Choosing Your Commander - Naya

We next look at the white/red/green ccolor combination, otherwise called the Naya shard.  These commanders are actually all quite straightforward in the types of decks that they offer oppotunities to build, yet they are definitely unique in what they can accomplish and the directions that they push you in.

Hazezon Tamar:  Hazezon is a token generating machine that is perfect for decks that are already trying to ramp out a lot of lands.  There is an interesting timing trick due to how he is worded, in that you don't get the tokens until your next upkeep.  Therefore if you remove Hazezon before then, when his 'leaves play' ability triggers the Sand Warrior tokens won't be around to be exiled and your opponents will have to kill them the hard way.  What you do with those tokens is up to your imagination...

Jacques le Vert:  He would be much more interesting if he said taht green creatures got +2/+2 or even +2/+0, but +0/+2 seems a little meh.

Johan:  Johan is a mediocre creature with a mediocre ability.



Mayael the Anima:  The Naya shard in Shards of Alra had a "5 power or greater" theme that Mayael picks up and takes to a new level.  With all the various library manipulation cards plus creature tutors that put the card on top of your library, you are basically assured of hitting something worthwhile with every activation.  Being card advantage and fast mana (in a sense) make Mayael a pretty good commander once she gets going.

Palladia-Mors:  Other than Nicol Bolas' "Mind Twist" ability, Palladia-Mors is probably second best with good ol' fashioned Trample. 







Rith, the Awakener:  Under the right circumstances, Rith is killing one player with general damage while helping you assemble a Saproling army with which to kill the rest of the table.  It's not a flashy way to go, but I have seen it be very effective when done right.









Uril, the Miststalker:  Uril is one of the best 'Voltron' commanders in the game.  There are tons of really good enchantments you can put on him making him nigh unstoppable.  Since he plays well with enchantments, he is often paired with an 'Enchantress' subtheme to generate card advantage and to make the deck really click.  He is definitely one of the premiere commanders in the enitre game and the best in the Naya colors.

Choosing Your Commander - Jund

Next, we look at one of the more interesting three-color combinations in black/red/green, otherwise known as the Jund shard.  These colors have a lot in common in that they love to sacrifice things and then recur them from the graveyard for reuse later.  Of all the color pairings, Jund is probably the most inherently destructive combination, capable of destroying any type of permanent either one at a time or en masse.

Adun Oakenshield:  Adun is a pretty good general for any deck that really wants to recur its creatures.  Although there are already decent option in these colors that do that (namely Oversold Cemetery and Genesis), it can be nice to have this kind of effect always at the ready if your deck depends on it.

Bartel Runeaxe:  A vigilant 6/5 that cannot be enchanted is actually not that bad for 6 mana, but he is just purely outclassed by tons of other cards at that mana cost.

Darigaaz, the Igniter:  Darigaaz is a fine dragon, capable of dealing lots of damage and giving you a nice excuse to attack the player sitting with tons of cards in their hand.  My issue with it as a commander is that general damage only counts combat damage, so his ability becomes somewhat irrelevant.  Still sometimes you will hit 40 faster than 21 on any given player, especially if that player is that open to being attacked by Darigaaz in the first place.  It's also nice to have a built-in punishment against players with humongous hands thatnks to Command Tower or Praetor's Counsel.

Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund:  Having Haste and 7 power makes him a good candidate for being able to kill players with general damage at least some of the times.  His ability to steal opposing Dragons is interesting, but moreso is his ability to steal back a Dragon that others may have taken from you.  There are also lots of exchange control effects that would allow you to give the opponent a Dragon you control, only to steal it back later with Karrthus.  It's a shame that most of the exchange control cards and creature type changing cards (Imagecrafter would be perfect) are blue, but there are a few out there worth looking at.









Kresh the Bloodbraided:
I like Kresh on several different levels.  The first is that he is inexpensive to play, so you can guarantee being able to play him at least once or twice a game most of the time.  The second is that his ability is indiscriminate and doesn't require you to jump through a lot of hoops to utilize as you are basically being rewarded for something that you want to do anyway; kill opposing creatures and sacrifice your own creatures for profit.  Third is that he is a very real threat to kill players via general damage due to how big he can get.  Kresh is a very simple and straightforward general that ends up having lots of strategic depth due to how many different ways you can use and abuse his ability.

Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper:  Sek'kuar plays right into the same themes that Kresh and other Jund cards like to follow; sacrifice your stuff for fun and profit.  I think that there are better commanders suited for that purpose, but Sek'Kuar is excellent at supporting that theme in any deck that can run him.  There is also the possibilty of running some sort of Shaman themed deck that focuses on creature sacrifice and recursion, and I think there would be an interesting spot for him in an Elemental themed deck doing the same thing.

Vaevictis Asmadi:  The upside is that when he connects, he connects for a ton.  The downside is that like the other 'Elder Dragons' he just costs too much for what you can get nowadays.

Xira Arien:  If Wizards were to print this card nowadays, it would be blue, black and green instead of red, black, and green.  I like that it can target any player so that you could target an opponent if need be.  I think Xira Arien misses the cut due to the fact that you can get much more card advantage for less of a mana investment with other cards as your general.

Choosing Your Commander - Grixis

Next, we will take a look at the blue/black/red color combination, otherwise known as the Grixis shard.  If all three colors had to decide what they had in common, it would be tough to say.  One thing is that they are all th ecolors of discard spells, with black taking the lead.  They all also identify with their weaknes to enchantments.  Overall, there isn't a lot of identity to Grixis, but there is definitely a lot of power.

Crosis, the Purger:  Crosis is fairly decent at what he does, although being in the same colors as Nicol Bolas its hard to compete with his discard ability.

Garza Zol, Plague Queen:  Garza Zol has a few nice things going for her.  Haste, evasion in the form of Flying, and the Ophidian ability are all huge upsides to a 5/5 creature for 7 mana that make he owrth playing.  The +1/+1 counter ability is definitiely something to build around, especially since it counts any damage and not just combat damage.  Equipment such as Livewire Lash and Thornbite Staff can help Garza Zol deal damage without combat and allow her to grow.  Garza Zol isn't flashy, but she is definitely efficient and potentially deadly.

Gwendlyn Di Corci:  Gwendlyn is not bad, but her ability isn't really good in multi-player.

Lord of Tresserhorn:  Lord of Tresserhorn demands a steep price be paid when you summon him, and managing that cost is key to keeping him happy as your commander.  The lif loss is not an issue, and the giving an opponent two cards can often gain you some political capital in the process.  It's the sacrifice of two creatures that can sometimes make him very hard to cast profitably.  You are getting 10 power for only 4 mana, so there is definitely some upside to work with. 

Mishra, Artificer Prodigy:  Mishra has an absolutely fantastic ability that would be great to build around.  Unfortunately, the "highlander" nature of the format makes him unplayable.

Nicol Bolas:  Most of the Elder Dragons only see play for nostalgic value, but Nicol Bolas has risen to a higher plane of awesomeness compared to his fellow bretheren.  Being able to Mind Twist someone on contact is one of the more brutal abilities given to any creature.  With a cool backstory that includes Nicol Bolas now being a Planeswalker scheming for power on multiple worlds, it is no doubt that a Nicol Bolas themed deck can be both powerful and interesting.










Sedris, the Traitor King:
Sedris is awesome.  Giving you a built-in reanimation for all your creatures in the graveyard can be brutal, even if it is only temporary.  You can use him to make your opponents have to run through your army twice, or you can self-mill yourself and live out of your graveyard.  Sedris also works well with creature sacrifice effects as you can get double use out of them.

Sol'kanar the Swamp King:  In my Top 5 as far as best names go, Sol'kanar is actually quite an efficient package for Legends card.  5-power for 5 mana, Swampwalk and a small lifegain ability is pretty decent when all added together.  Its just not commander material.

Tetsuo Umezawa:  Known more for his Jitte than anything else, Tetsuo Umezawa suffers from "other creatures do the same thing only cheaper"-itis. 

Thraximundar:  Thraximundar is great because he not only keeps the field of play clear of critters but he also plays right into your own creature sacrifice theme to grow large and start taking out opponents with general damage in 1 or 2 swings.  Thraximundar and Sedris have a bit of overlap in what they are trying to do sacrifice-wise, and I think they would compliment each other no matter how you build your deck.

Choosing Your Commander - Esper

We now get to the meat and potatoes of the Commander format; the 3-color commanders.  Not only are some of the best 'build-around-me' generals 3-colors, but they also offer some of the best flexibility for spell selection.  The first we will look at is the white/blue/black combination, also referred to as the Esper shard.  This color combination is interesting in that it wants to play well with enchantments and artifacts, and it has one of the best of each type of commander in the entire game.

Chromium:  Being one of the original 'Elder Dragons' gives Chromium a bit of clout just based on coolness factor, and "Rampage: 2" is actually not that bad of an ability.  For the most part, you aren't playing Chromium for his stats or efficiency.

Dakkon Blackblade:  Very cool card that actually has potential, but it suffers from a lack of good color identity.  If it had any green in it, it could be awesome (although Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer is probably still better and its in the right color).

Dromar, the Banisher:  Dromar is an okay general, but it doesn't really do anything too exciting.

Ertai, the Corrupted:  I actually like this version of Ertai, except that sacrificing an enchantment or creature is not really worth the mana savings over the original Ertai, Wizard Adept.  Gaining access to white and black's token making abilities can help offset that a lot, and the added flexibility of having those colors available is really nice.  I think that if you are looking for a commander to lead you WUB control deck, then perhaps Ertai is a good choice.

Halfdane:  Halfdane is pretty high on the coolness ladder, in that there are all sorts of interesting shenanigans that you can pull to make him temporarily huge and swing for a lot of general damage.  My main complaint about Halfdane is that those shenanigans are actually quite hard to pull off, and the overall benefit is actually not that great for a creature that lacks evasion.

Lady Evangela:  Using my commander slot to Fog a single creatuer each turn seems like a huge waste to me.

Merieke Ri Berit:  Worse than just outright destroying stuff is stealing stuff and using it against the person who roiginally cast it.  Merieke will win you no friends, but there is something to be said for the power to steal a creature on demand.  It is also a huge benefit that if Merieke gets killed the creature she stole also gets killed, and that the creature-stealing effect doesn't require Merieke to remain tapped so it can be used multiple times.  Combine her with some untap effects, and you can ensure that every creature summoned will end up on your side of the board.









Sens Triplets:
Because of the rule that a deck cannot generate mana outside of its colors you cannot play your opponent's red or green spells with Sens Triplets, so its usefulness can be limited seeing that green is one of the most played colors in the game.  Still, being able to play a land, artifact, white, blue, or black spell will come up enough that Sens Triplets can net you lots of cards and at the same time deny your opponents lots of cards in the meantime.  The scramble to destroy Sens Triplets can be interesting to watch since it has to live till your next upkeep, but the real fun begins when nobody can remove it and the politics start between your opponents as to who they think you should target.

Sharuum the Hegemon:  Next to Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Sharuum is probably the second best combo-ready commander in the game.  When combined with Sculpting Steel or Phyrexian Metamorph you can create an infinite loop of Sharuum and Sharuum copies going to and from the graveyard, and you can use the loop to trigger Disciple of the Vault or for a huge Gravestormed Bitter Ordeal to knock out an entier table of players at once.  You can also make infinitely large Glassdusk Hulks or Arcbound Crushers if you actually want to take a combat step to do it.  There is also the capability to just ignore  the infinite combos and use Sharuum to reanimate large artifact creatures (or just high casting cost artifacts in general) and win with card advantage.  Either way, Sharuum is one of the premiere commanders available and will be strong no matter what way you decide to go.




Zur the Enchanter:
Greetings Starfighter.  You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Zur and the Kodan Armada... okay so you aren't a Starfighter, its Xur not Zur, and you are defending your kitchen table and not the Frontier, but Zur the Enchanter is still just as big a villain.  With powerful enchantments such as Necropotence, Propoganda, and Solitary Confinement at the ready, you can dig in and get Zur set up for the long haul.  You'll need to protect Zur, but you have Auras such as Pemmin's Aura to help.  You also have plenty of disruptive options such as Oblivion Ring, Seal of Doom, and Arcane Laboratory.  Zur can be a deadly force if left unchecked and is definitely one of the better commanders available in the game.

Choosing Your Commander - Golgari

Last, but definitely not least, of the enemey color pairing color combinations is black/green.  Both are the colors of regrowth and graveyard recursion, board control effects, and the traditional colors of mid-range "Rock" strategies.  Golgari decks seek to do a lot of what some Commander format traditionalists see as the heart of the format; play fair, accumulate resources, and throw haymakers.  There are definitely several commanders available in these colors that will allow for that type of game if you choose it, and of all the enemy two-color pairings black/green has the most options with ten.

Glissa, the Traitor:  Glissa is not an easy commander to utilize, but she is definitely one of the more fun options to try and build around.  First off, you must ensure that you can trigger her ability in the first place, meaning that a)your opponents must have creatures and b) you must have a way to kill htem at opportune times.  Normally in multi-player games, your opponents having creatures ready to be killed is not a problem, but there are ways to give your opponent creatures to help along the cause.  After that, playing black's many ways of offing critters can help trigger her when you need it.  After that, its up to you to make sure her triggers don't go for naught, as you can recur things as ugly as Mindslaver to something benign such as an Urza's Bauble.  Once you get that recursion engine going, you just need to make sure its worth your while to jump through the necessary hoops to keep it going.

Iname as One:  Pretty cool card that is prohibitively expensive for something whose first trigger doesn't even count when you cast it from the command zone.  Unfortunately, this all but makes it unplayable.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord:  Jarad is one of the better recently released commander options from Return to Ravnica, and it plays right into what a lot of people are already trying to do with their black/green decks.  With built-in recusrion, a built-in sac outlet, a pump ability that feeds off of your rapidly-filling graveyard, and a damage ability that affects all opponents all wrapped up into one compact package, its hard to go wrong with Jarad. 











Nath of the Gilt-Leaf:  If you are looking for a commander who combos well with discard effects, Nath might be the best out there.  You aren't getting a huge payoff for your troubles, but even a modest theme can net you just enough benefits to make it worthwhile.  Combine him with something like Memory Jar and you potentially have seven new 1/1 Elf tokens for each opponent you have. 

Rhys the Exiled:  Due to Rhys having a black mana symbol in its activation cost, he is a black/green card as far as color identity go.  I am not relly a fan of Rhys the Exiled and much prefer his GW Redeemed version.

Sapling of Colfenor:  I think this is a great support card for a different deck to take advantage of, namely something like Doran, the Siege Tower. 

Savra, Queen of the Golgari:  Savra is decent at what she does, but if you just want to gain life or control creatures then there are better options.

Sisters of Stone Death:  Again, if its just for creature control you have better options, but at least the Sisters give you the option of stealign the creature outright.  If casting this and activating its abilities didn't cost so much, then this might be a worthwhile thing to consider.  As it is, its not very good.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave:  Skullbriar interests me in the fact that his ability is truly unique in the game and that it violates one of the basic rules of the game.  I'm not sure that I would use him as my commander, but he seems to be tailor-made to do so since he will maintain his +1/+1 counters while bouncing to and from the command zone.  It's unfortunate that bounce effects and tuck effects are plentiful in the format and that those reset his counters, but I guess every card has its weaknesses.

Vhati il-Dal: Nice when combined with a pinger or other effect that deals with X/1's efficiently, but as I've said before its not good enough if it only helps with creature control (and even then, if it only does part of the job).

Choosing Your Commander - Izzet

Next up is the powerful blue/red color combination.  Of the enemy color pairings, the Izzet guild probably has some of the most powerful options for commanders available.  Red/blue are traditionally both spell-centric colors, but combining red's agression with blue's control elements can often be a good pairing.  The Izzet color pairing is also very good at combo decks, utilizing blue for card draw and red for various fast mana effects.  As you will soon see, red/blue has two of the best combo generals available in Jhoira and Niv-Mizzet, both of which rank up in the top 10 commanders in the entire game for shear power.

Jhoira of the Ghitu:  Jhoira is one of the more feared generals in the game for her ability to suspend a highly volatile threat such as Obliterate and follow it up with a suspended large creature (often an Indestructible menace like Ulamog or Blightsteel Colossus).  Once you start looking at ways to take advantage of Jhoira, its hard to not get greedy and totally abuse her ability.  To make matters worse, your opponents will often just assume that you are packing the worst case scenario for them and try to eliminate her (and you) on sight making using her in more benign ways more difficult.  The nice thing about Jhoira is that you can wait till you have 5 mana open to play her and suspend a spell before an opponent can remove her, and that there are lots of cards that you can run that will tick those four time counters down faster to speed up the process.  Any way you look at it, Jhoira is one of the top generals available in the game.

Nin, the Pain Artist:  Cards like Nin make for some interesting choices, not only during deck construction but also during play.  Pinging your own creatures for profit (especially ones that were going to die anyway) is definitely one way to get ahead, although Nin's ability is expensive and its not like blue and red are lacking for card draw.  Using it on your opponent's creatures has some strategic and political implications.  If you are trying to help someone, they may apprecaite the extra cards.  However, if Nin is part of a larger strategy to deck an opponent, then Nin serves double duty as both creature kill and win condition.  In that regard, its somewhat unfortunate that Nin is not blue/black instead of blue/red so that she could headline a milling deck.

Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius:  Unlike the original Niv-Mizzet, the Dracogenius is far less combo-licious and far less desirable as a general.  But for those that are looking for a red/blue control general, its nice to have the Dracogenius as an option if for no other reason that he doesn't carry the stigma that the Firemind has.


Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind:  The original Niv-Mizzet probably has one of the most well-earned reputations as the poster-child for abusive infinite combo decks in the Commander format.  When combined with Curiosity or Ophidian Eye, you can essentially draw your deck and deal damage to your opponents equal to the size of your library.  Combined with Mind Over Matter you can do the same thing, except that you have the opportunity to make the loop boundless by including one of the Eldrazi somewhere in your deck that when discarded will shuffle your graveyard back into your library.  Even without the infinite combos, there are plenty of effects in blue that draw cards, and several in both blue and red that can draw them up to seven at a time.  Any way you slice it, Niv-Mizzet is a damage and draw engine that is second to none, and showing him as your commander will make you public enemy number one.  I personally love what potential Niv-Mizzet has outside of infinite combinations, so when we explore making decks I will probably make both a "cutthroat combo" version and a "non-combo" version that seekes to play a little more fairly and not care about just resolving one of its infinite combo pieces.  I think that playing without these infinite combinations would not only be more fun but it would lessen the stigma associated with running him as your commander and perhaps lessen the hate thrown your way.

Tibor and Lumia:  Compared to all of the other options you have available, Tibor and Lumia are tame and unexciting.

Choosing Your Commander - Orzhov

Next up is the black/white color combination.  Often seen as the most diametrically opposed color pairing, black and white actually have a lot of things the do very similarly.  Both colors are good at eliminating creatures with both pinpoint effects and mass removal, both colors gain life (albeit in different ways), and both colors are very interested in reanimating creatures (again, done in different ways).  With only four possibilities, there isn't very much depth to choose from and unfortunately none of the choices is truly outstanding.  Of the ones available, only Ghost Council really looks interesting for making a deck around.

Ghost Council of Orzhova:  Ghost Council is known best for what he doesn't do in that he doesn't stick around when you set off one of the dozens of Wrath effects that black and white have available.  In the process, he pings an opponent when he pops back into play ready to do it again given enough sacrificial fodder laying around.  Cards like Sacred Mesa and the normally awful Security Detail become quite ueful in making sure that Ghost Dad is fat and happy, but there are also lots of good token making permanents in Bitterblossom, Mobilization and Infernal Genesis.

Selenia, Dark Angel:  Cool name, decent card, not a good commander.

Teysa, Orzhov Scion:  So playing with an effect that makes all your creatures black (Darkest Hour comes to mind) will mean that when your creatures die she will always produce 1/1 Spirits and that even when those 1/1 Spirits die she will continue to spit out spirits.  Darkest Hour turns off the first ability, but really who cares once you can amass a giant Spirit army.  Its a cool interaction that may be interesting to include in a larger deck (perhaps a Ghost Council deck that has a built-in sac outlet), but I don't think there is enough there to warrant building an entire deck around it.

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter:  A protected Vish Kal can be very dangerous.  Having Flying and Lifelink is pretty good, and combined with the power to grow with every sacrifice you give him makes him a candidate for dealing 21 general damage pretty quickly.

Choosing Your Commander - Simic

Next up is the blue/green color combination.  There are only three choices, but each one has the ability to be an awesome commander.  Blue/green both like to draw cards and pump creatures in interesting ways, an the only place where the color combination is truly weak is at destroying creatures.  Hoefully, we get more options for commanders when Gatecrash arrives, as the color combination has a lot of promise.  I'm not going to bother with a Top 2 list, as that seems a little silly.  I will say that Edric is probably the best in a competetive arena, but Experiment Kraj is the most broken in terms of combination potential.

Edric, Spymaster of Trest:  On first examination, its easy to dismiss Edric as a "group hug" or cuteway to incentivize your opponents to not attack you.  But when properly built, an Edric deck can absolutely bury slower decks in damage and card advanatge with a swarm of small creatures.  Edric is also nice in that he doesn't necessarily hurt the opponent when he is out, and sometimes they will let him live far longer than he should just so they can draw cards of their own. 










Experiment Kraj:
There are so many combinations of abilities that when combined on a single creature creatue some fairly degenerate situations that it should not be hard for you to find a few that you find fun and exciting.  Just looking at combos with Devoted Druid and Doubling Season can allow you to prety much have Experiment Kraj do anything you want, and the introduction of the untap symbol can make things really interesting.  It's actually a little difficult to not go infinite while trying to abuse Experiment Kraj, so finding a middle ground will take some real time and energy.

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary:  Momir Vig is a realtively easy creature to build around, in that you are greatly rewarded for playing creatures that are both blue and green, but even so thees colors are very good at manipulating the top of the deck and can still generate card advantage with just playing blue creatures.  Overall, its nice to be able to play the deck as a toolbox deck with answers to many different situations or permanents, so if playing blue/green control strikes your fancy then Momir Vig may be the general for you.

Choosing Your Commander - Boros

Next we look at the enemy two-color pairings and start with white/red.  The Boros color pairing is very similar to green/red in that it uses white for its creatures and red for its powerful spells (suually burn or land destruction).  Boros can be very agressive, and its strengths lie in its efficient low-casting cost creatures and its trickiness in combat.  Red and white share an affinity for mass land destruction, destruction of artifacts, and killing of creatures.  Where they differ is that red has a dogmatic weakness to enchantments (which white covers nicely), and that white likes to gain life where red likes to deal direct damage.  There are currently only six options, and you can see that they either really play up what both colors have in common or that they play up what makes the colors so different.

Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran:  I'd rather just have a commander that pumps my army all the time, and waiting for the attack step weakens this tremendously.

Basandra, Battle Seraph:  It's not too hard to figure out how to try and take advantage of Basandra, but the issue is that in practice her ability is not acually that good when playing against multiple opponents.

Brion Stoutarm:  Brion is great because he makes an entire set of moderately good cards and turns them into all-stars; namely Threaten effects.  Stealing your opponents creatures, then tossing them at their controller is not only a good way to keep the creature population down but also keep the opponent life totals down.  Other good candidates are temporary creatures that are either put into play by some effect (i.e. Mimic Vat), put into play only for this turn (i.e. Sneak Attack), or that would naturally die at end of turn.  (i.e. Ball Lightning).  Toss in some untap effects and you have a damage dealing engine on your hands.








Gisela, Blade of Goldnight:
Gisela was tailor made for multi-player games in a way to make things miserable for your opponents while giving you a distainct advantage on the battlefield.  She definitely plays up the difference between the two colors, and does so in a dramatic and powerful fashion.  The double damage can make Gisela nearly lethal with general damage in two swings with a bit of help, and burn spells take on a whole new level of power with her in play.






Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer:  It's not too hard to hit Metalcraft in the Commander format, and once you do the +3 power boost to your team (and himself) is actually quite good.  Pushing his power to 8, he becomes lethal with general damage in 3 hits and he can makes a group of tokens into a player-killing horde.  Both red and white also play well with equipment, making the Metalcraft a bit easier to hit and making for some really powerful critters seemingly our of nowhere.

Razia, Boros Archangel:  I like Razia, but I think her ability is a little too narrow to really be something that I want to center a deck theme around.  She plays well with Earthquake effects, but its a little disappointing that she cannot redirect damage dealt to a player or redirect it to another player. 

Top 2 Boros Commanders
1. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
2. Brion Stoutarm

Choosing Your Commander - Selesnya

The last two-color allied combination we come to is green/white, which is my favorite color pairing with regards to the types of commanders available.  Green and white have a lot of design space overlap, and as such the green/white cards tend to really reinforce those themes and mechanics and give you very powerful cards.  Token making, lifegain, and "Crusade" effects are all on vivid display in both colors, giving us very powerful linear synergies to build around.  Furthermore, the two colors also compliment one another in that what green is weak at removing (creatures), white excels at, and what white lacks (mana acceleration) green is best at.  Of all the color combinations I think GW has some of the best unique commanders, and that I will end up building more GW decks than any other.

Asmira, Holy Avenger:  Asmira's ability is actually quite good, but the timing of when you get the counters makes it a tad hard to really use.  Asmira really wants a lot of tokens to go to the graveyard so it plays well with Doubling Season, but you really need a sac outlet to bring the whole package together and most of the time I'd rather just accumulate more tokens.

Captain Sisay:  Captain Sisay is the perfect kind of general for the Commander format.  You have a very clear direction to take with your deckbuilding and a real incentive to want to play and activate her ability.  There are many good Legendary permanents in white and green, but there are also a lot of good artifacts and lands that you will want to include.  As we go through each set, we will compile a list of all the various options and see if there are even more synergies we can take advantage of (rather than Sisay being 'just' a toolbox commander). 

Chorus of the Conclave:  I really like the effect Chorus of the Conclave can have, but the eight mana cost for such an effect is a little steep.  Still, I like that it rewards you for ramping your mana to cast her, then continues to reward you by giving you an outlet and use for that extra mana.

Gabriel Angelfire:  You don't get enough for what you are paying.

Gaddock Teeg:  Gaddock Teeg has a very immediate and negative impact on a lot of games, and if your deck is built correctly those negatives should be negligible to you.  In response to playing him, expect a lot of removal being thrown at him due to others not being able to play their spells with him on the table, but you should be fine with this for two reasons.  One, that's another removal spells that your oppoennt's don't use on something bigger/better, and two he's super cheap to cast so casting him again is no problem.  The more and more he's played, the less and less likely it is that your opponent's have answers to him.  The rest of the deck should be designed to take advantage of that window of disruption to take over the game.

Jasmine Boreal:  Yawn...

Kei Takahashi:  Average ability that is not worthy of a commander slot.

Krond the Dawn-Clad:  That awful casting cost aside, Krond is actually a decent creature if you can keep him enchanted and exile key permanents.  He's a bit hard to really want to build around, and I would personally want to build Uril, the Msistalker instead.  I will look at possibly including him in an Uril deck if we can make the mana work.

Lady Caleria:  Being able to deal 3 damage is much better than some of the two damage options that are very similar, but its still not good enough to base a deck around.

Lord Magnus:  If Plainswalkers (as opposed to Planeswalkers) are a problem in you playgroup, then Lord Magnus is your man.





Rhys the Redeemed:
When WotC unveiled the Populate mechanic, they stated that they first tried it so that it mirrored what Rhys does (a copy of each token type).  They found out really quickly that such a mechanic would be broken and wuickly changed it to what it is now.  Fortunately for us, we still get to have Rhys in all his token-loving brokeness, and we ge tto have fun with all the various token types that are available.  Rhys is the premiere "tokens matter" general and is a blast to play, especially when you can break out cool cards like Bestial Menace.







Saffi Eriksdotter:  Saffi can do all sorts of cool tricks with various other creature cards, and is infmaously entwined with Crypt Champion to produce a near-infinite loop od creatures entering and leaving the battlefield for all sorts of nefarious purposes.  As her own commander, we are relgate to only using Selesnya colors and hence much less potent combinations, but there are still many things that you may want to loop or protect and having Saffi around can help immensely.






Sigarda, Host of Herons:  Sigarda's most attractive trait is how difficult it is for opponent's to get rid of her without using a mass removal spell.  Those kinds of spells are usually plentiful in a multi-player game, but being able to dodge everything else definitely has its advantages.  The fact that you also protect your other permanents from sacrifie effects, and she basically turns off a lot of things that would otherwise kill you or your permanents.

Sir Shandlar of Eberyn:  Too bad his name was not Sir Eberyn of Shandalar...




Tolsimir Wolfblood:
Tolsimir is a sold inclusion in any deck that wants to mass pump its creatures, including token decks.  As his own commander, you can concentrate on including creatures that are both green and white to maximize his effect. 

Torsten Von Ursus:  I am glad to be done with the vanilla Legendary Creatures from Legends... finally.









Trostani, Selesnya's Voice:
Trostani has generated a lot of buzz since she (they?) were released, and most of it is centered around her Populate ability.  Problem is that Rhys the Redeemed exists and blows the populate ability out of the water.  However for the longest time I have wanted a GW general for a "life gain matters" deck, and Trostani's first ability conveniently goes in that direction.  I wish they would print a general tht actuall ydoes something with the life you gain, but until then Trostani will be the leader of a deck that runs things like Ageless Entity, Serra Avatar, and Boon Reflection.

Top 5 Selesnya Commanders
1. Captain sisay
2. Rhys the Redeemed
3. Sigarda, Host of Herons
4. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
5. Saffi Eriksdotter

Choosing Your commander - Gruul

Next we look at the red/green color combination of legendary creatures availabel to be your commander.  The Gruul color combination is usually known for its highly efficient creatures, its ability to combine fast mana with land destruction, and overall aggressive nature.  That agression is usually manifested in either accelerating your mana, pumping your creatures, or doling out tons of damage.  As you will see, the best RG commanders play up these themes very well.

Borborygmos:  Borborygmos is a prtty good example of what the Gruul color pairing (and the Gruul clan) are all about.  Unfortunately it is a little on the expensive side to generate that kind of effect, not to mention that the effect is actually quite slow in action (unless you give him Hast eand Double Strike, hint, hint...).  I think there is potential there, but I also think you are paying a bit too much for too little.

Jerrard of the Closed Fist:  Iwamori has a few words to say about whether a fist should be open or closed, but either way I doubt you want a "slightly better than a Craw Wurm" as your commander.

Livonya Silone:  Legendary Landwalk will often make her unblockable, but that will hardly make much difference in her playability.

Marhault Elsdragon:  I really like the Rampage ability, but I don't think its what we are looking for in our commanders.

Radha, Heir to Keld:  Radha is a very unique source of fast mana that requires a bit of planning ahead due to the timing as to when you get the mana (during your combat step).  Creatures with Flash and Instants are the usual way to go, but also utilizing card like Upwelling can do the trick.  She can also just be used as a plain 'ol "mana elf" to accelerate into bigger and badder things.












Rosheen Meanderer:
Rosheen Meanderer has the obvious application of combining with as many "X-spells" as possible, which in red/green also includes creatures with X in their casting cost as well as several different type of "Fireball" effects.  I think the key to a good Rosheen Meanderer deck is to not get too crazy with the X-spells, and look for more permanents that have X in their costs so as to ensure that you always have use of the 4 mana your commander can provide.

Stangg:  Cool concept that is not very good in Commander.

Stonebrow, Krosan Hero:  There are already some very good creatures worth running that have Trample, but the fact that there are also plenty of ways to give good non-Trampling creatures the ability makes for some stunning plays.  Overrun type effects become just that much more deadly, and can turn an army of puny 1/1 tokens into a player killing wave of destruction.

Sunastian Falconer:  If I'm going to play fast mana, I want it to actually be fast...

The Lady of the Mountain:  For all practical purposes, this is strictly worse than Jerard of the Closed Fist....






Thromok the Insatiable:
The shear potential of how big you can make Thromok is his big allure, especially given the exponential character of his ability.  throw in some doubling effect like Doubling Season and you have a creature that is lethal in a hurry.  I personally see him as better of as part of  Kresh deck rather than the commander of his own deck, but I can definitely see the allure.

Tuknir Deathlock:  Cool name, not a very useful ability.





Ulasht, the Hate Seed: 
For being a creature with the word "Hate" in its name, Ulasht sure loves a lot of things.  First off, he loves creatures that are both red and green so as to maximize the amount of counters he gets the natural way.  He also loves card like Doubling Season and Parallel Lives that double on on the number of +1/+1 counters or tokens he can produce.  And last but not least he loves having tons of spare mana around with which he can use to throw his +1/+1 counters at creatures and players.






Wort, the Raidmother:
Wort makes you take a good look at every red and green spell you may want to run and makes you think "Would this be cool if I got to always copy it?".  The obvious answer is yes, but when you put that plan into action all sorts of cool and interesting interactions come to mind.  What if I copy token producing spells, that in turn give me more ways to Conspire more spells?  What if I copy Overrun effects to pump those tokens?  What about Ramp spells into X-Spells?  I think the key to Wort is to not just copy random stuff but to have a very specific purpose as to what you want to accomplish.





Top 5 Gruul Commanders 
1. Radha, Heir to Keld
2. Wort, the Raidmother
3. Rosheen Meanderer
4. Ulasht, the Hate Seed
5. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero

Choosing Your Commander - Rakdos

We will now look at the potential commanders for the black/red combination.  Black and red are really good at a few things; destroying creatures, generating low-cost high risk/high reward effects, and burning opponents with direct damage.  The Rakdos color pairing is all about agression and hostility, and as you will see with some of their better commander options they are all less about subtlety and more about brute force.

Axelrod Gunnarson:  For an eight mana commander, he is too underpowered for the cost.

Barktooth Warbeard:  Although the flavor text says otherwise, running Barkstooth Warbeard as your commander is neither devious nor cunning.

Bladewing the Risen:  Bladewing the Risen is a fairly good card for a Dragon-themed Reanimator deck.  You are obviously restricted to only using Dragons in black and red, but some of the best options are in those colors anyway.  Black offer several options for getting Dragons into the graveyard to begin with, and also offers a lot of options for reanimating them in case your commander gets shuffled into your library and or is otherwise unavailable.  Bladewing is also one of the few commanders that I would let go to the graveyard instead of the command zone when killed, because reanimating him is a 2 for 1 almost every time.  Bladewing the Risen also really likes any effect that blinks it out of play, allowing you to reuse its 'enters the battlefield' effect.  I think that if you want to go Dragon Tribal, that perhaps Scion of the Ur-Dragon or Kaalia of the Vast may be better commander options, but Bladewing the Risen definitely has a some merit as a commander that goes in a slightly different direction.

Boris Devilboon:  There are many more effiicient options for putting 1/1 tokens into play that paying Boris makes little sense.

Kaervek the Merciless:  Kaervek is kinda awesome in that he punishes every opponent for wanting to do ther thing they want the most; play their spells.  He's not particularly splashy and he is hard to defend, but if you dedicate some slots in your decks to help protect him from removal (black discard spells or red Redirection effects), then you can really frustrate your opponents as they take damage trying to deal with Kaervek.  Just don't be surprised when everyone turns on you, even though Kaervek isn't know for any combo shenanigans.

Lady Orca:  At least she has seven power...







Lyzolda, the Blood Witch:
Lyzolda has a couple of things going for her.  First off, she is very inexpensive to cast (never call her cheap, btw).  Second, she is a good source of card advantage.  Third, she is a sacrifice outlet making her fairly immune to "tuck effects".  With lots of ways to generate tokens for both sacrificial fodder and for mana, Lyzolda can be the centerpeice of a player-killing engine that plays somewhat like a combo deck without actually being a combo deck.

Malfegor:  If you need a 6/6 flyer for 6, there are better options.  If you need a Wrath effect for 6 mana, there are much better options.  Having to discard your hand in order to get both stapled onto one card is insanity.

Olivia Voldaren:  Awkward three-legged artwork aside, Olivia Voldaren is probably one of the best black-red generals available.  Out-of-the box, she's a 3/3 Flyer for 4 mana which is a decent enough deal on its own.  Tack onto that a "Masticore" ability that adds +1/+1 counters to her, and she can simultaneously grow huge and keep the board clear of small creatures.  But the real kicker is the third ability that (when coupled with the first) allows you to outright steal any creature too big to shoot down.  I think that Olivia also gets the benefit of the doubt as the tribal leader for a Vampire tribal deck.

Pavel Maliki:  Just compare Pavel Maliki to a Shivan Dragon and you know all you need to know....

Rakdos the Defiler:  Cool ability that ends up defiling your permanents while costing your opponents an instant removal spell.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots:  In a properly built Rakdos deck, the casting restriction should not be a problem.  These same measures that you put into place to cast Rakdos should also help with making your creatures uber-cheap once Rakdos hits the battlefield.  The only real decision you have at that point is how greedy you want to be, either by running some high-cost fatties that you can sneak into play on the cheap (think Kozilek or Ulamog) or by dumping tons of mid-size creatures that you may have an easier time casting if your Rakdos Plan A doesn't work out.  Either way, Rakdos can lead you down deckbuilding paths that lead to some highly entertaining games where your opponents are playing at breakneck speed to try and keep up.

Rohgahh of Kher Keep:  Coupled with the land of Kher Keep and perhaps some other Kobold cards, I would guess that you may have a "so bad that its good" tribal deck on your hands.  That actually doesn't sound too bad after all...

Tor Wauki:  A glorified Heavy Ballista is not my idea of a good time...

Tsabo Tavoc:  Generals such as Tsabo Tavoc and the previously reviewed Empress Galina hold a special place in the Commander format in that they can hit right at the heart of an opponent's deck by being able to consistently remove their commander.  Having protection from Legends also allows Tsabo Tavoc to be immune to some of their effects, making for some potentially interesting situations. 











Wort, Boggart Auntie:
The nice thing about Wort being your general for a Goblin-tribal deck is that you not only get access to some decent goblins in black but your also get access to some much better spells options in black.  One of my first decks was a RB Goblin tribal deck with Wort at the helm, and even though Krenko can give her a run for the money power-wise I think that the added color makes Wort a better choice.


Top 5 Rakdos Commanders
1. Olivia Voldaren
2. Bladewing the Risen
3. Lyzold, the Blood Witch
4. Wort, Boggart Auntie
5. Rakdos, Lord of Riots