Four-Color Commander

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The Nephilim are super-cool because they are the only creatures ever printed that cost four different colored mana to cast. To further cement their uniqueness, Wizards made each of them do very strange things, and gave them weird art. One thing they didn’t do, however, was make them legendary, which is something Mark Rosewater has said he wished he could go back and change.

When Commander took off as a format, players found legends to build around any singular color, any two- and three-color combination, and several five-color legends. The gaping hole in the Commander deck building framework was four colors; we had the Nephilim, but no legends. November 11th of this year, that’s going to change!

In the recent announcement dump by Wizards of the Coast, they announced that Commander 2016 would feature five four-color 100-card Commander decks. Commander fans the world over rejoiced, and then we all started thinking about what the legends in these might look like. It’s natural for our minds to immediately jump back to the cycle of Nephilim and wonder: are we going to get a cycle of legendary Nephilim? Would their text boxes be similar to the originals?

While that sounds intriguing, I’m not sure if it would really make sense or be the best option design-wise. First of all, the abilities don’t really line up well with what colors are in the casting cost, if you can even really make any sort of assumption about that when you’re jamming four colors together. At that point, I guess the card’s identity would be more tied into what color it is lacking.

Second, we’ve come a long way designing legends since Guildpact packs were cracked in the first few months of 2006. In those ten years, Commander has exploded in popularity, to the point that Wizards eventually started designing cards specifically for the format; Commander 2016 will be the fifth Commander product.

So if we’re not getting a cycle of legendary Nephilim, what might we get? I think the answer may lie with the unique flavor opportunity afforded in this new cycle of legends. What would the colors or lack of a color mean for a card, flavor-wise?

If you take the first color of each of these and separate it from the others, you end up with a singular color that feels almost diametrically opposed to the remaining “shard” color flavor-wise, right?

B/R/G/W – Black/Naya

U/B/R/G – Blue/Jund

R/G/W/U – Red/Bant

G/W/U/B – Green/Esper

W/U/B/R – White/Grixis

The new “four-color legends” don’t have to have all four colors in the casting cost like the Nephilim. They can have just a singular color in the casting cost and then the other three colors inside the text box, similar to what they did with General Tazri, who’s technically a white legend but whose color identity includes all five colors so you could build a five-color Ally Commander deck with General Tazri as your commander.

So we could have a black card with Naya mana symbols in its text box, a blue card with Jund mana symbols, a red card with Bant, etc. When we break up the colors this way, we can see a context to build a story around, which is something that all good Legends need. Given that the Shards of Alara storyline culminated with all the shards merging back into a single plane and the chaos and battles that ensued, we could have a cycle of “shard invaders,” misfits from their own original shard but who found a home in this new alien land. Let’s walk through what they might look like.

Black/Naya (B/R/G/W)

Black seeks power through ruthlessness. An individual is free to have whatever they want, provided they have the power to obtain and keep it. This makes power the most important resource, because it’s the one thing that can guarantee your ability to control your life and thus your happiness.

Naya: Humans on Naya band together to track, hunt, and work in harmony with the massive beasts of the forest. Acknowledging the beasts’ power and capacity for widespread destruction, humans have learned to herd them away from their encampments… or into enemy territory.

Naya Invader 1B

Legendary Creature – Vampire Shaman 2/3

RGW: Put a 3/3 red/green/white Beast token onto the Battlefield.

Sacrifice a Beast: Naya Invader gains +2/+2, flying, and lifelink until the end of the turn.

I envision a Vampire who is weak among his own kind. Without inherent powers, he’s not capable of building strength through regular vampiric prey. But when he hears about the mighty Beasts that roam the lands of Naya, he knows that’s the sort of blood he needs to achieve his true potential. When the first jet of hot blood passes his lips he feels the power coursing through him and he quickly learns how to channel mana to summon Beasts to satisfy his hunger.

Blue/Jund (U/B/R/G)

Blue seeks perfection through knowledge. Blue believes that each and every one of us is born a blank slate with the potential to become anything. The entire point of life is figuring out what you could achieve with the right education, experience, and tools.

Jund: On Jund, only the strongest survive—and none are stronger then the primal dragons that number in the thousands. Humans on Jund persist by hunting together. The hunter with the most kills leads the tribe in battle as well as all other matters of community.

Jund Invader 2U

Legendary Creature – Fungus Wizard 2/3

R: Target creature gains haste until the end of turn.

B, Tap: You lose 1 life and draw a card.

1G, Tap: Put two 1/1 green Saproling tokens onto the battlefield.

Funguses aren’t supposed to be intelligent, but this one was. Certainly not smart enough to become a Wizard, but this one was. This one worked hard and got top of its class… before finding out that it had more and more classes ahead. This one decided it had had enough of all the time and learning how to take more time to learn more. This one had learned enough and now it was time to leave the order and structure and discipline far behind and instead embrace the wildness of creation. Jund offered just the right hothouse to revel in creation!

Red/Bant (R/G/W/U)

Red seeks freedom through action. Life’s an adventure, and it’s up to each individual to experience it. The key is to embrace your emotions and let them guide you. If you’re happy, laugh. If you’re sad, cry. If you’re angry, hit something. If you’re scared, run away. Listen to your inner voice and you will have the opportunity to experience all that life has to offer.

Bant: Honorable to a fault, the humans of Bant build massive castles and pristine marvels of architectural beauty. Conflicts on Bant are resolved by single combat, with each side choosing a champion to fight for them.

Bant Invader 1R

Legendary Creature – Goblin Soldier 2/2

Exalted, haste

G: Bant Invader gains indestructible until end of turn.

WU: Bant Invader gains flying and vigilance until end of turn.

It’s hard to shine when you’re just one of a horde of smelly goblins. Their stench is your stench. Their inane gibbering drowns out your suggestions and ideas. Your prowess in combat is diluted by the weaklings swarming in to finish off the foe you’d already critically wounded. When all the shards of Alara united, you heard of one place where an individual can shine, where one’s prowess is applauded and supported. Bant was the perfect new home for you.

Green/Esper (G/W/U/B)

Green seeks acceptance through growth. Each individual is born with all the potential they need. The secret to a happy life is to recognize the role you were born into and then embrace it. Do what you were destined to do. The world is this elaborate system, and each one of us gets to play a part. And it’s not something we have to guess about; it’s imprinted on us, it’s in our genes. Just look within.

Esper: Cold metallic perfection defines all things in Esper. Humans here strive to join the Seekers of Carmot on their quest to unlock the secrets of etherium. Once the rare element can be supplied in quantity, they hope to finally achieve their goal: creating the perfect etherium-augmented beings.

Esper Invader 2G

Legendary Artifact Creature – Spider 2/4

Reach

W: Esper Invader may block any number of creatures this turn.

U: Esper Invader is unblockable until end of turn.

B: Regenerate Esper Invader.

You’re not sure where you came from or who made you, but in the throbbing heat of the forest and jungle, it’s not easy being artificial. You’ve heard tales of a land where artificial beings aren’t just welcome, but they actually rule. Where your nature wouldn’t be seen as unnatural at all.

White/Grixis (W/U/B/R)

White seeks peace through structure. White wants to create a world where there is no unnecessary suffering, a world where life is as good as it can be for each individual. The key to making this happen is teaching individuals the importance of taking actions which benefit the group as a whole, even if those actions might not benefit them personally.

Grixis: Surrounded by demons and horrors of all kinds, humans are hunted mercilessly on Grixis. Amid the stagnant life energy permeating the plane, humans are only able to stay alive by keeping one step ahead of their pursuers and relying on pure inventiveness.

Grixis Invader 2W

Legendary Creature – Minotaur Knight 1/2

Minotaur creatures you control get +2/+2 and first strike.

During your upkeep, put a 1/2 white Minotaur token onto the battlefield.

UBR, Tap, discard a card: Draw a card for each Minotaur you control.

She had a vision for her people: Minotaurs who were fierce and feared, potent and powerful. So many Minotaurs she’d come across in her travels were fearsome in appearance and attitude, but all too often didn’t have the actual strength to back it up. Perhaps their life was too easy and they’d just been bred to be fat and soft. There was a new land opened up to her that would not tolerate fatness or softness, a land hunted by unspeakable monsters. Grixis would be the crucible where she would forge a new bloodline of Minotaurs worthy of their horns!

Another option for making a cycle of legends with color identity containing four colors is to merge two of the guilds from Ravnica, like so:

B/R/G/W – Rakdos/Selesnya

U/B/R/G – Dimir/Gruul

W/R/G/U – Boros/Simic

W/U/B/G – Azorius/Golgari

W/B/U/R – Orzhov/Izzet

Perhaps they are spies, sent from one Guild to infiltrate another. Maybe they’d look something like this?

Selesnya Spy 2BR

Legendary Creature – Demon Archer 4/3

Convoke, lifelink

GW, Tap: Selesnya Spy fights target creature you don’t control.

Magic 2015 brought us the idea that Selesnya’s convoke mechanic could make sense in black, so it felt right to add it here, along with lifelink that you find in both white and black. I like the imagery of an archer with hidden demonic features stalking prey.

Gruul Spy 1UB

Legendary Creature – Elemental Warrior 3/3

At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card. Each player loses 1 life.

1RG: For each life target opponent lost this turn, put that many +1/+1 counters on Gruul Spy.

For this one I was riffing on the bloodthirst mechanic, Rumbling Slum, and the idea of black paying life to draw a card.

Simic Spy WR

Legendary Creature – Human Mutant 0/1

Simic Spy enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it.

Evolve, haste

GU, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Simic Spy: Target creature gets +2/+2 and can’t be blocked until end of turn.

I love the evolve mechanic and I love removing +1/+1 counters to do cool things. This card gets pretty sweet late-game with an Opal Palace adding a bunch of extra +1/+1 counters.

Golgari Spy 1UW

Legendary Creature – Insect Soldier 2/3

Dredge 3

1GB: You may put Golgari Spy onto the battlefield, into the graveyard, or into your hand. You may activate this ability if Golgari Spy is in the command zone, battlefield, graveyard, or your hand.

Mark Rosewater has stated that dredge was a huge design mistake and that dredge will never be brought back… but reading between the lines, I’m pretty sure he means never brought back in a normal expansion set. Commander products are where you can bend the rules and have fun, right? I thought this was a very interesting twist to Derevi, Empryial Tactician’s ability, but where you could put the card directly from the command zone into your graveyard during your upkeep to “draw” it with dredge. You could even put it directly into your hand to gain extra life from Ivory Tower, or to pitch to Force of Will. All sorts of shenanigans here!

Izzet Spy 2WB

Legendary Creature – Dragon 4/4

Flash, prowess

UR: Target spell you control gains rebound if it was cast from your hand.

We’ve got white Dragons and black Dragons, but I don’t think we’ve had an Orzhov Dragon before. Giving it flash, prowess, and an activated ability to rebound spells makes a darn good Izzet impersonation.

This was a very fun intellectual exercise pondering the new territory that Commander 2016 will be bring to us this Fall. What did you think of these ideas? What other ways might Wizards of the Coast give us four-color Commander decks?

New to Commander?

If you’re just curious about the format, building your first deck, or trying to take your Commander deck up a notch, here are some handy links:

Commander Primer Part 1
(Why play Commander? Rules Overview, Picking your Commander)
Commander Primer Part 2
(Mana Requirements, Randomness, Card Advantage)
Commander Primer Part 3
(Power vs. Synergy, Griefing, Staples, Building a Doran Deck)
Commander Starter Kits 1
(kick start your allied two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 2
(kick start your enemy two-color decks for $25)
Commander Starter Kits 3
(kick start your shard three-color decks for $25)