There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
First of all they look amazing. They look and feel like you’re holding up and reading an ancient scroll full of wisdom and power.
Many of them are also potentially powerful for Standard, if not downright broken. Unique cards like sagas always ping my radar when I’m searching for overpowered cards. New effects have the potential to be broken, and we haven’t really seen anything quite like sagas before. They’re also jam packed full of value if you’re given enough time to fully use them, kind of like planeswalkers. Let’s take a look.
Once you add in the possibility of giving other Knights you control +2/+1 you have an absolute home run. Every white deck is going to be looking at History of Benalia, potentially even out of the sideboard of control decks.
Two Ancient Stirrings and a March of the Machines in one card? Sign me up. Card advantage and win condition in one card? Drool. Did I mention I love value?
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas combined with Tezzeret the Seeker combines to form a perfect killing machine. Getting The Antiquities War to work takes a bit of dedication, but it comes with a big payoff. There’s already another excellent dude who loves artifacts named Karn, Scion of Urza, and that’s where I would start for the top end of the deck.
Next you have Renegade Map on your low end and Treasure Map, which conveniently makes three artifacts without too much effort. Is building around The Antiquities War better than just Refurbishing God-Pharaoh's Gift? It seems much more resilient and grindy, and makes sure you don’t get blown out by Abrade, even if it’s less explosive.
Add in the possibility of having more artifact creatures on your side of the battlefield, and the free Tormod’s Crypt and you have something really special. A great card in midrange matchups, assuming your opponents aren’t packing to many artifact creatures themselves.
Time of Ice is kind of like a delayed, less impactful River's Rebuke, but at four mana it’s a steal of a deal.
Tap target creature an opponent controls. It doesn't untap during the controller's untap step for as long as you control Time of Ice.
This ability is excellent, it locks down a creature the turn you play Time of Ice, keeps it tapped for another turn while locking down another a creature, and then finally returns all tapped creatures to their opponent’s hands. This buys so much time against any creature decks seems great in any tempo war. It’s especially useful against otherwise annoying to kill creatures like Rekindling Phoenix or Hazoret the Fervent.
Naturally a card called Time of Ice is a little slow, but in this case it may be to your benefit. It sticking around in play makes playing more creatures or attacking with creatures awkward for your opponent until it’s gone.
One way to look at sagas is to just imagine you get all the effects immediately, which obviously paints them in a ridiculously positive light, but also shows their true potential. Some sagas, like Time of Ice or The Antiquities War, can actually regularly benefit you by doling out an effect each turn instead of immediately.
The Eldest Reborn really doesn’t work that way and it’s slower speed is definitely the biggest drawback.
The Eldest Reborn is less cost restricted than Dark Intimations however, and the real advantage The Eldest Reborn has is it’s last ability since you can return a creature or planeswalker from any graveyard directly to the battlefield. It definitely packs a wallop value wise for one card, since in theory it can net you three cards worth of value, although the sacrifice effect and discard effect are not necessarily doing much.
Just a 6/6 flying trample is an excellent deal, especially when you’re given fodder to negate the drawback, but it might be a little too slow.
The exciting card to pair with Rite of Belzenlok is Anointed Procession since you’ll get eight 0/1’s and two 6/6 Demons. Another card is Hidden Stockpile since you’ll have fuel for your Demons, or even be able to sacrifice them if you have to.
It’s possible Modern Dredge could want this effect and The Flame of Keld’s third ability is super exciting with Conflagrate since every target will take an extra two damage.
It’s also possible pairing it with Bedlam Reveler could make for a critical mass of ways to discard your hand, fill up the graveyard, and then then draw into more gas.
Imagine just simply returning an Opt and a Fumigate in a control deck. If you then cast Opt and copy it, it’s like you got three cards worth of value already, and that just involves only copying one measly draw spell, let alone something more substantial like Glimmer of Genius.
Which is ramp with a swarm of creatures and then buff them up. It’s last ability is exciting with Winding Constrictor, but really just leaves me missing Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.
Two Liliana the Last Hope -2 activations and you get to return all the lands in your graveyard to play? Sweet.
Seems fine as a pure value engine and works especially nice with creatures that are mana hungry likeWalking Ballista or The Scarab God or benefit from being in your graveyard like Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar.
I’m looking forward to testing out sagas to see if they live up the hopes I have for them. They may be slow, but I love them! Before I head off let’s look at what a deck using some of these sagas might look like.
B/G Constrictor 4 Aether Hub 4 Blooming Marsh 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Fatal Push 4 Verdurous Gearhulk 4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner 3 Jadelight Ranger 3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade 4 Servant of the Conduit 6 Forest 4 Walking Ballista 4 Winding Constrictor 4 Swamp 2 Vraska’s Contempt 1 The Mending of Dominaria 1 The Eldest Reborn 2 Rite of Belzenlok 1 Weatherlight 1 Song of Freyalise
Previous Articles · Meet the Massdrop Teams: http://dro.ps/mtg-team-announce *2nd* at Pro Tour Ixalan: http://dro.ps/ixalan · Unclaimed Creature Types: http://dro.ps/ari-creatures · Why I Never Drop From Tournaments: http://dro.ps/eric-nevergiveup · The Art of Sideboard Construction - Sultai Energy: http://dro.ps/jon-sideboard · A Commoner’s View on Pauper: http://dro.ps/mark-pauper · Blue Moon Beach Control: http://dro.ps/scott-bluemoon · Top 5 Modern Decks: http://dro.ps/pascal-modern · Storm in Vintage Cube: http://dro.ps/ben-storm · An Early Look at Rivals for Standard: http://dro.ps/shaun-rivals · A Standard Approach to Evaluating New Cards: http://dro.ps/rob-newcards · Drafting Rivals of Ixalan: http://dro.ps/tim-ixalan · Team Sealed Secrets: http://dro.ps/eric-secrets · Steal My Standard Ideas: http://dro.ps/tommy-secrets · Vexing Devil. Any Questions?: http://dro.ps/jon-devil · Team Massdrop Rivals of Ixalan Limited Primer: http://dro.ps/ari-primer · Gestation of RG Eldrazi: http://dro.ps/ben-gestation · Top Time Tournament Training Tips: http://dro.ps/tim-tips · What Makes Someone Bogle?: http://dro.ps/tommy-bogle · A Pauper Adventure: http://dro.ps/pascal-pauper · Blue Moon at GP Phoenix: http://dro.ps/rob-bluemoon · Brawling into Dominaria: http://dro.ps/scott-brawling