Amonkhet Commander Review: Part 2
And a warm welcome back to the 2nd part of this Commander review. Amonkhet thus far has been quite an impressive set to me, and in this 2nd part of the article, weāll be going through the remaining colors: Green,Multicolor, Artifacts and the lands of the set as well.
First card off todayās write-up is the new Vizier. Just looking at that relatively derpy Naga is funny, but many have compared him to cards like Garrukās Horde or Courser of Kruphix as a strong Green utility card in Commander. Vizier however is a 3/4 for 4, making him easy to cast and with a well-abled body. I would like to see him more in multi-color decks tho, where players with creature heavy decks such as Maelstrom Wanderer would be able to properly utilize him. Strong card overall with powerful potential in the format.
Harvest Season is potentially powerful in Commander, where ramp effects are plentiful that work with some decks that want to put many lands into play at once or just simply have a ton of mana to cast huge cards from their deck. Harvest Season is very very powerful at 3 mana, providing a tapped basic for each tapped creature you control? Sure thing for almost any Mono-Green deck and bi-colored deck. It does forces you to play aggressively or find some way to tap a good amount of your creatures, something Green excels in Commander. Powerful card overall and definitely will see good amounts of play.
Champion of Rhonas is another toy Green has to play with, but I foresee itāll definitely be better when splashed. Due to the fact that having an uncounterable, free creature into play is definitely powerful when itās a 3/3 for 4, it can carry the game on itās own if left unanswered. It also acts well with tutors, allowing you toĀ ācheatā 2 times at once, searching for the creature and playing it for free.
Mouth//Feed is definitely a very common effect in Commander, Mouth gives a 3/3 Hippo token early game, while Feed is more likely to be used later in the mid-late game. Feed however, is very low costed for what it does, drawing cards equal to the number of creatures you control. Green has plenty of creature-draw effects but are usually costing in ranges of cmc 5-7. Feed is the same cost as Harmonize, but does much much more to itās counterpart. This is a fine example of a card I really canāt wait to play soon.
And the last Green card on the list is actually really good at Uncommon. Manglehorn has been seen by many to be the answer to one of Standardās biggest problems at the moment, Mardu Vehicles. It is however full of value at a 3 costed creature in Commander, being able to come down early/cheap to destroy any artifact is definitely useful, but the fact that it has aĀ āBlind Obedienceā effect specifically for artifacts is something not very common in Green, but many players would see this replacing the more commonly seen artiifact removal. Bye Reclamation Sage and say Hello to Manglehorn :>
Before we go into showing my Top 5 picks for Multicolor, I have to say that there are many powerful Multicolor cards in the set, I would like to mention them all but there simply isnāt a way to go through each and everyone of them. Iāll probably try to squeeze similar ones into a group and try to talk about them as a whole. However, I would include some Legendary creatures in this section.
Nissa, Steward of Elements
The new Nissa does have a slight twist. First off, itās the first time seeing her in multicolors compared to the regular Nissa we all know staying Mono-Green with the passing of every new set, secondly, this new version of Nissa is also particularly unique as sheās the first Planeswalker with an optional casting cost of X. meaning sheāll be able to come into play with any desired amount of loyalty counters depending on how much the player is willing to cast her for. Abilities aside, itās typical Nissa with a small hint of Blue(Scry 2) as well as the usual land/creature dig and animation of lands into 5/5s. Many have already noticed how strong sheāll be in the Atraxa Superfriends build, where you can cast her with X on 0 but sheāll come in with an extra loyalty counter instead, keeping her alive and using her abilities straightaway. Definitely a very strong utility Planeswalker guaranteed to see play.
Iāve only put a few of the new multicolor Split cards here, but the others not mentioned here are still viable in one way or another. Failure//Comply reminds me a lot of Unsubstantiate, except slightly worse with the fact that it canāt return creatures. Comply does feel kinda like Orimās Chant but not as good as you would think. Not bad overall though. Rags//Riches is probably my favorite among the 3 shown here, Rags is slightly worse when compared to Yahenniās Expertise but it does get the job done sometimes, while Riches is value late game when creatures are scarce on the board and everyone is out of resources. Lastly, Heaven//Earth is very reminiscent of Firespout, although somewhat similar in dealing with both flying and non-flying creatures, Heaven//Earth is better in Commander due to the fact that any amount of mana can be used on it either mode. Making it a very flexible card.Ā
Bounty of Luxa might seem like a huge mouthful of words at first, but it does so much at the cost of 4 mana! When first played, itāll give you an extra card every alternate turn or give you 3 mana(in Simic colors) every other turn. Meaning if you played it on say..Turn 4, youāll get the extra draw on Turn 5 and the mana on Turn 6. The cycle would then repeat itself providing both much needed card/mana advantage. I love this card and would like to get it in my Maelstorm Wanderer deck soon.
Hapatra, Vizier of PoisonsĀ
Hapatra is the first Legendary of this whole 2 part article. Hapatra actually caught my attention at first as a general, where sheās low costed and that she required to work with -1/-1 counters. While that seems like a downside, there have been quite a few creatures/card support for -1/-1 counters, combine that with what Amonkhet and possibly Hour of Devastation might offer. Hapatra will probably be on many brewerās radar for the upcoming months.
And lastly, we have Samut. Who seems extremely decent on paper with her stars, I mean 5cmc Flasher, with a host of abilities such as Double Strike,Vigilance and Haste! She also is able to untap another creature for a measly cost of 1 White mana. Though being Naya colored normally means big creatures, Samut is able to fit in a Voltron shell perfectly due to the amount of abilities she already has even without equipment/auras on her. A bomb in Limited and sure to see some Commander play as a general or in the 99.
Pyramid was probably one of the first cards that caught my attention during the spoiler season. Easily played on Turn 1, it fixes mana for you while adding brick counters onto itself. The second ability is very reminiscent of Mana Vault or Gilded Lotus, being able to tap for 3 mana of any color at the cost of 1 is extremely powerful ability in Commander. For such a low cost, despite it not being as powerful as Mana Vault/Crypt, it will definitely see play in most decks in time to come.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Throne is a good example of the strong, low-costed artifacts in this set. For only 2 mana, Throne could represent a rather speedy clock for your opponents the moment itās played on Turn 1/2. It leans towards aggressive decks with creatures that want to turn sideways at your opponents or in any creature heavy deck that involves creatures tapping for other purposes such as mana or milling. I canāt wait to try this out when the new tribal commanders release around August :)
Embalmerās Tools might seem underwhelming at first, due to the fact where it would fit in a Zombie deck only. However, itās first ability is actually very useful especially for graveyard decks, making activated abilities cost 1 less could mean Unearth and other abilities costing slightly lesser-which is pretty nice. Other than that, Zombie decks would love this card, having a somewhat Altar of Dementia effect is nice when you donāt need to sacrifice your own creatures.
This new cycle of artifacts is really really cool, aimed towards mono-colored decks and encouraging the casting of creatures. Each Monument āde-taxesā creature cost, while providing a special effect for casting a creature spell, with each monument having itās own unique ability. An interesting take by the design team that Iām sure will follow up in Commander as a staple for mono-colored creature decks soon.
Oracleās Vault as from what I can recall, gave a bad impression to many players when Wizards announced it was the promo card for Prerelease and Launch Day. While I could understand why it was chosen as the promo card, it doesnāt seem that bad in Commander at all. Especially when it hits 3 brick counters, things could go out of control pretty fast with the help of Paradox Engine. There isnāt a whole lot going for this card but it does show a lot of potential seeing how players could find ways to break this card.
Aside from the full-art lands in the set, there are a few lands worth noting potential play in Commander.
Despite their odd name, the Bicycle lands were a good decision by Wizards to help manabases in Standard. They are pretty useful in Commander too as they are fetchable and have the ability to cycle themselves. Wished the cycle was complete but this is pretty good for what we couldāve asked for.
Nothing much to say here...Iāll just leave this picture here:
Amonkhet does seem like a very promising set thus far, though many are slightly disappointed due to itās lower EV(Expected Value). Itās too early to say much about it, what I do know however is that the cards in here are going to see some good play in Commander and guaranteed much more fun now that Leovold is banned. I hope youāve enjoyed this 2 part article series so far! As Iām guaranteed to do this for upcoming sets/releases of new products. Stay tuned for the next article, until next time!
