Which Cards Are In What Commander 2017 Decks?

This weekend was it—Commander 2017 went on sale!

I actually took a vacation day Friday to celebrate all day and evening because I was so excited to play with the new cards. The decks each seem to have a lot of fun play value and are well-matched against each other, so there are many good times to be had before the decks are modified or cannibalized for the singles.

It was tough to decide how to acquire the new cards I wanted. Should I buy whole decks, or just the singles? As someone who has played Magic as long as I have (Magic Class of 1994, y’all), I pretty much have at least one copy of all the reprinted cards already. Wizards did not make it easy for me again this year either, though, because I want to get my mitts on just about every single one of the new cards. If I only wanted like eight or ten of them, my decision would have been easy.

Maybe you are having the same issue too? It is kinda hard to evaluate whether you just buy all four decks or, for example, buy two decks and then a few singles, just by looking at decklists, so I compiled all the decklist information and broke it out into pieces to help make my decisions easier. I thought I would share the breakout with you in case you were wrestling with the same sort of decisions.

First, I will break out all the brand-new cards for you. If you are interested in some of the reprints, I will put that information at the bottom of the column.

The following brand-new cards are found in multiple Commander 2017 decks, as noted.

All four decks

This is seriously one of the coolest cards in the set and I am super-excited to get multiple copies of this card for my collection. I have seen a few people say they do not really like the card because it enters the battlefield tapped, but come on! That is a tiny drawback for the work this card will do the rest of the game.

First, it provides all the colors you need for your deck, even for casting non-tribal cards (unlike for instance Cavern of Souls or Haven of the Spirit Dragon). That can be huge if you have a bunch of multicolored spells in your tribal deck that you want to be able to cast on time.

Then there is the “scry 1” ability that is tacked onto each tribal creature you cast using Path of Ancestry. That is amazing! It didn’t take long playing with the Theros block scry lands to realize how good “scry 1” is for smoothing out your draws when it’s tacked onto something essentially for free. And note that you will get the trigger even if the creature gets hit with a counterspell. I fully anticipate copying Path of Ancestry with Thespian’s Stage and Vesuva to get two or three “scry 1” triggers off my tribal creature spells. I drew my copying playing Draconic Domination and the scry trigger was invaluable for keeping the gas flowing.

Arcane Wizardry, Vampiric Bloodlust

In a Vampire or Wizard tribal deck, this card is obviously insane, given that you are essentially adding a 3/2 lifelink creature onto Zombify for one more generic mana. Being a creature card instead of a sorcery opens up all sorts of recursive shenanigans (Nim Deathmantle immediately springs to mind). Even outside of a tribal deck, there are plenty of good creatures you’d add to your black Commander decks that just happen to be Wizards or Zombies. It may make sense to add Bloodline Necromancer to the mix too.

Draconic Domination, Feline Ferocity

Arcane Wizardry, Vampiric Bloodlust

Arcane Wizardry, Draconic Domination

Feline Ferocity, Vampiric Bloodlust

As usual, the Curses offer a neat way to incentivize players into attacking, though this cycle is different in that the player who controls the Curse gets the benefit as well as the attacking player. Interestingly, I think this actually makes these Curses a little less attractive as incentives because sometimes you do not want the controller of the Curse to get the benefit. I want to play with them more to get a firmer grasp of all the political implications.

Feline Ferocity, Vampiric Bloodlust

This is fantastic Commander design, though I do have one teeny complaint—the casting cost. If you build Commander decks and pay attention to the mana curve, you’ll have discovered that the three-mana point on the curve is just stuffed to the gills with good choices, and it’s agony making cuts there. Adding another must-play to the three-mana mix is tough; I would have much rather seen this cost just two mana and the rest of the variables tweaked to accommodate.

Even so, this is a slam dunk for your tribal decks with its cheap equip cost and significant stat boost. If the equipped creature dies, you replace it with another creature you can cast and equip to Heirloom Blade. I can even see shenanigans where you play limited copies of particular creature types so that, when one dies, you can count on finding the other, particularly when tied to your Commander’s creature type.

Draconic Domination, Feline Ferocity

It is pretty much the perfect card in Draconic Domination, shaving a mana off the expensive Dragons (in conjunction with The Ur-Dragon’s Eminence) and providing some much-needed card draw. Another slam-dunk tribal card that works beautifully with Path of Ancestry.

Arcane Wizardry, Draconic Domination

It’s funny how variably good this card is depending on the context. In Draconic Domination, it is fantastic, since copying a giant flying monster is nearly always going to be worth the mana, especially if you then get some extra Dragon attacking triggers. In Arcane Wizardry, not so much, since most of the non-legendary Wizards have enters-the-battlefield triggers that you will not get to take advantage of with Mirror of the Forebears. It is also a little weird that this was printed so soon after Mirage Mirror, which is much more flexible, albeit harder on your mana (and has that overcrowded three-mana cost).

The following brand-new cards are found exclusively in these Commander 2017 decks.

Arcane Wizardry

From what I experienced, Inalla was much better than I thought it would be, but only if you drew fewer legendary creatures and more Wizards with enters-the-battlefield effects. In fact, the legendary Wizards really got in the way, but many of them will prove to be fun Commanders of their own (like the Mairsil deck I wrote about last week). Izzet Chemister also surprised me when I was able to exile two spells with it, since there are ways to bring Izzet Chemister back from the graveyard and keep the engine going. Galecaster Colossus is totally worth the mana cost and is a threat to take over the game if your opponents cannot deal with it right away.

Magus of the Mind is a neat card if you have enough mana to cast it, copy it with Inalla, and activate it and potentially get two cards from it right away. If it survives for you to untap and be able to cast a couple of spells, things can really get fun! I think I would eventually want to pair this with haste and another creature equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine so you can untap your mana and use it right away.

Portal Mage is fun with Inalla’s copy ability to let you redirect the two biggest threats coming your way to another opponent. I didn’t get to see Kindred Dominance in action, but it’s obviously going to be bonkers if you’re the only one playing your tribe. Incentive to pick an oddball tribe to build around, right?

Draconic Domination

The new Dragons are of course super-sweet, particularly Scalelord Reckoner, which provides a significant body for cheap mana cost and a powerful rattlesnake effect from pinpoint removal. People seem extremely excited about Ramos, Dragon Engine and the shenanigans available there as your commander for both the +1/+1 counters and the huge potential mana boost. Kindred Discovery is the best of the Kindred cycle and I imagine will be one of the most popular cards from this set. It is a great inclusion in Draconic Domination to help refuel if your opponents are able to blunt the initial wave of Dragons.

Fractured Identity felt a little out of place in this deck until I realized that a card that’s U/W could not actually go in any of the other decks. It is such a cool design I am glad they went ahead and threw it in here and I cannot wait to play Fractured Identity in all sorts of Commander decks. I imagine there are going to be many cool stories that begin with “First I cast Fractured Identity on my opponent’s…”

Feline Ferocity

The new Cats in this deck are really sweet. Hungry Lynx puts some interesting pressure on the flow of games, since the 1/1 Rats with deathtouch make great chump blockers and tend to keep players from attacking each other while allowing your huge Cats to attack at whim. Hammer of Nazahn and Traverse the Outlands are just outstanding fun and powerful Commander cards that will see tons of play in all sorts of decks. Qasali Slingers is also incredibly powerful within the Cat tribe but could see some play in decks with significant number of Changelings. I personally cannot wait to pair Qasali Slingers with Nacatl War-Pride!

Speaking of Nacatl War-Pride, it does some fun stuff attacking alongside Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, right?

Vampiric Bloodlust

Edgar Markov is an absurdly powerful Commander and this deck is stuffed to the gills with powerful synergies and flavor. Mathas, Fiend Seeker played out quite nicely with the bounty counters, and with enough of them out there, it had the effect of keeping the game flowing even after mass removal.

Disrupt Decorum is a really cool card that I think any red Commander deck is going to love. Teferi’s Protection has lived up to its hype and I imagine players will gladly toss a copy of it in their favorite white deck. One unexpected bonus is that it knocks off Curses!

That’s my quick rundown of the new cards. Got it? Got it! I tell you, I can’t wait to start brewing more decks with these new cards!

Okay, so if you are curious where to find some of the reprinted cards, I have the breakdown below. Wizards has done a fantastic job making these decks a gateway into the format, especially people who are relatively new to Magic and may not have a bunch of older cards.

All four decks

These are Commander staples that nearly every deck wants to run.

All but Draconic Domination

I had some people this weekend question why these two cards were not included in the five-color deck Draconic Domination. My thought was because the two Dragon lands, Haven of the Spirit Dragon and Crucible of the Spirit Dragon, took these nonbasic land slots. Also, the one time I played Draconic Domination, I drew Farseek and Kodama’s Reach, which provided plenty of color fixing.

Arcane Wizardry, Draconic Domination

Arcane Wizardry, Feline Ferocity

Let me get on my soapbox here a minute on this card. Why does Wizards keep printing Temple of the False God in Commander decks? I realize that it is a casual favorite, but the card is a trap that leads to really bad play experiences way too often and I worry about new players picking up this deck, drawing Temple of the False God as their fourth land, and then stalling on drawing another land for a couple of turns. When things go right, it feels good to have six mana available on turn 5, but it is not worth the risk of it being a dead draw for much of the early-game. They even put sweet new art on it just to fool people into loving it even while it hoses them. Take my advice and remove this card from the deck and replace it with literally any other land card.

Arcane Wizardry, Vampiric Bloodlust

Draconic Domination, Feline Ferocity

Draconic Domination, Vampiric Bloodlust

Feline Ferocity, Vampiric Bloodlust

The following reprinted cards are found exclusively in these Commander 2017 decks.

Arcane Wizardry

Draconic Domination

Feline Ferocity

Vampiric Bloodlust

Which decks will you be picking up? Which individual cards have you the most excited? Which new legendary creatures would you like me to build around next?

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)