The world isn't what it used to be. The Raptors play in Florida now, I'm now MORE comfortable wearing a surgical face mask pretty much everywhere and Wizards of the Coast definitely creates cards in their main sets for Commander players. Two out three of those things are weird and kind of suck for their own reasons and one of those things is totally awesome and we should all be happy about it. (The answer is easy if you do not hail from the Tampa Bay Area)
Kaldheim is the latest set from our Washingtonian overlords and a wonderful set it is with plenty of Commander goodies to look at. I'm just going to break down 20 (+2) of my favourites from our most recent episode, the big Kaldheim Set Review. For even more thoughts and cards listen/watch our full episode!
Doomskar: Foretell does a lot for Commander but not in the same way it does for other formats. In commander our turns two and three are so critical for the development of our mana that I definitely am not looking to do anything else. That being said, it's still an incredible mechanic for Commander for the turns after we've ramped to ensure we're using all of our mana each turn. With Doomskar, worst-case scenario is a five mana board wipe (totally fine) and best is you play it for three and then follow it up with a relevant creature once the field is gone - incredible!
Orvar, the All-Form: Orvar just has a lot of cool things going for him, lots of combo potential, its a changeling and it copies. These are all mechanics that a super wide variety of commander players love. Copying and changeling for the jank players and weirdo brewers (it's me) and combos for the more "competitive" crowd. Something for everyone!
Mystic Reflection: Like Orvar this card has some really fun combo potential with some Commander staples like Avenger of Zendikar and basically anything that makes a bunch of tokens when it enters. But don't sleep on MR's other ability to completely nerf an incoming commander by making it ETB as a soldier token. Love it!
Saw it Coming: Again, with Foretell our floor for this card isn't completely terrible albeit not ideal, but the ceiling is a counterspell better than Counterspell - I'll take it?
Draugr Necromancer - You made this? I made this? But only after it's dead and I've paid for it. You can even largely forget about the snow mana part of this card because the way mana works these days you can just get the right colours off of your five colour lands and rocks. It's fair but fun.
Rise of the Dread Marn - Is there a better one mana (with Foretell) spell to follow up your opponents wiping the board than this?
Tergrid, God of Fright - Tergrid is making a lot of waves in EDH already by seeming to be a commander and yes, even just card that people HATE. I'm willing to give people a chance before I pass judgement on your entire deck but I agree that at first glance the deck Tergrid wants you to build around her is a complete nightmare for casual players to play against.
Valki, God of Lies - I love both sides of Valki, but I'd definitely wait to pick one of these up for obvious financial reasons $$$
Birgi, God of Storytelling - Aside from being the commander of a mono-red storm deck, which is WILD, I like Birgi a lot as a 99 include in a lot of cantrip-style Izzet decks, just giving us a lot of great mana reduction and the occasional free spell. I also feel like there has to be a mono-red artifact thing with Ornithopters and Birgi making huge chunks of red mana to fireball onto people too? FUN.
Goldspan Dragon - Would you like to DOUBLE, your treasures Mr. Bond? Insane card for obvious reasons love it very much ok?
Magda, Brazen Outlaw - Magda is the MOST brewed around commander from Kaldheim. I'm not kidding, look it up. It makes a ton of sense when you look at the card though. Folk love they Dwarves and Dragons but also folk love they artifacts and treasure synergies. Maybe one of the more exciting mono-red commanders in a while-which is saying a lot because Birgi is in this set and mono-red has been getting some SERIOUS commander love from WOTC as of late.
Masked Vandal - No time to explain, replace your Reclamation Sages with these guys!
Toski, Bearer of Secrets - This card may well be overhyped but I can't help but love this effect in mono-green and now we officially have a black-bordered Squirrel commander!
Immersturm Predator - At first blush, I thought this card was very meh but after looking at it for a second it got a lot better. Free sac outlet, solid body for beating, two very relevant tribes? Yessir.
Kardur, Doomscourge - Maybe my favourite of the multicoloured commanders in this set. I love goad as an ability and even though it doesn't say it, this guy goads!
Kaya the Inexorable - Maybe the best EDH planeswalker from the set just because at the base you get a five mana exile a permanent ability which isn't so bad. If she sticks around though, things can get really wild.
Svella, Ice Shaper - I love a unique ability on a commander and I love it even more on a multicoloured commander. Svella makes Manaliths, which doesn't sound crazy but I'm sure there is some very cool stuff we can do with them.
Maskwood Nexus - Forget Conspiracy and Xenograft making your creatures one type, now you get ALL the types! And any colour gets this! Janklords rejoice!
Pyre of Heroes - This card isn't Birthing Pod. It's restricted to one tribe and that makes it much worse, but mark my words I think more tribal decks than you think will actually want this card. Anytime you can tutor directly to the battlefield folks should take notice. Not to mention the tribes that actually want to sac things.
Port of Karfell - There's a whole cycle of these lands and they range from bad to very good for EDH. Port is perhaps the best one in general, but the whole cycle is pretty useful!
Tyrite Sanctum - Anytime we can get a spell that protects our commander on a land you have to at least consider it. I think this land is a staple in two colour decks that care about their commander remaining on the battlefield.
The World Tree - Five colour decks only, but even without the WUBRG activation ability being relevant, the fact that this just fixes your mana makes it unreal. A must-have!
There are so many more great EDH cards from this set, go listen to episode 282 of the Commander's Brew or better yet check us out on youtube at www.youtube.com/commandersbrew! Thanks for checking this one out and I'll see ya next week with a new deck tech!
