Locations
Over the last weekend, I joined a couple hundred players in Orlando, Florida, as we christened the Standard and Legacy constructed formats with the arrival of New Phyrexia. Aside from slinging new spells and casting competitive combos, I had a chance to play a bit of Commander and hang out with a number of friends I hadn’t seen in a very long time. The weekend was packed with action and provided me with the opportunity to snag some great foils, make some great trades, and secure copies of key cards from the new set.
While not everyone loves pimping out Commander decks, it can be a great game-within-the-game. I make a huge number of Commander decks. At any given time, I might have between ten and twenty complete decks ready for battle. There are some decks that are built for specific purposes, only to be disassembled weeks later. There are experimental lists that fail in function or don’t meet my deck-construction goals. Sometimes, lists are simply too crazy, provide too much grief to other players, or come off as a little too competitive. Other times, I get bored of a certain theme or just don’t fall in love with a certain build. I am fickle and constantly in search of better, exciting decks. However, a few select, special brews and favorite builds will likely be together as long as I play Commander (read: forever).
When I first started playing EDH, I spent a good amount of time trekking to local shops and digging through dollar binders in hope of securing format staples. What I could not pick up locally could typically be secured on the Internet. I would make wish lists of cards for my EDH decks. I secured these lists on the inside of my trade binders and journeyed from PTQs to prereleases, always looking for the opportunity to check off a few cards and pick up the staples that would populate my deck lists. If I had a chance to venture to shops during vacations or while participating in national-level events, I would search out cards for my brews. I would pick up a card here, a card there, maybe order five or six copies of a favorite land or frequented artifact, and over time, I collected a foundational assortment of cards that let me build decks to my heart’s content.
As I played in events and slung cardboard with the locals, I noted my favorite strategies and fell deeply in love with a certain Blue, Black, and Green dragon. I enjoyed my Vorosh, the Hunter deck so much that I felt it deserved some special treatment. Although I knew it would be a costly and difficult task, I began digging through my card hotels and binders for foil versions of cards. A new sort of wish list was drafted, and the journey to pimp out my deck began.
After searching eBay, trading with tons of players, and picking through infinite foil binders, I landed about 50% of the cards that I needed to complete my project. Some of the cards in my deck were not able to be foiled (at that time) because they were released before the shiny technology had been employed. Pre–Urza’s Legacy cards do not come in foil versions unless they are turned into a promotional version that might be secured through judging tournaments, winning FNM, or completing other requisite activities. Fortunately, some of the greatest cards never to be foiled are slowly making their way into the pool of available foils through the aforementioned promotions or through new products like duel decks and the From the Vault series. I hope that one day, each card on the “do not reprint” list is available in foil. Then folks might have an easier time filling out their foil lists.
Some time ago, I read an interesting article by Ben Bleiweiss that provided fun facts about foils. He outlined the strengths and weaknesses of collecting foils and talked through the potential rarity of foil mythics, rares, and uncommons from a few sets. I tend to believe that the chase cards of the next decade will be foil versions of steadfast, powerful mythic cards due to the amazing powers of supply and demand.
Using Ben’s reference, mythic rares appear roughly once in eight packs, so you might open a Karn Liberated about once every eighty packs (1/80 chance). Foil mythic cards appear once every 216 packs. If you have ten mythic rares in a given set, you would need to open 2,160 packs (1/2160 chance). That would make the likely hood of opening a foil version of the new, hot planeswalker twenty-seven times more rare than ripping a nonfoil version. Some really hot foils tend to fetch double or triple the cost of their nonfoil counterparts.
I know that not every player cares about foils. I have met a minority of folks who prefer to ditch their foils for nonfoil versions (by the way, e-mail me if you are that type of person), and I have met plenty of others who feel neutral. If they open a foil, they are happy to rock it in a deck, but if they don’t pull them, they are not going to hunt them down.
But then there are those who have tasted the sweet, sweet nectar and have been lured into foiling out an entire deck. Some folks call it a sickness, but I feel the obsession can be compared to collecting fine art or fancy jewelry. It can be fun and exciting to land foil copies of your favorite cards. However, with the odds of securing those shiny, tasty baubles, it is a pursuit left to the wanton and frustrated. I know players who walked around the tournament floor of this weekend’s event asking for foil versions of new mythics only to leave behind 500 players and two days of pursuit with no checkmark next to the card on the wish list. It can be hard to land these cards, and that adds to the adventure.
It makes sense that these very rare treasures are sought after and chased. I imagine that as the format grows, there will be a division among players who like the foil and those who find the obsession off-putting. The financial investment is steep, and some players resent spending a large amount of money on their hobby, or feel that it detracts from the fun of playing a casual format.
I understand that point of view, but I share the popular foil obsession. I think of collecting foils as a challenge or adventure. I searched for a foil copy of Rofellos and Karmic Guide for nearly a year before I found the objects of my desire. Building on a budget is a great way to start off in the format. Commander is a format that will embrace folks who want to jump into the fun for a $30 investment (upon release of the June preconstructed decks) and can accommodate the players who like to pimp out their deck boxes. To each his own.
After fourteen months of work and collecting, I foiled out my first deck. One year later, I completed a second and am now working on my third. Often, the cards that I tracked down, like my judge promo versions of Maze of Ith, doubled or tripled in value, so my work paid off. I would recommend getting started sooner rather than later to the portion of the readership that is interested. The price of our Commander staples is increasing, and we have seen casual foils jump in price.
With the release of the new set, I have some trading and shopping guidelines that I like to employ. This weekend, I landed copies of nearly every hot foil mythic that I could find. However, I think that it is best to wait for some of the initial hype of certain cards to wear down a bit before making your purchases or trades. A foil Elesh Norn or Karn Liberated seemed destined to decrease in cost as the initial “newness” wears off. I tend to lack the proper patience to hold off on certain cards, but offer some research that I have accumulated. The prices of the majority of foil mythics tend to drop after the first two months of a set’s release. The cards that see a lot of play tend to hold value or increase, so you might speculate and make some early selections. However, as the release of a new set approaches, conservative foil collectors make their move. For example, Koth of the Hammer fetched close to $80 upon release. You were unlikely going to find one for trade, and players valued them highly. As time progressed, more of the cards were opened, availability relaxed, and players might land a copy for half of the initial cost.
There are always sleepers, but most mythics should be purchased in a delayed fashion in order to let the market settle. However, players might want to pick up cards that seem like instant hits for the format early in the days around a set’s release. Caged Sun, Unwinding Clock, Beast Within, and Birthing Pod are all cards that I might suggest players pick up earlier rather than later. These foils are readily available online, in trades, and are relatively cheap. As the supply dries a bit and fewer online stores purchase these cards for their websites, they can be harder to land.
During the Magic-filled weekend and release of New Phyrexia, I had the opportunity to meet with some players who had played the game for a long time, but had never ventured into the Commander format. I helped one player build a deck, worked with another to design a list, and generally talked with folks about the initial steps that players might take to jump into the Commander fun. One of the things that I recall in the early days of my investigation into EDH was the difficulty identifying the Legendary cards that might make good Commanders.
I decided to scour the forums and research multiple websites, and have constructed a list of the most popular (most often cited or used) Commander options. Here is a draft version of the Top 100 Commanders as of May 2011 (anticipating the June release):
Mono-Color Commanders
White
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Colorless
Two-Color Commanders
Three-Color Commanders
Five-Color Commanders
Recent History: Zendikar Block
Just Born
Removed from Power: Banned Commanders
To Be Announced
Commander Precon 
Commander Precon 
Commander Precon 
Commander Precon
It stands to reason that new and established players might like a reference guide for the amazing Commanders that are available. If you are a new player to Commander or, more frustrating, a new Magic player, understanding and investigating your options can be difficult. The list is not comprehensive. Players should use Gatherer or other search engines to explore the comprehensive list of Commander options, but it might be useful to note some of the most popular Commanders as of this article. I am human, and certainly forgot some, so feel free to note my omissions in the comments. We could take this list and update it every six months to give new players a quick guide or starter to understanding their options. During my research, I found two new options that I had missed and am currently working on some new decks. Hope you find a hidden gem or two as a reward for reading over this submission. Thanks for your readership and check back next week for another Commander article.
