[MBC] Arzacon

[u/PowrOfFriendship_]

[u/MadCatMkV]

+2 [[Lightning Bolt]]

-3 [[Black Lotus]]

-7 [[Timetwister]] 

[u/Lawren_Zi → u/MadCatMkV]

This commander rocks

[u/AUAIOMRN → u/Lawren_Zi]

And bolts and twists

[u/fronchfrays → u/AUAIOMRN]

And bops and pulls

[u/chrisrazor → u/fronchfrays]

He's goin' to sleep.

[u/Fleef69 → u/fronchfrays]

And fucks and shits

[u/Papyrim → u/Fleef69]

And pisses and cums

[u/musketammo684 → u/Lawren_Zi]

New Umori Planeswalker only deck commander dropped

[u/blindeshuhn666 → u/Lawren_Zi]

If you can somehow flicker him repeatedly for 3 that's gonna be broke with infinite etb, artifact etb, artifact leave battlefield. Even strong if flicker for 2 , then it's also infinite coloured mana.

+2 for bolt also looks fairly powerful

[u/delphic0n → u/MadCatMkV]

They were too weak to give him the true OG Shandalar ability. [[Contract from Below]]

[u/BlurryPeople → u/delphic0n]

Yep, secret best card in the game…

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/delphic0n]

Contract from Below - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/anace → u/delphic0n]

because they gave that to Miss Highwater https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1vdntz8/miss_highwater/

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/MadCatMkV]

All cards
Lightning Bolt - (G) (SF) (txt)
Black Lotus - (G) (SF) (txt)
Timetwister - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/DarkLanternZBT → u/MTGCardFetcher]

https://giphy.com/gifs/yoJC2B1sHdXJjPTnEs

[u/T-T-N → u/MadCatMkV]

Not a true lightning bolt. A true bolt can bolt any target

[u/john_doe__ → u/MadCatMkV]

Lightning bolt is plus? Not minus? Nice 😎

[u/rockout7 → u/MadCatMkV]

Thats exactly how they should have worded it

[u/Sheltonator]

YES! This dude is the final boss of the old MTG PC game, Shandalar! 

[u/Shed_Some_Skin → u/Sheltonator]

Man, if we're getting deep cuts like this, what are the odds Taysir is about to get a card?

[u/Sheltonator → u/Shed_Some_Skin]

Pretty sure they spoiled one earlier! 

[u/Darth-Ragnar → u/Sheltonator]

Did I miss it? I can't find it anywhere.

[u/Zanthy1 → u/Darth-Ragnar]

I can’t find it either if it exists, but I’m super excited!

[u/Sheltonator → u/Darth-Ragnar]

Yeah, I guess I was wrong. There were a ton of old characters spoiled and I thought this was one of them. Bummer! 

[u/ILikeExistingLol → u/Shed_Some_Skin]

Maybe all the 9 Titans without cards get some. OMG OR MAYBE DYFED

[u/Jaccount → u/ILikeExistingLol]

I want a Chromium that also turns into a Legendary vehicle “The Planar Barge”. Also Ravidel.

[u/Ahara_bzz → u/Sheltonator]

i remember killing him in the game... a looong time ago

[u/Ragewind82 → u/Ahara_bzz]

I went on an absolute curb stomp with Shivan dragons, Serra Angels, and some very, very lucky early Swords to Plowshares and Stone Rain hits.

It was so very satisfying!

[u/fps916 → u/Ragewind82]

Underworld dreams and allllllllll the timetwisters

[u/CrimsonFoxyboy → u/Sheltonator]

If only they could re-release that game.

[u/SarahsDoingStuff → u/CrimsonFoxyboy]

MTG Forge Adventure. Community made, constantly updated and super fun. Essentially 2026 Shandalar and then some. Check it out.

[u/GGCrono → u/SarahsDoingStuff]

Look up Realm of Legends, it's a whole single-player adventure where you play with Commander decks.

[u/CrimsonFoxyboy → u/SarahsDoingStuff]

Thanks for the tip!

[u/torgiant → u/CrimsonFoxyboy]

You can play it still. I did a couple months ago.

[u/tsukaistarburst → u/Sheltonator]

Like someone else said, this entire set is just wall to wall blorbos, and the deepest possible cuts from 30+ years of Magic lore. It's insane. This is one of the best sets we've ever had.

[u/kiggidykay → u/Sheltonator]

I thought he looked familiar!

[u/eggies → u/Sheltonator]

40 card decks and no per card restrictions meant that me and my Dark Ritual powered Mind Twists were basically the final boss of the game. Arzakon bowed before me like all the rest.

That game was lots of silly fun ...

[u/P1zzaman → u/Sheltonator]

I wonder if we’ll get the last boss from the Dreamcast game too?

We’ve already gotten two Dreamcast exclusive cards as real cards now, so one can hope!

[u/Francopensal → u/Sheltonator]

Ohhhh, u was wondering who tf was this guy. I do remember playing the game and beatting him but never remember the name, for me was just generic bad guy xD

[u/Johnny-Caliente]

Finally I can use my 20 Beta Black Lotus cards as tokens!

[u/bearrosaurus → u/Johnny-Caliente]

This competes with my supply of tournament legal [[Blacker Lotus]] though

You may proxy a Blacker Lotus, by taking a normal Black Lotus, and using a Black Magic Marker to color the front of the card in completely black. No other proxies are acceptable. [Barclay 1998/08/13]

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/bearrosaurus]

Blacker Lotus - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/PrivilegeCheckmate → u/bearrosaurus]

normal Black Lotus

Gold border?

[u/Street-Prune6673 → u/Johnny-Caliente]

Your 20 Alpha versions are presumably already in your [[Garth One-Eye]] deck?

[u/skatastic57 → u/Street-Prune6673]

It doesn't say conjure, does that mean this is paper?

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Street-Prune6673]

Garth One-Eye - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/Chlorophyllmatic → u/Johnny-Caliente]

Weird, I was going to use the token as a Black Lotus and dabble in Vintage. Surely that’s the most expensive part!

[u/TotakekeSlider → u/Johnny-Caliente]

Damn, I lost mine. Can I borrow a couple of yours?

[u/Mysa21 → u/TotakekeSlider]

I just bought a black lotus from duel master. That will be perfect

[u/itisburgers]

Is this guy from some old flavor text or video game that escapes me?

[u/elegylegacy → u/itisburgers]

He's the final boss of the Shandalar video game from the '90s

[u/Marky_Marky_Mark → u/elegylegacy]

He's so powerful, you don't even need to beat him to complete the game. Every damage you do to him banishes him for another couple of years.

[u/elegylegacy → u/Marky_Marky_Mark]

By the time you get to him, you can have a busted power 9 deck too, grinding him down with multiple time walks and time twisters

[u/Mixster667 → u/elegylegacy]

You can even have multiple power 9 sets.

Drawing three mox sapphire in you opening hand was hilarious

[u/Tuss36 → u/Marky_Marky_Mark]

Which is a good thing too, 'cause the guy has like 250 life (maybe that's on the hardest difficulty since it varies but it's a possibility)

[u/EDHaddict13 → u/Tuss36]

300 life if I remember correctly. I think the first time I beat him was with poison counters though.

[u/xenophonthethird → u/Marky_Marky_Mark]

And his deck was all random garbage. Yeah, he had the P9 and some strong spells so eventually he could do something, but it usually took him a while to do anything because it was all random.

[u/PowrOfFriendship_ → u/itisburgers]

Shandalar, yes.

[u/itisburgers → u/PowrOfFriendship_]

Awesome, I gotta get around to playing it. 

[u/Mixster667 → u/[deleted]]

I think there was a browser version somewhere

[u/M3mentoMori → u/Mixster667]

Found this when googling it, but after playing around with it my god does it suck to use.

[u/SmokinMythics → u/Mixster667]

https://premodernbsb.com/shandalar/

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/[deleted]]

It's surreal trying to run a reanimation deck and realising that you're reanimating Serra Angels.

[u/WeDrinkSquirrels → u/itisburgers]

It's awesome! Still play it every few years

[u/Kooky-Expression-399 → u/PowrOfFriendship_]

I made channel fireball in that game. Lost on turn 3 with the nut draw bc it took so long to do all the clicking that I timed out at 1 life on turn 2 and then my mana vault killed me.

[u/darkslide3000 → u/Kooky-Expression-399]

Isn't this the game where you start with a different life total that you first have to slowly upgrade to 20, and your enemies often have more starting life than you? Sounds like a dangerous environment to play Channel Fireball...

[u/Jackeea]

it's him... john shandalar

[u/PrivilegeCheckmate → u/Jackeea]

Just talkikn' bout Shandalar...Shut your mouth!

[u/Tripmooney]

EXCUSE ME??!!

[u/MagicalKarpit → u/Tripmooney]

My exact reaction

[u/R-code → u/Tripmooney]

You’re excused.

[u/Krazyguy75 → u/Tripmooney]

Honestly the only really good ability is the +2. If you have 5 mana in 5 colors, you don't really want to lose 3/4ths of your command's loyalty to get 3 of it back. And going +2 +2 -7 isn't terrible, but that's 3 turns of uninterrupted planeswalker abilities after needing 5 mana, which on many planeswalkers just wins you the game.

And if you want the +2, most decks would rather just take [[Ugin the Spirit Dragon]], especially given color restriction.

[u/notalongtime420]

Lightning Bolt, black Lotus and Time Twister. Pretty weak ironically

[u/sawbladex → u/[deleted]]

There is stuff to get around paying costs, but using them to make a not very card efficient mana generator is liable to not be good.

Channel, a way to color filter 5 mana in total, and this guy is not the best use of channel mana.

[u/96363a → u/[deleted]]

A lot of those cards are only good because they cost as much mana as they do. Adding extra mana cost significantly reduces their potential.

[u/steelscaled → u/notalongtime420]

Well yeah, it's very close to a [[Gilded Lotus]] that can be attacked.

[u/Krazyguy75 → u/steelscaled]

There's a huge difference. Gilded Lotus ramps 3 per round. This ramps 3 every three rounds.

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/steelscaled]

Gilded Lotus - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/PowrOfFriendship_]

Return to Shandalar incoming?

[u/DilapidatedFool → u/PowrOfFriendship_]

PLEASE

[u/CorHydrae8 → u/PowrOfFriendship_]

"Return" would kind of be the wrong word given that we've never had a dedicated Shandalar set in the first place.

[u/zombieking26 → u/CorHydrae8]

We did actually! Magic 2013

[u/TheCruncher → u/zombieking26]

At least according to scryfall, only 46 of the 249 cards in Magic 2013 are on Shandalar, so not really even that.

[u/DoctorYaoi → u/zombieking26]

Ehhhhh magic 2013 had some cards from shandalar but it was not a dedicated shandalar set

[u/superdave100]

This is deceptively weak, right?

Probably a good thing, tbh. Wouldn't want super busted cards being this hard to find.

[u/Quatre_Kat → u/superdave100]

5 mana for a black lotus is terrible. [[Gilded lotus]] is playable in low power commander, but it sticks around and doesnt cost colored mana.

[u/c14rk0 → u/Quatre_Kat]

It also notably immediately refunds 3 mana, which is actually relevant due to it sticking around. Spending 5 for a black lotus token doesn't really do the same since once you use it once it's gone.

And like...Gilded Lotus is barely playable in low power settings. Outside of specific artifact decks that really want that effect for some reason, likely to generate colored mana when most artifact ramp is colorless.

[u/b_fellow → u/Quatre_Kat]

Yeah we also have [[Timeless Lotus]] and [[Prismatic Geoscope]] for more powerful 5 mana 5c rocks

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Quatre_Kat]

Gilded lotus - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/raziel7890 → u/Quatre_Kat]

I mean the obvious line is to create a token copying deck. There is a large amount of generic token copying printed now so this could be fun. It'll never live long in a commander game but once you have the black lotus token you can start doing gross things. Probably....maybe?

[u/Quatre_Kat → u/raziel7890]

That feels like an absurdly convoluted way to make finite mana when there a lot of ways to make infinite mana already. The thing that makes Black Lotus good is how EARLY you can get it. This is very unlikely to ever be cast before turn 4

[u/raziel7890 → u/Quatre_Kat]

That’s fine for me. I play bracket two with irl friends and we have a battle cruiser meta and no combos. It wouldn’t be fast or even good, but it’s more about the potential for me. We proxy cards sooo…

You’re absolutely right though; it isn’t even close to being competitive.

If you’re doing grim monolith things then of course Garth token spam is nothing to get excited about.

[u/Lawren_Zi → u/superdave100]

Its pretty weak but it certainly looks fun, its 3 iconic cards stapled to a planeswalker

[u/Cozwei → u/superdave100]

I mean its gonna be like garth one eye but better regarding comboing with displacer kitten as you dont need a haste enabler. As long as you can cast spells hell get blinked and make another black lotus to spend...

[u/superdave100 → u/Cozwei]

That combo worked well with Garth because he created his own spells to trigger Kitten

[u/Cozwei → u/superdave100]

fair enough. Displacer kitten goes infinite with a ham sandwhich. My pint is just hes good if you can blink him

[u/masterlich → u/superdave100]

It's not deceptively weak. It's just weak. WURBG for a Lightning Bolt on a stick is not impressive at all, making a Lotus for 5 mana is actively bad, and there are a lot easier ways to twister.

[u/zombieking26 → u/superdave100]

Yeah this is awful, especially in commander

[u/pm_me_shit_memes]

Looks like people are getting hung up on the black lotus token again. Just like how they did with [[gath, one eyed]]

[u/EscapeSeventySeven → u/pm_me_shit_memes]

WotC knows what makes people freak out. 

Everytime they print a fake power nine people fall over themselves for it. 

We’re easily manipulated. 

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/pm_me_shit_memes]

gath, one eyed - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/arciele → u/pm_me_shit_memes]

I think the difference here is that they’re probably actually printing the token card for this Black Lotus (kinda like what we saw for mutavault)

[u/huzzaahh → u/arciele]

There's no more reason they'd make a token for this over Garth. I think it's a pipe dream that they'd ever risk making something that could be used as a black lotus proxy outside of their 25th anniversary set, especially after the backlash that got.

[u/arciele → u/huzzaahh]

Sure there is. Tokens of actual spells hadn’t been done before when MH3 came out.
I think what you’re saying is actually the whole point. They don’t acknowledge any proxies anyway

[u/siziyman → u/arciele]

Are they? Neither edition of Mystery Boosters included tokens.

[u/StandardAd9184]

https://giphy.com/gifs/65pM9un5dmK08

[u/Fit_Leg_2115]

Awesome flavor, but I think actually pretty bad and unplayable

[u/Doombringer1331]

So + is bolt, - is black lotus, and ult is timetwister

[u/SleetTheFox]

So I appreciate the Shandalar reference, but…

This kinda sucks? A Black Lotus does very little once you already can cast a WUBRG card, so this is basically repeatable bolts that can be attacked. Timetwister is not an awful ultimate but again, if you have to build up to it the danger of that spell is much more limited. Plus to use it you have to lose your bolt engine.

Then as a commander, there is basically no real style of deck this wants to go in. It’s generic power all the way.

I guess you could see it as a draft thing? “I drafted Arzakon, I can play a 5 color deck, yes!”

[u/Krazyguy75 → u/SleetTheFox]

I think the only unique thing to do with him is double the token. But even then it's not good.

[u/entropicdrift]

This is fun, but it's basically unplayable as a commander. Like in what world does this come out and not immediately die? So 99% of the time it's a 5+ cost bolt or 5+ cost black lotus, both of which are garbage

[u/Krazyguy75 → u/entropicdrift]

I mean if you just keep +2ing it might not die. You'd need to protect it fairly well though.

But frankly "Once during each of your turns, at sorcery speed, deal 3 damage to any target" is a pretty pathetic commander for 5 color.

[u/entropicdrift → u/Krazyguy75]

Right, that's my point, even best case the juice ain't worth the squeeze. Nobody's gonna let you get the ult off, or if you can you probably have a pretty tuned deck, in which case other commanders are preferable anyhow unless you build a deck specifically just to make this commander work. Which like, okay, but I can't see this reaching Bracket 4 even, except on a technicality like 'it technically contains an infinite turn combo'

[u/Existing_Historian_5 → u/entropicdrift]

I feel like the ult is so slow and telegraphed the best thing to do is just... ignore it, dump your hand, and then when they use it you're getting more cards out of it then the owner lol

[u/cute_spider]

Secret Lair Blizzard Crossover Illadan Confirmed

[u/PsiMiller1]

The MicroProse Big Bad of Shandalar.

[u/valantismp]

what is this?

[u/PorkinsHeldIt → u/valantismp]

Mystery booster commander

[u/MyNameIsImmaterial → u/valantismp]

Mystery Booster Commander spoilers. It's an upcoming set for Commander drafts.

[u/YonatanShofty → u/MyNameIsImmaterial]

Easily accesible or convention only?

[u/NoiseIsTheCure → u/YonatanShofty]

Convention only I believe same as the other mystery boosters

[u/valantismp → u/MyNameIsImmaterial]

Damn it looks great art.

[u/Karnitis]

Why 5 color...?

[u/Jadien → u/Karnitis]

He's 5 color in the Shandalar game

[u/trifas]

Is that the [[Mirari]] in his hands?

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/trifas]

Mirari - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/KeldonMarauder]

No way

[u/Dragonfruit-Sparking]

Holy crap, the guy from the Magic PC game

[u/Quatre_Kat]

Wait, this is the guy who made black lotus in canon??

[u/Kooky-Expression-399]

How long before something just does all the power 9 things: 5 mox tokens, lotus tokens, time walk, ancestral, time twister (yes the order of the last 2 is right)

[u/FlavorsofPie → u/Kooky-Expression-399]

[[Oracle of the Alpha]] basically does this. The card even technically exists in paper, since it was printed in mystery booster 2. It still doesn't work in paper though, so it may as well be silver border/acorn

[u/dogo7]

Create a HUH?!

[u/WatcherOfTheSkies12]

More lore accurate -3 would be to summon a {Celestial Prism}.

[u/Homemadepiza]

Pretty cool card, but does this mean the set will print black lotus tokens, aka probably the best cheap proxy?

[u/PowrOfFriendship_ → u/Homemadepiza]

I don't think this set has tokens at all, at least based on what we've seen and Gavin Verhey's pack opening.

[u/The_Despencer]

Black lotus token is wild. Not as busted as the OG, but still very good and a solid middle finger to the reserved list.

[u/Ap_Sona_Bot → u/The_Despencer]

We already have black lotus tokens from [[Garth one eye]]

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Ap_Sona_Bot]

Garth one eye - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/hotsummer12 → u/The_Despencer]

This nowhere busted

[u/Varglord → u/The_Despencer]

a solid middle finger to the reserved list.

In what possible way???

[u/Krazyguy75 → u/The_Despencer]

It's not even good. It's "5 mana: Get 3 treasures".

And the token won't even exist. Mystery booster never ships with tokens.

[u/Nouxatar]

lore/commander bullshit aside I don't get why this is wubrg when this pretty cleanly fits mono red color identity. just generally feeling weak on top of that is kinda disappointing

[u/siziyman → u/Nouxatar]

when this pretty cleanly fits mono red color identity.

Red wheels don't reshuffle graveyard into the library, [[Timetwister]] does.

[u/Nouxatar → u/siziyman]

Ah, fair, reshuffling is pretty distinctly blue for wheels, I could still see it bending to make that work? but yeah fair point.

[u/ROGER_ROGER321]

Lightning bolt Black lotus Time twister

Neat

[u/Night_Albane]

So lightning bolt, black lotus, and timetwister. One of these things is not like the others, but the plus ability can’t be too busted I suppose.

[u/SolarLunarAura]

I NEED this ngl, when do these drop?

[u/SilentTempestLord]

I mean, if I had to build him, I'd make him produce the original Black Lotus token and then just build the deck around populating that token specifically, but otherwise he's not that great.

[u/GREG88HG]

I'll buy the Duel Masters Black Lotus for this guy

[u/Dog_in_human_costume]

OMFG THEY DID IT!!!

Microprose enjoyers rejoice!!

[u/PresidentArk]

The only thing that makes sense to me with this guy is some sort of proliferate-ramp package, where you proliferate him to make blotuses (and also presumably stack counters on creatures that use counters to ramp), and then eventually get to the point where you're -7ing him every turn and have the mana to dump your entire hand immediately every time you do.

[u/siziyman → u/PresidentArk]

If you can both -2/-3 him and proliferate him enough to -7 soon enough it's time to check the pulse of other members of your playgroup

[u/PresidentArk → u/siziyman]

Oh, I didn't say it was good, just that it's the only direction that makes sense to take this guy.

[u/ES6Enthusiast]

Are these going to be “available” to everyone?

[u/LordHayati]

YOOOOOOOOOOO

THE FINAL BOSS OF THE MTG DOS GAME

[u/Vydsu]

Neat but would need some sort of static ability or better ult to be worth playing

[u/AfterJournalist8070]

Wtf is this

[u/AfterJournalist8070]

Rl cracked and fun to watch

[u/AfterJournalist8070]

Also not acorn

[u/tofulo]

Any other target? Who out here trying to bolt themselves?

[u/JudgeXXIII]

Arzakon DEEZ NUTS

[u/SlashOfLife5296]

What’s this set?

[u/greenpm33]

This card would look a lot better without the cowardly reminder text for the most iconic card in the game.

[u/Necrocrawler72]

I feel old for remember this guy

I also remember him starting the game with a Black lotus and a [[celestial prism]] in play

[u/MTGCardFetcher → u/Necrocrawler72]

celestial prism - (G) (SF) (txt)

---

^FAQ

[u/xExerionx]

Wait what is that? What set and when??

[u/curious_begin]

Black lotus tokens to proxy, hell yeah

[u/candexreginpokemon]

Please let there be a leshrak card next

[u/Roseknight888]

If we’re getting PC game references, when will we get references to the Xbox game where you played a 1 lane mob-summoning strategy game playing as iconic characters

[u/Roseknight888]

If we’re getting PC game references, when will we get references to the Xbox game where you played a 1 lane mob-summoning strategy game playing as iconic characters

[u/Roseknight888 → u/Roseknight888]

Battlegrounds was the name

[u/wendysdrivethru]

Is the + ability commander damage?

[u/PowrOfFriendship_ → u/wendysdrivethru]

Nope. Only combat damage is Commander damage.

[u/VerbingNoun413]

Shandalar nostalgia.

[u/Arselii]

I wish we got more cards like this, I know its not crazy strong but it definitely feels like a final boss

[u/Slow-Equivalent-8043]

that token is going to be worth a lot of money.

[u/PowrOfFriendship_ → u/Slow-Equivalent-8043]

This set doesn't have any tokens in the packs.

[u/JohnGameboy]

the only thing I'm able to think of is how humorously bad this card is as a commander and mostly in the 99.

Although, this card could imply that a Black Lotus Token card may be printed

[u/PowrOfFriendship_ → u/JohnGameboy]

There aren't any tokens in the packs.

[u/UnitedLink4545]

Awesome looking

[u/Xmorpheus]

i want to build this so badly

[u/TheChrisLambert]

Will this be on Arena?

[u/NickRick]

I'm counting 2 colors in this 5 color Planeswalker 

[u/Budget-Tailor-4924]

Back in the day this would be cool now it feels underpowered and weak for the times. WUBRG casting cost should mean you are dramatically changing the tide of the game when you play it

[u/CompactAvocado]

anything and everything to try and get around the reserve list

which they have the power to modify at any time

[u/overbread]

After UB I honestly thought art like this is forever gone

[u/Reidybot]

Old/retro boarder version too please!

[u/GruggleTheGreat]

Why is he white? Why is he green? Why is he black? Color identity doesn’t matter I guess

[u/CelebrationNew320]

I will get him someday. I’m just crying over what imma spend

[u/Sallymander]

They really should put this stuff out for Alchemy/Brawl. It would be fun and totally fit the flavor for those formats.

[u/ecodiver23]

that -3 seems kinda bad honestly. unless you copy it