Magic and Assassin’s Creed fans will remember this day! Magic’s newest Universes Beyond crossover is finally hitting shelves worldwide. For eager players who wanted to get in on Magic’s newest cards earlier, Magic Online has had Assassin’s Creed legal since Tuesday! Some powerful Modern cards have managed to come out of the woodwork from early testing.
Even though Assassin’s Creed is intended to be a Modern legal set, thanks to some bizarre timing, the Universes Beyond set got completely overshadowed by Modern Horizons 3. While this relegates many of the cards in Assassin’s Creed to flavorful Commander options, that doesn’t mean players aren’t interested in trying them out!
For that reason, we’ve put together the Commander, which is, in our opinion, the most flavorful Assassin’s Creed card that doubles in having some interesting game space. Edward Kenway offers some truly powerful effects, functioning as ramp and card advantage. You need to follow some pretty interesting rules to do that, and they are incredibly flavorful for Assassin’s Creed fans. Let’s take a look at Edward Kenway in Commander!
Edward Kenway
Edward Kenway is a five-mana Grixis Assassin Pirate that cares about Pirates, Assassins, and Vehicles. If you have all this lined up, you get to create ample Treasure and steal your opponent’s cards for card advantage. If you can think of something more flavorfully Edward, we will be impressed.
So, this means that your deck is going to center around these three points. You need Assassins and Pirates to both pilot your Vehicles and create Treasure. Additionally, you’ll need to connect with Vehicles to steal opposing cards. As a nice bonus, your Assassins and Pirates don’t need to attack to create Treasure, which allows them to suit up your Vehicles while still getting rewards.
To begin, let’s look at the best Vehicles to maximize Edward, and build from there.
Ships to Loot With
Pirates need a ship to find Treasure, and The Indomitable is a great place to start. We want Vehicles that are playing some sort of double-duty role in our deck. Vehicles themselves are incredibly slow as Magic cards since you need to Crew to make any use of them. For that reason, Vehicles that impact the board immediately and synergize significantly with our deck are really important.
The Indomitable has an impact the second it hits the table. Not only can this card swing in on opponents, but The Indomitable draws a card for each creature you control that deals combat damage. There’s no cooldown on this effect. The Indomitable immediately starts offering card advantage as soon as it hits the table and doesn’t need to be Crewed to present value. You can also cast this card from your graveyard as long as you have three tapped Pirates or Vehicles, which is exactly what Edward Kenway is interested in doing.
From the Assassin’s Creed expansion itself, the Jackdaw is a good addition. Edward Kenway is going to be creating a lot of artifact tokens, which means the Jackdaw threatens to draw a game-ending amount of cards on any established board. This does have the general issue of being a slow Vehicle, but the payoff is definitely worth it. Adrestia is another option that synergizes with Kenway, but we’re not sure that it’s strong enough for the 99.
Subterranean Schooner is another fantastic Vehicle to consider. It’s cheap, can offer a pseudo-card advantage, and grows your creatures. This card offers value very quickly, which helps offset the slow nature of Vehicles.
Nautiloid Ship is a Vehicle that doubles as graveyard hate and can make a massive impact on the game. Should this four-mana Vehicle connect with the opponent, you get to put a creature from a grave you exiled right on the board.
It can be easy to forget that the Transformers cards are indeed Vehicles. Blitzwing, Cruel Tormentor can swing in as a Vehicle, trigger off Edward, and then Convert to double life loss to an unfortunate victim. In a similar vein, Flamewar, Brash Veteran can swing in early and start stealing cards. Starscream, Power Hungry offers a really fun mechanic involving making opponents the Monarch, which can ease the sting of stealing one of their cards.
Dermotaxi can do some funny things in Edward Kenway. Not only can this card potentially become a gigantic creature, but tapping two creatures should net you some Treasures and allow Dermotaxi to become a massive threat.
RMS Titanic from Doctor Who can double as both a way to trigger Edward Kenway and a huge mana ramp option. Reckoner Bankbuster can offer value without attacking itself. The various New Capenna Commander cars can offer big value if you manage to connect with them. Finally, Unlicensed Hearse doubles as graveyard hate and a potential threat that generates card advantage with Edward Kenway.
Assassins to Pilot
In this deck, your Assassins don’t actually need to do a lot of attacking. It is more important that they can Crew your Vehicles so that they can attack for you.
In this sense, Adewale, Breaker of Chains becomes the perfect Assassin for your deck. This card offers card advantage, is great at crewing Vehicles, and can recur itself when you successfully connect with a Vehicle.
Basim Ibn Ishaq has been impacting the Modern format lately, and it could be good in this deck, too. As long as you’re casting enough Historic spells to trigger this consistently, Basim becomes card advantage and a scaling threat.
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive is too powerful not to play. Sure, you don’t really want to attack with Assassins, but if you have enough to fuel this card’s combat damage ability, Cloaking your opponent’s cards can still be worth it.
Mari, the Killing Quil does a lot more than it may seem at first glance. Not only does this card shut down Aristocrat synergies that need things to die, but you can also draw a bunch of cards and create a bunch of mana as long as it has seen stuff die.
Mary Read and Anne Bonny can help sift through your cards to find the tools you need for any situation. It’s easy to tap this card as well, so getting a Treasure Token from Edward Kenway should be easy.
Ramses, Assassin Lord is an easy addition to any deck with an Assassin subtheme. While the card is a bit clunky compared to stronger options, winning the game by killing one player is such an absurd amount of value when it comes up. Do be wary, however, as this is the type of card that gets the table targeting you.
Otherwise, there are a ton of different removal spells in the form of Assassin creatures that can keep opposing creatures under control. Finally, don’t forget about Changelings which could be interesting for your strategy.
Pirates
Grixis is a really good color combination for Pirate cards. You basically have access to all of the most powerful Pirates across Magic, allowing you to recruit the cream of the crop for your crew.
Broadside Bombadiers, Vintage Cube all-star, is a great way to repurpose Vehicles that aren’t quite pulling their weight. This is certainly more impressive in 20-life formats, but Broadside Bombardiers can still turn a ship into a piece of removal.
Captain Lannery Storm synergizes well with Edward Kenway’s Treasure plan. Not only will this card help ramp you itself, but you can turn your Treasure Tokens into damage if you have too many of them. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Dockside Extortionist which is, frankly, probably the best card we’ve mentioned thus far.
Don Andres, the Renegade has some powerful synergies with Edward Kenway. Capable of creating a ton of Treasure from the cards your Vehicles steal, there’s little reason not to play this card.
Amphin Mutaneer doubles as both a creature and removal, taking care of a nasty threat your opponent controls. You can even Encore the card to get rid of a bunch of different creatures, and create three Treasure Tokens on your end step. Hostage Taker is another good removal creature option that synergizes with Don Andres.
Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel helps filter your draws and, eventually, starts casting spells for free. Pirated Copy is a particularly powerful option, copying the scariest thing on the board and rewarding you with cards whenever something with that name deals combat damage. Better yet, Pirated Copy remains a Pirate, so you’ll still get Edward Kenway triggers.
Port Razer is a larger option that lets you attack multiple times in a turn. This can help maximize Vehicle triggers from Edward Kenway while dealing a lot of damage to various opponents.
Don’t forget about Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. The Monkey that was the scourge of Modern for months also happens to be a Pirate.
Ramirez DePietro, Pillager offers similar payoffs to Edward Kenway, creating Treasure on entry and stealing cards when Pirates deal combat damage. Staunch Crewmate may just be an uncommon, but a Pirate that can replace itself with various different card types that should be common in your deck seems pretty good.
Finally, Zephr Singer may be an option that some overlook. This card can tap multiple creatures in play and give them Flying, however, so it synergizes with Edward Kenway in a way that you may not have expected.
Other Fixings
While all the cards above play to Edward Kenway’s abilities, there’s more to see than what card types your Commander cares about. Other utility cards can be used to create a huge boost in power level. We won’t talk about obvious inclusions like Black Market Connections and Sol Ring, but here are some cards that you may not have thought about.
Amulet of Vigor can be quite effective in this deck if you want to use the Treasure Tokens from Edward Kenway immediately. That said, since you create these on your end step, you would need instant speed stuff to spend them on to make it worth it. Regardless, it can be good for holding up removal.
While neither a Pirate nor an Assassin, creatures that have effects like Reckless Fireweaver could be worth your time. You’ll be creating a lot of Treasure Tokens with Edward Kenway, and Reckless Fireweaver can turn that into a win condition on its own. Of course, this also means that Revel in Riches is quite powerful in this deck, but that is yet another card that you earn you the ire of the table.
Pirates and Assassins both happen to be Outlaws, which means that some cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction may be worth your while. Back in Town can resurrect multiple fallen friends, and Double Down can create a ton of value.
Finally, consider some Freerunning payoffs from Assassin’s Creed. Eagle Vision draws three cards for just two mana as long as you’ve dealt combat damage with an Assassin this turn.
Ultimately, the Commander deck you choose to create is up to you. Consider these suggestions when building your 99, but giving you an exact list to follow messes with the purpose of this article. These suggestions should be used to make your 99 stronger, not define it.
Either way, Edward Kenway checks all the boxes. You can ramp and gain card advantage. This lets you create explosive boards and grind late into the game, which, hopefully, will win you some games in Assassin’s Creed fashion.
