Commander 2018: The Tribal Evaluation
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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Sep 03 2018 12:00pm
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COMMANDER 2018

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 Here we go again: the four 100-card Commander 2018 decks bring a plethora of exciting new cards to the Commander, Legacy and Vintage pools, but alas, their availability online is strictly dependent on the next update to the Treasure Chests. Unless you devote some serious effort to the task, it's becoming increasingly hard to keep track of what's in the Chests, while at the same time the ancillary products fighting for slots are proliferating – this summer alone we had both this new entry in the Commander series and Battlebond, and that doesn't even count the launch of the Global Series that might or might not lead to more installments and still features never-before-printed cards that MTGO should have any right to get its digital hands on.

 The case of Commander 2018 makes us tribal players particular impatient, because so many of the new cards are creatures; most of them multicolored and legendaries, of course, but also graced in average with a higher complexity than your regular Standard-legal fare. Also, four brand new planeswalkers, each leading one of the decks, two of which are tailored for Aura and artifact decks, respectively (the latter being a new Saheeli), and that kind of synergy could definitely tickle a Johnny's fancy in Tribal Wars as well.

   

 Flavor corner: Aminatou is a little girl from an undisclosed plane, who's also a powerful Gaimanian entity that controls the flow of destiny, so I'd love to see the Bolas arc anticlimactically concluded with Aminatou willing him out of existence by stomping her feet and saying, "You're a bad, bad dwagon".

 Anyway, let's give a look to the new creatures, which include a few very small or semi-forgotten tribes getting a new member, like it's the case for Kraken, Minion, Ninja, Nymph, Pegasus, and Unicorn. As always, the focus is on all the Constructed applications, the tribes are listed alphabetically, and you'll find a hypertextual list at the end.

 Infodump

  • Cards: 307
  • New cards: 59
  • New creatures: 33
  • Reprinted cards: 248
  • Reprinted creatures: 68
  • New Legendary creatures: 12
  • New artifact creatures: 2
  • New enchantment creatures: 2
  • Triple-subtype creatures: 0
  • Creature types affected: 33
  • Tribes with more than one addition: Human (+5), Wizard (+4), Artificer (+3), Golem (+2), Hydra (+2), Zombie (+2)

Angel: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 149, online: 146

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: C18's lone Angel, Heavenly Blademaster, comes from Estrid's deck, so of course she cares about Auras, but in a twist, she also likes her some Equipment. Too bad she doesn't steal any of the opponent's stuff (I guess it's not something you could expect a monowhite creature to do), but she's still able to reduce all equip costs to zero, like a giant yet selfish Kor Outfitter, and she's already a heavy hitter thanks to double strike, so she's bound to become quite the battle station, giving even Rafiq of the Many a run for his money. On top of that, she grants your team an anthem effect that's directly proportional to the degree you managed to successfully fulfill her thirst for gear. She's not a one-size-fits-all finisher for sure (unless you're okay with just dealing six damage per turn for six mana), but to build around her can lead to a satisfying blowout.

Artificer: +3

  

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 New Tribal Total: 115, online: 107

 Related Tribes: Human

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Obviously coming as part of Saheeli's deck, these three new Artificers are all variously notable. Loyal Apprentice is part of a new lieutenant cycle, the second after the original one from Commander 2014, which used the keyword only on larger, mid-range to late-game creatures. C18's lieutenants are leaner and faster, none more so than this little inventor, a 2/1 with haste that in turn creates hasty Thopters before each combat phase. It might be exclusively meant for Commander, but it sure is something you want to run there, and not just in decks that are concerned about your artifact count on the battlefield; in fact, all those free flyers ready to join the attack are especially a boon for aggro builds, reinforcing the alliance between red and artifacts that Kaladesh block has strongly established.

 Also quick to the draw is another trainee, Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice, the multiverse-renowned lab assistant of the most god-like of all the Artificers, not to mention owner of a famous set of Candelabra, finally getting a personal incarnation outside of Vanguard. Looking here younger and more sharp-witted than on his Vanguard card, Tawnos is more or less a living Panharmonicon, exclusively focused on artifacts but covering activated abilities as well (except for mana abilities, because those don't use the stack so they can't be targeted). I won't even begin to list the insane amount of applications you can find for an active Tawnos, but his own activation cost, albeit reasonable, might make him slightly clunkier than Panharmonicon in any environment where the available resources are typically scarcer than in most Commander games. After all, creatures that let you pay to Fork spells already exist, and usually remain within the confines of the win-more cards.

 Unexpectedly enough, the big kahuna of the tribe's new additions is a Phyrexian (not sure why Saheeli should be friends with them, but all right). Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer apparently came from a future timeline via Time Spiral's rift, and similarly to Loyal Apprentice, it creates artifact tokens with haste at the beginning of combat. Brudiclad's creations don't fly, being two-powered Myr that for some reason are blue rather than colorless (this way they naturally interact with Grand Architect, though). What justifies Brudiclad's high casting cost is the last sentence of its triggered ability, stating that all the tokens you control become a token of your choice until end of turn. Note that both the universal haste and this temporary cloning effect don't involve artifact tokens only, so if you happen to have a 5/5 Dragon token, well, that's a good way to really weaponize those Myr and Thopters. Once again, within the correct build, this is a card that's perfectly capable of winning you games on its own if left unchecked.

Dragon: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 188, online: 177

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High

 Highlights: C18 features a number of returning keywords that are represented by a single card, and in the case of its obligatory Dragon it's landfall, employed to create Dragon Egg tokens. It's both great flavor and a strong effect, like everything that gives you resources without asking for anything in return. You'll just mind your business with your pretty honest five-drop flyer, and every once in a while you'll receive the gift of a free blocker that'll later turn into more aggression.

Drake: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 79, online: 77

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Drake came close to feel like filler even in a high-profile setting like a Commander product, but a free card per turn when your commander is around is actually a pretty good deal, even if it's one that's awfully easy to disrupt in more than one way. I'm noticing a lot of C18 cards use the beginning of combat rather than the upkeep as the preferred moment to make the triggers happen; in this case, it gives you the chance to cast or re-cast the commander and collect the bonus right away.

Druid: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 167, online: 161

 Related Tribes: Elf

 Impact of the New Additions: Low

 Highlights: I might well not see the hidden strength of this card, but it looks to me like this Druid is creating 0/1 Plants when you crack a fetch or a stripland, and then it lets you grow back one land every third time you do the trick? Of course you can end up with many Plants at once if you cast something like Scapeshift, and you can sac other creatures that you already wanted to send to the graveyard for some reason. But I still fail to see the clear potential in this process. The fact that Turntimber Sower has triple the converted mana cost of, say, Deathrite Shaman makes me think maybe it's not meant to feel like a power rare.

Efreet: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 21, online: 19

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: A new Efreet is not something that happens every day – in fact, we hadn't seen one of the Djinns' more reckless cousins since Tarkir block, when the tribe got its latest boost, the second after Mirage block. Even better news, Emissary of Grudge is an excellent card, even more so in 1v1, where he'll be a big flyer with haste that comes with a free Misdirection. Granted, the opponent will see the activation coming and will try to play around it, but at the very least it'll make it harder to hit the Emissary with removal, unless he's the only creature on the board. All in all, he might be worth his Inferno Titan mana.

Elemental: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 386, online: 377

 Impact of the New Additions: Low

 Highlights: The returning mechanic evoke merely turns Night Incarnate into Yahenni's Expertise (minus the bonus spell), but it's nice that its ability triggers not only by death (like it's the case for Havoc Demon), but by any instance of leaving the battlefield, so you can blink or bounce it as well, and its toughness means it never kills itself. Other than that, it's an unremarkable midrange deathtoucher, but at least it has some flexibility.

Elf: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 346, online: 327

 Related Tribes: Druid

 Impact of the New Additions: Low

 Highlights: This guy seems even less relevant as an Elf, somehow. But I can't help but feel like I'm missing some major interaction here.

Giant: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 139, online: 130

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Straight from Theros, here it comes a Giant from Nylea's personal menagerie. It's an enchantment creature with a constellation trigger, but instead of drawing cards like Eidolon of Blossoms, it doubles the body of a creature, most likely itself. It doesn't have nor grant trample, though, so the impact of the doubling might not be worth seven mana.

Goblin: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 317, online: 301

 Related Tribes: Rogue

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High

 Highlights: This guy is a hoot. He steals moxen! He steals Sol Ring! He steals Mana Vault and forces you to untap it or take the damage before giving it back! All right, some applications are better than others, and there's certainly room for silly shenanigans considering the larceny is mandatory. But if he were a one-drop, he would impact Vintage. As a three-drop, he gets to have three points of power, so he can provide some degree of aggression, too.

Golem: +2

 

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 New Tribal Total: 107, online: 105

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High

 Highlights: I'm not entirely sold on Ancient Stone Idol, though it undeniably has tactical value. It's a 12/12 trampler that you can pay for cheap during a combat phase with a lot of attackers. Technically, its casting cost could even drop all the way down to zero, but I feel like in most situations it'll be easier to cast Ghalta, Primal Hunger for two. This big guy is coming back from the dead, though, except now it's a token with half the power and the Construct type. The whole thing appears to be some sort of homage to Worldwake's Stone Idol Trap, of all cards. I believe it's what disturbs the Vorthos in me: there's the same weirdness of a defensive ambusher with high toughness that somehow is given an aggressive ability like trample – sure, you had a chance to attack with the Stone Idol from the trap, but it still feels wrong, somehow. And what's the flavor of a Golem becoming a Construct? Is it because now it's broken? Anyway, I don't think the cost reduction is reliable enough to make it a must-have. I'd rather play Colossus of Akros.

 Geode Golem is another Commander-only card. If you connect with it, and trample sure helps with that, you'll get to cast your commander for free, give or take the additional cost due to previous iterations. Admittedly, it benefits expensive commanders the most, and the small butt doesn't suggest your commander will keep coming back at a discount price for long.

Human: +5

  

 

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 New Tribal Total: 2121, online: 1917

 Related Tribes: Artificer, Knight, Ninja, Wizard

 Impact of the New Additions: Irrelevant

 Highlights: Two Artificers, two sub-commanders, and the 19th member of the Magus megacycle: that's the Human contingent from Commander 2018.

Hydra: +2

 

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 New Tribal Total: 39, online: 37

 Related Tribes: Lizard

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Aside from Progenitus, who's a very special case, Gyrus, Waker of Corpses is the first black Hydra ever printed. Its blackness dictates its entire shtick, which is what its name blatantly implies: Gyrus reanimates creatures, if temporarily. It doesn't lose the chance to have the ubiquitous Hydra-counters mechanic, but with a little twist, in that the colored portion of the casting cost also contributes to the number of counters, not just the X. This way it can be a three-colored Hydra without losing too much steam in the process. A nice solution, if a bit... counter-intuitive (no pun intended). In any case, exiling a creature per attack to throw it at the opponent is not bad, but you'll need a self-mill shell to make it truly impressive. Or just use Gyrus as a commander of a dedicated build, I guess (it's Lord Windgrace's deck's vice commander, after all).

 But I personally find Whiptongue Hydra more exciting than Gyrus, because it's the "destroy all flyers" ETB effect that green has always wanted and never got in such clear terms. This makes Whiptongue the go-to silver bullet against the pesky flying menace, and the fact that it's also a big reach body is just gravy – though it'll probably never grow to be properly gigantic, unless you just annihilated a large army of Spirit tokens, Bitterblossom Faeries, Angels from Decree of Justice, or some such.

Insect: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 155, online: 150

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Is it just me, or does this look like a leftover from some Un-set to you, too? I mean, it's the visual parody of Crash of Rhinos. Mechanically, it wildly outclasses its predecessor (it was just a common, anyway), but to make it a 15/15 trample for five, you'd need ten lands on the battlefield, so that can't exactly happen early in the game like with Ghalta; and when it ultimately does, it'll just be as frail a dude as much as the next one.

Knight: +1

 

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 New Tribal Total: 240, online: 221

 Related Tribes: Human

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: History alert. Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor gives body to another familiar name, this time from the Ice Age era. She's the rogue Kjeldoran general who refused to accept the peace between Darien, King of Kjeldor and the Barbarian chieftain Lovisa Coldeyes; she was mentioned in two cards from Alliances, Varchild's Crusader and especially Varchild's War-Riders, which is where the Survivor creature type originated. Varchild finally gets her own card, and it's a fun mechanic, where she keeps creating as many shell-shocked Survivor tokens as it's the damage she manages to deal to the opponent, and once she's gone and they're cured of their PTSD, those tokens become yours. The biggest wrench in this mechanism is that she's just a 3/3 with no combat abilities that would make any more likely for her to connect. But you can find a way to help this crazy kid wreak some havoc and spread her wanton destruction, can't you?

Kraken: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 12, online: 11

 Impact of the New Additions: Severe

 Highlights: See, that's how you do the "island that's actually a sea monster" trope. I'm looking at you, (Island Fish Jasconius). Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle (the name betrays its Theros origin; it was awaken by the fuss Kiora made when she battled with Thassa for her Bident) starts as a double mana source for 4, so it's a legit accelerator, like a slightly more expensive Worn Powerstone that produces colored mana. And then you cast five spells, and voilà, you find yourself with a 12/12. It's not a trampler, unfortunately, but the investment was so low (basically, just the decision to include a midrange mana rock in your deck) that it doesn't matter. It's not groundbreaking or anything – ironically – but it's a nice marriage of flavor and mechanic. Plus, it's the twelfth Kraken, a tribe that routinely gets bested by their Leviathan cousins, so it needed a win.

Lizard: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 47, online: 42

 Related Tribes: Hydra

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: This is a Lizard uniquely to justify having reach (via the tongue-lashing. Yeah, the rationalization of why flyers can't just outfly the reach creatures is always iffy). I guess a Spider Hydra felt too out there.

Merfolk: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 203, online: 199

 Related Tribes: Shaman

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: The Ixalan Merfolk have really embraced green, but Tuvasa the Sunlit is the first of them to add white to the mix (all the previous ten white Merfolk came from Lorwyn, with the exception of Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper from Battle for Zendikar and the original Galina's Knight from Invasion). And she's an "enchantments matter" gal, of course from Estrid's deck, this time properly in the mold of classic Verduran Enchantress, though only the first enchantment you cast every turn draws you a card. In exchange, our sun worshipper grows bigger the more enchantments you accumulate on the battlefield, but that seems to hardly justify the triple-colored cost. Argothian Enchantress is not going into retirement anytime soon.

Minion: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 40, online: 38

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Whoa, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition Minions (the Magic ones, not the Despicable Me ones). Mostly because we all thought the subtype had been retired for good, or so Mark Rosewater had us believe in 2014, then again in 2016. It's always been kind of a nonsensical type, neither a race nor a class but sort of an allegiance, or a moral stance; it's like if the last Nicol Bolas creature card had "Big Bad" as a type (I know, I shouldn't give Rosewater ideas).

 Anyway, they were gone for so long that out of the 40 Minions printed, only one other has debuted since the Modern frame exists, Ravnica's Tidewater Minion; and it wasn't even a Minion as printed, it got the type later during the Grand Creature Type Update merely due to its name. But now we have Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, and she's the coolest. I mean, I'm not sure how actually good she would be in a competitive environment, but in 1v1 she can't ever attack or block, so the opponent in no way benefits of her presence. Well, except they could still activate her ability to trade some life for some cards. But it feels eviler when you're doing it. She perfectly captures the flavor of a sleeper agent doing damage behind enemy lines and passing back information. And if it may seem like 5/5 is way too big of a body for your regular Mata Hari, you're missing the fact that she's not Human, she's a Phyrexian! Which is why she doesn't have any other creature type, always the hint that our favorite biomechanical menaces are involved (though they should really have the guts to retroactively create the Phyrexian subtype. It's never too late).

 Xantcha is not just any Phyrexian, though. She's a Phyrexian defector! (They placed her as sub-commander of Lord Windgrace's deck, indeed). Here's her description from the C18 product page: "Xantcha was a Phyrexian created to live undetected among humans. Corrupted by a trace of human compassion, she turned against Phyrexia and traveled with Urza for centuries, eventually sacrificing herself to aid him in his millennia-long battle against her creators. Her heartstone, the seat of her personhood, became part of the golem Karn." A compassionate Phyrexian, friends with Urza, whose heart lives inside of Karn? Now, that's some backstory.

Ninja: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 11, online: 10

 Related Tribes: Human

 Impact of the New Additions: Severe

 Highlights: Speaking of creature types that don't frequently see new additions, what's harder to come across than the very plane-specific Ninjas? And from a plane, Kamigawa, that we won't probably visit ever again. They even appeared in only one set of Kamigawa block, just eight of them, and since then they had received new members only in supplemental expansions like Planechase and now Commander (plus a few in Unstable).

 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow (sub-commander of Aminatou's deck) is a Ninja lord, to boot, drawing cards and dealing a potentially boatload of damage every time she or one of her slick comrades successfully ninjutsu their way into the end zone (or they can just connect normally, but what's the fun in that?). The additional damage makes up for her low native power, and her ninjutsu cost is pretty low. Plus, she debuts the option to activate such tribe-defining ability from the command zone, too. If you want to build a Ninja-themed Commander deck, she's definitely your girl.

Nymph: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 12, online: 11

 Impact of the New Additions: Severe

 Highlights: The second enchantment creature in the set, predictably, also hails from Theros. It's in fact another instance of a tribe, Nymph, almost entirely comprised within its signature block, the only exception in this case being the retconned Shanodin Dryads (I'm still not sure why they felt the need to change that one, it hasn't even seen reprint since Seventh Edition, mostly because it's a useless piece of junk). And now there's a second exception: Kestia, the Cultivator: She's a powerful bestow creature (reprising the keyword from the original Nymph cycle in the first Theros set) that sort of functions as a lord for the enchantment creatures and, really, for all creatures in decks that use Auras. In the right build, the quantity of cards you draw with Kestia can get over the top fast. Or you can just be content to attack with sensibly costed 4/4 and draw one additional card per turn. Not surprisingly, though, she makes for a great commander, the main replacement for Estrid in her deck.

 Fashion note: is she wearing her own hair as a shoulder piece?

Ooze: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 25, online: 23

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: A new Ooze is always an occasion to rejoice for an Ooze fan like me, and C18 delivers us a good one. Granted, it's not that impressive when it drops, but as soon as the opponent's creatures start to die (and you know you want to help speed that process up), Ravenous Slime will grow to alarming proportions, putting to good use (Steel Leaf Champion)'s semi-evasive ability. What's possibly even more important is that its mere presence stops all graveyard shenanigans. You won't come back this time, The Scarab God!

Pegasus: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 13, online: 12

 Impact of the New Additions: Severe

 Highlights: Here's another tiny tribe growing one notch. Boreas Charger doesn't have to die to trigger its Land Tax, but in 1v1 especially, it seems unlikely you'll get to fetch more than one or two Plains cards. Still, it's a new Pegasus and doesn't suck, we can be happy.

Rhino: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 29, online: 28

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: This Rhino might have the most powerful lieutenant ability so far, in that it's a free Gavony Township activation, and that costs at least five mana usually. Plus it's a honest 4/4 trampler for a reasonable cost. It looks like something you might want to play in most green Commander decks, especially if they incorporate a "counters matter" theme.

Rogue: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 226, online: 209

 Related Tribes: Goblin

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Of course this guy is also a Rogue. He's the ultimate thief!

Shaman: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 353, online: 346

 Related Tribes: Merfolk

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: That ceremonial mask Tuvasa is wearing makes her look like she has white mustaches and a goatee. It doesn't exactly become her, is what I'm saying. Time to change your River Herald fashion designer, dear.

Sphinx: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 46, online: 45

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Aminatou's riddling friend, Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign is the Sphinx queen of a mysterious plane, and she has a third eye that lets her predict and manipulate the future. This results in one of two outcomes every time she attacks – and she attacks most every time, because she has flying, vigilance, menace and a big butt, so it's unlikely she'll ever be scared by what awaits her at the other side of the table. Of those two outcomes, one is good: you draw a card. And the other is... better: you cast the card you just drew for free. This means that, with a little library manipulation, she can summon such odd-costed monstrosities as Worldspine Wurm, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and (where legal) (Emrakul, the Aeon Torn). She's undeniably an alluring Sphinx for just five mana, if you can muster her three colors.

Spider: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 48, online: 46

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Easy to make every creature attack when you have vigilance and reach, uh? Plus Thantis, the Warweaver grows larger for each enemy creature that she forces to attack. Quite the game-changing board presence. And apparently, the secret is in her web's aroma.

Unicorn: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 14, online: 10

 Impact of the New Additions: Severe

 Highlights: Fourteenth Unicorn in the game, though it's for Commander only. Its lieutenant ability is one of the strongest, though (this new cycle is definitely better than the old cycle), letting you carefreely attack every turn with your whole team, since your creatures won't get combat damage and won't let you open to counter-attacks.

Vampire: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 212, online: 199

 Related Tribes: Wizard

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Basically, with Bloodtracker you cast a series of (discounted) Sign in Blood but store the cards away, to be drawn only when he dies. In the meantime, he'll be a more effective beater. Unfortunately, the risk of losing all that life only to see your Vampire getting exiled is not low. Interesting mechanic, though.

Vedalken: +1

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 New Tribal Total: 52, online: 51

 Related Tribes: Wizard

 Impact of the New Additions: High

 Highlights: Wow, surprise returning metalcraft combined with surprise Humility effect. This is one nasty Vedalken if you can pull off his devious plan. And okay, his devious plan just amounts to attacking while you control three artifacts, but it's still something you have to actively pursue. Will they then dare to chump-block him with four of their nerfed critters, losing three? Probably not, so you better keep your Blazing Volley ready.

Wizard: +4

   

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 New Tribal Total: 656, online: 625

 Related Tribes: Human, Vampire, Vedalken, Zombie

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium

 Highlights: Since Varina, Lich Queen is more of a Zombie card than a Wizard card, and we already discussed both Bloodtracker and Vedalken Humiliator, we're left with the last entry in the Magus megacycle, this time mimicking Balance. The very powerful white leveler of boards is banned both in Legacy and in Commander (and restricted in Vintage), so this guy is giving us a chance to experience its effects again in those formats, too. I'm not too keen on that five-mana activation, but I guess if it made too easy to replicate the real thing, then it would have to be banned as well.

Zombie: +2

  

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 New Tribal Total: 393, online: 403

 Related Tribes: Wizard

 Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High

 Highlights: Yet another member of the latest lieutenant cycle, Loyal Subordinate could deal his three damage without even attacking when in the presence of his master or mistress. And if the field is clear enough, he'll add an equal amount of menacing damage. (Shouldn't a subordinate be a Minion, by the way? He really looks like he should have the Minion type).

 The flashier Zombie in the set is Varina, Lich Queen, though. I gotta say, the mandatory looting might be a bit too much longterm, but at least you also gain life. And then you can create a bunch of Zombie tokens with the cards you dump into your graveyard. Tapped Zombie tokens, of course, as that has become the rule lately, I guess to represent the freshly undead slowly staggering their way out of the grave. Anyway, a three-colored Zombie lord is not ideal in most Zombie decks, but it's clearly good for Zombie Commander decks, and we're reviewing a Commander expansion after all.

 Back story corner: boy, the notes about Varina on the official site are awfully vague. "She can peer into a range of unfulfilled futures and raise zombies from the shadows of these discarded realities". What does that even mean? Discarded realities? Is that a punny way to reference her mechanic? Since when you need all this mystical mumbo-jumbo to raise a freaking corpse? I can almost picture Liliana and Gisa rolling their eyes in unison at that sentence. Plus, Aminatou's deck has shaped up to be more sinister than it had to be. I mean, she's partly black because she's an 8-year-old with the power of getting whatever she wants, but she's not a villain. I think.

SUMMARY

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 Check the Complete Creature Types Reference Table here.

THE VICE COMMANDERS
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THE SUB-COMMANDERS
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THE LIEUTENANTS
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KUMA'S TRIBAL EVALUATIONS