Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table, the article series where I break down 5 cards and/or card categories I’d slot into a deck of a particular commander.
This week, we’re in full preview swing as Dominaria United and its Commander set are being revealed. With all the already 30+ new legends fresh to the eyes of many, one commander has caused quite a stir.
Dihada, Binder of Wills is the face commander of the Legends’ Legacy preconstructed Commander deck.
Dihada is a villain in Magic’s timeline, but a heroine of our hearts in this new iteration. Her first planeswalker card, Geyadrone Dihada, would have been infinitely more popular if it could be your commander. But this new card swaps blue for white to snuggle in your list of fave new commanders.
Let’s look at that textbox.
1RWB for Legendary Planeswalker – Dihada
5 starting loyalty
“+2: Up to one target legendary creature gains vigilance, lifelink, and indestructible until your next turn.
−3: Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of legendary cards from among them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Create a Treasure token for each card put into your graveyard this way.
−11: Gain control of all nonland permanents until end of turn. Untap them. They gain haste until end of turn.
Dihada, Binder of Wills can be your commander.”
Starting at 5 loyalty and being able to go up to 7 is nothing to sniff at right out of the gate. It can target any legendary creature, meaning you can use this for politics, but my guess is you’ll be giving these powerful keywords to a creature who loves attacking, like an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death or Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin.
The -3 ability enables potential graveyard shenanigans while rewarding you for each legendary permanent you bin.
The ultimate -11 is a super Insurrection that reminds me a little of Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools ultimate ability. Without further ado, let’s go to the cards I’d add.
Let’s start with a legendary land that is among my all time favourite Magic cards. The moment I saw this card, I fell in love. When Alayna Danner announced her new rendition of the land would be a playmat, I pre-ordered it immediately. When I play any Commander deck, I always slot a Nykthos in unless it’s a spellslinger deck, but even those, I tend to build with tons of enchantments.
That said, Nykthos counts toward your legendary count for Dihada, for theme, but most of all because the kinds of cards you’ll end up playing in this deck tend to stick around. Your commander is a planeswalker and there are tons of legendary permanents that will contribute to the pips of Nykthos. Are you building Mardu God tribal? Nykthos. Are you building Dinada’s Superfriends? Nykthos. Can’t go wrong.
Kor Haven taps for colourless which isn’t ideal, but it can prevent damage dealt by an attacking creature. Dihada is bound to draw some hate, but at least you’ll have ways to mitigate damage coming her way. Maze of Ith is similar except it removes the creature from combat altogether… and isn’t legendary. I know, isn’t that silly? It’s the High Arcanist’s own Maze but it’s not legendary? The audacity.
Piru is such a fun card because it’s a board wipe on death like Bearer of the Heavens, but tends to gain you a buttload of life. It dodges legendary creatures, so your opponents might get to keep some stuff, but if your board is handled correctly, you won’t lose anything but this big elder dragon. She swings high, buffs your life, and at your upkeep, you decide if this time bomb goes off.
I remember the day WotC announced that planeswalkers were receiving an errata and from now on, all planeswalkers would also be legendary. Yomiji, Who Bars the Way had a big price spike and then people remembered that he costs a full seven mana.
In your Dihada deck, no need to worry: that -3 ability can get you halfway to paying for this bright spirit and then every legendary permanent that hits your yard from play comes back to your hand. This is especially good if you’d got a superfriends build going. Pair this with Resourceful Defense in the package and you’ve got a new brew bubbling in the cauldron.
I love Kaya. Since her debut in Conspiracy, I have been a fan. Orzhov colours? Check. Makes your opponents discard while you draw? Check. Flickers herself and has killer ghost flavour? Check, check.
Kaya as a character is one of the most fun planeswalkers in Magic and I hope we get more of her. Last seen on Innistrad where she didn’t… have a great showing…
Kaya the Inexorable on Kaldheim is a real deal beast of a card. It can save one of your creatures, exile a problematic nonland permanent and with the defences you’ll packing in your Dihada 99, that ultimate seems not just possible, but likely. The emblem it generates allows you to cast a legendary spell from your HAND, your GRAVEYARD, or FROM FREAKING EXILE! That means that once a turn you can cast a legendary from basically anywhere.
You can even cast Kaya again and then stack another emblem, but at that point… haven’t you already won for being the coolest?
These are some fun picks for the Dihada upgrade. I hope you found this useful and enjoyed. Come back to The Bag of Loot for more articles and another edition of A Seat at the Table again soon! Check me out at commandersherald.com and @mikecarrozza on Twitter and Instagram.
If you have any request for what to cover next, find me out there and let me know! Thanks for reading.
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