It’s a big year for Magic: The Gathering Commander players, as their first format set is releasing later this month. Titled “Commander Legends,” this set not only includes 70 legendary creatures but a great mix of new and reprinted cards. This means there are a ton of superb cards available that will boost the power of your deck while offering unique ways to approach board states. With over 300 cards in this set, it can be tricky to pick out the best of the best — especially when there are so many high-quality reprints. To circumvent this, we will be focusing primarily on new cards specifically made for Commander Legends and provide a shorter list for the best reprints.
I will not be including cards that specifically excel in cEDH (Competitive EDH) alone since this variation focuses on playing extremely fast and efficient decks. Instead, our selections offer flexibility and embrace the spirit of this chaotic, social game. There is so much potential in Commander Legends, so just because we don’t include a specific card doesn’t make it bad. You should absolutely pick up cards if you find them fun or useful, this is simply to highlight some of the most bonkers inclusions in Commander Legends.
10 Best Commander Legends Reprints:
- Scroll Rack
- Vampiric Tutor
- Tymna the Weaver
- Rings of Brighthearth
- Mana Drain
- Staff of Domination
- Thrasios, Triton Hero
- Xenagos, God of Revels
- Arcane Signet
- Command Beacon
10 Best New Commander Legends Cards
1. Jeweled Lotus
Let’s just start our list with the most controversial card in the entire set. Jeweled Lotus is a zero mana artifact that produces three of any color when you tap and sacrifice it. You can only use the mana produced by Jeweled Lotus to cast your commander. This is a card of two extremes with very, very little flexibility outside of a few commander decks.
Either you get it very early on and can power out your general or it’s a dead draw that doesn’t impact the board at all. This may sound underwhelming, but the sheer explosive potential of Jeweled Lotus cannot be understated as it will give whoever is using it a massive advantage. There’s a reason this card almost instantly sold out and now goes for around $100-140 a pop.
2. Opposition Agent
Meet the new black staple. Opposition Agent is a creature that not only allows you to control what an opponent tutors for, but you get to exile and play that card. This not only disrupts your foe’s plans but allows you to dig through their deck for exactly what you need. It’s an extremely potent card that’s aggressively costed, allowing you to deploy it early on.
The great part is Opposition Agent fits in virtually any deck running black, making it quite flexible. Plus, the card comes with Flash, which makes it a much better hate card than Aven Mindcensor or Gonti, Lord of Luxury. Simply put, if you’re a black player then you’ll want to pick up one of these for your collection.
3. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Clones have always been popular and up until recently only one card allowed you to circumvent the legend ruling. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is now the second. Unlike the previous iteration, this legendary creature features Partner, meaning you can pair it with other legendary creatures. This can lead to some seriously wacky combinations such as copying cards like Vial Smasher the Fierce, Ikra Shidique, the Usurper, or Tymna the Weaver. Sakashima is also fantastic in the 99, as it can copy any creature on your battlefield including your commander. With so many clones to choose from, Sakashima stands above as one of the best copy creature spells in the entire format.
4. Akroma’s Will
Heroic Intervention is one of the most popular cards in green because it effectively protects your board from wipes or removal spells. While white has always had access to fantastic protection spells, Akroma’s Will may surpass everything, but Teferi’s Protection. For four mana, you can either give your entire board flying, double strike, and vigilance until the end of the turn or make your creatures indestructible, have protection from every turn, and give them lifelink.
This gives Akroma’s Will a lot of versatility, as it can be used as both a powerful, offensive finisher or a surprise defensive spell. While four mana is a little costly, the sheer benefits it offers outweigh the extra resources used to cast it. Make no mistake, this card can end games or save you from being decimated by an opponent. Expect to see a lot of this card going forward.
5. Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant
There are a lot of zombie tribal commanders, but Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant may quickly overtake many of them. Costing six mana, Nevinyrral not only has protection from artifacts, enchantments, and creatures, but it can make you a whole hoard of zombies if used correctly. By itself, this would make Nevinyrral a formidable leader, as it can both protect itself and advance your board.
However, this creature can also destroy all enchantments, creatures, and artifacts when he dies, allowing you to punish your opponent’s aggression. This crafts a scenario where you need to remove this creature, but doing so comes at the potential cost of losing your entire field. It’s an extremely strong commander that works in both zombie and sacrifice themed decks.
6. Hullbreacher
Speaking of punishing cards, Hullbreacher is going to become a new staple of any deck running the color blue. Similar to cards like Smothering Tithe, Hullbreacher rewards you with treasure whenever an opponent draws a card. Unlike Smothering Tithe, there’s no way for your enemies to circumvent you gaining a treasure and you deny them the additional draw entirely.
This can be backbreaking in the right deck or when combined with any wheel effects. Since your opponents cannot draw additional cards, they are stuck with nothing while you get showered in treasure. It’s an insane value card that just sits on the table and makes your opponent’s lives miserable. There’s no way this card doesn’t end up in every blue deck, as it’s potentially one of the best ramp spells for this color.
7. Kodama of the East Tree
Kodama of the East Tree is all about putting extra cards from your hand into play. Cheating in spells has always been strong in Magic, but the sheer amount of value you can accrue cannot be overlooked. Since it works with any permanent, you can use it to gain two land drops a turn, pump out a bunch of creatures, or flood the board with artifacts.
There’s no limit to how many times you can use this effect, which makes Kodama of the East Tree especially deadly if left unchecked. With no cap, it’s more than possible to have explosive turns where you just dump your entire hand onto the battlefield — provided you have enough mana to cast every other spell. Did we mention this card as Partner so you can pair it with other legendary creatures? Yeah, this is a pretty wild card.
8. Araumi of the Dead Tide
My personal love for graveyard shenanigans may be influencing this choice, but Araumi of the Dead Tide is the best card in the set with Encore. Yes, technically Araumi doesn’t have Encore, but it can give Encore to any creature in your graveyard. For the unfamiliar, this mechanic allows you to exile a creature card from your graveyard and create token copies equal to the number of opponents you have. These creatures gain haste and attack their designated opponent this turn. You then sacrifice them at the end step. While you still have to pay the mana cost of the creature you’re exiling, being able to make three copies of it can lead to some seriously powerful turns.
Just consider all the powerful enter the battlefield triggers you could abuse with Araumi — now triple them. What’s great about this legendary creature is there’s no specific theme tied to it, so you are free to experiment until you find a deck that fits you. Do you make an Infect deck that keeps reoccurring your creatures or one that focuses on self-mill to fill your graveyard with potential threats? There are a lot of possibilities with Araumi, which is what makes a great general for this format.
9. Wheel of Misfortune
Wheel of Misfortune is hilarious. When cast, everyone at the table secretly picks a number and then reveals them at the same time. Then the spell deals damage to every player equal to the highest number they chose. So if player one casts this card and I secretly pick 6 as my number, I then take 6 damage. So long as I didn’t pick the lowest number at the table, I will then discard my hand and draw seven.
This is a big risk vs reward card, as you want to ensure that you take enough damage to wheel, but not enough to severely hamper your chances. Alternatively, you can select a middle number with the hope that another player picks an even lower number than you.
It’s a card that is both political and cerebral, forcing you to guess what your opponents will pick. What’s even better, is this wheel lets you opt-out of discarding your hand. So if you like your spells, just pick zero and there’s a good chance you won’t have the highest number. It’s a terrific card that embodies everything about the color red while providing a unique interaction you can only find
10. New Check Land Cycle
It’s another collection of needed dual lands that are perfect for the format and ensures that you have more consistent mana. That’s it. That’s the only (and best) reason why you should get at least one of each.
