Didn't Make The Cut #1

Since its implementation, Wizards's new policy of "print cards for Commander" has made tweaking a deck like this one harder than ever. With every new set, there's a number of cards that can make it in, so deck space is at a premium. I'm constantly trying to juggle playing the most powerful cards, the most fun cards, and giving some love to each color (*cough* RED *cough*). Unfortunately, that means not every card that is playable or powerful actually can make it in the deck. As I always try to tell people at the shop, a Commander deck is a personal thing and should represent how you like to play Magic and with which cards. Below are some recent, solid cards that many people would play, but for one reason or another, aren't yet in my deck list. This is the first part in what I hope is a continuing series of posts that will provide some insight into my thought processes when adding and cutting cards. Hope you can get something out of it!

Olivia Voldaren

Olivia is a creature that I desperately want to play. Finding a spot for her is very difficult, though. She was on the list for attempted inclusion in the Gatecrash update, but still hasn't found a place yet. She should, though - she's a creature (!), she's cheap, she's Red (I try to push to fit more Red in the deck as it is so criminally underrepresented) - but the creatures making it in are so much more abusable in this format. Because of her ability to kill things, steal things, and grow herself, she will remain on the list for inclusion for a while, I'm sure, but she didn't quite make it in this round simply because the Gatecrash update is too large.

Vault of the Archangel

The Vault is certainly a powerful card. Lifelink and Deathtouch are useful abilities, and in a deck that can produce a lot of creatures you can easily use this to your advantage, using the life gain to keep a defense while remaining aggressive. That said, this is not a deck that can produce a lot of creatures. It can make some Kobolds, but those guys are not very good at dealing damage of any quality (except when equipped with a Sunforger...). This deck relies on single, powerful creatures much of the time and Vault simply doesn't do enough for its cost (and the cost of dropping a colored mana source) to make it in.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope

I hear a lot of people calling Avacyn an auto-include, but I disagree. Avacyn is a good creature, and were this a Kaalia deck with a high creature count, she would have made the cut immediately.

Not Iona

Unfortunately, though, there are too many powerful removal spells that don't just destroy. Most decks run some way of "tucking" creatures (Oblation, Chaos Warp, Hallowed Burial, Terminus), and exiling spells like (Oblivion Ring, Swords to Plowshares, Dark Imposter, Phyrexian Ingester, Duplicant); some play -X/-X spells (Profane Command, Mutilate, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief), and sacrifice effects (Barter in Blood, Living Death, All is Dust, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth), and blue can even use bouncing (Cyclonic Rift, Venser, Shaper Savant, Jace, the Mind Sculptor) and control magic (Blatant Thievery, Keiga, the Tide Star, Memnarch) to deal with your permanents. Even other colors can join the control magic fun with the aforementioned Olivia Voldaren and Evangelize, plus numerous combos with Threaten effects and sacrifice outlets. Upcoming cards like Merciless Eviction make it even harder for her to keep your board safe.

Most of the creatures in this deck will win the game on their own or do something relevant when they enter or leave play, and Avacyn does neither of those. Iona generally does a far better job of shutting down removal spells and even blanking an entire player while you gain control of the game. Avacyn's not a bad card by any stretch, but Indestructibility alone won't be enough to get her in right now.

Bonfire of the Damned

My only problem with this card is that it says "Target player". Single-player board wipes can be effective, but I'd rather just play cards that wipe the entire board. The damage output from this card gets marginally worse in Commander as X increases - when X = 10, you usually are still killing the same creatures as when X was 6, and playing a card to simply deal 4 (or whatever) more damage to a player is usually not a good enough reason to sleeve it up. Definitely playable, and Miracles can be very fun, but it won't make the cut here.

Angel of Serenity

If you told me this was an easy swap in for Admonition Angel, you'd be absolutely right. Unfortunately, so is another upcoming Gatecrash card that actually made it in. Angel of Serenity is a great card, much better than Admonition Angel, and I'm not excluding it from ever making it into the deck right now. It's very effective as a combination of multiple Journey to Nowhere and Raise Dead, and in a low creature count deck like this, a late game Angel of Serenity could keep your hand filled with threats with which to finish out the game while giving you some play to deal with opponent's threats as well. That said, from experience with Admonition Angel, O-Ring effects on big creatures are rather lacking because your opponent already has incentive to kill your large creature - and it is much easier to kill a creature than an enchantment. Giving your opponent control over when the Raise Dead occurs is also not super appealing. On the reverse, though, imprinting Angel of Serenity on Mimic Vat seems like one of the most awesome blink/raise dead engines in the format. She's definitely on my short list of cards to consider, and I'd love to hear any ideas for where she could go in the future.

Are there any cards you feel I should be considering more? Feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear other thoughts and I'll do my best to respond if you have any questions or if you just think I'm a moron for not playing something. Thanks for reading!