We’re takin’ it to the streets with eighteen new legendary creatures out of New Capenna Commander. Eighteen new choices mean that brewers and builders alike will have a swath of new toys to play with. Normally, I’d simply do a review of all the new cards from the decks, but since there are so many of them that deserve attention, I’ll split it up into discussing the potential commanders this time and the other cards the next. If you’d like to check out the five decklists, you can head over to the mothership for them.
With only two exceptions, the legendary creatures are multicolored, many of them expressing the New Capenna family alignments. Our designer friends in Studio X have done a nice job of providing compelling and thought-provoking creatures to build around without chaining us to a narrative. The swath of abilities is broad, meaning there’s something here for nearly everyone. I’ll offer some thoughts on the cards individually and paths we might head down in building with them. Let’s dive right in.
Anhelo, the Painter
A Maestros face card, Anhelo explores the new mechanic, casualty. It’s straightforward: when a spell has casualty X, we can sacrifice a creature with a power X or greater; if we do, we can copy the spell. Anhelo provides casualty 2 for the first instant or sorcery we cast each turn.
Since our opportunity windows are open on three other players’ turns, we can do plenty with Anhelo. The kinds of instants we want to cast are card draw or battlefield state interaction, as opposed to counterspells. Yes, copying counterspells means that one is likely to resolve, but that’s really the only added benefit. If we’re copying card draw, like Mystic Confluence, we draw twice the number of cards. Note that if you copy a modal spell, you can’t change modes, even if you get to choose new targets for the copy. If we’re copying creature destruction, like Doom Blade (something that black and red are both pretty good at doing), we’ll get to take out two things.
Of course, we want to make sure that we have creatures to sacrifice, so our build will need to have a spell/creature balance. Cards like Palace Siege and Overgrown Cemetery will help us here in being able to get additional uses from creatures. If those creatures already do a thing we want to do—like Bloodgift Demon or Bone Shredder—we’ll triple up.
I’d want to put together some sort of reanimator with Anhelo. With cards like Reanimate or Zombify, we’ll bring back twice the number of creatures. The thing to note here is that we can’t reanimate the creature we’ll sacrifice to the casualty ability. Targets for a spell are chosen before paying costs (Rule 601.2c v. 601.2h). We’ll just have to wait and bring it back the next time.
Henzie “Toolbox” Torre
Our Riveteers friend also gives us a look at a new mechanic, blitz. When we cast a creature for its blitz cost, it gets haste. We have to sacrifice it at the end of turn, but when we do, we draw a card. Blitz is a nice way to burn through our deck and/or set up the graveyard. Henzie gives blitz to all our creatures with mana value four or greater. Somehow, that makes Solemn Simulacrum even better, since we don’t need to wait around for someone to kill it. The card becomes four mana to put a land onto the battlefield and draw two cards.
Henzie offers a discount for blitz costs equal to one generic mana for each time we’ve cast our commander from the command zone (the zone being an important distinction). Theoretically, we could end up blitzing in colorless creatures for free.
The obvious Henzie build is with reanimation. I’d use reanimation as a secondary theme. I’d focus more on enters-the-battlefield and leaves-the-battlefield triggers. Warstorm Surge and Terror of the Peaks would play a big role. Then we add Blood Artist and friends, like an underrated favorite, Rage Thrower, and we’re doming people without having to go to combat.
Kamiz, Obscura Oculus
I’m all for an Obscura deck that promotes combat. The first part of the ability on Kamiz is very spicy. Making a creature unblockable is just sauce, especially since you don’t need to attack with Kamiz to get the trigger. Then a second creature of lesser power gets double strike, which means even more damage. Count me as a fan.
The direction I’d take Kamiz in is using the white part of the Obscura color identity for creatures with flying and/or lifelink. The colors don’t lean towards ramping out big things too quickly, so we’ll have to be pretty grindy in the early- and mid-stages. Perhaps we could get some large creatures out with Quicksilver Amulet or something similar. For the most part, we’d focus on Baneslayer Angel-level creatures. Perhaps Angel tribal or at least a sub-theme. Depending on the environment we play in, Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Angel of Jubilation could restrict other players’ broken stuff.
There’s a Cephalid subtheme to be explored. There are three new ones, Obscura Interceptor, Psychic Pickpocket, and Queza, Augur of Agonies from the main set. The Cephalid I most want to toy with is a classic, Llawan, Cephalid Empress. Bouncing all blue creatures is good; keeping blue commanders off the table until they deal with Llawan gives us time to get into combat and buff up our life total. Kamiz is another commander I look forward to exploring and brewing.
Kitt Kanto, Mayhem Diva
You can check Cat Bard Druid off your creature types list. Kitt Kanto makes a Citizen token when she enters the battlefield, then gets into some goad action. By tapping two untapped creatures, we can give a creature +2/+2 and trample, then goad it into attacking an opponent. Because the trigger happens at the beginning of each player’s combat, we can also use the ability on our own creature to give it the buffs.
We’ll want to focus on Kitt Kanto’s second ability and create some tokens. We can use any of the Cabaretti colors to do it. Maybe we could even play Rith, the Awakener in the 99. Keeper of the Accord will help us catch up if we fall behind on creatures. If we want to race forward on creatures, Assemble the Legion is a good call. Helm of the Host is also pretty good at creating tokens.
Offensively, Cat tribal is attractive. It will lead us a little towards more Equipment and Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith, but that’s fine. We can get outside the tribe with Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist to put all that equipment on one of our Cat tanks. Since we’re going with goad, we certainly can’t sleep on Disrupt Decorum and Geode Rager.
Perrie, the Pulverizer
While I like Perrie’s abilities, calling him the Pulverizer is off-target. He doesn’t pulverize so much as help another creature do it, although I suppose he can target himself. Granting trample is the really relevant ability, as it will make a creature far more deadly.
As I’ve mentioned in nearly every piece about this set, I’m a fan of shield counters and what they do. I’m almost always going to choose to put that shield counter on Perrie himself in order to keep him around longer.
I’d certainly consider some proliferate action, even if it doesn’t exactly help with Perrie’s combat ability. If we’re adding more shield and +1/+1 counters to our own creatures, there’s offensive upside. Remember that Perrie looks for different counters on all types of our permanents, so tower counters from Helix Pinnacle and hoofprint counters from Hoofprints of the Stag apply. Ooh, cycling Titanoth Rex gives a trample counter.
Keyword soup is the direction for Perrie, but there are so many types of counters (here’s a list) that we can build to suit. I’d start with Crystalline Giant and go from there. Rhino tribal sounds enticing. Crowned Ceratok gives trample to our creatures with +1/+1 counters on them, which we’ll have spread out with Forgotten Ancient. Dauntless Escort provides protection to the team. Since we’re in blue, we can get multiple copies of Mirror-Sigil Sergeant. We can also get some blink action with Roon of the Hidden Realm. This one’s shaping up to be fun already.
The Beamtown Bullies
Vigilance and haste on a four-mana 4/4 are already enough to start looking at the card. Its activated ability is one that makes you scratch your head and wonder if you can make it work. I suspect the designers realized there were some shenanigans with Phage the Untouchable, which is probably why the ability specifies a nonlegendary creature. The problem is that the card gets exiled at the beginning of the next end step, so unless we have a way to kill it (which is much harder than if we control it), we lose access to it for good. There’s also Homeward Path, I suppose. Since the end-of-turn triggers of both The Beamtown Bullies would be ours and we can stack them for a beneficial outcome, there’s always Brooding Saurian.
This is one of the few legendary creatures from New Capenna Commander that I’m just not sure how I would build around. The goad theme is there if we want it, since we can play most of the best goad creatures and spells, like Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant and the aforementioned Disrupt Decorum. I wouldn’t want to build something that dumps cards like Leveler, Phyrexian Negator, or Master of Cruelties, which seem like the place to go. It just seems way too griefy for my tastes.
Kros, Defense Contractor
I said quite a bit about Kros a couple of weeks back. I won’t repeat myself, save to say that it’s a strong candidate for being the first new deck I build out of Streets of New Capenna. There’s a point at which there might be too much goad in Commander, but we’re light-years away from it right now.
Parnesse, the Subtle Brush
Okay, now we’re in for some chaos and politics. The first ability, which counters a spell or ability that targets us or one of our permanents unless the player pays four life, is just useful. It lets you get in some life loss even if someone has Maze of Ith. It makes free spells cost something. And it just generally makes all our permanents a little less attractive as targets.
The second ability gets us into the serious fun zone. Whenever we copy a spell, we can also have an opponent make a copy. Whether we’re copying one of our own spells with a leveled-up Echo Mage or Swarm Intelligence or someone else’s with a flashed-in Dualcaster Mage, we can give away a copy, too. Of course, we’ll have to be careful what we copy. Direct damage might be awkward; if it means taking four in order to burn our face for twenty, someone will do it. Phthisis seems cool to also offer to someone else. We also have to be aware that the opponent has the option to copy the spell or not, so we can’t get super grief-happy.
The political implications form the heart of what I’d want to build around. We’ll start with that big Swarm Intelligence and go from there. Copying targeted removal, like a simple Doom Blade, can rid the table of three troublesome creatures, or artifacts in the case of Abrade. Once again, here’s the reminder that when we’re copying something (or someone else is), we can change targets, but we can’t change modes. Sharing card draw will win some political points for sure.
The question with Parnesse isn’t what thing to do—we’ve got that covered. It’s how to win. We’re in savage Maestros colors, so we can be the beatdown if we want, knowing that Parnesse will protect the individual permanents to some extent. She’s a Vampire Wizard if we’d like to go tribal. Vampires are so overdone at this point that’d I’d pass on them, but aggro Wizards might be amusing. If I were to go with a tribe under Parnesse, it’d be Giants so that I could play Surtland Elementalist.
Phabine, Boss’s Confidant
With a clever parley ability and granting haste to our token creatures, Phabine speaks in the right language to anyone who likes Hazezon Tamar. The parley ability gives us either Citizen tokens for land cards and a +1/+1 buff to all of our creatures (not just tokens) for each nonland card revealed. On average, we’ll make slightly more than one token and buff most often +2/+2 and occasionally +3/+3. Since it’s each player’s library, we can’t exert much control over what’s on top.
I’d build Phabine with the aforementioned Hazezon Tamar; Rith, the Awakener; Elspeth Tirel; and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. There are some forgotten cards in green that make tokens when they die, like Mitotic Slime, Penumbra Wurm, and Symbiotic Wurm. I’d lean heavily in that direction. Hour of Reckoning makes a wonderful inclusion here, since we can convoke it into costing nearly nothing.
Tivit, Seller of Secrets
As the name suggests, Tivit offers a new take on the council’s dilemma mechanic. When it enters the battlefield or deals combat damage, we have a vote of either evidence or bribery. For each evidence vote, we investigate; for each bribery, we get a Treasure. The nice addition is that when voting, we get to vote an additional time. Since that doesn’t apply to just Tivit’s ability, having a council’s dilemma sub-theme is a fun direction to take the deck.
In Obscura colors, we have some fine choices (23, in fact). We start with Ballot Broker, which also allows us to vote an additional time. Bite of the Black Rose becomes more playable, as does Capital Punishment. We can take out additional things with Council’s Judgment. Expropriate becomes dumber than it already is.
For the flavor angle, I’d add either Rogue or Ally tribal. Blue and black are the colors of the former; there are even some decent ones in white. There are also a few janky ones, like Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer. In the latter, we have loads of choices, from Bala Ged Thief to Zulaport Cutthroat. Building an Ally deck would be a lovely nod to Zendikar days.
Bess, Soul Nourisher
A three-mana 1/1 Human Citizen, Bess gets a +1/+1 counter whenever one or more 1/1s enter the battlefield under our control. Then, when she attacks, each other creature with a base power and toughness of 1/1 gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of counters—of any kind—on Bess.
Verdant Force is the first card that I’d jam into a Bess deck. A bunch of the previously mentioned token-creators are great. Phytohydra does its own personal Vigor thing, and there’s every reason to add the latter to our build as well. Mentor of the Meek seems like a no-brainer. For style points, I might also run Katilda, Dawnhart Prime. This is another one in which the commander’s abilities are broad enough that we can build to suit. There’s a direction, but the road isn’t particularly narrow. Bess, I hear you calling, but I can’t come home right now.
Denry Klin, Editor in Chief
Another Cat, Denry Klin enters the battlefield with our choice of a +1/+1, first strike, or vigilance counter on it. That’s okay-ish as it is, but things tick up when we get to the second triggered ability. Whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under our control and Denry has counters, we put the same number and kind of counters on the new creature.
While Denry might slide right into a Perrie, the Pulverizer deck, it’ll also shine leading its own team. I’d want to go a similar direction, using creatures like Forgotten Ancient and The Ozolith to pile +1/+1 counters on Denry. We might want Whispersilk Cloak or Swiftfoot Boots to blank targeted removal; the former also makes Denry unblockable, which can lead to some commander damage kills pretty quickly. Lifelink and shield counters are the most valuable here. Splendor Mare is a nice option for the former; the Streets of New Capenna main set is alive with creatures that add the latter.
Jolene, the Plunder Queen
The winner of the rhymiest name trophy, Jolene doesn’t goad anyone, but it offers opponents incentive to attack elsewhere. I’m not sure if it’s enough greed to keep attackers off our face, but it’s definitely going to send the chip damage far afield. Jolene’s second ability is a replacement that gives us an additional Treasure every time we create one. Unfortunately, she’s not in Smothering Tithe colors. Her third ability offers something different to do with Treasures: we can sacrifice five of them to put five +1/+1 counters on Jolene.
What’s nice about the third ability is that, because it can be activated as an instant, we can threaten to kill a blocker. If the player doesn’t block, we still have the option to use the ability or not. Maybe those Treasures would be put to better use casting something.
I’m not super-excited about Jolene. I get where the card is going and appreciate that it might be quite savage. Maybe, like many of you, I just have Treasure fatigue.
Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
The name says it all. When we discard a nonland card, Oskar gives us the chance to cast it from the graveyard. When we discard, the card hits the graveyard and a trigger goes on the stack. If we’re still in the middle of announcing a spell or putting an ability on the stack (like if the discard were part of the cost of the spell), Oskar’s ability would wait until we’re done to go on the stack. Then, during the resolution of the triggered ability, we could cast the spell if we want. Obviously, the card doesn’t work all that well unless it can ignore timing restrictions. Oskar also costs one generic mana less to cast for each different mana value of cards in our graveyard, meaning we’re going to cast him for two quite often.
I’d want to use Oskar to break the symmetry of cards like Mindslicer. Because we have black, we can also run a nice reanimation suite. I’d probably avoid expensive Wheels, but Windfall is probably cheap enough to be able to also cast something from the discarded cards. The dream cards to pitch to a Wheel are Reanimate and Animate Dead. We can then bring back something big that also got caught up in the discard mania.
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame
Okay, this was a missed opportunity to make the card a Cleric. That aside, Syrix can deal some damage. It’s a hasty 3/3 flier for four mana, with two triggered abilities. At the beginning of each end step (not just ours), if a creature card left our graveyard this turn, one of our Phoenixes deals damage to any target equal to its power. Like all good Phoenixes, Syrix has another triggered ability that lets it rise from the ashes of the graveyard back to our hand. In this case, the trigger condition is another Phoenix that we control dying.
Phoenix tribal is clearly the way to go here, with extra reanimation rolled in. With 30 to choose from—all of them red, save for Syrix—we have support for a theme. We clearly have to start with the OG, Shard Phoenix. Immortal Phoenix will ensure that we have a trigger, often on another player’s turn, which is what we want (since we can have Syrix trigger pretty easily on our own turn). Oversold Cemetery and Palace Siege slot right in as doing double duty. What’s cool about the card is that any creature leaving the graveyard (yes, Syr Konrad, the Grim says hello) triggers Syrix. The targeted Phoenix on the battlefield, which might even be Taurean Mauler, deals the damage.
Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
While I join long-time Star City Games colleague Bennie Smith in being excited that he now has a namesake card, I feel like Bennie Bracks slots better into the 99 than as a commander. Having convoke is nice and all, and if we’re going for a curvy, mono-white beatdown or Stax build, it’s possible that Bennie Bracks could do.
The card draw is great and there are plenty of ways to make tokens on other players’ turns. I’d want to branch out into blue, like with Ephara, God of the Polis or any number of options in red. Selesnya tokens is a little overdone at this point.
All that said, I really like the card and it will certainly make its way into an existing deck.
Mari, the Killing Quill
I would have been kind of sad if there weren’t hit counters somewhere in New Capenna. I’d play Mari just for giving deathtouch to Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues and for exiling opponents’ creatures. The hit counter thing to draw a card and create two Treasure tokens is very delicious extra sauce.
Running Mari as a mono-black commander, I’d head for a tribal strategy with those Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues. If I were to focus on her, I think she’d shine as a member of the team led by Etrata, the Silencer. She’s also an Assassin, so the synergy is there. Having an additional way to get hit counters is the way to go, since you can’t proliferate counters in exile (Rule 701.27a). I’d probably still go heavy on the Rogue tribal, maybe with Zareth San, the Trickster as the secret commander.
Vazi, Keen Negotiator
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to need Vazi’s first ability to take advantage of the second. People are going to make Treasures, and I don’t think that Vazi being on the battlefield is going to stop them. The only real way I’m using the first ability is if I’m also playing Disciple of the Vault—unless the opponent is an ally of some kind against a greater threat.
With Vazi being in Riveteers colors, the deck I’d build would be sort of a punisher for the kinds of things people do in Commander games. That Disciple of the Vault would come front and center. I might even play no artifacts of my own and then add Molder Slug. I wouldn’t play Ruination, but Price of Progress and Anathemancer are in the discussion. So is Primal Order. Ascendant Evincar and Night of Souls’ Betrayal are possibilities. I even go as far as Horobi, Death’s Wail, but that’s one that really involves knowing the audience.
The potential commanders from New Capenna Commander offer us ample opportunities to build, brew, and explore themes. I’m a fan of the fact that they for the most part don’t push us too hard in any one direction. We can use them to investigate a cute theme or put together something relatively savage. This one hits all the right notes for me.
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