Box Topper Lost Legends Review (Part 1) Dominaria United | The Command Zone 486 | Magic Commander

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Show Notes:
In Dominaria United, Magic’s legends of old have been retold… as box toppers! In this episode, we’re breaking down these revamped Legends characters and going through the synergies and strategies that will make their decks stand the test of time. These blasts from the past are packing some heat, so check it out!
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[@commandcast]

Hi Everyone - My mic had some issues while recording. We did the best we could to clean it up so it's still listenable, but it's not up to our usual quality level and for that we apologize. Time to get a new microphone, I guess! Thanks for understanding. -JLK

[@diegoblin9090]

It is distracting but not that an issue. I can notice how edition had to be done to improve the sound. Good job in saving the audio.

[@matthewbrooks5335]

Need a jr video editor? 😉

[@matthewbrooks5335]

I put in an application, would love to help!

[@robsmith8010]

Mr. JLK of game knights fame 😉

[@shaynejamesgold]

Hey JLK, it sounds like a phase issue caused by the other room mics in your setup/ audio mix. one of your other mics is cutting the frequency, you can here the audio gating but that might be some of the work your team did in post to correct the phase.

[@CarefulWithThatAx]

"When it comes into play it's got a boy on it." Best description of Living Weapon I've heard. Kudos Rachel.

[@Gorbgorbenson]

The flavor behind the goblin and knights with pro red on Rasputin is that he and Tivadar ran a crusade on goblins. You can see this in the card Tivadar's crusade, and on Rasputin's OG art, where there is a goblin strung up in the background.

[@PupusaBoy]

Rachel is HILARIOUS. Please have her on the show more often!!!

[@Rednamrahc004]

Check out her podcast, commander sphere!

[@makingnoises2327]

big agree

[@davidcrain453]

I just love her confidence as a person, she certainly has a powerful joyful presence.....

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@davidcrain453 I love that she still has fun with the game. Mentioning some tribal stuff for example. Rarer on the show nowadays :P

[@lisenseii]

Rachel is a such a good guest like always!

[@wayne9688]

I’m only partially through the video… and it’s already one of the best I’ve watched in months. Fresh.. entertaining.. great visuals..great dialogue.👏🏼

[@capreus1983]

Rachel is great at discussing new cards; she has great ideas for running new commander‘s, has a refreshing sense of humor and really enjoyed her on the show!

[@Grymm_the_Pleasant]

Oneiromancy is literally "divination through the means of dreams" in Anglicized Latinized Greek, though like all -mancy words now generally extends to general magic associated with the area (in this case dreams).

[@TheRandomeDud3]

I love that so many cards from older sets that we don't really think about was brought up. A lot of those cards are also super budget friendly too.

[@Anaklasis1]

Rachel is one of the best personalities in the community. Love seeing her on here.

[@97Justaguy]

One of the things that I love (and hate) about these Legends Review videos is how well you research the potential each commander has. It really helps me find unique axes to build around these legends and you sell me on nearly half of the legends in each video on being far more playable than I originally believed, the issue with that is I cannot afford to build 7 decks every time you guys do one of these videos.

[@BstFrmThEst]

Here’s a super underrated card IMO for the Lure tribal deck! Infiltration Lens {1} Artifact - Equipment Whenever equipped creature becomes blocked by a creature, you may draw two cards. Equip {1} Also note that it’s 2 cards PER creature!

[@Nikovits]

Rachel Weeks is too freaking funny best CoHost yet

[@AutkastKain]

Saw the length of the video and was surprised until I saw Rachel was on it. Then I understood and got excited to hear her expertise on all these box toppers

[@scottricks1676]

She’s one of my favs in the mtg circle. Smart, funny, entertaining!

[@poofypeanut0221]

😊I love Rachel and hope she’s a regular on these kinds of episodes 🙏❤️

[@Rednamrahc004]

Everyone should go listen to Rachel Week's edh podcast, Commander sphere! Always cracks me up! :) good to see her here too

[@TonyScimeca]

Josh and Rachel are so good together. Love their back and forth

[@masonfonseca4193]

The Rasputin tech at the end here was hilarious…Rachel Weeks aka “The Phelddagrif Pro” = punishing opponents for owning creatures

[@jamesgasik3424]

Amusingly, banding could be a nightmare with a Marhault deck.

[@michaelroy1175]

All of these commanders look really fun and neat! I like the box toppers

[@picklejar2574]

Love these longer videos. Time to relax, listen and do some deck brewing :)

[@vexor7]

Great episode, love the new legends and your guys analysis. Keep up the great work!

[@mattboots5453]

Rachel is always a welcome addition in any MTG content.

[@starmanda88]

Rachel I just started listening to your podcast Commander sphere. Absolutely obsessed and have been binging it. Anyone that loves the command zone should totally check it out!

[@Rednamrahc004]

I've listened to most of them twice, love them

[@justwrath2049]

Here's hoping we'll get more Rachel Weeks weeks ;)

[@brando7637]

Love Dominaria United content 👌 thanks, gang!

[@Flickstro]

Josh and Rachel have that big HSN energy.. I love it!

[@ASoberBear]

After cracking 3 booster boxes last night (sorry Prof) I can say I really liked this set and the multi colored stuff many of which were put in my decks and got Ajanj & that other mono black card both with that language you can not read. 🙂

[@janmelantu7490]

That would be Sheoldred, the black Phyrexian Praetor. And that script/language is Phyrexian.

[@AceTim1080]

Rachel Weeks on Command Zone!!! :D :D :D omg get hype

[@ironmarkus]

Josh and Rachel is good. Do this every time.

[@hotdachsbun]

Started watching this on my phone. Saw the length of the video. Switched over to the computer. Great content. Thanks to the whole team.

[@nathanstruble8587]

Hey y’all put a ton of thought into this stuff and it’s awesome! The one extra thing about General Marhault that pushes it over the edge for me is that you’re in colors that reaaally care about creature power. A lure effect on Heron Blad Elite or the like, No one chump blocking your Combat Celebrant or ragavan, Rishkars Expertise on your taunting elf to draw ~9 cards turn 5 according to your stats, Chandra’s ignition or Stalking Vengeance any lure creatures.

[@dawubber6676]

Someone I play with has built the deck. It absolutely slaps. Adds a way to interact well with decks that don't want their commanders in combat.

[@suntitan4429]

Marhault lure deck seems super unique and fun get to play some old unique cards

[@tomerick28]

What is up with the audio?

[@AceTim1080]

Yeah, it's a little weird -- will probably get a reupload I hope?

[@NicolasVanOost]

I think its only on Josh's mic

[@Jesus2091]

Can say I have won a game with halo fountain in my Emmara token, that achievement has been unlocked. Earthcraft did a lot of work in getting to 15 tapped creatures though

[@tankdempsey1818]

24:22 Watch out for these cards which only say must be blocked if able. 22:12 JLK making this exact mistake just minutes ago

[@PaulHobaica]

I love how Rachel goes FULL MAD SCIENTIST when talking about Rasputin.

[@oliverdevendorf4154]

Great episode, awesome new commanders!

[@sxychtulhu2425]

I love it you mentioned Jasmine Boreal!

[@n3rdm4n36]

I like this version of Jasmin as well. This will be a fun deck in case I play against newer players.

[@MTGPlayer10]

With Hazezon, Shaper of Sand you're also going to want at least one backup to being able to bring lands back from your graveyard as well, (in case, at least for commander, Hazezon is just too expensive to get back out atm) Crucible of Worlds and Ramunap Excavator just to name a couple.

[@carsonglenn1389]

Can’t believe they didn’t talk about Etrata and just running tutors and counterspells/protection for the commander and Etrata

[@juanmavillaverde9331]

I run Ramses in my Etrata deck. I use tutors to get Ramses and Satoru Umezawa, then if Satoru is on the battlefield and Etrata kills an opponent I ninjutsu Ramses in in response to the damage being dealt by Etrata, so I win the game. Obviously it’s a hard combo to pull off because it needs a lot a lot of set up and protection but I really like it

[@DatPaulGuy]

I do love me some Displacer Kitten, My favorite combo with the lil cutie is with Coveted Jewel. Draw 3 and can tap again for 3 mana right away. As long as you keep drawing 3 mana spells or less you can draw and play the majority of the deck. Never really knew about Rasputin until now, and now I'm torn between building a Rasputin, 3 -> 7 drop deck or a Danitha 4 -> 9 drop deck.

[@ZypherWildfire]

43:25 You might be able to consider [Vesuva] and [Thespian's Stage] as two more desert lands, making the count up to 18. I do realize they wouldn't count as deserts in the graveyard though.

[@ColbySwift83]

I think it is easy to miss that Hazezon’s tokens are three colors. Because of this knight of new alara at four mana is one cheaper than Lovisa and pumps Hazezon and the tokens +3/+3.

[@fatmexicant]

Tangleroot seems really good for Jedit, you get the green on cast so you always have it to make the cat if you want. Assuming you are on the cast legends plan of course, won't work with flickers.

[@PiquantPan]

a solid include in the Jasmine Boreal deck is both version of the Selesnya legend Tolsimir -- both come with chunky vanilla Wolf tokens. OG Tolsimir is also a double-lord for green-white, so those GW tokens from New Capenna are suddenly 3/3s. Same with Rhys the Redeemed and Mercy Killing from Lorwyn, vanilla GW Elf Warrior tokens

[@DaBabblingBrooke]

Ohabi looks like the perfect commander to upgrade my old 60 card Mono White Archery deck I made pre 8th edition. This was a deck that many friends outright refuse to play against after 1-2 games (honestly, I don't blame them, deck is pretty passive and grindy xD) I'm glad they talked about Bullwhip, one of my favorite cards in the deck.

[@WolfmanXD]

One thing I noticed wasn't mentioned with elsdragon. Extra combats. His text says that they get the +3/+3 until end of turn. So you attack, they get swol and kill all enemies that player controls, then you can take another combat and either double down on the player with some swol af creatures, or set your sights on the next player.

[@michaelhough5003]

Nahiris lithoforming is really good in any landfall deck, I run it in my omnath locus of rage deck. Its best use is when you can play lands from the graveyard. If you have a Crucible of worlds, or an ancient greenwarden then you can sac all your lands and play them all from the graveyard. The other great use is getting rid of a hand full of lands. If you've been bouncing, drawing, and tutoring out tons of lands and have landfall payoffs, or just need spells to cast, you can blast all your lands out and refill your hand with more useful stuff. It's a super fun card to play too, even if it does take a turn to really benefit from the card draw.

[@sp00n29]

PS: One thing that Jasmine can do that doesn't work as well with Ruxa is Morph creatures.^^

[@allennevermore7234]

Glare of Subdual. With it, your archer deck is now a Selesnya control deck. It just works.

[@graysonshipley929]

Me: Looks at Hazezon Also Me: Gazes at Jetmir, giggles scarily

[@OhNoTheFace]

Man Brigid with death touch, memories going back to Lorwyn. I miss her lol

[@Gshadewolf14]

Fun piece of tech for Jedit; Tabgleroot will essentially give you the green for free to pay for his ability to make the cat token. Probably a must-have in the deck

[@ShikiRen]

I feel the best(and least fair) way to build Ramses is as a "Hidden Commander" in the 99, assemble the pieces, and then suddenly "Drop Ramses, kill with an unblockable, GG".

[@OhLookItsRob]

While talking about Hazezon and Scapeshift, I use a Scapeshift/Splendid Reclamation combo in my landfall deck that’s really good, and could work there too.

[@damo9961]

I love Tempting Licid, I had the Spikes GR precon back in the day. Dominating Licid was OP in my mono blue casual deck back in the day.

[@jongailey85]

Love the synergy of Nahiri’s Lithoforming with Hazezon. It basically becomes a straight up “draw X cards” in red with him if you can manage to only pay for it with your deserts. Really good job catching that one! Commanders that make otherwise unplayable cards really effective are some of my favorite. This commander was an amazing design by WOTC.

[@MrMartinSchou]

With Hazezon, Shaper of Sand and Lovisa Coldeyes, with the amount of tokens you are able to create, it might be worth having Legion Loyalty as a finisher. As you said, if you can sacrifice all your deserts to Nahiri's Lithoforming and put them back into play. That'll give you X 3/3 tokens that you can use to attack each opponent.

[@MrMartinSchou]

Jedit Ojanen, Mercenary would also work quite well with Legion Loyalty. Usually that doesn't work too well with legendaries, but here it's just fine. And since you're already playing Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, you get to swing at all opponents at once, with a huge amount of unblockable creatures.

[@randomfootballguy791]

Josh: "There is always the other route with Ayesha". Me: ...Hmmmmmmm... Blightsteal Colossus: "It's my time to shine"!

[@erickcolon1670]

For Jedit, there's actually a combo in Instant speed with with Naru and Ghostly Flicker. You do need a green mana producing land and Jedit in the board but with a good mana base, not unlikely to have a green mana producing land.

[@SilvanOrion]

With regards to General Marhault Elsdragon and the taunt ideas, I'd like to point out an older equipment. Kusari-Gama has that whenever the equipped creature deals damage to a blocking creature, Kusari-Gama deals that much damage to each other creature the defending player controls. Great way to ensure that even if they somehow hold creatures back, you're still putting in some major hurt.

[@Kite0404]

I was thinking of stuff with myriad myself like nacatl war pride so that even if they have stuff tapped that can’t force to block then the extra copies are free damage and the war pride has forced to be blocked by 1 creature if able.

[@gabrielkircher2966]

you could put some infect stuff in the general marhault so it punishes them for not blocking

[@2mckayda13]

I would love a follow up on this with these cards in the 99 and ideas where they would work well with other decks instead as commander

[@MrMartinSchou]

For General Marhault Elsdragon, if you're running Lure, you should run things like Basilisk and Cockatrice. Things with infect and poison will also be effective.

[@cannon0wood]

Rachel is a joy. Her laughter was great

[@isawaletomo1680]

With Ohabi Caleria, as with any low number deck, I also look through the shapeshifters/Changelings. Which might open up a bit more possibilities.

[@heatherkamp114]

Orca plays well in the 99, especially Mardu. My husband got her out in his Dihada deck before a wipe. He managed to kill the person who'd cast the wipe with her dies trigger.

[@monslafayette]

oneiro is dream 😘 nice job Rachel!

[@djkillermemestar1265]

Taunting elf is one of my favorite green cards

[@erikohman2294]

The way they set up Hazezon it seems to like "Flagstones of trokair". Since its also legendary it will probably have synergies with some other cards in the deck.

[@MTGPlayer10]

Just thought up a decent combo, Brash Taunter (or Stuffy Doll but with SD you can only choose one opponent to do this to due to its ability so find a way to flicker it to make it work more then once) equipped with Lure...gg. :D

[@kiral0606]

Rasputin can finally give a home to Tivadar's crusade

[@thetruthisoutthere8714]

Halo Fountain is in my Shorikai deck, was a very pleasing win.

[@TheNapLover]

I'm so chuffed that Racheal is part of the Command Zone team

[@djkillermemestar1265]

Something I was brainstorming, was that I felt that the identity for archer should be neg one counters. Kinda in the theme of the arrows wounding a creature kinda like that old card I think it’s an artifact something arrowhead

[@nickdemunguia1107]

Rasputin’s flavor could be turning dreams, or nightmares into reality. The dreams could belong to the goblins you make. He uses their dreams to create mana (not sure how flavorful that is), or to create their worst nightmares (2/2 pro red knights). Just a thought though.

[@lordofinnistrad8757]

I will say one thing in defense of Ramses: The flavor is absolutely on point.

[@JasonOshinko]

I don't think the Licid automatically falls off like a bestow creature when the creature it's enchanting dies. Its ability turns it into an Aura, so it's no longer a creature. The only way to save it is to pay the G to end the effect before the enchanted creature leaves the battlefield.

[@therealax6]

You're absolutely correct. If the creature dies with the Licid being an aura, it will be sent to the graveyard. Remember also that this is a state-based action! You can't respond to the creature's death by paying the cost, as putting the aura in the graveyard is _not_ a trigger. You have to pay the cost _before_ the creature it is enchanting dies. (For corner case lovers: if the Licid is enchanting an artifact creature and that creature gets killed by a Krosan Grip, can you pay the cost to turn the Licid back into a creature before the artifact creature dies? Answer: yes. Paying a cost to end an effect is a special action and you can do it even when a spell with split second is on the stack.)

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

GME works very similar to vigor. From my experience with vigor, most players won't even block because their creature most likely won't trade. Once you get trample with something like rancor, then your creatures are basically unlockable

[@MrSnip07]

Cant stop wont stop gamestop

[@janbeetz5913]

Oh boy. The Rasputin, give creatures to my opponents is so helariously, bad and stupid. I'm loving it. 🤣

[@diegoblin9090]

For General Marhault Elsdragon provoke creatures are very good. Like the R goblin with provoke or the Sliver with provoke. Provoke force a creature to block and untap it.

[@therealax6]

I should probably comment that No Quarter doesn't work in Marhault the way most people would expect it to work. Here's the Oracle text: "Whenever a creature becomes blocked by a creature with lesser power, destroy the blocking creature. Whenever a creature blocks a creature with lesser power, destroy the attacking creature." Note the lack of an intervening 'if' clause in those triggers. (An intervening 'if' clause (rule 603.4) is the formal name for the clause in some triggers that read "when/whenever/at , if , ".) Intervening 'if' clauses are checked again on resolution, but the trigger itself is not. This means that, if the second trigger fires, it will take effect _even if the attacker's power is boosted_ (after it has fired). Suppose you attack with a 2/2 and your opponent blocks with a 4/4. That triggers No Quarter's second ability. Marhault boosts your 2/2 to a 5/5. As the condition isn't rechecked, your boosted 2/2 is still destroyed! (And the first trigger never fires and the blocker isn't destroyed.)

[@garrettgrosser313]

Jedit, Ojanen Mercenary will be sick. I want it so bad lol. Definitely quality legends creatures and mana ramp deck.

[@JephLewis]

Jasmine Boreal II might be too good for me without some added restrictions. So I'm going with Only Vanilla Creatures and Every Card Is White Bordered. That'll keep her clearly in the sub-5 range where the best decks live. :)

[@jameseddleman6944]

I'm very surprised you guys didn't talk more about Ayesha Tanaka, Armorer doing equipment. I'm thinking about using Energy in her. Ohabi Caleria seems better to include into a Bant activate abilities so you can grab the Maskwood Nexus with blue tutor. But now I wonder if I could put her in Saskia, using Maskwood and Conpiracy.

[@munsulight721]

That was a really nice episode. Super well informed. Im just unsure why no "Blink/Flicker" were mentionned with Rasputin. It is so easy to give him back the counters at the end of each of your turn with any Conjurer Closet effect (Conjurer Closet, Teleportation Circle, Far Traveler, Thassa Deep Dwelling, Soul Herder). They also cost less so that help you cast it and do something else with your turn. There are multiples blink and mass blink spells in those colors (Ephemerate, etc). You can make your "Big creatures" be Blink focused (Angel of Ruin, Agent of Treachery) or they can be value train like Nezahal. They could be big "stax piece" like Elesh Norn, Jin Gitaxias (either of them), Angelic Arbiter, Serra Emissary.

[@bluefett1784]

I'm going to make Rasputin a Group hug deck, with a little sneaky trick up my sleeve. It'll be to keep the flavor of the Actual person he was based off of. Use the players to sneak my way to victory with a quick Approach of the second sun or something.

[@djkillermemestar1265]

The rampage deck seems super fun

[@dizzi6585]

I think i agree with the mic when they said Consecrated Sphinx

[@crawdaddy2004]

Considering Realm Razor has the old templating of two separate triggers, sacrifice all of your lands, cast Razor and then sacrifice it with the exile ability on the stack.

[@afifthofjackgaming]

i think its under changelings and shapeshifters... adds more for your archers and assassin decks

[@dr.watman8772]

There is also some sort of kusarigama which is great for archers.

[@goldeneskarpador6486]

Speaking about Jasmin the first creature comming to my mind ist the goodest of all good boys, Watch Wolf!

[@EmmettMcMullan]

Rasputin wants Echoing Truth for the goblins too

[@DethArchAngel]

I was waiting for the infect recommendation on orca lol

[@xgxwills2857]

I’ve been playing Hazezon a lot and he’s been doing amazing. I wish he had access to slightly more deserts, but he’s still great and is a monster of a Naya landfall deck. Greensleeves being a recent addition was nice too in addition to the standard good stuff like rampaging Baloths and avenger of Zendikar.

[@twoneraps3352]

nature's revolt+mirror march

[@anthonyhansel9175]

OG Hazezon is one of my first EDH decks (still have it, in fact.) The new Hazezon may well be my next Naya EDH deck. Seems really fun to build around even if Desert isn't a supper supported land type. But, it will give me a reason to play OG Desert outside of a Mono-Black build.

[@CodiTC]

I just ordered all of the cards for my Hazezon list, I'm really hoping it's going to out perform my expectation.

[@xgxwills2857]

@@twoneraps3352 now that’s brutal, with a little bit of luck you could easily flood the board

[@mcfructix7688]

I dont know why you like hazezon, when you compare it to Lord Windgrace , soul of windgrace etc its just so bad. Only 16 desert its ok but not very great. Maybe in a futur when 5-10 desert print why not ...

[@danielscott9960]

one card im surprised didn't get mentioned for Marhault elsdragon was Engulfing Slagwurm. kill everything and gain a lot of life

[@anthonyrobert8437]

With Orca you could make it give infect then sac it to give infect counter instead of giving damage, I think it should work