Summons of Saruman | Svetlin Velinov

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Artifacts and Lands | Enchantments | Instants and Sorceries| Legendary Creatures | Non-legendary Creatures | The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Reviews

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The Magic from Magic's Magic Magic! Spells!

The Commander precons in this set seem pretty creature-focused, but that doesn't mean we don't get a hefty amount of instants and sorceries. Today, let's dive into these 14 brand new spells and give 'em a home!

Also, to reiterate from previous articles in this review cycle: I don't know the books or movies, and some of you don't like that about me reviewing these. I'm sure when we get the Saw set for Universes Beyond I'll have a lot to add, but I'm here to evaluate the game pieces as they are, so let's get started.

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Instants and Sorceries

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Call for Aid

I really love the flavor of this card! "Call upon an unlikely ally to borrow their army of creatures who remain loyal to them". Not being able to sacrifice the creatures tells me I won't be playing this in my Aristocrats strategies anytime soon, but it's definitely a fun way to weaponize an opponent's. It could also just spell the end of the game. Getting to double tap an opponent with another opponent's robust board feels like mastermind shenanigans.

That said, this isn't just about attacking! Plenty of great creatures have abilities that grant bonuses or are now yours to activate. Nothing like casting this on the opponent with a Nyxbloom Ancient and Bloom Tender-tier dorks to make your Exsanguinate end a game.

I recognize that Insurrection, while more expensive, simply doesn't come with any restrictions while taking the whole board. It's a card that's fallen out of favor. However, that's a play style some will gravitate toward where they're more puppet-master than war general.

Remember! It says "You can't attack that player this turn." None of your creatures or their creatures, so sorry to dash your hopes, Zevlor, Elturel Exile players. Given its single red pip, I'd pop this into decks with cost reduction like Mizzix of the Izmagnus, Magnus the Red, and Vadrik, Astral Archmage.

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Forth Eorlingas!

I love the way this card scales. Whether it's turn three and you've got an opening or turn eleven and you're ready to dump everything you've got into the X, Forth Eorlingas! is only a dead card when making creatures is bad for you. Even then, you can pay two mana to get become the Monarch, snatching the crown with something you've already got on board!

We can't ignore the creature-type-elephant in the room. Human is Magic's most dense creature type. Cards like Beregond of the Guard, Kyler, Sigardian Emissary, Champion of the Parish, General Kudro of Drannith, and Lossarnach Captain are a few cards off the top of my head that care when Humans enter the battlefield. There are plenty of cards that love that these are tokens and can be doubled, too!

As far as the Knight-typing goes, unfortunately the newest Knight leader Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir can't run this, but Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale can and very likely will.

Personally, I think this in a Éomer, King of Rohan deck is just the bee's knees. Monarch-themed decks like Queen Marchesa needing to take the crown back could send in a few Knights and Assassins for a strike, returning Marchesa's headpiece.

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Galadhrim Ambush

Arachnogenesis is an absolutely bonkers Fog variant and Galadhrim Ambush says "hold my beer".

While Spider Fog gives you tokens for the number of creatures attacking you, Galadhrim Ambush doesn't care where the creatures are attacking. This means that if someone's looking at your empty board as non-threatening and deciding to leave you as the final attack, they've got another thing coming.

The other thing to note in the comparison between Spider Fog and Ambush is that Elves are a way more supported creature type. Play this while you've got Marwyn, the Nurturer out and you're probably going to get a pretty massive mana dork to work with and you'll be able to pump that mana into your Ezuri, Renegade Leader Elf Ball finisher. Decks like Marwyn, Ezuri, and the top Elf commander by a long shot, Lathril, Blade of the Elves, are all going to find room for this, I'm certain.

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Lidless Gaze

This one's about to be short and sweet, isn't it?

Prosper, Tome-Bound decks are going to try this out as currently the only commander who can, besides black "Choose a Background" legends and Passionate Archaeologist (maybe Burakos, Party Leader?). When you're in Rakdos with this theme, it's difficult to pivot away from one of the strongest and most cleanly-designed value engines in Prosper, Tome-Bound. With every set, we get a card that caters to this "cast from exile" theme, and I appreciate it as a Prosper player, but after a while, the list gets tighter and tighter. I know that Lidless Gaze might not make the cut for some, but I will be trying it out with a strong suspicion that it'll stick around. (Mirkwood Bats is the other card from the set I'm putting in. Yes, I've heard of Orcish Bowmasters it's great, but I play a lot of Uba Mask effects.)

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Raise the Palisade

This may not be Kindred Dominance or Harsh Mercy, but it's the closest blue can get, which is awesome. I think that this is most likely going to be in dedicated creature type decks that don't stray at all. While I expect Kraken, Leviathan, and Octopus to all work together, this might miss the mark for those decks at some point in the game.

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver is the only commander that came to my head right away, but black's got Kindred Dominance and other board wipes that are also good, because Zombies love to die! I believe this card is right at home in the Simic precon it came in, because Simic Elves are dedicated enough to the type and could use the wipe.

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Sail into the West

This is one of very few instant-speed wheels where the whole table gets to participate. My biggest gripe with the Simic deck having so much voting cards is that they're Simic. I wish they could be played in Tivit, Seller of Secrets... but then they wouldn't be so balanced, what with you tipping the scales and all. That said, being able to Regrowth two cards or wheel for four mana at instant speed is really solid. The first card that came to mind was Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, and then of course I was reminded of Rashmi and Ragavan. I really like this spell for Kalamax, the Stormsire and Riku of Two Reflections, because you either get to wheel twice with a window in-between to cast some instants from the first wheel, or you get to return four cards to your hand. Strong card and LOTR fans might get misty-eyed at it.

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Subjugate the Hobbits

Better hope you're up against a bunch of non-Copy tokens or some value creatures, because mana value three or less is quite the bar to clear. It's a seven mana sorcery that will either sometimes get an Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Orcish Bowmasters-level creature, or it'll get Bear Cub and Mesa Enchantress. No matter what, it's good to take things away from your opponents for you to use, but the ceiling on this card entirely depends on your meta. The cleanest inclusion for flavor and utility is likely Saruman, the White Hand.

Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty's recent inclusion in March of the Machine's bonus sheet is a good reminder that Subjugate the Hobbits will have its day in high mana value strategies like Vial Smasher the Fierce and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow; though, I'd wager in non-cEDH lists.

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Summons of Saruman

I won't lie to you, I have no clear idea where this would work very well beyond the Saruman, the White Hand or other Amass strategies in these colors.

My go-to for self-mill in these colors is Kess, Dissident Mage. Kess can cast this again for X rather than exiling cards from the graveyard, so there's some fun flexibility. The card fills the graveyard, gets a creature to swing or defend, and free casts a spell that costs less that you can then play again with Kess. Maybe you'll mill a Mizzix's Mastery!

Zaffai, Thunder Conductor is also looking for solid X spells to put the mana value over 10 so he can scry 1, create a 4/4, and smack a random opponent for 10. Magus Lucea Kane can copy spells with X in their cost, and I haven't seen one yet, but maybe there's a Lucea player out there who leans heavy into self-mill. This is the real enigma of the bunch.

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Taunt from the Rampart

This is a lot like Disrupt Decorum, mostly because the first sentence is basically the same with a very, very tiny difference. "Creatures you don't control" versus "Creatures your opponents control" takes into account the possibility of playing this in formats where there are teammates! That's fun. We've seen similar implications on another card in the set: Witch-king of Angmar.

The cherry on top is that the goaded creatures can't block. This is something that reminds me of Bothersome Quasit. Goading creatures and allowing them to block means that some players aren't going to take a beatdown like Disrupt Decorum or Taunt from the Rampart want to encourage. With the "no blocking" clause, you get yourself a free attack wherever you'd like, and then another while defenses are down unless your opponent played more creatures.

There are lots of aggressive Boros decks that might be able to just take the game based on the creatures not blocking, but forcing a fight amongst the wounded to finalize the showdown by next turn seems like a powerful way to close things out. Aurelia, the Warleader, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and Marisi, Breaker of the Coil all come to mind for this card.

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Too Greedily, Too Deep

What if Corpse Explosion let you keep the creature instead?

Reanimating a creature from any graveyard is always going to get a thumbs up from me, but to staple a damage-based board wipe to it is beautiful. Sure, you can bring back a deathtoucher, but if that's all they do, you're not hitting the potential! Bring back Massacre Wurm or Syr Konrad, the Grim because no one is safe! Pair this with Toralf, God of Fury or a Vicious Shadows and you'll surely eliminate at least one player. I like this for reanimating Orca, Siege Demon - bring Orca back, destroy a bunch of creatures, sacrifice it and then pick off whatever you need to.

This being a seven mana sorcery is tough when you can play Blasphemous Act for one mana most of the time. The creature must really be important, and you'll have your pick of any graveyard for it too.

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Trap the Trespassers

As someone who isn't high on stun counters, this is a whiff for me. Honestly, I don't see where you'd want this outside of decks that run Verity Circle, and that's basically Rhoda, Geist Avenger/Timin, Youthful Geist and Kros, Defense Contractor. Maybe Atraxa, Praetors' Voice doesn't mind proliferating so these creatures remain tapped, but why not kill these creatures instead? Pass.

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Travel Through Caradhras

At six mana, this card, at its worst, will get you a basic land to play tapped, and nothing to hand because you've been Soul-Guide Lanterned. That's an expensive Rampant Growth.

However, if you look at the best case scenario, you need a bit of setup: whether it's the deck-building cost or playing a bunch of basics lands or gameplay actions - filling your graveyard with enough stuff you'd want to come back.

In a Landfall strategy, this will likely always be a land and three cards. That's pretty amazing. I think that's where this card belongs though, sadly. Just Landfall decks. And voting decks. Hello from the 99, Omnath, Locus of Rage.

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Wake the Dragon

I think the best way to evaluate instants or sorceries that only create a creature token is to act like they're a creature card and ask yourself if you'd play that card. The difference in upsides is that with creatures you can Reanimate them, but with spells you can get them under an Arcane Bombardment or cast them for free with an overloaded Mizzix's Mastery.

I think the late-game possibility of getting a second Dragon that snags artifacts away from an opponent is cool with Flashback. I hope there's a spellslinger deck that wants this somewhere, because it's a Dragon card that Dragon decks don't even want. I think Anhelo, the Painter and (again) Saruman, the White Hand might be solid homes for this sorcery.

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Windswift Slice

This a Rabid Bite/Bite Down variant I can get behind. I already like those types of cards for creature removal in green, but some of them come with a little more oomph, like Ram Through or Infectious Bite.

With Windswift Slice, the oomph isn't just the element of surprise on a kill spell, but the creation of more Elves, a creature type we've established is already very well supported. I would love to see this crop up in Esix, Fractal Bloom lists. Even if Esix is your biggest creature, you can probably ping a 1/1 and end up with three copies of the best thing on the table. Some hot tech for ya!

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Ring-a-ding-ding-done

Thanks again for reading! Please check out my Commander's Herald column Am I The Bolas?

What is your favorite instant/sorcery of the set? I think it's Lidless Gaze for myself, but Windswift Slice and Galadhrim Ambush are going to be pretty popular, too!