Let's Get This Commander Banned! An Out Of Control Guide To Xander, The Collector | MTG
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Just have counterspells, what's the problem? Also, ruin him with graveyard synergies, thanks for empowering my Muldrotha
He literally can be stopped by simple counterspells or use a Necro deck to utilize the graveyard rush.
The fact that: power artifact, chain food, gaea cradle and others abominations in commander are not banned and prophet of kruphix is banned just prove that Xander is Goin to be banned
Yo Prof! Sheoldred would be a brutal addition.
love the videos but i will not join you I stand for the vampires legions Edgar markov needs an ali And xander is perfect
Prof: Lets get this one banned, here's a decklist
The entire Commander community: this has got to be the fairest and most casual Xander deck ever made!
The prof if famous for theatrics and making low power commander decks, you havent picked that up by now?
@@the_names_rob
Yes I have never saw him win a single match on command zone no matter what they were doing
@@oinkytheink1228 lol that and i think hes also acknowleged the power of his decks when compared to others while on that channel too
Depends on your playgroup ^^ My playgroup is very casual and we have a bunch of fun janky decks
@@the_names_rob Tbh he has done a few good ones... Zo-zu comes to mind, only 3 cards I could think of that felt out of place, way less than the missed potential to actually break Xander in this one.
This honestly seems like the safest, most friendly version possible. My immediate thought was Corpse Dance and a sac outlet as the go-to, and a bunch of haste givers and reanimation spells as backup. I'd want Xander hitting the battlefield, attacking, and then promptly dying as often as possible. Why pay 7 to keep casting him when I can sac him and pay at most 5?
Better yet, sneak attack
Yep - cheating him out is the best approach. I’m planning on using him as the top end of my Marchesa deck, Sneak Attack being the most likely outlet.
Ewww.... you are definitely a grixis player. ^^
@@zephyrtyner-tikkanen3081 Really either one, or both, with the inclusion of bounce spells (like the key). Just bounce it to hand to avoid Xander's exile.
Yeah the black protection cards like undying malice etc for 1 mana you get a death and battlefield trigger massively more efficient.
Clone spells are the way to go, get yourself both etb and death triggers for pretty cheap. You can even run Mirror box/sakashima/spark double to keep your multiple xanders.
Helm of the Hosts is a blowout
Don't forget Orvar
Blade of Selves is also a fantastic card with this commander.
@@whaleofdarkness It misses the attack trigger. But etb and death should be good enough.
You people are sick😂
Since Xander has red, why not some extra combat turn cards? Doubling his attack clause for a turn can cause havoc.
Moraug and fetch lands 😈
Throw in some double triggers and you can potentially mill the whole table in a couple turns once xander is out
Thats what I was thinking....use Mirror Box to turn off legendary rule, give Xander 'myriad,' profit?
This card is ‘unfun’ in the sense that when you put this in the command zone to start a game, the whole table gangs up and knocks you out immediately
For good reasons, nevertheless :D
Me with korvold. It’s my best and favorite deck but I don’t ever use it cuz I know I won’t be able to enjoy it, even if I’m behind in the game and there’s…. Way bigger threats present lol
@@filippodardi2180 oh 100%. If you bring this to a table you gotta know you’re getting the heat
@@JujuInFlames I’ve never won a game where a korvold survived a single go-round the table, it’s such a house of a commander. I can understand how that dynamic might not be the most fun as the pilot though.
@@Spirited_skiing if I was playing like win on turn 3 food chain combo korvold then yes absolutely I get it that’s a hyper competitive deck. But my decks literally not that it’s a budget of less than probably $80 and it wins by melira, murderous redcap combo. I can pretty much only play it with my friends because our decks are all fairly the same level, even tho I’ll still get doubled teamed but it can still be fun especially if I manage to pull a win
I highly doubt that this card will be banned. I actually see him more as a reanimation target in grixis reanimator decks along side the old Jin-Gitaxias and Vilis than as a commander.
Their are far more worse stuff
He has been
Oh yeah. Just the other day, I entombed + reanimated him in my Sedris deck, with Mirror March on the field. It was a veritable salt mine when I won 7 flips in a row.
He also works well in ninjutsu decks, if you can combo him with Satoru Umezawa.
You forgot Syr Konrad!!! He’s gonna put the work with Xander. All three of Xander’s moves trigger him. Definitely an auto include.
I was going to post this. Hell yes
5 mana little damage creature-engine, what works exclusively with 7 mana commander.
Yeah. Totally. Autoinclude.
No Hoops at all
@@Uefeti it’s okay to not understand power evaluation. You’re doing great
I love syr Konrad
I see pain... LOTS of pain
I expected a Blade of Selves, because while Xander IS legendary, you would get two extra ETB and death triggers immediately on attack.
Helm of the host, and THEN blade of selves on the no legendary copy created by helm of the host
@@jalexoneschanel1356 well, when it dies it makes the sac happen
i think perhaps blade of selves is sliiiiightly better
Hahaha! When tergrid came up, I knew that the prof was serious about banning the commander. No one would do that!
I’ve been saying this since it’s reveal that Xander would be the nail in the coffin for Tergrid.
I don't even think Tergrid should be banned. It creates a unique board state of limited resources for all like no other Commander. As long as the table agrees, it can make for a fun challenge, even to pilot.
Nuuuu, I love tergrid
@@HighTechWizard I hate Tergrid and 100% agree it doesn’t need a ban. Table politics usually solves this by deleting the Tergrid player.
@@Spirited_skiing W H A T
Exile, countering, or stealing him seems like some of the only ways to deal with how much he has going on. Shuffling him back into the library is also viable, but hitting it with a "change" also takes out his abilities and makes him mute. Stifling his abilities whenever they trigger can also help to alleviate some of his nastiness. Problem with this is that everyone has to run at least one of these options and be able to get it rid of him while there are free sacrifice outlets and a plethora of counter spells as well as flicker abilities to keep him safe in grixis colors.
The Professor's recipes always call for 47 metric tons of kosher salt.
When it comes to more "notorious" commanders, I feel like they're some of the most honest decks you can play outside of traditional stompy. I'd much rather play against a Xander than some deck that's supposedly "just a 7" that winds up with a combo win turn 5 out of nowhere. He's big, dumb, Grixis (Maestro) fun, and I love him. Great video.
Clones that don’t ignore the legend rule for all kinds of death triggers. Plus the amount of reanimation in that deck you could easily do it over and over again.
Almost like he can run the same strategy as Korvold.... but instead of green it's blue.... 😬
I love the text of cards being magnified, what a great viewing improvement!
WOTC, specifically said they wanted to see a shift to more expensive and more powerful commanders. I suspect this is the direction we will see new commanders. I also think the fact this is target player vs all opponents will really shake up the political battles between players which is exactly what makes for awesome multiplayer games!
wizards said that? :o
i'm interested on how it's goinf to evolve then
Could I have a link to where they said this, would be interested to read the article.
The reason is because they want the games to be NORMALLY faster so they can start big tournies and profit off of it. but atm pods of 4 can last hours so it's unrealistic to have big tounries
@@jonlangthorne7924 I’ll try to track down the video… They discussed it when talking about the new capenna set.
Its like WOTC didn't learn anything from FIRE. Of course they didn't, they're modern Wizards. There's nothing they own that they haven't tried ruining at least once.
A few notable includes maybe: fraying sanity (Bruvac redundancy), spark double (more Xander), traumatize (more Xander mill), Narset parter of veils (deny hand refill)
All of these appeared in my bruvac decklist
Also prof did include Narset in his decklist, just didn't mention it in the video for what ever reason
One card missing from this list is Hellkite Courser. Brings in Lord Xander without have to cast him, gives him haste to attack and with a sac outlet kills him at end of turn giving you all his abilities. Plus you soul bond Hellkite Courser with Dead Eye Navigator, you get Lord Xander every turn.
You can even use Mirrage Phalanx from Crimson Vow where it soulbonds to create tokens both itself and the creature that soulbonds at the beginning of the combat step that exiles itself at the end of turn
You should not have just told me this
@@razin_6298 you welcome!
@@TenkuuNoKishi Can't token copy a legendary creature though?
@@pcgee12 you’re still getting ETB effect
I feel like this is another Xanathar situation, where everyone says they're gonna be busted and then they hardly get played because they become removal magnets and cost too much for an effect that targets one person. Like, at least in my local meta which is decently interaction heavy, he's rarely gonna stay on the battlefield long enough to make an impact, if he even hits it. And he has big splashy effects, but they target one person, then everyone else kills whoever played him. I don't know, I might be wrong, but this guy feels like an at most fine card that everyone is losing their heads over.
I kind of feel the same, the mana cost makes this card somewhat acceptable, and at my LGS he will likely be received in the way you described. But I have a gang of casuals at work who don't play too much interaction, and, what is worse, don't anticipate threats. A card like Xander could create some serious salt in that kind of environment.
You're justifying it not being so bad because it will get hated off the board quickly. But if the card isn't so bad, then it shouldn't be getting hated off the board by everyone else? If everyone is unanimously killing the player that plays Lord Xander, then by reasoning it's because Lord Xander has an extremely threatening board presence.
@@pattycake520 It's a card with a powerful effect, but it has the same problem as any expensive splashy commander. That being that once it's removed once, you're never gonna cast it again. It is the same problem with cards like Gishath, and any Eldrazi or Praetors. Are they powerful? Absolutely. However, you're only ever gonna cast it once, then it will get countered or killed, and with commander tax you're never gonna want to cast it for 9 Mana. Plus, Grixis ramp is terrible, and you never want to waste your whole turn playing one creature in that color combination.
@@Volkbrecht If your playing Xander in a setting where people want to have fun, I feel like those two are mutually exclusive. It's never fun to mill half your library or discard any amount of cards. Unless you're a graveyard deck, that is.
I do see your point that being in the commander spot makes it less viable. However being in the 99 is where it will inevitably find more value, as well as become much easier to recur via reanimate several times. Sneak Attack is a very popular card that would even allow Lord Xander to get all of his triggers in the same turn he appears.
TBH I don't see the issue with Xander. He's _SEVEN MANA_ with no card draw, no ramp, no protections, no haste, no evasion. Plus, each of his abilities only affect a single player, and he puts a target on his owner for the other players to all gang up against.
Yes, there are some haste enablers in Red and colorless, yes Blue gives some protection with counterspells. BUT, that requires setup and having other cards. Just like any other strong commander around, he requires other setup and work to go off.
He is totally, 100% *_NOT_* ban worthy. The first and third ability lean into control-y strategies, while I personally see the middle ability as the main game-ender. Also, the middle ability is something you really do not want to do to graveyard-based decks, which have become increasingly more common over time.
running graveyard hate if you're a mill deck is a no brainer, duh, why the hell would i let my opponent gain advantage off my win con...
he takes set up but he's not banworthy but overall just a unpleasant commander
I have multiple decks where I can have 7 mana by 3rd turn some by second turn. I could mill half your library before 3rd turn that is busted because u have already discarded half your hand on second turn
He's not meant to be a commander. Rather he's meant to be a reanimation target in any grixis (or more coloured) decks. Which makes him, a lot, scarier to come out swinging with haste.
For example, in a sedris deck he'd be a great target for the unearth.
I just realized that there's essentially a softlock. Xander, Nim Deathmantle, Tergrid, and Ashnod's Altar. Assuming your opponents run creatures, you will essentially just leave them with a card in hand and a single permanent on the battlefield for the rest of the game. Very expensive to pull off though
A personal synergy of mine is using Ashnod's Altar with Nim Deathmantle, so with Xander, every 2 mana gives 2 Xander's triggers. Adding things like Genesis Chamber, so u can do it for free to nuke everyone else's hands and boards. Pure evil
Nuke everything except 1 card in their hand, and 1 on the battlefield
and one in the library
@@fordesgol7947 how will you attack an infinite amount of times?
There are enough pieces to do it multiple attack steps or multiple turns its not that hard
@@fordesgol7947 its legendary...
Prof, you forgot to add stacks pieces like winter orb, smokestacks and tangle wire. We need to make sure nobody’s having fun, even ourselves!!!
I don't see any issue with this card, especially if it's in the command zone where you actually have to ramp to 7 to hard-cast it
And it has the eminence ability of “the whole table kills you immediately” so you better ramp fast or you’re dead
@@Spirited_skiing there are other commanders with that ability too, but sometimes players don't know or the xander player will say "why is everyone hitting me? It's very unfair" trying for pity which sometimes works
Yeah, in Grixis colors this is not a major worry of mine. I'm more upset about green getting Birthing Pod on a commander as a +2 ability 🤦♂️
yes the color of this card would be hard to get him out with but all it takes is a cEDH match is turn 4 is the latest turn 2 or 3 is the best you can summon Xander now i understand not everyone will have the mox stone cards or Mana vault / crypt but it is still do able.
Except geode golem and hellkite courser exist. Unfortunately as well, since Zander has blue in his color identity, the Isocron Reversal combo will be making appearances in pretty much every deck with him as the commander because of how easy it is to use to make infinite mana. Meaning that Zander is actually really easy to get off over and over if you don't care how much he actually costs, because you can pay it.
One major card: Kefnet's Last Word. I've used this in my own Xander deck, and ngl, it has such a nice home in his deck so far. With the ability to also use cards like Commit // Memory and even older with Mirror of Fate, to ensure that no matter what, as many times as you draw, when Kefnet's Last Word gets exiled, you can bring it back. One thing that you did miss to mention, I believe. When using Bruvac, the Grandilloquient, Xander's ability mills HALF, and with Bruvac, that gets doubled, essentially wiping out an entire library. If you play 1 v 1 commander, it's a sure fire way to get people salty, especially with the new (and imop, better demonic tutor) "Illicit Shipment," to where you can easily pull Bruvac out before you swing.
Great video though, definitely may try to mirror this deck to see how it plays out, thank you for another great video, Professor!
5 mana for a tutor hurts though, but I get what you mean with Illicit Shipment.
You rounded up when you showed your example of hand destruction, instead of rounding down like how the card says. You should’ve discarded 3 cards and have been left with 4, not the other way around.
Reading the card, explains the card.
@@RaunienTheFirst Yup, that’s why he should’ve rounded 7 / 2 = 3.5 down to 3 and discarded 3 cards… Except he discarded 4.
Nobody gives a shit, 👌🏻
didn't notice, but you have a point
>wants to get this commander banned
>builds probably the slowest, worst version possible
>fails the mission
"Target" not "each" for all three abilities while having a 7 mana target on your back. I don't see how this is anywhere near ban worthy. Seems like playgroup house rules or power capping are sufficient..
its less about how easy it is to get out and more about how miserable it is to play against, like leovold, you do not get rid of him without having lost tons of advantage against your opponent most of the time which is brutal.
i don't think he's any cedh staple but he's very very miserable.
I agree with you. IMO people are over hyping this card.
I dont even see this anywhere near good. much less ban worthy
I believe that the call to ban this, by the Prof. at least, is probably satire
@@briangentry3714 kinda. the last little comments didnt sound like a satire kind of joke
My personal Xander list is "Upkeep tribal". I use Paradox Haze, Sphinx of the Second Sun, a few enchantment copying spells and clone effects, and a few of the "clone enchanted creature on upkeep" Auras. I'm also pert reanimator, and part land destruction on top of that.
I was going to question Arcane Flight over Aqueous Form, but obviously it was included because of the fantastic art. Xander is a collector of such fine pieces after all.
I believe both are included
For colorless, evil assistance, use Strionic Resonator. For only 2 mana, it can double one of the effects.
You can also use undying to retrigger the sac engine.
Or, Panharmonicon. Just add more ETB creatures to multiply pain.
My youngest is named Xander. The card is so accurate it's scary.
For some added fun, you could also run Nim Deathmantle and ashnod's altar, when paired with either waste not or tergrid you should always have enough creatures available to sacrifice to loop the enters and leaves the battlefield triggers until your opponents have no boards or hands
Idk, I honestly don't think he's that bad. I feel like he'll take forever to get cast, and then get countered or killed and then never cast again. 7 and 9 mana is a lot. He also seems pretty easy to just say 'no thanks' to in pre-game talk.
I've seen 7 mana be consistent by turn 3 in my meta. A lot of people are playing non Cedh decks with Cedh mana bases.
@@danielwideman5255 Mind telling me the consistent opening hands you're getting in a grixis deck that gives you 7 mana turn 3?
@@fallendeus soul ring, mana crypt, urza's saga, a plethora of black tutors, dark ritual, ect ect. getting to 7 mana isnt hard my dude.
I do agree that the mana cost and possible price tag will be a little bit of a deterrence. The only problem is the deck will work with 'stop the commander' in mind or at least built around it wanting to do those effects, so you might get around the commander but the deck will be doing the same thing. I honestly don't expect to see him at any tables I play at. I never saw Tegrid decks, I'm literally the only one in my local store that ever plays with one in a deck and its not even the commander of the deck.
Just because it doesn't have green, doesn't mean it can't mana ramp....
my buddy who (up until very recently) only played yugioh, pulled an alt-art xander on an impulse pack buy.
the Grixis Mill deck he plays now is the stuff of nightmares, and he's having the time of his life.
Lol imagine actually wanting this 7cmc grixis commander to be banned and comparing it to stuff like leovold, braids, tergrid, etc.
Prof is really out of touch sometimes when it comes to card evaluation
Yeah, nobody's gonna let this get cast. Or stick around long enough to do a thing.
I don't think he's being 100% serious.
Tergrid is a terrible commander. On par with precons
@@Frog_Cat_ I can sell you a sarcasm detector, in case yours is broken, which it clearly is.
I like Thought collapse and Didn't say please as counterspells, the added middle finger of mill to making things fizzle is fun.
I'm surprised blade of selves didnt make it in here. the tokens it creates would all get the etb and destruction procs wouldnt they?
you are correct not a lot of people realize that and most of the magic tubes skip it for some odd reason maybe avoiding jacking up the price of the blade itself
I was going to comment this, but decided to check if anyone else had first. Great (evil) minds think alike.
They would get the ETB, but not the attack triggers. You have to declare an attacker to get "whenever X attacks" triggers, and myriad or "enters tapped and attacking" triggers do not allow you to declare the attackers. They just enter attacking.
That said, something like Kiki Jiki or similar clone with haste could work; although it kills the original commander (unless you have mirror gallery or mirror box), so you could ETB-attack-clone, sacing the original, getting another ETB and the leaves the battlefield trigger. With multiple attack steps or untapping engines, you could do this multiple times in a turn.
@@HiveMindRock you would 2/3 of the triggers, which is still pretty darn great.
@@HiveMindRock They didn't mention the attack triggers. It's a fairly well known concept that if a token is made of a legendary it still enters the battlefield before the legendary rule makes you sac it / destroys it. So the two triggers everyone is talking about are the ETB and LTB/Death trigger which you would still get for each copy!
I am loving the format of this deck teck. Popping the relevant text looks so nice and is very well done. Love the quality always one of the best content creators.
I feel like adding the new Jin-Gitaxias and hullbreaker horror is beneficial, just to punish opponents for thinking about responding to your deck. Also, treasure is probably going to be critical for keeping this deck afloat on mana production.
Not sure if anyone mentioned it but Blade of Selves would immediately put 3 of its dies triggers on the stack, and you can use sneak attack to get the full value of the card for 1 red mana
Lord Xander seems like it is best dealt with by letting it resolve once and then tossing something like a Pacifism on him. That way if he's ignored by the table or maybe even protected from the owner's removal he won't be able to do anything anymore.
I will give him a try in my Obeka Reanimator Deck. Most spells & abilities will cheat him in from hand or GY and directly provide haste. Furthermore he can be sacrificed at the end of turn if I want to… plus doubling him up with Araumi, Mirror March, Flameshadow Conjuring. Surely I have Sakashima and Mirror Box out to avoid instant legend rule problems.
This will be wonderful! Magical wonderland.
If we’re banning a card mentioned in this video it should probably be Deadeye Navigator. Nothing good can ever come from that card.
Thank you for speaking up for us few Iona players! I got a sweet foil from my LGS and then she’s banded 😞
I'm surprised that you haven't mentioned Consuming Aberration. It might be viable addition to Necrogoyf and definitely has potential to make this more miserable :)
wight of precinct six is another good one
I think we need more "when it dies this turn reanimate it" type of effects and sac outlets. Also, fraying sanity is great I heard
if you really want to get out of control, i think bloodchief ascension is the perfect add. with Xanders mill ability on attack, if bloodcheif is active the opponent is more than likely going to take 60-80+ damage and you will gain that much life. its a one mana card that can cause Xander to one shot.
Clones, more flickers like teferi's time twist, extra combat steps in red and loads of protection in black like malakir rebirth that you can even sac to yourself.
Seems like a really fun arch enemy esque deck
I think that Xander is a great Nuclear-deterrent style commander for a politics deck. He's not going to show up until mid to late game, and if he does there will be so many answers to his casting. I think he's a powerful, but not broken or degenerate commander.
Mid game? This guy is going to get ramped out turn 3 or 4, and wreck the game before it gets a chance to get going.
@@TavarinProductions That's choice is up to the pilot. People definitely have the option to play it in a slower more political way. But I guess that dependens on how much self control said pilot has.
You could probably go the whole game not casting Xander and no one will cast any removal or counters just on the implication of you casting him, letting other threats you cast go through.
Wrong if you can get him out on turn 4 the games over
I just drew this card from a pack today, and was wanting to build a deck around him. This is super nice.
I was surprised you mentioned banning this card in your last video, but an entire video to get it banned? If it was a deck tech taught by Evil Prof, this would be a great video. The card is an overcosted disrupter, doesn't even have haste for its attack trigger, and is a meager one-sided boardwipe at best. This is a perfectly fine value bomb by cost and triggers, especially in a multiplayer format that you so viscerally wish to remove it from. In short, not bannable in the least.
Ya it's kind of a joke... He's pointing out that it's not the most fun play style for wizards to keep designing for but it's not bannable regardless of the community going on about it
As a Grixis player, even I'm not gonna go out of my way to run this as Commander. But interfering with the opponent's resources is a valid strategy, and taking away that line will turn the game into nothing more than an elaborate arms race.
So for the graphic at 2:02 it's discard half rounded down. So half of 7 is 3.5 to then 3 rounded down.
Maybe include some graveyard hate, in case of your opponent playing a self mill deck
Also Sheoldred would be nice (for you)
And to bring even more chaos to the table, you can include something that goats creatures
Nice Avatar of Woe reference, chief :) been playing with that card since I was eleven with my parents' collection. Huge house if you're built around it in a low power meta.
I mean, yeah he does powerful things, but you're basically just saying "Grixis Tap-out Control has a synergistic commander now."
Maybe it's enough to see Tergrid banned, but a 7-mana commander that needs a lot of help isn't particularly ban-worthy imo. There are way more noxious things you could be doing more easily in Commander.
Yeah, honestly this is just a worse version of the Grixis control deck I already run. Xander will make it to the 99 but I wouldn’t play him as a commander.
Tergrid is a terrible commander. Does nothing if one player plays interaction. This commander does crazy things no matter what happens to it
And Xander is completely wrecked by a counterspell. The difference is Xander costs 9 the second time, while Tergrid has a chance of being replayed.
@@jadedflames a Counterspell. That's it. If no one is playing blue he will always do something devastating. Tergrid can be answered by literally hundreds of cards spanning ALL colors and even colorless
Hey prof, you'd do yourself a favor by changing plaguecrafter and flesh bag for instants with an additional cost of sacrificing creatures. Opponents can respond to fleshbag marauders effect on the stack with a swords to plowshares, but they can't respond to a village rites sacrificing Xander as a cost.
"Lets get this commander banned."
Me, who already dropped 30 bucks on Sneak Attack and Splinter Twin while prebuilding a ReXandermator deck: "I'm doing my part."
help me understand the use of Sneak Attack with Xander, many people have mentioned it, how are you getting Xander into your hand to sneak him into play?
@@Fivehe Netherborn Altar and Command Beacon will do it from the command zone, otherwise I plan to just cast him and sac him to High Market or whatever, then Phyrexian Reclamation or Malevolent Awakening him back into my hand.
Isochron Scepter, Shallow Grave, Ashnods Altar, Sculpting Steel or Copy Artifact->Isochron, Dramatic Reversal. An infinite ETB/Death Trigger loop at instant speed, unanswerable without instant speed artifact removal, grants Haste as well. Sculpting Steel-> Isochron Scepter, imprinting Infiltrate for unblockable. Can use Isochron Scepter, Sculpting Steel copy, or Copy Artifact for Counterspell if you're at a table with heavy artifact removal.
Is it a ton of setup? Absolutely. Is it worth the setup to control your opponents hands down to one card at instant speed, making them sacrifice everything down to 1 permanent at instant speed, and swing unblocked every turn? Because the board state as described sure sounds like autoscoop to me.
Targeting only one player and costing 7 mana makes this card less powerful than it looks, I don't think it needs to be banned
it is what you can do with the card that makes him that way if he is equipped with blade of selves then one person is not going to have a hand and will have only 1/4 of non-land permanents on the field when Xander swings. Ya it is a 7 cost commander that is a single target but you can always make some gank out of commanders that lowers a player to nothing. With no hand, a 1/4 of their field left, and half of their deck gone with just one attack and equipment.
Well it's 7 mana enemies know you have so it will.just get countered every time lol
You're thinking about it with a pretty narrow view. It's not about what the effect says, ipsis litteris, but the interactions you can do to abuse it. Effects don't have to be global to be good in EDH.
I did a lot of what you went with, but also have a ton of clones so I get the EBT and then the death trigger as it dies to the legends rule. Then I have things to steal stuff from my opponents graveyards like Scarab God.
I feel it should not be banned. It costs 7 mana and being in the command zone it's somewhat harder to cheat into play. Grixis ramp is not exactly the best. There are plenty of 7 mana win the game cards, this is not that bad.
Two mana rocks and he's out turn 4, he's easy to get into play fast.
@@TavarinProductions you know exile effects and counter spells exist right?
@@ArcDemonStudio so every player has to waste their own turns leaving mana up in fear of Xander dropping/leaving other commanders to drop in, and Xander can just drop a turn or w later. 7 Mana is not an impediment to casting a commander early, and if everyone is holding onto removal all the time just for him then he should be banned.
Well. You can turn 2 kill an opponent with the "perfect starting hand":
Bruvac, Sol Ring, Sneak Attack, Hellkite Courser, Lotus Petal and 2 Mountains on hand.
Turn 1: Mountain, Sol Ring, Lotus Petal
Turn 2: Mountain, add 2 red 2 colorless, sac Lotus Petal, play Sneak Attack, get out Bruvac and Hellkite. Hellkite ETB -> Xander -> attack -> opponent mills their whole deck (if they have an even number of cards left). Pass until opponent dies to mill.
Magic is fun :)
This thing isn't even bannable, and I would absolutely say is a completely overhyped card that is very lackluster. How do you read this and think it's even playable in commander?
But jeweled lotus + sol ring + mana crypt + gemstone caverns + chrome mox can just turbo it out! And then boy just wait till it gets back around and I swing
@@FertBert chances of getting that hand are so low lol
@@xChikyx *woosh*
Of course it's playable in commander. Not everything needs to be cedh level, skippy
@Nick Hannah hahaj imagine that, and the second player goes: plains, swords to plowshares, and then you're out of the game xD
If you want, you can also add the curse "fraying sanity," which mills a player for the number of cards that were put in his graveyard from anywhere.
The problem of the CRC banning cards before they're released is that WotC will take that as an excuse to take control of the format over from them. Which would be a complete disaster, as WotC is clearly in the mood for Ragavans over non-expensive play.
The rcr/wotc has no power...rule zero.
If the CRC don't make moves that WotC don't like, under fear that WotC will seize command of commander, then WotC has already seized command of commander. It's arguing over de jura Vs de facto
This was literally my first ever deck. Sir Conrad, Bruvac, Oona. Favorite card in magic
Xander is bae ;)
This seems way better in the 99 of most Grixis decks. I can't wait to use this in my Marchesa deck
The fact that this commander is not viable for cedh, and has a cmc only for casual, means that it will be played in casual games. His abilities are not powerful or game breaking, but go really against a commander mentality in which all players at the table are able to play and have fun. Not all people knows the social conventions around rule zero, and the stigmatization around some kinds of strategies. I would ban it before is out to prevent people wasting the money in a deck they don't know the vast majority of the causal community won't have a good time. This commander in casual can only have two kinds of games: it does nothing because it is 7 mana and everybody focuses you before you are able to use it, or you use it and nobody plays except you.
The bolas ravager planeswalker can exile someone's library, and that helps the card that had bolas stuff in it
I will admit it is a powerful commander but I dont think it is that bad. I mean like 7 mana??!! thats pretty expensive and also considering that bouncing and exiling exist I dont think this has to be banned. And go ahead make another video on this try to prove me wrong.
I don't think he's gonna make a video to address a comment with 4 likes, but go ahead and get a video to prove me wrong. (Also I think he's using the ban conversation was a way to introduce what he thinks of as "mean" decktechs)
I just resolved a Lord Xander in an EDH game. First time any of us saw it in action.
I made the Maestros Anhelo deck discard three cards. Then people were like, "I can't kill it..."
So I attacked the Ruric Thar deck, milled him for 39 cards, then casted Animate Dead on his It That Betrays.
Then I lost the game because the Naya Lifegain deck dropped Aetherflux Reservoir.
General Notes: If the focus of the deck is not to recycle him over and over for his ETB / Dies effect, then he's ok. He's a Fleet Swallower that can hit a few cards from the hand and possibly remove some tokens or remove cards from the person who doesn't have many cards. I did end up playing mine pretty early through Eldritch Evolution (Xander isn't the commander) so it's possible that he hit play *too* early where his dies trigger didn't matter.
I was considered the "threat' because I had Xander, but honestly, after playing it, the fear of this card is kinda unwarranted. Discarding on ETB is rough, and saccing some tokens and maybe a few enchantments or mana rocks doesn't really hurt by then. The mill half is only effective if there's an immediate reanimate and I'm sure I'd have gotten use on the It That Betrays if I did get the sac trigger.
TLDR: Xander's fine.
i love how everyone focus on the 7 mana, as a way to nerf it and forgets how ridiculously EASY is for blue, black, red to cheat out creatures outside of their mana cost xD this bastard will be hitting the field turn 3 or 4 xD
Cheat from the command zone tho?
He is much better as part of 99 yes, no idea why ppl focus so much on him as commander
Command Beacon
Instead of Brudovac I would suggest Strionic resonator and/or Rings of Brighthearth, as they do the same thing as brudovac but also work with all of Xander's abilities, and they dont require blue.
I know this is a joke. Lord Xander is not that powerful a card. It is a battle cruiser card.
I'm adding Mirage Phalanx and Hellkite Courser. Who needs friends? Mine are all playing solitaire combo decks anyways...
Everyone talks about how useful flying is, but forgets the power of moving in the shadows. Shadow is quite effective since they can only be blocked by other creatures with shadow. Dauthi Embrace can grant our commander shadow as well as any other creature until end of turn. How about Soltari Visionary to assist with those unwanted enchantments as well.
Cards like Undying Malice, Demonic Gifts are great as well since they allow us to bring our commander back from the graveyard to the battlefield when he is destroyed, or if we sacrifice him to the plague bearer. It also opens up the possibility to cards like Villager rites so we can sacrifice our commander activating his death trigger easier, and gaining even more value.
One missed out card that comes to my mind is Blade of Selves. Each combat one ETB and Die trigger for each opponent -1. You could also uses red multiple combats abilities for more 'not fun'
Delina, Wild Mage is excellent here, because you can get minimum one extra etb and attack trigger and if you are lucky you get more. I'm not sure if there are any cards that let you sacrifice the tokens before they exile themselves but having the potential of 1+n triggers with a probability of 0,25^n is really good.
Things that enter attacking, like Delina copies, don't trigger on-attack abilities.
That said, there are a metric fuck-ton of ways to sacrifice creature tokens for costs at instant-speed. Especially in black.
Duskmantle Guildmage could be fun (or evil) with Lord Xanders attack trigger at least.
Also please never change the outro piece, it reminds me of my childhood lol
Thanks for this.
_Mark of Eviction_ might be a little better than _Escape Routes,_ in some cases.
0:47 -> wow! your "I am woke and I'll cancel you" impersonation was spot on!
cool vid prof, but I feel like duskmantle guildmage is a must include in a lord Xander deck (an attack that makes an opponent lose 30+ life is just gross), and if you're gonna have a duskmantle guildmage you may as well throw in a mindcrank for the infinite combo
This decklist is overall quite cute. Some good cards, but most of it is not the way you want them to be if you want to be EVIL.
Instead of the Flying-auras, try these out and thank me later: Dragon Wings, Dragon Shadow, Dragon Breath
For the mill trigger:
- Fraying Sanity. It knocks out only one player, but it is probably good enough.
- Duskmantle Guildmage. One activation should be enough if you attack someone for the first time with Xander, but you can also stack the ability of the Guildmage.
- Syr Konrad. Can also knock someone out with one mill trigger of Xander and is generally very good.
- Crypt Incursion. Since mill does help many players as long as it don't kills them some GY-hate would be good and this one nets also much needed life to endure the hate this deck will generate, however there should be more GY-hate in the deck, so maybe Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Ravenous Trap, Author of Shadows? I would prefer those over Rise for multiple good reasons, price tag on Rise being just one.
- Spoils of Evil. Hidden Gem, also nets a serious amount of life and gives much needed mana as well.
- Visions of Beyond. Because why not an Ancestral Recall if you have attacked once with your commander or if someone wheels/loots much etc?
One missed opportunity would be cloning Xander, since you get the ETB & die-trigger immediately when the clone enters.
By the same intent, Nightmare Shepherd would really shine here I believe. Oh an Rite of Replication is already a really solid card, here it would pull double duty.
Multiple people pointed out that sacrificing and reanimating him would probably be better than blinking him and I agree. However, if you even include the clones each reanimation target is also a potential ETB & die-trigger. Two reanimation cards which stand out in that specific case would be Rescue from the Underworld and Cauldron Dance. Artisan of Kozilek as well as a hard-to-counter reanimation spell as well as a brutal finisher, especially if you include all viable ramp and fast mana options (basically all 2-MV rocks, Mana Geyser, Dockside, Simian Spirit Guide, maybe even crappy ones like Vessel of Volatility since you need Xander out ASAP). Thryx, the Sudden Storm seems also a good in this deck as well as Visions of Ruin (also highly underrated in general IMHO).
Counter Spells like Mana Drain and/or more budget friendly ways to generate mana along the way like Spell Swindle, Hornswoggle and similar ones could also be helpful to get Xander out ASAP.
For sacrificing, things like Abjure, Burnt Offering, Culling the Weak, Mind Extraction, Tormented Thought's, Village Rites, Reckoner's Bargain, Deadly Dispute, Morbid Curiosity, Kazuul's Fury (Landslot) seem all exceptionally good here and could be even better than most easy to interact with free sac-outlets. Goblin Bombardment and Greater Gargadon are probably still good enough to run alongside the instants and sorceries.
Anyways, have fun making cruel decks ^.^
Throw in a Pauper’s Cage or a Skullcage to give extra pain for having lower hand counts from all the discard
A couple cards I have are Mirror box to remove the legendary rule and infinite reflection for added fun as well as demonic tutor and profane tutor to help me fine cards.
Brilliant video and very funny. The prof is a legend!
If you have a little room, Merciless Executioner and Wight of Precinct Six can be a good time here too.
I mixed xander and around 20 other mill/discard cards into the new horror commander deck and it's beautiful.
"Because if we get to 10 mana, nobody else deserves to even try to have fun." XD
9:50
I agree that this deck idea was pretty tame. we can do loads more by corpse dancing with viscera seer, some good infinite etb and dies triggers with nim deathmantle combos to generate mana and then start looping a clone or Xander. I think the hardest part will be just playing the commander.. but if we can just command beacon it to our hand and then sneak attack it in the turn we want to pop off then I guess it's fine lmao
Xander in combination with Tergrid seems fun
Now I can disassemble my Tinybones deck that no one wants to play against and make this one! Thanks Prof!
Iona was brutal against mono color decks in Kaalia of the Vast.
For additions Lithogorm engine, illusionist bracers might help double more triggers
Lord Zander, the Collector is WOTC as a whole in card form…only instead of hand, board state and library…WOTC goes directly for wallets, savings and souls.
something i thought of using was the equipment Blade of Selves and give it myriad. toss in cards that can make copy tokens of it alongside mirror box and similar cards to ignore the legendary ruke. not that it needs to be ignored as you will still get the etb and death triggers lol
I once met one of those three people running Iona as their commander. I was just learning to play Magic and the commander format, I didn't even have my own deck but was invited to play with my university's MTG club. The Iona player lent me his Omnath Locus of Mana deck, promptly played Iona, named green, and told me to concede. Still one of the weirdest community experiences I've had to this day.
Don't forget Blade of Selves. You may not get the attack trigger on the copies but you get the ETB and death trigger for each opponent other than the one he attacked before blockers are declared.