters.

If you’re building around Ramos, you’re going to want to fill your deck with multicolored spells. That’s pretty easy, as a five-color deck has access to every multicolored spell ever printed. That said, running a deck with only gold cards can put a lot of stress on your mana base. Don’t be afraid to one-color spells and artifacts if they help your deck function. This is especially true of cards like Darksteel Ingot or Cultivate that help your mana issues.

Despite Ramos’s capacity to grow friggin’ huge just by playing Magic, y’all are probably salivating at his final ability that adds WWUUBBRRGG to your mana pool. Yes, that’s Door to Nothingness mana. Yes, that’s “free +10 to my X spells” mana. Yes, that’s mana you can dump into all your mana sinks (‘Sup, Helix Pinnacle?)

What I love about Ramos is how open-ended his mechanics are. Other than asking you cast multicolored spells, which five-color decks do anyway, you’re free to experiment with his powers however you want.

Kami, Can You Hear Me?

Because your immortality got stolen, and you should probably find the jerkwaffle who took it.

When Lord Konda stole O-Kagachi’s divinity, the kami could have just asked him why. Instead, O-Kagachi passed through the barrier dividing the mortal and spirit realms and waged a twenty-year war. Jerk move.

When under your command, however, O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami’s insatiable rage is an asset. This is foremost a rattlesnake ability that acts as a warning to dissuade being attacked. “Don’t attack me, chumps, or else I’m gonna start nuking your board!” If you have ways to give O-Kagachi haste, which I highly recommend, then your vengeance can even strike red-hot from the command zone. You can also be greedy and use cards like Alluring Siren to force your opponents into attacking you. It still counts as vengeance if you made them hit you.

Vorthoses should be especially happy about O-Kagachi. While the deity is a powerful commander on his own, he’s also (finally) a five-color Spirit to lead a Kamigawa-flavored Spirit tribal deck. The kami have their leader, and Mel and Vorthos have a legendary creature to build around in multiple ways.

The Cunning of the Dragon

While no longer a traitor, Taigam is still a sycophantic tattletale.

A few new legends pop up outside the color identities of the decks themselves. For example, the Dragons of Tarkir version of Taigam bears his Ojutai-colored stripes in the five-color Dragon deck.

What I love most about Taigam, Ojutai Master is how he feels like a reprint from Dragons of Tarkir despite being a brand-new card. He fits both the Dragon-tribal theme seen in that set as well as the instants-and-sorceries theme that ran through the Jeskai and Ojutai clans. He even uses the rebound mechanic which defined Ojutai’s spells. In order to unlock Taigam’s full rebounding prowess, however, he needs to attack. You know, kinda like if he had prowess. That’s the gameplay feel from the Tarkir sets that’s baked into the mechanical and flavorful dumpling we know as Taigam, Ojutai Master.

Taigam feels right, which is why it’s easy to start building around him. Just look for cards in Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, and Dragons of Tarkir. The White/Blue cards support a deck that wants play aggressive creatures and support them with combat tricks and protective magic. Monastery Mentor and Cunning Breezedancer will thank you for the uncounterable spells that turn them into creature with much bigger stats than their mana costs imply.

Saving All My Cat Puns

Sorry, folks.

Wasitora, Nekoru Queen is a cat-dragon from Dominaria. You’ll read about her race soon. In Commander (2017 Edition), she’s a vestige of a time when every deck had a creature that melded two creature types. I am so glad she stayed in, as her card is filled with a lot of charm.

When you have an ability that triggers upon dealing combat damage to an opponent, it’s good to be a 5-power flample for five mana. They’re not aggro stats, but they’re aggressive stats. Everything else aside, Wasitora hits hard.

And when she does hit, she tears into your opponent’s board state. If they have no fliers, they’re going to lose a creature in addition to taking damage. If they have no creatures, you get a free 3/3 kitten-whelp to augment your forces. Jund ‘em!

Jund happens to be the color combination that contains most of Magic’s Dragons in the first place, so Wasitora still makes for a great Dragon tribal commander. She wants to attack too, so she’s also perfect for a Voltron deck. Load her up with Equipment and Auras and start demanding tribute! She’s even an awkward Cat tribal commander if you want to foolishly eschew White from that deck.

Smell Ya Later, Gramps!

His true gift wasn’t vampirism, but those little candies with the strawberry wrappers.

Seriously though. Those strawberry candies are lit.

Sorin’s grampy, Edgar Markov, used to be a regular rich selfish dude seeking immortality. After using angel blood and demonic magic to turn himself and his people into bloodthirsty monsters, he was just a regular rich selfish immortal dude. Be happy his propensity for siring creatures of the night is on your side.

Edgar has the Vampire tribe’s eminence ability, which plops a 1/1 token onto the battlefield whenever you cast a Vampire spell. Enjoy your Crib Swaps that also give you a token! The history of the Vampire tribe is one of aggression, so creating an army of alchemically enhanced soldiers is exactly what you want to be doing.

Even better, creating tokens is exactly what Edgar’s attack trigger want you to be doing too. Once his vassals are finished suiting him up, grandpa Markov hits like a pallid truck. First strike and haste make it difficult to defend against him, and don’t forget that his army-boosting trigger affects him too.

There are a lot of naysayers that naysay that aggressive decks can’t cut it in Commander. But Edgar Markov provides the tokens, power, and single mighty attacker that can quickly rebuild after a sweeper and pull a deck into the late game. Even if you don’t care about Vampires as a tribe, peepaw Markov can scratch that aggro deck itch you might have.

Self-Loathing

Seriously. Go read Mathas’s bio. Dude needs counseling.

Commander is usually played as a multiplayer format, and some of my favorite cards are ones that make multiplayer Magic matter. Mathas, Fiend Seeker is one such card.

Mathas “brands” your opponents’ creatures with bounty counters, incentivizing your opponents to kill that creature instead of another. The idea is to draw attention away from your own creatures, but also to get your opponents to do some of the removal work for you. You can even use the promise of two cards and 2 life as a lobbying tool to get favors out of other players.

Aside – If you’re playing with the old card Bounty Hunter, there are some rules quirks to keep in mind. When Bounty Hunter puts bounty counters on creatures, they don’t give cards and life when they die. Only creatures that get bounty counters from Mathas’s ability will. But, Bounty Hunter is a perfectly good way to just kill creatures that Mathas puts bounty counters on. I advise playing Bounty Hunter in your Mathas decks because of the thematic connection, so these are good rules quirks to know.

The best deck you can build around Mathas is a controlling one that can best leverage all the extra cards you’ll be drawing. More time also means more bounty counters to be distributed. The distraction from attacking your board also works in a control deck’s favor. Finally, feeding cards and life to your opponents is group-huggy enough to enshroud your insidious intentions to eventually backstab everyone and win the game.

Are You Not Entertained?

But seriously, go read Licia’s bio too. ANGEL FEATHER HELMET.

If you enjoy gaining life but hate being the mean pillow fort player, then Licia, Sanguine Tribune is the vampire for you. She puts an aggressive spin on life gain decks to make sure you’re finishing the game instead of needlessly and selfishly prolonging it.

Balance is the key to Licia. Let’s start with her stats: a 4/4 first strike lifelink. Whenever she deals combat damage, you get 4 life. You can also pump her with three +1/+1 counters for a payment of 5 life. Do this once and her attacks start netting you life. Then you can start gaining massive chunks of life as Licia gets stronger and stronger. That’s a good place to be in when you’re a commander.

But what if Licia dies?

Cost reduction mechanics on commanders are beautiful things. Licia is cheaper to cast the more life you gain. At the start, it’s not that difficult to cast her for just RWB. You might even be able to wipe out commander tax early on as your mana generates a bunch of opportunities to gain chunks of life. Many Vampires have lifelink, so engaging in combat is a great way to make Licia as cheap to cast as possible. Hey, that fits in with her aggressive strategy!

Lords of Blood and Bite

Two tribes down, two to go.

If you’re looking to buy into a new tribe for Commander, this year’s product is so great. Five-color Dragons brings new potential to play all the most savage of Magic’s firebreathers in one deck. Vampires offers multiple play strategies for a wedge, which is an undersupported color combination.

You can’t go wrong with any of these legendary creatures, Planeswalkers, so which one are you most excited to build a new Commander deck around?

#Command Zone #Magic The Gathering #MTG #Commander #EDH #Commander 2017 Edition #MTGC17 #The Ur-Dragon #Ramos #O-Kagachi #Taigam #Wasitora #Edgar Markov #Mathas #Licia

[spnfanficpond]

July Angel Fish Awards

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words.

The monthly Angel Fish Awards are peer-nominated, meaning ANYONE IN THE POND CAN NOMINATE ANY POND MEMBER’S FIC. While the Pond was founded to support the Guppies, everyone in this community deserves to be showered with love and feedback, and we hope that by opening this up as a Pond wide system, we’ll be able to share the love as far as it can go.

NOTE: WE’VE BEEN HAVING OCCASIONAL PROBLEMS WITH ASKS GOING MISSING. Please use the Submit button when submitting your nominations and make sure you’re signed into Tumblr or your URL won’t show. (If the form asks for your name and email address, then you’re not signed in.) If you like, you can also send a message to Michelle or Mana to check and make sure we got your submission.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE ARE JULY’S ANGEL FISH AWARDS!

Nominated by @manawhaat

Sanctuary (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

I am in love with the way this starts. This sacred space that has been created, and Dean’s part in it, is so sweet and pure. It just radiates warmth and good energy and gives me all the happy feels! And then Sam comes into play and there’s a deep level of sensuality that just oozes into you as you read and the way this flows as an almost spiritual sexual encounter could have easily been overdone, but you were able to pull back just enough to be in the sweet spot and give Sam and this kind of sex the care that it needs. Kudos, my friend! 

Shoot (oneshot) by @winchesterswoonathon

This entire story and the way these characters interact with each other is incredibly organic. It’s the Jo and the John we know are there but don’t get to see on the show. It’s poetic and sexy and risky and wrong but in all the right ways. There’s such a good balance in all of this and I seriously fucking love it! 

Stitches (oneshot) by @mrswhozeewhatsis

UGH THIS FIC GIVES ME THE CHILLS! Like Dean’s sewing, there is so much care and attention to detail in this story. It’s done right. It’s done with grace. The glimpse we see is one we don’t see on the show, but it’s impossible to believe anything other than the history that Michelle has created for Dean. And weaving that backstory into his experiences the way she does is fucking seamless and stabs you in the goddamn heart and murders you in the middle of the aisle in fucking Walmart. But like, in a good way. 

Good Intentions (drabble) by @atc74

This fic is from Dean’s POV and it is raw and honest and powerful and vulnerable and pissed off and heartbreaking in all the ways that he is. This is a story told in a very appropriate way for Dean and it’s a great capture of such a layered character! 

Nominated by @bookshido 

The Last Time by @thegirlwhorunswithwinchesters 

So, I knew that I wanted to nominate this piece and this author as soon as I helped beta this fic because it reminded me so much of a story I’d see come from a Big Fish. Like, I only had one comment for the whole piece when I was looking it over and that wasn’t even a big change. This author works so hard and writes with a level of skill I don’t see a lot out there except from some of the most expert writers, and English isn’t even her first language! She writes consistently, is dedicated, and is super sweet to boot! If anyone deserves this award, she deserves to be recognized among the other winners.

Nominated by @mrswhozeewhatsis 

Come Tomorrow, Feel No Pain by @mere-mortifer 

Considering this is their first SPN fic, EVER, it’s unbelievable!! There’s everything you could ever want in a Dean fic, right here! Totally blown away!

Nominated by @erins-culinary-service

Underworld’s Hero (series) by @flamencodiva

I love this sequel and getting the chance to see things through Illiara’s eyes and I’m living for the slow burn!

Don’t Run (oneshot) by @flamingcodiva

Her first A/B/O fic and its so good! It’s angsty and the reader is so stubborn can’t wait to see where it goes 

Fake Yours (series) by @supernatural-jackles​  

I binge read this in one night, but i just couldn’t stop reading. It’s such a sweet AU and the interactions between Dean and the reader are just so fluffy and cute!

Wrong Number (series) @supernatural-jackles​

My eyes were not only blessed with this first part but with 2 more parts after! I love that this takes place before the show even officially starts. Dean is such a gentleman as always. If you haven’t read it yet you’re missing out. 

When You Least Expect It (series) by @coffee-obsessed-writer

I don’t usually read Jensen fics, but I love this one! There’s so much happening with the ex’s and between the reader and Jensen all with a spotify playlist to go along with it.

Nominated by @thelittleredwhocould

Stitches (oneshot) by @mrswhozeewhatsis 

If you want to cry, this is the fic for you. I love the imagery Michelle conjures of little Dean learning how to sew and how he applies that skill through his life.

Married at First Sight (series) by @saxxxology 

I adore this little series. There’s only 2 parts but I could definitely read 100 parts. It’s just such an interesting idea for a game show and the addition of one Sam Winchester only makes it better.

Captivated (series) by @saxxxology 

This is one of my favorite series ever. Only 10 parts are on Tumblr rn. It wasn’t getting much interaction, so Saxxy decided to keep the rest to her Patreon for now. Y’all should go show it some love.

Wrong Number (series) @supernatural-jackles 

This fic is super cute. While the idea of calling a strange man scares me to death, Dean makes it 1000x less scary. The idea of Dean’s voice on the other end of the phone…

Fake Yours (series) by @supernatural-jackles  

I’m a sucker for fake relationship fics and this is definitely a good one. Dean makes such a good fake boyfriend.

I Know Your Wife (She Wouldn’t Mind)  (series) by @teamfreewill-imagines  

This will always be one of my favorite series. I love how what was a little smutty thing has developed into this lovely story of a girl finding a family (can Jensen and Danneel please adopt me??)

Guise (series) by @crispychrissy 

I haven’t read beyond the first part of this series but I’m so excited to read the next few parts and learn all the crazy things it seems Chrissy has planned. I love throwing a “monster” reader in with the boys.

Her Saviours (series) by @bamby0305 

I will never not recommend this series rewrite. Amber is doing an excellent job working the A/B/O dynamics and the reader into the plot of the show.

Cat and Mouse (oneshot) by @bamby0305 

This. Is. My. Jam. I fucking love Meg and this fic is just so dark and gritty and good.

You Never Say Red (oneshot) by @fictionalabyss 

Gimme all the soft Dom!Sam and aftercare. Sam is the sweetest bby.

Thank you all for the awesome work and great feedback!

As with the BFAs, these are not actual awards! This system is set up so everyone in the pond has a chance to share the love and promote a fic/author that has grabbed your attention. The more people that participate, and the more everyone remembers to submit their own fics after posting, the better this will be :D

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

#afas #afa masterlist #angel fish awards #spn fic rec #spnfanficpond #fic rec #spn #supernatural #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #Supernatural Fan Fiction #spn fan fiction