This week, we were given a leak of the five face commanders for the Secrets of Strixhaven decks, and it’s the five characters we know, in the color pairs that are both doing it different yet can still feel the same. We don’t know the stated theme of the decks, and we don’t know what’s in the decks, but the reveal has already caused some spikes and now I want to look at some potential includes.
Generally speaking, I’d want to wait for the decks to come out before buying, but you may proceed with caution. Reprints aren’t impossible, and even if you have a fancy version, the players might not come out to get your shiny copy. (case in point: foil Flourishing Defenses)
Let’s talk about some Commanders!
Dina, Essence Brewer
Sacrifice! Counters! Black and green does its thing! You can build around either ability and have a grand time.
Kami of Whispered Hopes (promo foil $8) – The Kami both gives you more counters and is a really great target for those counters from Dina’s ability. Should be high on the inclusion list.
Ophiomancer (mh3 foil $1.50) – When you’re doing a lot of sacrificing, you want lots of fodder, and ol’ Ophio has always been great at that.
Erebos, Bleak-Hearted (Showcase foil $4.50) – Another card that complements Dina nicely, allowing you to get the extra card every time, and Dina’s ability offsets the life loss.
Branching Evolution (PIP EA Surge $13) – If you’re doing the counters thing, do it more.
The Earth Crystal (Borderless Foil $16) – Your deck might have more black cards, but it’s likely you’ll want the bonus counters no matter what.
Commander Planeswalker! Let’s go looking at the passive, because the Spirits don’t get haste, nor do they keep the abilities. Plus there aren’t a lot of good RW spirits to build around.
Quintorious, Loremaster (MAT special foil $0.50) – There’s a boatload of these on TCGPlayer, and I’m not sure the commander is good enough to get people excited. However, there might be a brick play here, buying them up for two bits and selling to a buylist for $1.50 each.
Squee, Goblin Nabob (MYB2 foil $20) – There’s a Secret Lair foil from the advent calendar that you might want instead, but the Future Sight frame is cool and much, much rarer. Squee is a great setup card for QHC if it stays in play, which is not a given.
Containment Construct (NEO foil $2) – If you’re discarding with the ability, why not get the token too?
Emeria, the Sky Ruin (nonfoils $19) – If you can get enough plains, you get the creature back plus a token!
Sephiroth, Fallen Hero (EA $4) – Make tokens, modify the tokens, keep the loop going. I don’t need much excuse to spec on Final Fantasy cards, either.
Any Phoenix, any Disturb card, any Escape card, all of these do the thing that Quintorious wants to do, so take your pick.
I have a Zaxara deck, so I’m well used to broken X spells. To start, you’re going to want lots of +1/+1 counter enablers, but the real meat of the deck is sweet X spells.
Elementalist’s Palette (EA $5) – I’m hoping for a sweet foil version of this card soon, as if you get it to trigger twice, it gets out of hand real fast.
Unbound Flourishing (SLD foil $15) – Really, all of Calling All Hydra Heads is tempting, but this is the best card for Zimone out of the Lair.
Springleaf Parade (EA $6) – James clued me in to this card, and it does so much that you want to do. X spells often make tokens, and now you get mana out of them!
Doppelgang (FEA $1.50) – It’s a ridiculous mana cost, but this can do things no other card can do. Remember you only get to keep one copy if you pick a legendary creature.
Sporoocyst (Surge Foil $8) – One thing about these decks is that they are super hungry for mana. Getting even two lands off of this is a big help.
Nexos (regular $5) – These and the Surge Foil got bought out hard when Zimone was spoiled, so there might not be a lot of profit left, but if the deck takes off this is an absolutely absurd card.
Killian will play very similar to Eriette of the Charmed Apple, and we’ve already seen Nurgle’s Rot spike thanks to the new Killian. However, you want to do two things: replay enchantments and have creatures attack with your enchantments on them. It’s plenty possible for you to focus on one aspect of the other, but really, Eriette does it much better. Killian gives one goad trigger, and then maybe you can get something good going on your side too.
Gift of Immortality (pack foil $14) – This should be a top include for Killian, letting you put the commander and the enchantment into play over and over again. There’s a moment of vulnerability, but exile removal will also make you sad, so you won’t get away with it too much.
Greater Auramancy (WOT anime nonfoil $23) – I think the foils at $60 are tempting, and it won’t take much to move the confetti foils up a good bit, but I am staking a claim on these giving you the best return. It’s pretty easy to imagine these going to $50, whereas the foil doubling to $100 or the confetti hitting $200 is much more difficult.
Eye of Nidhogg (FEA $2) – There’s a lot of enchantments that give a creature goaded status, and those are all worthy includes, but this one keeps coming back, giving you more cards! Plus there’s not all that many copies on TCG.
Rootha is a tough sell. There’s a lot of cards that will give you tokens for casting a spell, like Chrome Host Seedshark or Manaform Hellkite. Rootha has to be in play at the beginning of combat, with the spell already cast this turn. Casting more than one doesn’t even help you, as you only get one token.
Arcane Bombardment (FEA $6) – It’s convoluted, but it’s got a lot of potential.
Fires of Invention (FEA $2) – I don’t think a lot of Commander players are willing to give up playing on opponents’ turns, but there’s not a lot of cheap ways to start casting spells for free.
Galvanoth (pack foil $1) – Really the perfect complement to Rootha, giving you freebies all over the place.
River Song’s Diary (FEA Surge $3.50) – Someone bought a dozen of these this week, and I think it’s related to Rootha because it’s pretty easy to set up.
Submerge (The List nonfoils $3.50) – Have Rootha in play, cast free spell, attack for 5 flying. Seems good.
Big Score/Pirate’s Pillage/Unexpected Windfall (bulk) – Three cards that do the same thing, but you need six mana. Cast the spell, get treasures, cast the commander, get a 4/4 flying haste. Not terrible.
Again, these are all specs that could be good, but I want to wait till the decklists are revealed before going deep. Happy building!
Cliff (@WordOfCommander at Twitter and BlueSky) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the co-host of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at an event and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.
