The latest Secret Lair products have opened up sales, and fans of Commander should take a look at the latest Universes Beyond Magic offering: brand-new legendary creatures based off the Street Fighter video game series. If you’re a Street Fighter fan, I imagine you’re pretty stoked to see favorite characters realized as Magic cards, but even if you aren’t into Street Fighter, these are still some pretty sweet new legendary creatures to build Commander decks around!
The eight cards offer a wide variety of play strategies, and it’s nice to see two new Boros legends, and new a new legend for Jeskai and Jund. Keep in mind that if you love the mechanics of the card but not keen on playing characters from an IP outside of Magic, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) will be making Magic reskins of these cards available among The List cards found in some Set Boosters, approximately six months after these Secret Lair versions are released.
Let’s dig into the strategies suggested for each card.
E. Honda, Sumo Champion
E. Honda’s ability suite seems custom-made to slot directly into a Doran, the Siege Tower deck. A lot of the best cards in that sort of deck fit just fine in a mono-white deck, so why not put E. Honda as the commander of his own toughness-matters deck?
Toughness Matters
Most of these you can find in a typical Doran, the Siege Tower list, though I’d like to use this opportunity to shout-out Robe of Stars, a card that I’ve found to be surprisingly good in Commander but is even better in a deck where toughness deals the damage.
E. Honda’s ability is also strong enough to just be a mass pump effect for a go-wide strategy, generating a bunch of tokens and then attacking with E. Honda to boost them all equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Go Wide
I actually think this is a better angle to lean into, since there’s no end of white cards that can generate a bunch of token creatures, making E. Honda a mass pump spell at the top of your mana curve so long as you get to attack with it. Oh, and that you have enough cards in your hand to ensure a significant hand size when the ability triggers! White is actually a bit weak in that regard, though if you happen to have a Land Tax, it’s pretty easy to keep your hand flush with extra Plains. Skullclamp, Secret Rendezvous, and Coveted Jewel are a couple of other ways to keep your hand full.
Ryu, World Warrior
The first of the two new Boros legends, Ryu has abilities that play quite well together. If you attack with higher-power creatures, the training ability can naturally boost Ryu’s power, and since you attacked, Ryu is tapped, which means you can untap to use the Hadoken ability! It is a little mana-intensive, so that’s something I imagine you’ll use later in the game after Ryu has trained up a few times.
Other High-Power Creatures
The first thing I’d start looking for with a Ryu deck is high-power creatures that you want to attack with, and luckily, Boros has no shortage of goodies in that department. Thalia, Heretic Cathar is good for one training trigger while also making it tough for opponents to cast effective blockers. Combat Celebrant has a whopping four power, and its exert ability lets you get an extra attack, which can be all sorts of good for Ryu.
Power Boosting
Of course, you can just have Ryu take boosting its power into its own hands by boosting its power with Equipment like Blackblade Reforged or Hand of Vecna. Blazing Shoal could be a seriously unpleasant surprise, and if you pay its alternate casting cost, that leaves you plenty of mana extra to activate Ryu’s Hadoken ability!
Tap Abilities
One wrinkle to a Ryu deck might be to modify Ryu with something that gives it a tap ability, so you don’t need to attack to tap and unlock the untap Hadoken ability. Paradise Mantle actually provides a mana you can then use to untap!
Ken, Burning Brawler
As the other Boros commander in the set, Ken offers up a more spell-focused approach than typical Boros legends. Ken starts out with four power, and the prowess ability can push that higher; for just one mana, Ken threatens to activate a first strike ability which makes it harder to kill in combat. Ken would obviously benefit from some of the power-boosting cards we detailed above for Ryu. But I’m also looking for some spells that give Ken trample to push damage through!
Instant-Speed Power and Trample
Instant-speed trample and a power boost can make Ken hit surprisingly hard, with first strike killing most blockers before they can deal damage back. Ride Down can be particularly unpleasant if an opponent felt safe putting a huge blocker in front of Ken.
Smashing face in Commander is good clean living, but where Ken really shines is the Shoryuken ability to cast a sorcery spell from your hand for free! If you give Ken first strike, you can even get this trigger before blockers can deal damage.
Sorcery Spells
I wanted to focus on good sorcery cards that have a mana cost of four or five, since we can bank on the fact that Ken will be hitting at least that hard most of the time. I love Reforge the Soul to draw a fresh hand (and hopefully disrupting the fiendish plans of an opponent or two along the way), and getting an extra attack step with cards like Seize the Day sounds perfect. Chandra’s Ignition is a spicy one too, especially if you’ve got something like Brash Taunter that’ll survive the damage and deal it to an opponent’s life totals. Getting to cast cards like Past in Flames or Ignite the Future for free is quite handy since you want all the mana you can muster to cast those extra spells.
Blanka, Ferocious Friend
Blanka offers up a curious puzzle to solve. The Rolling Attack ability requires you cast a whopping three or more spells in the turn to give it trample, which would suggest a storm strategy, But the Electric Thunder ability triggers whenever Blanka becomes the target of a spell, and most storm spells don’t target a creature. Can we crack the code?
Storm
Green has been getting in on the storm game, so I think building a Gruul storm deck seems fun to try. Of the good storm cards, Grapeshot seems like the ideal card to storm off with, since you can target Blanka with each copy of the spell, and Blanka’s +2/+2 boost keeps ahead of the one damage for each copy. The other half of Electric Thunder deals two damage to each opponent, which is a much more efficient rate than Grapeshot to the face.
For an added combo finish, you can give Blanka infect with Grafted Exoskeleton or Triumph of the Hordes!
Trample Spells
Another approach is to just use spells that target Blanka to give it trample without having to worry about the steep cost of Rolling Attack. Blanka already starts out at a good size, so slap a Rancor on it, trigger Electric Thunder for two damage to each opponent, and attack with a 9/7 trampler. Or cast Temur Battle Rage for a 7/7 with double strike and trample?
An old favorite of mine is Soulbright Flamekin, which can bridge the gap a bit, providing trample and converting six mana into eight red mana, which should be plenty to storm off with.
Chun-Li, Countless Kicks
Chun-Li having the multikicker ability is a flavor home run, and the ability is quite potent. You get to exile instants from your graveyard with a kick counter, which means they’re available for Chun-Li for the rest of the game, even if Chun-Li gets sent back to the command zone several times. I expect Chun-Li and its Magic universe version to be quite popular Azorius commanders going forward.
Loot
While blue doesn’t have trouble with raw card drawing, effects that let you draw cards and put a card or two into the graveyard get added value with Chun-Li. Something like Disenchant might not be useful in the early-game, so why not toss it away for other cards and then just exile it with a kick counter for when you need it later?
Instants with Kick Counters
The thing to remember about Chun-Li’s Lightning Kick ability—you still have to pay mana to cast the copies of those instants you’ve exiled, so don’t think you’re going to just pitch Sublime Epiphany early and cast it on the cheap! For my money, you’ll want to exile some workhorse utility cards like Swords to Plowshares and Fact or Fiction.
Evasion and Other Spells
Don’t forget that Chun-Li needs to attack to get the Lightning Kick trigger, which leaves it vulnerable to being blocked and killed, so it’s a good idea to include some evasion spells in the mix, especially ones you can later exile with the multikicker ability. Modal spells like You Come to a River sound perfect for this! But you can also make use of something like Reconnaissance or Maze of Ith to remove Chun-Li from combat once you get the trigger.
Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist
What an incredibly cool card—I had no idea I was wanting a “reach tribal” deck until I saw Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist! This is another card that seems perfect for Doran, the Siege Tower, but first I’d like to explore the space that’s opened up for an army of reach creatures!
Reach Tribal?!
I was today years old when I realized that Spidersilk Armor’s Oracle text currently reads, “Creatures you control get +0/+1 and have reach.” Of course, it does, and what a slam-dunk card for a Dhalsim deck if you’ve got creatures in there that don’t have reach themselves.
Deathtouch/Evasion
Giving your creatures deathtouch is one way to give your opponents a hard choice, even if they are able to block the attacking creature. The main thing is you want to slip at least one creature by blockers to get the Fierce Punch card draw. Glare of Subdual could be a techy card; you could attack with all your reach creatures, untap them with Dhalsim’s Teleport ability, and then tap them with Glare of Subdual to tap down any potential blockers, and they’re still attacking.
Guile, Sonic Soldier
When it comes to Jeskai commanders, Guile seems to be on the low side of the power scale, but given that Jeskai has cards like Narset, Enlightened Master and Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, having a lower-power choice is nice. For Commander, I imagine Guile is mostly going to use Flash Kick to gain lifelink and indestructible, but occasionally dealing four damage will be useful. The problem is that Guile accumulates charge counters incredibly slowly, so we’ll want to find ways to accelerate that.
Proliferate
Proliferate definitely needs to be a part of a Guile deck, and Jeskai has some solid picks for it. Sword of Truth and Justice seems particularly well-suited for a combat-oriented deck, though you’ll need to distinguish charge and +1/+1 counters on Guile.
Extra Attacks
Extra attacks are another way to better leverage Guile’s ability to accumulate charge counters, especially since the lifelink and indestructible from Flash Kick lasts until end of turn. On the second attack you get to add the charge counter you used on the first attack.
Blink
Another way to get an extra charge counter is to “blink” Guile after you attack with it, since it gets a charge counter when it enters the battlefield.
Zangief, the Red Cyclone
I haven’t really been intrigued by a Jund commander since Thantis, the Warweaver, but Zangief has piqued my interest! It’s very aggressive, which I like, and the seven power means it can potentially take someone out in three hits with commander damage. The package of abilities nicely ties together, and I particularly like the design of Spinning Piledriver saying “noncreature, nonland permanent.” I’m not at all a fan of cards like Grave Pact, since I think they lead to battlefields where people are locked out of playing their commander, so I’m glad that Zangief sidesteps that and instead forces a sacrifice of an artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker.
Bite/Fight
Since Zangief is indestructible on your turn, we can use “bite” or fight effects to get Spinning Piledriver triggers outside of the combat step. Chandra’s Ignition in particular seems nuts, but it can backfire if you’ve got your own creatures that will take damage. Neyith of the Dire Hunt is a great commander, but it will do good work in this deck, since you get to draw a card when Zangief gets blocked, and if the path is clear, you can double Zangief’s power with the beginning of combat ability.
Indestructible
Another way to take advantage of Iron Muscle providing indestructible is to make use of cards that destroy all creatures, like Damnation, or deal a bunch of damage to creatures, like Blasphemous Act. This is a sweet way to clear Zangief to attack unblocked and smash face.
Seven Power
Seven power is quite impressive on a relatively inexpensive commander, so let’s look for ways to leverage that. Red has gotten ways to triple damage lately with Fiery Emancipation and Jeska, Thrice Reborn, which will make Zangief able to one-shot someone with commander damage. Xenagos, God of Revels will double the power and give it haste. You can also turn that power into card draw with Rishkar’s Expertise, or with Greater Good in a pinch. Lastly, you can always trade in Zangief for seven 2/2 Zombies with Ghoulcaller Gisa if someone is going to destroy or exile Zangief.
So, which of the Street Fighter legends are you most excited to build a commander deck around?
Talk to Me
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And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy.
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