While Standard has been getting a lot of love lately, Commander is still the biggest game in town when it comes to Magic. On paper the format didn’t gain a ton from MTG Foundations, which only features 12 new legendary creatures in total. That said, most of these are powerhouses well worth building around. At the time of writing, the most popular of these new MTG legends by far is Niv-Mizzet, Visionary. This isn’t too surprising, given how iconic and beloved Niv was already. What is surprising is just how easily it enables broken combo wins in multiplayer games.
Niv-Mizzet, Visionary In MTG Commander
According to EDHREC data, Niv-Mizzet, Visionary is the most popular Commander from MTG Foundations so far. He’s being played in 1755 registered decks, while the second most popular new legend is only in 1067. Why exactly is this? Well, Niv simply does a lot of things that MTG players, particularly Commander players, love to do.
First of all, it completely removes the hand size limit. Players often run Reliquary Tower, an otherwise mediocre land, purely for this effect. Getting the same thing in the command zone is a big deal. This is doubly true because of Niv’s second ability. Whenever you dish out noncombat damage to a player’s face, you get to draw that many cards.
You don’t need me to tell you how ludicrous this line of text is. It turns a Lightning Bolt into an Ancestral Recall, and it only scales up in power from there. Foundations’ new Boltwave draws you nine cards with Niv out, which is often enough to win the game. Burn decks don’t typically do well in Commander, but this card gives them a serious fighting chance.
On top of that, it’s also a powerful infinite combo enabler. If you have the original Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind in play, you can ping an opponent each time you draw a card. This, in turn, will draw you another card with Visionary, which will let you go infinite. Niv-Mizzet being the narcissist that he is, going infinite with himself feels very appropriate from a lore standpoint. It’s also a great way to finish off Commander games.
With a winning combination of generically strong abilities, wacky build-around potential, and a recognizable name, it’s not hard to see why new Niv is the most popular Commander from Foundations.
Righteous Runners-Up
Niv-Mizzet, Visionary isn’t the only spicy new Commander from MTG Foundations. The runners-up are pretty great, too. Coming in second place, with 1067 registered decks at present, is Tinybones, Bauble Burglar. Coincidentally, this was also #2 on our Best Commanders list for the set. This is a cheap, powerful Commander for discard decks in the format. The archetype gets a bad name thanks to the monstrous Tergrid, but Tinybones plays a lot more fairly. It lets you steal cards from your opponents’ hands, sure, but you do still need to pay for those cards.
Third place goes to Loot, Exuberant Explorer, with 824 registered decks. Again, this isn’t super surprising. From the moment Loot was spoiled he looked like a serious Ramp powerhouse. In practice, this has proven to be the case. Loot’s abilities are generic enough to support pretty much any style of green deck you can imagine. Obviously, Landfall and Ramp are the big ones, but his creature-cheating ability can also support big creature decks like Dinosaurs or Eldrazi. This is a prime example of a card that’s great in the command zone and great in the 99.
Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate rounds things off at #4, with 749 registered decks. The original Alesha is a very popular Commander to this day, so it’s great to see the sequel doing well too. The beauty of this card lies in its flexibility. You can lead a low-to-the-ground Aggro deck with Alesha, or build her up with Auras for some kind of Voltron/Reanimator hybrid. This gives you plenty of deckbuilding options and means your opponents will need to be extra wary when facing her. For such a fearsome in-world general, I think that’s a flavor win.
