All five of MTG Secrets of Strixhaven’s Commander precons were just revealed in a flash, flooding the internet with new cards to look at. Between the five decks, 45 brand-new Commander legal cards were unveiled in under an hour, so digesting everything is quite a struggle. That said, for the most part, the majority of the new Commander cards aren’t that exciting.
For better or worse, many of these Commander cards won’t see much play outside of the archetypes they’re meant for. The new Quandrix Unlimited cards, for example, only work well with +1/+1 counters and X-spell decks. That said, there are a few new Commander cards that have the potential to make a bigger impact across the format overall.
MTG Changing Loyalty
From Silverquill Influence, Changing Loyalty has ‘future staple’ written all over it. While it’s technically nothing new in MTG, its two extra abilities make it a real treat in Commander. Flash and Replicate completely revolutionize what this card is capable of, making it a great fit in a wide variety of black decks.
At a baseline, any Black deck that runs a lot of creature removal can easily run this. Just attach Changing Loyalty to a bunch of your opponent’s best creatures right before your turn starts, and shoot them down with cards like Lethal Schemes. If you’re patient enough, you could even turn a board wipe into a blowout, kidnapping all of your opponent’s best creatures.
While less ideal, Changing Loyalty can also be used as a way to save your own creatures in a pinch. Using it in response to removal is the best-case scenario, but setting up sequences to repeat powerful entry effects from cards like Moonshaker Cavalry is also very powerful. Just note that, in all this excitement, Changing Loyalty cannot steal opposing Commanders.
MTG Defacing Duskmage
Another Silverquill banger, Defacing Duskmage offers any Orzhov decks that struggle with card draw an instant solution. Between super staples like Guardian Project and Rhystic Study, it’s extremely easy for an opponent to draw two cards per turn in Commander. Thanks to this, preparing this creature is trivial, offering lots of Vandal’s Edict casts. Since the Prepared spell is an instant, Defacing Duskmage can even cast it multiple times on your opponent’s turns.
This is already good enough for a lot of Commander decks, but Defacing Duskmage can do even more work when synergized with. Line the Dog Warlock up with Magecraft cards like Professor Onyx, for example, and this pup can create an absurd amount of value. Common mana reducers, like Pearl and Jet Medallion, also make Vandal’s Edict cheaper while speeding up the rest of your deck.
That said, while Defacing Duskmage can become a powerful engine, the card isn’t flawless. You do need to spend a decent amount of mana to access your extra cards, which makes this card more of a mana sink than it may look. Removing the Dog also disables access to Vandal’s Edict, even if you had one Prepared and ready to go. Still, any Orzhov deck that struggles with card draw can run Defacing Duskmage and will likely get something out of it.
MTG Ceaseless Conflict
From the Lorehold Spirit precon, Ceaseless Conflict might be one of the best generic white board wipes in Commander now. Replacing any of your non-token creatures with 3/2 white Spirits means that you’ll often be ahead of your opponents after a reset. While there are many board wipes that offer similar one-sided effects, most of them, unlike this card, require you to build around them.
It’s not difficult to run away with the game using Ceaseless Conflict, either. Doubling Season and Anointed Procession can turn your Spirits into an instant army, threatening to take a player out. Combine those with Anthem effects and Mass Hysteria, and you can literally clear the board for an unblockable lethal attack.
Even if you aren’t running these cards, Ceaseless Conflict feels like a direct upgrade to many traditional board wipes like Wrath of God. Honestly, there’s little reason not to try this.
Archetypal Upgrades
While these four new cards do seem a step above the rest, there are still plenty of archetypal upgrades to see. Spellslinger and +1/+1 counter decks, specifically, are getting a lot of exciting support here.
Spellslinger fans may want to take specific note of Furygale Flocking, a powerful new win condition for the archetype that can deal a lot of immediate damage. The decks that want to play this can generally do so for very little, making it easy to follow up with cards like Dualcaster Mage. Leitmotif Composer can also become a surprisingly nasty draw engine in decks that spend a lot of mana to cast their instants and sorceries.
For +1/+1 counter decks, both Ribtruss Roaster and Expansion Algorithm are exciting new cards. Either of these can easily go nuts, creating tons of tokens or Proliferations with the right setup. Bizarrely, these cards aren’t in the same precon, which may make them more alluring to find as singles.
For the decks that can use it, Advanced Reconstruction looks almost broken. Functioning as a graveyard-focused Outpost Siege at worst, this card can quickly be leveled up to unlock two game-warping effects. The first effect really needs some setup to work properly, but the second easily slots this into exile-matters decks. You can even use it to reduce your Commander’s casting cost.
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t talk about the Prepare cards casting iconic spells. While many of these feel like traps, Stensian Sanguinist does seem quite good. The card comes down quickly and offers a minigame that can be quite effective with combat damage-based Commanders. You do need a lot of mana to cast Exsanguinate, though, which can just get this card killed before the payoff becomes reasonable.
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