New Commander decks mean new Commander cards that we’re going to nick out of the precons while we wait for the copy that we just ordered to arrive. The best cards from these decks lean into very big and very splashy, just the way we like them. There are 57 of them (82 if you count the planes, which are back, baby!!!), so there won’t be space to cover them all. Cards that are administratively tied to March of the Machine Commander but only available in the Set and Collector Boosters are fair game. I’ll divide things up by color, and we’ll chat about the best of the best.
The Commanders
Bright-Palm is an easy, aggressive build-around that I might suggest for someone making their own deck for the first time. It has a clear theme in a good color wedge. Both abilities are nice individually, but then combo up for some great synergy.
Branch it out a little and have Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos lead the Warhammer 40,000 Necron deck? That’d be kind of silly.
Even one life a turn is worth it when you’re getting a Vampire with lifelink. The upside on this card is really high. Sure, we have to attack to get the card draw trigger, but it’s a 6/6 flyer with ward 2. What else would we do with it?
I really want to see what the creative brains brew around Gimbal. There have to be some really silly builds. They probably include things that triple damage.
I like creating Dragons. I like even more giving my creatures haste. The blue is awkward for some Dragon strategies, although we could probably build a good Grixis one in short order.
With art that you can’t take your eyes from, Kasla, the Broken Halo leads us into a convoke strategy with some big payoff. She has convoke to go along with flying, vigilance, and haste. That’s a 5/4 we could see pretty early. Then, when we convoke another spell, we scry 2 and draw a card. That’ll get the engines running.
Ooh, I was with you all the way down to the last sentence. I don’t mind the threat of it being exiled, but give me some outs. Here, there aren’t any, which is probably better than just letting me loop the best artifact in my graveyard forever.
The pairing everyone is talking about, Rashmi and Ragavan engage in some serious Temur monkey business. We have incentives to play mana rocks and Powerstones instead of land ramping, and there are always Treasures to create. I think we’ll be fine. I really want to find the road not taken with this card. While I definitely want to play it, I want to avoid just building a good-stuff pile.
It’s a little book-keepy, but that’s not horrible. We’ll need something to untap it other than its less-than-reliable triggered ability. Sword of the Paruns works, but does carry a heavy mana cost. Good old Jandor’s Saddlebags works, and a Fourth Edition version can be had for just $0.49. Patriar’s Seal works quite nicely as well, and Minamo, School at Water’s Edge is in the color identity. Add Opposition to complete the package.
All Will Be One on a stick will start reducing life totals pretty quickly. I had dreamed of playing this card with Body Double, but it’s not to be. At least we don’t have to be without Doubling Season. We’ll play The Ozolith just to move counters around—and this deck is getting hilarious already.
I saw eminence (back during design) and drew a deep breath. Fortunately, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir also let me let it out. Eminence as an ability with an active trigger condition is way better than having a passive one. One triggered loot a turn cycle is hardly busted.
Whoa, this is super saucy! We’re in colors to play a Saproling theme, and from there, sacrifice outlets to get stuff into the graveyard and the mana to get it out. I’m all up on cheating Slimefoot and Squee around the commander tax. There’s a creature type shell around which we’d have to build the deck, but after that I think we can have our choice on where we’d want a deck to go.
White
Lots of white decks like to battle with more than one creature, so unless we’re inhibited in some way, we’re drawing every turn. We can also spend two and discard a card to create a 2/2 Knight. For the low mana cost of Chivalric Alliance, we get a great deal of value without being broken. Nice design.
The first of the Talent cycle, it adds an Elspeth ability to whichever planeswalker we enchant with it. Even better, when we activate a loyalty ability, our creatures get +2/+2 and vigilance until end of turn. Activating a second planeswalker in the turn would be really sweet.
I’ll take the trade of giving an opponent an Incubator token in exchange for their best permanent. Not even a question.
A card after my own heart, directing attacks elsewhere, Firemane Commando is great because it gives players a choice instead of just shutting them down. They have to evaluate what the card is worth versus dealing damage to me. Note that Firemane Commando’s first trigger doesn’t require that it is one of the attackers.
Another sweet design. The choice involved in whether we put the backup counter on another creature or Guardian Scalelord means assessing the battlefield state a little. The important part, of course, is what we have in the graveyard. If there are two threes, the choice is easy. If an excellent four is involved, we’ll have to do some thinking. Early in the game, I’d go for whatever could better develop our battlefield state. Later, if there’s a closer, we go for it.
I’m not sure that I want to build a Phyrexian deck, but if I do, Vulpine Harvester will be in it. We’ll do all kinds of tricks with sacrificing artifacts for value, from Mind Stone all the way up to Dreamstone Hedron. Actually, we could go all the way up to Coveted Jewel, which we’d get extra value out of because of the mana. And, of course, we then unleash that tomfoolery on the game.
A three-mana rock with a cool ability? This is the Commander life I want. Convoking Comet Storm is in the cards.
Best Reprint
Blue
Getting combat damage through will be pretty easy, since we don’t see too many Vehicles these days. The low crew cost and high ceiling ability make Deluxe Dragster quite compelling.
Horsemanship is back! Now we need to find out if Odric, Lunarch Marshal or Odric, Blood-Cursed cares about it. [Copy Editor’s Note: Not seeing it, sorry!]
I’m on a little bit of a Clone kick, so this one piqued my interest. Everyone always has an artifact that’s worth copying, whether it’s a Sol Ring or a Strionic Resonator. It’s also why we should play more Thada Adel, Acquisitor.
So the dream here is to Doubling Season up to activating the Teferi’s Talent ability? Or to Windfall into it? This card goes from pretty good to completely absurd with the triggered ability to refresh loyalty counters. It makes the card good enough to not need the first part, even.
Best Reprint
Black
We knew there was a new Giant coming along and hoped it wasn’t awkwardly green. Blight Titan is perfect from a flavor perspective, helping fill the graveyard for more growth. I might see it replace Grave Titan in a more graveyard-focused build.
Cool, we’re back to Demons that are strong but then could also completely screw you over. Love it.
Oh, now we’re talking. Getting to eight loyalty is often tricky, but the triggered ability that destroys a creature damaging Liliana’s Talent is a decent-enough rattlesnake.
I know we’re getting a little memey with me reanimating stuff, but here we go again. Reanimate something cool, then hold a vote that doesn’t matter.
Best Reprint
Red
People are comparing Dance with Calamity to other cards played at the high end. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but there’s a compelling sub-game to both participate in and watch. With some top-of-the-library control, we can set ourselves up relatively well, but there’s going to get to that time when we don’t know what’s there. Do we get greedy, or do we just stop at nine? Eight becomes trickier. An aptly named card.
I’m not sure we really needed this card, but here it is. See you on the other side of Old Gnawbones.
I love the possibilities the card creates. I think the choice here is always to backup another creature in order to get the extra trigger on later turns. So much fun stuff to copy. Like, who doesn’t want more Brash Taunters?
This is the card that we need. I don’t hate Treasures, but there needs to be a measure of pain that can come from getting so much advantage. Disciple of the Vault needs to make a 2023 comeback.
Useful with a full grip that we want in the graveyard for either reanimation or combo potential. We’ll need that to net mana, with which we’ll cast some of the cool things we just drew.
I’m all in on both things that Rowan’s Talent does. Let’s get some creatures profitably into the Red Zone. Copying Rowan’s ability or whatever else the enchanted planeswalker has is going to be good, since it’s doubling up for no cost.
Red’s getting some real gems here. Riot as a haste-enabler is so good, especially when we have creatures with activated abilities. In red, we might be more likely to be attacking, though. Putting the double damage on top of that is super-sweet. Another cool design.
Best Reprint
Green
The deck will definitely depend on whether we’re backing up the Woodwurm itself or another creature. Of course, by the time we cast Emergent Woodwurm, we might have a pretty big creature to buff and swing with.
An Explosive Vegetation redundancy for those of you not playing Planechase, or also a voting card for those of us who are (although I’m going to wait to play in-person; online Planechase is a little awkward). Maybe I can dig up a game at MagicCon Minneapolis.
Now this is one that could lead to some serious game states, even if it only triggers on nontoken creatures. I like the idea of finding other ways to tick up loyalty on planeswalkers and get to some of those ultimate abilities we rarely see.
Best Reprint
Multicolor
We better be playing a pretty long game to get value out of Begin the Invasion. It’s not just a lot of combat damage thrown at them; it’s just time. That said, it’s going to be one of those that’s spectacular every now and then, and we’ll consider it worth it.
I think the reason this one has to cut people’s throats is that the Negotiator’s not really that good at negotiating. The three cards we’re giving away are worth way more than two or three Treasures.
Giving convoke to stuff that’s not used to having it can get batty. Suddenly we have way more options on what to do with the creatures we have.
I’m not sure about Knights, but Merfolk getting a pile of +1/+1 counters is downright dangerous. Just a simple Brainstorm and the team is already getting deadly. Lots of possibilities for the theme deck here.
We might need X to be that big of a number to be pretty effective. We’re better if the team has haste, like with Urabrask the Hidden, so we can get attacking (and tapping) a turn early. There’s always someone open to attacks, so we should have at least a few survivors after the first attack.
Best Reprint
Colorless
A pretty involved name for a pretty straightforward card. The cast and equip costs are reasonable for what it does. It’s one of those solid cards that helps us win games.
Best Reprint
Time Marches On
The new cards of March of the Machine Commander follow the power and the glory of the base set. There are some excellent build-around commanders and plenty of spicy cards to slot into our existing decks. I doubt we see anything anytime soon like the legendary pairings in this. It’s an inspired way to get more characters out to the people. We’ve gotten so much out of this set already, and we still have March of the Machine: The Aftermath in the hopper. It’s a good time to be a Commander player.
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