The new Prismatic Piper commander legends spoiler gave me an idea to try and solve the power creep issue magic created by printing more and more powerful commander creatures. Sure, this card enables extremely high tier combos, but low play commanders that are weaker competitively greatly benefit from this.
Hall of Infinite Legends
Legendary Land
Hall of Infinite Legends can be your commander.
If Hall of Infinite Legends is your commander, choose two legendary creature cards from your library and put them into your command zone. The chosen cards gain Partner. Then, lose 5 life, exile the top 7 cards of your library, and remove Hall of Infinite Legends from the game. The two cards in your command zone then become your commanders.
This essentially enables any combination of commanders as a pre game effect similar to the Prismatic Piper’s pre game effect of color change. If you can begin a game without matching the color identity of your deck, but a pre game effect fixes that, then this card technically follows the rules.
Regarding the power level of a card like this, I don’t see a reason why this can’t be printed. Sure, it’s a free partner commander of your choice, but the downside (35 starting life and a deck of 90) may push players to keep the traditional 1 commander approach. Plus, most cEDH wincons don’t involve the commanders, rather a gimmick coming from tutoring a combo, which defeats the purpose if you exile the condition playing this card.
The main argument I see against this card would essentially be running a card and throwing a green legend in for ramp, but, while viable, I don’t think that this card will be mostly used for that. Rather than the expansion of the one commanders identity, the stronger synergies between two normally weaker commanders create the strongest benefit.
So you're saying I can run Marchesa, the Black Rose with a white partner so I get Cathars' Crusade, AND I get to have my life total lower than everyone else's at the start of the game?
So you're saying I can run Marchesa, the Black Rose with a white partner so I get Cathars' Crusade, AND I get to have my life total lower than everyone else's at the start of the game?
And that’s a problem compared to other potential synergies like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Azusa, Lost but Seeking? Plus, you could lose the crusade in the initial exile. Or, somebody runs a hatebear alternate partner for a deck depending on the situation to counter.
You are right that it will power up lower tier commanders, but it power the higher tier commanders up as much or more, so its kind of defeating its own purpose.
Partner is already a ridiculously strong mechanic, if for no other reason that you have two commanders instead of one. Its both the "extra card in hand" problem that companion had, combined with each partner tracking commander tax separately so its easier to keep at least one commander in play at a time. Even though most of the current universal partners aren't super powerful individually, they have still warped the game.
Further, the drawback doesn't do enough to counter that power boost. Starting at 20 life and exiling 15 might be more on par, but 7 out of a 100 card deck (and even 15) still leaves plenty of opportunity to find redundant combo pieces.
A better solution would be a card that makes a creature you have in play into your commander like You're in Command, but granting the creature and the current commander Partner.
You are right that it will power up lower tier commanders, but it power the higher tier commanders up as much or more, so its kind of defeating its own purpose.
Does it really beef up top tier commanders though? What does Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice gain by adding red besides Saheeli, Sublime Artificer? Is it worth losing life and cards to run The Gitrog Monster in my Korvold, Fae-Cursed King? Most of those top tier cards are that strong because they fit so perfectly in their color that they don’t need another color or commander to be strong. There isn’t a point to take the risk of losing combo pieces.
Now consider the combo of Márton Stromgald and Odric, Lunarch Marshal. That combo creates one of the strongest synergies for a Boros attack strategy that could in theory win consistently against high tier decks, even though the commanders alone are weak.
I think I would rather not see this printed rather than run the risk of having it spawn some absurdly broken commanders. In theory the concept is cool; I would love to run things like Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper with Mina and Denn, Wildborn and make a fun landfall/spell deck, but not everyone is going to play fair with this, and thats the problem.
You need a "before the game begins" in the commanderifying part if you want this to actually work. Also seperate the commanderifying and the "cost" as one takes place before the game and the other has to take place during the game. Looking into the rules you don't need to give them partner it just adds words to your already wordy card. Also, why a land? By being a creature you can cut out the "can be your commander" text. Anything to reduce that wall of text should be welcomed.
That said, the cost doesn't feel significant. Though I'm not sure how much you want to "punish" players if the goal is to optimize suboptimal commanders.
Bishop of Coronation2
Artifact Creature - Advisor
If Biship of Coronation is your commander, before the game begins, place two legendary permanents from your library into your command zone. Those cards are also your commanders.
As long as Bishop of Coronation is in your command zone you can't cast other spells.
0/1
This cleans up the text a lot and tries out a very different penalty for running this card. The penalty needs a lot of testing to find a place the doesn’t significantly harm the intended audience without making it a free role. Also I switched it up to legendary permanent as opposed to creatures. If you're going near full on wishfullfilment why not go the whole way.
There needs to be a middle ground somehow when making this, hence why I chose the 35 life 90 card drawback. My initial draft had “Commanders cost 2 more to cast” but I felt it hinders big cmc commanders too much. In the case of Bishop of Coronation, there isn’t a reason why you wouldn’t run that card as a commander. Sure that delays 2 turns of plays, but that isn’t a problem once it hits the battlefield, plus it’s a turn two body for any color of mana. I trotted a fine line of format vs game breaking when trying to design it and here are the reasons why I chose the card design:
1. The card shouldn’t benefit the deck by being on the field, which the easiest way would be using a pre game effect.
2. 35 life total instead of 40 causes a loss around 2-4 turns earlier depending on the table, losing a full hand gives each card individually a rough 7.5% of being exiled, meaning that out of 10 or so games, you’d most likely exile a combo piece.
3. The card shouldn’t become a perfect staple, like Sol Ring, rather other strategies should still be viable.
The land I designed is slightly format breaking, where it affects the format as a whole, yet doesn’t replace most viable strategies. The bishop is more game breaking, where it would most likely see play in almost every EDH table.
And also turn 1 Command Beacon can be a thing that beats the Bishop’s ability. Nothing can gimmick the pregame effect, in the case of the land.
As I said, the draw back is the main point of discussion. My first thought was to make it a rule of law for yourself only but it felt too restrictive. At what point would its cost make it prohibitive? 3, 4? Would entirely skipping your first tun be enough or too much?
A loss of five life ranges from irrelevant to a turn faster loss. While the 7 cards are literally either you lost a combo piece or it had no effect. The effect of running such a card shouldn't be "sometimes you just can't win at all" which is the only real downside of losing combo pieces. I don’t know how top tier decks in commander playout so I can't think of a downside that would stall them without ruining it for the casual player.
What if its cost was boosted to 4 and had "as long as its in your command zone you can't cast more than one spell a turn?" Its dowside should be consistant across games not a gamble of did it effect me at all or not.
1. How does this card cover color identity. The land is colorless and your deck needs to be commander legal even before “before the game begins” effects are present.
2. If you want to kill combo and allow commander-centric decks that wouldn’t normally see play in cEDH, I would recommend letting each opponent search through your library for 4 cards and exile them. That would kill most combo strategies dead... unless you have a combo between the two commanders like Malira and Mikaeus.
1. How does this card cover color identity. The land is colorless and your deck needs to be commander legal even before “before the game begins” effects are present.
Like I said if Prismatic Piper works and is colorless, then this land can.
Regarding the Bishop, again if you use Command Beacon it negates it, or if you run any of the spirit guides to add mana it cheats it in. And that creature is not going back to the command zone once it’s cast. At that point it’s just a lost turn. I’m not opposed to increasing the draw back, but I don’t want the opponents to get an advantage, rather the player get a disadvantage.
Hall of Infinite Legends
Legendary Land
Hall of Infinite Legends can be your commander.
If Hall of Infinite Legends is your commander, choose two legendary creature cards from your library and put them into your command zone. The chosen cards gain Partner. Then, lose 5 life, exile the top 7 cards of your library, and remove Hall of Infinite Legends from the game. The two cards in your command zone then become your commanders.
This essentially enables any combination of commanders as a pre game effect similar to the Prismatic Piper’s pre game effect of color change. If you can begin a game without matching the color identity of your deck, but a pre game effect fixes that, then this card technically follows the rules.
Regarding the power level of a card like this, I don’t see a reason why this can’t be printed. Sure, it’s a free partner commander of your choice, but the downside (35 starting life and a deck of 90) may push players to keep the traditional 1 commander approach. Plus, most cEDH wincons don’t involve the commanders, rather a gimmick coming from tutoring a combo, which defeats the purpose if you exile the condition playing this card.
The main argument I see against this card would essentially be running a card and throwing a green legend in for ramp, but, while viable, I don’t think that this card will be mostly used for that. Rather than the expansion of the one commanders identity, the stronger synergies between two normally weaker commanders create the strongest benefit.
And that’s a problem compared to other potential synergies like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim and Azusa, Lost but Seeking? Plus, you could lose the crusade in the initial exile. Or, somebody runs a hatebear alternate partner for a deck depending on the situation to counter.
Partner is already a ridiculously strong mechanic, if for no other reason that you have two commanders instead of one. Its both the "extra card in hand" problem that companion had, combined with each partner tracking commander tax separately so its easier to keep at least one commander in play at a time. Even though most of the current universal partners aren't super powerful individually, they have still warped the game.
Further, the drawback doesn't do enough to counter that power boost. Starting at 20 life and exiling 15 might be more on par, but 7 out of a 100 card deck (and even 15) still leaves plenty of opportunity to find redundant combo pieces.
A better solution would be a card that makes a creature you have in play into your commander like You're in Command, but granting the creature and the current commander Partner.
Does it really beef up top tier commanders though? What does Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice gain by adding red besides Saheeli, Sublime Artificer? Is it worth losing life and cards to run The Gitrog Monster in my Korvold, Fae-Cursed King? Most of those top tier cards are that strong because they fit so perfectly in their color that they don’t need another color or commander to be strong. There isn’t a point to take the risk of losing combo pieces.
Now consider the combo of Márton Stromgald and Odric, Lunarch Marshal. That combo creates one of the strongest synergies for a Boros attack strategy that could in theory win consistently against high tier decks, even though the commanders alone are weak.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
That said, the cost doesn't feel significant. Though I'm not sure how much you want to "punish" players if the goal is to optimize suboptimal commanders.
Bishop of Coronation 2
Artifact Creature - Advisor
If Biship of Coronation is your commander, before the game begins, place two legendary permanents from your library into your command zone. Those cards are also your commanders.
As long as Bishop of Coronation is in your command zone you can't cast other spells.
0/1
This cleans up the text a lot and tries out a very different penalty for running this card. The penalty needs a lot of testing to find a place the doesn’t significantly harm the intended audience without making it a free role. Also I switched it up to legendary permanent as opposed to creatures. If you're going near full on wishfullfilment why not go the whole way.
1. The card shouldn’t benefit the deck by being on the field, which the easiest way would be using a pre game effect.
2. 35 life total instead of 40 causes a loss around 2-4 turns earlier depending on the table, losing a full hand gives each card individually a rough 7.5% of being exiled, meaning that out of 10 or so games, you’d most likely exile a combo piece.
3. The card shouldn’t become a perfect staple, like Sol Ring, rather other strategies should still be viable.
The land I designed is slightly format breaking, where it affects the format as a whole, yet doesn’t replace most viable strategies. The bishop is more game breaking, where it would most likely see play in almost every EDH table.
And also turn 1 Command Beacon can be a thing that beats the Bishop’s ability. Nothing can gimmick the pregame effect, in the case of the land.
A loss of five life ranges from irrelevant to a turn faster loss. While the 7 cards are literally either you lost a combo piece or it had no effect. The effect of running such a card shouldn't be "sometimes you just can't win at all" which is the only real downside of losing combo pieces. I don’t know how top tier decks in commander playout so I can't think of a downside that would stall them without ruining it for the casual player.
What if its cost was boosted to 4 and had "as long as its in your command zone you can't cast more than one spell a turn?" Its dowside should be consistant across games not a gamble of did it effect me at all or not.
2. If you want to kill combo and allow commander-centric decks that wouldn’t normally see play in cEDH, I would recommend letting each opponent search through your library for 4 cards and exile them. That would kill most combo strategies dead... unless you have a combo between the two commanders like Malira and Mikaeus.
Like I said if Prismatic Piper works and is colorless, then this land can.
Regarding the Bishop, again if you use Command Beacon it negates it, or if you run any of the spirit guides to add mana it cheats it in. And that creature is not going back to the command zone once it’s cast. At that point it’s just a lost turn. I’m not opposed to increasing the draw back, but I don’t want the opponents to get an advantage, rather the player get a disadvantage.
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