Pro Tour Final Fantasy took place June 20-22 in Las Vegas, and aside from the huge news of Ken Yukuhiro taking it down with Mono-Red, we also got news of a Commander Rules Change which basically lets you use Legendary Vehicles as Commanders.
This rules change was brought about to help make a new type of card work from the Command Zone. That card type is the Spacecraft of Edge of Eternities. Before we get into that, let’s unpack the rules change.
COMMANDER RULES CHANGE
In effect, the Commander Rules Change is that:
“Anything with a P/T (Power and Toughness Box) on its front face is eligible to be your Commander.”
This change was put together in advance of the new set Edge of Eternities, which sees the flagships and starships with the subtype Spacecraft as being able to be made into a creature by Stationing them. The work on this was started previously by the Rules Committee, and later worked on by the Commander Format Panel. Starting with Edge of Eternities, Spacecraft and Legendary Vehicles can be your Commander.
This rules change means that retroactively, all Legendary Vehicles are now able to be Commanders too. So, you can have Parhelion II or The Last Ride as your Commander.
Most of the Commander Format Panel were in agreement with how this was implemented, and on a personal note, I am among that number who thinks the rules change was a good way to do it. I’m pretty opposed to having Planeswalkers in the Command Zone, for instance – even if I think thematically they might fit even better than Flagships and other Legendary Vehicles.
Why Are We Changing the Rules of Commander with Edge of Eternities?? | Magic Vehicles & Spacecraft
If you want to hear a bit more about the rules change, and the process, Gavin put a great video up on his channel, Good Morning Magic. For now, though – let’s look at Spacecraft!
CREW YOUR SPACECRAFT WITH NEW MECHANIC: STATION
The first Spacecraft of Edge of Eternities has been previewed, and it’s The Seriema. For three mana, it tutors up a Legendary creature. It stays as an artifact until you can Station it.
Crewing a Spacecraft takes a but more finesse than piloting a smaller vehicle, and as such, Station reflects that difference. At sorcery speed, you may tap a creature you control to put charge counters equal to its power onto the Spacecraft. Once you get to the required number of counters – and in this case, 7+ – it becomes an artifact creature, and gains new abilities. In the case of The Seriema, it grants other tapped legendary creatures indestructible.
So, if they’re attacking, they can attack freely. But also, you can have them Station the Spacecraft to avoid a boardwipe. Neat!
We’re going to assume that there will be far more impressive Legendary Spacecraft than this one, but in the meantime, what does this rule change open up in Commander?
THE BEST VEHICLE COMMANDERS
Well, let’s get one thing out of the way: one of the best Vehicle Commanders is already eligible to be your Commander. Shorikai from Neon Dynasty Commander is hugely popular and very potent, owing largely to the card draw ability it has.
What about the rest? Well, there aren’t currently that many options to even choose from. Under 40 of them, in fact, and a good amount of those are already creatures on the front side, like Cosima, God of the Voyage, or popular Transformers Commanders like Megatron.
Of what remains, we’re already discounting the Colorless cards. The Colorless options are all worse than existing Colorless Commanders, and playing with even one color is going to be better.
IT’S A SHIP, NOT A BOAT
Our first pick was the Jackdaw. Getting to discard your hand and draw as many cards as artifacts you control is intoxicatingly attractive, and being able to build around Affinity, Vehicles and maybe Pirates if you really want to is a great shell for a deck. No longer do you have to use tutors to find your Ship – it’s there ready for you, and waiting in the harbor. I think Jackdaw is probably the strongest of what we have so far, Shorikai aside.
That said, The Belligerent is another strong option. Treasure generation and being able to peel cards off of the top might make for better consistency overall if you’re going down the Pirates & Ships route. You can forgo the heavy affinity that Jackdaw wants to go much deeper on flavorful picks. I’d say this one is best if you want to make a Pirates deck with a Pirate Ship as a Commander.
Izzet Pirates gives you way more options, it’s true, but you could also run mono-blue with The Indomitable. Coastal Piracy in the Command Zone is awesome, and I was a little bummed out that Mu Yangling’s latest card didn’t offer a full Coastal Piracy effect (just one card per opponent hit). The Indomitable might be a great option for “flying men”, or unblockable creatures. Casting from the yard is nice, but the card draw might be enough.
MAKING SACRIFICES
If you want to sacrifice playing two colors, you can opt for some other mono-color options. The Falcon from Final Fantasy Commander lets you loop it and other creatures out of your graveyard. It’s hardly the most exciting pick, but it’s a lot more functional than some of the other options.
RMS Titanic is probably the last of what I’d call a “viable” option. It can connect pretty hard, and make you a lot of treasures. Red has many ways to turn Trash for Treasure, so getting it back into play isn’t the hardest task in the world.
While mono white does have some aesthetically and thematically cool options, I wouldn’t be super excited to be playing them. They’re all pretty expensive for a start, and mono white isn’t the best ramping color. I wouldn’t play with these in the ‘zone, given the choice.
THE BEST VEHICLES COMMANDERS ARE STILL PILOTS
If you’re wanting to do a vehicles typal deck, the best Commanders are probably not vehicles.
Edward Kenway is a great example of this. He makes you a bunch of tapped treasures each turn, lets you play Pirates, Assassins and Vehicles, and gives you card advantage on top. The more I think about this card, the more I’m amazed it does so much.
I SAID PILOTS, NOT PIRATES
I did say Pilots, though, not Pirates – and some of the most popular and consistent Vehicles Commanders are pirates Pilots. Kotori, Kolodin and Greasefang give you Azorius, Boros and Orzhov versions of vehicles, and each give you mana advantage and/or help cheat on crewing.
…TRASH PIRATES?
Okay, back to Pirates for one moment. Trash Pirates, to be exact. Bello, Bard of the Brambles, a Raccoon, might secretly be the best Vehicle Commander this side of Balthier and Fran. You don’t need to worry about crewing as long as you’re happy for your cars and ships to be 4/4s. When you tack on Indestructible and Haste, and card draw, what more could you want? Yeesh.
That said, Balthier and Fran was one of the Commanders I thought was most hype from Final Fantasy, so go check out my round-up for more on that.
END STEP
Vehicles as Commanders is, all in all, a minor change to the rules to allow for some rule-of-cool stuff. It’s far less monumental than allowing Planeswalkers as Commanders, for example. It also opens up the door to other card types and mechanics allowing a card with a P/T box to become a creature once conditions allow.
What do you think? Let us know on socials.
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.