Double Masters 2022: EDH Reprint Review

Kristen GregoryCommander

Kristen takes us through the most impactful EDH reprints from Double Masters 2022. Find out the best Commander cards to add to your collection from this reprint set.

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: EDH REVIEW

Double Masters 2022, or 2X2, is upon us. Whilst there is still a lot to be excited about with Battle for Baldur’s Gate, 2X2 is bringing the reprint A-game. The set is crammed with powerful Commander reprints, with something for everyone—whether casual or competitive. 

Today I’d like to cover the most impactful reprints in the set—the ones that’ll get you excited to pick up some singles or crack some packs. This’ll be a review of those cards in particular.

You can find other recent set reviews here:

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: WHITE

Kicking things off—and you’d best hope it’s not kicking you—is Emiel, the Blessed. Emiel ain’t got time for horsing around: it’s a blink powerhouse, and a card frustratingly only found in JumpStart boosters until today. It slots right into Bant flicker decks, and helms just as many. It’s not hard to make Emiel combo, either, given the {3} generic mana cost to blink a creature. A solid reprint, and one that is worth a look. 

Next up, two of what could be argued to be the quintessential white staples for the format: Smothering Tithe and Teferi’s Protection. Smothering Tithe is one of the best ways to ramp in white, and gets downright silly when you throw in a wheel or two. In fact, that’s one of my favorite things to do in Boros, before spending all the mana on a cheeky Ascend from Avernus. It never gets old!

Teferi’s Protection is white’s premier protection spell, and for good reason—it’ll stop any number of shenanigans from screwing with you, and, combined with a wrath effect, can be a great way to make things asymmetrical. I wish I had enough of these for every deck, and maybe 2X2 can answer that wish.

Path to Exile is always creeping up, as is Swords to Plowshares, and for good reason. They’re just that good. Seeing a reprint here is excellent, and hopefully brings the card back down from $5. Path is a great removal option, and gets better when playing new format allstarts Deep Gnome Terramancer and Archivist of Oghma.

Weathered Wayfarer is annoyingly expensive for such a useful dork, and this reprint into black border should help the price stabilize a bit better. Wayfarer rewards being in white and playing catchup by letting you search for any land you like. That’s right – it gets Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Maze of Ith, Ghost Quarter… absolutely anything you like. It’s a card I like to play in Orzhov a lot, and works great in the likes of Tameshi, Reality Architect too.

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: BLUE

So while we’re on the topic of widely played cards, let’s consider Consecrated Sphinx. This groan-inducing little creature will get you two things: more cards than you know what to do with, and the ire of the table. Most players will never let this thing stick, and for good reason. It’ll draw you So. Many. Cards. 

Double Masters 2 gives us not one, but two format all-star counterspells in Force of Negation and Mana Drain. Whilst both are more competitive than casual, Mana Drain at least still sees a good amount of casual play. More of these counterspells in circulation is not exactly what the Boros-mage in me wants to see, but it’s still a great thing for making high-level play more accessible. If you want to play cEDH, you should pick these up. 

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: BLACK

I’m beginning to sense a pattern here: killer reprints in the mythic slot. What this effectively means is that prices will come down in the short term, but will likely climb again once the set goes out of print. If you’re wanting to play any number of token/aristocrat decks, then you’ll want a copy of Bitterblossom; it’s the best way to make free tokens every turn. Imperial Seal is another reprint aimed primarily at cEDH environments, and one that is much welcomed by those who play at the highest level of Commander. As with Mana Drain and Force of Negation, now’s the chance to buy into the format.

There are some solid reprints outside of mythic, though. Damnation is always expensive, and every time it sees a reprint is a welcome relief. Likewise, Gravecrawler was in desperate need of a reprint. Not reprinted outside of Mystery Booster and Secret Lairs, this combo piece has steadily crawled up in price. Gravecrawler is excellent in EDH artistocrat and zombie decks, and features as a further upgrade in our Midnight Hunt Undead Unleashed Upgrade guide.

If you’ve ever wanted to circumvent the Commander singleton rule, Shadowborn Apostle was always the more expensive way to do so. It hasn’t seen a reprint thus far, and so you’ve probably been stuck with the cheaper rat versions such as Relentless Rats. While foils of this won’t be as pricey as their Magic 2014 counterparts, it might be an idea to sweep up a few sooner rather than later if that’s your jam. 

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: RED

There’s less in 2X2 for red than the other colors, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. Dockside Extortionist, like it or hate it, is a big part of the format. A reprint is just what the doctor ordered, and getting a cool Ixalan version is honestly pretty dope. Like many mythics in the set, this won’t be opened as much as you’d hope, so good luck opening your packs.

Warrior’s Oath is a card you didn’t know you wanted until you saw it. It’s one of those sneaky cards that wins games out of nowhere.

It’s also worth noting that you can pop this in a Neheb the Eternal, Krenko, Mob Boss or similar all-in style red deck to give yourself the extra turn you need to win the game. 

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: GREEN

Not content to let the other colors have all the in-demand mythics, Green gets in on the action too. Allosaurus Shepherd is a key role player in Elf tribal decks… at least, in theory, for most players. Much like Emiel, it had only seen a printing in JumpStart up until now. I’m sure I don’t need to explain why a one-drop with multiple paragraphs of text is good, but just in case you hadn’t grokked the card: it makes your elves uncounterable, it can’t be countered itself, and eventually it has a way to pump the team. If you have an elf deck, it’s worth a look. 

The other two green mythics worth shouting about are cards that had as yet not had meaningful reprints: Concordant Crossroads, and Food Chain. Both cards might seem a little hard to justify on face value, but both get way better when you consider their roles as combo pieces. Concordant Crossroads enables infinite token generation that isn’t Kikki-Jikki based to slam in for combat damage wins before having to untap again, with the most popular Commander that uses it being Siona, Captain of the Pyleas with the Shielded by Faith combo. Food Chain is a mainstay or Prossh, Skyraider of Kher decks, where it gained infamy. It can also be used with other creatures though, notably Misthollow Griffin and Eternal Scourge which can be cast from exile.

Green has some other big reprints here, with Bloom Tender leading the pack. It’s a card that sees play in plenty of multicolor decks that have 3+ colors of mana, and a cube staple too. If you’re building the likes of Samut, Voice of Dissent, Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, or five-color Niv Mizzet, this is a card you’ll enjoy having access to. 

Oracle of Mul Daya, likewise, is a landfall adjacent card, and one of many in the landfall category that tend to make that kind of deck expensive to put together. It’s also a great way to ramp and see more cards, and it’s always in need of a reprint. This is another slam dunk reprint.

Closing out green is Green Sun’s Zenith. GSZ lets you put a toolbox of useful green creatures into your deck: you can put in Dryad Arbor to ramp for one mana. You can add Reclamation Sage, or Bane of Progress, or Questing Beast. And more importantly? This thing goes and gets Craterhoof Behemoth. It’s a solid all-rounder and one to pick up if you don’t own one already. 

DOUBLE MASTERS 2022: MULTICOLOR

There are a lot of multicolor cards in 2X2, which is to be expected seeing as it’s a shard based set. That said, many of them are of cards that won’t rock your world. There are, however, some absolutely solid reprints. 

First up in the removal department are Anguished Unmaking and Assassin’s Trophy. Both see near universal play in Commander, owing to their being best-in-slot options to deal with pretty much anything a game throws at you. Good interaction being available for all players is key to having a healthy format, and so reprinting this kind of removal is always a big win in my book. 

Aurelia, the Warleader is a huge reprint. She’d been creeping up steadily despite the Ravnica Guild Kit reprint, not least because of how many combat-centric decks love repeatable extra combats. Isshin is one such deck that has a big demand for Aurelia, and so this is a solid reprint. Aurelia is one of my favorite Commanders to build around, and she excels leading Boros decks that want to attack, often more than specific Commanders. Duke Ulder Ravengard, for example, is probably less good as a Myriad Commander than Aurelia. She also combos nicely with both Helm of the Host and Sword of Hearth and Home from the Command Zone, which is nothing to sniff at. 

Two Selesnya powerhouses that needed reprints arrive in 2X2: Dragonlord Dromoka and Privileged Position. The former is a curve topper and role-player in decks as varied as Captain Sisay, The Ur-Dragon, Sigarda, Host of Herons and Lathiel. The Grand Arbiter effect is powerful and one I always want to have, and I can’t wait to pick up this reprint for my Sigarda Auras deck. Privileged Position is an enchantress mainstay, and one that is very popular with casual players. If you have both this and Greater Auramancy in play, your pillowfort can only be picked apart by sweepers. 

Elenda got a lot more powerful after the Commander dies rule change, and became a popular Commander in her own right. She can make a boatload of tokens, and sees play in both tokens builds and vampire tribal builds. I particularly like her in Orzhov-based Edgar decks that can use +1/+1 counters in interesting ways. Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter and Retribution of the Ancients do a lot of work in conjunction with Elenda and Blade of the Bloodchief. 

I recently opined on board wipes and their place in the game, and my general rule is that they should either be cheap (sub-three mana) or asymmetrical (truly, or through modality). While Supreme Verdict is neither of those, it’s still a game winning wrath because of the particular text: This spell can’t be countered. Board wipes have to be one of the most countered spells I’ve seen in most games, and being able to push one through is invaluable. 

Of the many multicolor commanders reprinted in the set, Uril, the Miststalker is the one that excites me the most. It hasn’t had a meaningful reprint before, and auras have increased in popularity over recent sets with Chishiro’s precon and the new Mazzy from Battle for Baldur’s Gate offering novel takes on the concept. I actually suggested Uril as an upgrade route for the Kamigawa Aura precon back in February, which is kinda funny. 

DOUBLE MASTERS 2: ARTIFACTS & LANDS

We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to equipment in 2X2. Bloodforged Battleaxe and Conqueror’s Flail had thus far been Commander precon-only printings, and with so much power locked behind them, it’s been rough to get a hold of copies. Battle-Axe gets out of control quickly, while Flail is used primarily in decks that want to combo, but is still good in decks that just want to attack uninterrupted. Nim Deathmantle is a pretty fun combo piece, and it’s good to see it reprinted here too. You’ll find it most commonly alongside Ashnod’s Altar. 

The artifacts in this set are all home runs, to be honest. Crucible of Worlds never stays down, and is at home in countless EDH decks, especially those that like landfall. If you’re picking up Oracle of Mul Daya, you’re picking up this. Mana Vault is another of those high power to competitive bracket cards, giving a burst of mana. It’s not for every deck, but again, a solid reprint for those wanting to play some high powered Magic. 

What I’m most excited about, however, is Phyrexian Altar. This thing is super useful, and at home in such a wide variety of combos that it’s no surprise it’s so expensive to pick up. A reprint here is exciting, and I’ll be grabbing a couple in all honesty. There are 845 combos to choose from on Commander Spellbook—go knock yourself out. 

Another combo piece, Sensei’s Divining Top is in similar need of a reprint. Combo pieces that are efficient and easy to pull off should always be available, and whether you’re cost reducing this with Etherium Sculptor or Ugin, the Ineffable, and using Elsha of the Infinite or Mystic Forge, you can use this to draw your deck. Outside of that, it’s great with fetchlands and other shuffle effects to see more cards. 

If you’re picking up Shadowborne Apostles, you’re probably picking this up – though that’s not to say there aren’t other decks for Thrumming Stone. They just all tend to involve breaking the singleton rule.

Panharmonicon is a great value piece that’s used in any number of decks to get extra value from EtBs. It doesn’t matter if you’re Yarok or just Boros value, this thing can give you a lot of extra bang for your buck. 

Lots of people love Vedalken Orrery. Most of the time, I see it as a great way to take a turn off not doing anything to only get blown out by removal. Your mileage may vary, of course, but just bear in mind that there’s a reason this card is so infamous. It’s gonna get hated off the board. Still, it does excel in certain archetypes. 

Last but not least are the lands. We just got Reflecting Pool in Battle for Baldur’s Gate, and now it’s time to get the rest. Tapping for any color of mana is excellent, and lots of decks want to be able to do it. City of Brass is effectively another Mana Confluence, except if someone taps it down you take damage whether you tap it for mana or not. Forbidden Orchard might seem like a downside, but for many decks—including Massacre Girl—its a big upside. 

Cavern of Souls is the biggest reprint here, and if you’re playing in metagames with lots of blue decks, you’re sure to want it. I added one to Aurelia when I got fed up of her getting countered, and more than one of you will have gone on that journey too. It’s just nice to resolve a creature, right?

Double Masters 2 is a solid reprint set. Many are heralding it as “Commander Masters”, and it’s hard to argue with that moniker, given there are so many great reprints. I hope this article has highlighted the ones that should be on your radar. I’ll catch up with you again to review Dominaria United later this year.