Edge of Eternities releases August 1, with pre-releases through July 25-31. You could grab one of the new Commander decks World Shaper or Counter Intelligence if you’re on Landfall or Charge Counters with a space-theme, but otherwise, here are the best new cards to look out for.
EDGE OF ETERNITIES COMMANDER: BEST NEW CARDS
Of the four Commanders on offer, I feel like Hearthhull, the Worldseed has the most potential. For all intents and purposes, it’s Jund (red, black and green) Shorikai. Shorikai is one of the best Azorious vehicles Commanders due to such easy access to card draw, and as long as you can fish lands out of your yard and play extra ones, Hearthhull is in a similar space.
What’s more, it comes stapled to an easier win condition than Shorikai could hope for. Nahiri’s Lithoforming, Scapeshift, Zuran Orb… take your pick, and go to town.
Patrolling Peacemaker is kinda wild. You get to proliferate every time an opponent commits a crime? This is a kingly gift for Superfriends decks, let’s be honest. People are gonna be point removal at your Atraxa, right? Well, now you get a little proliferate as commiserations. It will also trigger if they hassle each other, meaning your deck can quickly catch up to the crowd.
It’s also neat that the Peacemaker itself grows as you proliferate. Might even be good in Sagas decks.
Depthshaker Titan is basically the red version of Cyberdrive Awakener. Instead of getting flyers, you get 3/3s with trample, haste, and – crucially – melee. This turns them into potential 6/6s, which is pretty nutty. It’s about time that red got an equivalent win con that isn’t an Insurrection or burn.
Long-Range Sensor is best compared to something like Tome of Legends, which a lot of RW decks still cling to as card draw. For a mana more, you get to start scanning further ahead. That long-range scanning is present in the gameplay of Discover 4. To get these each turn, you simply need to attack two people, or take two combats, or proliferate, or play Windcrag Siege, Isshin or Wulfgar. If you can get more counters on, you can go again.
Discover 4 is so much better than drawing a card – it’s similar to why Monumental Henge is better than War Room.
I love Planetary Annihilation and what it represents – which is Wizards experimenting with ways to punish big ramp decks without screwing everyone else. At five mana, 6 damage is pretty respectable. Six lands is more than enough for everybody to still play the game.
Exploration Broodship (or Exploration Bobbyship as it’s known in my community) is a sweet exploration effect on an artifact. At the same mana cost, it’s much more accessible, which is great. It also comes with upside later on down the road: the ability to cast cards from the yard. The Station cost isn’t so steep, either, at just 8 charge counters. Green decks won’t have any issues.
Moxite Refinery is a pretty sweet synergy piece for counters decks. It’s a lot easier to generate counters on some permanents than others, and so being able to redistribute them in partial amounts (without relying on dumping them all on the Ozolith when stuff dies) unlocks some nice gameplay synergies.
Surge Conductor is kinda cracked, right? Modular decks are eating good with this one. Zabraz, the Glimmerwasp anyone? That aside, it’s clear there are enough artifact decks that don’t give a damn about charge counters to want to run this. Especially those that use Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge as a win condition.
The Boros lands are arguably the most exciting lands on offer in these precons, as Boros has hungered for more dual-type lands to fetch while using its Boros Advantage Engine cards. This helps dramatically with Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Emeria Shepherd, and Knight of the White Orchid and other effects that grab a “Plains”.
That said, the Golgari ones aren’t nothing. More lands for Cabal Coffers, and for Wood Elves and Three Visits to grab, is always a win.
END STEP
The Edge of Eternities precons hold some nice little gems even if you’re not into either of the themes enough to grab a deck. If you are, though, then it’s safe to say that these are some sweet new shells for fun archetypes.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.