Hello! Welcome to my set review of Commander Masters, where I will pick five cards of each colour and discuss my favourite cards from them.
Given that the set also comes out with a set of preconstructed Commander decks, I’ll also be covering my favourite new cards from there in another article.
This is also a reprint set which means that this is mostly going to be picking cards for what they’ve already shown they can do. The monetary value of the cards is nice, but will not likely be the biggest factor in my selections. Because they’re reprints, we know that the cost might course correct and some cards will only be lower for a little bit, so be sure to snap up singles at threekingsloot.com.
Without further ado, here are my favourite multicoloured (aka Gold) cards!
1. The Scarab God
Trust me when I say this: if you have any desire to play Dimir colours in your decks whatsoever and you’ve got a flex slot, pop in The Scarab God there and you will be pleased.
The ability to Eternalize a creature in any graveyard for four mana at instant speed is so powerful and flexible and if you don’t NEED to do it, you can do it at the end step before your turn. You snag a creature for value, then you get a scry from it and ding your opponents. It’s also difficult to kill. You can sacrifice it or let it eat removal spells, The Scarab God just keeps coming back.
As a commander, I think this might be a better Zombie commander than Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, but flavourfully, Big Willy is the right choice.
Eminence can be very cool, but on The Ur-Dragon, it’s busted. Starting your game with part of a Herald’s Horn active from the command zone broadcasts to the table that you’re about to play six drops way early.
What’s more is when you get this big guy into play, you likely get a ton of cards and a free permanent to play on attack. With a massive creature like this and Dragons being some of Magic‘s most powerful creatures, this commander is one that you can play but people will come at you for – and with good reason.
I had this deck put together years ago and it was so fun to play. A total blast. I recommend it highly if you’re even a little on the fence.
When people talk about Timmy Magic, I think this qualifies as a huge peak. A 9/9 for nine that untaps all your lands and gives you versatile abilities is a gorgeous sight to behold.
Zacama, Primal Calamity is often paired with Temur Sabertooth and a way to be mana positive (maybe one of your lands is a Gaea’s Cradle or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx), bouncing the Calamity to hand and recasting for infinite. But what do you do with all that mana? You use your Mycosynth Lattice and start sniping every permanent your opponents control, including their lands. You deal enough damage to Brash Taunter to end the game. You bank on your Warstorm Surge or – for paper cut wins – Impact Tremors.
Zacama also just gets in for lots of damage and blocks like a champ. You’ve got to love seeing this downshifted to rare. With Ixalan around the corner, Dinosaur decks are going to want this and it’ll be nice that the Big Z isn’t $20 anymore.
If Eminence is a dicey mechanic, Commander ninjutsu is downright criminal. Bypassing the commander tax much like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician but with a way better payoff, Yuriko is cemented in the top tier of cEDH commanders.
Using a bevy of unblockable one drops to get in so she can swap out, Yuriko is best known for coming with a Sensei’s Divining Top to make sure her Temporal Trespass is the card revealed to hit your opponents for lots of life loss. Not to mention Yuriko triggers off of each Ninja dealing combat damage, and did I mention each of your opponents loses life equal to mana value? It’s one of the most busted commanders and elicits groans at tables worldwide.
Morophon is one of the coolest cards and the new alt art version is nuts. There’s a new commander in the Slivers deck that lets you have a creature type matters deck of any kind but make no mistake, Morophon is the original one meant to be that guy. Being a changeling, all typal effects and bonus affect it, and the creature type cost reduction is a blast to work with in deck building, asking you to favour cards with more pips so that you can get as much value as you can. Do you want to build a Zombie deck that can play Varina, Lich Queen and Deadapult? Morophon’s ready for the command zone.
Honourable Mentions
- Akiri, Fearless Voyager – Notable downshift!
- Ariel, Knight of Windgrace – Not notable downshift!
- Experiment Kraj – A Timmy build-your-own-engine commander that’s a lot of fun when you realize how many cards have +1/+1 counters going on.
- Gisela, Blade of Goldnight – An absolute bomb. A finisher, an enabler, an angel. She does it all.
- Hamza, Guardian of Arashin – Hamza is very cool and deserves to see more decks.
- Hanna, Ship’s Navigator – Hanna has gotten really slow over the years, but she still remains an amazing stax commander.
- Judith, the Scourge Diva – Great downshift here. She’s really strong but the nontoken clause does make her eligible for uncommon.
- Karador, Ghost Chieftain – A boogieman of old. We would quake in fear of the Abzan graveyard deck and frankly we still should, even when he’s a support card in the 99.
- Kykar, Wind’s Fury – Spellslinger decks know and love Kykar.
- Maelstrom Wanderer – Downshifted to rare! Double cascade and everything has haste is great value for eight mana. There’s a reason this Wanderer is popular.
- Meren of Clan Nel Toth – She’s slow but efficient and can lead to grindy games. She’s a toolbox commander and I have a lot of nostalgia for her.
- Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist – This card is a blow out every time I’ve seen it but I’ve never wanted to build it.
- Mizzix of the Izmagnus – Another boogieman! Mizzix is the deck that players would groan at most when they saw her hit the table back in 2015-16.
- Nekusar, the Mindrazer – Same as Mizzix but 2013-15.
- Queen Marchesa – Long may she reign but downshifted at rare. She’s usually a good stuff Mardu deck, but I love seeing the political versions of her.
- Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper – First reprint in many years. Underpowered but fun Jund commander who finally gets their own tokens printed this set!
- Sidisi, Brood Tyrant – If you’ve never seen a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck go off, I implore you to check out Rachel Weeks play hers.
- Taigam, Sidisi’s Hand – I’ve always liked this guy but nobody else does and he’s admittedly a little underwhelming… but there’s something about him.
- Tatyova, Benthic Druid – THE ART OF THE ALTERNATIVE VERSION IS GORGEOUS!
- Teysa Karlov – Wasn’t she JUST reprinted?
- Xantcha, Sleeper Agent – Please take the time to get to know Michael Celani’s work. He’s the best deck builder I know and you should see this Xantcha article: https://commandersherald.com/commander-masters-preview-xantcha-sleeper-agent/
- Zilortha, Strength Incarnate – Finally in non-Godzilla art form!
That does it for multicolour! Tune in next time for Commander deck reviews!
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