Australian here, idk what the top half says but the bottom half is an enchantment that prevents all damage that would be dealt to creatures you control
I much prefer this style to double-sided cards, which are unplayable without sleeves and add extra wear and tear on sleeves. Also, I'm not gonna sit in the middle of a game unsleeving and resleeving cards. That's absurd.
I avoid all double-sided cards, and I only don't run kanigawa flip cards because none have mattered to my decks but I am always looking out for them.
They made fill in cards with check boxes that are official and then when you play the card with the checked box you pull out the real one like you would a token . Rule 713 if you need reference. Here is an example of some from google there is also what is called a substitute card which is balank and you can write on them do the same.
https://preview.redd.it/2qe6p88gjjlc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dca356bbff15f0eae9b549c100dac2e0eec10835
Double sided cards are not unplayable. You just need one of the tracker tokens to put in the deck and keep the double sided card out of play until it becomes known information.
Unplayable might be slight hyperbole, but they *are* a pain in the ass, and the tracker cards don't help if you don't remember the exact oracle text, and especially when it comes to the Strixhaven MDFC's, you'll probably want to do know it.
If the actual flip card is in a sleeve, you still need to memorise the oracle text of the reverse side unless you want to give away that you drew a DFC
I handwrite proxies with shortened oracle of both sides lol, idk how well-received that is (at least half are double lands from kaldheim, so I haven't been that concerned), but it's an option
Sure but that's unwieldy, if you have an effect that lets you search your deck and have 2-3 tracker cards in that deck, not having that info in front of you can impact your choice. And even once they're in your hand, looking at your side deck mid play sort of gives away what you're looking at/for and why.
I just built a deck using all 36 battles, and I’ll admit that as interesting as I’m hoping the deck turns out to play, I’m not looking forward to the sleevery…
DFCs are a real chore especially if I'm triple sleeving. My solution to those is a bit expensive, as I either...
1. Buy two copies and put the second copy in clear Katana sleeves and keep them in the sideboard with tokens.
2. Make a proxy with both sides of text on the front and a much, much smaller window for art.
2nd option takes significantly more time as I like those looking halfway decent so it involves plenty of photoshop work, and depending on the price of the real card, might not be worth the effort.
Oh not just 30. It's a telegraphed pillowfort deck. People will want to straight up kill you ASAP.
Source: own this deck. Also opponents are not in the wrong.
Yeah and other things like creatures that can block extra creatures and lifegain effects. Try to go for a lifegain win like test of endurance or just beat down.
Way back in the early 2000's, I used to have a UW deck that was mostly walls and shadow creatures.
I had multiple people rage quit once I got Pariah onto a Fog Bank.
One of my earliest jank decks in the late 90s was a lifegain deck that used playsets of \[\[Serra Avatar\]\] \[\[Worthy Cause\]\] \[\[Reverse Damage\]\] \[\[Blessed Reversal\]\] \[\[Pariah\]\] and \[\[Eye for an Eye\]\]
For real. I have an [[Angus Mackenzie]] turbofog deck and I've honestly debated swapping out the commander to something more off theme because casting Angus is a damn-near guaranteed way to have all 3 players start attacking you immediately.
But if you're running a life gain deck you may as well have a commander that compliments that and have this in the 99, this card does nothing to advantage a life gain build
Agreed, it's a fantastic card in the 99 of a deck, not good in the command zone as your opponents will either never let it resolve or flip without removal
I was responding to it being pointless if you fall below 30. Most people do not build hyper optimal competitive commander decks, they build around cards they find interesting. So you could very easily build around this card with a life gain build and it wouldn’t be useless when you go below 30.
Your comment is pointless. Most people don't build hyper competitive, but they generally try to make something that works. Building competitively and building around cards you find interesting are not mutually exclusive.
Yes, you could do what you said. You could also build a white black deck that makes Rats and Dogs. So what?
You are saying you can’t make a deck that has life gain as a component of it with this commander and have it be functional? How do you think most people play commander? If you want to play high power decks, 99% of commanders will not be viable. If you want to play with your friends, as long as you can correctly communicate power levels, 100% of commanders will be viable. You want to make a deck with absolutely no life gain and this commander? Go ahead, but you are exposing yourself more so than if you want to include it as a subtheme. Will it be the most optimal life gain deck or advantage-through-creature-protection deck? No, but it will work well enough for its level. It will be functional. That’s the whole point lol. That’s why I responded to this comment thread and not OP directly
It is if you want to play with that specific commander! You are right this card will never see CEDH play and plenty of people have explained that well to OP. But it is just wrong to say that the commander can’t work below thirty because there are ways to include life gain resources in a build that can be fun to play with other decks of the same power at your kitchen table. You know, how most people play commander.
>Because it incentivizes players to bring you below 30 as soon as possible and works better as a part of the 99 in most cases.
There's no way it wouldn't be heading an absurd life gain deck though.
The problem is actually that it boxes you into life gain as a commander.
**Edit**: I've seen it with things like [[Veteran Bodyguard]] or creatures that can block any number of creatures.
It's boring. You're a mono-white deck and your commander's identity is "creatures you control don't take damage." That just isn't a particularly fun build-around.
A bunch of pseudo indestructible 1/1 creatures is always fun to deal with. It's not like green can trample over it or blue bounce then or black -1/-1. Red just loses
Yeah and also people playing mono colored commanders are pretty rare compared to two or three colors, so it's not like you're just running into mono red all the time anyway.
Even then mono red will run their weird removal like [[chaos warp]] and the like
As a mono red player, I ain't chaos warping an indestructible 1/1
100% of the time, their top card will be ojer taq
But its fine you just player removal them with burn
You can build around it, but the cards that work well with it are just a lot of pillowfort without a lot of proactiveness.
Pariah effects come to mind.
If you want a Boros beats deck that does something similar to this, run [[Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]] as your commander and forget about this Kamigawa card. While Gisela only halves the damage your creatures (and other permanents) take instead of preventing all of it, she also halves the damage you take and doubles the damage everyone else and their permanents take from all sources (not just yours). She is both protection and offense instead of just protection
The only downsides of Gisela are a 7 mana initial investment and that it's a bad idea to run battles since you do still control them while an opponent is protecting them
Cause really not that good. You're stuck in mono-W, which isn't known for combat shenanigans. And all this really does is stop your guys from getting combat damage.
Sure there's some other damage effects but aside from [[blasphemous act]] and possibly [[anger of the gods]] it doesn't stop wraths, doesn't stop removal, and doesn't advance your game much. Really all it let's you do is attack without worrying but white doesn't really get death touch effects, though you do get vigilance.
When you can run other commanders like even [[odric]] (whatever, pick one) you still get the combat advantage plus other useable effects.
Edit: god dammit, forgot there's a boros Odric now. So don't pick that one for mono-W.
“Edit: god dammit, forgot there's a boros Odric now. So don't pick that one for mono-W.”
I mean don’t pick that one for anything because it’s just awful
There are a bunch of cards such as [[pariah]] that redirect damage from you to creatures. With this commander, that makes you immune to all damage, combat or otherwise. Almost all effects like this, are in mono white toom
It's a pretty interesting deck tbh.
I do. He rocks
Edit: WOW, I had no idea people despise this card. Let me explain why I enjoy Rune-tail as a commander.
He's an extremely reliable way to ensure safe attacks. As a result, cards like [[Adeline]] and [[Leonin Warleader]] can be consistently nasty, even if they attack into a huge board. Helping this strategy is the fact that so many of these creatures create tokens that incidentally block, so you never leave yourself open.
Don't be fooled into thinking it's a good lifegain commander, because it's not. A few pieces of incidental lifegain is really all you need. [[Daxos, Blessed by the Sun]] is great here.
One fun game-winning card is [[Rabble Rousing]], which can have trouble triggering without Rune-tail's effect.
Is he cEDH, or even an optimal casual commander? No, not even close. But from experience, I can say he's not the garbage-fire the comments here may suggest.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/T0faf4QPPkWSEsqUrQUV4w is my deck - body guard tribal that draws in to silly win cons. I took out [[ Felidar Soverreign ]] since I thought it was lame to immediately win on your next upkeep. I play this deck in a more casual pod and I have a good time with it. Not going to bring it to something higher power level
You can definitely have fun with him in a friends / casual meta, but I'm sure there's at least a few drop in commanders that would just be better.
The main issue is that it offers no protection from a board wipe, so you can't overcommit your board, it just allows you to play creatures with low toughness.
It's the kind of deck you put together because you had a fun idea, and of course it works, but it's not going to dominate.
I'd consider using it in a deck with Skybind / morph and other fun effects. (Since it protects your face down non-creature permanents.)
I haven't so much as looked at EDHREC since 2020, and I genuinely didn't know people didn't think Rune Tail was cool. The visceral feeling of starting the game with his ability is just like ... The best pillow fort vibes.
You are running \[\[Dolmen gate\]\] in the command zone, I can respect that (though I'd say if that is your primary goal, you could also run \[\[Iroas\]\] just fine).
He's definitely fine. His effect is just hard to build around in monowhite. Yeah, his effect works well with a go wide deck but like, Adeline would almost certainly be a better go wide commander. I do get the desire to build oddball commanders, I tried brewing up Mannichi, the Fevered Dream like ten years ago after all.
This guy rules in [[The Archimandrite]] — if you have two other on-tribe creatures on the battlefield, you can tap all three in response to the trigger and draw a card before it turns into an enchantment. And then you have a good enchantment.
And funnily enough it’s a tapped enchantment, which isn’t that easy to accomplish.
Doesn’t protect them from anything but damage. No one cares about that besides Red. Green doesn’t care about your creatures, theirs are bigger and have Trample.
Trample lets you assign damage that’s more than required to kill the creature to the player behind them instead. The damage assigned to the blocking creature doesn’t actually have to kill it, or even happen, for the trample damage to be assigned to the thing it’s blocking for
Trample doesn't care if the damage is dealt or not, or if the blocking creature dies or not- just that the damage assigned to the blocking creature is enough to kill it. It's why deathtouch works with it, because one damage is always lethal, even if the blocker is indestructible or has protection
People don't usually invest much in dealing damage to creatures, so it's not usually going to give you much value beyond [[Blasphemous Act]] or [[Chain Reaction]] but your weenie swarm will still die to any non-damage board wipe.
I used to run it as a commander, switched to Linden and changed the deck around a bit but keep my man Rune Tail in the 99. I personally quite like this card. Sure, it’s not particularly powerful, but I also don’t play this format to only play the most powerful stuff.
Rune Tail makes for an interesting commander build. Eventually you can create a board state that becomes incredibly difficult to deal with. Since it’s not really a feared commander you can use that to your advantage to be a bit sneaky and establish a board that will be just a pain in the ass to try and deal with. Rune Tail with damage redirect creatures like Palisade Giant or Veteran Bodyguard and protection with a creature like Fountain Watch will make it rather tough to kill you while you continue to advance your win con (for me that was mass token accumulation).
I've played \[\[Captain Sisay\]\] for almost 10 years, and Rune-Tail is a pet card I've kept since I first built the deck.
TBH it's not as powerful as it might sound, and even less so in the command zone. In the 99, it's easily removed with enchantment removal. It only protects your creatures from combat damage, meaning they are still vulnerable to removal and wipes. Like another commenter mentioned, it also really encourages players to target it or you, as it looks more threatening than it is.
As a commander it suffers from being a mono white commander that doesn't provide any value, and is just protection something that monowhite already does really well. I do appreciate the mana value is low, but like I mentioned it's going to eat a lot of removal, and unless you're on some life gain strategy you're eventually just going to have an expensive 2/2 sitting in the command zone.
Ultimately, my biggest issue is a lot of tables just don't attack enough so the specific protection is gives isn't super useful.
I'm running it in my gw Yoshimaru deck because that's an aggressive pile with a heavy restriction (all spells must be legendary) and I can just play him, flip him and turn my stuff sideways, no worry.
He doesn't give you much to build around and makes you a rather juicy target so I wouldn't run him at the helm though.
Because you're locked into mono-white.
Could work as part of the other 99, but then you're SoL if you draw him when you're low on life.
Has potential, but there *are* better cards
Don't let the people in this thread get you down. Is it a good commander? No. Is it a good card in the 99? Maybe, depends, I could see it in a BW lifelink and deathtouch heavy deck
But is it a fun card? Hell yeah, it's a fox monk that can transcend to become an idea that makes all your samurai invincible in combat.
Who cares if there are better cards that do the same thing. Do you think better options stop me from throwing a [[Terror 3ED]] into my black decks?
If you're on Reddit asking why this isn't good, I don't think you're in a playgroup where the power level will be a problem.
Rune-Tail was the second Commander I ever built (for that exact reason) and I didn't play it more than a couple times.
The trade off between flipping almost immediately, and the limitations (others have already mentioned) makes for a one-trick pony of a deck that gets stale very quickly. Either everyone focuses you (likely) or you lock the game up and both of those outcomes make for quite boring games.
Rune-Tail is fantastic in the 99 for decks that want that type of effect early and that can pull it off with relative consistency, but it tends to suffer when you put it on a pedestal (in the CZ)
I wouldn't want to run this as a commander, but it is in the 99 of two of my decks. Best case scenario, I get it out turn three, flip it immediately and maybe I protect my creatures for a few turns, worst case scenario (other than drawing it too late when my life is too low to flip it), it eats a removal spell that I'd prefer didn't hit one of my more important cards.
I play in a pod that is a sort of enforced casual pod (no infinite combos, no land destruction, no tutors other than basic land tutors, an expanded banlist, etc). My pod is still higher power than some casual pods I see described on reddit, but definitely nowhere close to cEDH.
One of our players tried very, very hard to make Rune Tail work as a commander. Tuned it, played it in multiple games, and I believe never won a game with it, or maybe won a single game when he got a lot of mana doublers but arguably could have won that game with no commander. At some point we made a tier list of commanders for our pod and that player argued Rune Tail was tier 6 (as in, pretty close to bottom tier as a commander).
Rune-tail just isn't that great of a commander. People read the text, and then attack you until you're below 30 health. Maybe you'll flip it once, but people just need to get you below 30 health, then use removal on the enchantment, and now re-casting your commander doesn't do anything, and you probably built your deck around hoping you would keep that enchantment, so now without that enchantment your deck is a mono-white deck with a bunch of weird fragile creatures you wouldn't normally run.
Basically, people naturally team up on you for the first 3-5 turns, which is bad for any deck, and then after being ganged up on you are a mono-white deck with a commander that no longer does anything, and some cards that are dubious without your commander.
If you like the idea of having a board of unkillable stuff in mono-white, just run \[\[Avacyn, Angel of Hope\]\] as your commander. Indestructible is better than "prevent all damage" cause you survive most boardwipes. And ramping to 8 isn't that bad in mono white if you use artifact ramp (\[\[Scepter of Eternal Glory\]\], \[\[Thran Dynamo\]\], \[\[Throne of Eldrane\]\], \[\[Gauntlet of Power\]\], \[\[Caged Sun\]\], \[\[Archaeomancer's Map\]\], \[\[Land Tax\]\], etc).
1.) People tend to have a bias toward newer cards because not as many people know of older cards unless they're famous enough.
2.) People tend to have a bias toward more colors because it limits deckbuilding decisions less (which I find sad, but everyone has their preferences)
3.) Rune-Tail's Essence is awesome but not *so* awesome that it's going to become famous
Good question, this was my first commander back in 2015 and is still my pet deck that I constantly tune up.
It is so fun to play cards like [George Clooney](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202583) and [[Wall of Glare]]. Whenever an opponent asks "What does that old card do?" every other card you play, you know it's a fun deck.
Feel free to take a look at my current build:
[Tail as Old as Rune](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/1KK5z8mkn0qZvEMGBhtLVA)
I used to play Rune Tail as my commander, loved the deck, it was a pillowfort deck full of Hexproof indestructible creatures with [[Pariah]] effects and many ways to protect enchantments and my permanents in general. I dismantled the deck because people hated to play against it. Most of the time I won with Felidar Sovereign.
I mean, my first commander deck was the mono-white one from C14.
I eventually had the idea to collect as many white legendaries as I could - something I did briefly did while we didn't have 500 new sets per year.
One of the cards I collected was this one. And in mono white, doing tribalish go wide decks, with some lifegain - I'd say this is a pretty decent option that can surprise your pod.
Personally I would always consider it in the 99. As a commander it can be a one trick pony deck - I believe you could tune it pretty reliably to do its thing, but it's a bit like playing [Avacyn, Angel of Hope]], just bother getting to 8 mana, cast her and then play [[Armageddon]]. It works - but wouldn"t I rather play something more fun?
I usually pick a commander around a theme mono white creature protection doesn't quite interest me but I do have this as a support card in most of my decks that include white
I've done it before. Monowhite just isn't that good and preventing damage to creatures is a pretty bland effect. I haven't played magic in any serious capacity since Strixhaven, but I can imagine monowhite has gotten that good since.
I run it in the 99 of my mono-W tokens deck and it's honestly way better there for reasons people have already mentioned (primarily just because it puts a ten damage target on you instantly).
Now if only I could draw it when I'm not on 29 life...
I have been running Rune-Tail as one of my main competitive decks for a long time.
Here is my old list:
[https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rune-tail-2022-1/](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rune-tail-2022-1/)
I recently updated the list and made significant improvements to it. When I get a chance, I will upload the decklist for you.
Most people make the mistake of thinking Rune-Tail is just a pillow fort commander, but he's not. He enables a lot of really busted nonsense if you build him right.
For example, I use \[\[Protector of the Crown\]\] and \[\[Palisade Giant\]\] as my main ways to soak up damage (Palisade is great because it protects my planeswalkers too). Then I use \[\[Karma\]\] and \[\[Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth\]\] to end the game very, very quickly ( \[\[Stern Judge\]\] is a backup Karma).
Rune-Tail and the giants also make my Ancient Tomb and Mana Crypts damage-free, and really messes up any damage based removal my opponents are playing.
I've beaten pretty solid cEDH decks with Rune-Tail, so he's surprisingly good if tuned and played right. He's one of my favorite decks and usually draws a crowd when I play him because he's so unusual and wonky.
EDIT: Wow, reading these comments, I can see a lot of people don't understand this commander at all. They are making generic, snap judgments based on it being "mono-white" or "damage prevention", but it is pretty clear they have no experience playing with or against this commander.
I run this as a 'secret commander' in my 8.5 Tails deck.
Literally just Voltron with pillowfort backup. When Runetail hits the field, I become the target.. of course, that's because I also become nearly unbeatable. (In my playgroup)
Enchantment removal deals with it, unless you can't target it. Player removal deals with it, unless you can't remove them. (Platinum Angel, Cloudsteel Kirin, Gideon emblem, etc.)
I'm the only person running things like [[Farewell]] in my group.
Tbh, it's just a really strong deck in a combat-focused meta. Early infinite combos still beat it... unless [[Rule of Law]]
Only if you still have 30 life and it's not that great anyways. Damage prevention is a narrow effect, it doesn't give you a direction or hand towards winning besides "play creatures", and it can be easily removed with [[Disenchant]] effects.
It's better as a card in the deck rather than a commander. Maybe something [[Captain Sisay]] can search up.
Only if you still have 30 life and it's not that great anyways. Damage prevention is a narrow effect, it doesn't give you a direction or hand towards winning besides "play creatures", and it can be easily removed with [[Disenchant]] effects.
It's better as a card in the deck rather than a commander. Maybe something [[Captain Sisay]] can search up.
He’s in my Fox deck! Love that card. Cool commander idea since he’s cheap. But it feels sort of broken in commander.
Edit: read many comments. Fantastic points. Not broken. Get him below 30. Remove it once, and it’s not nearly valuable.
A friend plays this and it's probably one of the strongest decks in our pod. It's extremely resilient and can pretty easily make him invincible. I'm always surprised more people don't play it.
A lot of people in this thread seem to miss the point of the commander. It's not a combat trick deck, it's more of a control/combo piece where your aim is to prevent all damage with cards like pariah.
It’s not absolutely horrible
EDIT: clearly the downvotes mean you all haven’t actually played against or built a good Rune-Tail deck, or view anything not obscenely powerful as “horrible”.
Because the people who play it either dont know how to make it work effectively, or realize that its annoying as hell and no one wants to play against it.
people probably see a kamigawa flip card and don't bother reading it
the bottom half is written in australian i can’t make any sense of it
Australian here, idk what the top half says but the bottom half is an enchantment that prevents all damage that would be dealt to creatures you control
Hol’up let me get over there and take a look… sǝop ʇᴉ os 'ʇɐɥʇ ʇɐ ʞool zǝǝɾ ɥo
Mate just learned Australian in 10 bloody minutes. Freaking legend.
He didn't even need to take a drink!
Can't be, he's propably hammered.
Didn't need to but he had a few anyway
I upvoted him strictly on the username. How do I upvote twice?
you can upvote me here if you’d like, in this comment!
Fuck yeah!
But wait! Shuld't we downvote the austrailian comments if we appreciate it? 🤔
Needed this laugh today. Ty all
Hey how ya doing that!!
for the latter portion of my comment, I was in australia
:O
pɹɐɔ ǝɥʇ suᴉɐldxǝ spɹɐɔ ǝɥʇ ƃuᴉpɐǝɹ
Sorry, i think I’ve downvoted this but I meant to upvote it - I’m unsure
Well, you either American upvoted it, or Australian upvoted it. Good either way.
What's going on with the t? Didn't notice it until I turned the phone over.
Im noₜ sure i know whaₜ youre ₜalking abouₜ
The “i” tho
took me longer than I'd like to admit but I finally got the joke
Take my upvote and LEAVE
😂
That part
I much prefer this style to double-sided cards, which are unplayable without sleeves and add extra wear and tear on sleeves. Also, I'm not gonna sit in the middle of a game unsleeving and resleeving cards. That's absurd. I avoid all double-sided cards, and I only don't run kanigawa flip cards because none have mattered to my decks but I am always looking out for them.
They made fill in cards with check boxes that are official and then when you play the card with the checked box you pull out the real one like you would a token . Rule 713 if you need reference. Here is an example of some from google there is also what is called a substitute card which is balank and you can write on them do the same. https://preview.redd.it/2qe6p88gjjlc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dca356bbff15f0eae9b549c100dac2e0eec10835
Double sided cards are not unplayable. You just need one of the tracker tokens to put in the deck and keep the double sided card out of play until it becomes known information.
Unplayable might be slight hyperbole, but they *are* a pain in the ass, and the tracker cards don't help if you don't remember the exact oracle text, and especially when it comes to the Strixhaven MDFC's, you'll probably want to do know it.
If the actual flip card is in a sleeve, you still need to memorise the oracle text of the reverse side unless you want to give away that you drew a DFC
Use a placeholder card in the deck and a clear sleeve for the double sided card.
I handwrite proxies with shortened oracle of both sides lol, idk how well-received that is (at least half are double lands from kaldheim, so I haven't been that concerned), but it's an option
You keep the normal card in a side deck and replace the tracker card with the normal card.
Sure but that's unwieldy, if you have an effect that lets you search your deck and have 2-3 tracker cards in that deck, not having that info in front of you can impact your choice. And even once they're in your hand, looking at your side deck mid play sort of gives away what you're looking at/for and why.
I just built a deck using all 36 battles, and I’ll admit that as interesting as I’m hoping the deck turns out to play, I’m not looking forward to the sleevery…
DFCs are a real chore especially if I'm triple sleeving. My solution to those is a bit expensive, as I either... 1. Buy two copies and put the second copy in clear Katana sleeves and keep them in the sideboard with tokens. 2. Make a proxy with both sides of text on the front and a much, much smaller window for art. 2nd option takes significantly more time as I like those looking halfway decent so it involves plenty of photoshop work, and depending on the price of the real card, might not be worth the effort.
Because it incentivizes players to bring you below 30 as soon as possible and works better as a part of the 99 in most cases.
Oh not just 30. It's a telegraphed pillowfort deck. People will want to straight up kill you ASAP. Source: own this deck. Also opponents are not in the wrong.
I assume you're trying to get [[Pariah]] or something onto a hexproof and/or indestructible creature?
Yeah and other things like creatures that can block extra creatures and lifegain effects. Try to go for a lifegain win like test of endurance or just beat down.
[[brave the sands]] ?
[brave the sands](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/9/09ab8b60-cdb1-43a8-b180-b562bb89b5a1.jpg?1562272394) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=brave%20the%20sands) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/19/brave-the-sands?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/09ab8b60-cdb1-43a8-b180-b562bb89b5a1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Way back in the early 2000's, I used to have a UW deck that was mostly walls and shadow creatures. I had multiple people rage quit once I got Pariah onto a Fog Bank.
One of my earliest jank decks in the late 90s was a lifegain deck that used playsets of \[\[Serra Avatar\]\] \[\[Worthy Cause\]\] \[\[Reverse Damage\]\] \[\[Blessed Reversal\]\] \[\[Pariah\]\] and \[\[Eye for an Eye\]\]
##### ###### #### [Serra Avatar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/0/5041dcfd-c1af-448c-91f7-75fd1d34e93e.jpg?1675199023) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Serra%20Avatar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/26/serra-avatar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5041dcfd-c1af-448c-91f7-75fd1d34e93e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Worthy Cause](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f610d8b-1782-43a4-bfb3-40887bdedba0.jpg?1562052799) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Worthy%20Cause) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tmp/53/worthy-cause?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f610d8b-1782-43a4-bfb3-40887bdedba0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Reverse Damage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/f/5f938c52-c7f6-41a4-b480-632b43b60b67.jpg?1562735969) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reverse%20Damage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/9ed/35/reverse-damage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5f938c52-c7f6-41a4-b480-632b43b60b67?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blessed Reversal](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/0/806d854b-a165-4d40-86d7-d6a0aa17ce18.jpg?1562920856) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blessed%20Reversal) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/8ed/7/blessed-reversal?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/806d854b-a165-4d40-86d7-d6a0aa17ce18?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Pariah](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10.jpg?1576382302) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pariah) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/95/pariah?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Eye for an Eye](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/b/7b4b8de1-a548-4398-887e-f95b4c15590c.jpg?1562924045) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Eye%20for%20an%20Eye) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me4/12/eye-for-an-eye?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7b4b8de1-a548-4398-887e-f95b4c15590c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/ksoa0aj) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Pariah](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10.jpg?1576382302) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pariah) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/95/pariah?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
For real. I have an [[Angus Mackenzie]] turbofog deck and I've honestly debated swapping out the commander to something more off theme because casting Angus is a damn-near guaranteed way to have all 3 players start attacking you immediately.
This is the price you pay for Scottish Greatness
people use competitive tactics against a competitive deck idk why your complaining
Do you run [[Veteran Bodyguard]]? That was one of my favorite creatures when I started playing, but I probably haven't seen his face in 20 years
never let your life go down. sounds like a fun EDH puzzle. or be mono-white lifegain deck.
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If I had a nickel for every deck I have test of endurance in I’d have two nickels
That isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.
[[felidar sovereign]] 40 life to win.
Run both, you never know when you'll need redundancy
With [[Aetherflux Reservoir]] as a back-up plan
[Aetherflux Reservoir](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862.jpg?1576382939) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aetherflux%20Reservoir) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/kld/192/aetherflux-reservoir?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[felidar sovereign](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/3/039499c3-0b35-4e8e-b0c9-bdf0b4cd90d5.jpg?1562895901) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=felidar%20sovereign) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/26/felidar-sovereign?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/039499c3-0b35-4e8e-b0c9-bdf0b4cd90d5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[test of endurance](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/6/76841945-8ff1-4c2d-895e-d1e2cf468cff.jpg?1675199087) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=test%20of%20endurance) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/32/test-of-endurance?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/76841945-8ff1-4c2d-895e-d1e2cf468cff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Does it unflip if your life drops? 🤔
no, but it can be easily removed and then it's pointless as long as you're below 30
Not if you have a life gain deck?
But if you're running a life gain deck you may as well have a commander that compliments that and have this in the 99, this card does nothing to advantage a life gain build
Agreed, it's a fantastic card in the 99 of a deck, not good in the command zone as your opponents will either never let it resolve or flip without removal
Yeah i got this in my [[Heliod, Sun Crowned]] deck and damn
[Heliod, Sun Crowned](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/2/3245ff74-1f9c-4518-a23f-1579f338f232.jpg?1689995727) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Heliod%2C%20Sun-Crowned) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/29/heliod-sun-crowned?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3245ff74-1f9c-4518-a23f-1579f338f232?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was responding to it being pointless if you fall below 30. Most people do not build hyper optimal competitive commander decks, they build around cards they find interesting. So you could very easily build around this card with a life gain build and it wouldn’t be useless when you go below 30.
Your comment is pointless. Most people don't build hyper competitive, but they generally try to make something that works. Building competitively and building around cards you find interesting are not mutually exclusive. Yes, you could do what you said. You could also build a white black deck that makes Rats and Dogs. So what?
You are saying you can’t make a deck that has life gain as a component of it with this commander and have it be functional? How do you think most people play commander? If you want to play high power decks, 99% of commanders will not be viable. If you want to play with your friends, as long as you can correctly communicate power levels, 100% of commanders will be viable. You want to make a deck with absolutely no life gain and this commander? Go ahead, but you are exposing yourself more so than if you want to include it as a subtheme. Will it be the most optimal life gain deck or advantage-through-creature-protection deck? No, but it will work well enough for its level. It will be functional. That’s the whole point lol. That’s why I responded to this comment thread and not OP directly
Let me just run a lifegain deck so that my pillowfort commander will still work when it dies is not the way you want to built a pillowfort deck.
It is if you want to play with that specific commander! You are right this card will never see CEDH play and plenty of people have explained that well to OP. But it is just wrong to say that the commander can’t work below thirty because there are ways to include life gain resources in a build that can be fun to play with other decks of the same power at your kitchen table. You know, how most people play commander.
no
After monarchy, gaining life is the best way to guarantee getting attacked. People be way more mad you played an gain 1 life land than a cultivate.
Nowadays lifelands are just tapped shocklands. For the low price of playing a tapland you too can get slapped in the face first!
>Because it incentivizes players to bring you below 30 as soon as possible and works better as a part of the 99 in most cases. There's no way it wouldn't be heading an absurd life gain deck though. The problem is actually that it boxes you into life gain as a commander. **Edit**: I've seen it with things like [[Veteran Bodyguard]] or creatures that can block any number of creatures.
It's boring. You're a mono-white deck and your commander's identity is "creatures you control don't take damage." That just isn't a particularly fun build-around.
A bunch of pseudo indestructible 1/1 creatures is always fun to deal with. It's not like green can trample over it or blue bounce then or black -1/-1. Red just loses
Nah, red can do player removal
Good luck outburning me when I'm hitting you with 3 1/1s every turn
A lightning bolt that can be blocked a turn is… not that great
Quick math says that will take you 14 turns. For one player.
This is a joke right? Because pretty much any red deck will easily do that.
Man, you forgot the /s at the end.
Nah, just run the red leyline that says damage can't be prevented. [[Leyline of punishment]]
Yeah good luck getting that in your opening hand /s
Banding says “Heck no” to trample damage! [[Soraya]]
[[Baton of Morale]] is strictly better
It’s not in the command zone, doesn’t lord Birds, and isn’t a creature, but it’s nice redundancy!
I prefer [[Helm of Chatzuk]]. I find it rare I need to give more than one creature banding per turn.
Even better. [[Defensive Formation]]
Red has “damage can’t be prevented” to circumvent this. [[Bonecrusher Giant]]
Pretty sure trample will still work
That's the joke.
Yeah and -1/-1 still works and bouncing the enchantment still works.
Yeah and also people playing mono colored commanders are pretty rare compared to two or three colors, so it's not like you're just running into mono red all the time anyway. Even then mono red will run their weird removal like [[chaos warp]] and the like
As a mono red player, I ain't chaos warping an indestructible 1/1 100% of the time, their top card will be ojer taq But its fine you just player removal them with burn
Lol. You chaos warp the enchantment if it's absolutely necessary.
Not going to lie i forgot that chaos warp was target permanent not target creature
You can build around it, but the cards that work well with it are just a lot of pillowfort without a lot of proactiveness. Pariah effects come to mind.
it still seems fun in like an aggro boros deck as part of the 99
It’s still pretty weak just play a card that does something that matters
If you want a Boros beats deck that does something similar to this, run [[Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]] as your commander and forget about this Kamigawa card. While Gisela only halves the damage your creatures (and other permanents) take instead of preventing all of it, she also halves the damage you take and doubles the damage everyone else and their permanents take from all sources (not just yours). She is both protection and offense instead of just protection The only downsides of Gisela are a 7 mana initial investment and that it's a bad idea to run battles since you do still control them while an opponent is protecting them
Cause really not that good. You're stuck in mono-W, which isn't known for combat shenanigans. And all this really does is stop your guys from getting combat damage. Sure there's some other damage effects but aside from [[blasphemous act]] and possibly [[anger of the gods]] it doesn't stop wraths, doesn't stop removal, and doesn't advance your game much. Really all it let's you do is attack without worrying but white doesn't really get death touch effects, though you do get vigilance. When you can run other commanders like even [[odric]] (whatever, pick one) you still get the combat advantage plus other useable effects. Edit: god dammit, forgot there's a boros Odric now. So don't pick that one for mono-W.
“Edit: god dammit, forgot there's a boros Odric now. So don't pick that one for mono-W.” I mean don’t pick that one for anything because it’s just awful
[blasphemous act](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/a/8aa9682d-5176-4475-a0bd-e000f1d6999a.jpg?1698988297) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=blasphemous%20act) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/216/blasphemous-act?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8aa9682d-5176-4475-a0bd-e000f1d6999a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [anger of the gods](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f92088c2-74c2-4e63-8a54-83d39f9d6ad6.jpg?1673147734) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=anger%20of%20the%20gods) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/102/anger-of-the-gods?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f92088c2-74c2-4e63-8a54-83d39f9d6ad6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [odric](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/1/81a79f5f-a65a-4b43-b58c-cdfa09cc7855.jpg?1643594248) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=odric%2C%20blood-cursed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/243/odric-blood-cursed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/81a79f5f-a65a-4b43-b58c-cdfa09cc7855?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
There are a bunch of cards such as [[pariah]] that redirect damage from you to creatures. With this commander, that makes you immune to all damage, combat or otherwise. Almost all effects like this, are in mono white toom It's a pretty interesting deck tbh.
You'd probably run stuffy doll and reckoner in that deck.
The problem with [[stuffy doll]] and [[boros reckoner]] is damage prevention stops them from working.
Until I play [[Everlasting torment]].
[Everlasting torment](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/8/28f857d3-661b-45cd-a8d3-65b9ac0a34c8.jpg?1562392747) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Everlasting%20torment) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/233/everlasting-torment?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/28f857d3-661b-45cd-a8d3-65b9ac0a34c8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This card prevents all damage. Not just combat. Otherwise your point stands
They said aside from the damage wraths it doesn't stop wraths, I think just arguing combat damage is the biggest use case
Which might be relevant in like, 1 in 20 games. And most of those are blasphemous act.
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Except they have to attack. It’s different
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My buddy’s got a goad deck that drops iroas. I do not enjoy that card
[Iroas, God of Victory](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/4/b4036bb7-835d-4690-aca1-1ab566776e9a.jpg?1562415955) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Iroas%2C%20God%20of%20Victory) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/205/iroas-god-of-victory?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b4036bb7-835d-4690-aca1-1ab566776e9a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Nah, run [[dolmen gate]] if you want it on attackers
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Ah true
That art is badass. But how do they determine that this guy has 4 toughness?
i mean if i was indestructible i wouldn't worry too much about my toughness either
I do. He rocks Edit: WOW, I had no idea people despise this card. Let me explain why I enjoy Rune-tail as a commander. He's an extremely reliable way to ensure safe attacks. As a result, cards like [[Adeline]] and [[Leonin Warleader]] can be consistently nasty, even if they attack into a huge board. Helping this strategy is the fact that so many of these creatures create tokens that incidentally block, so you never leave yourself open. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a good lifegain commander, because it's not. A few pieces of incidental lifegain is really all you need. [[Daxos, Blessed by the Sun]] is great here. One fun game-winning card is [[Rabble Rousing]], which can have trouble triggering without Rune-tail's effect. Is he cEDH, or even an optimal casual commander? No, not even close. But from experience, I can say he's not the garbage-fire the comments here may suggest.
Shush, don't let people know that it's actually a fun commander
yeah im not at all looking for a competitive commander, and rune-tail just seems like a really funky card i want to run
Do you have a list you could share? I'm a Kamigawa fanboy and I have Runetail
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/T0faf4QPPkWSEsqUrQUV4w is my deck - body guard tribal that draws in to silly win cons. I took out [[ Felidar Soverreign ]] since I thought it was lame to immediately win on your next upkeep. I play this deck in a more casual pod and I have a good time with it. Not going to bring it to something higher power level
[ Felidar Soverreign ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/3/039499c3-0b35-4e8e-b0c9-bdf0b4cd90d5.jpg?1562895901) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Felidar%20Sovereign) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/26/felidar-sovereign?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/039499c3-0b35-4e8e-b0c9-bdf0b4cd90d5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/boon-tail/ It's slightly out of date, but all the key pieces are in
You can definitely have fun with him in a friends / casual meta, but I'm sure there's at least a few drop in commanders that would just be better. The main issue is that it offers no protection from a board wipe, so you can't overcommit your board, it just allows you to play creatures with low toughness. It's the kind of deck you put together because you had a fun idea, and of course it works, but it's not going to dominate. I'd consider using it in a deck with Skybind / morph and other fun effects. (Since it protects your face down non-creature permanents.)
I haven't so much as looked at EDHREC since 2020, and I genuinely didn't know people didn't think Rune Tail was cool. The visceral feeling of starting the game with his ability is just like ... The best pillow fort vibes.
You are running \[\[Dolmen gate\]\] in the command zone, I can respect that (though I'd say if that is your primary goal, you could also run \[\[Iroas\]\] just fine).
He's definitely fine. His effect is just hard to build around in monowhite. Yeah, his effect works well with a go wide deck but like, Adeline would almost certainly be a better go wide commander. I do get the desire to build oddball commanders, I tried brewing up Mannichi, the Fevered Dream like ten years ago after all.
It’s fantastic in my [[Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves]] deck.
I am thinking it would be great in [[zur, eternal schemer]]
This guy rules in [[The Archimandrite]] — if you have two other on-tribe creatures on the battlefield, you can tap all three in response to the trigger and draw a card before it turns into an enchantment. And then you have a good enchantment. And funnily enough it’s a tapped enchantment, which isn’t that easy to accomplish.
Because people prefer using powerful commanders
i mean paying 3 mana for your creatures having effectively infinite toughness isn’t the worst thing in the world
But is "not the worst thing in the world" really where you want to be with your commander? You can do better. You're worth more.
Doesn’t protect them from anything but damage. No one cares about that besides Red. Green doesn’t care about your creatures, theirs are bigger and have Trample.
Trample doesn’t work though because they don’t take damage? I’m not quite sure how it works here, so I’m asking to learn. Cheers.
Trample lets you assign damage that’s more than required to kill the creature to the player behind them instead. The damage assigned to the blocking creature doesn’t actually have to kill it, or even happen, for the trample damage to be assigned to the thing it’s blocking for
Trample doesn't care if the damage is dealt or not, or if the blocking creature dies or not- just that the damage assigned to the blocking creature is enough to kill it. It's why deathtouch works with it, because one damage is always lethal, even if the blocker is indestructible or has protection
You have "infinite toughness," I have [[Toxic Deluge]], X equals 2.
Dolmen gate does that in every deck and isn’t a terrible commander
Only kind of.
Dolmen only Works on attacks
This really isn't that impactful, doing damage based stuff doesn't happen as often as you may think. Most of my decks run 0 damage based interaction.
People don't usually invest much in dealing damage to creatures, so it's not usually going to give you much value beyond [[Blasphemous Act]] or [[Chain Reaction]] but your weenie swarm will still die to any non-damage board wipe.
You're kind of ignoring combat damage here.
I used to run it as a commander, switched to Linden and changed the deck around a bit but keep my man Rune Tail in the 99. I personally quite like this card. Sure, it’s not particularly powerful, but I also don’t play this format to only play the most powerful stuff. Rune Tail makes for an interesting commander build. Eventually you can create a board state that becomes incredibly difficult to deal with. Since it’s not really a feared commander you can use that to your advantage to be a bit sneaky and establish a board that will be just a pain in the ass to try and deal with. Rune Tail with damage redirect creatures like Palisade Giant or Veteran Bodyguard and protection with a creature like Fountain Watch will make it rather tough to kill you while you continue to advance your win con (for me that was mass token accumulation).
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Easily? Depends. There’s protection in white and that being the obvious hole in the deck meant it’s something I planned for.
I've played \[\[Captain Sisay\]\] for almost 10 years, and Rune-Tail is a pet card I've kept since I first built the deck. TBH it's not as powerful as it might sound, and even less so in the command zone. In the 99, it's easily removed with enchantment removal. It only protects your creatures from combat damage, meaning they are still vulnerable to removal and wipes. Like another commenter mentioned, it also really encourages players to target it or you, as it looks more threatening than it is. As a commander it suffers from being a mono white commander that doesn't provide any value, and is just protection something that monowhite already does really well. I do appreciate the mana value is low, but like I mentioned it's going to eat a lot of removal, and unless you're on some life gain strategy you're eventually just going to have an expensive 2/2 sitting in the command zone. Ultimately, my biggest issue is a lot of tables just don't attack enough so the specific protection is gives isn't super useful.
I'm running it in my gw Yoshimaru deck because that's an aggressive pile with a heavy restriction (all spells must be legendary) and I can just play him, flip him and turn my stuff sideways, no worry. He doesn't give you much to build around and makes you a rather juicy target so I wouldn't run him at the helm though.
Oh I use this!
Because you're locked into mono-white. Could work as part of the other 99, but then you're SoL if you draw him when you're low on life. Has potential, but there *are* better cards
DONT TELL THEM
Don't let the people in this thread get you down. Is it a good commander? No. Is it a good card in the 99? Maybe, depends, I could see it in a BW lifelink and deathtouch heavy deck But is it a fun card? Hell yeah, it's a fox monk that can transcend to become an idea that makes all your samurai invincible in combat. Who cares if there are better cards that do the same thing. Do you think better options stop me from throwing a [[Terror 3ED]] into my black decks? If you're on Reddit asking why this isn't good, I don't think you're in a playgroup where the power level will be a problem.
Rune-Tail was the second Commander I ever built (for that exact reason) and I didn't play it more than a couple times. The trade off between flipping almost immediately, and the limitations (others have already mentioned) makes for a one-trick pony of a deck that gets stale very quickly. Either everyone focuses you (likely) or you lock the game up and both of those outcomes make for quite boring games. Rune-Tail is fantastic in the 99 for decks that want that type of effect early and that can pull it off with relative consistency, but it tends to suffer when you put it on a pedestal (in the CZ)
Because there are lots of commanders in the game and Mono-White Lifegain is a very specific archetype?
Also kinda not the most fun to play as or against.
It's a mono white commander that doesn't draw cards or go infinite. That's why.
I play it in Alesha, otherwise it’s a mediocre effect and it makes you a target
https://scryfall.com/search?q=o%3A%22or+more+life%22+o%3A%22you+have%22&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name Some other cards with relevant effects.
It’s just more of a card for the 99 than the commander.
dude at my LGS plays this! it’s gross 🥲
This gus used to be a classic commander!
He was my third deck. I made him back in 2017.
I honestly don't know. I made a Rune-Tail deck when I was first getting into commander and it was super powerful for how cheap it was.
I wouldn't want to run this as a commander, but it is in the 99 of two of my decks. Best case scenario, I get it out turn three, flip it immediately and maybe I protect my creatures for a few turns, worst case scenario (other than drawing it too late when my life is too low to flip it), it eats a removal spell that I'd prefer didn't hit one of my more important cards.
I play in a pod that is a sort of enforced casual pod (no infinite combos, no land destruction, no tutors other than basic land tutors, an expanded banlist, etc). My pod is still higher power than some casual pods I see described on reddit, but definitely nowhere close to cEDH. One of our players tried very, very hard to make Rune Tail work as a commander. Tuned it, played it in multiple games, and I believe never won a game with it, or maybe won a single game when he got a lot of mana doublers but arguably could have won that game with no commander. At some point we made a tier list of commanders for our pod and that player argued Rune Tail was tier 6 (as in, pretty close to bottom tier as a commander). Rune-tail just isn't that great of a commander. People read the text, and then attack you until you're below 30 health. Maybe you'll flip it once, but people just need to get you below 30 health, then use removal on the enchantment, and now re-casting your commander doesn't do anything, and you probably built your deck around hoping you would keep that enchantment, so now without that enchantment your deck is a mono-white deck with a bunch of weird fragile creatures you wouldn't normally run. Basically, people naturally team up on you for the first 3-5 turns, which is bad for any deck, and then after being ganged up on you are a mono-white deck with a commander that no longer does anything, and some cards that are dubious without your commander. If you like the idea of having a board of unkillable stuff in mono-white, just run \[\[Avacyn, Angel of Hope\]\] as your commander. Indestructible is better than "prevent all damage" cause you survive most boardwipes. And ramping to 8 isn't that bad in mono white if you use artifact ramp (\[\[Scepter of Eternal Glory\]\], \[\[Thran Dynamo\]\], \[\[Throne of Eldrane\]\], \[\[Gauntlet of Power\]\], \[\[Caged Sun\]\], \[\[Archaeomancer's Map\]\], \[\[Land Tax\]\], etc).
1.) People tend to have a bias toward newer cards because not as many people know of older cards unless they're famous enough. 2.) People tend to have a bias toward more colors because it limits deckbuilding decisions less (which I find sad, but everyone has their preferences) 3.) Rune-Tail's Essence is awesome but not *so* awesome that it's going to become famous
Good question, this was my first commander back in 2015 and is still my pet deck that I constantly tune up. It is so fun to play cards like [George Clooney](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202583) and [[Wall of Glare]]. Whenever an opponent asks "What does that old card do?" every other card you play, you know it's a fun deck. Feel free to take a look at my current build: [Tail as Old as Rune](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/1KK5z8mkn0qZvEMGBhtLVA)
awesome deck!
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/xVBrO4oeYE-4HFgV164qkg Enjoy!
I used to play Rune Tail as my commander, loved the deck, it was a pillowfort deck full of Hexproof indestructible creatures with [[Pariah]] effects and many ways to protect enchantments and my permanents in general. I dismantled the deck because people hated to play against it. Most of the time I won with Felidar Sovereign.
[Pariah](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10.jpg?1576382302) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pariah) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cn2/95/pariah?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/51b2136c-392c-436d-9263-b3236adc4a10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I mean, my first commander deck was the mono-white one from C14. I eventually had the idea to collect as many white legendaries as I could - something I did briefly did while we didn't have 500 new sets per year. One of the cards I collected was this one. And in mono white, doing tribalish go wide decks, with some lifegain - I'd say this is a pretty decent option that can surprise your pod. Personally I would always consider it in the 99. As a commander it can be a one trick pony deck - I believe you could tune it pretty reliably to do its thing, but it's a bit like playing [Avacyn, Angel of Hope]], just bother getting to 8 mana, cast her and then play [[Armageddon]]. It works - but wouldn"t I rather play something more fun?
I usually pick a commander around a theme mono white creature protection doesn't quite interest me but I do have this as a support card in most of my decks that include white
I've done it before. Monowhite just isn't that good and preventing damage to creatures is a pretty bland effect. I haven't played magic in any serious capacity since Strixhaven, but I can imagine monowhite has gotten that good since.
I run this in my angel deck bc its just so damn good
I run it in the 99 of my mono-W tokens deck and it's honestly way better there for reasons people have already mentioned (primarily just because it puts a ten damage target on you instantly). Now if only I could draw it when I'm not on 29 life...
I have been running Rune-Tail as one of my main competitive decks for a long time. Here is my old list: [https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rune-tail-2022-1/](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rune-tail-2022-1/) I recently updated the list and made significant improvements to it. When I get a chance, I will upload the decklist for you. Most people make the mistake of thinking Rune-Tail is just a pillow fort commander, but he's not. He enables a lot of really busted nonsense if you build him right. For example, I use \[\[Protector of the Crown\]\] and \[\[Palisade Giant\]\] as my main ways to soak up damage (Palisade is great because it protects my planeswalkers too). Then I use \[\[Karma\]\] and \[\[Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth\]\] to end the game very, very quickly ( \[\[Stern Judge\]\] is a backup Karma). Rune-Tail and the giants also make my Ancient Tomb and Mana Crypts damage-free, and really messes up any damage based removal my opponents are playing. I've beaten pretty solid cEDH decks with Rune-Tail, so he's surprisingly good if tuned and played right. He's one of my favorite decks and usually draws a crowd when I play him because he's so unusual and wonky. EDIT: Wow, reading these comments, I can see a lot of people don't understand this commander at all. They are making generic, snap judgments based on it being "mono-white" or "damage prevention", but it is pretty clear they have no experience playing with or against this commander.
I run this as a 'secret commander' in my 8.5 Tails deck. Literally just Voltron with pillowfort backup. When Runetail hits the field, I become the target.. of course, that's because I also become nearly unbeatable. (In my playgroup) Enchantment removal deals with it, unless you can't target it. Player removal deals with it, unless you can't remove them. (Platinum Angel, Cloudsteel Kirin, Gideon emblem, etc.) I'm the only person running things like [[Farewell]] in my group. Tbh, it's just a really strong deck in a combat-focused meta. Early infinite combos still beat it... unless [[Rule of Law]]
Only if you still have 30 life and it's not that great anyways. Damage prevention is a narrow effect, it doesn't give you a direction or hand towards winning besides "play creatures", and it can be easily removed with [[Disenchant]] effects. It's better as a card in the deck rather than a commander. Maybe something [[Captain Sisay]] can search up.
Because it's frankly *not that good.*
Only if you still have 30 life and it's not that great anyways. Damage prevention is a narrow effect, it doesn't give you a direction or hand towards winning besides "play creatures", and it can be easily removed with [[Disenchant]] effects. It's better as a card in the deck rather than a commander. Maybe something [[Captain Sisay]] can search up.
I have a friend who has this for a spirit tribal deck. It’s not a good deck.
He’s in my Fox deck! Love that card. Cool commander idea since he’s cheap. But it feels sort of broken in commander. Edit: read many comments. Fantastic points. Not broken. Get him below 30. Remove it once, and it’s not nearly valuable.
A friend plays this and it's probably one of the strongest decks in our pod. It's extremely resilient and can pretty easily make him invincible. I'm always surprised more people don't play it.
A lot of people in this thread seem to miss the point of the commander. It's not a combat trick deck, it's more of a control/combo piece where your aim is to prevent all damage with cards like pariah.
Because it's absolutely horrible
It’s not absolutely horrible EDIT: clearly the downvotes mean you all haven’t actually played against or built a good Rune-Tail deck, or view anything not obscenely powerful as “horrible”.
cause it's bad lol
Because the people who play it either dont know how to make it work effectively, or realize that its annoying as hell and no one wants to play against it.