Certainly not Lord of the Dance
A few days ago, Doug Beyer (who always gets the Legends. Why? He’s a Flavor guy) finally brought to us a missing Legend from the last time we were on Mirrodin. We had Geth’s Grimoire, and that’s it. Hey, Completetis what to know all about him (and have most likely read the novels and know a little more).
If you read that post, you can find out that his undead head was attached to a Phyrexian body and, wow, really? I thought it was because of all the steroids. Maybe they were influenced by Dr. Quinn’s Robot chainsaw hands. Who makes this stuff up? Oh yeah, the flavor guys. I think it’s time for their monthly CAT scan WotC.
Alright. On to Geth, who just so happens to be the second Mono-Black Mythic General with evasion to be revealed in the first week of previews. Let’s see what he has in common with his little book.
Some think that this guy is better than the Skeleton Dragon (Still the coolest creature type so far revealed in Scars), but I may have to disagree. Fine, fine, enough waiting:
How hum, a Zombie. I guess that makes sense with his undead head on a Phyrexian body. Ignoring all Zombie related decks, let’s see what he can do, obviously the most important part of any legendary card (Except the vanilla Legends from Legends. And Isamaru, Hound of Konda).
Intimidate
If you haven’t noticed or didn’t hear the news, Fear is out of the game. Don’t worry, it’s replacement is Intimidate. Yes, it’s basically the same thing, only it reads “(This creature can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.)” Depending on what color the creature is, that’s what color of the creatures that can block it. So, Geth can’t be blocked except by Black or artifact creatures (just like Fear). Yes, 5 hits (If you don’t pump) and an opponent goes bye-bye. But that’s not the part everyone’s talking about.
XB: Put target artifact or creature card with converted mana cost X from an opponent’s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control tapped. Then that player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Yeah, that’s kinda cool. But, it’s also a little misleading. Now we know where Beacon of Unrest got its power. But there are some things you have to note before you start building your deck around this guy.
- There already has to be an artifact or creature in the graveyard.
Quick question: how many mono-Black cards are there that Mill an opponent? 2: Extractor Demon and Infernal Genesis, which might not be a good idea if you’ve ever read the card. You might count Chains of Mephistopheles if you ever want to play that card in EDH and not get beaten up. Yes, you can have colorless artifacts help out with the milling (complete list up to Scars):
Sure, you can do a Mono-Black with artifacts slant to this (which might not be a bad idea), but you don’t want to overload your deck with just milling. Even if you do, I would highly suggest that maybe if you do want to go on the milling theme, maybe Geth isn’t your General, but a big piece of a U/B deck. There are plenty of Blue cards that can help with the milling.
But, let’s not focus on that. How else can we get opponent’s creatures and artifacts into their graveyard?
Yeah, play up Black’s love of discard and love of killing things. I hear Geth’s Grimoire and Words of Waste go really well together. Or even Damnation with our friend Extractor Demon; you’re killing the creatures as they’re milling more stuff into the graveyard so you can pick from what you want. Yes, killing and discarding are two awesome ways to get more cards into the graveyard, which just so happen to be Black’s specialities. Don’t just think of the milling when you look at him for the first time just because that’s what he does.
- X is equal to, not up to X. You can’t mill more than what you go get.
Big important point here. If you want to steal that elf, you can’t pay 10B and get them to mill more cards. Whatever you take is going to be equal to what they mill. While this helps keep Geth in balance, it also means you can’t just do it at the end of people’s turns just for fun. Oh, yeah important point:
- He doesn’t tap.
Alright, so that’s a positive. You can do this multiple times and get multiple artifacts/creatures from multiple opponents. Or, you have plenty of Black mana available and grab a 2 casting cost creature, sacrifice it to Ashnod’s Altar, and can keeping milling your opponent for 2 cards at a time. You know, whichever one seems more fun.
Final Verdict:
While it’s a really cool concept, I think the fact that he has intimidate while having 5 power is going to be the tipping point as a General. If I’ve got him in play as my General, I’ll want to swing with him to help end the game. The 5 toughness helps plenty as he won’t get easily picked off. I may not want him as my General (I still like Blighty), it doesn’t mean I don’t want him in my EDH decks. Yes, he’s good, but he’s not the knock out, really powerful guy that some people might perceive him as.
Of course, he does go get an opponent’s Mindslaver and allows you to use it, turn after turn after turn (When you sacrifice Mindslaver, it goes back to that player’s graveyard). So, maybe he isn’t all bad.
I Got 99 Problems But a Commander Ain't One 
September 10th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I love this guy. I don’t know about him as a General but he seems fine in my Wrexial deck. What’s that, Wrexial? You’re already playing Geth’s Grimoire and Words of Waste, plus Mesmeric Orb and all sorts of other mill effects? Seems fine.
September 11th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
seems like a good card for an EDH deck, but as you say, an iffy general. Besides, I think Geth is a painfully boring and straightforward card to begin with.
September 24th, 2010 at 7:36 am
The perfect thing to activate in reaction to someone else’s Academy Ruins.
October 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Wow… You think Skithyrix, the Hard to Spell Dragon (Blighty) is better than a Utilitarian General? If you like beat sticks, go for the Nightmare guy, his name escapes me.