White:
Angel of Dire Hour- This is unlikely to see much play. The non-bo with cheating and high mana cost combine to make this a very niche card. However, if it was doing something proactive that might be ok, but that you have to wait until your opponent does something to cast it is the last nail in the coffin. Passing with seven mana up is a huge tell. The only place I can think of in White/X where having that much mana up isn't odd would be Rasputin, and he doesn't need it.
Angelic Field Marshal - I generally like the Lieutenant mechanic and Vigilance is a pretty strong keyword to give to your whole army. The problem of course is that if you don't have your general, this card is awful. White/X decks do have plenty of options for Hexproof commanders though, so this might find a home in one of them.
Benevolent Offering - While not the strongest in the offering cycle, this certainly seems like a "fixed" version of the Tempest cycle. I like the offerings because you decide who gets what. As an instant this is a good way to rescue people, and there are plenty of decks where the congregate effect will give you a ton of life, and giving an opponent some life and some dudes isn't going to hurt you over much. Also, this is Sunforger-able
Comeuppance - A huge blow out. This can just demolish whole gameplans. Craterhoof had better be on notice. This is also Sunforger-able. I see this going in basically any white deck.
Containment Priest - This is the big one. This card was clearly designed to be a Rest in Peace style hoser. However, having Flash and attacking for two make it one of the strongest hate cards ever printed. This won't just be great in EDH, this was clear made with Eternal formats in mind as it stops a huge number of decks from functioning. In commander, you need to be espcially careful with building this into your deck. A lot of the ways people generate advantage is making things for free. I don't know where I'd put it, but pairing it with tutors seems like a must.That puts us in w/b, or w/g. Its possible some version of Ghave Stax would love this guy. This also fits into something like Rafiq where you are playing lots of Hatebears like Teeg and Spirit of the Labyrinth. Its more than likely going to make more of a splash in legacy.
Deploy to the Front - This can make a ton of dudes, but we don't really need more of these effects. The Rebound token maker, Increasing Vigilance, etc. If you feel you need more density for your Rhys, Marath, or Ghave creations this is for you, but odds are they could have made a different card instead and we wouldn't have lost anything.
Fell the Mighty - A pretty unique card. At 5 mana this is pretty affordable. A big downside is that it is a targeted spell so it can be fizzled. The upside is that your saproling army can easily survive the card and then take over the game. When you are playing with low power dudes getting roadblocked by green monsters or reanimated fatties is pretty common. This lets you get one better than them without costing you much of your board in the process.
Hallowed Spiritkeeper - My immediate thought was Karador. This guy has the potential to be really sought after. The tokens fly, which makes them way more useful as blockers than normal tokens. They are white for Teysa, and there can be a lot of them. In a deck like Vish Kal or most builds of Ghave having a guy that makes more guys when you eat him is supremely powerful. That he makes so MANY dudes makes him super strong, but even his normal use as Wrath insurance is totally fine. So Teysa, Ghave, Vish Kal, Karador.
Jazal Goldmane - 4 mana 4/4 First Strike are fine stats. First Strike in white or red is always a solid addition because of how equipment focused those colors are in EDH. The ability is expensive to activate. Mirror Entity essentially does this, but is cheaper on the front end and lets you dodge spell resolutions by poping for 0. This only really comes into its own if you can active it twice. If you can attack with 4-5 dudes and activate this 2 times then why haven't you already won the game? Overall a cool card but to play him at all you need to play him as a general and go BIG with your mana.
Nahiri, the Lithomancer - First of all, I hate you WOTC for not giving us a Serra card :(. Nahiri seems decidedly meh to me, especially as a commander. She does protect herself, but having the second half of Stoneforge means you have to find all of your equipment yourself. Going for her ult seems like a waste of time since you want to be playing lots of equipment already and would rather recover lost cards or play things for free. That said, I think there are plenty of homes for her. Jor Kadeen will love her. Voltron decks in general like these abilities, but W/R is notorius for needing to come out swinging and she helps you do that very easily, and provides some long term advantage over the rest of the game. I personally want to try her in Narset.
Blue:
Aether Gale - Sorcery speed is less than ideal but 6 is a lot of permanents for five mana. This would let you brick someones offense or defense, and it also lets you reuse comes into play effects. This will find a home in something that wants to go big on its mana, some kind of Cradle oriented deck, or something with tons of artifact mana. This could even combo with Sol Ring/Mana Crypt to get a huge refund on the cost. So, Teferi PW, Rasputin, Momir Vig.
Breaching Leviathan - This is not really worth 9 mana, and unfortunately the version you cheat is not worth the effort.
Domineering Will - At four mana this is going to be annoying to get people to walk into since blue mages with mana up make people play much more cautiously. That said you probably play it in any number of trick oriented decks since it is capable of so many shenanigans.
Dulcet Sirens - Morph has always been very meh outside of limited. If you are dedicated to morph already for whatever reason this is fine. I might put it in an ability focused deck like Merike Re Berette face up since the ability is pretty strong for manipulating combat.
Intellectual Offering - The strongest offering and one of the strongest cards in the set.You get to give one player cards and no mana, and another mana but no cards. Meanwhile you play this with mana dorks or artifacts and you will frequently find that his is free or even gains you mana. This is a combo oriented card that can easily make the difference between going off successfully or bricking. I'm playing this in Dralnu and would play it in Sharuum, Teferi, Merike, Edric, tons of places.
Reef Worm - A niffty little number. This is a serious food dude. Playing him with sacrifice outlets lets you generate huge amounts of value and end you up with a serious threat. This won't go in everything, but in decks like Sidisi, Momir Vig, basically anything that like Greater Good, its going to be a house.
Stitcher Geralf - At five mana and three to activate, this guy is a bit underwhelming. That his active can snag Eldrazi make him much better you get big tokens out of it. Its sad you lose the work you've made on their graveyard but that's eh. He seems destined to be paired with black for reanimation and the clause is a May so you can keep juicy targets in peoples graveyards and just take the beaters if you want to. I just wish he wasn't so expensive while simultaneously being fragile. The essential problem is that his pieces don't work well together as a single card. You need a) lots of mana, b) to care about mill beyond the trigger, c) large enough dudes to eat yourself, d) ways to make him speed up his effect. I just don't see it happening as a general and only something like Sidisi, Mimeoplasm, maybe Sedris, can use this effect if they want to.
Stormsurge Kraken - A very solid card. Hexproof 5/5s for 5 are worthy of consideration when playing voltron anyway. Then giving them upside in a style they already want to play is gravy. I see him slotting in decks like Geist, Narset, maybe Rafique. Ironically, you don't really want to give this guy evasion, you just want to make him bigger so you can keep drawing cards and abyssing your opponents.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage - This guy is great. As a general he's probably the best of the bunch, his -1 letting him get away with huge plays. His +1 is solid at digging through your deck. Its not actually drawing cards so he is anti-synergy with things like Cavern Skulker, but gets around Spirit of the Labrynth and friends. If you get to his ult and he doesn't die to it or gets replayed then you essentially win the game. Will be an allstar in 5 color walker concoctions. I do want to spend an extra minute on his -1 because a lot of people are understating how strong it is. There are lots of cards in EDH that produce multiple mana when tapped. From perennial favorites Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, to bigger numbers like Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo. In our lands we always have Ancient Tomb or Temple of the False God. In mono-blue we could easily cast Teferi -1 and cast kozilik or Ulamog. That isn't even counting the number of tricks he enables with tap abilities like Sticher Geralf, Arcanis, or Quicksilver Amulet. And unlike Tezzeret, he isn't limited to artifacts so he can easily give creatures pseudo-vigilance. He also starts with 5 loyalty, making it pretty easy to get off the -1 a few times before letting him die or starting to build up again. And all of this was just in mono-u! Imagine if you paired him with Green and got to play with Cradle, mana dorks, and fat green dudes. This guy is what a planeswalker should be for EDH. He goes in anything with big mana or tricks and can easily play as a general.
Well of Ideas - This is certainly a new idea for how to make Howling Mine playable. Obviously great in Nekusaur, but that dude didn't need help. The price tag is certainly steep. If you can absolutely play 3 or more cards a turn, a la some deck with Exploration or multiple removal spells, or Storm oriented deck, then this is actually pretty good. That you get so many more cards than any one opponent is why, and frequently you'll cast this, draw 2 cards immeditaly, then everyone else draws 1 and someone spends a card to kill it, making it a 3 for 3 on the table. That's a fine gamble when the payoff draws you 4 cards and untaps all your mana. Specific and kinda risky, but very good where its good.
Black:
Demon of Wailing Agonies - This lieutenant isn't as good as Blue's but is plenty solid. The key here is to get him in with Haste. Pairing him with Kaalia or Sedris has some real potential. Edicts aren't played enough in the format when there are tons of creatures that are difficult to kill. This guy has some logistical problems but the effect is very strong. Like the white one though, he is basically useless without your commander, putting you are risk of bricking with him.
Flesh Carver - Sacrifice engines are plentiful enough that just stuffing them into a deck without thinking it through isn't worthwhile anymore. This guy though is pretty great if you are eating 1/1. Since the effect doesn't care about the size of the dude, eating saprolings essentially doubles the size of your avalible power and toughness. This guy is pretty bad in mono-b. Paired with white, he's is pretty good. Vish loves that he is a double big dude. There are some solid white loops that he can enable as well with Karmic Guide. Vish does those loops a bit better for sure since Flesh Carver has an activation cost, but Carver is much easier to get into play. The real place for Carver though is paired with Green, eating Deranged Hermit and friends. I am likely to try him in Ghave since he turns a 1/1 into 2 1/1s. Its an expensive process, but his trigger makes him solid value for birthing pod, greater good or other effects.
Ghoulcaller Gisa - Solid. She can make a lot of zombies very easily. The problem is that she costs 5. Her active cost is only B so she's easy to use once you get there. She'd be great with Merike since she can always eat what Merike grabs, and that deck already runs thousand-year elixir. I would not try to build her on her own since she really wants to have a Cradle to turn all of her hard work into mana. And there are more interesting mono black generals to build. Also, she can always turn 1 zombie into 2 zombies, making her not need you to eat your plays to grow your army.
Infernal Offering - I spoke above about how criminally underplayed Edicts are. This is an edict that lets you trade up one dude, or retrigger comes into play effects. Splitting who you choose for this makes it really solid, and there is no targeting involved anywhere so its hard for opponents to figure out what your doing until its too late. This goes in basically any deck with black mana.
Malicious Affliction - The restrictions on this are double black and non-black creatures. This seems like something I'd be willing to try for 2 mana if I am sufficently in black to keep BB open on opposing turns. Getting morbid wouldn't be difficult at all. This seems like it would be amazing in Toshiro Umezawa.dec though it is a good rate just about anywhere. Not enough people just play single target removal spells.
Necromantic Selection - This is a great board wipe that lets you abuse etb triggers on the return. That it exiles itself is unfortunate, but if it didn't I could see this setting up loops really easily. Still, this will see plenty of play as printed. I can see a deck like Geth including this alongside Life's Finale, but this is not particularly groundbreaking. Its just a well exectued card.
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath - Apart from the badass art and story, Mr. Nixilis is kind of lacking. I think he is probably the weakest of the walkers both as a general and as a walker. He is all about his ult, but the ult requires you to have creatures to eat. This makes him very conditional. Considering the amount of work that has to go into making him reach his ult he really has to be judged on his +2 and -2. +2 is minor lifedrain. If put in an Oloro deck he would be ok addition. The -2 is ok. If you are just trading off draining and making demons Ob is ok, which means the card overall is meh. Oloro is the only place I can think of for him.
Overseer of the Damned - This guy is the real deal. You can cheat him which makes him great in reanimator or Kaalia strategies. The part where he turns opposing deaths into blockers or otherwise food is great. He has a high price tag for normal use, but you really shouldn't bother paying retail. Anything that is an answer and an engine in one is going to be a hit. Look to put this anywhere you think you'd play Angel of Despair or Ashen Rider.
Raving Dead - randomness makes for terrible deckbuilding, put in your deck at your own risk.
Spoils of Blood - This seems like a good deal, but beware. This isn't just Kicker on your Damnation, you have to spend a card to make this dude and there are a lot of easier ways to make large creatures.
Wake the Dead - This is a supremly powerful card. You need a full yard and a lot of mana, but that there are no restrictions on the size of the creature comnig back you can abuse tons of etb effects. Bringing back FoF sphinx Rune Scarred Demon, Bogardan Hellkite, Terrastodon, etc. This fits in most builds of Mimeoplasm, Sidisi, Sedris, Sharuum, Jarad, basically anywhere with mana and graveyard.
Red:
Now for the red cards, but before I start on them I want to challenge an assurtion that people make all the time, which is that Red is the worst color in EDH. I suppose Red is the worst if you absolutely need to choose one, but its not by a large margine. White is on the same basic level of power as red. The only thing that lacks is mono-red, and that's because its not a passive color. Mono-red requires you to be proactive. Urabrask is my favorite mono-red general because he can just attack people to death and make enormous plays.Red is not the value color. EDH players as a whole tend to be more Timmy or Johnny or Vorthos. They appreciate huge creatures or insane value. Red is so often about effeniceny and maximizing resources, which is not the mode that people in EDH like to play. I do like the direction that they took for the red deck and it feels like it expands the depth of the color. For being the shatter color, red does like its artifacts. I think their reasoning is thar red is creative and artifacts are essentially in-game art for the red genius types, making up their half of Izzet.
Bitter Feud - This is a card you have to read through a couple times to understand, and in the end isn't worth the effort you put into it. Not for 5 mana anyway.
Daretti, Scrap Savant - A very solid card. The first line of text is the best. Getting significant velocity in red is precious. The second line of text is only slightly worse as getting to repeated trash for treasure a Sad Robot or something similar is tremendous value. This alone brings red into the space that most EDH players are looking to play in. The ult is obviously ridiculous, but you will probably never get there, even when combined with doubling season. I could see building this guy as a general, though he's probably still better in a R/X deck as a source of tremendous velocity and value. I wish I could play him in Sharuum :(
Dualcaster Mage - This guy is going to do tons of work. Being a creature means you can blink him, reanimate him, recast him, and generally squeeze the effect out again and again. Would have been cool at 2 mana though I can see why they decided against that.
Feldon of the Third Path - 10/10. This guy nails every category, flavor, mechanics, playability, and isn't some default good card either. He requires you to plan around him to maximise him, while still just being good enough in most decks. The activation cost stops him from being kiki-jiki 2.0, but thats fine. Another card in red that's straight up value. The fact that you sacrifice the token is also pretty sweet, combines well with wurmcoil and Jens. As a general you need to do the normal tricks for low health non-haste activatiors, like Merike, Arcanis, etc. He is mono-color and low cost though so getting him out there won't be too hard. Played in other decks he has the potential to be monsterous in green or black decks where there are some truely insane creatures that routinely populate your graveyard. Between him and Daretti, the red deck is worth buying on its own.
Impact Resonance - A neat trick that you can cast when other people attack each other. Also can be grabbed with Sunforger.
Incite Rebellion - Would have made a killer instant. As is, this will kill the Rhys player, and will hurt most people but you can do better for 6 mana at sorcery speed.
Scrap Mastery - The artifact living death, or Mass Trash. This obviously has few places it truely fits. Its worth noting that this will usually be Shatterstorm for everyone else, like living death was wrath for everyone else. Its also sacrifice so Darksteel Forge won't stop it. If you see people going for tons of artifact mana and you can easily incorporate Faithless Looting type effects then this will be a powerful play in your deck. Jhoira especially can use this with huge artifact monsters.
Tyrant's Familiar - This guy isn't my favorite lieutenant, but he's not far off. The ability will flat kill most
creatures, and haste makes it happen immediately. Worth the 7 mana if you have your general. If you don't have your general this guy is a lot more viable than w or b since he retains the haste. Obviously great in Karrthus or a red deck with piles of mana. Something of a non-bo with Kaalia with the on attack clause.
Volcanic Offering - Ho boy this is a spicy one. 5 Mana instant kill target guy blow up target Cradle might have been good enough to print on its own in red. Also making two other permanents that aren't your go away? Damn. 4 permanents for 5 mana is an exceptional rate. My 1 complaint is that you can't Sunforger for it :(. Put this in things and you will be happy for it.
Warmonger Hellkite - This is fine but not exceptional. Dragon tribal decks get a new toy I guess. Using him to pump other armies is a neat trick but not worth the cost.
Creeper Hulk - Trample is great and very underrated. This reminds me strongly of []. The cost of the ability is higher and the size is smaller, and it includes color on the activation. Trample is probably worth that trade off since you are in green and will have plenty of mana lying around.
Green:
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - This chick is totally fine, but as an amalgamation of various other effects. Her +2 is essentially the same as putting a forest into play tapped in terms of mana development, but of course creating food goes well with all sorts of effects. Her -2 makes her an answer to one of the most problematic permanents for green to deal with - Torpor Orb. So often green decks are packed to the gills with Woodfall Primus type creatures and no real naturalizes. Her ult combines with her +2 and natural green deckbuilding to draw you a lot of cards and you can get there pretty easily. I would like to build her as a commander. Now that we have seen all the PWs, I think I can rank them:
As a General -
Teferi
Freyalise
Daretti
Nahiri
Ob Nixilis
As a card -
Teferi
Daretti
Nahiri
Freyalise
Ob Nixilis
Nahiri wins out for the third spot because Freyalise is in a color that doesn't need more mana or answers from one of its 99, but having an all in one general is pretty solid. White needs the help to shortcut mana and making free dudes for your voltron deck is just solid, and it extends the life of your equipment.
Graveshifter - This is eh. The only green tribe people want to build is elves, and when you start including other colors this gets outpaced fast, and can give your opponents back things that they can plan around.
Lifeblood Hydra - This card is begging to be eaten by Disicple of Bolas. This guy needs a TON of mana so the fewer colors you play with it the better. It also doesn't fit into a deck as a reanimation target. Trample is a great keyword here. He's going to demand an answer, which makes the second half of the card much better. I can see him fitting into Jarad, Omnath, or some other big mana deck. It comes with Cradle so big ups.
Siege Behemoth - This guy is going to straight up murder a lot of people. Hexproof is insane to put on this guy. You still do general damage with his ability so this is like super trample for generals. Otherwise its a little worse than trample since if you don't kill your opponent you leave yourself open to counter attack but he makes a hell of a pairing with Hoof, and giving this guy haste is totally crazy. Putting him in some Naya creation like Uril as a way to shortcut blockers is pretty good.
Song of the Dryads - This card could see legacy play and is a legit green answer to problematic creatures, green's largest weakness. Put this in things with green mana that don't have lots of answers.
Sylvan Offering - This is by far the worst of the offerings as there are much better ways to make tokens.
Thunderfoot Baloth - 6 mana 5/5 trample is an ok back up mode but with your general this guy echos Siege Behemoth. I would say Siege Behemoth is better because of Hexproof but the +2/+2 to your team is really solid. This also doesn't need haste to do its thing. Depending on how much your general costs this might be worth it just as a cheatable overrun. Overall great in something like Hazazon or Rith.
Titania, Protector of Argoth - This chick is very stong as both just a creature and as a general. She absolutely demands to be paired with Crucible of Worlds. She is very likely to automatically come with a 5/3 since you can return fetchlands. There are plenty of other utility lands that sacrifice like Dustbowl, Wasteland, Strip mine, Centaur Garden. If you start lookings to other colors she picks up Cephalid Colliseum, Krosan Verge, and tons of other stuff. She also interacts with Devastating Dreams and Squandered Resources. A very good card all around.As a creature she fits in Azusa best, though basically anything green is going to get milage out of both of her triggers.
Wave of Vitriol - This is a crazy effect that works best if you have lots of basics and mana creatures. Will be a staple in mono-green decks though no deck can really avoid splashing themselves as no artifact, no enchantments, and no non-basics is a steep order. That said a Cradle based deck could do this decently. Be prepared for this to come out of your opponents decks from now on, and add some basics!
Wolfcaller's Howl - This is decidedly meh. It works but its not the most effcient at what it does.
Artifact and Land:
Arcane Lighthouse - This is about as niche as a land can get. It does its job well, but unless you are noticing that you can't deal with non-targetable dudes don't bother with this. Also, this can be a political card since you don't have to have the removal yourself.
Flamekin Village - Hall of the Bandit Lord and Salyer's Stronghold are both celebrated ultility lands and this is somewhere between them. Sure, your dude costs 2 more for haste instead of 3 life. It only gains haste and not vigilance or power but goes in mono-red. It enters tapped, but unlike the others, this generates colored mana which is a huge upgrade. This goes in most things that have red mana, assuming you want to attack or use abilities immediately I can see this going in Feldon, Kaalia, Kresh, Jor Kadeen.
Myriad Landscape - A land that becomes two land. Great with Titania or mana hungry decks. This is great because it turns a non-basic into 2 basics in case of non-basic hate.
Assault Suit - An interesting card. Expensive to get to, but has the option of politiking an opponent to death. Its a may so you can just use it get +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed.
Commander's Sphere - Not as effecient as Mind Stone, but baking in the sacrifice cost up front means you don't have give up two mana later. It also lets you eat it in response to board wipes. Taping for colored mana is really solid as most artifact mana taps for colorless.
Crown of Doom - This is a funsie thing that I think does a good job for the people that like that sort of thing.
Loreseeker's Stone - The idea here was solid but the execution leaves something to be desired. I wish it cost 0 then 1 more for each card in hand. At 6 to cast initially, a lower per active cost would have been really good. As is, I don't think there's anywhere I'd want to play this over Dreamstone Hedron.
Masterwork of Ingenuity - I don't really think I ever want to equipment so hard that I'd want this in addition to Scuplting Steel, which already does this. The only reason this could be ok is that equipment costs exist and this basically just adds one to equip costs. Its very marginal but if you play Nahiri the general you might want it.
Unstable Obelisk - Cute but its SO MUCH MANA. There are better colorless options realistically.
This is a very solid product altogether. Way more hits than misses.
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