Just like that, Edge of Eternities preview season is over: always a bittersweet moment in Magic: The Gathering. On one hand, not seeing spicy new cards every day is a bummer. On the other hand, we can now roll up our collective sleeves and start brewing with the set. To that end, we’ve gone through all of the new legendary creatures in the set to bring you our picks for the best new Commanders in Edge of Eternities.
While there are fewer legendary creatures here than we’re used to, the ones we’ve got are pretty excellent overall. Many bring powerful effects to the command zone for the first time, giving deckbuilders all-new avenues to pursue. Even if you’re not a fan of the new sci-fi theme, you owe it to yourself to consider some of these top-tier legends for your next deck.
5 | The Seriema
- Mana Value: 5
- Type: Legendary Artifact – Spacecraft
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: When The Seriema enters, search your library for a legendary creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It’s an artifact creature at 7+.)- STATION 7+: Flying.
Other tapped legendary creatures you control have Indestructible.
5/5
One of the biggest additions to Commander in Edge of Eternities is actually a new rule, not a card. From now on, any legendary Vehicle and any legendary Spacecraft with power and toughness can be your Commander. There aren’t a huge number of exciting options in the pool yet, so this will likely come into play more in the future. That said, The Seriema is a great starting point if you want to try one out.
While turning it into a creature is cumbersome, you don’t actually have to do that at all to make The Seriema worth running. Having access to a three-mana legend tutor in the command zone is a pretty big deal. This essentially lets you run a ‘Hidden Commander’ deck, where you put your real pick in the 99. You can then grab it with The Seriema, leaving your opponents unsure of how to play against you for a few turns. Players have been pulling similar shenanigans with Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer for years already.
Being restricted to mono-white isn’t great, but there are still some great options you can pick from. Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines come to mind. You can even run a bit of a legendary toolbox, bringing in a different captain for The Seriema depending on the circumstances. The fact that it can eventually become a solid Flyer that protects your real Commander is just icing on the cake.
4 | Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar
- Mana Value: WB
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Knight
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Vigilance, Menace.
Whenever another creature you control dies or is put into exile, put a +1/+1 counter on Syr Vondam and you gain 1 life.
When Syr Vondam dies or is put into exile while its power is 4 or greater, destroy up to one target nonland permanent.- Stats: 2/2
Syr Vondam, like many of the new characters in the set, gets two versions at different rarities. The rare two drop version is almost certainly one of the best new Commanders in Edge of Eternities. It does an awful lot for the cost, and not just in the decks you’d expect.
To get the obvious out of the way: yes, Syr Vondam is a great Aristocrats Commander. Scaling up from every fallen creature is nice, and the added lifegain can enable a range of other synergies too. Running Syr Vondam like this is totally possible, and it may even make for an interesting Aristocrats/Voltron mix. You can go wide with your fodder creatures, all the while building up Syr Vondam for a big commander damage finish.
Where I think the card will really shine, however, is at the helm of a Blink deck. Syr Vondam’s destruction ability triggers on exile too, so hitting it with an Ephemerate or something similar can give you easy access to removal. If you’re blinking a few creatures each turn you’ll build up the necessary counters for it, too. Having access to a flexible removal engine like this can easily win you grindy games, and you’ll always have the ‘scale up and swing’ plan in your back pocket.
3 | Mm’menon, The Right Hand
- Mana Value: 3UU
- Type: Legendary Creature – Jellyfish Advisor
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Flying.
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may cast artifact spells from the top of your library.
Artifacts you control have “Tap: Add U. Spend this mana only to cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand.”- Stats: 3/4
Mm’menon does just about everything you’d want a Commander to do. It ‘draws’ cards, it makes mana, and it has a weird name and creature type. What more could you ask for?
In all seriousness, Mm’menon is a very exciting prospect for Commander. Its abilities allow for some instant-win combos, with the addition of just a couple more cards. Putting combo pieces in the command zone is always scary, since it greatly increases the consistency of said combos in a given game. Mm’menon is like an Urza mixed with a Reality Chip: two cards that are commonly combined with Sensei’s Divining Top for an immediate win.
Even in a fair deck, Mm’menon is very solid as a Commander. That last ability will give you access to a ton of mana over time, letting you ramp into huge threats like Blightsteel Colossus. If you run mostly artifacts, which is an easy task in Mono-Blue, you’ll get to effectively draw a lot of cards via the Future Sight effect, too. I expect Mm’menon to see a ton of play in the command zone, perhaps even in the cutthroat world of cEDH.
2 | Tannuk, Memorial Ensign
- Mana Value: 1RG
- Type: Legendary Creature – Kavu Pilot
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, Tannuk deals 1 damage to each opponent. If this is the second time this ability has resolved this turn, draw a card.
- Stats: 2/4
Tannuk got a mythic rare version in Edge of Eternities, but I actually think the uncommon one is a better Commander. It looks simple, but Memorial Ensign actually has the makings of a great Landfall leader.
For starters, pinging each opponent every time a land enters is just a great effect. Landfall decks can play two or more lands every turn easily, and all that damage adds up fast. With just a little bit of creature aggression, you can play a very quick game this way. On top of this, you can also generate huge card advantage swings by kitting Tannuk out with a Snake Umbra or Keen Sense. Both only care about damage, not specifically combat damage, so you’ll draw three cards per land played.
You don’t need to rely on external pieces for card draw in a Tannuk deck, mind you. If you hit two Landfall triggers a turn, you get it built in. You can do this with a Fetchland or with one of the many Exploration effects in Gruul colors. This draw can get you to one of the Auras above, which in turn can get you to a classic Landfall combo like Scapeshift/Valakut. Throw in solid stats and a cheap mana cost, and Tannuk has very real potential in the command zone.
1 | Ragost, Deft Gastronaut
- Mana Value: RW
- Type: Legendary Creature – Lobster Citizen
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Artifacts you control are Foods in addition to their other types and have “2, Tap, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”
1, Tap, Sacrifice a Food: Ragost deals 3 damage to each opponent.
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained life this turn, untap Ragost.- Stats: 2/2
For our money, Ragost, Deft Gastronaut is the best of the new Commanders in Edge of Eternities, and it’s not particularly close. From the moment this luscious-looking Lobster was spoiled, we knew it was special. Now that it’s had time to simmer in our collective minds, however, it looks even more tantalizing as a Commander.
Ragost is a self-contained engine of destruction. As long as you can feed it artifacts and keep gaining life each turn, it can burn down a table in short order. Heck, when firing on all cylinders, it only needs about three turn cycles to close things out. To get there, all you need to do is throw in some classic Food deck favorites, like Nuka-Cola Vending Machine and Academy Manufactor. With cards like these, Ragost plays like a hyper-aggressive Combo Commander.
If you’d rather play in the lower brackets, Ragost has plenty to offer on that front, too. Turning any artifact into Food can create some humorous scenarios, and there’s plenty of fun to be had with cards like Food Fight and Chef’s Kiss. Appropriately enough, there are some very flavorful decks possible with Ragost at the helm.
Whatever kind of Commander you enjoy, Ragost is a great pick. It’s cheap, it’s unique, and it features a new character that’s already a firm fan favorite. Look out for this lil’ guy at a Commander pod near you soon.
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