After plenty of leaks, hype, and anticipation, the Wilds of Eldraine spoiler season is finally here! Kicking things off with a jam-packed Debut stream, as usual, Wizards has revealed all manner of details about the set. We’ve got new staples, mechanics galore, plenty of gorgeous art, and a reprint ladened bonus sheet! As if that wasn’t enough, Wilds of Eldraine also has an accompanying Commander release.
Considering Commander decks have been released alongside major sets since Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, this isn’t really all too much of a surprise. While this may be true, however, it’s still well worth getting excited about, as they typically contain plenty of interesting new cards. Unsurprisingly, the Wilds of Eldraine Commander decks are no different, with awesome cards aplenty!
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
To kick off our Commander coverage, we have the face Commander for the Fae Dominion deck. As you can see above, Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor is a fairly simple card, however, this doesn’t stop them from being seriously strong. In fact, they may now be the go-to choice for players building a Faerie Typal deck.
Currently, if you’re in the market for a Faerie deck, your best bet is likely Alela, Artful Provocateur. Offering a broad color identity alongside token-generating and buffing abilities, it’s easy to see why Alela is the obvious choice. After all, what’s not to love about having more, stronger, Faeries flooding your side of the board?!
As powerful as Alela is, they’re not really a match to Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor. Sure, they may not generate tokens, however, they’re better in every other way. For starters, Tegwyll provides +1/+1, rather than a measly +1/+0. If that wasn’t enough of an upside, Tegwyll can also draw you cards whenever a Faerie you control dies.
Thanks to these abilities, when it comes to commanding a Faerie Typal deck, Tegwyll is practically unmatched. Sure, they may not have much of a body themselves, however, with Flying and Deathtouch they’re still a definite threat.
Alela, Cunning Conqueror
As if one new powerful Faerie wasn’t enough, the Fae Dominion deck has another awesome Commander option. Aptly available as the alternative Commander choice, Alela, Cunning Conqueror is similarly a very powerful new option for a typal deck.
Unsurprisingly similar to Alela, Artful Provocateur from before, this new version of Alela is primarily about token generation. To do this, all you have to do is cast a spell during any one of your opponent’s turns. Considering the Fae Dominion deck is Dimir, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem at all.
Unfortunately, while this ability has the potential to be very powerful, it can only activate once per turn. Still, even while this is a bit of a downside, Alela, Cunning Conqueror provides useful added value for your spells. As if that wasn’t enough already, Alelais also able to easily Goad your opponents through Faerie’s dealing combat damage.
Ultimately, while token generation and Goading opponents are undeniably useful, Alela, Cunning Conqueror isn’t really the ultimate Commander choice. When combined with cards such as Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor, however, Alela can really come alive and be a powerhouse on the board. If only these two were in one deck together… Oh, wait! They are! What luck!
Ellivere of the Wild Court
Moving onto the Virtue and Valor deck, we’re once again starting by looking at the face Commander. Similarly playing into the themes of Wilds of Eldraine, Ellivere of the Wild Court is all about Enchantments. Specifically, the new Role Tokens that have been introduced as the big new mechanic of the main set.
To make life more difficult for Ellivere of the Wild Court, there is currently a lot of competition for Enchantment Typal decks. Anikthea, Hand of Erebos, for instance, is the latest choice that was just released in Commander Masters. Alternatively, Sythis, Harvest’s Hand is another fantastic choice that offers consistent card draw.
Due to this tough competition, Ellivere of the Wild Court has their work cut out for them. Thankfully, however, Ellivere of the Wild Court definitely has its own niche within the Enchantment Typal space. After all, unlike the other Commander options, Ellivere is able to create droves of new Enchantment Tokens.
As a caveat, while Ellivere of the Wild Court can create Virtuous Role Tokens, only one can be applied to each creature you control. Since these are all effectively All That Glitters however, this ability is nonetheless insane. Seriously, should Ellivere of the Wild Court go off, your opponent will need a board wipe stat.
To make them even better, Ellivere of the Wild Court also has a card draw ability! Similarly to Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor this is activated through Typal-ish combat damage. Specifically, once an enchanted creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you get to draw a card.
Ellivere definitely isn’t the best Commander for an Enchantress-style deck out there, but players wanting to focus on Auras specifically may be interested in playing with this card in the future.
Gylwain, Casting Director
As if one powerful enchantment generator wasn’t enough, the Virtue and Valor deck has another compelling option. Similarly to Ellivere above, Gylwain, Casting Director is all about the new Role Tokens, and handing them out en masse. To do this, all Gylwain or another creature has to do is enter the battlefield, making token generation incredibly easy.
Unfortunately, while the generation of Role Tokens is still very strong, they can’t create Ellivere’s Virtuous Role Tokens. Instead, Gylwain is stuck with only a selection of Role Tokens from the main set. While this is admittedly a substantial downgrade, it’s still nothing to be scoffed at since the Royal, Sorcerer, and Monster Role Tokens all provide compelling benefits.
For reference, in case you’ve not seen them before, the buffs the Role Tokens provide are as follows:
- Royal Role Token: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and Ward 1
- Sorcerer Role Token: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and “Whenever this creature attacks, Scry 1”
- Monster Role Token: Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and Trample
Since Gylwain is easily able to give any one of your creatures one of these roles, they’re certainly a powerful card. There is a catch, however, and unfortunately, it’s quite a major one. Rather than fully embracing the multiclassing lifestyle, each creature can only have one Role at a time. In theory, since Role Tokens are new, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, however, Gylwain could nonetheless butt heads with Ellivere.
Just like the two main Legendary creatures from the Fae Dominion deck, Virtue and Valor appear to be incredibly synergistic. Subsequently, it’s for the better that both Enchantment Typal cards are included in the deck. Sure, they could be some Role Token overlap, however, more enchantments are better than none.
There’s More to See
While we are already incredibly excited for the upcoming Commander decks, obviously, we’ve only seen four cards so far. This means there’s a lot more still to be revealed from both of these decks. With new cards and reprints aplenty stuffed inside, hopefully, they should offer plenty of value. Whether or not they will, however, remains to be seen.
Currently, according to Wizards of the Coast, the contents of the Wilds of Eldraine Commander decks will be revealed on the 22nd and 23rd of August. This means MTG players only have a little while to wait before we’re shown more. In the meantime, there will be plenty of interesting main-set cards that are well worth keeping your eye on!
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