A liege of their own

Well we had a look at some global lords and we’ve picked out chainer and Balthor for the our new Commander / EDH deck SWISS ARMY KNIFE.

It’s time now for a look at the most insane lords ever.  The double pumping, utterly broken hybrid nightmares from Shadowmoor and Eventide, ladies and gentlemen these are the Lieges...

As there are only a few of these beasts in existence we’ll have more time to study them and their insane abilities...

Best / Worst? Where to start?  Well I’d like to start by thanking everyone who sent in suggestion for the favourite and least favourite lords. So I guess we’ll start here with Adam Tobin’s best and worst... Here’s what he had to say on the matter...

“As my collection only goes as far back as Lorwyn so far, my favorite Lord would have to be Wilt-Leaf Liege. In my opinion the best liege out of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block, running 4 of these beasts is a must for extended elves and great for discard hate, even if it's just a sb. The worst Lord I've come across so far would be another liege from shadowmoor, Thisledown Liege…Ok I'm liking the +1/+1 for white and blue creatures, flash is alright too, but a 1/3? No thank you sir, just too much of a target.”

Wise word there from Mr Tobin, Wilt-leaf Liege was the Obstinate Baloth of its day and you have to remember that elves were a top deck at the time.  It’s all very well having a blue white liege that could lay golden eggs and turn all your opponents into Dita Von Tease, but if the only blue/white creatures were a couple of rabbits and a blind monkey then no-one was going to play them. As it turned out the Thistledown liege, despite its flashy title could do little more than appear at will, only to be bolted the second it hit atmo… 

So Mr Tobin’s arguments are strong and in their day he was probably bang on the money. (There were a lot of good green white elves) But we’re hitting the realms of Mirrodin Besieged in a couple of weeks and things have changed. So who is the top of the liege tree now? Well we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.

First amongst the losers I’m going with Adam’s suggestion.  Flash aside there’s no getting away from the fact that Thistledown is really just a lightning bolt target for 4 mana. 

Next up guys I should warn you that if you are of a weak disposition you may do well to get behind the sofa and look away now… 

Yep you guessed it it’s a boar tusk liege and it’s a staggering 3 / 4 trampler (I know frightening isn’t it) Ok it pumps both green and red creatures, but have you even seen a green creature that needs a boost? (ok ok… ignoring birds of paradise)

So for the astute amongst you these were the baby lieges and there’s one more and whilst Mr Tobin’s Wilt-leaf Liege may have been the Primeval Titan of its day, I think that Ashen-moor Liege could easily be the Grave titan and thus the pair of them are definitely at the top of their game.  Ok it may only be a 4/1, but getting rid of it’s going to cost your opponent 4 life. And if you can prevent it from dying then those 4 life are going to add up. Plus if any critters need a boost it’s the little sneaky black ones…  

So… if these are the babies, you have to ask… who’s the Daddy?

Ok someone’s got to be first and it’s a genuinely tough call amongst these guys. I guess without a deck dedicated to him the most specific, and therefore potential least useful card would be the Muck-field liege.  I mean sure the ability to un-tap all your tricksy merfolk tappers and green mana generators in your opponents turn is awesome, but without the blue and green creatures to play their part it’s not going to win you any EDH games despite its otherwise awesome ability …

Next up Creak-Wood Liege is the cheapest of the big boys and at first glance its ability to spawn a 1/1 each turn doesn’t seem that great, of course a quick second glance and you’ll instantly see that the 1/1 are black/green and are therefore instantly pumped by their creator into 3/3’s and a free 3/3 every turn is decent no matter what way you look at it and once again it’s the black critters that need the boost…

And in third place… Mind-wrack liege ok it’s the priciest of the lot at a hefty 6 mana and four mana to flash in a critter from your hand isn’t bad, oh but it has to be a blue or a red critter darn it… hang on though isn’t Progenitus red? (and blue for that matter) oh it is… oh…

And the runner up is… Balefire liege, now this was a close call and I’m still in two minds but there has to be a winner.. Balefire liege is awesome there’s no way round that. Play a white spell get a free healing salve play a red spell hit your opponent with a free lightning bolt, play a red/white spell get a free lightning helix. Top stuff…

There can be only one and here it is… ladies and gentlemen I give you liege of the lieges.. Death Bringer Liege… firstly It pumps black critters and white critters, but play a white spell and tap out a defender… play a black spell take out a tapped out attacker…  play a black white spell take out anything… and there are some great black/white spells.

And there we have it all the best and worst lieges in the game... get digging for the following cards because there are a few stars here that we can use in our upcoming EDH deck. Death Bringer is a must and I’m also looking at Ashen moor and  Balefire liege ignore the rest we have work to do... and  bet you thought we’d forgotten , but no we don’t talk about Glen Elendra Liege... its pants and Oona is a very naughty fairy...