Someone got a few packs of Battle for Balder’s Gate well ahead of schedule and filmed themselves opening them on TikTok. As Balder’s Gate is the sequel to Commander Legends, many players expected the return of partnered commanders. But amongst the leaked cards, “partner” was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there’s a new mechanic called “background” which looks to be a new twist on the partner mechanic.
*This article contains leaked cards. The cards are not officially confirmed, nor do we have an official ruling for backgrounds by Wizards of the Coast. Official previews for Battle for Balder’s Gate should begin on May 16.*
Choose a Background
Of the creatures revealed with “Choose a Background”, quite a few looked interesting on their own. But they only get better when you “partner” them with an enchantment background.
Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy
Gale reminds me of Kess, Dissident Mage in that it can repeatedly cast spells from your graveyard. This commander is more restricted in what it can cast, however, as you need a balance of instants and sorceries and must pay attention to which ones you cast. But unlike Kess, Gale’s effect can trigger multiple times each turn.
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Lae’zel, Blaakith’s Champion
Lae’zel is like a white version of Pir, Imaginative Rascal, that can add extra counters to your creatures and planeswalkers. This applies to any type of counter such as shield counters from New Capenna. And it can also supercharge your planeswalkers toward quick ultimate abilities.
Backgrounds
All of these legendary enchantments give unique powers to your commanders. Of course, they’re meant to be paired with the new “Choose a background” commanders, but you can also include them in your deck to give new powers to regular commanders.
Raised by Giants
I hope that in Baluder’s Gate we get a card similar to Rograkh, Son of Rogahh that can use this as its background. Raised by Giants increases your commanders’ base stats to 10/10, which will be perfect for dealing lethal amounts of commander damage.
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~ Halaster
As this image is a bit unclear, I’ll rewrite its effect here:
“Commander creatures you own have “The first time you would draw a card each turn, instead look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them in your graveyard and the other on top of your library. Then draw a card.”
This background gives you some card selection to your first draw of the turn. But this effect applies on each turn. So, if you draw a card on an opponent’s turn you use ~ Halaster again.
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Cultist of the Absolute
This Background has some pros and one big con. Cultist of the Absolute buffs your Commander with +3/+3, flying, deathtouch, and ward. But it comes at with the downside that you must sacrifice a creature at the beginning of your upkeep.
This still seems like an impressive card considering it only costs one mana. But to mitigate the bad portion of the card, Cultist of the Absolute will probably work best in an aristocrat strategy.
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