Posted in: Card Games, Games, Magic: The Gathering, Tabletop, Wizards of the Coast | Tagged: commander, EDH, magic, MTG, MTGC21, MTGSTX, Silverquill, Strixhaven, WotC

Magic: The Gathering's "Silverquill Statement" Deck Shows Promise

Wizards of the Coast's premier trading card game Magic: The Gathering has revealed yet another strong Commander deck coinciding with their newest expansion set, Strixhaven: School of Mages! This time, we have been treated to a black-white preconstructed deck, called "Silverquill Statement". The deck is remarkably political in nature, meaning that in a multiplayer setting deals will surely be struck and alliances will be made in an effort to finesse the table for the eventual win.

Typically, while politics is not everyone's preferred playstyle in Commander, it's good to every now and again look at these cards as meal tokens of a sort. Sometimes they will get you into some decent situations, and some of those situations are more decent than others. Today's preconstructed deck list was revealed by the MTGMuddstah channel on YouTube, and you can find the video revealing it by clicking here. In the meantime, though, let's take a look at four of the coolest new cards from the "Silverquill Statement" Commander deck!

Felisa, Fang of Silverquill

Felisa, Fang of Silverquill is a great card for any Aristrocrats-style deck. She makes additional bodies out of dying nontoken creatures so long as a counter was on the creature as it died. The more counters, the more 2/1 flying Inkling creature tokens she produces! A card like Cathars' Crusade, while absolutely disgusting (in a bad way) for bookkeeping purposes, really likes Felisa's token production because it means more counters, which might mean, in the future, more tokens. Gross!

Scholarship Sponsor

The next card we are apt to discuss is not quite as flashy as Felisa, but is relevant to the balance of white, a color renowned for its mediocrity in Commander in any context but as a side-color splash. Scholarship Sponsor is quite good for any deck running a glut of basic lands but it shines the most in mono-white. This is because of the inherent need for white to have ramp spells paired with their fairly blatant lack of them, until now. Yes, we know that Land Tax exists, but that card isn't quite as accessible to players as one might think, sadly. This card shifts the game from a runaway train piloted by one ahem green player, to a game where everyone has the same number of lands out and can thusly enjoy the experience. It's no surprise that this deck was designed in part by Sheldon Menery of the Commander Rules Committee, and it wouldn't shock us to learn that he designed this card specifically, if he did.

Inkshield

Inkshield is an interesting card that calls back to Arachnogenesis from all the way back in Commander 2015. It Fogs the board and also creates a metric ton of 2/1 flying Inkling creature tokens, which seems to serve as a subtheme of this deck. This contrasts well with Arachnogenesis, in fact, as that card also prevents combat damage and also creates a ton of 1/2 Spider creature tokens with reach. In theory, the predecessor card wins out as it doesn't prevent combat damage by Spiders and costs less than Inkshield, but this new card still does work. Plus, Inkshield is cool because it doesn't prevent combat damage to other players or creatures that turn, so if an attack is not solely focused on you, you can still profit while others potentially lose the game.

Author of Shadows

Finally, we have Author of Shadows to discuss. Author of Shadows is a card that people piloting reanimator decks will find massively annoying. The card exiles all opposing graveyards when it enters the battlefield (leaving your own graveyard perfectly intact), and if that's not impactful enough, it also allows you to be able to cast any one of those exiled cards as long as it is in exile, for mana of any type. That's an absurdly strong ability. Gonti, Lord of Luxury feels similar, and the comparison is apt. However, our main gripe is that, as a Shade creature, Author of Shadows has no way to buff its power and toughness. Perhaps this ability was scrapped in development? We may never know.

This deck seems about on par with the previous three we have seen revealed this week. If you want a look at those as well as this deck's list, you can do so on Magic: The Gathering's main news hub by clicking here. Meanwhile, let's discuss some Commander politics in the comments below! Have you ever played a political Commander deck? Did it work out for you? Let us know!

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