COMMANDER LEGENDS
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Commander Legends is the first Commander product meant to be drafted, which means it's very different from previous sets aimed at the format. For one, it's sold in boosters and not in preconstructed decks (though there are a couple of those, too, with different reprints and six exclusive new cards). The most important change, though, is its being a draft environment, hence the quantity of filler commons and signpost uncommons, which is unusual in a product of this type.
Content-wise, a Commander-based set is necessarily focused on legendary creatures (or planeswalkers eligible as commanders via specific wording), more so one that is meant to be drafted, since the bigger obstacle to create a draft format for Commander is that you need to guarantee everybody gets at least one suitable legendary in the right colors. They solved it by creating a special-rarity make-your-own-color partner commander, The Prismatic Piper
, and then making it the sixth ever card, after the five basic lands, to always be available to any player in a tournament regardless of what they drafted.
Another way to assuage the issue of drafting under the constraint of color identity is the return of partner from Commander 2016. All the monocolored legendaries have the keyword, so they can be freely combined in pairs that pave the way for decks two different colors. The two new planeswalkers of the set are also allowed to be commanders, and to partner – as well as representing a recurring theme of flashing back to protagonists of Magic stories from the past, as Jeska is from the Odyssey/Onslaught era, and Tevesh Szat is from the Fallen Empires/Ice Age era.
Room for tribal interactions are not to be expected to be large in a Commander set, so it's truly surprising that Commander Legends managed to sneak a heavy tribal support for at least one tribe, Pirate, which gets the lion's share of non-Human new additions. Other tribes that gets a significant boost are characteristic races, like Elf, or evergreen classes like Warrior, Wizard, and Shaman. All iconic (Angel, Sphinx Demon, Dragon and Hydra) and characteristic types (Human, Merfolk, Vampire/Zombie, Goblin and Elf) have some degree of new representation. Very small tribes that get a new member include Chimera, Kobold, Rabbit, and Salamander.
Anyway, let's have a look at the new creatures and their tribes. As always, the main focus is on all the Constructed applications (though Limited is occasionally touched upon), the tribes are presented alphabetically, and you'll find a hypertextual list at the end.
Infodump
- Cards: 361 (+146 reprints in the Commander Decks +32 foil-etched reprints in the Collector Boosters + Mana Confluence
as a Buy-a-Box promo)
- New cards: 171 (of which 6 from the Commander Decks)
- New creatures: 124 (of which 5 from the Commander Decks)
- Reprinted cards: 369
- Reprinted creatures: 158
- New Legendary creatures: 73
- New Snow creatures: 0
- New artifact creatures: 5
- New enchantment creatures: 0
- Triple-subtype creatures: 1 (Fin-Clade Fugitives
)
- Creature types affected: 69
- Tribes with more than 5 additions: Human (+28), Pirate (+20), Elf (+15), Warrior (+11), Wizard (+10), Shaman (+7), Artificer (+6)
Angel: +4
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New Tribal Total: 172, online: 171
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Since Commander Legends had to print a whole bunch of new legendaries (on top of the dozens it reprinted), they might as well be new versions of old characters. Akroma, Vision of Ixidor
is a brand new incarnation of the fan favorite Angel (which is actually an Illusion, but they keep failing to acknowledge it on the cards), sort of a correction to make her more compliant to monowhite's color pie. Except the one evergreen keyword she loses here, the color-inappropriate haste, was the one that made Akroma, Angel of Wrath
into a tournament staple. She also drops the specific protection in exchange for an honestly byzantine way to produce an anthem. I guess you can occasionally have creatures bearing several keywords therefore getting a larger boost than just +1/+1, but it doesn't seem that likely (is it a way to suggest "double French vanilla tribal"?); a straightforward static bonus to all other creatures would have been smoother, and not particularly concerning. She's also one mana cheaper than her original, which is mostly irrelevant since she's bound to be reanimated anyway – seven mana are still not a cheap amount to pay. But I guess giving her partner was the whole point, so she becomes better suited to the role of commander.
At the same converted mana cost, Radiant, Serra Archangel
is at least more interesting than the previous and similarly named Radiant, Archangel
, which was just a slight variation on Serra Angel
. Serra's right hand girl now always comes with a sizeable base power, though she's not vigilant anymore. Her activated ability makes her hard to deal with when she's on the right board, and plays particularly well with other Angels. And like most of the new legendary creatures (39 out of 71), she has partner, so we can dispense with further comments about this aspect: these commanders are designed to walk in pairs, ideally of different color identities, to enlarge the scope of their list.
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk
is a new winged gal, with an unexpected twist: she's the lost fourth sister of the Innistrad Angels – Bruna, Gisela and Sigarda (the Orzhov combination was missing, indeed). Her backstory sounds pretty cool, as she was the dark, wild one who "consorted with demons, vampires and witches" (that definitely won't inspire risqué visual reinterpretations on DeviantArt). Avacyn declared her a heretic and ultimately destroyed her, many years before our first visit to Innistrad; but she's now retrospectively celebrated here, at long last. She's a quite impactful 5/5 lifelinker for five, heavily taxing all players' life totals as they cast spells. Even more importantly, she has a way to spend life instead of mana to pay the commander tax. Both her unique abilities are contingent on her replenishing her controller's life by connecting, but it's easy to envision her as part of a deck filled with other lifegain sources and synergies.
If Liesa is arguably the best new Angel, Anointer of Valor
is just a serviceable one – that trigger ability is pretty expensive, but I guess it's somewhat notable for a common.
Archer: +1
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New Tribal Total: 82, online: 78
Related Tribes: Human
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Halana ("Hal" for her friends) is a ranger from Innistrad who was previously mentioned in flavor texts from Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored, and then became the co-protagonist of a couple of stories by Kimbery Kreines, Under the Silver Moon and Emrakul Rises. What's noteworthy about her is that she has a, wait of it, partner – Alena, Kessig Trapper
. Alena and Halana roam together the Ulvenwald Forest in Kessig, helping travelers to get out of it alive; but their partnership doesn't stop at the workplace, since they're the first named lesbian couple in the game, after their male counterparts Kynaios and Tiro (from Theros) and Ral Zarek and Tomik Vrona (from Ravnica). So hooray for representation! Even though it's not exactly unambiguous: "Halana and I have a bond that'll never be broken" could mean many things. They could be sisters (in fact, I suspect that's what those who don't know their backstory will think), or just close friends. Also, lesbian couples don't necessarily have alliterating names nor are known to wear matching outfits – but hey, you take what you get.
Card-wise, they're uncommon with decent basic stats for their cost, and potentially powerful activated abilities. The also go against expectation, since the red Alena is the one who takes care of the mana production, while the green Halana does removal. If you manage to give haste to Alena, she almost immediately repays for herself; otherwise, she can help Halana pay for the bite triggers. Both abilities scale directly into the broken state: imagine dropping Ghalta, Primal Hunger
onto an Alena & Halana-presided battlefield (they're of course meant to share a command zone, who would dare to break them up?), then respond to Halana's trigger by tapping Alena to generate twelve red mana, two of which go to cover the expenses to Ghalta biting something. Good times in the Ulvenwald.
Archon: +1
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New Tribal Total: 17
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Commander Legends brings back monarch, the mechanic first seen in Conspiracy: Take the Crown, almost doubling the number of cards using it (from 17 to 31). Monarch works this way: when a card makes you the monarch, you get the relative emblem, which lets you draw a card at the beginning of your end step (so essentially right away), but you'll pass the emblem to an opponent that dealt combat damage to you. In the case of Archon of Coronation
, the effect is also associated with immunity from damage. That's easier to bypass than with something like Platinum Emperion
, since any combat damage will shut it down. This means you'll get a combat phase to take it back, though. Plus, you have a beefy flyers to defend the monarch emblem from assaults in the air, and to swing evasively to regain it. And the card-drawing shouldn't be underestimated. All in all, a strong top-end creature.
Artificer: +6
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New Tribal Total: 126, online: 122
Related Tribes: Dwarf, Goblin, Human
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Six new Artificers, all legendaries, all uncommon, five of them monocolored with partner (composing a proper in-tribe cycle). The simpler one, which lacks partner, is Reyav, Master Smith
, a Boros-colored Kaladeshian Dwarf who cares about enchanted or equipped creatures. Honest, inexpensive, possibly very impactful, since you can low-key bring him out of the command zone right before a massive equipped creatures is going to turn sideways.
The white Artificer, Rebbec, Architect of Ascension
, dates back to the ancient Thran Empire on Dominaria. She gives all your artifact protection from each of their mana costs, which can prove awkward when one of them would like to target another (like, you don't want Voltaic Key
in her deck), but can also lead to an unassailable army of unstoppable artifact creatures.
Glacian, Powerstone Engineer
is Rebbec's husband (guess the architect married the engineer, as it happens), and can impulse for a card by tapping artifacts. Six mana to cast him might feel too many, since the ability is strictly board-dependent and does nothing on its own; but his butt is nicely large and defensive, and the effect is sheer advantage that doesn't ask for mana.
Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor
is a Phyrexian in Sheoldred's service. His role is similar to Glacian, in that he digs for cards from the top of the library; unsurprisingly, his method involves sacrifices, but is recompensed with two cards out of three visioned (so it's more like "draw two cards and mill one", with a bit of selection about what gets milled). In sacrifice builds, it's more demanding than Priest of Forgotten Gods
but more rewarding as well, can use noncreature artifacts as fodder, and the mana cost to bring him online is modest. Also, he can be a commander, ideally partnered with someone who can create tokens.
And that someone might well be Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith
(there are actually various other partners with token-making abilities, like Tana, the Bloodsower
or Prava of the Steel Legion
). The Goblin from Dominaria has a landfall surrogate trigger that uniquely generates Equipment tokens that you can sacrifice to deal two damage to any target – they're throwing rocks, yeah, that's the extent of Toggo's artificer skills. You must pay one mana to equip the Rock, and another plus tapping the equipped creature to activate the damage-dealing effect – or you can just feed the steady stream of free tokens to Keskit and/or to some other outlet that can consume artifacts. Toggo seems positioned as a valuable secondary commander.
Finally, the green Ich-Tekik, Salvage Splicer
is another Phyrexian, serving Vorinclex. He's just a 1/1 but comes accompanied by a 3/3 Golem (partially justifying the high casting cost), and then any artifact going to the graveyard from the battlefield trigger the addition of a +1/+1 counter on him and on all the Golems in his team. So he's great for Golem tribal, as well as a perfect partner for both Keskit and Toggo – too bad they can't be a triptych in the command zone.
Assassin: +1
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New Tribal Total: 60, online: 57
Related Tribes: Elf
Impact of the New Additions: Low
Highlights: This Elf Assassin introduces us to the new mechanic encore, sort of a reworked unearth for multiplayer purposes. The attack trigger can do minor damage on occasion (those Birds will get bolted with weakness!), but the cost is too high and not very useful when there's nothing relevant to target.
Avatar: +2
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New Tribal Total: 77, online: 74
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Body of Knowledge
seems like something that can either be game-ending, or do close to nothing, especially if topdecked. It's at its best when paired with some sort of pinger, so you can directly exploit for cards. Also, it has such a punny name.
The quasi-mirrored Soul of Eternity
is almost a functional reprint of Serra Avatar
from Urza's Saga, only with encore in place of the reshuffling clause. This kind of card has never been particularly good; you need an external way to make the giant body connect, the converted mana cost is too steep to be reasonably dropped early on, and there are safer reanimation targets that don't die to a sneeze. This said, in multiplayer Commander, Soul of Eternity will be twice as big than in other formats, and encore might catch at least one of your opponents off-guard, and maybe even lead to a simultaneous win across the board. One can dream.
Beast: +2
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New Tribal Total: 421, online: 412
Related Tribes: Wolf
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Anara, Wolfid Familiar
exclusively works if played in Commander (unless you're interested in a four-mana 4/4 vanilla), and is part of the Familiar cycle, five monocolored creatures that give some ability to our commander or pair of commanders, in a sort of replacement for the old lieutenant mechanic. This wolf-like Beast specifically grants her masters indestructible, but only during their controller's turn, which will just make it easier for them to attack, and temporarily saves them from only a subset of instant-speed removal (the destruction effects). Considering Anara doesn't contribute anything else beyond an unevasive body, she doesn't strike me as a must-play. All Familiars are legendary with partner, because the idea is to pair them with a main commander, to represent their own magical companion animal (they're a Horse, a Bird, a Cat, a Lizard, and a Wolf), but they might feel a bit underpowered as one half of the command zone. Some can at least be valuable as part of the 99, albeit I would say Anara is not one of those, it's just too easy to play around her ability.
More intriguing is Plague Reaver
. It's a convoluted way to send a bad gift to the opponent, one that will force them to either get rid of it before their end step or lose their entire team. The Reaver has a built-in cost to accomplish this deranged game of tag, and it amounts to discarding two cards. There are multiple hidden synergies at play here. For one, it's not hard to envision a control deck that just runs Reaver as an extremely cheap 6/5 blocker, because they don't care about the sacrifice. Or even better, they do want to sacrifice their other creatures, because it's part of their battleplan. Occasionally they can send their pestilential beastie to an opponent, especially one that's empty-handed, to sweep their board in a roundabout way. Also worth considering is that Plague Reaver doubles (triples?) as a discard outlet. If discarding for value is your strategy, you can play three mana, pitch what you want, and have an opponent deal with the Reaver. Maybe not a surefire inclusion in any deck (it hinges on a very particular plan and state), but a fascinating card nonetheless. It could also just be used to create a fun party game of card-eating Kudzu
– the opposite of a group hug card, but still potentially charged with political value.
Bird: +3
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New Tribal Total: 270, online: 257
Related Tribes: Soldier, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Three uncommon Birds on the Commander Legends tree. Esior, Warding Familiar
is another one of the Familiars, this time taxing the opponents that try to target our commanders. It's a pretty small potato ability, but at least she's cheap to cast. Also, very reminiscent of Harry Potter's owl, and I'm not saying it in a good way.
Kangee, Sky Warden
is an Aven Wizard from Dominaria, already portrayed in the game in Invasion, as Kangee, Aerie Keeper
. This time he's a midrange vigilant flyer who makes other flyers more effective at attacking or defending alongside him. His own lieutenant does similar work in the aggressive department, and has encore. They're mostly forgettable, but also playable workhorses in any Azorius "flying matters" deck.
Cat: +4
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New Tribal Total: 219, online: 212
Related Tribes: Demon, Knight, Nightmare, Soldier
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Some excellent Cats are coming our way via Commander Legends. Armored Skyhunter
requires a specific build-around setup, but then its attack trigger is insanely advantageous, attaching for free an Aura or Equipment found among the top six cards, which might have easily been arranged so you're guaranteed to hit something crazy like Eldrazi Conscription
or Elbrus, the Binding Blade
. And the Skyhunter flies, so its fetched tool is going to connect right away. And they'll stick around, ready to double down on the lunacy at the next attack.
Same goes for Rakshasa Debaser
, a more expensive and less evasive beater, but one which equally produces an attack trigger that's bound to turn some heads in multiplayer, since it permanently reanimates a creature from the defending player's graveyard, no questions asked. Its encore cost is high, but it could represent the sudden stealing of three of the scariest threats faced so far at the table (or milled, for that matter). It can crack a board state like a nut.
The legendary Cats are helpful too. Prava of the Steel Legion (who apparently lives in the same unnamed plane as Saskia the Unyielding
from Commander 2016 and Licia, Sanguine Tribune
from Commander 2017 – are they planting seeds for an ancient Rome setting?) gives a whopping +1/+4 bonus to all the tokens on her side, starting from those she herself engenders. At four, the activation cost is not cheap, but those are 2/5s after all, and you can partner her with a commander that either cares about tokens or makes their creation easier. In both cases, and even as an uncommon, Prava doesn't seem out of place in the command zone, due to her static boost.
Finally, Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar
is arguably the most appealing of the Familiars, because adding both menace and deathtouch to the array of abilities your commanders already have is likely to be quite beneficial, especially with the more aggro-oriented partners.
Chimera: +2
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New Tribal Total: 21, online: 20
Related Tribes: Hydra
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: After the original quartet from Visions, four colorless artifacts that in retrospect have nothing to do mechanically with the rest of the tribe, Chimera has not shown up too often, mostly in Theros sets, as a reference to ancient Greek mythology. Last January, Theros Beyond Death printed the most Chimeras ever appeared in a single set, with five. Now Commander Legends added two more, so 2020 has been a very Chimera-friendly year, totaling one third of the entire tribe as of now. And these two new members are pretty cool, if hard to evaluate. The quadruple cascading Apex Devastator
is a larger than larger-than-life monogreen mythic curve-topper. For ten mana, you get a 10/10 out and you're guaranteed to cast four other spells, which means you also basically drew four cards (and a 10/10 that draws you four cards would almost already justifying its cost). And we're talking spells that cost less than the Devastator, so everything short of Ghalta, Primal Hunger (which incidentally drops for two from the hand when this Chimera is around), everything else is fair game. Still, you need to hardcast this monstrosity in order to trigger its cascade of cascade, so no tricks allowed, just ramp and go. But considering every instance has to be countered separately, they better have Flusterstorm
ready or suffer the consequences.
The first legendary Chimera ever printed, Gnostro, Voice of the Crags
, is even stranger. This owl/wolf/horse hybrid from Theros, which goes in the opposite direction of the Devastator by covering almost all colors but green (it's indeed one of the triple-colored commanders), piggybacks on the storm count to perform a series of valuable actions, be they scry, creature spot removal, or lifegain (I guess each of its three heads subscribes to a different color philosophy). From turn to turn, Gnostro's value is bound to oscillate greatly, ranging from significant to nothing at all. Also, none of the three abilities fuels itself – no card-drawing or mana production to increase the number of spells its controller will be able to cast next. Left to its own devices in topdeck mode, Gnostro's spark might peter out. But in most conditions, it's decidedly resourceful.
Cleric: +1
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New Tribal Total: 434, online: 409
Related Tribes: Human
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: This Cleric essentially populates all the tokens we create every turn, except she makes all the copies into 1/1 flyers, which is not the worst kind of token we could get. It's the only thing she does, so she's very specialized, but beyond her five-mana initial investment, she works without maintenance required, and survives a bolt. Our Thalisse, Reverent Medium
looks like a fun build-around.
Construct: +1
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New Tribal Total: 129, online: 128
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: This golden leonine automaton from Fiora might appear unassuming at first, but monarch is a high-powered mechanic that nets you one card almost immediately, and its toughness defends the emblem efficiently enough. There are worst ways to spend five generic mana.
Demon: +1
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New Tribal Total: 112, online: 109
Related Tribes: Cat
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Rakshasa Debaser is more of a Demon than a Cat – it's indeed of the demonic felines from the Sultai Brood on Tarkir, inspired to the namesake supernatural beings in Hindu mythology. It's something you might want to reanimate in a Demon build, to then proceed to have it reanimate other things you sent to the other graveyard. Granted, as far as reanimation targets go, the competition in the tribe is fierce, the Debaser has no impact the turn it hits the battlefield (short of giving it haste somehow), and encore is pricey and only mildly effective in one-on-one games. But it's still a six-drop to keep in mind.
Dinosaur: +1
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New Tribal Total: 115, online: 114
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: A minor cascader. After visualizing what Apex Devastator can do, this Dino appears tame by comparison. Maybe that's why it's annoyed. Although, it's actually a strong common that will have a role to play in Pauper.
Djinn: +2
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New Tribal Total: 49, online: 48
Related Tribes: Monk, Pirate
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Two Djinns from different planes and with very different looks. Apparently, there are Djinn Pirates on Ixalan, and they even command their own ships, as Emberwilde Captain
demonstrates. He's very frail and the attack tax can be played around – the decks against which it works best are also the decks more likely to steal the monarch emblem, and also those that typically empty their hand quickly – but he's a monarch card, so he has intrinsic value, starting from the fact that he basically replaces itself.
Siani, Eye of the Storm
is a female Djinn Monk from Tarkir, instead (from the erased timeline). She does some scry when attacking – going deeper if there's other flyers attacking alongside her, so she's okay in "flying matters" builds, but nothing more. A four-mana 3/2 is not exactly an exciting commander, even in partnership.
Dragon: +2
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New Tribal Total: 208, online: 206
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: The most beloved of the iconic tribes get two new toys at high rarities. Amareth, the Lustruous
(whose name, funnily, resembles that of an Italian cookie and/or liqueur) is one of a cycle of three-colored creatures that are meant for Constructed Commander, more than for this novel Limited environment. She comes from a mysterious plane where Dragon scales are made of crystals, and she essentially gives every subsequent permanent a kinship-like trigger, so that you can draw another card from the top if they share a type. It's a formidable ability, especially if you can manipulate the library, which is fairly possible in Bant colors (Sylvan Library
and Search for Azcanta
come to mind). For the rest, Amareth is a solid six-mana 6/6, following the blueprint of the Primeval Dragons from Invasion and Planar Chaos, many of which are familiar presences on Commander tables.
Hellkite Courser
has a similar stats, but in monored. It does just one thing, which is giving access to a commander for one turn, tax-free and complete with haste. The effect is bold and unprecedented enough to warrant the mythic status, but it's a one-off, and some commanders don't even have an aggro disposition or an activated ability, so briefly having them around might not do much – although, in most cases, it will be very welcome.
Druid: +4
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New Tribal Total: 202, online: 198
Related Tribes: Elf, Human, Naga
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: The Druids from Commander Legends perform a much wider variety of functions than they're used to. First of all, the brawny Kamahl is back, to accompany the third coming of his sister Jeska (with whom he could wonderfully partner). The protagonist of the Odyssey and Onslaught blocks is still in his druidic regalia that resulted from his transformation from Kamahl, Pit Fighter
into Kamah, Fist of Krosa
. Now known as Kamahl, Heart of Krosa
(though I guess the epithet is actually contemporary to the other monogreen one), is just a different take on his previous version, much in the same way as Akroma. Fist of Krosa had an activated Overrun
; in Heart of Krosa, that becomes a free pre-combat trigger. Fist of Krosa could animate lands for one green mana apiece; Heart of Krosa's converted mana cost for that same action has doubled, but the target gets all the abilities an animated land can aspire to: haste, so you don't have to remember which land you played that turn; vigilance, so you can also tap it for mana later; and indestructible, so it can attack carefreely. Plus the new Kamahl has a larger body and partner, but the whole package also costs two more mana. All in all, I believe the older green Kamahl is still the better commander, as you can sink gigantic amounts of mana into his activation to produce multiple Overrun effects in the same turn. He's the kind of guy that sits on the command zone until you're ready to alpha strike. New Kamahl has maybe more applications, and the big advantage of not having to be a lone commander; but feel more like a minor redundancy for something like Craterhoof Behemoth
, since bringing him out generates the boost right away – it gets delayed just long enough to wake up some land for the turn first, so they also profit from the bonus.
Rootweaver Druid
is a group hug card that ramps everyone at the table. Ideally, the Druid's caster should ramp more, but not exceedingly so, and if there are just two opponents, then everyone achieves the same boost, except the Druid player ends up with lands that likely only tap for colorless, while the other players also thinned their decks. Plus, they might just decline to search (since the ability is not mandatory, so why should they help the green player ramp?) and at that point you wasted three mana on a 2/1 vanilla. I'm not completely sold on this guy.
Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood
is the mana dork on duty. This mutated Dominarian Elf (which is regretfully missing the Mutant type) is a more expensive Wirewood Elf
, just because he can draw you a card if you spent his mana for a six-mana spell, something that might well happen, but definitely not every time you tap him. Also, he's a legendary with partner, though I can't really imagine electing Gilanra as a commander, even paired with a six-mana partner – that's the sort of interaction straight out of a preconstructed deck for beginners.
The final Druid is the Simic-colored Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
, a Naga from, I believe, the old timeline in Tarkir. It's the most unusual of these Druids, acting as a centerpiece commander for a cascade-based deck. Well, to an extent, it only grants cascade to spells that cost six mana or more, but it's still something, and if the deck is built properly, it could set off a cascade chain. Getting one point of toughness for five mana is abysmal, though.
Dwarf: +1
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New Tribal Total: 69, online: 61
Related Tribes: Artificer
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: The "Dwarves love machine" subtheme keeps being pushed (there was the vehicle focus in Kaladesh block), and I guess enchantments fit too, because Dwarves make runes? Anyway, there have been worse specimens than Reyav for this criminally underrepresented, classic fantasy tribe.
Elemental: +3
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New Tribal Total: 473, online: 466
Related Tribes: Lizard, Shaman, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Averna, the Chaos Bloom
(okay, now they're just using the names of Italian alcoholic beverages!) is another three-colored commander, this time in Temur colors, and another wannabe cascade lord. The ability to ramp when cascading is useful, if not amazing; it really requires a high density of cascade spells in the deck. The impact of Averna on first drop is minimal, but at least her power is slightly below the curve at three mana, although her body as a whole isn't.
We have another Elemental cascade enabler with Flamekin Herald
. It's simple but effective, particularly with expensive commanders. Getting a bonus free spell every time you drop a commander is a pretty good deal, even if there's always the risk of drawing the Herald too late and having to wait for a new commander iteration – which might however sugarcoat the disappointment of losing the commander. Not sure if it can be justified as a staple in every red deck, though. And of course, it's one of the many new cards that have no purpose whatsoever outside of Commander.
Still in monored and still Commander-only, Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar
is a strong Familiar that gives the Hydra Omnivore
, pseudo-myriad ability to your commanders. Only a specific type of commander wants this ability, but those who do really welcome it, and at two mana Kediss can be operative very quickly, and maybe even command zone worthy.
Elephant: +1
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New Tribal Total: 58, online: 57
Related Tribes: Warrior
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Wow, this Loxodon from Tarkir is a specialized commander, but one that's really good at his job. And the job of Hamza, Guardian of Arashin
is making our +1/+1 counters synergy deck smoother. It's not out of the realm of possibility to land this big boy onto the battlefield on turn three merely off his reduction cost, and if you manage to untap with him still around, the mana boost will be real. Plus he's a non-negligible 5/5 body. He only misses having a +1/+1 counter himself – but I'm sure he can acquire some of those along the way.
Elf: +15
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New Tribal Total: 416, online: 403
Related Tribes: Assassin, Druid, Horror, Salamander, Rogue, Scout, Shaman, Warrior, Zombie
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Elf makes for the second tribal theme in the set after Pirate, declined in Golgari colors. The most interesting synergy card is Elvish Dreadlord
, a surrogate one-sided mass removal for Elf decks. What the Dreadlord wants to do is trade via deathtouch, thus triggering a potentially back-breaking -3/-3 until end of turn to non-Elves. The encore is even more absolute, because the tokens get sacrificed and the maluses stack, so they can get to a -12/-12 that very few creatures can survive – but, again, your Elves will.
On a less substantial note, the creepy Abomination of Llanowar
is, eventually, a big body with vigilance and menace that can be brought about for cheap. Numa, Joraga Chieftain
(mostly known for having kicked Nissa out of her village) provides a recurring mana sink to put +1/+1 counters on your Elf team, himself included. The Lorwyn packmaster Miara, Thorn of the Glade
is a Midnight Reaper
for Elf decks, except requiring the payment of one mana per card drawn, so not really on par with Midnight Reaper.
A secondary goal in the design of Commander Legends was seizing the opportunity to give a card incarnation to characters from past storyline that never had one at the time. One of those is the Phyrexian Elf Belbe, who was the protagonist of the old Nemesis novel, released more than twenty years ago. Belbe, Corrupted Observer
is, as her name implies, a political card that aims to push your opponent to attack each other in the attempt to get free mana in the second main. In the meanwhile, she also ramps you, of course. A bear-like creature in Golgari colors, she has some appeal as commander.
He might not have a novel written about him, but the black Elf Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel
knows what he likes, and what he likes is seeing tokens die. That occurrence grows his body, and then his own death regurgitates tokens (repurposed as 1/1 green Elves) in number equal to his power. There are hijinks to be had here, but I'm not sure this very specific business justifies spending six mana for a base 3/3. He also has a sidekick, Nadier's Nightblade
, which adds a lifedrain trigger to the whole process.
Finally, Nightshade Harvester
has a sort of reverse landfall, punishing the opponent for dropping lands. It'll eventually outgrow that initial 2/2 body, but it's certainly not a good starting point for a rare four-drop.
Elk: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 22, online: 21
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: This gargantuan Elk is a very expensive way to get our hands on the monarch emblem, but the associated ability is pretty neat. I can see it show up in over-the-top green ramp decks that fancy something to fetch to protect their hard-earned permanents.
Faerie: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 96, online: 93
Related Tribes: Knight
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Now, these are some weird stats. Basically, Nymris, Oona's Trickster
(nice to see Oona referenced again! The Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Faeries were the best Faeries) is a five-mana flying barrier that you can flash out, and then it triggers a quasi-Strategic Planning
during every opponent's turn in which you cast something. He does a couple of different things (roadblocking, card selection), and seems efficient enough for control decks in Commander, perhaps not in other Eternal formats.
Giant: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 168, online: 162
Related Tribes: Pirate
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: So this Giant is very good in sacrifice decks, isn't he? I particularly appreciate his trampling body, which makes him a real threat to deal with, not just something you have to figure out how to chump-block. And he's a sacrifice outlet that can be appropriately partnered. I wonder, though: does a Giant Pirate serve on a giant ship? Uhm, apparently not. (Boy, that backstory plays like the synopsis of a humorous children's book).
Goblin: +4
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 363, online: 350
Related Tribes: Artificer, Pirate, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: We can spot a few famous characters among this group Goblins. Well, at least one: Krark, the Thumbless
marks the card debut of the relentless gambler Krark, who ended up with a clan named after him on Mirrodin (the Krark-Clan, of Krark-Clan Ironworks
fame). He was variously referenced on cards throughout Magic's history, in particular for his penchant for losing his thumbs on misguided bets. In fact, this belated first incarnation, a deeply silly affair involving coin flips, seems a top-down design based on Mirrodin's Krark's Thumb
and Unstable's Krark's Other Thumb – as well as its own flavor text (for more info about Krark's history, Mark Rosewater recounts it in full here). He's going to be a fun commander, for those who like this kind of very red shenanigans.
We've already talked about the resourceful Toggo, who's more relevant as an Artificer (if a crude one) than as a Gobbo. Same goes for Breeches, Brazen Plunderer
, who served under Vraska on the Belligerent, and is indeed a card for Pirate tribal, sending his marauding team in a Robber of the Rich
-like caper on connection.
The one-drop Impulsive Pilferer
is also a Pirate, and as such it creates a Treasure token upon death, and then again with encore. Uncomplicated, possibly useful.
Golem: +3
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 121
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Good showing for Golems. I'm not 100% confident Phyrexian Triniform
was mythic material, but has automatic recursion, and its encore can repopulate your board out of nowhere. It's not Wurmcoil Engine
, but can do some damage. At the other end of the spectrum, the common Maelstrom Colossus
put a 7/7 body on the battlefield and cast an extra spell for free. Golems keep having higher average casting costs compared to other colorless artifact tribes, but at least these two repay the investment, if to different degrees.
On the other hand, the legendary Armix, Filigree Thrasher
, an experimental Golem from New Alara (a plane we haven't really heard from in a long while), is neither expensive nor colorless. It can turns a card into artifact-based removal once per attack, which is good; less so is the fact that it's easy to block and kill. But maybe with the right partner it can be functional. Though it's worth noting not of alll these uncommon commanders are necessary worthwhile. They exist primarily to shape this unusual Limited environment where you build 60-card Commander decks and then play multiplayer games.
Griffin: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 51, online: 50
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Another political card for multiplayer, even if it has its applications in one-on-one as well. In that setting, it forces the damaged player to sacrifice a nonland permanent, which could be nasty (mind you, it's not exactly an edict effect;it gets defeated by the presence of an indestructible permanent that the opponent can target, like a Theros God). Granted, it's far from having annihilator and it's a two-toughness dude for five mana; but it's also a fricking Griffin – there have been only other five of them at rare, and one is useless jank from a Planeswalker Deck!
Horror: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 206
Related Tribes: Elf, Zombie
Impact of the New Additions: Low
Highlights: The Elf-based Abomination of Llanowar is a cool, Clive Barker-esque beater (I'm somewhat reminded of "In the Hills, the Cities" from The Book of Blood), but it's the kind of square card with no incidental value beside its inherent threat. On the contrary, Laboratory Drudge
, which also requires some build-around, but one that doesn't involve another tribe, has a substantial payoff in nearly immediate card-drawing. On second thought, maybe it does require a tribal setup that's not Horror, though, since it's also a Zombie, and casting from the graveyard is a very Zombie trick (e.g. Gravecrawler
, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
, Scourge of Nel Toth
). It looks like Horror was used as a flavor type in both these cases.
Horse: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 35, online: 30
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Well, this is once again a card made exclusively as a Commander enhancement, but as far as those go, it's a pretty good one, leaving a permanent benefit on your commanders even after Keleth, Sunmane Familiar
is dealt with, and just for two mana. At the very least, if you choose her as one of your two commanders, she'll keep growing just by attacking, which is even more efficient than the classic Slith ability.
By the way, what's with these Familiars being all female? It feels weird and borderline sexist.
Human: +28
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 2478, online: 2295
Related Tribes: Archer, Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Monk, Pirate, Rogue, Scout, Shaman, Soldier, Warrior, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Irrelevant
Highlights: Out of the 71 new legendary creatures from Commander Legends, 19 are Humans, which is more or less the expected amount. In part it's caused by returning characters being Human, in part by Humans still being the only creature type that's shared with the people playing the game. In this sense, it's probably okay to have Alena and Halan being Human – apart from the fact that there weren't other humanoids on Innistrad you'd want to use to represent a lesbian couple. Maybe Werewolf, seeing as there are some cinematic precedents like Jack & Diane and Good Manners (to some extent, even Ginger Snaps).
Hydra: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 53
Related Tribes: Chimera
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Time to be iconic in green with a couple of new Hydras. Apex Devastator is your friendly end-of-the-world big play that generates four more big plays (so that's why the head total in the artwork is five, did you get it?). It must be said, cascade is not very synergistic with X-costed Hydras, though, which makes the Devastator a bit of an odd duck, tribe-wise. And speaking of X-costed tribesmembers, Stumpsquall Hydras
is the latest take on that very mechanical identity, with a format-specific twist that makes you share the +1/+1 counters bounty with your commanders. Which means, if you don't have a commander, this is a strictly worse Feral Hydra
– you get a 1/1 base (in case you want to devolve every point of X to the commanders without having the poor Hydra dead on arrival), but you also spend two additional green mana. So maybe it's okay in devotion builds, all things considered. But let's not kid ourselves, commander-based mechanics are for Commander, no need to find reasons to accommodate them anywhere else.
Imp: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 37, online: 35
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: The Rakdos Circus of Evil (a concept that never ceases to fill me with joy) has a stand-up comedian among its acts, and of course it's a Imp! Blim, Comedic Genius
is a proper laughter-inducing creature, because it's the guy you want for decks built around the gift of harmful permanents to the opponent. And he adds insult to injury, because the opponent being given the jack-in-the-box also has to lose life and cards because of it, and increasingly so. Plus Blim hits for four in the air, which isn't bad, and ensures hilarity will ensue. The deck that wants him needs a determined setup, even just by including minor permanents we're fine giving away; but once you give Blim the proper stage, he'll be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Kithkin: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 59
Related Tribes: Soldier
Impact of the New Additions: Low
Highlights: Well, this card just reminds us Kithkin still exist in the game. It's unfortunate that Magic's ersatz Hobbits were mostly abandoned after Lorwyn; they would have made for a better characteristic tribe in white than the ubiquitous and flavorless Humans.
Knight: +3
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 316, online: 303
Related Tribes: Cat, Faerie, Human
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel
is the one new Knight we have yet to talk about, though it's worth noting that the Aura and Equipment searcher Armored Skyhunter would feel pretty at home in any Knight list. Livio is a selfless aristocrat (a noble noble?) from the conspiracy-prone, Renaissance plane of Fiora, with a set of complementary ability that basically accomplish a convoluted form of blinking. The flavor of Livio saving people in danger is properly achieved, but the rescue is mana-intensive, and the trip back to the battlefield requires tapping – not to mention Livio not having been killed in the meantime, which might suggest using him as commander, so creatures previously supplied with aegis counters will still be returned by his next iteration. The political role of blinking opposing creatures with their controller's consent is interesting, and there's the insinuation of a late game where Livio retriggers impactful effects turn after turn; but overall, he's not the best flicker outlet ever designed, albeit he might be the cheapest to drop on the battlefield.
Kobold: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 8
Related Tribes: Warrior
Impact of the New Additions: Extreme
Highlights: Did you ever think we would have seen Kobolds again? Did you ever wonder about Kobolds at all? The seven that were in existence before Commander Legends all dated back to Legends, the third ever Magic set released in 1994, so it's has been quite some time since we saw them. In the meantime, they were occasionally employed for storm purposes or in Enduring Renewal
/Goblin Bombardment
combo decks, due to three of them dropping for free – the very first colored creatures with a printed mana cost equal to zero. Now there's a fourth of them sharing that charactersitic, but this time he's legendary, the son of the only multicolored Kobold, Rohgahh of Kher Keep
. What to do with this Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
is for the adventurous player to decide. He looks facetious, almost an Un-card – a tiny creature with no power and a trio of combat abilities that all require power to function. Of course the first solution is to just equip him or otherwise boost his stats in some other way (possibly involving his partner in the command zone), but I'm sure there are going to be more creative applications in store for this little guy. After all, there's already some value in being the cheapest possible commander. And hey, worst case scenario, he'll be more fodder for the Renewal.
Kor: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 70
Related Tribes: Scout
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Kor have been linked to Equipment since the original Zendikar set redefined them, moving them away from their Tempest version. But only Kor Spiritdancer
had cared about Auras, until Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist
came along, with his ability to move both subtypes around. It's an impressive ability for this relic hunter, as it's declined as an automatic trigger that takes place at the beginning of our combat phase. The most intriguing aspect of Ardenn's rule text is the part where he gets to relocate Auras to other players. I guess it's meant as a political maneuver to gang up against the table leader or gain the benevolence of any given opponent, by transferring a beneficial Aura to them, or resetting a noxious Auras where it's more convenient. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Curses that affect us, as they'll be controlled by others, but there might be some kind of loophole to make more of this wording. At any rate, Ardenn is pretty playable in a dedicated build focused in either type of card, or both.
Kraken: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 18
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: These two majestic Krakens exemplify some of the best things top-end Krakens do. Trench Behemoth
can make itself hard to target, while at the same time enabling its landfall-like trigger that goads a creature into attacking. Brinelin, the Moor Kraken
(we can appreciate how in Commander Legends, legendaries are more likely to be uncommon than rare, to better sustain the draft environment) is a super-bouncer, a preposterous eight-mana Man-o'-War
(with the effect enhanced to a Disperse
) that keeps bouncing stuff whenever you cast a big spells. None of them is particularly necessary, and picking Brinelin as a commander is audacious to say the least, but they're flavorful, well-designed sea monsters, and sometimes that's all it takes to be called good cards.
Lizard: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 58, online: 56
Related Tribes: Elemental
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Oh, wait, Kediss is a male Familiar, so there's at least one out of five that's not female. But let's see, the overabundance of mares is a notorious thing in Magic because of the old night-mare pun; Harry Potter's owl is female; Bastet is a well-known cat-headed goddess; and a she-wolf might be a reference to ancient Roman mythology. Hmm. Nope, still weird.
Merfolk: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 239, online: 236
Related Tribes: Pirate, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Araumi of the Dead Tide
is an encore engine. It's a legit application of the new mechanic, and it's executed without any additional mana cost and on a three-mana creature with some built-in resilience, so that's good. The graveyard is used as a resource in the same way as delve or escape, but the amount is established by the number of opponents, because encore becomes progressively less effective the fewer players we're facing.
However, the new Merfolk that makes the biggest splash (pun intended) is definitely Hullbreacher
, which doesn't just surprise-drop to deny the opponents any additional card-drawing from that moment on, but it also rewards us for doing it with Treasure tokens (though chances are the opponents will just stop trying to draw extra cards until the pesky gilled Pirate is dealt with). A magnificent hate card that's indeed going to be hated so very much – and let's thank the gods it's not eligible as commander.
Monk: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 89, online: 86
Related Tribes: Djinn
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Nothing too exciting here. The Djinn Siani is an automatic scrying machine for flying decks, and that description shouldn't affect her Monk status too closely. Alharu, Solemn Ritualist
is an okay card for +1/+1 counters builds, sort of a cross between Rishkar, Peema Renegade
and Basri's Lieutenant
, but weaker than both.
Naga: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 38
Related Tribes: Druid
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: The Naga strikes back with this fragile cascade enabler who doesn't seem to have much synergy with the tribe. Druids are probably a better place to start building around Imoti's ability, except Druid tribal is rarely even a thing. Just make it a ramp deck and see if you can cascade into the right stuff.
Nightmare: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 59
Related Tribes: Cat
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: I wonder what Falthis is hissing against. And why does she live in a library? Her backstory is not especially illuminating, it looks like it was written by someone who knows as much as me about this black kitty. I guess she's always irritated because she's a Nightmare? That doesn't sound like a good companion, but maybe that's why you get those threatening abilities, you're so exhausted by your familiar keeping you up at night you just want to murder someone.
Noble: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 36
Related Tribes: Vampire
Impact of the New Additions: Low
Highlights: Arguably, "Sengir" was one of the first proper names a Magic player would learn in 1993, alongside "Serra" and "Shivan" (it's no coincidence that these three were all linked to the earliest iconic creatures in the game). But Sengir Vampire
was just a minion; Baron Sengir
himself would make his appearance only a few years later in Homelands – but it was just a larger and grotesquely more expensive version of the Alpha card that introduced his name. Now Sengir, the Dark Baron
moves around the words in that well-known name and... he's just still Baron Sengir with a more reasonable casting cost, isn't he? And partner and a lifegain ability that only works in multiplayer, and only occasionally (plus it's even awkwardly implemented in paper: you have to remember what the life total of a player was at the beginning of the turn he ended up dying?And chances are, it won't be that much anyway, which is underwhelming for an occurrence that feels so momentous). Sure, he can grow even when he's not the one who killed a creature, so it can be abused in a sacrifice deck, but otherwise, he's kinda disappointing.
Ogre: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 92, online: 87
Related Tribes: Pirate, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: The Ogre tribe has two new items for you. One is just a common monarch-related Pirate that's quite playable in Limited. The other is the Grixis entry in the three-color legendaries cycle. With a twist: Obeka, Brute Chronologist
has a game-altering ability that you wouldn't expect from an Ogre. Or maybe you do? She's, like, bullying time into submission? ("She will punch you into next week", says her backstory blurb, which is once again high on humour and low on meaningful details). Anyway, she does a Sundial of the Infinite
trick, but it's not exactly forceful per se, because she asks the consent of the player whose turn is being tentatively ended – which, flavorfully, is even more bizarre. And it's all she does, so she's entirely a political instrument for multiplayer. I mean, you can try and ask the opponent if they want to end their turn in one-on-one, but I don't think they'll agree too frequently. When it's a player being hit by some ruinous instant, on the other hand, maybe they'll welcome Obeka's help at the cost of stop playing for the turn, if that means the player who cast the instant wouldn't get away with it. I suppose that, in most cases, the affected player will be Obeka's controller. She's quite the peculiar commander for Grixis.
Ooze: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 31, online: 30
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Two brand new Oozes! One rare, one legendary! (Which seems to be a typical pairing in Commander Legends.) Biowaste Blob
is even a lord! That replicates itself! Eh, unfortunately that only happens in Commander, though (and conditionally). Outside of the format, a 1/1 anthem creature is really not what you want to spend four mana on. At least Slurrk, All-Ingesting
is a 5/5, although it doesn't exactly justify a six-mana cost, and neither does the ability to put a +1/+1 counters on all creatures that already have one when one of them dies. As a Ooze fan, it feels bad to be disappointed by the introduction of two technically high-profile new Oozes. But they seem mostly intended as means to enhance Commander support for Oozes. But not in a really impactful way. We already had several Ooze commander options, from Experiment Kraj
to The Mimeoplasm
and Prime Speaker Vannifar
, all vastly superior to the uncommon, monocolored (albeit partner-able) Slurrk. And Biowaste Blob's bonus is more meant to create a Plague Rats effect with its copies than to enhance other Oozes in its deck (there aren't enough good Oozes to fill a Commander deck, anyway). But then Biogenic Ooze
would do the same, more efficiently and in any format. Ravnica Allegiance was the set that gave the gelatinous tribe a huge boost. Commander Legends, sadly, not so much.
Orc: +5
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 60
Related Tribes: Pirate, Warrior
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: There's only one new Orc that's not a Pirate, Frenzied Saddlebrute
. It's a functional universal haste provider with a bit of political value attached in multiplayer (in that the opponents can exploit haste only against each other, not against the Saddlebrute's controller). It's a kind of ability that's always going to be useful, but over the years has surfaced again and again, and in cards that can drop earlier than this Orc, therefore resulting more impactful. The Pirate Orcs all have tribal synergies aimed at their other tribe, except for the mythic Port Razer
, which triggers an additional combat phase each time he deals combat damage to a player. The catch is that he can't attack the same opponent twice, which makes it much less appealing when there's only one opponent. He could still become a minor staple in multiplayer, although one would imagine it shouldn't be too hard to prevent an unevasive 4/4 from connecting.
Phoenix: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 26, online: 25
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Cascade is a major theme of the set, and it gets to be the trigger of a Phoenix recursion here. Aurora Phoenix
only returns to hand, costs six mana to cast, and doesn't have haste, so it's not going to be saluted as the finest representative of the tribe, but it can do some work in cascade-flavored decks.
Pirate: +20
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 113, online: 103
Related Tribes: Djinn, Giant, Goblin, Human, Merfolk, Ogre, Orc, Salamander, Siren, Spirit
Impact of the New Additions: Severe
Highlights: For unclear reasons, Commander Legends has been taken as an opportunity to print a whole bunch of new Pirates, the majority of which appears to hail from Ixalan, the most pirate-friendly plane in the multiverse. There are legitimate tribal synergies at play here. For instance, Captain Vargus Wrath
is a lord for Pirate decks in Commander, and Merchant Raiders
is a freezer that works anywhere you have a high density of swashbuckling critters. More impressively, Coercive Recruiter
is the tribe's take on Zealous Conscripts
, which becomes a real wonder the moment every creature you drop is going to trigger the Act of Treason
effect all over again. The stolen creatures even get to partake in tribal bonuses! Add some sacrifice outlets, and you're in for a pillaging treat.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
and Breeches, Brazen Plunderer are a couple of mirrored members of Vraska's crew. Both have a trigger that responds to Pirates dealing combat damage to an opponent; the Siren creates Treasure tokens, the Goblin provides impulsive drawing. The abilities work well together, and excel in multiplayer, where they can be activated once per turn per opponent, though admittedly that's a hard proposition that probably implies we're already dominating that table. The dynamic duo has built-in evasion, though (Malcolm with flying, Breeches with menace), so they can easily enable their own triggers without requiring help from their crewmates.
Among the Pirates that don't necessarily invite tribal builds, Hullbreacher's draw denial is hands down the most powerful. The mythic Port Razer is a combat phase multiplier that requires more than one opponent to be at his most effective; Zara, Renegade Recruiter
has the unique ability of temporarily "recruiting" creatures from the opponent's hand. It can be lead to a bloodbath, but it can also find nothing, or nothing relevant (they won't always have Worldspine Wurm
in hand), it becomes weaker over time; in the end, a stealing effect that is capable of targeting cards on the board, like the other Recruiter does, is the superior ability, but at least Zara flies, so she can look at the content of the opponent's hand with ease, and that's precious information to collect.
Amphin Mutineer
is removal on a stick, but it instantly replaces the victim with a 4/3, so the target must be really problematic to warrant such a drastic measure. Doing it via encore is probably the most attractive option. Ghost of Ramirez DePietro
is the unexpected callback to Ramirez DePietro
from Legends. Most people think Ramirez was a girl, but he was a boy, instead; then he grew up, lost a color, got himself killed, and now his ghost is a hard to block Spirit that can reverse the effect of a discard or mill action that took place that very turn – which has to be almost entirely cause by Ramirez's player, right? Like, you discarded to pay a cost, or activated a self-mill engine, and then Ramirez gives you back one of those cards?
Finally, the monarch mechanic is a subtheme of the Pirate tribe. Most of the cards are okay, of course none of them is too economic to cast.
Rabbit: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 5, online: 4
Related Tribes: Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Extreme
Highlights: Everyone was asking, "Why hasn't there been any new Rabbit released in the current century?" (That's a tongue-in-cheek question with many serious answers). Here's the full history of the Rabbit type. October 1997, Kezzerdrix
, Tempest. June 1998, Jackalope Herd
, Exodus. May 1999, Zodiac Rabbit
, Portal Three Kingdoms. July 1999, Vizzerdrix
, Starter 1999. And now, triumphantly, more than 21 years later, Kwain, Itinerant Meddler
. Kwain marks so many firsts for the tribe that it feels impossible to list them all. Among more obvious accomplishmentts like "first legendary Rabbit", "first multicolored Rabbit", and "first humanoid Rabbit", we can easily include "first playable Rabbit" (though I guess one may deem Jackalope Herd playable in a deck where you actively want to recast it). But not even by far, as he's just a slower, gentler, more frail Howling Mine
that can't be really exploited for decking strategies, because the opponent can just decline to draw the extra card. He makes for an honest cheap commander in Azorius, though.
Speaking of which, he's also the first white Rabbit, but apparently he's not meant to be a Lewis Carroll homage, but rather to contrive a flavor combo with Archelos, Lagoon Mystic
, with the two describing the titular characters from Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare. The more you know.
Rogue: +3
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 297, online: 282
Related Tribes: Elf, Human, Salamander
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: The headline for this trio of Rogues is dominated by the return of Sakashima, Kamigawa's master of disguise. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
has the same body (when not disguised, which is almost never), color and converted mana cost of the old Sakashima the Impostor
, but this time his ability can only copy a creature on his side, and has no clean-cut way to switch to a different target later – or better, he can only do it if he's chosen as a commander, of course, by just leaving the battlefield for any reason and being recast from the command zone. Both Sakashimas ignore the "legend rule", and can clone other legendary creatures. So one might see this new one as a strictly worse version of the original, and it wouldn't be an entirely wrong statement. The one innovation the new Sakashima offers is shutting down the legendary restriction for every other permanent on his side, which is a pretty useless ability in a singleton format such as Commander, barring other copy effects. So maybe this is the first card in Commander Legends that wasn't specifically designed for the titular format. Well, to a degree, because one cool thing this Sakashima can do is copying his partner, so you can pair him up with any other of the partner commanders from this set or Commander 2016, as well as any future instance of the keyword, and you'll be playing with two copies of the same commander that can coexist on the battlefield, Brothers Yamazaki
style.
The rare Rogue Opposition Agent
also breaks the rules of the game, by essentially hijacking the tutoring of your opponents. To be fair, the ability reads much more ominously than it plays. What actually happens is that you'll flash the Agent onto the battlefield in response to an effect that attempts to search an opponent library, and you'll get to benefit from one Bribery
(not necessarily right away, since unlike with Bribery, you'll have to pay mana for the card, if it's a spell with a cost); and after that, nobody of course will use a search effect again while the Agent is on the battlefield. Which is a nasty prohibition for sure, although somebody at the table is bound to remove the Agent eventually – and flickering her doesn't do anything, it's a rule-setting effect, not an ETB trigger like Agent of Treachery
. Still a very troublesome card to face.
The third new addition for the tribe is an unusual green Rogue, a common beater with a big body, "daunt" and encore. Maybe not exactly what one would wish to get from their six-drop, but playable enough.
Salamander: +2
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 12
Related Tribes: Elf, Pirate, Rogue
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Salamanders have been used sparingly but constantly throughout the years. The first one showed up in Mirage, the last one before Commander Legends was Pteramander
from Ravnica Allegiance, which even saw a conspicuous amount of play in Standard last year. These two return us to the Salamander folk from Shandalar first introduced in Magic 2012 with the vanilla Amphin Cutthroat
, then reprised in Magic 2015 with the slightly better Amphin Pathmage
. Now Amphin Mutineer marks the first rare Salamander, so their power level is on the rise. We already analyzed its brand of "removal via metamorphosis", as well as the predisposition to sheer beating by the Fin-Clade Fugitives, which seem to belong to a different kind of Salamander people. And I guess they're escaping from the persecution of Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist
(so they're Amphin, after all)? Of all the creature types they could choose to give a sworn enemy to, was Salamander really the best choice? They're an endangered species!
Scout: +5
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 152, online: 146
Related Tribes: Elf, Human, Kor
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: A gathering of legendary Scouts is underway here. The most prominent (and, you know, conspicuous) is Hans Eriksson
, the guy referenced in the Lhurgoyf
flavor text and quote in the Revenant
flavor text, the brother of Saffi Eriksdotter
(apparently, there's a part of Dominaria where people use Icelandic naming conventions). Hans is finally given his own card, and it's a nice Lurking Predators
effect – or even better, since if the card is not a creature, we can still put it into our hand. Only problem is that creatures tend to ambush poor Hans all the time, so we'll have to find a way for him to survive, if we want to use the ability another time. Maybe his sister can sacrifice herself again? (Too bad the two siblings can't share the same deck if one of them is the commander.)
From family members to lovers: Alena is Halana, Kessig Ranger
's significant other, as depicted in the Shadows over Innistrad stories Under the Silver Moon and Emrakul Rises. She's an effective mana producer in red, and a valiant four-powered first striker that can brawl with the best of them, if her mana services aren't needed.
The strangest new Scout is definitely Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist. Apparently, on Shandalar (a plane that we only visit in core sets and ancillary products) there's a secret ongoing war between Humans and humanoid Salamanders, and Gor is trying to warn the unaware public about it. If his backstory is a bit weird, his mechanical design even more so. He can cause one or more opponents to receive the gift of a free 4/3 Salamander (the same token from Amphin Mutineer – are Salamanders replacing people?), but he also protects his entire side from those pests, so no big deal? But then, it might also happen for a Salamander to appear under the aegis of Gor's controller. So you get a token you're protected from, so you can't equip nor otherwise target it? And what's the flavor of Gor fighting alongside the creatures he fears and despises? And why was this design made with Salamanders, anyway? It's not a creature type the game works with very often, it feels so random.
Anyway, the number of Scout additions is rounded out by Aura and Equipment mover Ardenn and Elvish Midnight Reaper surrogate Miara, both already discussed, both with some merits in their respective specialized builds.
Serpent: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 38, online: 37
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
is a terrific new legendary Serpent that mimics Tatyova, Benthic Druid
's card-drawing via landfall, but also provides an additional land draw. As a consequence, it's more expensive than Tatyova, but gets to be a sturdy, occasionally threatening 5/5 instead of a fragile 3/3. Ramping into six mana in Simic is not that much harder than reaching five, so I feel comfortable saying that, overall, this big guy seems more playable than Tatyova, and a Commander staple in the making.
2020 has been the year of the legendary Serpents, by the way. First Yorion, Sky Nomad
in Ikoria, then Verazol, the Split Current
in Zendikar Rising, now Aesi. And to think that the Serpent tribe only had one legend among its ranks before, the old land phaser Taniwha
from Mirage. These sea monsters are going places!
Shaman: +7
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 406, online: 401
Related Tribes: Elemental, Elf, Human, Treefolk, Turtle, Viashino
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Shaman has always been a very colorful tribe featuring an abundance of wildly different effects. There are five new legendaries here, coming from as many distinct races, and four of these belong to three-colored commander cycle: we saw the Elemental Averna, the Chaos Bloom, with her cascade supplement, but I'll leave the Treefolk, Turtle and Viashino Shamans to their respective racial corners. Suffice to say, they're generally well-built cards that directly impact the way the game plays in their presence.
The uncommon Juri, Master of the Revue
, the very own ring mistress of the Rakdos Circus of Evil, is instead a mix of elements from Dreadhorde Butcher
(the growing and then dealing damage equal to her power to any target when she dies) and Mayhem Devil
(the link to permanents being sacrificed). She's inferior to both, but not a bad two-drop nonetheless.
Shapeshifter: +2
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New Tribal Total: 99, online: 97
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Why is Sakashima's Protege
a Shapeshifter? Its teacher is a Human who mastered mental tricks and illusionary arts to appear as something else. But if you're a non-human being born with polymorphing powers, what does you need Sakashima for? And isn't using those powers akin to cheating? Anyway, the idea here is cascading into something and then copying it. Six mana might be too many for that, but all cascade cards have the potential to cast a valuable second spell, and this advantage must be factored into their cost. And if it would only cascade into small things, copying them probably wouldn't be as satisfying as revealing, let's say, Torrential Gearhulk
.
The Shapeshifter tribe also includes The Prismatic Piper, which however only has the function of facilitating Commander Legends drafts, and it's just a meaningless card anywhere else. It comes in a special rarity, replacing a common slot in a draft booster out of six.
Siren: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 16
Related Tribes: Pirate
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Malcolm is the navigator on the Belligerent, the pirate ship Vraska became the beloved captain of when she was trapped on Ixalan (not sure what happened to the crew when she left, they must be heartbroken). Like his crewmate Breeches, Malcolm is at his best in Pirate tribal, but can also work just fine on his own, creating a Treasure token by connecting in the air. Fun fact: he's a Siren, and against expectations (they're depicted as bird women in Greek mythology), Sirens on Ixalan tend to be portrayed as male, possibly because most Pirates are portrayed as female.
Soldier: +5
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New Tribal Total: 697, online: 639
Related Tribes: Bird, Cat, Human, Kithkin, Spirit
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: Some specialized new Soldiers around here: Prava of the Steel Legion is for token decks; Kangee's Lieutenant
for flyers builds. One could say Kinsbaile Courier
is for +1/+1 counters synergies, but she's actually just a throwaway common Kithkin, perhaps just to make sure we remember they, and Lorwyn, still exist.
Keeper of the Accord
is a fresh take on the traditional white concept "I'll push ahead only if I'm behind". It's about 1/1 tokens and Plains, as it should, but it's probably not going to trigger much on a two-player table. This said, while a four-drop 3/4 that occasionally does something vaguely useful is not the description of a high value card, it gets better in the novel Limited multiplayer setting, where his chances to contribute board advantage are increased.
The Boros legend Bell Borca, Spectral Sergeant
has the most unusual ability of this lot. Let's start from the bottom of the text: he impulse-draws one card from the top every turn. This also influences his variable power, which is equal to the highest converted mana cost of a card that was exiled this turn. This also involves card that didn't get exiled by Bell Borca's impulse drawing – for instance, if you cast Swords to Plowshares
on Ghalta, Primal Hunger, then our dutiful ghost turns into a 12/5 for the turn. I'm not sure this effect was worth the convoluted wording (it could have just go with "...exile the top card of your library. Bell Borca's power becomes equal to the converted mana cost of the exiled card"), particularly given that the card advantage bit is the relevant part. I could say it's part of the announced efforts to give white some card drawing in Commander, but it's actually the red component of Bell Borca that provides it here.
Sphinx: +2
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New Tribal Total: 62
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Sphinges are always the best at going over the top with their card-drawing. On her own, Eligeth, Crossroads Augur
is not going to flood you with cards like the equally costed Consecrated Sphinx
does (especially in multiplayer), but turning scrying into drawing is massive! Suddenly, Preordain
is Ancestral Recall
!
Sphinx of the Second Sun
is even more expensive, for just one extra point of power, but duplicating the beginning phase is such an entertainingly wacky idea. Worst case scenario, it's merely "draw an extra card", but you also get a sort of Wilderness Reclamation
effect where you can float your mana and cast instants, and all the upkeep triggers are doubled. This was definitely a job for a eight-mana blue mythic Sphinx meant to be played in Commander. And it references the Approach of the Second Sun
on Amonkhet!
Spider: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 57, online: 56
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: More often than not, Spiders in Magic fill the role of little to medium-sized dudes that can stop flyers with their web; once in a while, though, are incarnated into large Big Bad monsters, in the same vein of Shelob from The Hobbit. Sweet-Gum Recluse
belongs to the latter category, even if it's not going to have a very significant body – just a 3/6 with reach. But it's an ambusher that can surprise block something by dropping with flash, and cascade means it'll be potentially accompanied by a friend, which the Recluse made (somehow) larger. Another application for it is boosting a swarm of little creatures that entered the battlefield together, perhaps through a token generator spell, provided we'll have a sufficient amount of available mana for the operation.
Spirit: +3
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 476, online: 469
Related Tribes: Pirate, Soldier
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: The white-red ghost of a Soldier, the blue ghost of a Pirate, and something else entirely in green. In keeping with the renewed interest in all things Kamigawa of the past couple of years, Kodama of the East Tree
continues, but doesn't conclude, the Kodama cycle from the Japanese-inspired block. The Kodama are all legendary natural Spirits that come in monogreen and have various abilities. Commander Legends being of a power level markedly higher than the Kamigawa sets, instead of stuff like, ugh, soulshift, the new Kodama has the ability to drop permanents from free. Imagine casting Questing Beast
and getting a free Obstinate Baloth
for your trouble. Of course you first need to have this six-drop around, and if it's not going to be a problem ramping into it in green, it's somewhat difficult to extract immediate value from it. But as far as expensive commander goes, Kodama of the East Tree is one you might want to partner, ideally with something lighter that can either ramp into it or defend the fort until the green fireworks are ready. Also, it has reach, which is a magnificent in-joke
.
Treefolk: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 73, online: 71
Related Tribes: Shaman
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: One of the three-colored commanders for Constructed, Colfenor is a crucial character from Lorwyn. We already knew a few things about him, like his plans
, his urn
, and his offspring
. Now we get to meet the ancient, late Treefolk himself, in the guise of Colfenor, the Last Yew
. Abzan is the trio of colors that encompass the Treefolk tribe, already declined as a whole in popular and successful commanders like Doran, the Siege Tower
. Colfenor is more of a top-end incarnation; he's more resilient, more effective as a blocker, and provides recursion appropriately based on the toughness of the deceased. The regrown creatures go to hand, though, so it's kind of a slow process. Which is also appropriate for a Treefolk.
Turtle: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 21, online: 19
Related Tribes: Shaman
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: So Archelos is the tortoise to Kwain's hare. I don't particularly catch the similarities with the characters from Aesop's fable. It's also a strange pairing, because Kwain is dual-colored while Archelos is the Sultai representative in the cycle of triple-colored commanders, so they don't properly feel like they belong together. Mechanically, you want to have him tapped at the end of your turn, but he's not extremely good at attacking, so he might need a different path to that end. But then, more than moving slow, he makes others move slow? But then also fast, because when he's untapped, everything enters the battlefield untapped. So, I gotta say, flavorfully I'm not impressed with this design, but the second ability is incredibly strong with taplands, especially bouncelands like Golgari Rot Farm
and Simic Growth Chamber
. And he's the first Turtlefolk in the game, which for some reason was a thing that had to happen.
Unicorn: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 25, online: 22
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: This little Unicorn is trying to do a Heliod, Sun-Crowned
impression, eh? And mostly succeeding, albeit she's much easier to deal with than the indestructible enchantment God. As a commander, she opens lifegain decks to green, but Heliod is probably still the safer choice, even counting the larger amount of counters Lathiel distributes.
Vampire: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 255, online: 251
Related Tribes: Noble
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: With Sengir, the Dark Baron, Vampires go right back to their beginnings. Will the return of the original Dracula/Nosferatu homage change the tribe intimately, even just in Commander? Eh. Probably not. He's just a big flyer that gets bigger until it gets destroyed.
Viashino: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 43
Related Tribes: Shaman
Impact of the New Additions: High
Highlights: Speaking of blasts from the pasts, mana burn is back! Localized entirely within this Viashino Shaman. I can't tell if Yurlok will make for a good commander, or even card, but the design is sound; the body/cost ratio is acceptable; adding Jund mana for everyone is a nice way to enable the main attraction, albeit with a risk of backfire; and being able to attack and do his thing at the same time adds a thoughtful element to the overall execution. Plus, it can just be looked at as a ramp commander in the colors that care about it the most.
Warrior: +11
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 774, online: 757
Related Tribes: Elephant, Elf, Human, Kobold, Orc
Impact of the New Additions: Medium
Highlights: New Warriors from Commander Legends we haven't covered yet, aka the Human ones.
Jared Carthalion, True Heir
, the triple-colored commander for the Naya triplet, brings us back to the earliest iterations of Magic stories, like the comic books published by Armada in 1995-1996, in some of which Jared was the protagonist. It's forgotten lore that didn't really gel with the cards at the time, and bears no relevance to modern Magic, but it's cool to have the memory of it restored for a new generation of players. Jared would ascend to planeswalker status eventually, but here he's depicted as a creature, employing the monarch mechanic in a different way. The card basically sets a quest for Jared: he has to connect, takes monarch emblem to his side, so he'll become invincible. He needs to literally take the crown. An epic story told through a single card, and a decently costed creature overall, which makes for a fairly playable commander that gives access to the most colors a three-mana card could give access to.
Tuya Bearclaw
is a Gruul beater that exists in the reworked Tarkir timeline. She gives herself a bonus upon attacking, in reverse Syr Faren
fashion. Commanders that can go over the top all on their own define a style of play (commander damage is a legitimate wincon), but Tuya does need at least one other big creature on the board to perform, so she doesn't seem too great, unfortunately.
Wyleth, Soul of Steel
also comes with a personal attack trigger, but one that draws us cards, which makes putting all our eggs in his basket much more appealing. And he also natively tramples, so the increased power due to the pile of Auras and Equipment won't end up crashing into a chump-blocking wall. Heck, might it be that a mythic card is stronger than an uncommon?
Wizard: +10
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 773, online: 755
Related Tribes: Bird, Elemental, Goblin, Human, Merfolk, Ogre, Rabbit, Zombie
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: The Human side of Wizards (we'll handle the remaining Zombies below) amounts to the three-colored Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
and the monocolored Magus of the Order
. Ghen does the Goblin Welder
brand of battlefield/graveyard switcheroo, but with enchantments rather than artifacts. Not entirely sure why it's so much more expensive to cast and activate – it feels like reanimating artifacts is more dangerous than reanimating enchantments – but it might have to do with the fact that Goblin Welder was a pretty broken card that wasn't properly balanced at the time. And there are still a ton of busted interactions to exploit with Ghen. Just recurring Elspeth Conquers Death
every other turn feels insane.
As for the Magus, she's the latest entry of the Magus mega-cycle, and specifically of the subset that replicates the effects of famous Vintage sorceries. This time is the turn of green, so Natural Order
gets the creature-shaped spotlight. Definitely not a bad one to have on a stick.
Wolf: +1
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 54, online: 50
Related Tribes: Beast
Impact of the New Additions: Null
Highlights: If it wasn't for those weird antlers, Anara would look a lot like the companion Wolf depicted alongside Neyith of the Dire Hunt
in her artwork, and she could help her emerge unscathed from a fight in her turn. Do white wolves make for good pets?
Zombie: +5
> summary <
New Tribal Total: 463, online: 456
Related Tribes: Elf, Horror, Wizard
Impact of the New Additions: Medium to High
Highlights: Here's a couple of high-profile Zombie celebrities we haven't talked about yet. Granted, Belbe had a whole novel written about her, but not many players would recognize her name right away, at least not as promptly as they'd recognize the names of Nevinyrral (due to his disk
) and Tormod (due to his crypt
).
Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant
is the last of the triple-colored commanders, this time in Esper colors. He's able to replicate the effect of his famous disk (which derives from his name being author Larry Niven spelled backwards, as Larry Niven first used the term "mana" to denote a magical resource and described a similar disk in his series The Magic Goes Away). It's a death trigger, though, so you'll need to have him die in some way, he can't sacrifice itself to trigger the mass destruction. He's also protected from the very permanent types he destroys, which makes it very hard to get rid of him through combat or the use of abilities. The ETB that creates Zombies via a version of morbid seems harder to exploit on a six-mana card without flash, but I guess you could clear your board with some free sacrifice outlet like Woe Strider
, then drop Nevinyrral and enjoy a bunch of triggers for creatures exiting and entering the battlefield. All in all, he looks like the typical card designed as a commander: complex and with many different angles to exploit and combine with other cards.
By comparison, Tormod, the Desecrator
feels very simple, likely in virtue of his lower rarity. He's a barely on curve four-drop with the ability from Desecrated Tomb
attached, except with Zombie tokens instead of Bats. Wait a minute, he's called the Desecrator, he owns a notorious crypt... was Desecrated Tomb in Core Set 2019 supposed to be another version of Tormod's Crypt? I don't think so, it looks like an Innistrad place? By the way, cracking Tormod's Crypt on your own graveyard in Tormod's presence doesn't result in as much of an interaction as one would hope, because it just makes one Zombie. Oh well.
SUMMARY
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Check the Complete Creature Types Reference Table here.
THE MYTHIC PARTNERS
(click on the creatures to go to their review)
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THE FAMILIARS
(click on any of them to go to their review)
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THE TRIPLE-COLORED COMMANDERS
(click on any of them to go to their review)
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KUMA'S TRIBAL EVALUATIONS
- Core sets: Magic 2013, Magic 2014, Magic 2015, Magic Origins, Core Set 2019, Core Set 2020, Core Set 2021
- Commander Series: Commander 2017, Commander 2018, Commander 2019, Commander 2020
- Masters series: Eternal Masters, Modern Masters 2017, Iconic Masters, Masters 25, Ultimate Masters
- Innovation Products: Battlebond (plus Global Series: Jiang Yanggu & Mu Yanling), Modern Horizons, Jumpstart
- Special sets: Legendary Cube Prize Packs, Treasure Chests
- Mirrodin block: Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn
- Kamigawa block: Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa
- Innistrad block: Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored
- Return to Ravnica block: Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze
- Theros block: Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx
- Khans of Tarkir block: Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir
- Battle for Zendikar block: Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch
- Shadows over Innistrad block: Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon
- Kaladesh block: Kaladesh, Aether Revolt
- Amonkhet block: Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation
- Ixalan block: Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan
- Guilds of Ravnica "block": Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark
- Three-and-One Sets: Dominaria, Throne of Eldraine, Theros: Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, Zendikar Rising
