Watch yourself pardner – there’s some new Commander precons in town, and they’re lookin’ for trouble wherever it can be found! Outlaws of Thunder Junction has arrived to share its impeccable Weird West aesthetic, and a unique twist on the Commander format. Like fan-favorite Planechase, the new Bounty game modifier adds randomized secondary objectives to the table, which any player …
The Outlaws of Thunder Junction previews have made it very clear: Magic’s newest plane is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Every named bad guy in the history of the game (who isn’t dead or in plane jail) is riding around town, shooting up the new frontier and causing cowboy chaos. The Thunder Junction design team have embraced this …
The Commander format is all about celebrating your favorite cards, with special rules to ensure your chosen commander plays a major role in every game. But what if the card you really want to build around isn’t an eligible Commander choice? Or if it’s an older legendary creature whose rules weren’t designed to work within the special context of the …
Though much maligned in Constructed, the companion mechanic from Ikoria offers Commander players a unique opportunity to both customize and empower their deckbuilding. In return for meeting the right deckbuilding restrictions, we can add a powerful extra card to our command zone – ranging from an extra ramp piece to potential win condition. We explored the Commander potential of the …
Magic has been around for long enough to spin off hundreds of unique mechanics, each with its own unique advantages, dedicated support cards and memorable payoffs. But when you throw them all together in the grand melting pot that is Commander, a few mechanics clearly stand out from the pack. They offer versatile deck building options, consistent performance in different …
Recently, I’ve used this blog to examine some of Commander’s most powerful and fearsome strategies. Building your deck around mechanics like treasure, cascade, or looting unlocks lines of play which are so good, they’re almost unfair. But isn’t that the natural conclusion of the multiplayer metagame? How do you win a fair fight when you effectively have to beat three …
The big design challenge for Universes Beyond: Fallout is how to adapt such a sprawling, storied franchise into just four Commander precons. Wizards seems to have based each deck on one of the Wasteland’s largest and most recognizable factions, and then added other characters and references from the games which share a similar ideology. The Hail, Caesar precon deck is, …
Magic has been around for long enough to spin off hundreds of unique mechanics, each with its own unique advantages, dedicated support cards and memorable payoffs. But when you throw them all together in the grand melting pot that is Commander, a few mechanics clearly stand out from the pack. They offer versatile deck building options, consistent performance in different …
Ah, it feels good to be back in Ravnica again for a new set. Murders at Karlov Manor combines the hybrid color creativity we’re used to with all sorts of detective-story antics, and even a bit of crime noir borrowed from New Capenna. That Capennan influence is also felt in the draft format, with many mechanics that complicate blocking and …
Anyone who’s seen enough spy movies or political dramas has heard the line: war is brutal, but it’s good for business. War allows you to capture territory, resources or valuables from your enemy as spoils of victory, and as history’s oldest jobs program it often sparks a boom in national economies. This thinking doesn’t typically apply to Magic, where combat …
