Commander Review: Theros Beyond Death | Part 3 | Green, Multicolored, Colorless, Lands
The full card list for Theros: Beyond Death is out, which means it's time for the Commander Review! Here are my favorite new Commander cards from the set and which decks will want them.
We wrap up the review with Part 3: Green, Multicolored, Colorless, and Lands. You can find Part 1: White & Blue over here, and Part 2: Black & Red over here.
GREEN
Arasta of the Endless Web
First off: gross gross gross.
Arasta of the Endless Web is a weird card for Commander. It's kinda like a sideboard card since its effectiveness is largely dependent on your opponents' actions. If your opponent is playing a Spellslinger deck like Niv-Mizzet, Parun, then you're probably going to create a bunch of tokens until they can find a way to remove Arasta. But if your opponent is playing a permanent-heavy list like Animar, Soul of Elements, you might not get a single token out of them. That said, your average Commander deck runs a decent amount of instants and sorceries, so my prediction is Arasta of the Endless Web will make ~5 tokens fairly consistently before its removed.
Is Arasta a card that I'd recommend for most Green decks? No. But, since it's a spider, Arasta is an auto-include in Spider Tribal led by Ishkanah, Grafwidow.
Recommended For: Spider Tribal under Ishkanah, Grafwidow.
The Binding of the Titans
The Binding of the Titans is a decent enabler for some Self-Mill decks. Over three turns you mill 3 cards off everyone's library, do some light graveyard hate, and have a limited Regrowth effect. It's slow, but it's good overall value for just 2cmc. I guess milling your opponents too is relevant in some Green decks but I can't think of any; feel free to let me know where it would be best used!
I can see this being alright in a few Self-Mill decks. It's not as good as Satyr Wayfinder, but the couple things it does adds up nicely. It's also a card I expect to be cheap for a while, which guarantees that I'll be running it at least as a budget option for Green Self-Mill decks.
Recommended For: Self-Mill decks like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Destiny Spinner
Green has quite a few ways to protect itself from countermagic: Gaea's Herald and Prowling Serpopard protect your creatures, while Dosan the Falling Leaf and City of Solitude stop both countermagic and any other type of instants. Destiny Spinner compares favorably to many of the current options. It's an easy upgrade to any deck running Gaea's Herald, like Animar, Soul of Elements or other creature-heavy deck.
But what really excites me is jamming Destiny Spinner in Green Enchantress decks! It protects your enchantments from countermagic, it's an enchantment itself so it has strong synergies with the deck, and later on in the game it's a great mana sink to start pressuring opponents! That's a ton of value for a mere 2cmc silver bullet.
Destiny Spinner does come with some drawbacks, notably, it's a creature so it's more vulnerable to removal than say City of Solitude, and Spinner itself can be countered, which isn't a problem for more expensive options like Prowling Serpopard or Vexing Shusher. That said, it's still a fantastic way to protect creature-heavy decks from countermagic and it's my new favorite way to protect Enchantress decks!
Recommended For: Creature-heavy decks like Animar, Soul of Elements, and pretty much any Green Enchantress deck like Tuvasa the Sunlit.
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a wicked combination of Exploration and Prismatic Omen, two very good cards in Commander, at a perfect 3cmc. Being able to play an additional land makes it perfect in basically any Lands deck like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, where more lands entering the battlefield mean even more sweet sweet triggers. Granting your lands all basic land types has multiple uses, the most basic being that you now have perfect mana fixing like another Chromatic Lantern, which is great to have in any 4C or 5C deck.
Even better, however, is the fact that all your lands will now fuel "basic lands matter" cards: they're all Swamps for Cabal Coffers, Plains for Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Mountains for Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, everything for Last Stand, etc. One of my first commander decks used to be Lands.dec under Child of Alara that used Prismatic Omen to take advantage of such synergies and often won by having the enchantment in play and then casting Scapeshift to fetch Valakut and a bunch of other lands, burning out my opponents. I expect similar shenanigans with this Dryad.
Finally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is an excellent addition to Green Enchantress decks, where it will work great alongside Courser of Kruphix!
Recommended For: Land decks like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, 4C and 5C decks for mana fixing, and Enchantress decks like Tuvasa the Sunlit.
Hydra's Growth
Hydra's Growth seems like a great inclusion in just about any +1/+1 Counter deck. It's a bit win-more in some +1/+1 Counter decks, like most Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, since it doesn't do much on its own and only gains tons of value once you have a creature with tons of counters already. But in some +1/+1 Counter decks, like Skullbriar, the Walking Grave or Mowu, Loyal Companion, it's exactly what the deck needs to explode and start 1-shotting fools.
Recommended For: all +1/+1 Counter decks like Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, Mowu, Loyal Companion, Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Hydra Tribal like Gargos, vicious watcher.
Ilysian Caryatid
You love to see some Commons make these lists! Ilysian Caryatid is a fantastic new inclusion in Creature-heavy Stompy lists, being a clean upgrade to Whisperer of the Wilds. I run Whisperer in decks like Nikya of the Old Ways and Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, both decks that heavily promote running creatures (Vivien, Champion of the Wilds) and discourage playing noncreatures (Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, Thorn of Amethyst). This is sweet budget ramp for those type of decks!
Recommended For: Creature-heavy decks like Nikya of the Old Ways, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, and Animar, Soul of Elements.
Nessian Boar
Nessian Boar is an interesting card. A 10/6 for 5cmc is an amazing rate, and it can act as pseudo-removal if you send it charging at your opponent's creatures. Giving my opponents extra card draw is something I'm loathe to do, however.
There are numerous ways to take advantage of the boar. You can draw 10 cards off Return of the Wildspeaker, or perhaps you drop Vigor to make sure your piggy survives any combat. You can even turn the boar's weakness into an advantage by restriction your opponents to a single card drawn with Notion Thief, Narset, Parter of Veils, or Alms Collector. Decks that run multiple ways to play off Nessian's Boars abilities may like including this. The problem, however, is finding such a home for it. I personally can't think of any, but if one such deck exists then this is a good inclusion.
Recommended For: I'm not sure what deck has enough synergy with Nessian Boar to recommend it, but I'm sure it's out there.
Nessian Wanderer
Nessian Wanderer is a poor version of an Enchantress like Eidolon of Blossoms, digging for lands instead of straight drawing you cards. Still, this is a card advantage engine at just 2cmc, which is good enough to try out in a bunch of Enchantress decks. Of note it seems like Green Enchantress is developing a fine Lands subtheme to it, and once you start mixing Enchantress Land cards like Nessian Wanderer and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove with traditional Land payoffs like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, you might end up with a really sweet deck that merges both archetypes together into a cohesive whole. This is a design space I'm very much excited to explore! Karametra, God of Harvests Enchantress Land deck maybe?
Recommended For: Enchantress decks, particularly ones that have a Lands subtheme; Karametra, God of Harvests, Tuvasa the Sunlit, Kestia, the Masked.
Nylea, Keen-Eyed
While everyone is losing their minds over Heliod, Sun-Crowned due to his easy combo with Walking Ballista, Nylea, Keen-Eyed is actually low-key the most degenerate new god of the cycle.
First, let's talk about Nylea using her in a "fair" way. She's an easy new staple in super creature-heavy decks like Nikya of the Old Ways, being a super mana dork that is usually an indestructible enchantment but also sometimes a 5/6 beater as an added bonus. She also has a mana sink ability that generates card advantage; in a super creature-heavy deck (~40ish creatures) it's an okay success rate by itself but that percentage shoots up once you introduce topdeck manipulation like Sylvan Library, Cream of the Crop, and others. I think this is more than enough for lots of Creature-Heavy decks to want her in the 99.
Now that we've covered Nylea in "fair" Magic, here's the scoop on the broken stuff: Mono Green Cheerios. There's a good amount of colorless creatures that cost just 1 mana to cast, like Signal Pest, that will now cost 0 thanks to Nylea, Keen-Eyed. Toss in additional mana discounts like Cloud Key and Ugin, the Ineffable, and a lot of the cheaper colorless creatures are going to be free to cast. The next important thing is that Nylea's activated ability draws/mills your entire deck once you've generated infinite green mana. There's dozens of ways you can do this in Mono Green, one such way being Concordant Crossroads, Cloudstone Curio, and two mana dorks that tap for more than one green mana, like Priest of Titania and Ilysian Caryatid. Then with the infinite mana, draw your deck with Nylea, find Walking Ballista, and win the game with infinite ping.
But Heliod, Sun-Crowned is cute too, I guess.
Recommended For: as the commander of a degenerate Mono Green Cheerios list; in the 99 of any creature-heavy deck like Nikya of the Old Ways, Xenagos, God of Revels.
Nylea's Intervention
There's no shortage of amazing utility lands in Commander, from the busted Gaea's Cradle to the balanced Strip Mine. Decks running powerful lands often run land tutors to fetch them up, and Sylvan Scrying is one of the most popular options for this in Green. Nylea's Intervention starts as an overpriced Sylvan Scrying but has the upside of fetching far more lands -- heck, you could tutor up all the lands in your deck if you have enough mana!
Will Nylea's Intervention replace cheaper land tutors like Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying? No. Sometimes you just want to tutor up your Gaea's Cradle and that's it. But for decks looking to play a longer game, especially Big Mana decks and Land decks that will regularly fetch up 4+ lands with this, Nylea's Intervention is an absolute powerhouse.
There's another mode here, of course: a board wipe for flying creatures. Such a card is too situational for me to ever run in a Commander deck, but tacking this on as an added bonus is fantastic, and sometimes will end up being the exact mode you need to stabilize.
Recommended For: Land decks like Tatyova, Benthic Druid; Big Mana decks like Rosheen Meanderer; any Green deck with lots of utility lands.
Nyxbloom Ancient
Nyxbloom Ancient is certainly the most controversial Commander card in the entire set. In Commander, degenerate plays are usually bottlenecked by two things: card draw and (more importantly) mana. So it's no wonder why Nyxbloom Ancient is perhaps the most hyped card in the set, being a straightforward bomb that launches your deck's mana into the stratosphere. Mana doublers like Mirari's Wake and Caged Sun are scary; usually if someone untaps with one of these in play they'll either outright win the game with a big spell like Genesis Wave, or at the very least they'll draw tons of cards (Blue Sun's Zenith) and still have the mana to cast some of the spells they've just drawn. But a mana tripler? Nyxbloom Ancient might give you enough mana to let you win the game the turn it comes out, let alone if you manage to untap with it!
One big advantage Nyxbloom Ancient has over similar effects like Zendikar Resurgent -- aside from making 100% more mana, that is -- is that it's a creature, which means it's much easier to cheat on its whopping 7cmc. Being a creature means it can be plopped on the battlefield with Defense of the Heart or Natural Order for far less than seven mana, or via Reanimate / Animate Dead. It's easier to destroy too, of course, but if you manage to cheat Ancient into play then it doesn't even matter if it's killed since, at worst, you can immediately tap all your permanents for mana in response and use it as a ritual to power out your degenerate spells.
Nyxbloom Ancient is in some ways an Omniscience that is easier to put into play and works better with X spells like Genesis Wave. Best of all, it's a Green card, the best ramp color and therefore the easiest one to regularly ramp it out. It really is as strong as people think it is.
The question becomes: is Nyxbloom Ancient too strong? Should it be banned? Honestly, I don't think so. It's a degenerate card and it's going to win a lot of games, sure. But the card doesn't win by itself, it's still 7cmc, and frankly there's tons of stupid cards in Commander that are roughly as powerful as this one. I don't think it's an oppressive card. I don't think a person that is new to the Commander format will have their experience ruined by this card. I expect Nyxbloom Ancient to see a lot of play, and I'm already tired of it just from watching the THB preview streams, but I think it's fine staying legal in the format. Playgroups can opt not to run it if they don't like it.
Recommended For: any Green deck. All of them.
Omen of the Hunt
A 3cmc Rampant Growth isn't a great rate, but just like Farhaven Elf, in the right deck Omen of the Hunt can shine bright with synergy potential. Omen is an enchantment so it triggers constellation (Archon of Sun's Grace), draws you a card (Verduran Enchantress), and can be mass-recurred (Replenish), among other things. If you have enough enchantments with ETB triggers then you can start running bounce engines like Riptide Chimera too!
Recommended For: Enchantress decks like Tuvasa the Sunlit, Estrid, the Masked, and Siona, Captain of the Pyleas.
Renata, Called to the Hunt
Renata, Called to the Hunt is another excellent card for the +1/+1 Counter archetype. Having creatures enter the battlefield with at least one +1/+1 counter gets a lot of support cards rolling, be it Rishkar, Peema Renegade or Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, and sets up payoffs like Inspiring Call.
Renata also has easy combo potential with persist creatures like WoodfallPrimus. Renata, Called to the Hunt + Woodfall Primus + Ashnod's Altar = tons of mana and all your opponents noncreature permanents are destroyed.
Recommended For: +1/+1 Counter decks either as the commander or as part of the 99 of Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Grumgully, the Generous, Vorel of the Hull Clade.
Setessan Champion
Setessan Champion is one of the best Enchantress cards in an ever-increasing pile of them. Champion triggers not just off enchantments being cast, like Verduran Enchantress, but enchantments entering the battlefield from anywhere, including ones that have been blinked (Momentary Blink) or recurred (Replenish). Oh, and top of that, it grows into a huge beater in no time! That's insane value. That makes it clearly better than Verduran Enchantress, Mesa Enchantress, and Satyr Enchanter, and more comparable to Enchantress's Presence, Argothian Enchantress, and Eidolon of Blossoms.
Side note: unless you're going full-on Enchantress Cheerios, I think we're reaching the point where you probably want to start capping the number of Enchantresses in an Enchantress deck. I think putting all your eggs into the Enchantress basket leads to inconsistency where yeah, if your creatures live and you draw enchantments then you're in a good spot, but awkward draws or removal can easily shut you down into topdeck mode. I think keeping the number to the top 4-6 is good, and after that, I recommend diversifying your card draw; if you're in Blue then you can run stuff like Rhystic Study, and Green has Sylvan Library, Harmonize, etc. Enchantress cards are good but don't be over-reliant on them is what I'm saying. 4-6 is my preferred number (unless you go full Cheerios).
Recommended For: any Green Enchantress decks like Tuvasa the Sunlit, Estrid, the Masked, and Siona, Captain of the Pyleas.
Stessan Training
Setessan Training isn't going to turn heads but it's exactly the type of card you want for certain Green Aura brews: it's pretty cheap, cantrips, and makes your creature a bit better. It's not one of the best auras in this category, but it works just fine, and it' s budget-friendly.
Recommended For: Aura decks like Siona, Captain of the Pyleas and a cheap fight cantrip for Gargos, Vicious Watcher
Skola Grovedancer
Skola Grovedancer isn't a card that I foresee running into a lot but it's an interesting budget option for a few decks. For Self-Mill decks, particularly Land Self-Mill decks like The Gitrog Monster, this satyr can be a cheap passive lifegain engine that can help keep you afloat. It also comes with a self-mill mana sink; with infinite green mana you can mill yourself and then win with Thassa's Oracle or similar effects. That's a lot of power and flexibility wrapped up in this innocent-looking common. I don't know if that's good enough to run over strong alternatives, but if you're on a budget it's an easy little card to pad the 99 with.
Recommended For: Self-Mill decks like The Gitrog Monster.
Warbriar Blessing
Wowow, a cheap fight aura? This is uhhh a really good rate for Green removal? I expect Warbriar Blessing to be a staple for any Green Aura deck looking for some additional removal. Very happy to run this in Siona and Gargos lists.
Recommended For: Green Aura decks like Siona, Captain of the Pyleas and Kestia, the Cultivator; Gargos, vicious watcher.
MULTICOLORED
Acolyte of Affliction
Golgari Findbroker has found its way into many of my budget brews as a poor substitute to the more expensive Eternal Witness. Well, we've now got a sweet upgrade to the Findbroker in Acolyte of Affliction, which is easier to cast and comes with a bit self-mill on top! While it's still worse than Witness, which is cheaper to cast and less restrictive, Acolyte is a slam-dunk budget recursion option in any Golgari Self-Mill deck like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. I'm excited to run this in a ton of budget brews going forward!
Recommended For: budget Self-Mill decks like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, and The Gitrog Monster.
Allure of the Unknown
Allure of the Unknown is going to be a polarizing card: you either love it or hate it. By itself, it's ain't that great: it's comparable to Promise of Power, not losing you five life and drawing an extra card, but your opponent gets to cast the best card of the six. If you're not looking to socialize with your fellow players then this is an unecessary risk and you'll skip over this card. But if you love politics then oh boy is this card a treat!
Odds are you can choose an opponent to collaborate with when casting Allure. "Snag my Damnation off Allure so we can deal with Karen's board." That's going to be a common request that should be reasonable enough to be accepted. Then you're drawing five cards and your opponent is helping you cast the sixth; played this way, Allure of the Unknown is fantastic value when used collaboratively.
Of course, Allure can blow up in your face in a magnificent fashion. Perhaps you reveal a Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and your opponent snatches that from you, then annihilates your board. It could happen! Anything could happen! The allure of the unknown is really, really fun to me. I can't wait!
Recommended For: Political decks like Kenrith, the Returned King, Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, and Queen Marchesa.
Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
While I expect Ashiok to be a nightmare to deal with in Standard, they're a lot less impressive in Commander. The best planeswalkers in Commander have a powerful impact as soon as they hit the battlefield, like Elspeth, Sun's Champion immediately board wiping; Ashiok does not have this. You're either ticking up and making a meh token or you're casting a slightly better sorcery-speed Recoil, neither of which excites me for five mana. Some people have mentioned this Ashiok to me as a new staple in Phenax, God of Deception mill, to which I remind them that at 5cmc we've got Consuming Aberration and this planeswalker is uhhh way worse than that.
Recommended For: not recommended. Nightmare Tribal for Richard, I guess.
Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths
Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths is Fortune's Favor on a stick. I love Favor, even though it's a much worse Fact or Fiction; the mini-game is fun to me and just like Fiction you can always cooperate with your opponent for maximum value. I expect Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths to be similarly kinda weak but fun and more powerful if used politically. That's okay as a commander, but not that exciting to me personally. I much prefer Atris as part of the 99 of a Blink deck like Yarok, the Desecrated.
Recommended For: Blink decks like Yarok, the Desecrated.
Bronzehide Lion
Cat Tribal will take whatever playables it can get, even if that means wearing the hide of their fallen kin for protection.
Recommended For: Arahbo, Roar of the World.
Calix, Destiny's Hand
Calix, Destiny's Hand is clearly designed for Enchantress, where he does a decent job. His first turn on the board is alright, either exiling something or providing some card advantage. His ultimate (Replenish) can be used immediately with Doubling Season. In Enchantress decks that have a strong pillowfort theme -- hello, Sphere of Safety -- Calix can be well protected and accrue value. He's far from a degenerate bomb in Enchantress, but he's fair incremental value and I'd probably run him for the abs flavor alone.
Recommended For: Green Enchantress decks like Tuvasa the Sunlit, Estrid, the Masked, and Kestia, the Cultivator.
Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders
Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders was initially conceived to be a commander for an archetype that didn't yet exist; in this case I assume they were going for Izzet Equipment, which indeed isn't something we've seen before. The original version of Dalakos was too complicated so they whittled him down into this form, which is ... okay. Unfortunately, all the good Equipment support cards are in White (Steelshaper's Gift), so we really needed Dalakos to be pushed for him to carry this underdeveloped niche, which he's not. He's a slightly fancier Renowned Weaponsmith. Heck, he's probably worse than the Weaponsmith, actually. I'd prefer the common as my commander.
Maybe Izzet Equipment will be a thing, but gosh I hope not. Can White have one thing they're best at? Please? Don't do Equipments better in Izzet. Please.
Recommended For: Izzet Equipment, I guess.
Devourer of Memory
Devourer of Memory can be a sneaky finisher in budget self-mill decks. I like it the most in a Cycling list like my Cycling Zur brew, where you can use the Devourer defensively as a pumpable big blocker and then once you drop New Horizons you can cycle through your deck and 1-shot people.
Recommended For: budget finisher for Wheel decks like Nekusar the Mindrazer, Self-Mill like Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Cycling decks like Zur, the Enchanter.
Dream Trawler
Another Sphinx arrives that makes me sad that Unesh, the Criosphinx isn't Azorius colors. Sigh. Dream Trawler is another card that can randomly kill people if you draw an arbitrary number of cards -- not that you'd need help winning the game at that point, but whatever. If you go Azorius Sphinx tribal then this is pretty deece.
Recommended For: Sphinx Tribal like Isperia, the Inscrutable
Enigmatic Incarnation
Enigmatic Incarnation is such a weird card. It's like a Birthing Pod except it requires you to sacrifice an enchantment to get a creature and you can't easily use it more than once per turn. So it's a lot more fair, less combo-y, harder to use Pod. Which now that I'm typing it out doesn't sound great, but honestly it still should be sweet value. Sacrifice enchantments that don't mind being removed, such as Omen of the Sea, which gets most of its value from its ETB trigger and not by sticking around the battlefield. Or drop Enchanted Evening and then all your creatures are enchantments too. But saying "good with Enchanted Evening" is as boring as (artifact) + Mycosynth Lattice, (planeswalker) + Doubling Season, (tapping thing) + Paradox Engine (RIP).
Recommended For: good with Enchanted Evening.
Eutropia the Twice-Favored
Eutropia the Twice-Favored gives your Enchantress decks some extra oomph, some kill potential while you durdle drawing cards n' stuff. I think Eutropia is a fun inclusion in Tuvasa the Sunlit decks that are looking to Voltron up Tuvasa and kill with the commander damage. More interesting, however, is the potential of combining Enchantress with a +1/+1 Counter theme with cards like Setessan Champion and Oath of the Ancient Wood. That might be a fun archetype to explore under Eutropia.
Recommended For: as the commander of a +1/+1 Counter Enchantress deck or as part of the 99 of Tuvasa the Sunlit
Gallia of the Endless Dance
There's barely any playable Satyrs in Commander. Gallia of the Endless Dance clearly wants to be the commander of a Satyr Tribal deck, and while she's a pretty good candidate, she's not ridiculously pushed enough that I'd recommend running the dozenish Satyrs padded with changelings and call it a deck. Unless your Richard, of course, then I'm excited to lose to Gallia in an upcoming Commander Clash.
Recommended For: Satyr Tribal but not recommended unless you're Richard.
Haktos the Unscarred
Haktos the Unscarred is a flavor home-run, the perfect representation of the Achilles myth. As a commander card though? Ehhh. He hits hard and is tough to block or kill with targeted removal. But you know why that doesn't matter?
Haktos is just a dumb beater, and he gets shut down rather easily. At least Thrun, the Last Troll comes with regeneration (and is in better colors oooooh). Do better, Boros.
Recommended For: not recommended.
Klothys, God of Destiny
Klothys, God of Destiny answers the question, "what if Deathrite Shaman ascended to godhood?" Klothys is great incremental value on an indestructible enchantment body. Graveyard is one of the most popular archetypes in the format and pretty much every deck has some amount of graveyard recursion that Klothys slowly but surely denies. Fetchlands are also super common in this format so Klothys should have no difficulty providing steady ramp as well. So Klothys is basically guaranteed to be an indestructible thorn in your opponents' sides while accruing value for you. This is great at 3cmc.
Klothys is an easy inclusion in the 99 of practically any Gruul deck. It fulfills the role of graveyard hate, it's a creature so you can easily search it up and play off creature synergies, it's pretty reliable ramp especially if you're running fetchlands of your own, and it's just 3cmc. Sometimes it's even a 4/5 beater! It's basically a slower Scavenging Ooze that is more versatile and hard to remove. Ooze isn't totally outclassed by Klothys of course -- Ooze can exile things at instant speed (if you have the mana), Klothys cannot -- but I think overall I'd prefer the god for the GY hate slot in my decks.
Klothys, God of Destiny is okay as a commander, but kinda boring. She doesn't really weave a destiny for your deck's design, just ties down your opponents. I guess she's good for Gruul Goodstuff. But I'm excited to run her in the 99 of basically every Gruul deck.
Recommended For: all Gruul decks.
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is what happens when Burglar Rat grows up to be a titan. No matter how you cast it, either from your hand or escape from the graveyard, it's a good rate for scaling discard with some added lifeloss on a self-recurring beefy 6/6 body. It's just good value any way you slice it. Kroxa brings enough value that I wouldn't mind adding it as a generic goodstuff card to any Rakdos deck to pad the 99, but there's more we can do with this titan.
There's two happy homes for Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. The first is a Punisher or Stax style deck, the former focusing on attacking all of your opponents' resources in an effort to end the game as quickly and painfully as possible, while the latter is aimed at denying your opponents the ability to play the game at all, killing them slowly but surely through resource denial. Mogis, God of Slaughter is a good example of Punisher, while Queen Marchesa often goes the route of Stax. Kroxa is happy to be used in either scenarios.
But there's one more weird / niche deck that Kroxa will do great work in: my Warped Devotion list! This deck focuses on emptying our opponent's hand, bouncing their permanents, then discarding those bounced cards as well. It's a unique Control deck that strips everything from your opponents; not Stax since your opponents are free to play their cards, but definitely punishing! If you're interested in this deck then check out my primer!
Recommended For: Punisher decks like Mogis, God of Slaughter; Stax decks like Queen Marchesa; Warped Devotion decks.
Kunoros, Hound of Athreos
Kunoros, Hound of Athreos is Grafdigger's Cage on a leash. It's more expensive, locked into Orzhov colors, and more likely to meet an early demise, but at least it can be a neat source of lifegain. If you're running an Orzhov Lifegain deck and are looking for some more global graveyard hate then Kunoros might be a neat inclusion. However, Orzhov decks almost always have a strong Graveyard subtheme, so it's difficult to imagine what deck would actually run a card like this that would shut off your own graveyard.
Recommended For: can't think of any.
Mischievous Chimera
I kinda like Mischievous Chimera as a budget option for Izzet Draw-Go lists like Jori En, Ruin Diver. It's not great, but at 2cmc you'll get to scry once or twice per turn in the right deck while pinging. Not fantastic but not terrible. I think the ideal spot for this would be an Izzet Draw Go deck that cares about the top of their library, like Keranos, God of Storms or Melek, Izzet Paragon. Then the repeating scry 1 trigger can be used for maximum value. Not bad!
Recommended For: budget Izzet Draw Go decks like Keranos, God of Storm, Melek, Izzet Paragon, and Jori En, Ruin Diver.
Polukranos, Unchained
Polukranos is back, and now he's hungry for braaaaains! This recursive beatstick / fightstick is either a 6/6 or a 12/12 depending on how it enters the battlefield, but it'll shrink fast as butts heads with opposing creatures in combat or when fighting. The drawback is annoying enough that I wouldn't run Polukranos, Unchained as a generic goodstuff inclusion in just any Golgari deck, but with a little work he can be absolutely devastating.
The big thing to make Polukranos, Unchained shine is keeping it safe from damage. There's quite a few ways to do this, with one of the absolute best being Vigor: not only does it prevent Polukranos from taking damage, it actually adds +1/+1 counters whenever it would take damage! So using Polukranos to fight creatures actually grows the hydra! We can achieve similar damage prevention with cards like Dolmen Gate when Polukranos is attacking, or Magebane Armor which doesn't prevent combat damage but lets Polukranos constantly fight without any drawback. You can also just increase Polukranos's power/toughness with something like Eldrazi Conscription, which means Polukranos will lose his counters but not die due to them; also even without any +1/+1 counters you still prevent any damage that he'd take!
Once you've added a way that Polukranos, Unchained isn't dying from losing +1/+1 counters, he gets pretty insane. At that point you just pay 3 mana to repeatedly kill off all opposing creatures. That's nasty.
Recommended For: as a commander or part of the 99 of a Fight deck.
Rise to Glory
Rise to Glory is great value if you can consistently return both a creature and an aura to the battlefield each time you cast it, which is why it's the perfect inclusion in the niche Orzhov Aura list. Putting back a Kor Spiritdancer + Sage's Reverie or, well, basically any two cards from the deck back into play is great value for a 5cmc sorcery. It only gets better the higher the cmc your returned cards are; getting back Eldrazi Conscription, an 8cmc aura, for only 5cmc and potentially a creature too is amazing value!
Recommended For: any Orzhov Aura list, which is most likely going to be Daxos the Returned.
Siona, Captain of the Pyleas
Siona, Captain of the Pyleas is the newest potential Aura commander, which is a surprisingly small category, so I'm happy to see a new option pop up. In an Aura deck her ETB trigger to dig 7 cards deep and yoink an Aura card from them should have a high success rate even without topdeck manipulation (though it never hurts to have!). If you have ways to efficiently bounce/blink her, such as Flickerform, she turns into a solid card advantage engine as well.
Siona's second ability is what's generating all her buzz, however: whenever an Aura you control becomes attached to a creature you control, you get a 1/1 token. This trigger is ... usually just okay. It's certainly a big step down from similar token generators like Archon of Light's Grace when paired with the vast majority of auras out there. But there's at least one aura in particular that breaks this ability: Shielded by Faith. With Siona, Captain of the Pyleas and Shielded by Faith, you generate infinite 1/1's. This low cmc 2-card combo is made even easier since Siona can help fetch the aura. And as the cherry on top, both cards of this game-winning combo are sweet individually too! I'd jam both in any Aura deck that can run them, and together they just win the game!
Does this make Siona, Captain of the Pyleas the best Aura commander? I'm not sure. Having one part of an easily assembled 2-card combo in your command zone is really strong, and even without it Siona is still bringing good value to your deck. But is that better than running Siona in the 99 of a Bant Enchantress commander like Kestia, the Cultivator, gaining you access to blue cards like Enchanted Evening and Rhystic Study? I don't know. But what I do know is that I love this new card and I love the fact that it's actually making me think of alternatives to the standard Bant Enchantress options.
Recommended For: as a commander or as part of the 99 of any Aura deck.
Staggering Insight
In my eight years of playing Commander, I've only seen Curiosity played in Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind decks and more recently, Niv-Mizzet, Parun. But lately I've been jamming this card in a bunch of attack-focused decks as a super efficient incremental card draw engine. Think about it: assuming you enchant an evasive creature, you're drawing 1 card per turn, for a 1 mana investment. You only need to have drawn 2 cards off Curiosity for the card to have paid for itself. Yes, you need a deck that can reliably provide evasive creatures to enchant, and that creature is probably going to die within the next 3 turns or so, and by enchanting it you're adding extra incentive for your opponents to kill it, but all those risks are worth the payoff of drawing more than 1 card for just 1 mana.
This is a long way of saying that Staggering Insight is actually pretty decent. I still prefer Curiosity / Curious Obsession / Keen Sense / Sixth Sense due to being half the mana cost, but Staggering Insight is a nice third option in, say, Azorius Combat decks. It gets a little better as well if you're running a Lifegain subtheme, perhaps with Heliod, Sun-Crowned in the 99.
I've been brewing a Daxos of Meletis deck, which has long been a pet (husbando) commander of mine. I've had a lot of success with Curiosity cards in the deck and Insight is a solid third option now.
Recommended For: Azorius Combat decks; Aura decks like Kestia, the Cultivator; Lifegain decks; Evasive Voltron decks like Daxos of Meletis.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is a ridiculously good value card. Uro does two things: 1) draw cards 2) ramp. He literally does the two strongest things you can do in the Commander format, and he does them super well. Cast him normally and he's a sorcery-speed, slightly overcosted Growth Spiral, which is still great. Escape with him and you've got a repeating Growth Spiral that is smashing for 6 is each turn. What's not to love about this sick value engine?
Run Uro as your commander. Jam him in the 99 of a Self-Mill deck as a self-recursive value engine, or in a Lands deck that gets extra value from his ramp, or in a Goodstuff deck since he's always good stuff.
Recommended For: as a commander; Self-Mill decks like Muldrotha, the Gravetide; Lands decks like Tatyova, Benthic Druid.
COLORLESS
Altar of the Pantheon
Altar of the Pantheon is the latest "Manalith with upside," this time giving you a sweet boost to devotion and gaining you life each time its tapped for mana if you control a god / demigod / legendary enchantment, like a mana-fixing Pristine Talisman. I'm definitely a fan of this one!
I'm very happy to run Altar as a budget ramp option in basically any non-Green deck where either the extra devotion or the lifegain parts are relevant. The best fit would certainly be Heliod, Sun-Crowned, as the devotion will help the god be a creature and the lifegain will be used to passively add +1/+1 counters to creatures and trigger other lifegain cards.
Recommended For: Heliod, Sun-Crowned; as a budget ramp option for any non-Green deck that uses devotion and/or can trigger the lifegain.
Mirror Shield
It's crucial to protect your most important creatures from targeted removal, especially if a lot of your deck's power relies on specific creatures being on the battlefield. This is why hexproof is so highly sought after in Commander, and why the few colorless equipment that grant it are so expensive; even one of the worst options, Mask of Avacyn, is over a dollar at this point! So it's nice to see another option for budget players with Mirror Shield. While it's not the best equipment to protect from targeted removal -- Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are the undisputed champs -- it's at least a step up from Mask of Avacyn and may be the cheapest option for a while going forward.
Recommended For: budget decks looking for cheap hexproof.
Nyx Lotus
Nyx Lotus is a massively over hyped card that is solid ramp in most non-green Mono Color decks but isn't as good as most people think it is. It's good, but it's not the best, and there's some real downsides to using it that you must consider.
The thing about Nyx Lotus is it's got super high variance. Sometimes it'll be tapping for 10+ mana. Other times it will tap for 0 mana. The worst case scenario is troubling for a 4cmc ramp card. You will want to run Nyx Lotus in Mono Color decks maximize your devotion potential. In my opinion, for Lotus to be worth running, it should be consistently tapping for 5 mana. That amount is to offset the risk of tapping for 0 mana sometimes and the fact that it enters tapped. If it can't reliably tap for 5 mana then it compares pretty unfavorably to Thran Dynamo or Gilded Lotus, both reliably tap for 3 mana and can immediately be tapped for mana.
Can most Mono Color decks reliably provide five devotion whenever Lotus is on the battlefield? I think so. It also gets better in decks with gods, like Heliod, Sun-Crowned, which are so hard to remove that you always have at least one devotion. There are decks that maximize the amount of pips in their spell costs, like Linden, the Steadfast Queen. Nyx Lotus will be especially good in Devotion decks where you're all about maximizing your devotion count, like a Mono Blue Devotion running cards like Master of Waves. But there's other Mono Color decks that lean heavily on colorless cards, like Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, which is usually an Artifact deck. Those decks would be awful homes for Nyx Lotus.
Alright, let's put Nyx Lotus in a Mono Color deck that can have it reliably tapping for five mana. Is the card absurd now? Probably not. I'd still rank Lotus lower than other big mana options like Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, and even Extraplanar Lens. The big difference here is that these mana doublers provide a similar amount of ramp but do not require you to have a good board state to use them. These ramp cards provide the maximum amount of mana even after a board wipe; Nyx Lotus does not.
So, is Nyx Lotus a good ramp card? In most Mono Color decks sure, it's pretty good. Is it absurd? No. The card is overhyped, but I do plan on running it in at least some of my Mono Color decks and there will be a few specific decks where it'll do serious work.
Recommended For: non-Green Mono Color decks where it can reliably tap for 5+ mana.
Shadowspear
Shadowspear will live up to its hype as one of the best Commander cards in the entire set. This card is the ultimate answer for playgroups that are struggling against hexproof or indestructible commanders, be they gods like Xenagos, God of Revels or Voltron like Narset, Enlightened Master, allowing removal spells to finally remove them. The low mana cost of Shadowspear is what makes this card such a good answer: the equipment itself is just 1cmc and the ability -- which doesn't even need you to equip first to use -- is also 1 mana, making it super easy to tutor up and use it when combined with follow-up removal. You can fetch this with any sort of artifact tutors, even Trinket Mage, and it's a legendary so you can even snag it with Thalia's Lancers or whatever.
Not only is Shadowspear an excellent inclusion in any deck looking for answers to hexproof/indestructible, but it's basically an auto-include in Equipment decks, where outside of its function of a hate card it's also pretty much a strict upgrade to Loxodon Warhammer, a card I'm fond of. Trample and lifelink are really good keywords to add to big beaters!
The only thing that is a bit disappointing about Shadowspear is it doesn't interact with shroud, which is super relevant since the most played equipment by a mile is Lightning Greaves. Shroud is a retired keyword so new sets won't ever mention it, but this card is clearly meant for Commander so it's unfortunate that it can't answer one of the most played cards in the format. It still goes through Swiftfoot Boots though!
Recommended For: any deck that wants a silver bullet against hexproof / indestructible; 100% staple in Equipment decks.
Soul-Guide Lantern
Soul-Guide Lantern is a new staple option for graveyard hate, immediately taking its place among old staples Tormod's Crypt and Relic of Progenitus. Crypt is cheapter to activate but only hits a single graveyard, while Relic cantrips while wiping graveyards but also wipes your own. All options comes with their own pros and cons. Lantern is going to be the best option when you want to exile all opposing graveyards while not exiling your own, which is particularly important if you're running a Graveyard deck. If speed is everything then run Crypt, and if you have minimal graveyard recursion then run Relic.
Recommended For: any deck looking for colorless graveyard hate but runs lots of graveyard recursion themselves, like Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
LANDS
Labyrinth of Skophos
Labyrinth of Skophos is a new and improved Mystifying Maze, a card I never see played in Commander (except when I tried it myself). I expect it to see just as much play. The problem with both cards is that holding up five mana to blank a potential attacker is A LOT to ask for from most decks. If you do have a deck that can easily hold back five mana each turn, then chances are you're already in a winning position and are much better off dumping all that mana into a big X spell like Genesis Wave or some haymaker like Expropriate.
With so many powerful colorless utility lands available to us, Labyrinth is way down on the priority list. You usually won't have the mana available to use its effect and when you do, you're better off just winning instead.
Recommended For: not recommended. Maybe makes the cut in a Colorless deck like Kozilek, the Great Distortion.
That's All, Folks!
That's it for the longest Commander Review I've ever done! This set is packed with TONS of amazing cards to try out in Commander, be it format-shaking bombs or just sweet budget options! I'm excited to get my hands on the new cards and I'm looking forward to hearing what you all are most excited about too! Let me know if there's any errors, sweet interactions I left out, or cards you think deserve a shoutout. Thanks for reading!
