Obzedat, Ghost Mafia

Welcome back readers to the EDH corner. Today, we will tackle the poll options from the MTG209 group about which general from Gatecrash I will be working with. I would like to take some time and thank the readers who voted for our decision. I hope to encourage more reader feedback in future articles. With that lets get into our winner, Obzdat, Ghost Council

Obzdat is a pretty fair creature in the realms of EDH. A 5/5 general is a decent sized threat without making him an overall attraction for negative attention. Obzdat's real strength lies in his two abilities. First, his bleed effect is highly annoying, but not crazy enough to get the table to turn on you. The fact that this ability triggers as a comes into play means we can abuse some blink effects in white to blip him in and out to get the ability to trigger multiple times. The second ability, however, is what makes Obzdat a deceptive powerhouse. Being able to blip out of existence until your next upkeep and gaining haste means that Obzdat can avoid all of your opponents mass removal and sorcery speed shenanigans and crack in after the board has been wiped. Add to that the bleed he brings in and well he is a pretty good control general. Players will have to constantly worry about Obzedat's blink and may burn removal better saved for one of your creatures.

In light of Obzedat, I feel this list should be a B/W punisher/bleeder list. Obzedat feels to me like a general that favors slow board control, slowing your opponents down, bleeding them out, and then finishing with a few concise strikes. The beauty of a list like what is being described is the fact that overall, the deck will not represent a consistent threat until it is so too late for any of the players to stabilize. This list can also be tuned to represent more of a rattlesnake type style. You can present a game board that makes it not nearly exciting or profitable to attack into. Through this use of turtling you can outlast opponents who's decks are much more powerful by simply making them regret or even question attacking you. The key is the ability to appear dangerous and not dangerous at the same time.

The following thread on MTGSalvation by forum poster capitacom has all the makings of a good Obzedat list

Capitacom plays quite a bit of scary stuff, but balances it out by playing a lot of seemingly fair cards like Blind Obedience, Bitterblossom, even Planar Collapse. This list embodies what Obzedat would look like as a deceptively powerful general.

Gatecrash EDH Review Part 2

Welcome back! Lets get right into the meat and potatoes of this article.

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Lazav is a very interesting take on a cloning machine. He does a very unique impersonation of  Sakashima, getting to keep his name so he does not infringe on other copies of legendary creatures you want to play. His biggest draw, however, is two fold. First, He gets to stay hexproof while hes copying a creature. That ability seems huge. Being able to have an Ulamog with hexproof seems downright ridiculous and the limitations of this seem endless. The second draw is arguably my favorite. Being able to copy a creature that goes to the graveyard from anywhere is pretty damn amazing. This ability feeds into what Dimir has been trying to push in the original and now subsequent Return to Ravnica. 

Overall, Lazav seems pretty good. To me, he feels like a very aggressive Dimir general. While a player focuses on milling several players out, Lazav focus attention on to himself. What makes him insane is the fact that many players play either Ulamog or Kozilek as a means to prevent themselves from decking. Lazav harness that strategy and tears it to pieces as a hexproof backed eldrazi crashes into the red zone. The fact that he retains his name also means general damage is a very real thing for this general.

Up next on the chopping block is what has been referred to as the EDH cycle of Gatecrash: the Primordials

Luminate Primordial, Diluvian Primordial, Sepulchral Primordial, Molten Primordial, Sylvan Primordial

These five big men are all absolutely amazing for EDH players. Their effects only get better with the amount of players playing, and most of them have a random evasion ability to back their big ends. That being said, I feel there is a pecking order to this list and I am going to discuss it now.

Molten Primordial feels the weakest of the cycle. That being said, the weak link being a 6/4 haster that threatens multiple creatures is pretty hilarious in my opinion. The reason I feel he is the weakest is that the threaten is only temporary. Just like Insurrection, Molten Primordial resolving usually means one or two people will die. However, if you do not end the game after casting him, rest assured the counter punch from the rest of the table will.

Luminate Primordial is 2nd weakest of this cycle. Her comes into play ability is pretty phenomenal at almost any point in the game. However, her body and vigilance are kinda underwhelming after having her exile some creatures. I feel giving her some sort of anthem or even first strike would have make her better, considering she is only a 4/7.

Diluvian Primordial is the midpoint of this cycle. First off, a 5/5 flyer for seven in blue is pretty scary good. This flyer has the ability to close out games as the board state is plugged up by ground creatures. Add in her comes into play ability and it is downright backbreaking. Being able to cast any instant or sorcery from each opponent's yard is pretty damn powerful. This card is all upside as the worst case is that you paid seven mana to wrath away the board in a color that normally can not do that. Best case: stealing dudes from players decks, drawing cards, blowing up troublesome permanents but all at once.

Sepulchral Primordial does exactly what Diluvian did, but makes it more permanent by stealing dudes from your opponents. Your opponents just set up some sweet reanimation targets: yours now. Your opponent just wrathed the board of some hardcore creatures? Sweet, look at the army you just got by paying seven. Add in intimidate and a 5/4 body and this looks like a resounding success for black mages.

Sylvan Primordial rocks the top of this list. A 6/8 with reach seems kinda underwhelming until you realize that green has not had a creature like this in a long while. Sure, green does get spiders from time to time, but nothing with a front end like this. Add in an ability to blow up noncreatures for each of your opponents and i think this card becomes fair. However, Wizards did one better and let green mages ramp for each permanent they blew up. This guy is all upside no matter how late or early in the game you are.

That wraps up this modest EDH review of Gatecrash. Next week, We will be tackling building a new EDH deck with one of the Gatecrash generals. This is where you, the viewers, can help contribute. This week leave comments or vote on the MTG209 page. Your votes will help decide what I should write about. See you all next week.