Pride Month is just four weeks away, and Wizards of the Coast is getting ready to celebrate in style. A brand-new MTG Pride event, titled Magic Presents: Pride, is scheduled for the end of June. This is a Commander event that bends the rules of the format, taking the popular Partner mechanic to new heights, both in terms of gameplay and flavor.
While casual in nature, with prizes that may not be exciting for competitive players, this is still a very thematic event. It also represents a further step in Magic’s progressive attitude, following on from the Pride Across the Multiverse Secret Lair drop two years ago. You don’t need to play all five colors to fly a rainbow flag in Magic anymore, and that’s a huge positive for both the game and its community.
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Two Become One
Let’s get into the details of this new MTG Pride event. Magic Presents: Pride will run from the 28th-30th of June this year. Unfortunately for many, the event will be exclusive to WPN stores in the US and Canada. There are some exceptions to ‘Love knows no borders,’ it seems.
The event itself is a standard Commander night but with a twist. During the event, you can treat all legendary creatures as though they had the Partner ability. This means that you can choose any two legendaries to be your commander. The amount of wild deck-building opportunities this opens up truly boggles the mind, especially given the increased density of legendary creatures in recent products.
The official event announcement does specify that choosing creatures who already have Partner won’t let you have more than two commanders for this event, mind you. So if you have any sneaky ideas about cramming your command zone to the brim, leave them at the store door. In addition, the extra commander you choose will still count towards your 100-card deck size, just like a normal commander.
Magic Presents: Pride will also have some unique prize support to complement its unique ruleset. All players who participate in the event will receive a “Rainbow holographic art print,” the artwork for which will be revealed “at a later date.” It is a bit disappointing that there are no exclusive Pride promos tied to the event. At the same time, though, that may be for the best, given its limited availability worldwide. Removing high-impact prize support also prevents players from taking the event too seriously as well.
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Different Strokes
That said, the possibilities here are really exciting and have got the Magic community at large talking. Things seem to be split between those who want to figure out the best pair mechanically, and those who want to figure out the best pair romantically. Both are valid approaches for an event like this, and both are interesting to think about.
In the r/MagicTCG thread discussing the event, players in both camps abound. Specialist_Ad4117 suggested a classic in Rafiq of the Many and
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Flying
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
{B}: Skithiryx gains haste until end of turn.
{B}{B}: Regenerate Skithiryx.
. These two curve into each other nicely, and can wipe a player out every turn if left alone. KindaIndifferent threw another wild combo into the ring with
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Whenever another creature dies, or a creature card is put into a graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, or a creature card leaves your graveyard, Syr Konrad deals 1 damage to each opponent.
{1}{B}: Each player mills a card. (They each put the top card of their library into their graveyard.)
and
Bruvac, the Grandiloquent
Bruvac, the Grandiloquent
If an opponent would mill one or more cards, they mill twice that many cards instead. (To mill a card, a player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.)
. Together, these two allow you to mill every player at the table for two for two mana, then deal damage 8+ damage to all players. This is an “absolutely disgusting” combination, as the original comment notes.
On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of possible flavor pairings, too. TacticianRobin suggested Legolas, Counter of Kills and Gimli, Counter of Kills, to correct the oversight that was not giving them Partner in the first place. SquirrelDragon suggested a pairing of Urza and Mishra, the lore result of which would be that “the rest of Magic’s story just never happened.”
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Summer Lovin’
Of course, this being an MTG Pride Event, many players are also excited about the possible romantic pairings they can set up. As @spacebeleren on Twitter put it, “This is not about which partner pairs are playable, it’s about which pairs are GAY.” There’s a valid argument that this is the best way to engage with the event, and many players are doing just that.
Hmukherj, for example, is going for a mix of
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
Whenever you cast a red spell, untap Chandra.
{T}: Chandra deals 1 damage to target player or planeswalker. If Chandra has dealt 3 or more damage this turn, exile her, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control.
and
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
When Nissa enters, you may search your library for a basic Forest card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Whenever a land you control enters, if you control seven or more lands, exile Nissa, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control.
. This is one of Magic’s most infamous queer relationships, teasing fans as it flickered between platonic and romantic in different stories. By pairing the duo in this event, you can set things right, if only for a weekend. You can also recreate less controversial couples, such as
Huatli, Poet of Unity
Huatli, Poet of Unity
When Huatli enters, search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{3}{R/W}{R/W}: Exile Huatli, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
and
Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance
Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance
{U}{R}, {T}: Create a token that's a copy of another target creature or artifact you control, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
, as No0dle258 suggests.
Whichever pair of legends you choose, Magic Presents: Pride looks to be a great event for the Commander crowd, both casual and serious. It may even be a testing ground for a permanent Partner variant of the format. Given the design headaches that would cause, I’d say that’s unlikely, though. If you live in a supported region, it’s definitely worth giving the event a shot in June. Just don’t break the bank on a super-synergistic new deck: we may never see this spicy ruleset again, after all.
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