5 Underrated Commander Cards in Alara Reborn

Alara was designed as a multi-color matters block that was especially focused on the three-color shards. Alara Block is even where we get the shorthand names for each of the three color shards: Bant (Green-White-Blue), Grixis (Blue-Black-Red), Esper (White-Blue-Black), Jund (Black-Green-Red), and Naya (White-Red-Green).

The third and final set in the block – Alara Reborn – takes this multi-color focus to the extreme. This is because every single card in the set is multicolored! This is one of the most intense gimmicks ever, right up there with Legions, a set where every card is a creature.

Alara Reborn has played a big role in Commander. The set featured a cycle of three-color legendary creatures that over the history of the format have been some of the most popular Commanders. Of that cycle, Sen Triplets and Uril, the Miststalker have really stood the test of time, as they are still quite popular today.

However, Alara Reborn has more to offer than a cycle of powerful three-color legendary creatures. And in this article, I’ll take a look at 5 cards from the set that are criminally overlooked.

DEFILER OF SOULS

Given Alara Reborn’s obsession with multicolor, it should come as no surprise that the set features some cards that punish mono-colored cards. That’s certainly the case with Defiler of Souls, which forces each player to sacrifice a monocolored creature during their upkeep. This is incredibly powerful in most situations, as most players are likely to have to give up a creature during most upkeeps.

While the effect is symmetrical, it does impact your opponents first. And, if you’re playing a deck that is predominately multicolored you won’t have to worry about the Defiler affecting you at all. The Defiler also works quite nicely if you’re playing a deck that is more than happy to sacrifice permanents for value, too. And there are tons of Rakdos decks that are all about that.

Perhaps the most interesting home for the Defiler is in a Raphael, Fiendish Savior deck. Raphael buffs the Defiler, likes it when your creatures die, and makes monocolored tokens that ping something when they die. All of that lines up perfectly with Defiler of Souls.

SAGES OF THE ANIMA

Sages of the Anima has some serious potential. It effectively makes sure you always draw a creature when you draw a card, and even has the potential to draw you extra cards.

There are two problems here, though. First, there’s the fact that the Sages’ replacement effect isn’t a “may” ability. You have to draw cards the way it wants you to and there’s no other choice. So if you’d ever like to draw something that isn’t a creature, you’re out of luck. Second, if you whiff on creatures in your top three cards you don’t get to draw a card at all.

So the Sages do need to be played in just the right deck. Preferably one with a very high creature density where it’s virtually impossible to whiff and you have a great chance at drawing more than one card at a time.

I think Maelstrom Wanderer is a perfect fit. This is because the Wanderer wants you to jam as many creatures as possible into the deck so you can take advantage of Haste and because Cascade helps you get around the Sages’ downside. While you may only be able to draw creatures, you can Cascade into anything.

FIGHT TO THE DEATH

Fight to the Death is a little bit narrow, but it’s also really cheap for a spell that can have an absolutely massive impact on the game. It’s particularly useful in Commander too, since you can easily find ways to use it where it doesn’t affect you at all – but it wrecks two other players. 

You can make this even more likely if you use Fight to the Death in a Goad deck, since you can make sure one opponent attacks one of your other opponents.

This makes Fight to the Death particularly useful if your commander is Marisi, Breaker of the Coil. With that legendary cat as your Commander, it won’t be too hard for you to goad all of one opponent’s creatures. This will truly allow you to set up a Fight to the Death for two of your opponents.

SOVEREIGNS OF LOST ALARA

Of the cards in today’s article, it surprised me the most that Sovereigns of Lost Alara is seeing so little play. Tutoring up an Aura directly to the battlefield and slapping it on one of your creature’s for free has some pretty insane potential. 

While it’s true that the Sovereigns don’t have the most impressive stat-line, it doesn’t matter all that much. This is because the turn you play them, you can attack with a lone creature and immediately grab something insane.

For example, if you’re looking for tons of damage you can get Eldrazi Conscription. And if you’re looking to protect your creature, you can get Timely Ward. If you’re looking to build out your board, you can get Pollenbright Wings. And the list goes on and on. If you’re playing an Aura deck, you should 100% be playing Sovereigns of Lost Alara.

While I think the Sovereigns are great in a wide swath of decks, I think the most natural home for the Sovereigns is alongside Rafiq of the Many. He also comes packing exalted and gives double strike to creatures who attack alone. He also makes for a great Voltron Commander because he can hit so hard. This will be even more true when you’re slapping the best Aura in your deck on him when he attacks.

WARGATE

Tutors are incredibly important in a singleton format like Commander. They make assembling combos easier, and they can also help you find you a card that can bail you out of a dire situation. That’s why it surprises me that Wargate is seeing so little play.

It’s a little bit clunky to be sure, but Wargate is one of the most flexible tutors in the entire game. This is because it can tutor up a card with any permanent type and put it directly on the battlefield. The only other cards in Magic that can do this are Planar Bridge and Tezzeret, Artifice Master. And in the case of the latter, he can only do it when he gets to 9 loyalty and makes an emblem.

While it’s true that you can’t just throw Wargate into any Bant deck, it certainly deserves to be played in more than 2% of them. Most Bant decks are pretty good at generating mana, and if your deck also happens to have any combos on top of that, you should seriously include using Wargate.

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I hope I introduced you to some interesting multicolored cards from Alara Reborn. Do you think there are any cards in Alara Reborn that I left out? Let me know over on X.