Welcome to the land of the lost and things soon to be found! We’re just
about ready to explore what Rivals of Ixalan will bring us, from
gleaming treasures to rampaging Dinosaurs, from hungry adventurers to
denizens of the deep.
Remember that this is a Commander-only review for the set. I’m sure there
are plenty of cards which will be thunder lizards in other formats; judging
them as not quite fit for Commander isn’t an insult to them at all. I’m
going to break down each color plus artifacts and lands, offering you
commentary on the most relevant cards. I won’t have snarky things to say
about the ones that don’t measure up, I’ll simply leave them off the list.
I’ll pick my Top 3 for each color and give it a grade as a whole.
Before we get there, we’ll talk about the new mechanic in Rivals of Ixalan, ascend. Simply put, if you play cards with
ascend, you’ll definitely get the city’s blessing. This is Commander, after
all. Ten permanents is just getting started. Once the people adore you,
cool stuff will happen.
White
You’ll have to be aggressive to get full value out of Bishop of Binding,
but there are some rather large creatures running around the format. It can
suddenly turn from a tiny 1/1 to something quite immense.
My blazing hope is that someone actually plays this and has it do
something.
White Vampires still make my neck twitch a little, but I’ll get over it.
Whenever triggered abilities untap permanents, I have to think there’s a
cool combo or synergy lurking nearby. There doesn’t seem to be anything
infinite or broken here, but comboing with Volrath’s Gardens could be neat.
If you’re going to play Vampire tribal, you might as well tutor for your
biggest, most blood-thirsty Vampire. The second ability isn’t all that
relevant. Unless you’re also playing Horobi, Death’s Wail, which then makes
life interesting-especially if you’re playing Edgar Markov as your
commander.
Sorry, it doesn’t also tell you that you can have any number in your deck.
Flying Dinosaurs should probably scare the bejeebus out of you.
It’s each upkeep, not each of your upkeeps, so the Paladin can get
rather large rather quickly, especially if you’re slowly draining yourself
somehow, like with Baleful Force.
Like I said earlier, you’re getting the city’s blessing. Feed your tribal
decks the ability to stay around and defend you as well as doing glorious
battles.
Before getting savaged by the Commander 2017 Vampire deck, I
wouldn’t have thought too much about putting +1/+1 counters on Vampires.
The idea now haunts my dreams.
It’s a little weirdly worded, but the upshot is that everyone gets to save
up to four power worth of creatures. In Commander, that’s going to wreck
quite a few dreams-at a very low cost.
Seems a little situational, but I suppose if you’re worried about that
person who telegraphed Insurrection, you’ll have an answer.
When I first looked at the card, I thought that it was a Dinosaur version
of Lashknife Barrier. When I RTFC’d, I realized that it was way better than
that. Sure, it’s only for Dinosaur tribal, but we have some sweet options
to explore.
I’m a fan of the enrage mechanic, mostly because I’m a fan of Aether Flash.
Repeatedly dealing a little damage to your own creatures never felt so
good.
Wait, what? And it’s legendary? Way back in the day, we would never have
dreamed the dream that included mono white Dinosaurs. We live in exciting
times.
Top 3:
Zetalpa, Parimal Dawn; Slaughter the Strong; Trapjaw Tyrant.
Grade: C+.
The best few are really nice, but the number of playable cards is slightly
low.
Blue
With 1UU now being the standard for your basic counterspell, Admiral’s
Order becomes good. In Commander, however, we have access to the original
Counterspell (best art still being the Tempest version), Mana Drain, and
more. In this format, your counterspells simply need to do more than just
get a one for one. Admiral’s Order is probably best when you want to cast
Time Stretch after you attack.
It might not do enough to warrant getting played, unless it’s in concert
with Seafloor Oracle.
My local group and I love the blowout cards like Hushwing Gryff, so you
know we’re giddy about Crafty Cutpurse. Living the dream would be casting
this on the heels (wings?) of Storm Herd. It would also be something if
someone wants to hit you with Clone Legion.
The trick with Induced Amnesia is never letting it go to the graveyard.
Exile it if you must, but bounce it back to your hand if you can. Then
repeat. Nasty.
What have we already said about ascend? Drawing cards for nothing is always
great. In black, you have to pay life (like with Phyrexian Arena). With
blue, just have ten permanents. Easy stuff.
I’m grooving on the mono colored Dinosaur commanders, and Elder Dinosaur is
a nice nod to the Elder Dragons. Maybe we’ll get even more Elders of other
tribes. Elder Phelddagrif, maybe? Personally, I’m more likely to play
Nezahal as 1 of 99 in some kind of reanimator deck-so it can help me put
the cards I want into the graveyard.
Now we’re talking! There are obvious things to do with Release to the
Wind-such as exile your Mystic Snake until you need it again-but then
there’s the less obvious. In a multiplayer game, there might come a time
when you need to exile temporarily someone else’s Mystic Snake so that they
can save the table. Love this card.
As if Merfolk tribal weren’t already drawing enough cards, here comes
Seafloor Oracle-and the call back to Acquatic Incursion.
So what you’re saying is draw three cards, amirite?
Just a sweet reprint.
Helping out Admiral Beckett Brass borrowing stuff is all the rage these
days. I’m happy to do the raging.
Regular readers will know that I’m not fond of combos which create infinite
turns, but I’m not averse to taking one or two here or there. And it’s a
Pirate, which is extra saucy.
Best use for Warkite Marauder is making Avacyn, Angel of Hope destructible.
Top 3:
Crafty Cutpurse, Release to the Wind, Kumena’s Awakening.
Grade:
A. I could have put more than three cards in the Top 3, and the density is
good.
Black
You don’t really need to be playing Vampires, since it’ll still draw a card
from itself, but why wouldn’t you want to?
Yo ho ho!!! There are many huge creatures in Commander, so enchanting one
with this and then somehow killing it will be a winner. You might even be
able to deck someone if you kill their Lord of Extinction. If that’s not
enough, you get to have those cards available for casting as well.
Creatively designed, Dead Man’s Chest is an absolute winner.
I play Elvish Visionary in non-tribal decks just for the card draw, so
there’s no reason to think the identically-(converted mana) costed Dusk
Legion Zealot will be any different.
Searching for Pirates is hardly the best part of this card; that would be
the second part, in which you start murdering people when your other
Pirates show up.
Infest and its variants don’t see much play, but Golden Demise is different
due to ascend. If you’re able to give -2/-2 to all the creatures which
aren’t yours, then that’s three mana well spent.
Choked battlefield full of creatures getting you down? Choke your opponents
instead. Play in a deck which also has green and Avenger of Zendikar for
maximum profit and/or fun.
I’m just reminding you that Rule 13 is a thing
in Commander. Cards that search for other cards outside the game. I’ll also
point you to the part of that rule that mentions “without prior agreement.”
If you want to talk your local group into letting Wishes work, fine-just
don’t cast the card and then try to badger people into letting you do it.
The best groups are the ones who talk with each other. If you’re in an open
environment, ask before you start shuffling up.
You’ll want some sacrifice outlets so you can ensure your own creatures
will die (Phyrexian Altar is a favorite here). With the city’s blessing,
your Mausoleum Harpy will be huge in no time.
It’s nice to have things that help you recover after your creatures die.
I’m a fan of Pawn of Ulamog, which also goes nicely with your Mausoleum
Harpy. I’m sure, however, when you first saw this card, you thought the
same thing I did: Pitiless Plunderer loves to Revel in Riches.
Sure, it’s a little less spicy than Noxious Gearhulk, but that’s hardly a
sin. An eminently useful card.
I’m sure you’ll always find a great target, like that Big Game Hunter
someone keeps bringing back with Sun Titan.
This card is cool, but it has a limitation. Despite being legendary, it’s
not really that good of a commander because the ability references
revealing it from your hand (not the command zone). I will happily play it
as one of any number of 99s. When you’re done wrecking house with its
triggered ability, it’s still a 6/6 beater. Card is full of sauce.
It’s weaker than other cards, but I can see a niche role for Tomb Robber in
a reanimator deck of some kind.
In Commander we play with a fair number of high mana cost cards, so
Twilight Prophet will profit you more than in other formats. I’m a fan of
Phyrexian Arena, but I’ll also happily pay one more mana for this.
As a three mana instant, Vona’s Hunger is probably already good enough
without the ascend ability. Tack that on, and it becomes kind of a crazy
card. I’m very happy the city likes me.
Top 3:
Dead Man’s Hunger, Twilight Prophet, Vona’s Hunger.
Grade:
A. Again, more than three to consider for the top, and the density of
playable cards is excellent.
Red
Blood Sun makes me exceedingly happy. It replaces itself right away, shuts
down some great lands like Minamo, School at Water’s Edge, and makes your
enters-the-battlefield tapped lands enter the battlefield untapped. It’s
not quite Blood Moon in shutting down the lands which can get pretty
degenerate, but it’s format-friendly in that it doesn’t wreck mana
production.
More opportunity to Revel in Riches.
Neat combination of abilities, and certainly a card to consider for
non-tribal decks.
You still need enough mana to cast the spell (you can’t expect Diluvian
Primordial for two mana), but otherwise you get to exile what’s likely a
pretty good card that someone else was going to use later.
What?! Move over, Norin the Wary, a new best mono red commander is here.
This card is so crazy, I’m ready to violate my rule of putting only one
copy of a new card into my suite of decks. In any deck, you’ll probably
want to make sure it has haste, so you can get to card munching right away.
First card I thought of to combo with Forerunner of the Empire is Ripjaw
Raptor. Every Dinosaur then draws a card! Sweet design, and lots of
possibilities (although be careful if you’re also playing Repercussion).
Maybe if we can somehow give lifelink to enchantments, this would be really
cool.
Dare I ask if red is starting to get good? Mutiny isn’t quite as splashy as
other cards, but it only costs one mana. Use someone else’s Acidic Slime
(or other creature with deathtouch) to kill their biggest threat. And if
they want to get rid of one of the two creatures to make the spell do
nothing, that’s okay too.
To make this playable, you’ll want a way to buff up its toughness.
Sure, someone can dagger you by killing the token, but if they’re spending
resources doing that, they’re not spending them on bigger, more important
things.
Tacking the cantrip onto making it an instant elevates the card to a great
roleplayer, especially if you’re running an enrage deck. Worst case, you
can cast it just to draw the card and find a deeper answer.
It’s like a land shark; it smells the blood in the air. You know it’s
coming, so you’ll be prepared with your legion of tokens or stuff that you
want to sacrifice anyway. Just be careful that there aren’t also permanents
other people want to sacrifice.
Nice, small effect that you might be able to get a great deal of mileage
out of later in the game, when you have not only the city’s blessing, but a
huge pile of mana.
Top 3:
Blood Sun; Etali, Primal Storm; Forerunner of the Empire
Grade:
B. There are some delicious things on the menu, but not quite enough
variety.
Green
In addition to having a neat name, it will do silly things like untap your
Gaea’s Cradle.
You can probably just slam the Hatchling into people and make them wonder
if you’ll be fighting one of their creatures to your advantage. It feels
like it will require too much setup, but an easy sacrifice outlet might
solve that problem.
I suppose I should mention at this point that Prime Speaker Zegana is a
Merfolk. I think I have a direction for her
Do Over
deck.
Hungry indeed! I’ve been unexcited about mono green decks in the past, but
Ghalta changes my mind. What’s great is that it helps pay the commander tax
for you. When you cast a spell, you take its mana cost, tack on any
additions (like the aforementioned tax), then subtract any cost reducers.
I’ll be casting Ghalta, sacrificing it to something like Greater Good, and
then just casting it again. A 12/12 trampler for GG seems kind of absurd.
I’ve been ambivalent about explore in Commander, but exploring twice might
be okay.
The problem with the enrage ability on this one is that repeatable mass
damage will keep killing your Saprolings. Maybe Verdeloth the Ancient will
help.
Okay, I’m way less ambivalent about explore now. The problem has been that
the creatures which have it are just okay-ish for the most part. When
awesome creatures have it too, it becomes very good-and you can bet it’ll
go into that Prime Speaker Do Over.
Warning! Infinite combo incoming. Cast Aether Flash. Cast Polyraptor.
Aether Flash triggers, dealing two damage to Polyraptor and creating a copy
of it. Repeat. Unfortunately, once you’ve started, you’ll need something to
do with those tokens (like a nice Goblin Bombardment) or eventually have a
way to get rid of Aether Flash or the game will simply loop and be a draw.
Obviously there are the normal enrage tricks to go with Polyraptor, too.
Maybe Hammerfist Giant?
That Prime Speaker Zegana deck is just building itself.
Well, there’s the help that Overgrown Armasaur was looking for!
Don’t underestimate the value of considering Thrashing Brontodon an
emergency four-mana Naturalize. A 3/4 for three with a good ability reminds
us that creatures are simply better in the 21st century.
I almost won’t care if I don’t have the city’s blessing yet. The ability to
play an additional land each turn means you’ll get it sooner!
I liked this card even before I saw that it is a Merfolk. Dredge decks will
also love it. Love it to death.
Top 3:
Ghalta, Primal Hunger; Polyraptor; Path of Discovery
G
rade
:
B-. For once, green isn’t the best of a set. For all my love of Ghalta, it
drops off after that.
Multicolor
I guess I’d be angry if I were chained to a flame, too. The +1 ability is
okay, but sometimes I worry about discard in Commander because there are
things that people like to have in their graveyards. The -3 ability is a
decent Threaten variant, and it might let you get rid of an annoying
utility creature. -8 is a game-winner. Angrath is obviously fond of being
in a discard deck, so you could certainly build around the theme and
include Rise of the Dark Realms and similar things that let you grow stuff
out of opponents’ graveyards.
I have a feeling this card might find a home in Standard if there’s a cool
Dinosaur build. In Commander, mana dorks have to be special to get a great
deal of play. The good news here is that you can tap Atzocan Seer for mana
to pay for the Dinosaur that you’re about to get back, since the second
ability doesn’t require tapping.
Azor is bringing the law indeed! As if a 6/6 flyer for six isn’t enough, it
has two powerful abilities. The triggered ability stops opponents from
doing the kinds of things that get rid of Azor (although they can still do
them on a different player’s turn if they’re instants). The ability also
stops them from countering anything that you might do on their turn. As if
that weren’t enough, you can get a Sphinx’s Revelation when you attack with
Azor. Might be the “just wow” card of the set.
I think the Admiral might be recruiting a few too many Orcs for her own
good. They’re going to mutiny one day.
Even though she’s legendary, Elenda fits better into the deck, since her
very nice triggered ability is contingent on her dying. If she goes to the
command zone, she won’t trigger. That said, this is the kind of creature
that you want in your Karador, Ghost Chieftain decks.
Cue George Takei. There will be many, many times that you get the emblem on
the second time you activate Huatli. The -1 ability is strong as well. I
don’t see it get much mid-game use, but if you draw Huatli late game, it
might be enough to make something large enough to kill two people instead
of one.
We’re building some kind of Merfolk dynasty here. Seedborn Muse, Quest for
Renewal, and even one-shot cards like Benfactor’s Draught (which is a
cantrip, by the way) will get your Merfolk engines running. I’m sure there
are some wild combos with Awakening and Intruder Alarm, but I guess that
was already true. Now it’s even truer.
It’ll definitely get played in the Vampire tribal decks of the right
colors.
Ditto.
It’s a Pirate, so you know you’ll be attacking. It’s one cheaper than other
basic clones, which is worth is once. If you’re doing blink shenanigans
with your copy creatures, you’ll probably want to stick to the
unconditional ones.
Getting slowly larger seems quite good, but you have to start early.
You have to be a little careful at first not to kill it, but after the
first time or two, Siegehorn Ceratops will become large enough that you
won’t have to worry at all.
Cast it and untap all the lands you control so that you can activate all of
the three abilities (which don’t require tapping). This card is a nice
oblique reference to some Alpha set Magic cards, Lightning Bolt,
Disenchant (even though the color is off), and Healing Salve. Cast Zacama,
bring calamity to your opponents with its 9/9 body as well. The card is
everything Timmy could dream of.
Top 3:
Azor, the Lawbringer; Huatli, Radiant Champion; Zacama, Primal Calamity
Grade A+:
The top stuff is TOP stuff, and even though there are fewer multicolor
cards, nearly all of them will get played.
Double-Face Cards
Not only thematically cool, but powerfully useful. Obviously, you’re
putting those counters on a creature that begins with at least two on it,
so that you can transform right away and get to the beatings.
Wow. Just wow. I’m not sure you’ll want to wait for something huge to put
Journey to Eternity onto, because you’ll want to get into that cave as fast
as you can! Hope my opponents aren’t playing Blood Sun.
Should be pretty easy to get Path of Mettle transformed, and once you do,
you’ll have to start working out if you want the mana or to randomly
destroy creatures. It’ll be a great rattlesnake to keep people from
attacking you with only one thing.
It’ll be a bit of a mana commitment, but exiling creatures is strong.
Nothing says that you have to bring them back, even once you’ve started
walking the Path of the Dusk Rose.
Lots of folks have already asked if we’re going to ban this because it’s
just like Tolarian Academy. The easy answer is no, because it’s not.
Tolarian Academy is about generating too much mana too quickly. It takes a
while to Storm the Vault, and by the time you do, “too quickly” won’t apply
anymore. Sure, it will potentially be very strong-but we don’t hate strong
cards. Whatever happens on Turn 13 is fine; we just don’t want it to happen
on Turn 3.
Another one folks have gotten a little panicky about, it’s basically the
same as Storm the Vault. It’s going to take long enough to get there that
the card(s) are not likely to be problematic. Your opportunity costs for
going through the Gateway and into the Sanctum are high. There are times
you’ll just end up with exiled cards.
Being the weakest of the double faced cards is hardly a sin here. You have
to risk killing one of your own creatures, too, which in some cases might
be strategically advantageous. Getting two mana might be worth it; spitting
out Golems is going to get expensive.
T
op
3
: They’re all tops, and there aren’t enough to pick from.
G
rade
:
A+. From the artwork to the theming to the raw utility of both sides of the
cards, these are spectacular. Brilliantly designed.
Artifacts and Lands
If you’re playing lots of nonbasic lands, this thing could get huge pretty
quickly. Even my decks that have lots of basics tend to have 15-18
nonbasics; I suspect this will always be a nice-sized beater.
Like the design, but not what the card does.
So between The Immortal Sun and Staff of Nin, my previously favorite
non-creature six mana artifact, the new one wins. I don’t play that many
planeswalkers anyway, but having my spells cheaper and creatures bigger is
right up my alley. And it’s one of those neat alleys, too, with the little
bistro down at the end of it, near the entrance to the after-hours club.
Silent Gravestone is awesome, and only in part because brings us a step
closer toward reasonably unbanning Recurring Nightmare. One step, and we’re
still miles away.
Paying five to draw a card is a little expensive, but getting it off of a
land might make it worthwhile.
G
rade
:
B. Not really enough cards to make a fair evaluation.
Rivals of Ixalan
definitely gets an A for Commander. The number of super-splashy,
wonderfully-designed, breath-taking cards is as high as it’s been in a long
time. There are multiple cards which you’re going to want to acquire in
multiple copies for your suite of decks. Huge props to lead designer Ben
Hayes and team for putting together something remarkable. You won’t get an
argument from me if you put it into the conversation for best set for
Commander ever.
Our normal Deck Without Comment feature will return after release season.
Check out our comprehensive Deck List Database for lists of all my decks:
SIGNATURE DECKS
Purple Hippos and Maro Sorcerers
;
Kresh Into the Red Zone
;
Halloween with Karador
;
Dreaming of Intet
;
You Did This to Yourself
.
THE CHROMATIC PROJECT
Mono-Color
Heliod, God of Enchantments
;
Thassa, God of Merfolk
;
Erebos and the Halls Of The Dead
;
Forge of Purphoros
;
Nylea of the Woodland Realm
;
Karn
Evil No. 9.
Guilds
Lavinia Blinks
;
Obzedat, Ghost Killer
;
Aurelia Goes to War
;
Trostani and Her Angels
;
Lazav, Shapeshifting Mastermind
;
Zegana and a Dice Bag
;
Rakdos Reimagined
;
Glissa, Glissa
;
Ruric Thar and His Beastly Fight Club
;
Gisa and Geralf Together Forever
.
Shards and Wedges
Adun’s Toolbox
;
Angry, Angry Dinos
;
Animar’s Swarm
;
Borrowing Stuff at Cutlass Point
;
Ikra and Kydele
;
Karrthus, Who Rains Fire From The Sky
;
Demons of Kaalia
;
Merieke’s Esper Dragons
;
Nath of the Value Leaf
;
Rith’s Tokens
;
The Mill-Meoplasm
;
The Altar of Thraximundar
;
The Threat of Yasova
;
Zombies of Tresserhorn
.
Four Color
Yidris: Money for Nothing, Cards for Free
;
Saskia Unyielding
;
Breya Reshaped
.
Five-Color
Partners
Tana and Kydele
;
Kynaios and Tiro
;
Ikra and Kydele
.
THE DO-OVER PROJECT
Animar Do-Over
;
Glissa Do-Over
;
Karador Do-Over
;
Karador Version 3
;
Karrthus Do-Over
;
Kresh Do-Over
;
Steam-Powered Merieke
Do-Over;
Lord of Tresserhorn Do-Over
;
Mimeoplasm Do-Over
;
Phelddagrif Do-Over
;
Rith Do-Over
;
Ruhan Do-Over
.
If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a
campaign that’s been alive since 1987) which is just beginning the saga The Lost Cities of Nevinor, ask for an invitation to the Facebook
group “Sheldon Menery’s
Monday Night Gamers.”