Last updated on April 24, 2024 [REPLACE CARD]Opposition Agent[/REPLACE] | Illustration by Scott Murphy Magic’s greatest strength lies in its diversity of strategies. Many consider poor competitive formats those with few options, where one or two decks dominate the meta. You can play aggressive decks, themed decks built around different creature types, or pretty much anything else! You even have decks like Oops, All Spells that buck typical deckbuilding strategies. Commander players love the format for its diversity of strategies and power levels. You can play pretty much anything in this soci ..read more

Jolene, the Plunder Queen | Illustration by Caroline Gariba It can be just as important to consider how fun a Magic deck is to play against as it is to play with. This is especially true if you’re trying to get friends into the game, since your friends aren’t likely going to enjoy getting bodied by an over-powered infect deck their first time playing Commander. Commanders that are fun to play against come in a wide variety. Sometimes, these are commanders who offer benefits to their opponents and can fall into the group hug category. Others introduce elements to the game that increase the pac ..read more

Last updated on April 24, 2024 Wall of Fortune | Illustration by Tom Babbey Polyhedral dice continue to be the trademark item at all LGSs across the world. Entire walls are devoted to housing row upon row of plastic dice bricks. Buckets of loose dice of every shape live in front of the register, tempting customers to round up their purchase by a quarter or two. Hell, every new Magic set bundle comes with a spindown D20, these days. Dice are unavoidable for the Magic player. Whether you’re counting tokens, +1/+1 counters, floating mana, or your planeswalkers‘ loyalty, you’re probably using dic ..read more

Last updated on April 23, 2024 Disdainful Stroke | Illustration by Maxilla The advent of the Universes Beyond products—crossover sets between Magic and various properties including The Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and The Walking Dead have been… contentious. I’ve seen many players expresses excitement while others bemoan what they call the “Fortnite-ification” of Magic, especially as future product releases make it clear these products are here to stay. As for me, I’ve felt neutrally about them. They strike me like Un-sets: A Magic product that’s not for me, so I don’t bother engaging with ..read more

Last updated on April 23, 2024 Riku of Many Paths | Illustration by Denys Tsiperko Hello planeswalkers! Or should I say, howdy! We’re traveling to the once uninhabited plane of Thunder Junction. This new world is chock-full of deserts, outlaws, and other Wild West tropes. This has now become a plane for outlaws to hide out and plot. I’m not sure yet which side Riku of Many Paths is on, but I do know that it may become a wonderful Temur commander. I have no connection to this new plane or Riku, but I’m excited to see Riku of Many Paths in action. In my opinion, this commander may be able to sh ..read more

[REPLACE CARD]Caesar, Legion's Emperor[/REPLACE] | Illustration by Alexander Gering Come back victorious, or don’t come back. Caesar, Fallout: New Vegas I love roleplaying games, there’s so much replay value. You can come back over and over to make different decisions and earn different outcomes. The Fallout franchise has some stronger and weaker entries, but Fallout: New Vegas gives you lots to consider when you’re choosing whether to side with Mr. House, the New California Repulic, or Caesar’s Legion. You can even opt to take control of the New Vegas for yourself in a Yes-Man run. I’ve re ..read more

[REPLACE CARD]Zhulodok, Void Gorger[/REPLACE] | Illustration by Lius Lasahido It’s not every day that you build an EDH deck around a colorless commander, and an Eldrazi commander to boot. [REPLACE CARD]Zhulodok, Void Gorger[/REPLACE] is an Eldrazi/colorless commander that was designed to be a less mana-intensive option than the traditional Eldrazi, but at the same time it’s a payoff for casting expensive spells. Colorless commanders are very restrictive in what we can effectively play, but here we’ve got nice options. It helps that WotC released the Eldrazi Unbound precon with Zhulodok as one ..read more

Shahrazad | Illustration by Kaja Foglio Magic is a game with a really long history. And just like any other game, franchise, or other form of art and media with such a long history, it’s also gone through tons of changes, experimental phases, and weird decisions and ideas that have made it what it is. Nowadays, Magic players are very familiar with expansion sets. Core sets have been discontinued for some time, as Magic relies on things like Commander to work as entry points for new players. But let’s take a trip beyond when Core sets were still a part of Magic, to a time when they were the on ..read more

Eriette, the Beguiler | Illustration by Chris Rallis In the ever-expanding world of Magic: The Gathering, new commanders constantly emerge, each offering unique strategies and playstyles for players to explore. Today, I'll introduce you to one of my personal favorites from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, an Esper commander whose schemes revolve around the intricate web of enchantments and the art of stealing your opponent's creatures. That's right. It’s none other than Eriette, the Beguiler, a commander who, once in play, can turn every aura enchantment into a control card for turning the tide o ..read more

Last updated on April 20, 2024 Smothering Tithe | Illustration by Mark Behm Commander is far and away the most popular format in Magic: The Gathering. So much so that each new Magic set usually includes a separate Commander-focused set alongside preconstructed Commander decks. WotC uses these precon decks and ancillary Commander products to reprint format staples and introduce new ones. With so many Commander products each year, it's no surprise that the top cards for the format shift so often. There’s no doubt you’ll recognize many of the cards on this list. The best Commander cards are the ..read more