Lorwyn Eclipsed’s First Look appeared unexpectedly early. We still have another entire MTG set to go, but the powerhouses revealed in this set already have people talking. Whether you’re trying to pull off infinite Persist combos with Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn, or level up your Typal decks with Mutable Explorer, players are already incredibly excited for multiple cards revealed in Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Elemental fans, in particular, have a lot to look forward to in Lorwyn: Eclipsed. Between a five-colored Elemental Typal Commander Precon and a new Kindred Elemental spell, Elemental Typal is about to get a massive upgrade in Commander. The Typal spell alone is so powerful that it sets up entirely new infinite combos.
Ashling’s Command Combo
Ashling’s Command is certainly a card that can be used outside of Elemental decks. Creating Treasure Tokens and drawing cards is incredibly powerful in any MTG context. That said, if you go out of your way to play Elementals in Commander, Ashling’s Command becomes an infinite combo machine.
This combo truly demonstrates the power of Kindred spells. In order to pull it off, you need Horde of Notions from the original Lorwyn and Xorn, an elemental from Adventures of the Forgotten Realms, in play. Ashling’s Command can either be in your hand or in the graveyard, which makes this even more powerful.
- Cast Ashling’s Command from your hand, or use Horde of Notions’ ability to cast it from your graveyard. You need to have one extra mana of any color left over afterwards.
- Choose to create a token copy of Xorn and create two Treasure Tokens. Since the copy mode is listed at the top of the card, it will happen first.
- Two Xorn replacement effects will trigger, creating two extra Treasure Tokens. Use your Treasure tokens plus your one extra mana to activate Horde of Notions and cast Ashling’s Command again.
- Choose the same two modes, creating another Xorn and creating more Treasure Tokens. This time, you’ll have three Xorn replacement effects, creating five Treasure Tokens.
- Use Horde of Notions to keep recasting Ashling’s Command, creating infinite Xorns and infinite Treasure Tokens.
Once you have enough Xorns to create six or more Treasure tokens on each cast, you can start choosing other modes on Ashling’s Command. This unlocks infinite draw with the second mode and allows you to wipe all of your opponent’s creatures. You can even use Ashling’s Command to force your opponents to draw their entire deck, but because of how popular free interaction is in Commander, it’s often safer to draw to a different win condition in your deck. You’ll have infinite mana to cast whatever you want anyway.
As an example, you could use Craterhoof Behemoth to give your infinite Xorn tokens Haste. If you want to stay in-theme, you can use Omnath, Locus of the Roil, and knock out an opponent when the creature enters play. You can then use Ashling’s Command’s first mode to create copies of Omnath, knocking other players out.
Between Elemental tutors like Flamekin Harbinger and being able to use Horde of Notions as a Commander, this combo is surprisingly easy to assemble. All of these cards would easily see play in Elemental Typal anyway, making this a no-brainer for Elemental fans who are looking forward to Lorwyn Eclipsed.
Other Ashling’s Command Combos
The best Ashling’s Command combo in Elemental decks is undoubtedly the one with Horde of Notions, but it’s possible to combo with the Command outside of an Elemental package. Copy creatures like Naru Meha, Master Wizard and Dualcaster Mage play well with spells like Ashling’s Command. You do need a third card to go infinite with the spell, but that card can be a variety of different things.
The most straightforward version of this combo is to use Deadeye Navigator. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll use Dualcaster Mage while explaining the combo:
- With Deadeye Navigator in play, cast Ashling’s Command. Make sure you create Treasures. The other mode can be whatever you like.
- With Ashling’s Command on the stack, flash in Dualcaster Mage. Target Ashling’s Command with their enters ability.
- Dualcaster Mage entering the battlefield will trigger Deadeye Navigator. Soulbond it to your Wizard.
- Let your first Ashling’s Command resolve, creating two Treasure Tokens. Use Deadeye Navigator’s effect to Flicker Dualcaster Mage. Use their new enters ability to copy Ashling’s Command.
- Repeat the last step infinitely
Notably, Deadeye Navigator can be replaced with an effect like Maskwood Nexus to make your Wizards Elementals. You can then use Ashling’s Command to make copies of your copy Wizards, which will, in turn, make copies of Ashling’s Command. This variation of the combo is significantly more powerful, as it unlocks an infinite number of creatures and mana.
The biggest hurdle to this variation of the combo is that, unlike the Horde of Notions combo, you cannot change your Ashling’s Command modes after you cast it. You’re welcome to choose new targets for the card, but the modes themselves are decided upon cast, and therefore cannot be changed when copied. Still, depending on the setup, this combo can create a one-sided board wipe, infinite card draw, infinite creatures, or infinite mana. It simply cannot do all of the above at once, which means you need to be picky if you’re going to pull this off.
In and outside of Elementals, Ashling’s Command is looking like a great card in Commander. The instant was already strong enough to warrant consideration without infinite combos, but Ashling’s Command can now just win the game occasionally. This will make deciding when to use and hold the card tricky, but it makes the card extremely valuable in many Commander decks moving forward.
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