Wild Mystery Booster Commander Lets You Mount All Kinds of Creatures

While most of the eyes in the MTG community are, somewhat reluctantly, on Star Trek right now, it’s worth keeping Mystery Booster: Commander Edition in mind too. This set got a much more low-key ‘release’ via Festival in a Box, which means its all-new MTG Commanders, such as Jandor, Fortuned Traveler, are now legal to play.

Jandor is one of the more out-there designs in a fairly experimental set, extending the Saddle mechanic to a huge array of creatures. Add in some subtle yet spicy Food synergies, and this is a Naya Commander you can build your own way.

Jandor, Fortuned Traveler MTG

The Saddle mechanic was first introduced in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and since then it has only appeared on 31 cards in total. This is a fairly sparse showing for any MTG mechanic, but thankfully Jandor, Fortuned Traveler is here to fix that.

With this four-mana legend in play, all of your Beasts, Camels, Horses, Elephants, and Wolves gain the mechanic, letting you tap down two total power to Saddle them for a turn. Swing in with these Saddled creatures, and you gain a laundry list of benefits, including a free draw, a Food token, and a +2/+2 buff.

While this may sound like a restrictive batch of creature types at first, there are plenty of options in Naya colors. A lot of Commander heavy hitters, like Rampaging Baloths Rampaging Baloths Trample
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 4/4 green Beast creature token. , Loot, Exuberant Explorer Loot, Exuberant Explorer You may play an additional land on each of your turns.
{4}{G}{G}, {T}: Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card with mana value less than or equal to the number of lands you control from among them and put it onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order. and Frenzied Baloth Frenzied Baloth This spell can't be countered.
Trample, haste
Creature spells you control can't be countered.
Combat damage can't be prevented. just happen to be Beasts, for example, so you can get the full benefit here without stretching much.

Since Jandor’s various supported types all lack significant typal support individually, you can freely mix and match them here without missing out on much. Some of the more efficient Changelings are also great picks here, with cards like Chomping Changeling Chomping Changeling Changeling (This card is every creature type.)
When this creature enters, destroy up to one target artifact or enchantment. and Mutable Explorer Mutable Explorer Changeling (This card is every creature type.)
When this creature enters, create a tapped Mutavault token. (It's a land with "{T}: Add {C}" and "{1}: This token becomes a 2/2 creature with all creature types until end of turn. It's still a land.") adding a ton of value.

Once your band of Saddle creatures is up and running, it’s time to start abusing it. Existing Saddle support, such as Kolodin, Triumph Caster Kolodin, Triumph Caster Mounts and Vehicles you control have haste.
Whenever a Mount you control enters, it becomes saddled until end of turn.
Whenever a Vehicle you control enters, it becomes an artifact creature until end of turn. and Miriam, Herd Whisperer Miriam, Herd Whisperer During your turn, Mounts and Vehicles you control have hexproof.
Whenever a Mount or Vehicle you control attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it. , naturally works great here, giving you further advantage on top of those busted attack triggers. Jandor also makes certain Saddle creatures, like Guardian Sunmare Guardian Sunmare Ward {2}
Whenever this creature attacks while saddled, search your library for a nonland permanent card with mana value 3 or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
Saddle 4 , easier to Saddle, letting them smash in more reliably.

Since Jandor’s strength lies mainly in that wild attack trigger, you’ll want to run plenty of ways to maximize that. Trigger doublers like Roaming Throne Roaming Throne Ward {2}
As this creature enters, choose a creature type.
This creature is the chosen type in addition to its other types.
If a triggered ability of another creature you control of the chosen type triggers, it triggers an additional time. and Delney, Streetwise Lookout Delney, Streetwise Lookout Creatures you control with power 2 or less can't be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater.
If a triggered ability of a creature you control with power 2 or less triggers, that ability triggers an additional time. are your best bets here, turning every Saddle attack into a major value bump. Extra combat cards, such as Combat Celebrant Combat Celebrant If this creature hasn't been exerted this turn, you may exert it as it attacks. When you do, untap all other creatures you control and after this phase, there is an additional combat phase. (An exerted creature won't untap during your next untap step.) and Aggravated Assault Aggravated Assault {3}{R}{R}: Untap all creatures you control. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase. Activate only as a sorcery. , can achieve the same thing in another way.

Even outside the combat step, Jandor offers plenty of utility by giving you an easy way to tap down creatures via Saddle. The likes of Kona, Rescue Beastie Kona, Rescue Beastie Survival — At the beginning of your second main phase, if Kona is tapped, you may put a permanent card from your hand onto the battlefield. and Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero Vigilance
Whenever Wylie Duke becomes tapped, you gain 1 life and draw a card. , for instance, are much more reliable in this deck than usual. Add in something like Seedborn Muse Seedborn Muse Untap all permanents you control during each other player's untap step. , and you can untap your Saddlers on your opponent’s turns to keep your defenses up.

Feeding the Beast

What’s really interesting about Jandor is that, in addition to being a terrifying combat-based Commander, it’s also an excellent Food Commander. You get a Food for each Saddled creature that attacks with Jandor out, which easily makes it one of the best generators the token type has seen yet.

You can use these Foods in multiple ways, whether it’s tapping them for mana with The Cabbage Merchant The Cabbage Merchant Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, sacrifice a Food token.
Tap two untapped Foods you control: Add one mana of any color. or using them to recur key cards with Samwise Gamgee Samwise Gamgee Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
Sacrifice three Foods: Return target historic card from your graveyard to your hand. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.) . Foods can even help you pursue a more offensive plan if you’d like, turning Motivated Pony Motivated Pony Trample, haste
Whenever this creature attacks, attacking creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn. If a Food entered the battlefield under your control this turn, untap those creatures and they get an additional +2/+2 until end of turn. into a mini Craterhoof Behemoth Craterhoof Behemoth Haste
When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. , for example.

Alternatively, you can explore the mass artifacts route and run cards like Reckless Fireweaver Reckless Fireweaver Whenever an artifact you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. and Weftstalker Ardent Weftstalker Ardent Whenever another creature or artifact you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Warp {R} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) to burn your opponents out with Food. Academy Manufactor Academy Manufactor If you would create a Clue, Food, or Treasure token, instead create one of each. is predictably great in these scenarios, essentially tripling your damage in each case. If you go down this path, damage boosters like Fated Firepower Fated Firepower Flash
This enchantment enters with X fire counters on it.
If a source you control would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus an amount of damage equal to the number of fire counters on this enchantment instead. and 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.) are a must to ensure a swift victory.

If you’re focusing on the Food side of Jandor, you’ll want to be attacking as often as possible, which makes cards like Reconnaissance Reconnaissance {0}: Remove target attacking creature you control from combat and untap it. (If you activate during end of combat, the creature will untap after it deals combat damage.) and Dolmen Gate Dolmen Gate Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to attacking creatures you control. great adds. These pretty much guarantee that your creatures will survive combat, letting you swing in and make all the Food you like without risking your board.

Additionally, token doublers like Anointed Procession Anointed Procession If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead. and Doubling Season Doubling Season If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead.
If an effect would put one or more counters on a permanent you control, it puts twice that many of those counters on that permanent instead. will let you produce Food at a much faster rate than usual. Once you’ve got a good Food production engine going this way, you can even use Draconic Visitor Draconic Visitor Flying
If one or more artifact tokens would be created under your control, that many 5/5 red Dragon creature tokens with flying are created instead. or Holo-Engineer Holo-Engineer When this creature enters, create a 3/3 colorless Illusion artifact creature token.
If one or more tokens would be created under your control, that many 3/3 colorless Illusion artifact creature tokens are created instead. to convert that into a massive board advantage to close the game.

With countless deckbuilding routes available, Jandor, Fortuned Traveler is undoubtedly one of the most interesting new MTG Commanders from Mystery Booster: Commander Edition. It’s also surprisingly affordable, with near-mint copies available on TCGplayer for just $6.23 right now, despite the set’s limited availability.

For this reason, if you like the cut of Jandor’s jib, you can try it out already without breaking the bank or waiting for the next Festival in a Box release.

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