Instead of choosing between utility and power, this guy happily marries the two. Getting nice effects and synergy with a whole host of powerful creature, while still being able to beat face in the meantime. Also plays nicely with exalted.
DaLucaray
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Vigilance pairs so well with smashy creatures with tap abilities. You get your cool effect AND punch you opponent in the face!
TheBossHammer
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
If it weren't for Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, this would be the single best card in the set. Anything that lets you re-activate coming into play effects is broken powerful in EDH and he does it for almost nothing.
...Which makes it much more annoying that he's in the same colors as Derevi...now I have to make TWO Bant EDH's...
drpvfx
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(9 votes)
It's really nice of them to make a Commander they knew there was a need for. That Bant Blink deck I've been brewing now has the *perfect* leader- Thank you, WoTC!
Now just give us a good W/B Reanimator General...
Splizer
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Yeah, Bant-coloured Blink general? Top-notch, and so many cards to build with him. Even a Farhaven Elf blinked over and over gives you serious goodness, and then things get a bit naughtier once you start abusing persist cards like Twilight Shepherd or something.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Here I come to be the only nay-sayer. The art is freaking AWFUL. Not only does Roon look very silly, he also doesn't look particularly legendary. I'll not argue that this is a great, powerful card, but seriously now.
Roon and Derevi also have what may possibly be the best synergy of any two legends designed for a Commander product. Derevi can untap Roon whenever her ability triggers and Roon can flicker Derevi, thereby tapping or untapping Roon or another permanent.
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(9 votes)
Somebody said that is was 'lazy design'.
When you're filling holes, sometimes 'simple' is best? I'm not going to try to compare it to something like Jeleva or Prossh, whose designs are obviously much more interesting, but it's very arguable that DELEVI is the laziest Design in the set. Currently, Exile and the Command Zone (with enough Taxes tacked to the mana cost) are supposed to be two of the hardest zones to get a card out of.
Delevi has BOTH Pull from Eternity AND Misthollow Griffin to use...honestly I think people should build 1 Bant Deck, and then really more of a 25-card Sideboard to shift Commanders from Delevi to Roon- that's how similar they are to me in themes.
Somebody also called out the Art. I like it. It looks like a cartoon, kind of yes. But it also looks like a nicely animated one, like Dragon Tales or Adventures in Odyssey.
I sort of imagine his subspace to exist in a pocket of reality where Lorwyn and Bant connect. Although Lorwyn isn't a shard, both the Maelstrom and the Aurora are sort of like planeshifting anomalies, and isn't very hard to imagine that if the Conflux is cyclical: ie a pattern of expansion and contraction over aeons, that eventually it will coincide with an Aurora and a Planar Portal could occur naturally. Or, maybe Ajani actually deliberately built this Hidden Realm, since it looks like a Bant Rhino, but a Legendary Creature, not a Planeswalker, so how did he get there?
Obviously Planeswalkers can't do anything NEARLY on the level of the Meditation Plane, Innistrad or Serra's Realm anymore, but if we imagine this pocket dimension to be a very small, simple one, more of closet the size of a small suburb than a whole world, then I could see Elspeth and Ajani pooling their magic together and accomplishing it. It's more likely natural than created.
But It has this very neat air of being a really fantasy-like place. As much as Oz is different from Kansas or Narnia from London, this Hidden Realm is different from a more normal plane that has Green and White Magic. Wouldn't be surprised to meet elementals here or a strange Phoenix with Lifelink in Red!
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
It amuses me that the first beings to master space and time are Rhinoceros. 5/5
surewhynot
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
The fact that he can target any creature with his blink ability makes him an occasionally political general as well. You got an ally with a Solemn Sim? Give it a blink for him to snatch him up another land.
sarroth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I really wish this could flicker any permanent, as it would be a really good contender for my Rafiq of the Many enchantment-themed deck, but that would likely have been too much. It's still a fairly good contender, as others have pointed out, given the 4/4 and its first two abilities. I agree with other people that this fills a hole I had forgotten even existed; as did Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge for Grixis aikido decks and Nekusar, the Mindrazer for Grixis Owling Mine decks. Basically WotC did great with the new legends.
Three_Toe
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I was about to give up on my bant blink EDH deck and just go with rasputin until this guy came along. Woohoo! Thragtusk, Avenger of Zendikar, craterhoof, your time to shine (some more) is no longer just wishful thinking!
michaelnemo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
here are some cards I find really affective angel of serenity sundial of the infinite thragtusk or any creature with evoke such as mulldrifter
Wizard-of-the-Toast
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Roon is so versatile. Obviously he's great with flicker effects but also look at him as anti-Voltran tech. He can block a smaller creature then flicker another attacker, such as a tooled-up commander acting a bit like Maze of Ith. The commander would renter at the end of turn have dropped any equipment and lost any enchantments. Hexproof/Shroud would need to be an absolute must against this guy. Play Stifle and Trickbind and you can stop their commander from ever coming back. Meanwhile Roon also benefits from Illusionist's Bracers and Rings of Brighthearth. The more I look at him, the more I like him.
Rootkit9208
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dang it. I had finally drunk enough to forget the pain of thragtusk in limited. Now this happens...
hugeelfboy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great commander! Works so good with so many cards like gilded drake, and just about any comes into play ability. on a stout 4/4 body...love this guy!
Artaeum
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Character Bio:
Roon of the Hidden Realm is believed to guard the gate of an ethereal world. Raised in a devout family, the young rhox was drawn to warlike pursuits against his father’s wishes. Roon joined the infamous Herald’s Army, where he became a skilled fighter. But after a mistaken slaughter of innocents, he deserted and wandered in the wilderness. There he received a vision of the Hidden Realm and was told he was the keeper of its secrets. Called a blasphemer by some, Roon embarked on a pilgrimage to rally people to his cause. His compelling personality attracted many and he became a prophet with legions of solders. Roon does not seek out conflict, but when he perceives a threat, he will eliminate it quickly an efficiently. For those who believe in him, he is a great guardian who will one day open the gate to eternal glory.
Gotta make a move to a deck That's right for me Deck to keep me blinkin' Keep me blinkin' with some energy
Well, I blink about it, blink about it Blink about it, blink about it
Talk about, Talk about Talk about blinkin'
Gotta durdle Gotta durdle Gotta durdle
Won't you take me to Valuetown Won't you take me to Valuetown Won't you take me to Valuetown Won't you take me to Valuetown
avimkv
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Use with Mystic Snake. Now there's a control deck...
HotHit
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
, tap: Annoy target player who bought the Nature of the Beast structure deck with intentions of using Marath, Will of the Wild.
Mr.Freshness-Timmy
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I was worried when I didn't see sundial of the infinite in the top comments...
Phaeoxen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's kind of a Derevi day for me, so I guess I have to post this.
I gave up trying to build a deck around Roon. Instead I left him right where wizards suggested: in Derevi's 99. He's plenty happy to stay there.
Derevi likes hitting things, Roon does it. Trouble blocker? Roon blinks it. ETB dudes need more blink-y-ness? Derevi untaps Roon, and possibly even some mana to fuel him.
It's like wizards designed him to be in her deck or something... weird
Although it's not the easiest combo to set up in a Roon EDH deck pretty much all of those cards will be useful with him.
Also side note that Roon + Perplexing Chimera is the fastest route to losing friends. I love this commander.
SquirePath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Let me just say, beforehand. I am hugely biased towards Derevi.
I have a Derevi EDH, my friend has Roon. We both completely own our local EDH metas. I always end up winning though, the reason being; 1. Derevi is nigh un-removable. 2. She wants to hit you in the face, even slightly catering to that gets insane. (Heliod, God of the Sun, Edric, Bident of Thassa, Augury Adept, Mosswort Bridge, Windbrisk Heights, Medomai the Ageless, even the mighty and feared Stasis is trivial if you have Heliod out.) 3. She can untap your lands, or permanents, so you have blockers, or just straight win. You have no idea how many times I've won just because I set up something before the attack, like Mosswort, or just dealing with a threat, then going off.
Comments (32)
Instead of choosing between utility and power, this guy happily marries the two. Getting nice effects and synergy with a whole host of powerful creature, while still being able to beat face in the meantime. Also plays nicely with exalted.
...Which makes it much more annoying that he's in the same colors as Derevi...now I have to make TWO Bant EDH's...
That Bant Blink deck I've been brewing now has the *perfect* leader-
Thank you, WoTC!
Now just give us a good W/B Reanimator General...
Roon and Derevi also have what may possibly be the best synergy of any two legends designed for a Commander product. Derevi can untap Roon whenever her ability triggers and Roon can flicker Derevi, thereby tapping or untapping Roon or another permanent.
When you're filling holes, sometimes 'simple' is best? I'm not going to try to compare it to something like Jeleva or Prossh, whose designs are obviously much more interesting, but it's very arguable that DELEVI is the laziest Design in the set. Currently, Exile and the Command Zone (with enough Taxes tacked to the mana cost) are supposed to be two of the hardest zones to get a card out of.
Delevi has BOTH Pull from Eternity AND Misthollow Griffin to use...honestly I think people should build 1 Bant Deck, and then really more of a 25-card Sideboard to shift Commanders from Delevi to Roon- that's how similar they are to me in themes.
Somebody also called out the Art. I like it. It looks like a cartoon, kind of yes. But it also looks like a nicely animated one, like Dragon Tales or Adventures in Odyssey.
I sort of imagine his subspace to exist in a pocket of reality where Lorwyn and Bant connect. Although Lorwyn isn't a shard, both the Maelstrom and the Aurora are sort of like planeshifting anomalies, and isn't very hard to imagine that if the Conflux is cyclical: ie a pattern of expansion and contraction over aeons, that eventually it will coincide with an Aurora and a Planar Portal could occur naturally. Or, maybe Ajani actually deliberately built this Hidden Realm, since it looks like a Bant Rhino, but a Legendary Creature, not a Planeswalker, so how did he get there?
Obviously Planeswalkers can't do anything NEARLY on the level of the Meditation Plane, Innistrad or Serra's Realm anymore, but if we imagine this pocket dimension to be a very small, simple one, more of closet the size of a small suburb than a whole world, then I could see Elspeth and Ajani pooling their magic together and accomplishing it. It's more likely natural than created.
But It has this very neat air of being a really fantasy-like place. As much as Oz is different from Kansas or Narnia from London, this Hidden Realm is different from a more normal plane that has Green and White Magic. Wouldn't be surprised to meet elementals here or a strange Phoenix with Lifelink in Red!
angel of serenity
sundial of the infinite
thragtusk
or any creature with evoke such as
mulldrifter
Meanwhile Roon also benefits from Illusionist's Bracers and Rings of Brighthearth. The more I look at him, the more I like him.
Roon of the Hidden Realm is believed to guard the gate of an ethereal world. Raised in a devout family, the young rhox was drawn to warlike pursuits against his father’s wishes. Roon joined the infamous Herald’s Army, where he became a skilled fighter. But after a mistaken slaughter of innocents, he deserted and wandered in the wilderness. There he received a vision of the Hidden Realm and was told he was the keeper of its secrets. Called a blasphemer by some, Roon embarked on a pilgrimage to rally people to his cause. His compelling personality attracted many and he became a prophet with legions of solders. Roon does not seek out conflict, but when he perceives a threat, he will eliminate it quickly an efficiently. For those who believe in him, he is a great guardian who will one day open the gate to eternal glory.
Roon, The Judoon moon platoon cartoon grants a boon soon to a rune attuned goon from Thune or a cacoon baffoon out of a sand dune
Anyone else wanna give it a try?
That's right for me
Deck to keep me blinkin'
Keep me blinkin' with some energy
Well, I blink about it, blink about it
Blink about it, blink about it
Talk about, Talk about
Talk about blinkin'
Gotta durdle
Gotta durdle
Gotta durdle
Won't you take me to
Valuetown
Won't you take me to
Valuetown
Won't you take me to
Valuetown
Won't you take me to
Valuetown
I gave up trying to build a deck around Roon. Instead I left him right where wizards suggested: in Derevi's 99. He's plenty happy to stay there.
Derevi likes hitting things, Roon does it. Trouble blocker? Roon blinks it. ETB dudes need more blink-y-ness? Derevi untaps Roon, and possibly even some mana to fuel him.
It's like wizards designed him to be in her deck or something... weird
I'm sorry, what board presence?
Although it's not the easiest combo to set up in a Roon EDH deck pretty much all of those cards will be useful with him.
Also side note that Roon + Perplexing Chimera is the fastest route to losing friends.
I love this commander.
I have a Derevi EDH, my friend has Roon. We both completely own our local EDH metas.
I always end up winning though, the reason being;
1. Derevi is nigh un-removable.
2. She wants to hit you in the face, even slightly catering to that gets insane. (Heliod, God of the Sun, Edric, Bident of Thassa, Augury Adept, Mosswort Bridge, Windbrisk Heights, Medomai the Ageless, even the mighty and feared Stasis is trivial if you have Heliod out.)
3. She can untap your lands, or permanents, so you have blockers, or just straight win. You have no idea how many times I've won just because I set up something before the attack, like Mosswort, or just dealing with a threat, then going off.
My friends Roon actually beats Derevi 1v1 though. It is more of a control deck.
1. Utility Creatures, Wall of Blossoms, Venser, Shaper Savant, and the Planeswalker, for that matter, Harmonic Sliver, Frost Titan, Fiend Hunter, you get the idea.
2. Getting bouncy permanents like, Cloudstone Curio, Equilibrium, Conjurer's Closet ( He rarely casts Roon, if at all.
I love both Generals. I just think Derevi is the better of the two.