Locations
Hello happy Commander fans! I hope that your day is going super mega well! Today I want to take a looksee at Commanders that I don't like to get flipped over. This is a direct sequel to last week's good Commanders to play against. You can find it here (Commanders You Don't Mind Playing Against | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)). Try some fun things there!
Today are the bad ones that dominate or play unfairly. Please note that this is not an objective list, just my opinion. Your milage in play may vary. Ready?
#13. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Alright happy folks, let's turn to Esper life gain matters, normally Orzhov/Golgari/Selesnya colored but we add Blue for counters. In your upkeep you'll gain two life and then each time you gain life you can spend a mana to shoot your foes and draw a card. Life gain, card draw and winning all in one card! What puts this over the edge is the fact that you can gain that upkeep life when he's in your Command Zone too! If you answer him or never cast him, you'll gain tons of life that you cannot shut down. That's why he's here, you can stop him but he'll break your face in.
#12. Urza, Lord High Artificer
The next is the designed to break Modern dork that costs four, has a smaller 1/4 body and then ETBs with a win con in size of your artifacts in artifact token form with the ability to ramp by tapping your artifacts for Blue mana and then that mana can be spend on anything, not just artifacts and you can spend five mana to cast free stuff, nasty little kill, free stuff, ramping powerhouse which people don't fill around nicely and I hate to see abused.
#11. Mizzix of the Izmagnus
This four drop Izzet colored 2/2 Spellslinger adorer is next. That's an archetype where you cast instants and sorceries and trigger things like Guttersnipe and Young Pyromancer for stuff. I don't dislike the archetype, as long as you can kill the small win con numbers in the brew you can handle it. But this is different. When you cast a mana spell in your archetype more than your experience counter count you'll get one, and your spells you are built around cost that much fewer. Since you can answer this and keep your experience counters, this remains a powerhouse and then keeps on growing. It's a nasty game enabling experience unfounded experience. Get me a regular one instead.
#10. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV AND Teferi, Temporal Archmage
 |  |
Now let's turn to these two Blue colored tempo hating stuff. I hate playing against Commanders that encourage Winter Orb and Stasis. The four drop 2/3 Azorius one will force your foes to cast more stuff for a mana each, and then your Azorius colored stuff one fewer. Taxes aren't great here. The planeswalker costs six, for an okay 5 loyalty, and +1s to draw one from your top two and then -1s to untap four permanents like lands for Stasis or stuff. I like neither of these right now. They aren't fun to play against, if you are going to win slowly, at least have the courtesy of letting me play the game.
#9. Omnath, Locus of Creation
Everyone's choice for the most dominant take on Omnath is next!!! The first three were okay, the 5th one fine too, but this four drop four color landfall friend is nasty. The first time you drop that land you gain life, the 2nd you make mana, the 3rd you smash each foe for four damage. Then you draw a card when it ETbs, so even if answered immediately, you'll not be down a card. Ramp and life again and win con in one thing this easy and in all of the abusable colors and protection like Heroic Intervention and Counterspell is nasty good. If you haven't experienced this nasty leader at the kitchen table leading an opposing Commander deck, count your stars.
#8. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Hello Dragon Jund fans of sac decks! I've got you covered with this five drop 4/4 flyer. When this ETBs or attacks, you'll sac another permanent from tokens like Treasure and Goblins to mana rocks and more. Then when you sac stuff, you'll draw a card each time. No once/turn breaks there! You'll also make this bigger with a +1/+1 counter to improve its size. Get your swing on all up and down, and draw all over town! This King is a big value engine. He can dominate the board and draw an epic amount of cards too while at it.
#7. Uril, the Miststalker
This is a rough piece to deal with, not because it's in Aura loving which is card disadvantage, but the hexproof that prevents any interaction. This five drop 5/5 on curve Naya colored dork gets bigger as more Auras are added in size, and that's card disadvantage if you kill it, but not without jumping through some targeted restrictions first, and you can Edict them, but they'll sac another dork, or Damnation the board, but respond with Heroic Intervention or just give it an indestructible Aura. It's rough to answer and grows fast. It's wrong.
#6. Edgar Markov
Inaddition to Experience counters being hard to answer with killing the Commander or Oloro's life gain from the Command Zone is the annoyance that is eminence! This three color Vampire lover costs 6 for a 4/4 body with first strike and haste too, but when in the Command Zone or outside your casts of Vampire stuff make free 1/1 Vampire tokens. Then when he swings, you can grow the Vampire team fast and fat. No one likes how eminence abuses Commanders. This is the last one without free stuff attached.
#5. The Ur-Dragon
Top Five time! This five color Dragon loving 9 drop is next, with a powerful 10/10 evasive body. It has eminence too, this time to drop their casting cost by one, and then an attack trigger to draw a ton of cards equal to your Dragon attackers and drop one for free. Note what you free drop doesn't have to be a Dragon, it can be any permanent from lands to planeswalkers. So, you can drop Omniscience and friends. It's nasty for the nasty wins. Get another Dragon enabler that isn't broken from last week.
#4. Kaalia of the Vast
The first Commander deck had new stuff designed for the format, this is the worst Commander. This four drop 2/2 with flying has an attack trigger and in the color of red for haste like Hammer of Purphoros. Then you put an attacking tapped dork from one of her three tribes in her colors of Dragon (red), Demon (Black) and Angel (White). Free big high power stuff that's attacking has made her loathed in Commander. Don't run her. Run the other Kaalia that's much nicer.
#3. Narset, Enlightened Masterr
This six mana three color 3/2 first strike is next. Narset combines the worst things about Kaalia and Uril in one Commander. She has hexproof making her hard to answer and an attack trigger for free stuff like Kaalia and then she's also in red for haste. Her attack trigger is much worse with you casting any of the top four cards of your library that were not dorks. For free. Omniscience? Time Warp?? Expropriate??? She is not good!!!! The only issue here is that she casts six mana, not easy to do outside of Green, but she's in White, one of the lesser colors of ramp, so if she's answered or countered you might make her very rough to recast with Command Tax. I do enjoy her planeswalker versions better.
#2. Zur the Enchanter
The worst Commander to flip over that was printed for a Standard legal set is this free stuff old school Esper colored 1/4 flying attacker. When this attacks, like the last two, free stuff happens. This time, instead of from your hand or the top of your library you can order a Tutor from your library of the best cheap enchantment and drop to the battlefield, not into your hand. Now to be fair I do run a creatureless Zur deck designed for higher table play for punishing nasty players here (Zur's Overburdening Commander Deck | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)).
#1. Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Our last card and made for Commander is next! This four drop Golgari colored 3/4 is next with an experience counter trigger for each dork you control dies. Note there is no nontoken word there, so your Zombie tokens dying will net them to you too. Like we saw with Mizzix, this is hard to answer since if you kill her, you can recast her, and she is in Cabal Coffers and Rampant Growth colors so you have the mana. Then in your end step she'll trigger and then bring back, for free, any dork to the battlefield for free if its cost was equal to or less than your counter count. If it's too pricey, you can just Raise Dead it to your hand instead. Meren of Clan Nel Broken is just too good for most playgroups. Please, don't run her, thanks!!!
So, what did you think of my list of overpowered, annoying, and hard to answer things that I don't like seeing flipped over? Thanks for reading!!!
