Today, Weekly MTG hosts Blake Rasmussen and Commodore Guff himself revealed the second Commander Masters preconstructed deck to the world. Considering that these decks each have ten never-before-seen MTG cards contained within them, many players are following the products with heavy excitement.
As may be suggested by the presence of Commodore Guff, the Jeskai Planeswalker Party deck was the one revealed today. Here, we will be taking a look at the ten new cards revealed as a part of the Planeswalker-themed deck. The full decklist is also included near the end of the article, and there are some juicy reprints within the 99. Without further ado, let’s take a look!
A Quick Main Set Spoiler
Before jumping into the new cards in Planeswalker Party, here are a few spoiler cards for the main Commander Masters set! These are the enemy colored Battlebond Dual Lands which, for all intents and purposes, enters untapped when playing Commander with no downsides. Notably, the cards are not Fetchable but, otherwise, are some of the best lands you can play in Commander. These are a great reprint.
Commodore Guff
Starting things off is a preview that players are already familiar with. Commodore Guff is the Commander meant to be at the helm of the Planeswalker Party deck, and, honestly, it just seems fine. For four mana, Commodore Guff can help your other Planeswalkers get a bit stronger, create Wizards that can act as mana dorks for Planeswalkers while protecting them from enemy creatures.
Finally, Guff can draw you a bunch of cards while acting as a win condition. Running a five-colored Commander is probably just a better option for a Superfriends deck, but Guff should easily merit a slot in a majority of Superfriends decks.
Leori, Sparktouched Hunter
The secondary Commander for this deck is a new creature from the plane of Ikoria. This incredibly cool card allows players to explore a fan-favorite thematic archetype that players had already explored before a Commander was created for it. Basically, Leori enables a ‘Planeswalker type matters’ deck. In other words, Leori provides a Planeswalker suited to a Gideon-Typal or Chandra-Typal style of deck that focuses on one Planeswalker character. This is a fantastic card that allows players to explore new game space.
That said, this card is still functionable in a Superfriends deck since you can change the Planeswalker type you declare for each trigger. Granting this creature Double Strike can also lead to some hilarity.
Guff Rewrites History
This card is a lore-related homage to the Deus-Ex-Machina function that Commodore Guff played during the initial Brothers’ War that has made him a contender for one of the most powerful characters in all of Magic.
Basically, the original ending of the war between Urza and Mishra is that Yawgmoth would ultimately be the winner. Guff had a book that could foresee the ending of the war, and literally rewrote the ending so that Urza would win.
Otherwise, Guff Rewrites History is a true-to-color Polymorph effect that creates absolute chaos. This cross of Polymorph and Chaos Warp will affect something on each player’s board. While players are guaranteed to hit a nonland card off of Guff Rewrites History after it exiles something, it can be any nonland card in their deck – whichever gets revealed first.
The best time to play something like this, as a result, is when you have something you don’t mind getting rid of, while opponents have an unnerving threat to remove. Like Chaos Warp, this can end up making the situation worse in some cases, but that’s part of the fun! In most circumstances, this will be a decent removal piece.
Gatewatch Beacon
Gatewatch Beacon seems like a decent mana rock for Superfriends decks, but that’s where this card stops. Outside of a Superfriends deck, Gatewatch Beacon is not very powerful.
Gatewatch Beacon can grant Planeswalkers an extra Loyalty Counter as long as it has one when that Planeswalker enters the battlefield. This can be quite powerful when used alongside Proliferate effects (which are in the preconstructed deck), but the card simply seems fine at best.
Onakke Oathkeeper
The Onakke are an ancient tribe of Ogres on Shandalar that have a connection to The Chain Veil, one of the most powerful cards in all of Magic for Superfriends decks. Basically, Liliana found the Chain Veil in an Onakke tomb.
This is a very cool card for Planeswalker decks. As mentioned during the Weekly MTG show, most prison effects like Ghostly Prison don’t actually protect your Planeswalkers. While players need to pay extra mana to swing at you, those effects do not extend to Planeswalkers.
Onakke Oathkeeper has the opposite effect. The tax is not too impactful but, as a two mana 0/4, you get the effect on a blocker for a relatively low mana investment. Fortunately, this card can double as a one-time Planeswalker Reanimation for six mana. Overall, this seems like a cute new tool for Superfriends decks.
Teyo, Geometric Tactician
Teyo, Geometric Tactician, is a fine Planeswalker for three mana. The ability to create a 0/4 Wall with Defender and Flying on entry could make Teyo an interesting political piece in Flicker decks. This is due, additionally, to its +1 ability that allows you and another player to draw a card. The Planeswalker doesn’t really establish itself as a massive threat outside of this, which may incentivize players to ignore it in exchange for card advantage.
In the Planeswalker Party preconstructed deck, Teyo acts as a pillow fort piece that synergizes with the deck’s win conditions which, honestly, is exactly what the deck wants to do. All in all, this Planeswalker seems capable of finding a few homes.
Sparkshaper Visionary
Sparkshaper Visionary introduces another Sarkhan the Masterless (who is also in the deck) – like effect that can directly translate your Planeswalkers into a win condition outside of their Ultimate ability. Unlike Sarkhan, Sparkshaper Visionary temporarily turns your Planeswalkers into 3/3 blue Birds with Flying, Hexproof, and the ability to Scry 1 upon dealing combat damage. The card also presents this effect as a 0/5 creature for three mana, providing an additional blocker for mediocre investment.
Sarkhan makes your Planeswalkers a bit bigger, but Sparkshaper Visionary offers them a lot more protection after they transform. Combined with card selection and a body that can protect your Planeswalkers during others turns, this seems like a slight upgrade to Sarkhan.
Vronos, Masked Inquisitor
Who the heck is Vronos? This is a Planeswalker from Alara from the shard of Esper and, ultimately, ended up getting killed by Garruk when he was under his curse. He hides behind an Etherium mask and, as such, is considered an Artificer. His -7, while being a flavorful nod to his abilities, while also being a flavorful alternate ending to his death, is sadly kind of terrible.
Either way, the most interesting part of Vronos is his +1 ability. Vronos can protect your other Planeswalkers from removal or combat by Phasing them out on the next end step. This can allow them to tick up toward their Ultimates while being very difficult to interact with in the meantime.
Chandra, Legacy of Fire
Superfriends EDH decks have a new staple! Chandra, Legacy of Fire is a five mana Planeswalker that thrives when many friends are in play alongside her. Her static ability turns the number of Planeswalkers you control into direct damage to your opponents. Since Superfriends decks can struggle to win games outside of resolving various Ultimate abilities, this is a cool line of text.
Otherwise, Chandra can add an explosive amount of red mana as her uptick if you control a lot of Planeswalkers. The downside is that this effect has a relatively dismal floor of just adding one red mana, which is definitely not worth five mana to be doing. Otherwise, her zero ability also benefits from having a ton of Planewalkers, allowing Impulse draws in exchange for mana.
Ultimately, Chandra is a very exciting piece for Planeswalker-themed decks but is terrible outside of them.
Jaya’s Phoenix
Jaya’s Phoenix is not a great card to cast but a very good one to discard. That’s because casting a Planeswalker spell will cheat this card into play from your graveyard. Jaya’s Phoenix can immediately connect with opponents and double-up on a Planeswalker trigger if successful, too.
This card definitely has the most potential for play outside of Commander due to Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes being an incredibly powerful resource in Legacy, but don’t get your hopes up. If your deck is running enough discard and Planeswalker effects to abuse this card, it’s definitely a good include into your 99.
The Full Decklist (and Some Tokens)
With so many cards to go over, sadly, we can’t cover them all here. Thankfully, however, we can still point out a few interesting and exciting cards from the 99! To finish off this article, here are our favorite few of those!
The Chain Veil is a massive reprint here! After the lukewarm response to the Sliver Swarm deck, this card’s reprint was put into question, but seeing it here is really exciting!
Spark Double and Deepglow Skate are two other awesome reprints that are seen in a ton of Superfriends decks.
Narset, Parter of Veils is a surprising inclusion since it can create some unfun play patterns, but it is a very strong Planeswalker. The card prevents your opponents from drawing more than one card per turn, which lines up nastily into wheel effects like Wheel of Fortune and Windfall.
Finally, in the opinion of someone who plays a lot of Superfriends in Commander (that’s me), this suite of Planeswalkers is pretty disappointing. There are a few strong inclusions here, like Narset, Parter of Veils, and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, but a lot of Planeswalkers in this deck can be way more powerful. All of the Jace Planeswalkers, The Wanderer, Narset of the Ancient Way, and others can easily be upgraded into more impactful (but unfortunately expensive) Planeswalkers. This means the deck shouldn’t be too overpowering, which can be good, and leaves a lot of room for upgrades. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, we should have some words on that topic in the future.
Read More: New Commander Masters Cards Introduce Powerful Typal Payoffs!
