Hello folks!

Commander 2016 is here, and with it a new slate of decks and cards tailor made for the format!

With those new cards comes a lot of options for my own projects, and especially my Commander Cube. Now I just heavily changed it after Kaladesh. My Cube features 1040 cards, and 24 cards from Kaladesh headed in. That is, by far, the biggest swap of cards from any set ever released in the roughly 4 and a half year history of my Cube.

And now just a few weeks later we are looking at Commander 2016 cards as well. From the Kaladesh prerelease changes I made on September 24th though today, we have what is likely the greatest set of changes we’ve ever seen in a six-week period. We have seriously refocused and strengthened this project from every angle.

The major question is about the new four color folks. Now I have intentional draft archetypes for various color combinations that match the leaders in the Cube. Luckily, each of the five new four color standard bearers is something that slides into my Cube already. And that’s a useful enough resource to lean on. Here I’ll show you in order from easiest to slide in to hardest:

Breya, Etherium Shaper

I already have some artifact loving in red with cards like Goblin Welder and Scrap Mastery, as well as the artifact centric archetype in Esper and in Azorius. Plus, I ran a secret red/white/blue one as well for those who wanted to grab it. We run everything from Muzzio, Visionary Architect to Metalworker. In fact, the one thing I fear is that I may have too many artifact leaders and not enough sheep, if that makes sense.

Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice

Because she has a free proliferate stapled onto her, she already works in a lot of different shells. And we already had a heavy counter theme both in Simic with Vorel of the Hull Clade as well as Abzan’s stuff. We were running counter leaders like Mer-EkNightbladeandTuskguard Captain as well as counter-flingers like Forgotten Ancient and Doubling Season. Atraxa fits into there, and the proliferate is sufficiently generic you can use it for planeswalkers, Vivid lands, charge counters for Umezawa’sJitte, -1/-1 counters from various effects, and more. We’ve got it in spades.

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

I don’t need any support for Yidris. I have good cards already. Did you cast a spell? Then you are cascading, congratulations. If you want to get tricky and guarantee a smash, well that’s great! We already run stuff like Whispersilk Cloak and Rogue’s Passage in case you want to get your sneak on.

Saskia the Unyielding

Saskia is a great card too, for many reasons. I already run aggro archetypes in Selesnya, Boros, and a certain Zurgo, Helmsmasher led assault. All of those cards will fit here nicely as well. You can Saskia Smash away!

Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

I’m not impressed by them at all, and if they didn’t give me the “Everything But Black” quartet, I would not be running them. But I don’t have any other choices. Their “Group Hug” identity is to give you a card at the end of your turn for free, and then to let your foes either get a free land on the battlefield or drawing a card. So not only do you have a Howling Mine on a stick, but you also give more options to your foes than you get yourself. That’s not what I’m looking for. And then the generic 2/8 with no other abilities doesn’t strike me. Now I do have two group hug archetypes with Edric, Spymaster of Trest and Zedruuthe Greathearted as two cool options for folks to build around. And our duo here also work with those. Cards in my cube like Temple Bell, Ghirapur Orrery, Veteran Explorer and more are all around.

As you can see, all five work. And I don’t need to pull anything else.

In Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice; Ydris, Maelstrom Wielder; Breya, Etherium Shaper; Saskia the Unyielding; Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

The main question then becomes what to do about the partners. Here’s one option:

Add in one partner of each color combination. You get the five allied pairs, and then the best one of the enemy pairs. Toss them in and see what happens. That would increase your draft options considerably. But some issues might follow.

Here’s let’s take a look at my ten choices:

• BruseTarl, Boorish Herder
• Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
• Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix
• Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist
• Vial Smasher the Fierce
• Tana, the Bloodsower
• Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
• Ravos, Soultender
• Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper

Now that’s the best slate of ten I can do for my Cube’s archetypes. But there’s a real power level difference. Some of these feel pretty boring and tame — like BruseTarl and Ishai. You have some mismatched levels of power going on.

And I am looking at pulling some legendaries for these. As I mentioned above, I have a Selesnya Aggro deck. Who is the intended drafted leader for it? The 6-mana Tolsimir Wolfblood. But would Sidar Kondo be better in that role? Is Vial Smasher the Fierce better than Kaervek the Merciless because of how early it comes down? And there are some gold colors where I could see myself add in both options. Does that mean I have 11 or 12 partners, with some color combinations having more options? That could seriously set off a balance problem.

Another option is to add the 2 or 3 partners I want to run anyway, and then be set.

What is on my radar for swaps?

Skullbriar the Walking Grave is in my Cube, and I think Reyhan, Last of the Abzan would have to be in the conversation for that spot instead.

I feel I have too many Dimir control leaders. I could pull Sygg, River Cutthroat for Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and embrace artifacts more.

Sidar Kondo seems like a good place for a Selesnya leader. He could replace Tolsimir Wolfblood as my leader for Selesnya Aggro, or he could sub in for Dromoka, the Eternal.

For Orzhov, my archetypes are Orzhov control, Orzhov enchantments, Orzhov tokens. Do I need both Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter as my control options? Which is better? Vish Kal also supports the tokens theme by giving you sacrifice outlet. Teysa supports it by making tokens. Vish Kal can fly for at least five damage, often more in the sky, with lifelink, and that’s good. The Envoy of Ghosts just hits for four every turn on the ground, without fail. But the No Mercy she brings is more controllish. And Vish Kal kills creatures which is more controllish. So I am torn. But I think one should pop out, and Ravos, Soultender seems like a good replacement. In fact, I think you could make a good argument to have Ravos pull my Orzhov Token leader (Teysa, Orzhov Scion) and have Tymna the Weaver slide in.

What do I do?

Pull the cards that I am looking at? Or do I do something else instead?

Just make the changes that make sense for right now:

In Vial Smasher the Fierce for Kaervek the Merciless.

I have a “Rakdos Angry to Your Face” archetype and I think the cheaper Vial Smasher is just a much better choice for that role. So Vial Smasher it is!

I like Skullbriar better, because that does not force you into a +1/+1 counter role, unlike Reyhan. You can run Skullbriar in other builds and with other cards.

I keep Sidar Kondo benched for a bit as well

Silas Renn is great. But I think I prefer the raw card drawing Sygg, River Cutthroat to him. And I’m not sure making another color combination have the pro-artifact central concept works. Too many cooks fighting over the same stuff.

In Ravos, Soultender for Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts.

This saddens me, but you have to do it. Vish Kal edges her out. And this can even give Orzhov a bit of a tokens leader or a graveyard game, your call.

With the leaders concluded, what else am I looking at for my Commander Cube?

Ash Barrens

It fits perfectly in a Cube that always needs more mana fixing. There’s very little it can’t do. Should I just add it in straight, like I do for good mana rocks and lands that get released? Or is there a good choice for something else? I recently added Cryptolith Fragment. That got some pause. Why would I add it? Well, it’s like a Mana Confluence for you — lose a life to make any color of mana. So it’s just a City of Brass in mana rock form. But, you can hit everyone else with that damage as well, so it slowly hits the rest of the table. It’s never going to transform, but it’s not in here for that. But I’ve had people not draft it at all, or left it in the sideboard when they need the mana fixing after they grabbed it. While the Fragment has the ability to be useful, it has to many obstacles to get played by others. Ash Barrens is a good replacement.

In Ash Barrens, Out Cryptolith Fragment

Okay, that’s one change. What else works?

Prismatic Geoscope

I think this card has a lot to offer as another mana rock. Sort of like an odd Gilded Lotus that can be better or worse depending on your board state and deck needs. There’s no reason not to run this. The problem with adding in artifacts is that I recently just pulled all of my lower performing artifacts for vehicles and great options from Kaladesh. So there’s no obvious pull as nothing is underperforming. Now I could pull another Manalith variant, such as Vessel of Endless Rest for this. But I don’t think it’s worth it. We need more mana rocks, not less. So for this one, I want to just add it free, and then when I find a space, I’ll pull it.

In Prismatic Geoscope

By the way, Wizards of the Coast? Please make this a Aether Revolt Invention! I want an alternate art for it, and the cool foil treatment. Plus, this is clearly the sort of card you could see on Kaladesh!

Armory Automaton

So it looks like we aren’t going to be getting good equipment again. Vehicles are the new thing. I have not added in a piece of newly minted equipment into my Cube since Blade of Selves in last year’s Commander product. I’m unconvinced that Conqueror’sFlail has the chops to make the cut for my Cube. Nevertheless, I do have a Boros Equipment archetype, as well as some equipment enablers in the Cube. So the Automaton brings some heat against equipment, despite the fact that my equipment section is set. I still have all of the powerful and expensive equipment, the full cycle of Swords of Feast or Famine and stuff like Umezawa's Jitte, Skullclamp, and Batterskull. I see a space for this anyway. Now I was thinking about pulling Steel Wall for this. Steel Wall serves a few purposes — it’s a cheap artifact 1-drop for pro-artifact decks. And it’s a good early defender for the various control builds. But it’s not that highly desired or needed by anyone. And while I’ve always had a personal fondness for Steel Wall (in fact I once called it the 2nd best common of all time for multiplayer), it’s time for it to go. Time for Armory Automaton to head in.

In Armory Automaton, Out Steel Wall

Deepglow Skate

A one-time bonus like this is pretty useful in a lot of builds. It’s an obviously strong card in several archetypes. It plays well with proliferate space, you can really smash creatures with -1/-1 counters on them, blow up Planeswalkers, make Prime Speaker Zegana sick and more. So there’s a lot to like here. It has to find a home. And it will. I’ve been looking at pulling Dreamscape Artist for a bit. It’s here for some Blue-based mana fixing, and can really help a Bant or Simic landfall deck. But that’s not a supported archetype, (only Gruul landfall is) and the Skate outclasses it. Heads on in pretty Skate!

In Deepglow Skate, Out Dreamscape Artist

Magus of the Will

This is an awesome card with an awesome history to live up to. It’s really powerful. And we need to ensure that it makes the cut and does some damage. There are a pair of 2-drops I think could be pulled. The first is Kiku, Night's Flower, and the second Nezumi Graverobber. I like them both. But I feel that reanimation needs the support more than control. So I’m pulling Kiku out.

In Magus of the Will; Out Kiku, Night’s Flower

Stonehoof Chieftain

This is a brilliant card. It has trample and indestructible plus a cool 8/8 size. You aren’t going to lose this one easily. As a cool bonus, you can swing and smash earlier than you might think, as it only costs you a mere 8 mana for it. And of course the best part is that your teams gets trample and indestructible when they attack. You can swing with impunity and change the course of the game. It’s a great card. Now I am pulling out a crowd favorite for it. Verdant Force is an Elemental for the Horde of Notions deck, and makes tokens for the Selesnya and Gruul token builds. That synergy has kept it going and retained its place here. But I don’t think people are going to miss it too much. This is clearly the better class of card.

In Stonehoof Chieftain, Out Verdant Force

Do I like Curtains’ Call better than Sudden Death?

Those are my changes. What is on my radar?

Cards I’m looking at including:

Orzhov Advokist

Love it, but it’s hard to find a space for it here.

Grip of Phyresis

I love it as a combat trick, but this is not a format where every deck runs Lightning Greaves. Just one. There are decks post draft that may only have two or three pieces of equipment unless they were intentionally grabbing them for their aggro or artifact builds. This is not as good in the limited Cube as it is generally for the format.

Runehorn Hellkite

I like it for Scion of the Ur-Dragon builds that put it into the graveyard and then you can exile it, as well as Bladewing the Risen which combines Dragons and graveyards, and as well as Kaalia of the Vast, which is always looking to draw more cards, and would value both the Dragon and the Wheel of Fortune highly. Very synergetic. But just a generic 5/5 flyer otherwise.

Primeval Protector

It’s a great big drop, and you have the potential to get it for a severe discount. But what to pull? My ramp buildings tend to want more flexible creatures like Hydras. And after it arrives, it has no evasion to speak of, and will be stymied by any number of cards in the Cube like Darksteel Myr, Darksteel Sentinel, Stuffy Doll, Fog Bank, and more.

And there we are! What cards are you looking at for Cubes? For Commander? For Commander Cubes? What’s tweaking your radar? Did you like my 12 new cards?

Commander 2016 awaits!