Ixalan Uncommon Breaches Best Competitive Commander Cards of 2023!

Competitive Commander is both monolithic and diverse, a paradox at times. The minimum bar to entry into a cEDH deck is typically quite high. However, 2023 is something of a stand out year, for one set in particular. Not only are there many new entrants to the 99, there are also new Commanders with excellent potential. Using MTGTop8 as an aggregator of tournament results, some new cards saw considerable play throughout this year. We’ll be looking at cards under a particular lens. First, how much the card shows up in any cEDH deck at all? Second, are these decks achieving excellent placement in the top eight? Finally, are the cards in tournament winning decks that feature a large number of entrants? First up, some of the best new commanders over this year.

The not so Kindly Lord

Talion, the Kindly Lord is, in one way, the biggest stand out of 2023. This card has what it takes to win an event from the command zone alongside multiple top 8 finishes. It has been rapidly incorporated into multiple top decks. cEDH decks run piles of one and two cost spells. Furthermore most creatures are small, so Talion is guaranteed to give you a large advantage. Should you play it as a commander or in the 99? The numbers say there are better commanders out there. That being said Talion has elbowed its way into many winning decks even at a cost of four mana.

The Naya Commander?

Achieving multiple top 8 finishes, one at a Mox Masters event in June, Shalai and Hallar Shalai and Hallar Flying, vigilance
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you control, Shalai and Hallar deals that much damage to target opponent. offers up an aggressive Naya option. With cheap removal and combat damage, you apply pressure quickly. On top of that, your commander fits into multiple easy infinites. Cards like Heliod, Sun-Crowned Heliod, Sun-Crowned Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white is less than five, Heliod isn't a creature.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or enchantment you control.
{1}{W}: Another target creature gains lifelink until end of turn. , War Elemental War Elemental When this creature enters, sacrifice it unless an opponent was dealt damage this turn.
Whenever an opponent is dealt damage, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature. and The Red Terror The Red Terror Advanced Species — Whenever a red source you control deals damage to one or more permanents and/or players, put a +1/+1 counter on The Red Terror. are all wincons.

The deck is punching well above its weight based on just a few, great results. There is lots of future potential as well. The current meta is full of small creatures that already cannot beat a Flying, Vigilance 3/3. The lack of blue and black is a concern, but there are more options than ever to fight counter magic and removal than ever. Modest results don’t lie. Shalai and Hallar is fighting in a sea of four and five color decks and still can win. This looks like potentially the best budget cEDH deck of the year.

Mono Red Potential

Mono-red is no stranger to cEDH, having by far the most potential of any single color. Slicer, Hired Muscle // Slicer, High-Speed Antagonist and Magda, Brazen Outlaw Magda, Brazen Outlaw Other Dwarves you control get +1/+0.
Whenever a Dwarf you control becomes tapped, create a Treasure token.
Sacrifice five Treasures: Search your library for an artifact or Dragon card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. are legitimate choices alongside many other nearly as strong commanders like Krenko, Mob Boss Krenko, Mob Boss {T}: Create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens, where X is the number of Goblins you control. . Showing up at a decently sized event and making top 4, could Solphim, Mayhem Dominus Solphim, Mayhem Dominus If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals double that damage to that player or permanent instead.
{1}{R/P}{R/P}, Discard two cards: Put an indestructible counter on Solphim. ({R/P} can be paid with either {R} or 2 life.) be the next new red star? Certainly it’s a powerful threat, virtually halving an opponents life total. Actually playing against a mono-red cEDH deck can be a considerable challenge.

Cards like Blood Moon Blood Moon Nonbasic lands are Mountains. , Magus of the Moon Magus of the Moon Nonbasic lands are Mountains. and Ruination can completely shut down most four and five color cEDH decks which tend to not run a single basic land. If you don’t get your moon effects you can always kill an entire table with Solphim and Price of Progress Price of Progress Price of Progress deals damage to each player equal to twice the number of nonbasic lands that player controls. or Heartless Hidetsugu Heartless Hidetsugu {T}: Heartless Hidetsugu deals damage to each player equal to half that player's life total, rounded down. .

It’s clear from past results of other mono-red cEDH decks that this archetype is viable. Furthermore, life is most certainly a resource but one that Solphim attacks extremely fast.

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Last and not Least

Seeing an absolute metric pile of play in multiple formats, Atraxa, Grand Unifier Atraxa, Grand Unifier Flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink
When Atraxa enters, reveal the top ten cards of your library. For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. (Artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery are card types.) is certainly the most powerful, most played new cEDH commander of 2023. The card should need little introduction. The plan is simple. Play the best spells in four colors. Once everyone is out of resources from countering and removing threats, cast Atraxa to refill your hand. It’s a winning proposition and statistics don’t lie, this commander top eights a lot of events. However, the actual first place standing of the card is not as good as other commander combinations. This goes back to the overall current cEDH meta game. Low casting cost partner commanders give you an early advantage that snowballs later. This is something that a seven mana commander simply cannot do. That being said, the Grand Unifier formula is only one year old and still being refined. If the deck can include a little more early game support it will win a lot more events.

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One set to Rule Them all

Nearly all top placing cEDH decks are running Orcish Bowmasters Orcish Bowmasters Flash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1. and The One Ring The One Ring Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. making The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth the 2023 MVP of cEDH. Furthermore, an extremely high amount of winning decks are also running Lorien Revealed Lorien Revealed Draw three cards.
Islandcycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for an Island card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.) , Delighted Halfling Delighted Halfling {T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a legendary spell, and that spell can't be countered. , Boromir, Warden of the Tower Boromir, Warden of the Tower Vigilance
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast it, counter that spell.
Sacrifice Boromir: Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. The Ring tempts you. and Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, you lose 1 life and create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") . From there, the concentration of cards from LotR goes down, but honorable mention goes to Gandalf the White Gandalf the White Flash
You may cast legendary spells and artifact spells as though they had flash.
If a legendary permanent or an artifact entering or leaving the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time. and Stern Scolding Stern Scolding Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less. among others.

One thing is abundantly clear, LotR introduced a massive number of powerful cards that are seeing play in multiple formats. The set’s impact on Commander, and other formats, is clear and pronounced.

Lost Caverns has Instant Success

Featured in a significant number of high placing decks, Dauntless Dismantler Dauntless Dismantler Artifacts your opponents control enter tapped.
{X}{X}{W}, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy each artifact with mana value X. is another excellent effect in white that primarily stops Treasure Treasure Trample from going off. Having more ways to stop Dockside Extortionist Dockside Extortionist When this creature enters, create X Treasure tokens, where X is the number of artifacts and enchantments your opponents control. (Treasure tokens are artifacts with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") is always nice, and on top of that, it also slows down virtually every cEDH deck as they all rely on artifact mana. Printed just one month ago, the Dismantler appears to be an instant staple in many decks.

Also in white, Get Lost Get Lost Destroy target creature, enchantment, or planeswalker. Its controller creates two Map tokens. (They're artifacts with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.") has been in fewer decks than Dauntless Dismantler but has just as many top finishes. The three most important permanents to remove are creatures, enchantments and then Planeswalkers. Get Lost does it all, at instant speed, for only two mana.

Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar Your opponents can't cast spells during your turn.
Whenever one or more creatures you control each with power greater than its base power deals combat damage to a player, draw a card. showed up in a big way at the December Mox Masters event and also did even better soon after release in the Lotus Series I. Essentially another copy of Grand Abolisher Grand Abolisher During your turn, your opponents can't cast spells or activate abilities of artifacts, creatures, or enchantments. , this gives decks another way to deal with mostly blue interaction.

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The Rule of Two

Wilds of Eldraine is roughly two cards deep, Beseech the Mirror Beseech the Mirror Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. If this spell was bargained, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if that spell's mana value is 4 or less. Put the exiled card into your hand if it wasn't cast this way. and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron Agatha’s Soul Cauldron You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. . March of the Machine: Aftermath, Filter Out Filter Out Return all noncreature, nonland permanents to their owners' hands. and Nissa, Resurgent Animist Nissa, Resurgent Animist Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, add one mana of any color. Then if this is the second time this ability has resolved this turn, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal an Elf or Elemental card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. . March of the Machine has Faerie Mastermind Faerie Mastermind Flash
Flying
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you draw a card.
{3}{U}: Each player draws a card. and Invasion of Ikoria Invasion of Ikoria (As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it's defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.)
When this Siege enters, search your library and/or graveyard for a non-Human creature card with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield. If you search your library this way, shuffle. .

Phyrexia: All Will Be One has turned out to be less impactful than it would have first appeared with even Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines Vigilance
If a permanent entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Permanents entering don't cause abilities of permanents your opponents control to trigger. tapering off over the year. It turns out five mana is a lot and one mana, when talking about Minor Misstep Minor Misstep Counter target spell with mana value 1 or less. , is not relevant enough. Will Soulless Jailer see an uptick in win-rate next year?

Additionally Doctor Who‘s cEDH success is extremely limited. Sure there is the occasional Everybody Lives! Everybody Lives! All creatures gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. Players gain hexproof until end of turn. Players can't lose life this turn and players can't lose the game or win the game this turn. here and there but not many cards from this set have found a place in tournament winning decks.

Few other 2023 cards are making enough lists and placing high enough in recent big events to have weathered the storm.

Still, there are plenty of cards that are cEDH playable that occasionally also top eight. For example Etali, Primal Conqueror Etali, Primal Conqueror Trample
When Etali enters, each player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card. You may cast any number of spells from among the nonland cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.
{9}{G/P}: Transform Etali. Activate only as a sorcery. at Mox Masters May 2023. However, outside of a few smaller events or a great one time run, many cards are simply not consistent enough. Additionally, there are many cards like Mycosynth Gardens that sees play in a medium amount events but are not really winning very much.

Now and the near Future

The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is the most recent full set. But the Lord of the Rings holiday release, although small, has some stellar cards. In particular Legolas’s Quick Reflexes Legolas’s Quick Reflexes Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Untap target creature. Until end of turn, it gains reach, hexproof, and "Whenever this creature becomes tapped, it deals damage equal to its power to up to one target creature." gives green an incredible piece of interaction for only one mana. The card is incredibly flexible and does several things all at once. It is completely irreplaceable and virtually unstoppable. All that for one mana makes it a no brainer for every green deck.

Not every set is full of the powerful and low mana cards that every cEDH deck wants. The sets of 2023 have had way more than their fair share. Will 2024 continue the trend? Will the Commander ban list receive an update? We’ll find out in the new year.

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