#haven’t got the time to finish any drawings recently BUT THERE WILL BW SOON I PROMISE 🤞

[sunnyirry]

live laugh veesha <3

[neingel]

Amonkhet Commander Review: Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to today’s article. With Amonkhet’s spoiler season over with the set fully spoiled, it is now time to look at what new toys are in store for Commander players and the format as a whole. This 2-part article will go through the top 5 cards in each color for Commander. The first part of these series will go through the colors White, Blue, Black and Red, while the second part of the article will go through the colors Green, Multi-color, Colorless and Lands. Without further ado, prepare to start playing like an Egyptian with your Commander playgroup soon!

Before jumping into the colors, I’ll first like to mention at the release of every new set, the new Legendary creatures that are introduced for General play in Commander. Amonkhet has brought back Gods as the Legendary creature type, though not similar to the Gods of Theros, the Gods of Amonkhet share a small trait with the Theros gods. Having Indestructibility as a Legendary creature is always nice, but the new Gods do come with a slight downside, and that is not being able to attack/block unless a certain condition/criteria is fulfilled.

Also, Cycling has seen a comeback, with new cards for Commander players to experiment with as well as some small form of synergy with counters(*Atraxa players rubbing their hands in glee perhaps*).

Enough rumbling from me then, let’s get started with the first color!

White

Anointed Procession

Finally White has a Parallel Lives effect, Anointed Procession will definitely see play in Commander in existing Green/White token strategies, especially for a small handful of players not being to afford Parallel Lives effect, grabbing this would probably save a couple of bucks. Mono-White generals that rely on token strategies such as Brimaz, King of Oskeros or Darien, King of Kjeldor. Overall, not a bad card designed by Wizards to push play for BW Zombies in Standard as well as tokens in Commander.

Gideon’s Intervention

Gideon’s Intervention is a pretty niche card, it might see some fringe sideboard play in Standard, but I believe it’s truth potential lies in Commander. At 4cmc, Gideon’s Intervention seems costly as it’s effect stops 1 card from potentially being cast/dealing damage to you. However, it does seem to fair particularly well after your opponent has tutored for a card or has an infinite damage combo the following turn. It also fairs extremely well against Voltron, being able to halt your opponent’s Voltron plan before they even cast their general.

Approach of the Second Sun

Weird? High costed? Exactly what Commander asks/screams for. On paper, Approach of the Second Sun is a card you would probably find in your best friend’s shoe-box or your store’s 50 cent box of jank rares. However, it’s groundbreaking ability to win off casting a 2nd copy is something many Commander players would try to break in the format. Many have been talking about it’s “value” interaction with Remand, as well as a bunch of decks that abuse copying spells. Weird card, but could see play as a simple/efficient wincon.

Dawn//Dusk

Dawn//Dusk is an interesting card, it does remind me a lot of Austere Command. The first mode is quite powerful at 4 mana, though not on par with Wrath of God or Day of Judgement. The card pays off at the 2nd mode, where decks like Alesha or some form of Aristocrats would love to cast it’s Aftermath effect. Niche cards like these are definitely going to see some good amount of play in Commander.

Regal Caracal 

Ah look! Some Cat tribal support in Amoncat! 

See what I did there? No..? :/

With that lame pun aside, Regal Caracal is actually quite a flavourful inclusion in the set. A 5-drop that’s a 3-for-1, makes 2 other Cat Tokens and acts as a Lord with additional Lifelink. Cats do not have that much of support in Commander, other than Anthem effects in form of Enchantments/Artifacts, but having a Lord now is quite the upgrade for any Cat Tribal deck.

BLUE

As Foretold

We’ll start with the bad stuff. As we all know, As Foretold has been on everyone’s radar recently and many have been trying to experiment with it in many formats. Reason being spells that have a cmc cost of “0” can be casted for free. Such spells include from simple things such as a free Evermind or even worse a free Ancestral Visions, which basically makes As Foretold an extremely powerful card being able to cheat a lot of spells into play. It also can play pretty well with decks such as Jhoria, something that already runs a host of powerful spells with the slight downside of Suspend. Or in an Atraxa deck, with the right curve and counter synergy, can work wonders. Only time will tell how soon someone is to breaking this in Commander.

Vizier of Many Faces

Vizier is just like any other clone effect, 4 costed and having the ability to copy a creature, but it does have Embalm for a slightly higher cost of 5. Meaning even after it has been destroyed, players still have a backup clone effect for only 5 mana. Also, it makes a token after being Embalmed, which could open up some cool and unique token strategies.

New Perspectives

Ah...another one of those really niche cards nobody would ever play anywhere else other than Commander. New Perspectives could actually push Cycling as a serious mechanic, due to the fact that it could potentially make Cycling cost 0. Although Fluctuator already makes Cycling free, some cards still require colored mana in order to Cycle. New Perspectives however, makes all cards regardless of their Cycling cost free to cycle, coming with a slight upside of drawing 3 cards as well. Cards like these in the set might actually push people to experiment more with Cycling in Commander.

Commit//Memory

Commit//Memory might seem costly for what it does at first glance, but many have seen that Commit is already better than Venser, Shaper Savant. While Memory does seem like an overcosted Time Reversal, the card is already has value when you have used Commit or discarded it to use Memory more efficiently. Either way, the card is very versatile for Blue and I can’t wait to have it in my deck.

Glyph Keeper

Now that is my definition of annoying! Glyph Keeper is actually a pretty simple card at first, but very troublesome to deal with. A 5/3 flyer is quite a beater, but combined with the fact it has a small built in protection and Embalm afterwards is good value. Your opponents are guaranteed to waste at least 2 cards getting rid of him, and another 2 after you Embalm it back.

Black

Liliana, Death’s Majesty

Starting off strong in Black is the new Liliana, and many Zombie-Tribal players are already in love with this set. There are so many new toys for Zombies to play with in Commander! Liliana is no exception of course, having the ability to create more Zombies while churning your graveyard, reanimating a big creature to make it a Zombie and of course, a 1-sided boardwipe for anyone not running Zombies. At 5 cmc, she is meant to carry Zombies a long way upwards.

Liliana’s Mastery

If we haven’t got enough of Liliana and Zombies, you better get used to it soon. Black seems to me like full of cards specifically meant to pushing Zombies in Standard. And these cards are definitely going to see play in Commander. Liliana’s Mastery is a 5 costed Enchantment that is essentially a 3-for-1, giving 2 Zombies but acting as a effective anthem effect at the same time? Liliana and her Zombies are really partying good in Amonkhet after all!

Archfiend of Ifnir

Probably one of the few big evil baddies in the set that isn’t a Zombie. Archfiend seems simple at first, but build it around a shell that likes discarding cards? Yep, decks such as Nekusar or Leovold could abuse their “Wheeling” cards and Archfiend to create an artificial but powerful 1-sided boardwipe. Other than that, Archfiend seems like it might stay in Commander for long due to it’s strong potential to easily clear an opponent’s board if he’s left unanswered.

Shadow of the Grave

Now these type of cards are my favorite. Spicy, powerful in the right shell and low costed as always. Shadow of the Grave reminds me a lot of Yawgmoth’s Will, which is seen by many as a potential 10th piece of “Power” in the game, the raw power of playing the same set of cards a 2nd time is always overwhelming. Shadow, unlike Will, requires the player to discard/Cycle cards in order to recast them again, this is pretty easy to accomplish with again..Wheel Effects...being able to cast this, hold priority to discard your current hand, draw your new hand and get all your cards back? Sounds pretty fun to me!

Lord of the Accursed

And surprise surprise! Another Zombie card to round off Black! As if anyone hadn’t knew it yet, Amonkhet is literally filled with strong Zombie cards. Lord of the Accursed is no stranger to round off Black as his childhood colors, at 3 cmc, he’s able to hit the table quickly as a cheap lord. His 2nd ability however can be used to finish someone with a low creature count off. Having another lord in Zombies really isn’t enough when they already have like....I don’t know? 7?!

Red

Glorious End

This card might very well read, “Stop whatever your opponent’s doing, and I’ll need to win the game NOW”. We’ve seen plenty of effects in Red where they do broken things such as Extra Turns, but requiring the player to win the next turn to avoid losing. Such cards include Warrior’s Oath and Final Fortune. It is pretty interesting to see an “End the Turn” effect in Red though, where the only 2 cards possible of doing so are Time Stop and Sundial of the Infinite. Overall, a pretty interesting card I would love to see being abused in Commander together with cards like Hive Mind.

Combat Celebrant

Extra combat phase effects on creatures are always amusing. Combat Celebrant excels here due to the fact he just needs to attack, and activate Exert on him. Meaning even if he’s killed afterwards, you’ll still get the additional combat phase he gave you, even better when after he’s exerted, he need not attack again with the risk of being killed through combat damage. Fun card overall, with many players soon to break it.

Insult//Injury

Insult does a lot for a measly cost of 3 mana, being able to not prevent damage and double your damage from any source this turn? Sign me up! Injury is not really good but can be activated late game to kill off anything small and poke a little at your opponent’s life total. I would love someone to try and play this around Storm, making each Grapeshot hit for a ton of damage :>

Hazoret’s Favor

Hazoret’s Favor is an ideally good card for decks that love placing in big creatures and swinging immediately. I could see this card working better when paired with a 2nd/3rd color, decks such as Xenagos, Omnath, Animar and many others would love to have this. Low costed at 3 mana, generally Commander playable overall.

Harsh Mentor

Many have begun the hype where Harsh Mentor would see play in formats such as Legacy, where it can pick off opponents for numerous strategies/decks. Harsh Mentor isn’t too bad in Commander too, many activated abilites in Commander require tapping,sacrificing creatures or simply paying mana. Harsh Mentor only targets opponents, which is definitely a huge upside considering it’s a 2/2 for 2 mana. Powerful card overall, and I could see many people seeing this as a formidable threat in a few formats soon.

Conclusion

Amonkhet does bring a lot of new toys for Commander players thus far, and I can’t wait for the set release to be able to experiment with some new strategies. That’s all for this week’s article, stay tuned next week for Part 2 of this Commander review-where I go through the remaining colors/cards for: Green,Mulitcolored,Artifacts and the Lands of the set. Until next time, happy brewing with Amonkhet!