'Theros: Beyond Death' is right around the corner now, and with all of the cards inside spoiled, we can finally take a look at all the new God cards being printed in this set. It's not rocket science to assume that these God cards are going to be game-winning, identity-defining powerhouses, but how do they stack up to their original design?
This is not the first time we've seen Gods of this design in magic, in fact it's not even the first time we've seen these specific Gods. The original 'Theros' set defined itself by using the Greek and Roman (in other words "just Greek", am i right?) pantheons to create analogous, unique and dynamic bosses for the set that looked and played like they just climbed out of the Parthenon itself.
What defined 'Theros' and it's two successors, 'Born of the Gods' and 'Journey into Nyx', were it's Gods. The first set tackled the five base colours, while the two later sets introduced, and fully filled out, the dual-coloured spectrum and introduced even more Gods into the equation, and while many of them didn't exactly make waves in Standard or even most other formats, except Thassa (to be expected from a deck that abuses Master of Waves) they have firmly planted themselves as powerhouses in the Commander scene. Xenagos, God of Revels, Ephara, God of the Polis and Kruphix, God of Horizons have each been at the forefront of their own decks in my collection, and none have disappointed.
So, with Theros: Beyond Death looming over the horizon, let's take a look at the new prints of the OG mono-coloured Gods, and compare them to their now fairly ancient predecessors.
Nylea, the Green, Keen, Hunting Machine
What's important to immediately identify is that we're going to be comparing two different Gods that both represent the same colour identity, but are designed with totally different environments in mind. Nylea, God of the Hunt was a stable addition to most green decks. a 6/6 indestructible creature for four mana is very cost-effective on it's own, and nerfing that to a 5/6 in Nylea, Keen-Eyed is probably not going to affect it's playability. Originally, giving all other creatures trample was almost staple to decks in her design, as in the original block the Gods each got a card to represent their weapon, and Bow of Nylea gave all attacking creatures deathtouch. I'm sure you can make the connection with having a board of huge, trampling creatures with deathtouch. Her four mana, +2/+2 pump ability is something that is easy to miss, but with enough mana proves to be a real threat, and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Keen-Eyed gives us a more modern approach to the formula, giving all our creatures we cast a minus one to their casting cost and instead of buffing them, finds ways to pull those creatures out of your deck. Having no condition on the passive ability, other than the fact that they do need to be creatures, has an impact on the game that's almost incomparable to trample. You can get trample, even at uncommon-level. There are plenty of green creatures that can give a trample-anthem to your board, but not many that make them ALL cost one less. Using cards like Sylvan Tutor and Worldy Tutor can and will turbo her activated ability into almost a search, which is definitely plausible but unnecessary. Will Keen-Eyed be replacing my Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma as the helm of my mono-green stompy deck? Probably not, but Nylea, Keen-Eyed made the 99 of a few of my decks the very moment she was spoiled.
Nylea, God of the Hunt makes for a great wincon that her colour doesn't need, but the self-interaction of trample, followed by buffing those creatures is something that Keen-Eyed shares parallels with, and you're going to experience this more and more with the next few examples. Personally, I prefer Keen-Eyed, as the design is less linear and overrun-esque, and opens up to many many interactions the original could not.
Erebos, Black is Back, but it's Bleak
Erebos is a funny one. When the Gods were designed, at the very least the mono-coloured examples, it was easy to assume that Wizards of the Coast had an idea of what they wanted the colour identity to look like, and well, this was it. Nylea was all stompy, getting your creatures onto your opponent's face and buffing them in the process. Purphoros, THE RED GOD(spoiler alert) dealt direct damage to your opponent, and Erebos did the most black thing he possibly could! He made your opponents... unable to gain... life? Yeah... I'm not so sure on Erebos, God of the Dead's identity. A 5/7 for four mana is following the unfairly efficient stat-line trend, so many points there. Having the ability to negate life-gain from the command zone is very impactful, for sure, but it's narrow. Life-Gain strategies exist in commander, but with Infect, Commander Damage and straight up Infinite Combos running rampant in the game, and more and more pieces for them being printed every set, having a huge amount of life is automatically becoming less and less prevalent, with life-gain payoffs becoming better, but still not great. Not great enough to justify hating it out from the command zone.
1B mana, pay two life and draw one card is why I feel people play this as a commander. I love Greed as a card, and I'm constantly finding excuses to fit an effect like it into any black deck. Having access to a Greed-like ability from the command zone definitely has its perks, and maybe playing a mono-black commander that doesn't rely on literal self-sacrifice might itch a spot some people have.
Bleak-Hearted has the opposite problem. He's still making you pay two life, he's still making you draw cards, and his activated ability still costs 1B mana. Same cost, same devotion contribution. The difference? Bleak Boy is using the death of your creatures to trigger his passive ability, paying life and drawing cards, not to stop your opponents giving each other the edge with a well-timed Nature's Claim. The new activated ability now sacrifices creatures as a form of removal that gets around indestructible, and you can use him as a sacrifice outlet, killing creatures that are providing him with the devotion to make him a creature. This can dodge so much removal too, so there's that. Old Erebos felt like he didn't really represent what black was, so his identity kind of devolved into just 'being the Hate-Bear God'. Bleak-Hearted is a true example of a black God, which ironically makes him feel generic, and he may have lost his identity now, by taking black's. I still give Bleak-Hearted credit, as he's a much more dynamic card from the command zone, but maybe I personally prefer the original? No, I don't.
Purphoros, perfect for most!
Speaking of Purphoros, we have our first example of an entire gameplay and philosophical shift from the 2013 design to 2020's take. Purphoros, God of the Forge has been a manabarb in the side of Commander players for years now. Since his release, he's been terrorising players with his ability to very swiftly and efficiently end the game outright for his opponents with as little as twenty triggers of his passive ability. That may seem like a lot, but when you start your turn with a +24/+24 Mycoloth with him on the field, or a Krenko gets a Thornbite Staff to hold onto while his friend Skirk Prospector is wreaking havoc, things are going from bad to worse very quickly for everyone on the recieving end. There's no denying Purphoros, God of the Forge has a solid place in the Theros Hall of Fame as one of the strongest cards to release from the whole block. His activated effect is interesting, but it's inefficient and it fulfils the same niche that Nylea's does; Generate infinite mana, make your board infinitely powerful, end the game, profit. At least Nylea can flexibly give toughness to your creatures, but it's not very different.
While the Gods are designed to interact with themselves in some way or another, the original Purphoros, God of the Forge ends his interaction with, "Damage, more damage hurr durr you're dead". Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded on the other hand tears into himself, creating a completely different strategy more relating to Ilharg, the Raze Boar or a strange version of Feldon of the Third Path. Bronze-Blooded gives all creatures you control haste, which is awesome, versatile and surprising to think it wasn't on the original Purphoros.
"You may put a red creature card or an artifact creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step."
This is probably the most dynamic of the activated abilities of the Gods. When talking about Erebos, God of the Dead, it was easy to categorise him as a more expensive Greed, and the comparison to Sneak Attack here is not far off. Cheating costs is a scary mechanic in Magic and those creatures are going to gain haste from the passive ability, too, extending their usefulness, either as aggressive attackers or using their activated, tap-reliant abilities. Playing creatures at instant speed (triggered abilites and activated abilites are both applicable, too, because of the haste enabling from Purphoros) is an even scarier mechanic. Sacrificing the creatures on the end step isn't so bad, either, when cards like Wurmcoil Engine or even simple cards like Solemn Simulacrum are taken into consideration. I feel like Purphoros is going to be a powerhouse from the command zone, and I cannot wait to have a Drakuseth, Maw of Flames or Balefire Dragon with haste dropped on turn 4-5 in my face. OG Purphoros still holds a place in my heart, but Bronze-Blooded is by far my personal favourite of the two. Something about him being a 7/6 tipped that scale.
Thissa Thassa Kickssa Assa
Thassa! My personal favourite of the original five Gods of Theros, Thassa, God of the Sea represents everything i want in a God. Three mana for an indestructible 5/5 is nothing to scoff at. This huge body comes with evasive attacking on a stick and the ability to scry one before you draw on each of your turns. Filtering out less useful cards as early as turn two is extremely impactful, allowing you to take more risks. It feels like a better Think Tank but from the command zone. Thassa, much like Nylea, can actually activate her effects on herself. That's a sneaky bit of commander damage, and can enable that same strategy in almost all decks that can play her.
Thassa, Deep-Dwelling is a bit different. This time she's going to cost you four mana to cast, but she comes down a hefty 6/5. To put that into perspective, Xenagos, God of Revels is a Green and Red God that revolves around playing huge creatures and making them larger and he comes down for five mana for the same stat-line, 6/5. So she's definitely efficient, and of course, still indestructible.
Thassa also comes with a sort of strange passive ability. She exiles another creature you control, then returns it to the battlefield, during each of your end steps. This is called "flickering". Conjurer's Closet, essentially, but for one mana less, and in Blue. This is an interesting choice for Thassa particularly, as the colour Blue isn't really solely associated with flickering. There is a theme here with Leviathans that love to enter the battlefield, but with cards like Scholar of Ages and Agent of Treachery being printed in more recent sets, maybe Wizards would like to change the identity of Blue to accommodate flickering more? In the 99 of Brago, King Eternal and Derevi, Empyreal Tactician, she does some real work, but then again, so does Thassa, God of the Sea.
To address the activated ability: four mana to just tap another creature? I can't stress my disdain to this ability. Why couldn't this tap or untap? It costs four mana! I understand that with Verity Circle and Gadwick, the Wizened in Standard at the moment, maybe they had to be very careful with the synergies presented? I'm not buying it, it's disgraceful. OG Thassa is definitely higher on my list, but Deep-Dwelling will make the 99 of a few of my decks.
IT'S HAPPENING!
HELIOD, SUN-CROWNED. In the other examples, I've started with the OG God and segued into a comparison of some description. This time we're starting with his new hot summer bod. Three mana for a 5/5 is the lowest mana cost of our new Gods, and that's crazy as he's possibly the most powerful. Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or enchantment you control. This means that even while Heliod is chilling, waiting for his devotion to catch up, you're able to softly buff him, before he becomes a creature. There's something happening here with Opalescence/Starfield of Nyx, but that seems way higher on the mana curve than i think you want to play Heliod, Sun-Crowned.
I could go on and on about utilising both Walking Ballista and Triskelion, finding them quickly with a swathe of toolbox cards (Recruiter of the Guard and Enlightened Tutor both search Ballista and Trisk, with Ranger of Eos and Ranger-Captain of Eos also finding Ballista, or even Hangarback Walker ok I'm done) but it's just comes down to the simple point that Heliod is part of a two-card combo, using him and the Ballista/Triskelion to deal infinite damage to your opponents and effectively winning you the game.
Whack. Mono-White has very loudly been considered a joke within the Commander community, with most commanders being boring, simple, easy to defeat and overall uninspired. There are only so many "Other creatures have [insert combat keyword]" or "Whenever [simple yet boring condition] happens, you gain X life" effects that your player-base can take before they give up altogether. In this case, it's not exactly breaking the mould as far as it's creativity is concerned, but it's so insanely powerful and has enough synergistic pieces to back it up that it's going to make waves for absolute sure. Maybe it's enough to get Walking Ballista banned in Pioneer, at least? We will have to see.
The OG Heliod gives all of your creatures Vigilance on a four mana, 5/6 body and makes 2/1 enchantment Clerics for an unjustifiable four mana, and that's 2WW. Understandably, the ability couldn't have been totally generically costed, but it's a disappointing, underplayed and under-performing card. Sun-Crowned is a huge step in the right direction for mono-white commanders, and I already have a deck ready for him sitting on my desk. 10/10
So, that makes all the mono-coloured Gods compared and basically analysed. Theros: Beyond Death is a very very impressive set as a whole, and even where I disagree with some of the design choices (Heliod/Erebos are fairly unimaginative, Thassa is weird and Nylea interacts with going infinite mana much like Thrasios, Triton Hero which i don't personally love) I still respect that they are overall fair and balanced well as Commanders and in the 99 they shine as evasive and complex additions, much like their predecessors (except Heliod. F**k you, Heliod).
Don't forget to book your prerelease spot and preorder your booster boxes at https://vaultgames.com.au/collections/magic-the-gathering-theros-beyond-death
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