MTG Salvation

bobthefunny and the rest of the Commander team return with a recap of the latest banlist news, news of recent activity in our Commander forums, and a Commander-centric review of Khans of Tarkir!

The release of Khans of Tarkir means a new banlist change, and unlike the last few, we actually have a few things to talk about. The main change is that the “banned as commander” section has been removed to eliminate the state of half-existence for some of the more problematic commanders. This means that they are either fully banned, or fully unbanned now. In addition, Metalworker has been removed from the banlist. For a quick recap, the changes are as follows:


Un-banned
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
• Metalworker
Banned
• Braids, Cabal Minion
• Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
• Erayo, Soratami Ascendant


You can review the full list of changes on the MTG: Commander announcement. You can also discuss the changes in our Banlist Discussion Thread; please be civil and courteous when discussing things in that thread! Several Rules Committee members have been kind enough to be active in the discussions of the recent changes, so please be considerate in comments to them. We are fortunate to have their involvement and time on these forums, and to have the opportunity to get to hear their answers and feedback.

Our next piece of news is less dramatic, and far more cause for celebration: we have added two new members to the Commander Primer Committee! A Primer is an expanded deck list that goes beyond simply posting the cards included. They give in-depth explanations of how the various pieces of a deck work and how the deck plays cohesively as a whole. The primer committee is in charge of reviewing applications of deck lists for primer status; the reviews are done on a purely volunteer basis. Since primers can be quite long and the members need to read and check the entire thing, it is quite a time commitment for our members.




Please welcome Airithne and TheEndIsNear to the Primer Committee! Arithne comes to us as a previous primer applicant, with a wonderful Marath, Will of the Wild primer; TheEndIsNear comes without a primer, but brings a wealth of editing experience to the team! We welcome both!

We've had applications open for some time, and although we've taken down applications for now, we routinely look for new members. Keep your eyes open for a future announcement if you're interested in helping out. In the meantime, please read though the excellent primers already written. (We also have 1v1 primers.) If you want to write a resource of your own, read through our guides on how to write your own primer. We look forward to seeing your applications!

Cryogen runs the Top 50 List - a user-driven list of the top cards in each color - not to be confused with Scoeri's statistical breakdown, which lists the more commonly used cards. These past few weeks have covered voting on red creatures and non-creature spells. The changes are as follows:


Red Creatures
Out
• Akroma, Angel of Fury
• Flameblast Dragon
• Greater Gargadon
In
• Goblin Matron
• Ogre Battledriver
• Purphoros, God of the Forge
Red Spells
Out
• Boom // Bust
• Molten Disaster
• Price of Progress
• Word of Seizing
In
• Sneak Attack
• Goblin Bombardment
• Reforge the Soul
• Past in Flames

"This ability can be very powerful though as it
stops opponents from taking advantage of cards
like Skullclamp and Solemn Simulacrum."

Anyone who looks at this new khan will probably jump to the conclusion that it is a very similar card to Doran, the Siege Tower in Commander. While they have similarities in their size and mana cost, the two are likely to play very differently from each other - assuming you plan to build around them to some degree. If you are just playing the commander as a cheap threat then you can likely just run Doran. Anafenza is an interesting legend, though, with some interesting aspects to consider.

Ability Analysis


• First of all let's look at the size-to-mana ratio on Anafenza. The fact that you are getting a 4/4 for three mana means that you will often be coming out of the gates faster than your opponents.
• Anafenza gives out counters to creatures on attacks. This might not seem like much but there are many creatures who care about size and/or counters in general. You could also utilize counters heavily in a build focus. This ability might seem small, but out of Anafenza's abilities it is likely one of the bigger build options to look into further.
• The fact that Anafenza has graveyard hate for opponents built-in can be beneficial and painful at the same time. It means that you will be a high-priority target of any graveyard-based deck for this, and it effectively shuts off your own access to black reanimation cards used on opponents. Luckily, it does not hit your own graveyard, so it is likely that self-resurrection effects like Unburial Rites would still work well in this sort of deck. This ability can be very powerful though as it stops opponents from taking advantage of cards like Skullclamp and Solemn Simulacrum. Anafenza's exile ability is a replacement effect, so those cards never trigger a death effect.

Synergies


• Doubling Season/Parallel Lives/Primal Vigor/Hardened Scales - These cards all interact with Anafenza by increasing the number of +1/+1 counters she gives out. They are the start of the rabbit hole that is building around +1/+1 counters.
• Kalonian Hydra/Solidarity of Heroes - Once you get the counters up and running it is nice to double them up.
• Primeval Bounty/Increasing Savagery/Forgotten Ancient/Strength of the Tajuru/Vigor/Necropolis Regent/Cathars' Crusade - These are all great +1/+1 counter builders. Having more means of getting +1/+1 counters rolling is a good plan as Anafenza can be a little slow to build up +1/+1 counters while running solo.
• Champion of Lambholt/Mycoloth/Scute Mob/Spike Weaver/Triskelion/Gyre Sage/Experiment One/Mikaeus, the Lunarch/Thought Gorger/Devoted Druid/Ghave, Guru of Spores/Hooded Hydra - These are some particularly great creatures to give +1/+1 counters to.
• Cauldron of Souls/Woodfall Primus/Kitchen Finks/Puppeteer Clique/Twilight Shepherd - Persist can be abused by giving the creatures +1/+1 counters. As a state-based +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters balance out and remove each other. This means that you can persist multiple times by negating the -1/-1 counter.
• Phyrexian Crusader/Inkmoth NexusPlague Stinger/Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon/Triumph of the Hordes/Whispering Specter - Infect suffers from their creatures generally being undersized. Utilizing Anafenza, you can bring these creatures up to size in short order, making for some fast kills. B/G is the home of many infect cards, so Anafenza is in the right colors to support an infect plan.
• Glare of Subdual/Diversionary Tactics/Reconnaissance - These cards are means to get +1/+1 counters on creatures you otherwise don't really want to attack with. Anafenza, the Foremost requires the +1/+1 counter recipient to be tapped, so these are a few ways to make that happen with combat-averse critters.

As a Commander

Anafenza is a strong candidate for being a build-around commander. Many of the interactions within the deck will be a bit subtle, but very interesting nonetheless. The two directions I really see an Anafenza deck going are either +1/+1 counter-based or Armageddon/Stax-based. The +1/+1 counter-based strategy is the more natural synergy and how I see Anafenza used best in a synergistic build. Due to her low casting cost, Anafenza also slots into the role of a cheap commander who slides under an Armageddon to do some work. There are a lot of other cheap commanders who play the Stax plan well, though, and I think Anafenza doesn't quite have the right abilities to pull off Stax as well. It is always possible to break away from that and do something a little less traditional, but to some degree most decks are going to gravitate towards a good-stuff approach. I think it is also possible to build her as a three-color Gaddock Teeg deck, but it’s likely that Karador, Ghost Chieftain in the same colors would have a stronger support role for that sort of build.

As a Singleton

Anafenza, the Foremost is a cheap beater with some decent utility attached to her when placed in the library. In general, Anafenza fits with tactics that try pushing for early game attackers as well as with plans to blow up lands. In a lot of decks, though, the question will arise of why to include Anafenza specifically as a singleton over other creatures such as Serra Ascendant. There are many other creatures for the same or less converted mana cost who tend to have more impact. When considering Anafenza as a standalone card, the strongest ability to consider is the graveyard hate. Without the resiliency of being the commander, the consistency of timing would be an issue as Anafenza needs to be in play before your opponents' cards would be sent to the graveyard. Entering the battlefield after a large graveyard-based play won’t do much help mitigate the impact. To some extent, Anafenza could be useful as a creature in decks that rely heavily on getting Gaddock Teeg into play, but seeing as Teeg has one less color himself, Anafenza cannot be played in a deck with Teeg as its commander. Still, Gaddock Teeg decks often have issues with cards like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, so she is an option for defending against these sort of tactics. Anafenza, the Foremost is a card worthy of consideration for a few different roles. I don't think I would dismiss utilizing Anafenza as a singleton in commander entirely, but figuring out where and why remains an issue.

"I will cry every time I get hit by a
Eldrazi Conscripted Narset."

~SCDL

While going up against Zedruu the Greathearted or Ruhan of the Fomori to become an acceptable commander for the WUR color composition isn't a difficult task, Narset holds back no punches and provides solid power from the command zone. While the converted mana cost of six is quite high for a 3/2, her powerful abilities explain her cost quite well. Hexproof is a valuable ability on a commander, making them immune to a lot of common removal options in the format. Her main ability straps a huge amount of card advantage onto every swing, making Narset act like Maelstrom Wanderer on every attack. Card advantage in the command zone is always powerful as it allows you to reliably recover momentum during the game.

Narset opens up a lot of build options in her colors. The first is quite simply to include Voltron elements into your deck. As a 3/2 it can be difficult to attack and expect her to survive. A host of protection spells and combat tricks can alleviate this, but these dilute the power of her ability. Instead, you can buff her with a large amount of Equipment and Auras to bring her up to par, and every swing will increase your arsenal. Adding in Vedalken Orrery will even let you buff her with Auras mid-combat. The addition of Leonin Shikari allows similar tricks with Equipment as well. Packing some protection spells can still be useful to ensure that Narset survives combat, as will Reconnaissance. Unlike Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, Narset can also take advantage of extra combat step spells, as she retains the ability to cast those spells until the end of your turn. Each of these then represents extra resolutions of the ability to escalate the situation even faster. Of course, time magics will prove as potent as ever.

Even if Narset dies during her attack, a single activation of the ability still represents massive card advantage. Expect Narset decks to be light on lands, but heavy on mana-producing artifacts: this will help power out Narset's six-cost faster, while also allowing you to ramp up on attacks as well - something slightly needed in these colors.

Other options enjoy a more conservative heavy Pillowfort enchantment or value-artifact builds. Being able to flip over and cast some of the high cost defensive enchantments in Narset's colors like Sphere of Safety, or powerful artifact engines such as Salvaging Station for free will be a great boon and allow you to grow your board position quite quickly. Blue's library manipulation will prove an asset, and some parts of Intet, the Dreamer decks could be used to help. Sensei's Divining Top can be used to draw a card in response to the ability and freely re-cast afterwards, allowing you to save a land, counterspell, or creature to hand.

If you are looking to build a Narset deck, be sure to read some of the first impressions in the New Card Discussion thread, as well as spike4972's brainstorming thread. Finally, you may find some good ideas in Steamsteam's discussion of additional costs. Since Narset casts the spells for free, you can't cast them for alternate costs such as overload. However, you do get the option to pay for additional costs like buyback and kicker.

"Tombstone Stairwell positively floods
the board with Zombies when you have
a well-stocked graveyard."

With a 3/3 body and an ability that triggers on both entering the battlefield and attacking, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant does a decent impression of a half-Grave Titan. So long as a deck has 30 or more creatures in it, Sidisi’s ability will typically make a zombie on most triggers. While that may seem slightly underwhelming for four mana, there are two other factors that need to be taken into account: Sidisi feeds your graveyard, and Sidisi makes a Zombie whenever you mill one or more creatures through any other means. Depending which of her abilities you focus on, Sidisi can make a solid aggro-attrition general, a Zombie Tribal leader, or a brutal combo general capable of ridiculous shenanigans.

The most obvious direction that Sidisi pulls in is Dredge. With access to every card with the mechanic ever printed, plus Blue's looting, it's very easy to build a solid engine deck. The deck can churn through big pieces of itself every turn, generating Zombie tokens with Sidisi in the process. This gives plenty of fodder for token-durdling tactics using cards like Opposition, Attrition, Sadistic Hypnotist, Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, Altar of Dementia, Perilous Forays, Blood Artist, and Falkenrath Noble. Effects like Beastmaster Ascension or Craterhoof Behemoth are available to help you land the killing blow. While dredging through the deck, there are many opportunities to gain incremental advantage. Creatures like Gravecrawler, Bloodghast, Bloodsoaked Champion, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton join your ranks from beyond the grave. Spells like Dread Return, Creeping Renaissance, Spitting Image, Worm Harvest, Genesis, and Life from the Loam do great work from your graveyard and turn it into a major resource. Cards like Brawn, Wonder, and Filth can buff your army from beyond the grave. If you want to take things in a nastier attrition-based direction, Sidisi provides plentiful fodder for Stax effects like Smokestack, Possessed Portal, and Descent into Madness.

Sidisi's brood of Zombies also means you can easily put her at the helm of a Sultai-colored Zombie Tribal deck. Many Zombies, like the aforementioned Gravecrawler, Ashen Ghoul, Nim Devourer, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, Skaab Ruinator, and others love to be milled into your graveyard for value. Tombstone Stairwell positively floods the board with Zombies when you have a well-stocked graveyard. Gravespawn Sovereign lets you tap the army of Zombies being generated by Sidisi to reanimate the very creatures you mill. Add in a plethora of lords from one of the most well-supported subtypes, including all-stars like Undead Warchief, Graveborn Muse, Death Baron, Lord of the Undead, and Havengul Runebinder, and you can quickly devour your enemies.

Perhaps the deadliest direction Sidisi can go in, however, is combo. Mesmeric Orb on its own is a devastating effect with Sidisi, as each mill trigger is individual, giving you a Zombie for each creature card milled. However, combine it with any card that can untap itself, like Basalt Monolith, Seeker of Skybreak, or Aphetto Alchemist, and you can mill your entire library card-by-card. This will give you a Zombie for every creature card in your deck, which can be 30 or more depending on your build. This can even be made boundless, either by utilizing an Eldrazi Titan to reshuffle your entire graveyard back in, or a Lorwyn Incarnation to just shuffle itself in each time. With limitless tokens and your library in your graveyard, it can become trivially easy to win. There are many options for a swift victory, such as a Dread Return'd Craterhoof Behemoth, Eternal Witness for Concordant Crossroads, or Gravespawn Sovereign to reanimate your entire graveyard (which could include Laboratory Maniac and a creature to draw the remaining cards in your library.) There are also a few other possible combos that Sidisi can enable. Greater Good with dredge cards means that you can sacrifice one of Sidisi's Zombies to dredge twice, likely putting at least one - if not two - zombies onto the battlefield each time. Repeat to mill the entire deck and generate a few bonus Zombies in the process. Combine with Ulamog/Kozilek as usual to create an endless horde of Zombies. Narcomoeba can also do some fun things, mostly with Mortuary or Haunted Crossroads to repeatedly place it on the top of your deck to mill directly into play. Throw in an Altar and potentially Selhoff Occultist/Sage's Row Denizen/Extractor Demon, and it's easy to see how this can go infinite. Even something as simple as Altar of Dementia on its own, aimed at yourself, can easily fuel Zombie replacement given sufficient creature density, to dig incredibly deep within your library.

" He's a hasty, indestructible creature
with seven power, for only five mana.”

What can I say? He's a hasty, indestructible creature with seven power, for only five mana. Unblocked, that makes him a three-turn clock against a single player, which is pretty impressive!

By virtue of his indestructibility, he obviously breaks board wipes such as Wrath of God and Damnation. Possibly the most exciting use for him in this respect is to use board wipes which also destroy lands such as Jokulhaups and Worldslayer. Resetting the board and leaving yourself with a 7/2 (or larger) is a potentially game-ending play, and I can see Zurgo becoming the face of a mass land-destruction deck in the near future. However, for all his potential power, he is unfortunately very vulnerable outside of your turn - having only two base toughness means that he is in range of cards such as Skinrender, Pyroclasm, and a very small Toxic Deluge.

Combat is obviously going to be Zurgo's main path to victory, and I feel that there are some very powerful interactions we can use to make the most of his abilities:

• Nemesis Mask will ensure that multiple creatures block Zurgo, and we can use a board wipe or something that gives him deathtouch to ensure that those creatures die, giving Zurgo more +1/+1 counters.
• Loxodon Warhammer admittedly may seem unoriginal, but a 10/2 trample with lifelink nothing to scoff at. It would buffer your life total considerably, and would also ensure that Zurgo connects with your opponent most of the time to give them a few more points of general damage.
• If you want to make Zurgo an even quicker finisher, there's infect! Grafted Exoskeleton and Phyresis can make him an even faster clock than he already is. It's a shame Glistening Oil would potentially kill him off so quickly!
• Lastly, let's not forget Sunforger. The +4/+0 buff is very nice, and being able to tutor for lots of removal spells is going to make it far easier to control combat - exactly what Zurgo wants to be doing.
Overall I think that Zurgo has the potential to be a very powerful commander with several different routes to take in a deck built around him. However, due to his vulnerable two base toughness, it will be particularly easy for metas to adapt should he become a popular choice within that meta.

"Maelstrom Wanderer will benefit the most
from him… making Wanderer uncounterable and
giving it trample are big”

Let's check out his stats first. He's a 6/6 for five mana, and flash gives him pseudo-haste. He also can't be countered, so barring a small number of interactions, he can always come down right before your untap step. He makes your other creature spells uncounterable, and gives the rest of your team trample. One interesting interaction is that if he's not in play and someone attempts to counter a key creature of yours, you can flash him in as a counterspell of sorts. So, what's the plan with him?

Synergestic cards from Khans of Tarkir:

• Temur Ascendancy - Cast a fatty, draw a card, then swing with it.
• Clever Impersonator - Since it is cast as a creature, you can't counter it. Then it can enter the battlefield as anything you want.

Boring: Run him as a general, load the deck up with fatties and ramp spells, tutor up Prophet of Kruphix, and spam the board. I call this boring because the deck will generally play the same every game. Naturally this will depend on the actual creatures you run, but I lump this style of deck in with Ruric Thar, which you generally have to put constant pressure on as quickly as possible.

Interesting: Run him as a support card. This is where I think he will get the most value.

• Maelstrom Wanderer will benefit the most from him, because that deck doesn't want to play counterspells. Granted, it also generally runs a bunch of non-creature spells as well, but making Wanderer uncounterable and giving it trample are big.
• Riku of Two Reflections is another deck that will get better with Surrak. The mana that would generally have to be held up to protect some of the larger creatures can now be spent on copying them.
• Animar, Soul of Elements is a creature-heavy deck to begin with, so it can use Surrak to defend the various combo engines. The trample isn't as relevant in the deck outside of Animar himself so I think Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is a better choice than Surrak, overall.
• Intet, the Dreamer is a fatty that likes to swing for big damage. It also has to deal combat damage in order to use its triggered ability, so Surrak will fit well in the deck.
• Five color decks like Scion of the Ur-Dragon or Sliver decks will benefit from Surrak even if he doesn't fit the tribal theme simply because they tend to be aggressive creature decks.

The ‘Outlast' Anthems: White's ability to share abilities across creatures with +1/+1 counters pairs very well with Cathar's Crusade, and will synergize well with current Bant-colored +1/+1 counter decks. Giving an army abilities like flying, lifelink, or first strike will be fairly useful. While these creatures take a few turns to pump themselves up and come online, they grant the abilities immediately to your other creatures. A +1/+1 counter-focused deck or a commander with +1/+1 counters will be able to benefit immediately.

Brave the Sands seems to be gaining a popular vote; while it will never replace Reconnaissance for me, vigilance is admittedly under-represented and undervalued in multiplayer games. The secondary effect of blocking multiple attackers is a nice bonus to have as well, allowing chump blockers to be more effective.

End Hostilities: End Hostilities is another powerful five-cost wrath option. While it lacks the finality of tucking the cards it hits, it more than makes up for it by cleaning out equipment and bestowed creatures. If there are Voltron decks in your area, this may be a solid choice to look at alongside some of the more traditional wrath effects.

Timely Hordemate adds another effect to the Proclamation of Rebirth-style packages. The cost limit has been raised to two mana, as is the style with new printings of this effect recently. It will also make an interesting addition to blink decks, such as Brago, King Eternal, as an early game reanimator. Timely Hordemate also adds another card that goes infinite with Saffi Eriksdotter, so expect it as an addition in those lists as well.

Our list for Blue starts off with quite possibly one of the more exciting cards in the set - Clever Impersonator. At a converted mana cost of four, this impostor is on target with other clone effects. However, the clone ability being opened up to enchantments and planeswalkers will make this card quite powerful and quite popular in Commander. Being able to tutor it up with Green's creature tutors, or reanimating it in Black to copy a valuable enchantment will likely be a part of clutch plays in certain games.

I find Disdainful Stroke to be an interesting card for Commander. Typically people don't get too excited about commons, and even less excited about conditional counterspells. After all, this card won't save your commander from a Swords to Plowshares. What it will do for you though is protect your board from a wipe, stop game ending spells, and even prevent a large number of commanders from entering the battlefield on a crucial turn when you go in for the kill. For me, the magic CMC for a counterspell is two, and I prefer them to have less intense color requirements. It is why Arcane Denial is by far my favorite counterspell in Commander, and why I think this Disdainful Stroke shows promise.

I am likewise a huge fan of Quiet Contemplation. While many aggressive decks would only be able to use the effect sparingly, being able to tap down creatures off of every mana rock you cast is a huge bonus. Even if you're not the one attacking, shutting down opposing blockers to make other players a juicier target seems valuable. Once you enter the realm of Draw-Go-style permission decks, the potential for added value skyrockets even more.

Kheru Spellsnatcher is a new morph with a powerful effect. Adding a Spelljack to the morph package is certainly interesting, and while it may be expensive to the point of cuteness to try to bounce it and re-morph it, its ability to pair nicely with Vesuvan Shapeshifter brings it into a notable spot on the list, as the interaction enables another effective repeatable counter option, with much better upside. The addition of another card capable of stopping Krosan Grip is another strong point for me in its favor.

Since just a few cards ago I discussed the Disdainful Stroke as a cheap new color-light option for the counterspell suite, I of course also need to focus on Stubborn Denial as well. Force Spike can be difficult to use, but quite powerful in key situations. Being able to upgrade it into a one-mana counterspell seems good, especially since it will likely be used to protect the creature that is turning on its ferociousness. After all, the best way to ensure that you can have a creature with four or more power on the battlefield is to have one in your command zone.

Weave Fate is has functional similarity to Inspiration. It removes the targeting portion of the spell, meaning you can't help out an ally, but it also means that it can't be redirected. It can also be a solid second copy of the ability if you had a deck that ran through large quantities of instant speed draw, such as Talrand, Sky Summoner decks or Storm-style decks.

Blue also got some excellent gifts in the form of some delve-based card advantage with Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise. While it may seem counter-intuitive to be eating your own graveyard in Commander as Blue would seek to re-use its graveyard, heavy draw decks or Storm decks with many wheels will have more than enough extra chaff in the graveyard to drop the cost of these spells to an amazing value. Taigam's Scheming is another card worthy of note for these blue spell-slinging decks, as it can enable good library manipulation as well as some graveyard options.

Bitter Revelation adds even more options to the arsenal of “two cards for two life” spells that black mages have available to wield. This version adds a heftier cost, but also adds the capability to dig further into the deck, and even set up for reanimation plays. For an added minor note, this spell also doesn't “draw” the cards, allowing it to bypass thieves.

Bloodsoaked Champion is a card that I am rather excited about. Both Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton can add a lot of value over the course of a game for Black, and Bloodsoaked Champion adds another option to the mix. The inability to activate him on passive turns is certainly a drawback, but the relatively low cost and easier trigger will certainly give him a slot in some decks.

Empty the Pits is the super high-cost Black spell of the set, and many people are viewing it in comparison to Army of the Damned. While Army has several advantages in certain regards, I like Empty the Pits more for a few reasons. The first is obviously the instant speed. While the tokens entering tapped will prevent you from using it as a surprise defense, the ability to cast this at the end of your opponents turn for a surprise blowout is huge. Not many spells are capable of dealing with a surprise army at instant speed. The second is the delve mechanic on the spell. While Black decks will like having their graveyards to extend their hand, there will always be extra cards you don't need, and being able to turn every two cards in your graveyard into a 2/2 threat just by holding up four mana is excellent value.

Grim Haruspex is another great addition to the black card draw lineup. The lack of token support is always sad, but the ease of splashing and reanimation mean that this Wizard will see play in a large number of decks. Shattergang Brothers decks will certainly be able to profit from it, and many sacrifice-based Black decks will gain miles of value from it. I'm already making room in my own Chainer, Dementia Master deck for it, where I will be looping Black's suite of cheap self-recurring creatures.

Speaking of sacrifice engines, Kheru Bloodsucker adds redundancy to Blood Artist loops in those styles of decks. While its limitations mean that you will not be able to profit on looping Reassembling Skeleton - at least, not easily, - its ability scaling off of the number of players to deal pain faster, as well as to buffer your own life more means that the card will be useful in at least a few reanimation loop decks, such as Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed.

Murderous Cut is notable as it will give a late game single-mana answer to Black that isn't color-restricted or costs a large amount of life. The ability to answer threats on a low amount of mana can make a huge difference in clutch turns. Unfortunately, the Cut will be a dead card in most early-game situations, which I feel will make it far from being a standard addition to Black decks. Toshiro Umezawa Dredge decks will be happy to see it, though.

Raiders' Spoils adds a conditional Coastal Piracy to Black's card draw enchantments. You might be surprised at how many low-cost utility Warriors Black has: Bloodsoaked Champion is the new player to the party, but Reassembling Skeleton, Tenacious Dead and Golgari Thug are useful cheap Warriors to poke early in the game with. Of course, the best way to ensure a Warrior is hitting you opponent is to ensure that your commander is a Warrior.

Ashcloud Phoenix gives Red a new flavor of Phoenix. Self-recurring creatures are always nice, so this gives Red a resilient flyer to suit up in decks like Godo, Bandit Warlord.

I don't feel that Goblinslide is as powerful as its blue counterpart, but it is a fairly low-investment token producer which will give small value stapled to mana rocks early game. Later on, the haste will be nice once you have a few anthems up to drive a few extra points of damage home. I expect to see it most in R/W decks, where it will be easiest to tutor up Skullclamp. Blue is another good color to go with it, as cycling through draw spells turns it into a pseudo-Talrand, Sky Summoner.

Howl of the Horde gives a new fork effect for Red. The double copy just for attacking during the turn is especially nice, and if the opponent wants to counter it, they have to do it before they know what you're going to cast off of it. Expect to see it especially frequently in Wort, the Raidmother decks, as they'll be more than happy to sacrifice a Goblin on attack to be able to conspire this afterwards.

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker - Planeswalkers can be a risky investment in Commander, as they have low opportunity cost for your opponents to remove during the game. A 4/4 hasty flyer for five is ok, but still rather small for Commander. Likewise on his removal; four damage is a good amount, but in Commander the magic number is often six. Finally, his ultimate gives Red some much needed card advantage, but losing your hand and the answers in it is a tough blow. I could see him used in some decks tailored to getting extra mileage from his abilities, but this will be the exception rather than the norm.

Hardened Scales is going to be one of the cards from this set which will see quite a bit of play in Commander. Since it is specific to certain strategies it certainly will not be an auto-include for the color, but instead will add a lot of value to any deck with a +1/+1 counter strategy. Certain commanders which will almost certainly include the scales automatically include Marath, Will of the Wild, Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, Ghave, Guru of Spores, Animar, Soul of Elements - and just about everyone else that has anything to do with +1/+1 counters.

Hooded Hydra is a new gift for those who are Hydra Tribal enthusiasts, however, I always pay attention to creatures that replace themselves when they die. These creatures are good for keeping board presence post-wrath, and usually have combo potential. The Hydra is also another morph that plays very nicely with Vesuvan Shapeshifter, as the shifter will keep the counters when it turns back down and add five more every time you flip it up, making it a larger and larger threat. Likewise, the Hydra itself pairs well with Ixidron for the same reason.

Rattleclaw Mystic is a nice color-fixer for the Temur colors. If you need that first bit of green in your hand to get your land fixing started, this creature can unmorph on colorless to get that started. Even without that, playing it as a morph on turn three allows you to unmorph as a ritual the next turn, and cast either Riku of Two Reflections or Surrak Dragonclaw a turn early, even without another land drop.

See the Unwritten got a lot of hype in the New Cards Discussion thread, but I don't see Summoning Trap played very much, and I feel the two cards are very similar in nature.

This section has me the most excited, as this is where most of the new cards will shine. With several full cycles of cards, there is a lot of good cards for the wedge-colored and five-colored decks. First among them is the new Charm Cycle. The new wedge charms all feature removal on the primary color of their modes, with additional utility on the other colors. Generally speaking each of the effects has the power of a two-mana spell on their own, but the versatility of having three different options really make the charms shine in a game like Commander.


• I personally really like Abzan Charm as while the removal has some limitations, it's far from prohibitive. The effect also exiles the target which is a great boon in Commander where the graveyard gets used so much. Card draw at instant speed is another great mode. While the +1/+1 counters will see the least play, they still make a good combat trick.
• Sultai Charm is my next favorite, since it can destroy the widest range of permanents, hitting artifacts, enchantments, and several powerful creatures. It also has a nice card advantage option as the third mode.
• Jeskai Charm is fairly closely tied to Sultai Charm for me, as putting commanders on top of the library in response to a tutor is often a great way to get rid of them. The other two modes are a bit weaker though, which lowers the charm's overall value a bit.
• Temur Charm adds nice creature removal alongside a Mana Leak, making it serve a lot of potential answers. The third mode is also quite nice to remove chump blockers from the equation when you go for the finishing blow.
• Finally, Mardu Charm is likely more powerful for other formats, as all of the modes simply do not hit hard enough for the differences found in Commander games.

The Ascendancy Cylce introduces some powerful new enchantments to the wedge lineups.


• Abzan Ascendancy may see some play in Ghave, Guru of Spores decks, as well as some sacrifice-based Karador, Ghost Chieftain decks. While the overall effect is mostly the same as Field of Souls, the slightly lower CMC and marginal benefit mean it will see just that tiny bit more play.
• Jeskai Ascendancy is quite possibly going to be one of the scariest to see hit the tables in front of you. It can generate a large amount of buffs very quickly, especially when added to a token army. The filtering option allows the player to keeping digging through non-creature spells to really pump up the damage. As if that wasn't enough, the untap portion of the ability can both be used defensively with the army, or can fuel a variety of powerful effects and combos. Simply untapping Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Azami, Lady of Scrolls will be quite potent. If you add a Mnemonic Wall with Kiki-Jiki, you can even go infinite with some red rituals. Animating artifacts so that they can keep generating mana can also fuel some crazy Rube Goldberg combos.
• Mardu Ascendancy is another good addition for early aggression decks, to simply build up a board presence very quickly, similar in style to Hero of Bladehold or Militia's Pride.
• Sultai Ascendancy reminds me of Mirri's Guile in terms of library manipulation, but adds a fallback of enabling some reanimation targets as well as adding filtration to the ability in case you are unable to shuffle away the things you don't want to see again. In general, this won't be replacing Sylvan Library in any decks, but may add another decent card-quality filter for some decks. Reanimation decks would especially appreciate this, as they can turn the discard into partial card advantage.
• Temur Ascendancy I feel this the second-biggest threat among its cycle, and will likely see play. I personally will already run Fires of Yavimaya and some form of Kavu Lair effects in my decks; This staples the two together for you, pairing up haste and card draw. Riku, Animar and now Surrak Dragonclaw will all like casting big creatures and drawing cards off of them. In Animar decks it will allow chaining large threats together in rapid succession. Riku will be happy to pull double value off of his creatures, turning them into full draw spells rather than simple cantrips. Surrak granting trample out the gates as well as the enchantment's haste anthem will translate into a lot of damage output.

There are also several other powerful multicolored cards that will likely have a large impact in games:

Ankle Shanker, while being expensive for its 2/2 body, makes it incredibly hard for your opponent to block any of your creatures. Even alone, it would take your opponent a triple-block to be able to remove it using combat damage without some sorts of tricks or protection.

I almost included Crackling Doom in the charms section, to replace the comparatively weaker Mardu Charm. Instant-speed edict effects are always powerful, and hitting every opponent - as well as having restrictions on what gets sacrificed - makes this a powerful removal spell. I expect to see this enter into a large range of Sunforger packages across the board.

Duneblast may be an expensive wrath, but having board presence left over after a wrath is always a nice position to be in. Voltron decks will especially like this effect as a way to punch through defences.

Flying Crane Technique may be expensive, but is one of those cards that can really swing the momentum of a game. Using the double strike offensively can quickly eliminate a player from the game, while the untapping portion will act as a pseudo-vigilance to deter possible retribution. Used defensively, it can eliminate an opponent's army while leaving yours untouched. It can also enable some smaller creatures to trade up with larger ones at a surprise, potentially reversing crippling board states.

Kheru Lich Lord can use all of the Sedris, the Traitor King tricks to keep the creatures it revives around, while the evasion and haste can put the pressure on the opponents while you re-use its powerful effects on the creatures in your graveyard.

Entering with multiple extra bodies allows Ponyback Brigade to be used in a number of combos, most notably adding another creature to the Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar combo.

Sorin, Solemn Visitor is most likely to be included into decks for his ultimate. His previous incarnation serves as both a better anthem effect and a more consistent token producer. Since planeswalkers don't typically live long enough to ultimate, I usually prefer not to include them primarily for that ability, though this Sorin will still play well in five-color planeswalker control decks.

Utter End is one of the cards that I am actually most excited for in the set. Vindicate is a powerful removal option despite its sorcery speed, so upgrading that to instant speed and giving the permanence of exile to deal with the upswing of Gods in the meta make this a solid include for any deck.

Villainous Wealth gives a form of reverse Genesis Wave, and will certainly lead to a lot of blowouts. Since it uses your opponents' decks, it'll also lead to a more random element, and far more amusement around the table. While it certainly may become a simple finisher spell like Gen Wave, I expect the reactions around the table to it to be quite different overall.

Altar of the Brood may look inoffensive, but it can do some respectable work to fuel a reanimation deck. Wildfire393 also pointed out to me that Altar of the Brood has a rather silly interaction with Undead Alchemist.

Finally Khans of Tarkir also introduces a lot of good mana fixing in both the lands and artifacts, giving Commander decks further quality options in creating a stable mana base. Be sure to pick up your fetchlands now that they have dropped significantly in price.