The Multiverse vs. the Echoverse

Buy

$9.45 · €4.89

Buy

$11.94 · €4.10

Ajani Resolute and Ajani Unrelenting are surprisingly neck-and-neck, given how different they are — and immediately, my criteria is broken, given that neither can be your deck’s commander (at least, not legally, anyway). That’s fine, though; I’m happy to give them a tie on that and have my own personal opinion be the tiebreaker.

Ajani Resolute is an extremely early-game planeswalker who slots well into the kind of life-gain decks that care about how often you gain life; think Heliod, Sun-Crowned or Trelasarra, Moon Dancer. He gains an additional loyalty counter whenever you gain life, actually gains you life as a (what’s basically a) +1, can create copies of Ajani’s Pridemate as a -4, and ultimates into twice the man that Gideon, Ally of Zendikar ever was.

A Soul Warden or two into a big token burst gets him up to ultimate range pretty quickly, and at that point, you have a bunch of 3/3s ready to kill an opponent. I just think that if you’re in a position to pull that off, you’re probably already in a position to win the game. I mean, you could just toss an Inspired Charge or something to buff your creatures up the same way with much less hassle. I’m not ignoring the fact that he only costs two; if you stick it early and your commander is a Soul Warden, then I’m a bit more on board, but I’m reading him as Ajani, Strength of the Pride at home.

Ajani Unrelenting, on the other hand, rules. None of his effects are the strongest, but they’re all useful. You can buff your board up and grant it haste; you can get yourself a Slate of Ancestry activation; and you can wipe the board of weaklings while leaving your weaklings intact. Six mana is a hefty price, but if you put him in the planeswalker decks he’s obviously meant to be in, given his static, he’s going to give you what you need and leave you with an army as compensation.

Buy

$0.25 · €0.02

Buy

$0.17 · €0.02

One Danitha slowly amasses +1/+1 counters on itself. The other Danitha turns every combat trick, Equipment, Aura, and targeted protection spell into a cantrip (once per turn). I dunno, this one sells itself.

Buy

$0.24 · €0.02

Buy

$0.32 · €0.02

Neither Ghalta speaks to me, but I’m giving this one to Ghalta the Immovable for two reasons:

1. Ghalta the Unstoppable is literally Ghalta, Primal Hunger-lite, and I demand creativity in my cards; and
2. I prefer Triceratops to any other dinosaur. Fight me in the comments this site doesn’t have, cowards.

Buy

$0.46 · €0.02

Buy

$0.33 · €0.02

You might think it’s unfair for me to give the commander count competition to Gideon the Oathless by default, since the Multiverse version of Gideon is dead and therefore ineligible. My response to that is that being dead doesn’t stop most black commanders, so Gideon Prime needs to get off his lazy, dead butt and stop making excuses.

While Gideon’s Memorial is undoubtably useful, especially since the Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire-style Channel ripoff makes it decent removal in a lot of scenarios, people are sleeping on how much damage Gideon the Oathless will pump out throughout a game. If he sticks early and isn’t deemed annoying enough to remove, which is probable given his two-for-one ward cost, he’ll rack up damage in the double digits for a price of just three mana. Let me put it this way: if you’ve ever won a game because you’ve incidentally gained five life for some reason, then Gideon the Oathless is that in reverse.

Buy

$0.26 · €0.02

Buy

$0.33 · €0.06

Koth of the Homestead is passable, but Koth, the Geomancer just moves the game along faster. To say nothing of the free , three total damage per Mountain is great, and red is replete with ways to boost that burn.

Buy

$4.42 · €1.98

Buy

$0.85 · €0.17

Oddly enough, I find Liliana the Faultless to be a better reanimator commander than Liliana the Repentant, given that she handles the oh-so-frustrating case of “I drew my reanimation target and now I can’t cheat it out.” She’s also capable of protecting your huge targets once they’re on the field.

Liliana the Repentant is just… another reanimation spell. In black. Snore!

Buy

$1.04 · €0.98

Buy

$0.46 · €0.02

Seriously, how often are you drawing three cards on a turn that isn’t yours? For Lyra, Tolarian Archangel to make sense, your opponents have to be really lazy with their tax payments, or you have to be okay with that investment every turn.

The only reason Lyra, Archangel of Dawn isn’t a clean sweep here is because Giada, Font of Hope already exists and does her job as a commander better in every way.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.14

Buy

$0.27 · €0.12

I’m torn on this one:

• Rescue Girl, First Responder has more opportunities to do cool stuff, like recycling Village Bell-Ringer.
• Massacre Girl, Most Wanted lets you play Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin without being a massive jerk.

I’m put off by Ravnica’s Most Wanted‘s complete lack of evasion, though, so I’m gonna go with First Responder as my pick.

Buy

$0.23 · €0.13

Buy

$1.15 · €0.13

Which do you think is better:

• A commander that creates a Thopter every time you cast a noncreature spell (constantly occurring throughout the game)
• A commander that creates a Thopter the first time you scry or surveil every turn (which usually requires you to cast a noncreature spell anyway)

The answer’s pretty obvious to me.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.10

Buy

$0.20 · €0.08

As fun as it is for Teyo, Diamondblade Mage to be able to target any permanent (and therefore, he could give something like Caltrops deathtouch), Teyo, Lightshield Expert is much more useful in a wider variety of situations. For that reason, I’m going with Teyo, Diamondblade Mage as my pick, because you get to give Caltrops deathtouch!

Buy

$0.29 · €0.08

Buy

$0.74 · €0.40

A two mana price tag for the power to reduce the cost of every noncreature spell you cast by is absurd. Geist of Saint Thalia is Medallion-tier levels of useful, and it’s not even limited by the colors of the spell like other discounts at this cost. If any card from this set becomes a staple, it’s Geist of Saint Thalia.

Buy

$0.27 · €0.10

Buy

$0.37 · €0.06

Tomik, Orzhov Lawmage is a reasonable include for any planeswalker-focused deck, since normal pillowfort spells like Ghostly Prison only protect players and not their planeswalkers.

Unfortunately, he’s up against Tomik, Izzet Sparkmage, who doubles the damage of all of your Electrostatic Field-type creatures at just . I do like that Orzhov can jump creatures that aren’t yours, but I can’t overlook how much more useful the Izzet is across a variety of decks.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.10

Buy

$0.32 · €0.02

The set of echoed pairs also include these “Way of the…” enchantments, all of whom empower Jace X and give all of your planeswalkers some new power. I’m going to go ahead and argue for each of these as though you’re trying to figure out which should go in your five-color superfriends deck.

From that perspective, I’m more impressed by Way of the Necromancer. If you’re going wide with your planeswalkers, the odds are good that you’ve already got the token generation figured out (see: Elspeth, Storm Slayer). -2 is a lot for just a 2/2, and so I’d rather include the card that lets me immediately ult all of my planeswalkers after I cast Doomskar.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.02

Buy

$0.18 · €0.02

It’s one Shock, Michael, how much could it cost? Four loyalty?

Buy

$0.29 · €0.13

Buy

$0.24 · €0.13

Both +1/+1 counter abilities are so expensive that they might as well not be on the card, so I have to rank these perfect pooches on their other abilities. Seriously, Wizards, six mana? What war crimes did they commit in Limited playtesting?

Anyway, Yoshimaru, Beloved Companion is a worse Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion, and Yoshimaru, Scrappy Stray is a bog-standard fight spell, except it’s one mana more expensive than other members of its class.

I’ll make the argument that Yoshimaru, Scrappy Stray is like Eternal Witness or Sakura-Tribe Elder, where the fact that it’s tied to a creature makes the effect much more valuable. Playing Green Yoshi, punching a guy with Betor, Ancestor’s Voice, sacrificing it, and then recurring it through the Betor trigger sounds like a great time to me. It’s a shame the rest of you don’t see it that way.

Buy

$0.31 · €0.07

Buy

$0.25 · €0.06

My first impression of both Yurikos was somewhere in the Earth’s lower mantle, but I’ve warmed up to them over time.

Yuriko, Hope from the Shadows starts to look a lot better in the ninety-nine if you treat her like a Stitcher’s Supplier that can also turn a bad attack around.

Yuriko, Blade of the Mighty starts looking better as a commander when you realize that “attacks a player alone” means you can have three attacking creatures per combat: one per opponent. This is not represented in her release notes for no reason.

Both are pretty much exactly where I’d expect them to be in terms of the popularity contest, but I’m going to go with Yuriko, Blade of the Mighty as my pick because I suspect some incidental double strike on a flier or big trampler could really add up over the course of a game.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.13

Buy

$0.17 · €0.12

If you can increase your card draw in any way, then Arni, Humble Scribe will shotgun your deck faster the Scout from Team Fortress 2. That’s not even mentioning any synergies with Equipment or other spells that grant him additional activated abilities. Hell, even a good ol’ fashioned Honor-Worn Shaku goes nuts with him.

What’s the red one get you? A beatstick? Yeah, blue one wins by a mile here.

Buy

$7.13 · €2.99

Buy

$1.64 · €1.44

You might think it’s unfair for me to give the card count competition to Chandra, Torch of Defiance by default, since the Echoverse version of Chandra is a new card compared to the Multiverse version being a reprint. My response to that is that I cheated in favor of Echoverse Gideon earlier, so let’s call this a balancing move.

Not that she needed it; when I look at Chandra, Chill of Compliance, I see a Search for Azcanta that can be attacked, a three-cost mana rock that can be attacked, and an Icy Manipulator that can be attacked. To be fair, putting three stun counters on a commander that really wants to attack is devastating, but weighed against Chandra, Torch of Defiance‘s outright removal, it’s not enough to save her.

Buy

$0.27 · €0.02

Buy

$0.20 · €0.02

When it comes to Laboratory Maniac effects, Fblthp, Impossibly Lost is cheeks, but given his competition is “let’s pay to tutor every basic to your hand,” he sorta wins by default.

Buy

$0.20 · €0.02

Buy

$0.22 · €0.02

Hapatra, the Desert Frost‘s activated ability lends herself to infinite combos; all you need is a mana dork that can make more than three mana per activation and you’re golden. Hapatra, the Desert Fang is three Murders on a creature in a color combination that’s already overflowing with Murder and -1/-1 counter cards. I don’t particularly like either design, but Desert Frost is the more useful card.

Buy

$1.24 · €0.02

Buy

$0.42 · €0.17

I have no idea how these two constitute an echoed pair, but they’re in the echoed pair collector number block and so I have to talk about them. Wait a tick, no I don’t!

This one I’m just going to call a draw. There’s a couple problems with ranking these two:

• Only one can be a commander;
• They don’t remotely serve the same gameplay purpose; and
• It’s hard to determine which one even belongs to which team

That last point isn’t a cop-out. Jace is from the Multiverse but creates the Echoverse; Tam is Jace’s homonculus, but ends up destroying the Echoverse. Even their Way of the Adjective cards lack the identifying watermarks. You figure it out.

Buy

$0.14 · €0.02

Buy

$0.20 · €0.03

Proft, Consulting Detective players: why? Matoya, Archon Elder is right there. But I suppose even a poor-man’s Universes Beyond commander is better than something you can’t even cast.

Buy

$0.21 · €0.02

Buy

$0.18 · €0.02

You better hope your opponents don’t have a cost way to target one of your creatures, because Ruric Thar, Biomagus‘s trigger is not a may ability. Still, he’s leagues ahead of Ruric Thar, Magecrusher, a card I’m surprised got any commander includes at all given he’s Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner at home.

Buy

$8.95 · €5.75

Buy

$3.06 · €1.62

Really? The card quality is so unbelievably lopsided in Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun‘s favor that I’m surprised that Samut, Hazoret’s Champion put up any kind of a challenge at all, let alone one that’s this close. Like, Tuktuk Rubblefort has been around for years at this point; does bumping it down to two mana really draw that much attention? Especially compared to a card that:

• Makes sure your Counterspell resolves
• Makes sure your overloaded Cyclonic Rift resolves
• Makes sure your Expropriate resolves
• Stops combo players in their tracks

I don’t get it. Maybe I’m too blue-minded to understand the value of haste.

Buy

$0.20 · €0.08

Buy

$0.17 · €0.10

Even if there wasn’t the built-in advantage of being a Dominaria reprint, I’m confident that Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive would still wipe the floor with her Echoverse competition. Doing 1 damage to an opponent when they chump block is tantamount to bad trample. Seriously, just run Ajani’s Anguish and get it over with.

Buy

$0.19 · €0.06

Buy

$0.18 · €0.09

You’d think I’d be more on board with Traxos, Scourge Eternal, given I cited untap shenanigans as the reason that Arni, Humble Scribe won, but I’ve attempted to build that deck with the original Traxos and being colorless is a huge handicap for that sort of strategy.

A 1/5 vigilant, flying, prowess creature for is bland as hell, don’t get me wrong, but I’m biased by my past experiences, and this is my review.

Buy

$0.21 · €0.02

Buy

$0.30 · €0.02

On the surface, Way of the Cryomancer looks great. All of your planeswalkers suddenly let you copy a spell? Why, you could cast that into a board of superfriends, activate that new loyalty ability on all of them, and then copy a Time Stretch to get a zillion extra turns!

Well, go ahead and assemble that through the interaction of three other players. I’ll wait. In the meantime, Way of the Pyromancer already paid for itself and then some. Fun fact: since it grants everyone a +1 loyalty ability, it’s an excellent way to refresh those War of the Spark planeswalkers that came with no upticks.

Buy

$0.23 · €0.02

Buy

$0.26 · €0.10

This one’s tough to weigh. Way of the Paradox is better if you’ve already got your card draw engine set up, as it can help flush those excess lands out of your hand — but Way of the Mind Sculptor can rescue you from a set of bad draws if you’re overburdened with planeswalkers.

I suppose another way to look at this is through their floors. Worst case scenario, Way of the Mind Sculptor is a five-mana Divination that leaves you with a 2-loyalty Jace; Way of the Paradox is effectively a three-mana Explore that leaves you with the same Jace, plus the potential to play two more additional lands over the next two turns.

Three versus five mana is the key differentiator for me here, since I can imagine being stuck on four lands and being pissed I drew Way of the Mind Sculptor.

Buy

$0.21 · €0.05

Buy

$0.23 · €0.13

Pre-existing statistics demand that Yargle, Glutton of Urborg wins, but what can I say: I’ve always loved thick thighs.

Buy

$0.21 · €0.12

Buy

$0.23 · €0.09

Gallia, Tragic Host is not even remotely close to playable when pitted up against cards like Reassembling Skeleton, so Gallia, the Merrymaker takes the win here despite being a worse Samut, Hazoret’s Champion.

Buy

$2.04 · €1.85

Buy

$3.30 · €1.44

Another tough one.

For discard decks, Garruk, Veiled Butcher is a godsend. That -3 forces your opponents to discard six total cards, and if we’re being honest, pretty much nobody has the two lands in hand turn five to pitch to it. That makes him a turbo-Syphon Mind that leaves behind a continuous removal engine.

If you cast him on-curve, then Garruk, Curse Breaker is comparable to Overrun. The problem is that if you’re casting Overrun, you’re probably going for a win that turn and all the extra text becomes irrelevant. Now, green can ramp into him more efficiently and potentially get him out earlier — he definitely pulls ahead if you stick him turn three — but given the extra setup required, I have to give this one to Veiled Butcher.

Buy

$0.21 · €0.10

Buy

$0.33 · €0.02

This is going to Loot, the Anomaly just because I find that text box much more fascinating.

Buy

$0.20 · €0.02

Buy

$0.30 · €0.04

Mabel, Valley Hero seems fun with Reverent Hoplite-style effects. Ooooh, and Threefold Thunderhulk and Myr Battlesphere! They come in, create their army, and you can put all those counters on the original creature. I’m also into board-wide blinks here, like Eerie Interlude, though Fire Lord Zuko still dominates that particular niche.

For the Echoverse version, in every case I can think of where I’d want Mabel, Bitter Recluse, I’d prefer to slot in Heartless Act.

Buy

$0.28 · €0.02

Buy

$0.18 · €0.02

Titanbones, Towering Heart is hamstrung without access to white, and if you’re in white, you have much better options.

Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance may not be that unique either, but at least that damage gives him has his own little niche inside discard instead of being completely redundant.

Buy

$0.25 · €0.13

Buy

$0.21 · €0.14

Nobody in the world is paying four loyalty on a normal planeswalker to make a 4/4. The only reason you’re playing Way of the Wildspeaker is because of that gigantic empower Jace coefficient, and in the Jace deck, you’re not hurting for empower points anyway.

Buy

$0.19 · €0.10

Buy

$0.18 · €0.09

Neither Winter is impressive. Winter, Tormented Loner is another Fleshbag Marauder, and the type of decks that want Winter, Team Player — namely, Izzet go-wide prowess decks — have much better options in Bria, Riptide Rogue and Balmor, Battlemage Captain. I flipped a coin on this one, and that’s just as valid a way to select a winner as anything else.

Buy

$0.19 · €0.02

Buy

$0.27 · €0.02

Jiang Yanggu, Alone looks God-awful until you remember that he’s hit by the same “attacks a player alone” distinction that bit Yuriko, Blade of the Mighty. Five mana is pushing it, but I’m fine to give three creatures a minimum of three +1/+1 counters each turn.

Versus untapping every token at your end step, though? That depends on whether or not you’ve resolved a Cryptolith Rite, and there are easier ways to get that level of degeneracy in green — it’s called adding blue to it and playing Simic. I’m leaning towards the dogless version here; sorry, Jiang.

Buy

$0.22 · €0.03

Buy

$0.21 · €0.03

Kiora of Salt and Sand does nothing if you control no planeswalkers, and even if you do, nobody is spending eight loyalty off any planeswalker to create a hexproof 8/8. There are easier ways to give creatures unblockable, too, so there’s no unique utility here.

On the other hand, Kiora of Fire and Ashes is way too expensive on every front and her art looks like she has flying when she doesn’t. There are easier ways to get big, flying beaters.

Both Kioras are a disappointment. Luckily, my vote doesn’t matter on this one, so I’ll pick Fire and Ashes because a red Merfolk is kinda cool.

Buy

$0.19 · €0.12

Buy

$0.28 · €0.16

Before I wrote this blurb, I told myself: “if I click on Marwyn, the Preserver‘s page and her top five utility lands include Strip Mine, I’m voting for Marwyn, the Clearcutter on principle.”

Buy

$0.18 · €0.03

Buy

$0.97 · €0.29

Multiverse Pia is completely fine; it’s just hard to argue with an Eternal Witness-ified Idyllic Tutor.

Honestly, this is the kind of lopsided victory I expected when I reviewed Samut.

Buy

$0.27 · €0.02

Buy

$0.23 · €0.02

When you get up to five or more mana, “not casting any spells during your turn” is a hefty price to pay for two +1/+1 counters. I know you can sink your mana into that activated ability, but let’s be real: that’s a disappointing outcome for any respectable green player out there.

Edgar, Ancient Bloodlord doesn’t damage your opponents, but he does count as a sac outlet in the aristocrats deck. I’ll give him the edge, because at two mana, you can’t really expect everything on one card.

Buy

$0.41 · €0.07

Buy

$0.67 · €0.10

Ooh, this pairing gave me a visceral reaction in my soul and also gallbladder. What do I hate more: easily-accessible stax pieces that shut down entire archetypes, or five-color value slop? Daddy Rosewater, don’t make me choose!

I guess I’m gonna give this competition to Karn, Gilded Guardian, on the basis that I can at least imagine a fun deck that uses Clone cards as draw-fives or something that abuses his high mana value to do tons of damage or something.

Buy

$0.81 · €0.20

Buy

$0.40 · €0.08

Vraska, the Cutting Glare got done dirty. If she didn’t have that “six lands or more” rider, she’d be a great removal piece at three mana. Hell, just give her the actual text of Assassin’s Trophy; that’s fair, isn’t it?

Without that, I have to concede that Vraska, Soul of Stone is the more interesting card — which pains me, given she’s basically Kykar again.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to our final tally. Who wins between the Multiverse and the Echoverse?

A tie?!

It turns out Jace’s Echoverse isn’t better or worse than the regular Multiverse, just different. If that’s the case, was he really even a bad guy at all? Were we the bad guys? Going by number of categories won, the Echoverse gets the lion’s share of the commanders, but loses most include competitions. That means it comes down to me, the most qualified man in existence, to determine which one better as the tiebreaker.

That winner is, according to my own statistics, the Echoverse!

Congratulations, Jace, you did it. You won on a technicality! We’re all very proud of you. In your Echoverse, can you make me about two inches taller? You did it to Vraska. Thanks.

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