MTG Top 10 Best Sagas for Commander

Introduction

The recently revealed Tom Bombadil card, due to be released in the upcoming MTG set The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth has gotten everybody talking about Sagas. Tom Bombadil is a five-color Legendary Creature that gains Hexproof and Indestructible when its controller has four or Lore Counters on their Sagas. The card also allows its controller to fetch new Sagas as the Sagas they have in play resolve their final abilities. Tom Bombadil is designed to be the definitive Sagas Commander and seems very powerful.

Just as a reminder, Sagas are an enchantment subtype. Sagas gain a Lore Counter when they enter play and after your draw step on subsequent turns. Sagas have different “chapter abilities” which activate as they gain more lore counters. Typically Sagas have three chapters, though some have more. The Sagas from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty also transform into creatures once their third chapter ability has resolved.

For forward-thinking players looking to build around Tom Bombadil when he’s released, here’s a selection of ten of the game’s best Sagas to consider.

10. History of Benalia

Although, at its best in a Knight tribal deck, History of Benalia is still a good early-game aggressive card for any sort of deck. For three mana, History of Benalia provides two 2/2 Knight tokens and then pumps them up to 4/3s for a single turn. While Aggro decks can sometimes struggle in Commander, History of Benalia is still a useful tool in their arsenal.

9. Elspeth Conquers Death

Although a bit pricey, at five mana, Elspeth Conquers Death more than makes up for its cost through the useful effects it provides. First of all Elspeth Conquers Death exiles a permanent with mana value three or greater, by turn five in a game of Commander there should be no shortage of targets to exile with this effect. Next, Elspeth Conquers Death makes all of your opponent’s noncreature spells cost two more until your next turn, setting their plans back. Finally, Elspeth Conquers Death returns a Creature or Planeswalker from your graveyard to play. Creatures returned by this effect gain a +1/+1 counter, while Planeswalkers gain a Loyalty counter.

This card just provides three neat effects, across three turns, and then goes away. Elspeth Conquers Death isn’t a game breaking card, but it is useful and reliable.

8. The World Spell

The World Spell provides an incredibly powerful effect, but at a pretty steep cost. For seven mana, The World Spell allows you to search the top seven cards of your deck for any, non-Saga, permanent and then add it to your hand. Once you’ve done this twice, on your next turn, you can play two, non-saga, permanents from your hand at no cost. Effects which cheat around the game’s mana system are always fantastic. The World Spell’s high cost keeps this balanced though and means that you need to ensure you have a reliably high number of impactful cards in your deck to cheat into play.

The World Spell also allows you to “read ahead” and skip chapter abilities you don’t need. In other words, if you already have two very powerful permanents in your hand you can just use The World Spell to bring them straight into play without needing to bother searching the top of your deck.

7. Song of Freyalise

Song of Freyalise is a great early game play, with beautifully synergistic abilities. For the first two turns Song of Freyalise is in play, all of your creatures become mana dorks that can generate mana of any color. This makes Song of Freyalise an essential component in 5-color Commander decks, and the card will likely be an auto-include for Tom Bombadil brews. The third chapter ability on Song of Freyalise puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and grants them all Vigilance, Trample, and Indestructible. The intended strategy is clear. Use the first effect to get a lot of creatures into play, then the third effect will pump them all up for a powerful offensive swing.

6. Michiko’s Reign of Truth

Standard players may recognize this card from the Aura deck which were pretty popular when the Rune Enchantments from Kaldheim were still in the format. Michiko’s Reign of Truth spends two turns buffing any target creature by +1/+1 for every artifact and enchantment their controller has in play. Michiko’s Reign of Truth then transforms into a 0/0 creature that provides the same buff to itself. This card is great in decks that rely heavily on Artifacts and/or Enchantments. Since all Sagas are Enchantments, Michiko’s Reign of Truth will work great in Tom Bombadil decks.

5. The Cruelty of Gix

The Cruelty of Gix is a discard effect, a tutor, and a reanimation spell all wrapped up in a single package. First of all, this card lets you look at a single opponent’s hand and choose a card for them to discard. You’ll want to pick an opponent you feel will have a good creature to get rid of, go for the player piloting a stomping Green deck if you can. Naturally, try to avoid anyone with a graveyard focussed reanimation strategy. The card then lets you fetch any card from your deck at the cost of three life. Finally, The Cruelty of Gix lets you put a creature card from any graveyard into play under your control. If you got lucky with the discard effect earlier, you may be able to snatch a Ghalta, Primal Hunger from that Green Stompy player’s graveyard.

Like The World Spell above, The Cruelty of Gix has Read Ahead so you can skip straight to its tutoring or reanimation effect if you would like.

4. The Eldest Reborn

While this card may seem underwhelming compared to The Cruelty of Gix, the sheer amount of value it provides in Multiplayer games makes it, arguably, a better card in the context of Commander.

First of all The Eldest Reborn forces every opponent to sacrifice a Creature or Planeswalker. In a typical four player game that means that this lone card can destroy three others. The Eldest Reborn then makes each opponent discard a card. Finally, The Eldest Reborn allows you to return a Creature or Planeswalker from any graveyard into play under your control. Just like with The Cruelty of Gix, you can return a card sent to the graveyard by one of the previous steps of this Saga.

In a four-player game, this card destroys three creatures, forces your opponents to collectively discard three cards, and then returns a card from a graveyard into play under your control. In other words, you get seven cards worth of value from a single Saga. This is a great deal and The Eldest Reborn is a great card.

3. Kiora Bests the Sea God

Of all of the high-cost, high-impact Sagas on this list, Kiora Bests the Sea God is probably the best.

For seven mana, Kiora Bests the Sea God first gives you an 8/8 Hexproof Kraken token, meaning that you are getting something worth the cost of the card straight away. Kiora Bests the Sea God then lets you tap down all of the nonland permanents one of your opponent’s controls, without them untapping during their next turn. Not only does this effect make one player vulnerable to attacks from your new 8/8 Kraken, as well as opening them up to offensives from the rest of the table, it also shuts off all of their Mana Rocks during their next turn. Finally, Kiora Bests the Sea God lets you steal a permanent controlled by any opponent. The card stolen by this effect also untaps, rubbing salt in the wound if you steal something from the player you targeted with this Saga’s previous chapter ability.

2. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

This isn’t the first of our top 10 lists to feature Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and it certainly won’t be the last.

For three mana, this card does a lot! The first chapter of this Saga creates a 2/2 Goblin token, which creates a treasure token whenever it attacks. Chapter two enables you to discard up to two cards to draw the same amount. Finally, the Saga transforms into a 2/2 Goblin with a copying ability that calls back to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.

While Fable of the Mirror-Breaker has a cheap mana cost, it does command a $20+ price tag making it more expensive than many of the others on this list. That is apart from our number one pick…

1. Urza’s Saga

One of the most powerful cards from Modern Horizons 2, an exceedingly powerful set. Urza’s Saga initially just acts like a Wastes on the turn it enters play. On the next turn, this card can be used to generate a Construct that gets stronger for each artifact you have in play. Finally, the card lets you grab a cost 0 or 1 Artifact from your deck and bring it straight into play. Whether you’re tutoring up your Sol Ring or something else altogether like The Ozolith or Shadowspear this is an invaluable effect to have around.

Just be aware that this card typically costs at least $30, making it by far the priciest card on today’s list.

Read more: Top 10 Best Mana Dorks in Commander