Finally some Imagination, Endurance, Aggression and Courage

 For this blog post I thought I would chose a cycle of cards rather than one specific card to have a look at in more depth.

You may recall I did this before with the uncommon dragon cycle...you can read that blog post here.

Cycles in magic are as old as magic itself and while some are spells, lands or artifact cycles this particular cycle consists of five creatures.

The interesting thing about this cycle of cards is that all of the creatures ended up being quite different from each other both in Power/Toughness and casting cost although they have matching abilities.

It's these abilities that caused their eventual size and casting costs to be so different.

Let's look at each of them in turn:-

The Archetype of Aggression is a 3/2 creature with a casting cost 1RR.

It's not bad for the casting cost but not great either. But it's the abilities of the Archetypes that make them so interesting.

"Creatures you control have trample."

They all endow a particular keyword ability on all creatures you control. Note: that includes themselves.

"Creatures your opponents control lose trample and can't have or gain trample."

They also remove that keyword ability from all of your opponent's creatures.

Trample is a primary ability of Green, so we see it most in that colour. It is a secondary ability of Red. So we see it in Red a lot but not quite as much as Green.

Trample is considered to be a semi-evasive keyword.  Evasion is defined as the ability to avoid blockers. Flying is the most common keyword of this type.

While Trample does not stop your opponent blocking you any excess damage not dealt to the blocking creatures is dealt to them.

In Commander/EDH if you're playing a big creature deck Trample can be invaluable. Also if you're playing an Ultron build where you aim to do commander damage giving your commander Trample is going to make that much easier to accomplish.

The Archetype of Courage has a similar casting cost, 1WW, to the Archetype of Aggression, but it is smaller only being a 2/2

Also the Archetype of Courage gives and removes First Strike which for me is a much more defensive ability that Trample.

What the Archetype of Courage does have going for it is that is it a Soldier and so fits right in to a soldier tribal deck and giving tons of 1/1 Soldier creature tokens First Strike can be a game changer.

The Archetype of Imagination gives Flying to your creatures and removes it from your opponents. That is huge it means that only creatures with Reach or those that specifically say they can block flying creatures can block your attacks.

Play this and watch your hordes go over the top. One thing I should point out is that Flying is a primary ability is Blue so if you are playing mono-blue it may not be that useful. It is most useful when playing Green as green has fewer flyers than any of the other colours.

That is why she has a casting cost of 4BB. Yes almost twice the cost of the other two Archetypes we have looked at. 

It does mean also that you become the only player to whose creatures are vulnerable to Hurricane type effects.

Speaking of Green...the Archetype of Endurance is the most expensive of all the Archetypes but at least you get a 6/5 body for your 8 mana (6GG)

It's what he does that is so good. He removes Hexproof. Why is that good? Where have you been?

Two of the most common ways to protect your commander played in the game are Swiftfoot Boots and Mask of Avacyn because both give your commander Hexproof.

Not if I have Archetype of Endurance in play they don't. He also gives my commander Hexproof if he didn't already have it.

Finally we have the Archetype of Finality (yes it felt right to leave her until the end).

Deathtouch is, for me, another defensive ability.

Nobody wants to attack with a huge creature that'll die to a 1/1 rat because it has Deathtouch.

However it can still be used offensively as well because the risk of loosing your creatures no matter the outcome of combat is high when blocking Deathtouch creatures. Combine Deathtouch with First Strike and nobody will want to go near you.

I think Deathtouch is an ability that can change the battlefield very quickly and the casting cost of Archetype of Finality at 4BB is set to reflect this.

Overall I like the Archetypes for commander play. I think the Archetype of Courage is the weakest but still would have a place in a Soldier tribal deck.

Which one is the strongest depends on the deck your playing but they all have the ability to change the battlefield as soon as they come into play.

Until next time shuffle well.

Phil