My top ten cards in Amonkhet for commander

Hey, guys, the new set is almost upon us and I'd like to go over what I feel like are the best cards in the set for commander.
This will cover only cards that are new so while Aven Mindcensor is fantastic and could easily make it near the top I'm not mentioning it. Other than that sentence...and maybe later.
This list will be tailored more towards competitive commander and everything on here is my own opinion, so naturally, there may be things I miss and things you all disagree with. That's totally fine and I look forward to hearing your own cards you're looking forward to. Let's start with the honorable mentions.





Approach of the second sun
The first honorable mention may seem odd to play in a competitive mindset but I'm looking at it as another win con. It's not difficult to generate infinite mana. Play this, remand it, then play it again to win. The beauty of it is the trigger is on cast so even if it's countered the game is over. Throw it in an esper deck and cast it, search it up and cast it again.
While this is likely too janky for most decks I can see it appearing in something as a plan B.









Kefnet the Mindful
I don't think this card is good.
However, it does draw your deck with infinite mana and can be your general.
Why you would play him over Oona, Tasigur, or Thrasios doesn't make sense to me but it wouldn't feel right making a list without mentioning that this fella can draw your deck IF you wanted to make a mono blue deck focused around him. I think he's the best god for competitive commander, but pretty much only because of that reason.










Commit  to Memory

Since this is the first time we're seeing aftermath cards it's somewhat hard to see how this will impact the format. You can pitch this to the yard and cast another wheel effect. I think the mana cost is too high as all the wheels you want to play are generally around 3 mana or untap 6 lands but the fact that it has a Venser stapled to the first part means you can wheel away someone else's threat. Probably will see play in wheel focused decks but I'm not confident enough in it to say it's top ten worthy.












Combat Celebrant

My last honorable mention is another card that just wins with Kiki-Jiki. However, I'm not sure the deck really needs more targets like this. The low cmc and the fact that recruiter of the guard can find it is certainly nice but the kiki/twin decks already have a ton of good options and while this guy is slightly better (Debatable) I'm not sure he's super crazy good outside of that











10: Gideon of the trails

Gids makes it on here because he's yet another way to draw your entire deck with Ad Nasuem. Before you had Angels Grace and sometimes Phyrexian Unlife and now you also have Gideon. While this isn't as impactful he has two other less good abilities to stop things like Voltron decks and even do some damage on his own. I'm not certain he will make it in Ad Naseum decks but the low cmc and the ability to do slightly more than Phyrexian Unlife make me think he deserves a slot here.










9: Cut to Ribbons
5 color Hermit may have gotten a new tool. While it's common for the dread return route to get an Angel of Glory's rise + Lab man and Azami or whatever to win now you have a spell that you can cast from the yard with infinite mana to kill all your opponents.
Dump your library in your yard, reanimate Ooze with dread return and then use Devoted druid antics to generate infinite mana and win. While the printing of Lab man may have made this win condition obsolete I think Cut/Ribbons is still worth a test










8: Samut, voice of Dissent
This is probably the card I'm most excited for as another potential commander. She doesn't do too much but she does allow you to abuse Kiki-Jiki in Naya far more.
In Naya you already have access to Yisan, Recruiter of the guard, Imperial recruiter, Splinter twin, sneak attack, Kiki, Quirion Ranger, Scryb Ranger, Wirewood symbiote, Restoration angel, Combat Celebrant, Zealous conscripts, and nearly every creature tutor there is. I'm not sure what the decklist would look like for Samut Kiki combo but I think there is a place for it somewhere.









7: Prowling Serpoard

Dosan the falling Leaf may have been replaced here. I'm not saying it's 100 percent better but it's something I would consider depending on how heavy the creature build is. The bonus here is Serpopard works better in decks like Selvala, being a bigger creature. In Yisan you make the few creatures you cast uncounterable and unlike Dosan and City of Solitude, you can still interact on other player's turns.
This is likely just a meta call. If you want to interact with opponents you want to play the Serpopard while if you want no one to be able to play spells outside of their turn then the other two may be better.









6: Nissa, Steward of Elements

If you're in a creature heavy deck like Edric, Momir Vig, Ezuri then I would consider Nissa for testing. She likely comes down turn 2 since you should be playing a turn one elf or mana thing consistently and you can set up your next ability for her 0. Cards like Sensei's top, Jace the mind sculptor, and sylvan library work very well with Nissa and you often will know what the top card is and if you don't want it you can bottom it with her ability. However using her ability to just scry seems like a wasted ability for the turn so I dropped her down a few pegs on where I originally had her. But the strength of cheating in creatures and lands every turn seems too good to pass up.

Plus this is the only walker you can get to huge digits in loyalty and that's pretty neat I guess




5: As Foretold
This is one of the better enchantments you can get out turn 1 or 2. In a heavy interaction deck with tons of instants, you can cheat the game out of using plenty of mana for things to refill your hand or keep yourself ahead of the game. I especially like it in land destruction heavy decks as it essentially is a mana rock that keeps growing every turn and allows you to play more and more. This may seem like a win more but I feel like it can give you the advantage you need to get to that point more consistently.
I think this will see good play in interactive and heavy permission decks.








4: Shadow of the grave

You know what's awesome in commander? Wheels.
This paired with any wheel gives you an extra 7 cards in hand. If your opponents wheeled then you're even farther ahead because now you start your turn with all your mana open and many more cards in hand than others. Not to mention it allows you to get more cards with things like Survival of the fittest, frantic search, Dack fayden and plenty of other format all-stars.
Needing to have other cards to really make a card shine is often not great but I think this card is an exception.










3: The lands

It's hard to deny that these lands are powerful and I can see them at the number one slot in many people's lists. However, my main and really only issue with them is there are often better options. If you have a 3 or more color deck then I don't see these guys making the cut often.
You start with 3 duals, 3 shocks, 9 fetches, 4 five color, ancient tomb, likely one of each basic and plenty of other better cards if you're in the colors (Cradle, Urborg, horizon canopy) so I don't see them getting too much play in decks with those colors.
However, in two color decks, they will absolutely be included. And even in decks that are far more heavy in two colors than a third, I can see adding these guys in.
Just not so much in four or five


2; Manglehorn
It's hard to say if this is better than Reclamation sage. The part that Rec Sage hits enchantments matters but Manglehorn is a hate bear on top of having a good enter the battlefield. Being able to kill Sylvan library, Rhystic study, or Necropotence helps Reclamation sage a bit but again Manglehorn is a hate bear.
I think it really comes down to are you playing an elf deck? Rec sage works well with Priest of Titania, Wirewood symbiote, and other elf focused cards. If you're not using the elf type as often I think Manglehorn may be better.
Not to say either one is less great, on the opposite actually I can see both being played quite a lot







1: Harsh Mentor
And my number one pick for Amonkhet is Harsh Mentor. This list has plenty of cards that work well in decks with Infinite combos but Harsh Mentor is the two mana answer for all of those. Before they activate something an infinite amount of times they have to deal with this guy. Even if they're not activating something infinite times he is still there doing damage every time someone does something. Making things like Sensei's top, Tasigur, Kiki, Deadeye, Saffi, Monoliths Untap, Isochron Scepter, Yisan, Quirion ranger, Auriok Salvagers, and plenty more hurt every time you do it.
Think about how often Linvala, keeper of silence shuts down a deck. Well, this is a Red mini Linvala. Doesn't stop everything in its tracks but rather....Fight through it







And there you have it. My personal top ten commander cards from Amonkhet. What do you have for your own? Anything you disagree with? What about things you agree with? Let me know and let's start a discussion.


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My top ten lands in commander

Hey, guys, we're back and today I'm giving you my personal top ten lands in commander.
These lands are my personal go to lands and in my opinion the best of the best in competitive commander. If you're interested in seeing the community based best lands in commander that information is here:

http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/03/top-ten-lands-in-commander-voted-by-you.html


Or you can just look at this pretty pic based on how often they came up in someone's top ten

So with that in mind here's my own personal top ten. Feel free to give me your own personal top ten.






10: Tarnished Citadel

This is a land that I personally think didn't get enough love in the community-based votes. Not because it's not good, but I don't think many people know about it.
City of Brass and Mana Confluence are often referred to as staples in the format and Citadel isn't too much different.
Yes, the 3 damage part hurts a load more but unlike the other two, you can tap this land without hurting yourself. I find that when you need the colored mana it's a great land to have on board and the colorless source helps as well. Give it a try yourself, I don't think you'll be disappointed.










9: Gaea's Cradle

Based on pure power I think Cradle can easily top the list but the problem is you can't place it in as many decks as the other cards on this list. In the decks where it's played it is often the best land in the deck but like I said, it isn't placed in as many decks as the other cards on the list.
There is nothing quite like tapping a land for 10 plus mana and if you've ever played this card you can see why it would be placed on a list of the best of the best. I wish I can put it up higher and I can see why others would but the color restriction makes it not as much of a staple.











8: Shock lands

Now we're getting more into universal staples for nearly every deck. Now when a land goes into pretty much every deck why would it be lower on the list? Well, let's say you're playing a 3 or 4 color deck that mainly focuses on blue. You'll throw in all the duals and fetches you can in it but some of the time shocks can be cut. An example of this would be in Zur Doomsday where you have the duals, fetches, but don't run Godless Shrine (I'm not saying this is the routine for every deck).
With it being mandatory in 2 colors but less so as you go up I think number eight is a decent slot. There really are few situations where you don't want all the shock lands but they do exist.

7: City of Brass
6: Mana Confluence

I didn't see much reason in talking about how good City of Brass was and then saying the same thing about Confluence. Both of them are pretty much mandatory in anything with two or more colors.
The life loss doesn't really matter when the best decks are combo or lock down so having access to the colors you need when you need them is far more important and both of these give you exactly what you need, when you need it, at minimal cost.




5: Ancient Tomb

Much like City and Confluence I think that Tomb goes into nearly every single deck. I can see it being cut from 4 or 5 color decks that are very hungry for colors but other than that it's something I always add to decks.
The turn one Tomb into a talisman or signet often means you can play the higher CMC cards in your hand turn two and have the mana advantage early so you can press on and lock down or combo out shortly after. And it's specifically Tomb over something like Temple of the false god or Crystal vein because of how it can do this turn one and repeatedly. Remember like I said for City and Confluence, Life is a resource.

4: Command tower

Of course, this had to be on here, but just where? I'm sure you can guess the next three slots based on Command Tower's placement.
Command tower goes in pretty much everything. The only reason is if you're playing 1 or 0 colors but other than that you stick it in your deck and have a good time. I don't need to tell people why this card is good because we all know well and good how good it is. In our poll it came in at third and that totally makes sense.













3: Strip Mine

What does every land we've mentioned so far have in common? They all die to Strip Mine.
If you're having an issue with a land then strip mine can handle it. If your opponent missed a land drop then strip mine can seal them out of a game.
If you have a crucible then you can lock an opponent out for the game. This card is so damn good that unless you just really need the colors you should be running it.
Granted if you're playing pure combo and don't care about taking out resources I can see this being removed but the uncounterable resource denial undoubtedly puts Strip Mine as something anyone should consider.










2: The dual lands

 Well...duh. If you're playing a deck with two or more colors you often want to maximize the duals you run. The dual typing that works very well with our totally not obvious number one make it so you have the color you need and then some. Plus they add serious style points to your deck. Like shock lands, you want to add as many as you can to your deck but unlike shock lands, there isn't much reason to cut them because there will be situations where you need your less used colors and then you'll have the dual because you used....







1: The Fetch Lands

I really tried to put something else as number one but there is no way to justify it. Fetch lands are clearly the best lands in commander. The ability to get the colors you need, when you need them and the synergy they have with staples like Sensei's top, Sylvan Library, Brainstorm, and Crucible made this an easy choice. There are very few situations in which you don't want to have every single fetch land in your deck.






Honorable Mentions:
The Tabernacle at Pendrells Vale
Bazaar of Baghdad
Horizon Canopy
Mishra's Workshop
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Inventor's Fair



Dishonorable mentions
Karoo lands
Temple of the false god
Lands that enter tapped.



Well, that's my personal top ten. What about your own? Let me know what you think and let's get this discussion going.


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Top ten Modern Masters 2017 cards for commander

Hey guys, we're back with another top ten and holy shit. Did you look at the Modern Masters spoilers? They're pretty sweet but we don't care about Modern here. We're looking at singleton vintage and the top ten cards that were reprinted in Modern Masters 3. Now that the set is mere days away from being ripped open by rabid nerds across the land I feel like it's the best time to discuss which cards to look for in commander decks.

The idea came to me from my friend Brian who made this video on his top ten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vqj4CENFnY&t=297s

I guess this is my own response and view from someone who pretty much only plays competitive.
Also all of this is just the opinion and viewings of a single player. Nothing is set in stone anywhere but this is all just personal preference


Honorable mentions.

Ancient grudge- Fairly solid if nothing else. Killing two artifacts with one spell whenever you want is fairly helpful. It's no Nature's Claim or Beast within but if you want more artifact removal this would be a solid addition.

If any other mana dorks were being
reprinted they also would be here.

Avacyn's Pilgrim- This was actually very close to the top ten. Consider it an honorary 11th slot I guess. But why is it so high up there? Well because mana dorks allow you to play more busted spells early on. A lot of competitive decks have curves that end at 4 or 5 with the occasional spell or two above and being able to play your finisher spells a turn early helps a lot. Pilgrim is currently the only one mana dork that gives you white mana the following turn so adding him in green/white decks is pretty great in competitive tables.

Cavern of Souls- Also very close to the top ten for me. But outside of dedicated tribe decks or super focused on general I don't see much reason to include it. It's very strong but the downside of it being colorless for everything else doesn't quite make it as much of an include as the rest of the top ten.

Coiling Oracle- Another solid card but doesn't always make the cut. Randomly ramping or drawing a card is fairly good but the issue is I think Three Visits and Nature's Lore are better since they guarantee a land drop and you can always find two colored sources with them. While oracle is still decent I don't think it needs to be added to every green/blue deck.

Craterhoof Behemoth- Often a finisher of choice in elves decks and big mana decks but him being eight massive mana means that unless you're powering out tons of creatures early and consistently he wouldn't be super useful early on. Of course, he has his slots in decks but I don't think it's enough for him to enter the top ten

Damnation- Before Toxic Deluge was introduced into the world I may have put Damnation on the top ten but since Deluge is better I don't see much reason. It kills indestructible creatures, can leave your creatures alone, gets around Gaddock Teeg, and cost less mana. Overall I don't see much reason to include Damnation in lists anymore since Deluge came out but the reprint is still fairly exciting.

Deadeye Navigator- My god a lot of people hate this card. I kinda get why but I have to bring up that he's a six drop that's useless outside of having other utility creatures on board. The ability to make infinite mana is great for decks that win with that (Oona, Thrasios, Tasigur, etc) but that's more of a finisher job and I don't think that's enough for him to get on the list. Sure you can Tooth and Nail for him and Palinchron for wins but the combo is still fairly fragile and without combo he's often a dead card.  (Yes, I'm aware that I use him as a finisher in my Tasigur deck)

Nothing quite like a turn one cage against
Reanimator

Grafdiggers Cage- Is just an overall solid hate card. I was very close to adding it to my own list but honestly, I haven't had enough experience with it myself. Being able to hose reanimator decks and stop powerful cards like Green Sun's Zenith or Chord of calling means that unless they have an answer already they're not going to be able to cheat in cards. For one generic mana this is fairly powerful and I'd consider it over things like Tormods Crypt or Nihil Spellbomb for decks.

Izzet Charm- Not mandatory in decks but having three relevant modes for early and late game make me think this card is solid. Granted I haven't played it too often but in the decks where it fits in I think it's a decent addition.

Path to Exile- 2nd best white removal spell in the game. While giving your opponents and land is a big deal sometimes you just need to do it. I highly recommend swords to plowshares over Path but if you need another answer in white this is where to go.

Putrefy- Like Damnation this may have made the list if a certain 2 mana uncounterable instant from Return to Ravnica wasn't printed. Since then I don't see too much reason to include it in lists, especially when Nature's Claim and Beast within already exist. But if you need even more removal I can see running it.

Sluuuuurp

Scavenging Ooze- I remember when this card was nearly 50 dollars. How the days have changed. Having a constant threat on board that eats away people's cards from the graveyard and hurts powerful cards like Snapcaster, Yawgmoth's will, Past in flames, reanimate make this card great. Not only that but you can always just eat a few creatures from opponents yards to make him bigger and gain some life. Not quite as powerful in super competitive groups since it's a tad bit slow but overall a very solid card.


Unburial Rites- Our final honorable mention. A double reanimate helps a lot but the mana cost is a bit high to be used conventionally. Comboing this with an end of turn Intuition means that you have a next turn Jin-Gixtais or Iona to really ruin opponents plans. While very strong the high mana cost is a bit prohibitive to I bumped it down to an honorable mention.



That was probably too many cards for honorable mentions.
Oh well, let's get into the good stuff.


10: Past in Flames

Worse Yawgmoth's Will has gotten a lot of reprints lately. And I don't say worse as in it's a bad thing. If Yawg Will was reprinted then it would likely top the list so Past in Flames is also quite insane. Often used in combo decks to play an extra 5-6 spells and then kill players with Tendrils of Agony or Aetherflux Reservoir. Doesn't hurt that it also has flashback so if your plans fail the first time you can just try again next turn.
My personal favorite interaction is playing this in Mizzix. You intuition for it plus Mizzix Mastery and Enter the Infinite. They give you Infinite and then you flashback Past in flames to play Intuition to get Frantic search and two wheels. You discard the infinite and flashback mastery to draw your deck. Great card with great new art to boot.







9: Zur the Enchanter

If this was top ten generals Zur would likely be very high on the list and he's the only general I've put on this list since he's been consistently tier one since the format has been made. Having a Necropotence in the command zone means that you can easily draw 30ish cards and then combo off the following turn consistently. Not only that but he can tutor up other answers like Rest in Peace, Power Artifact, or Grasp of Fate as answers or combo pieces.
Zur has been a boogeyman of the format for as long as I can remember and is often treated like when he attacks the game is over. And there is good reason because that is often true.


Also, he's fun in reanimator....






8: The signets

 While I think this is a fairly boring choice there is no doubt in my mind that signets are powerful cards in commander.
Like I mentioned for Avacyn's Pilgrim, curves in competitive decks are often low so dropping one of these turn one or two often means you can play any card in your hand the following turn. Not to mention they're a fantastic way to ramp yourself in non-green decks. Sure you could argue that sol ring, mana crypt, and mox diamond are better and yeah they are but these give you more chances to excel your mana early and play your powerful spells.
Signets and the Talisman cycle are very underappericated and I think could really make good work in more commander decks.









7: Abrupt Decay

Hey look a card in Modern and Legacy is actually super good in commander, what a suprise.

Like I mentioned for other removal cards before Abrupt decay is a powerhouse. You take out either early mana rocks, deathrite shamans, birds of paradise, necropotence, and plenty of other powerful cards with this without worry of counters.
I've already said 2315 times that most competitive decks have low mana cost so this is often uncounterable removal for nearly any threat. I highly reccomend adding this to nearly any green/black deck.









6: Liliana of the Veil

Easily the best planeswalker from this set, I know that's not saying more.

"Eh, but Doom Blade, didn't you put here outside of your top ten planeswalkers"
Shut up

Lili is great for stax and attrition decks. She comes down early and takes out resources right away. Even if it's late game she can start whittiling away people's cards and creatures over and over.  At worst she's an edict effect and then someone has to take her out but at best she can lock players out from playing spells if you pair her with some land destruction or stax effects.







5: Blood Moon

Speaking of stax effects.


Well not really a stax effect but something that two color or less decks would love to drop against opponents. In competitive edh it's not super likely that players have too many basic lands in the deck so dropping this often means that they have resources removed and can't do anything for a good amount of turns. This is also why I value signets and mana rocks that produce color very highly since they don't care about these effects.
But back to Blood Moon, this card is great and if your opponents aren't ready for it you can get some free wins with it.









4: Cyclonic Rift

 So we get to number four and honestly any of the top four cards I can picture as number one for someone else. I went with Cyclonic rift as the bottom of my top since while it's absurdly powerful it is quite a bit of mana to pull off.

An end of turn cyclonic rift for seven mana can easily be countered by two mana spells but if it's not you can often blow out opponents with wheels or land destruction effects. The risk isn't high either since you can just use it as two mana removal. I don't think I need to tell people why this card is great, everyone who plays should already know.










3: Snapcaster Mage

Like I mentioned before, Snappy can easily top the list as well but I have him at number three. The two mana to replay instants whenever you want or being able to replay a sorcery is very powerful. This means that you can get a double tutor, or a double counter, or a double entomb. Whatever you need Snapcaster can likely do it. There's also always combos with lab man and Tainted Pact. Cast Pact to get lab man and then flash it back with Snappy to combo off. Paired with any draw spell you can win the same turn.
Snapcaster is one of the few cards I consider mandatory for any blue deck because there will always be a situation where you would want to play something out of the yard.







2: Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Linvala is an absolute beating against certain decks and a fantastic finisher. She isn't mandatory like Snapcaster is but the ability to cripple decks is extremely strong.
Breya, Selvala, Thrasios, Arcum, Sisay, Scion, Yisan, Tasigur, and many many more cards aren't able to use their abilities while she's on board.
Pair her with any land animate spell like Living Plane and now your opponents lands can't tap for mana. This is one of my favorite combos in my Ghave Enchantress deck and has won me plenty of games in the past.
Not only that but she stops mana dorks from producing mana so unless she's answered first your opponents will always have a hard time dealing with her.







1: The Fetch Lands

I know, I know what a typically and boring answer. But I wanted the list to be as accurate as possible and there is literally no reason to not have them at number one. There are very very very few decks that aren't improved by adding fetch lands. They help with Sensei's top, Sylvan library, crucible, life from the loam, or brainstorm effects and shuffle your deck whenever you're not interested in the next few cards. Not only that you can find two mana color sources with them to make sure you can play pretty much any spell in hand early with then. Play these beautiful lands, you'll be happy you did.








Anyway, that's my top ten. What do you have for your own? Anything you disagree with? What about things you agree with? Let me know and let's start a discussion.





If you enjoyed this article please visit my Patreon. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future.
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Top ten lands in commander, voted by you

Hey guys, it's time to look over manabases once again but this time I'm not rating them; you are.
Because I'm super lazy and community-based top tens seem all the rage here's the top ten lands in commander (As voted by you)

We got nearly 300 replies in which people ranked their own top ten and I took the results from them and got some numbers for you all, because we all need numbers in our top tens.
With over 500 lands to vote on there are so many options and when we get to the results I think it will surprise you.


10: The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale  (14.1% of votes)

 The most expensive land on the list comes in at number ten and it's easily an All-Star in the stax and control decks. Denying resources and forcing people to pay to keep creatures alive and brutalize decks. Some of my favorite experiences include dropping this after a land wipe and forcing my opponents to start over on board states.
I love that this made the list and enjoy seeing it whenever I can. Which considering it's price tag means pretty much only seeing it online.

9: Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (17.6% of votes)

What can we really say about Urborg? It's pretty much mandatory in decks with black and the fact that it can be played in decks without black makes it all the better. Turning lands like Tabernacle into mana sources also helps a ton. Fixing your mana and making things like Kormus bell hurt your opponents too gave this a ton of votes.
The synergy with Cabal Coffers certainly doesn't hurt.














8: Mishra's Workshop (18.2% of votes)
 The only land that can produce three mana but only for artifacts. However landing this on turn one or two and getting yourself a turn one coalition relic or even Gilded lotus with more cards means that you're all set for the rest of the game. Not other land ramps you quite like this one does and in the artifact decks it's played it's one of the best cards you can get. Even in decks with 3 or 4 colors you'd want to play the Workshop since it allows you to abuse early mana super early. Not surprised to see this on the list at all.

7: Ancient Tomb (27.9% of votes)

Getting fifty percent more votes than Workshop. Yes, it's not as powerful as workshop can be however Tomb ramps you two mana for any spell. Dropping turn one signets or talismans mean that the next turn you can play your bigger spells. Out of all the lands on the list I think Ancient tomb makes the cut in nearly 100 percent of decks. Zero to four color likely want it easily and even some five color decks. Try it out and see how abusable it is.

6: Shock lands (32.8% of votes)
I don't know what to really say about this. If your deck is two or more colors you often want to throw in every single shock land you can in the deck. In four or five color decks I can see cutting one or two of them for more powerful lands or ones that tap for more colors.
You guys clearly agree as it made it this high over powerhouses like Ancient Tomb and there were plenty of results that had shock lands but just below the other lands that are higher up.











5: Strip Mine (36.9% of votes)

This is the land on here that kills all the lands on this list. Being able to take out lands like Ancient tomb, tabernacle, shocks, and the remaining lands on the list make this a clear star in nearly every deck in commander. It is fairly rare that you have a commander deck without strip mine in it. There's a reason it's restricted in vintage and commander. Super powerful and if you're not playing it you're wrong. I'm honestly surprised it's not higher on the list











4: Gaea's Cradle (45.9%)

Remember how Workshop taps for 3 for artifacts only?
Well, cradle can tap for far far far more.
Decks that run green and are creature based will often run this or really wish they could. Like the rest of the lands on the list I don't need to justify why it's super good because the fact that almost half the votes had a cradle in it and high on their own list shows just how insane it is. A perfect target for Strip mine.













3: Command tower (53.1%)

 Surprise!
Honestly, the top three shouldn't come to a shock to anyone with working brain cells but I thought for sure Command tower was going to win first. I suppose it's not used in every deck since mono-colored decks don't want it but it's still the first land I think of when I make a commander deck and unless I'm making a mono or no color deck makes the cut 100 percent of the time.
I must admit there were some pretty stupid votes but hey, this was voted by you all.
Don't shoot the messenger.







2: The dual lands (58.6%)

Now I can see cutting certain shock lands if your manabase focuses on other colors more but cutting dual lands (Assuming you have the budget) is just insane. I did think Command tower would beat them but just the same as command tower I think any deck with two or more colors wants as many of these guys as possible. Also surprised that it didn't hit 60 percent of the votes




1. The fetch lands (61.3%)

I don't disagree with this placement at all. If you're making a deck you often want to throw in as many fetches for color fixing as possible. Decks with three duals will often have 8-9 fetches. If they run the one dual and shock they should be running 6-7 fetches. Even in mono colored the fetch lands are just good in there too. They're not super mandatory but when optimizing they're the first step.






Here are the rest of the results:

 Things to note:
Plenty of lands got 0 votes. Even with nearly 300 people voting there were plenty of lands that were not mentioned even once. Not saying that they're all bad but I guess they're not quite good enough for it.

Basic lands beat out plenty of other cards (Mostly thanks to Island). I don't disagree as I think the fact that basics are fetchable and don't enter tapped they actually are fairly viable.


There were a few votes with Mana confluence on the list but no City of Brass. I agree that it's better but they're both pretty much staples in commander. I found it odd that they're not right next to another.

The best cycle after the top ten comes to pain lands. I actually like them quite a bit as a more budget option since they don't come into play tapped and they don't always have to hurt you. Consider them for your decks if you can't finish up the high-value cards.




Tarnished Citadel barely made the list which surprised me. I feel like it's not very well known which hurts it a ton but another Mana Confluence/City of brass effect is fantastic in commander.


Shizo, Death's Storehouse was the only card in it's cycle to make the cut. Not a surprise there.



Despite Tabernacle, Cradle, and Workshop making the list Bazaar of Baghdad didn't get as much votes. It seems like the price wasn't an issue for most people when voting so I don't quite understand why it didn't make the cut.



Bounce lands are trash.
I don't have much else to say about it other than they're bad.

And that's the end of that. I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the voting and hope you guys enjoy the results.
Do you agree or disagree with the results? Let me know and let's start a discussion.


If you enjoyed this article please visit my Patreon. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future.
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The Eldrazi vs Lions

Truely terrifying...but how many lions can they kill?

I get a lot of questions here:

What do you think of X?

How do you beat Animar?

Why is Solemn so shitty?

But the most important question I've gotten is

Who would win in a fight between the Eldrazi and One Million lions.

(What the fuck am I even saying)

I know what you're thinking; "What a great question! Who would win!"

Now it's important to note that we need to measure both the strength of every Eldrazi and then Lions.

There are currently 138 Eldrazi tokens.

Which means that every Eldrazi on average needs to take out 7.246 Thousand Lions

Holy shit. How can an Eldrazi kill 7,246 Lions by themselves? I'm not sure they can so let's just see how much fire power the Eldrazi have and how many Lions they can kill themselves before succumbing to roars and bites.

Now taking a look at every Eldrazi and just stapling them together into one super big fucking Eldrazi gives us this.

Emrakul has nothing on HSEC

So if we staple all the Eldrazi into one terrifying abomination we have 

Holy shit, the Eldrazi Clusterfuck

First Strike, Lifelink, Trample, Haste, Menace, Vigilance, Indestructible, Flying

When Holy Shit, the Eldrazi Clusterfuck does it's thing:

Destroy 3 lions (Thanks Ulamog)

Sac a creature (4 dead Lions and we haven't even attacked yet)

Take an Extra turn

Gain control of Lions next turn

Annihilator 26

Whenever Lions are Sacrificed gain control of that Lion

Create 41 Eldrazi tokens

582/618

The real reason Scar kills Mufasa

So right away we have a creature that could bitch Slap Marit Liege and BFG into pauper. On top of that we gain control of two Lions and 41 extra Eldrazi tokens. That's a total of 44 bodies.

Not to mention that whenever Holy Shit, the Eldrazi Clusterfuck (HSEC) attacks they gain control of 26 lions thanks to it's gene's from It that Betrays.

 On top of that thanks to some bitch named Emrakul we have two combats before the Lions get their own. And thanks to some other bitch named Emrakul HSEC has control of the Lions before they get to attack for really the first time.

Now you may wonder why HSEC attacks first.

Well if Pokemon has taught me anything it's that stronger things attack first. And if you still want to argue that just be aware you're debating if Eldrazi or Lions can win a fight, chill out a bit ;)

Now let's see just how tough Lions are.

Very relevant for all your lion slaughter needs

There are almost as many Lions are there are Eldrazi in magic. A solid ten Lions to gather our information. If we average out their own power and toughness we have 2.4/2.6 on the Lions.

Now we could round this to 2/3 but that would change to much and we want to be as accurate as possible on our borderline insane question that literally no one should care about.

So FINALLY we need to see how many lions HSEC could kill before the Lions will get a chance to do anything.

 So we're looking at HSEC, 41 4/2 power Eldrazi scions (Broodwarden pumps up our jerks and other small pumps) and we have our own 2.4/2.6 Lion betrayer.

So now let's get to the good part.

HSEC, Lion, and 41  4/2's attack.

Now we obviously want as much carnage on our hands so let's assume lions are dumb animals and will block in the worst way possible to ensure that we can cause more mass extinction.

582 divided by 2.6 gives us 223 rotting corpses

The Annihilator adds another 26 lions dying right off the bat and joining the happy team and

41 x 4 + 2.4 power gives us 166.4 power, divide that by 2.6 again to get 64 more dead lions...

So after our good friend HSEC attacks this is our tally, don't forget we have another turn thanks to Emrakul(s)

4 dead lions off the bat

223 dead off attack

26 off Annihilator

64 off tokens

That brings us to 317 lions and we haven't even started.

Now we have our good friend HSEC + 27 lions + 41 tokens.

When we attack we also gained 582 tokens off Rapacious One. They're normally 0/1 but thanks to our anthems they're solid 4/2's

That makes 623 tokens plus 27 lions and good old HSEC and most importantly 317 lion coats.

Not only relevant in Xenagos but
relevant in stupid internet questions

Now the best part about murder is doing it again so let's see what happens on attack two.

HSEC gives us another 223 kills plus 26 off Annihilator. (We have 53 lions now)

The 27 Lions we have times 2.4 gives us and divided by 2.6 adds another 24 bodies

And with 623 tokens attacking times 4 power divided by average lion toughness gives us another 958 piles of death.

317 dead lions in the beginning 

223 of HSEC

26 Annihilator

24 Traitor lions kills

958 off the tokens 

1548 lions so far and now the Eldrazi also gained another 582 tokens

So finally the Lions can avenge themselves with their own attack...but they're being mind controlled for this first attack and they're coming into:

HSEC

53 Lion friends

1540 Eldrazi tokens

We add up the total power of these and get 6869

Divide that by 2.6 and you get another 2641 lions that had dead happen to them.

No actual lions were harmed in the making
of this experiment

That brings our total up to 4189 lions 

Now the lions are free to attack again and take out the Eldrazi but in their own attack it's likely that the same amount will die off in the attack. Add another 2641 and our FINAL dead lion total is

6830.

Not quite the million we were looking for but a solid .7 percent. That's a bit more than I was expecting honestly. 

Well that's the end of that guys, thanks for giving it a read

Do you agree or disagree?

And more importantly why? This is dumb and all in good fun. Come on and lighten up a little.

If you want something more serious then take the time to vote on the best and worst lands in commander here:

http://diestodoomblade.blogspot.com/2017/02/help-me-rank-lands-in-commander.html

If you enjoyed this article please visit my Patreon. Every little bit helps a ton and allows me to make more content for you guys in the future.

https://www.patreon.com/diestodoomblade

And as always, thanks for your time.