Upcoming MTG Legend Mashes Two Unusual Typal Archetypes Together

In Commander, there is no shortage of themes and Commanders to build a deck around. While each new MTG set delivered plenty of these, few offer as much as Mystery Booster: Commander Edition. This hugely anticipated set might have had a worryingly fast sale, but there’s no denying it contains plenty of gems.

Beyond all of the new Rulebreaker cards and utterly busted legends, for instance, you have cards like Olag and Miau, New Friends. By mashing two beloved typal archetypes together, this Commander creates a very interesting brew. While this might be an unlikely pairing, when all goes to plan, it can pack a real punch, too.

MTG Olag and Miau, New Friends

At its core, Olag and Miau, New Friends is a fairly simple card. When you play a Zombie, you buff a Cat, and when you play a Cat, you buff a Zombie. Considering you only dish out one +1/+1 counter here at a time, it can be rather slow going; however, Olag and Miau’s final ability flips the script.

By dealing damage based on the number of tapped Cats and Zombies you control, Olag and Miau can pack a serious punch. The only real downside of this is that you need your Cats and Zombies to be tapped, but that’s a very solvable problem. Using something like Cryptolith Rite Cryptolith Rite Creatures you control have "{T}: Add one mana of any color." , for instance, you can use them to generate a bunch of mana, and Seedborn Muse Seedborn Muse Untap all permanents you control during each other player's untap step. can untap them after.

With these two Commander staples in tow, you can focus on building as wide of a board as possible. Thankfully, both Cats and Zombies make this very easy to do. For Cats, Arahbo, the First Fang Arahbo, the First Fang Other Cats you control get +1/+1.
Whenever Arahbo or another nontoken Cat you control enters, create a 1/1 white Cat creature token. , Felidar Retreat Felidar Retreat Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• Create a 2/2 white Cat Beast creature token.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn. , and Leonin Warleader Leonin Warleader Whenever this creature attacks, create two 1/1 white Cat creature tokens with lifelink that are tapped and attacking. all make this rather trivial. Meanwhile, Zombies have Cryptbreaker Cryptbreaker {1}{B}, {T}, Discard a card: Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Tap three untapped Zombies you control: You draw a card and lose 1 life. , Eternal Ranks of the Dead, and God-Eternal Oketra God-Eternal Oketra Double strike
Whenever you cast a creature spell, create a 4/4 black Zombie Warrior creature token with vigilance.
When God-Eternal Oketra dies or is put into exile from the battlefield, you may put it into its owner's library third from the top. to churn out tokens.

Thanks to being in Abzan, Olag and Miau also have access to all the best token doublers like 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. and 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. . You can also run Ocelot Pride Ocelot Pride First strike, lifelink
Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.)
At the beginning of your end step, if you gained life this turn, create a 1/1 white Cat creature token. Then if you have the city's blessing, for each token you control that entered this turn, create a token that's a copy of it. , which is fantastically powerful when you’re making so many tokens. In a similar go-wide vein, cards like Bast, Panther Goddess Bast, Panther Goddess Reach, trample, indestructible
Bast can't attack or block unless you control three or more creatures.
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. and even Corpse Knight Corpse Knight Whenever another creature you control enters, each opponent loses 1 life. can work wonders.

On top of these, since you’re creating relevant creature types, it’s easy to lean on +1/+1 Counter synergies like 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. . With Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor Each other creature you control that's a Zombie or Mutant gets +X/+X, where X is the number of counters on Hancock.
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.) and Sovereign Okinec Ahau Sovereign Okinec Ahau Ward {2}
Whenever Sovereign Okinec Ahau attacks, for each creature you control with power greater than that creature's base power, put a number of +1/+1 counters on that creature equal to the difference. pushing this even further, you can make a remarkably deadly board.

Stacking Synergies

As if this wasn’t enough already, being a Typal deck, you have tons of synergies there to exploit. Cards like Regal Caracal Regal Caracal Other Cats you control get +1/+1 and have lifelink. (Damage dealt by those creatures also causes you to gain that much life.)
When this creature enters, create two 1/1 white Cat creature tokens with lifelink. , Death Baron Death Baron Skeletons you control and other Zombies you control get +1/+1 and have deathtouch. (Any amount of damage they deal to a creature is enough to destroy it.) , and Ratadrabik of Urborg Ratadrabik of Urborg Vigilance, ward {2}
Other Zombies you control have vigilance.
Whenever another legendary creature you control dies, create a token that's a copy of that creature, except it's not legendary and it's a 2/2 black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types. make your entire board hit that much harder. Notably, with Maskwood Nexus Maskwood Nexus Creatures you control are every creature type. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield.
{3}, {T}: Create a 2/2 blue Shapeshifter creature token with changeling. (It is every creature type.) in play, you’ll never miss out on these synergies since your Cats will be Zombies and vice versa.

With all of this combined, Olag and Miau, New Friends is more than capable of holding its own in Commander. If you want to kick things up a notch, however, you can include Phyrexian Altar Phyrexian Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add one mana of any color. to unlock an infinite combo with Gravecrawler Gravecrawler This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie. . Since sacrificing this Zombie to the Altar will pay for its recast, this gives you infinite enters triggers for endless +1/+1 Counters with Olag and Miau.

Notably, due to the speed of this combo, including it in the 99 will push your deck immediately into bracket four. Here, it’s unclear if Olag and Miau, New Friends will have what it takes to survive, as typal strategies can struggle against Commander’s stronger strategies. As such, you won’t find Phyrexian Altar in our list, but you could cut Liliana, Dreadhorde General Liliana, Dreadhorde General Whenever a creature you control dies, draw a card.
+1: Create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
−4: Each player sacrifices two creatures of their choice.
−9: Each opponent chooses a permanent they control of each permanent type and sacrifices the rest. for it if you wanted.

Even without any other combos for immediate game-ending potential, Olag and Miau is no slouch in bracket three. Thanks to their final ability, any moderately sized board becomes a ticking clock for each opponent. You can even accelerate this further by running Throne of the God-Pharaoh Throne of the God-Pharaoh At the beginning of your end step, each opponent loses life equal to the number of tapped creatures you control. and 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. to double triggers.

Patiently Awaiting Prices

Rolling all this together, Olag and Miau, New Friends looks like an all-around slam dunk. Right now, the only thing that might hold it back is the demand for a fused Typal pair like this one. Well, that and the price of Olag and Miau, which is currently unknown, but early signs don’t look good.

Thanks to the Festival in a Box sale of Mystery Booster: Commander Edition selling out so quickly, early prices will likely be exceptionally high. Right now, it’s unclear just how much the new legends will cost; however, it shouldn’t be long before deliveries start happening. Thankfully, after that, prices should slowly fall throughout 2027 as more supply of Mystery Booster: Commander Edition is released.

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